TAKING BACK [THE KNIT]

I have class in 20 minutes. And I am seriously considering not going in favor of knitting and blogging. I need to work on the shrug my mom is supposed to wear to a weddding on Saturday. Yeah, THIS Saturday. I think I'm about halfway done, but I'm not really sure. It's just kind of those 'keep knitting and we'll see how it looks' type of things. This is the swatch, blocking. It's one of those shrugs that's just a rectangle that will be sewn on the ends to make sleeves, and I will add a couple of inches of ribbing. The whole thing is in the drop stitch pattern which is (obviously) the lower portion of the swatch. The yarn is from JoAnn, and is THE softest 100% wool I have ever laid my hands on. It's like a fucking cloud. I am in love with it. I am thinking about getting one of the varigated colorways and making a Clapotis with it. (They don't have them online, but I'm pretty sure I saw them in the store.) My favorite yarn ever, so far. HANDS DOWN. It's even more of a dream after it's blocked.

I have a new obsession: taking pictures of flowers. I was out taking blog pictures and ended up taking some of stuff that was blooming around the yard. Now I am wanting to take a picture of every blossom. I started a flickr the other day, and my monthly upload bandwidth is gone. GONE! There is one knitting related picture. It's mostly flowers. I am glad I have photobucket AND yahoo photos as well. (I do have a system. I try to use photobucket for the stuff I am going to link, and yahoo photos for everything ever because there is no limit to what I can store. yeah) Anyway: here are a couple of my favorites:

I am going to try to take pictures of the paper beads I've made and maybe some more WIP pictures tonight.

I ordered the Betty kit from White Lies Designs last week, and got an email last night saying I should be getting it soon! The lady who runs lists her PO Box as being in my city, so it shouldn't take long to get to me. I'm so excited! I have wanted to knit this pattern since it was in the summer 2004 issue of knitty. I am especially excited because the kit has all the hardware and the little things like rosettes. It would be a bitch to have to find all that stuff on my own, especially the garter hardware. The only thing about this is, I don't know how I will model it once I have finished it. I definitely don't need n00dz! And I don't have a dummy to photograph it on ...

Speaking of photography, I plan on taking some pictures of the paper beads I made last week, and maybe make a few more. And I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with them. Maybe just string 'em up on some elastic and perhaps make some matching earrings. I used to have a crapload of jewelry-making supplies but not so much anymore. We will see.

I finished Sassy Sock part deux numero 1. I don't think I'm going to start #2 for a while in favor of getting other shit down. Like the shrug I promised my mom, which she needs to wear to a wedding on the 16th. Yeah. September 16th as in a couple of weeks from now. I am all swatched, so hopefully I will get that going tonight or tomorrow. It's going to be a rectangle in a dropped stitch pattern (from my new VK book!), with elbow-length ribbed sleeves. Fairly straight-forward. And it's in the softest wool I have EVER felt. I love it.

I have class in 12 minutes. I really don't want to go. I hate my French teacher! To the max!

And fuck America Online! I just lost half my flippin' entry thanks to the horrible combination of those two. Any reccomendations as to other places I might host this? I am getting fed-up with blogspirit.

If there is one thing that irritates me about craftster, it is that there are a number of people there who are idiots. Really. Either that, or they really don't know how to type. Also, "sheep's" is not the plural of 'sheep'! Nor is "scarfs" correct! I don't mind minor speeling/gramar/punctuation errors at all. I even make them myself, every so often. But I try not to, to the best of my abilty! Especially on message boards! Enough about that ... /rant

Here, with no introduction other than this, whatsoever, are my current (as of last week!) works-in-progress:

Sassy sock pair #2, sock one. I like the self-striping yarn for my first pair and wanted to try a different colorway. It's going well so far. It's fun to knit and see which colors will come next, but my god it is ugly! I might pawn it off on someone else. I just can't realistically see myself wearing them, even just to dance class! My opinion may change come winter though. They seem really warm, especially for %100 acrylic.

Oh Caron Simply Soft, how I love thy cheapness!

This scarf has been lying around for about a year. I love the cable pattern, but it gets boring quickly. I'm not looking forward to fringing the other end, either. It will probably be given away. I'm not really a scarf wearer.

 I had quite the paragraph typed up about this littel lady. I'm bummed I lost it. Anyway, the basics: this is a fairly large-scale WIP that I don't want to jinx by discussing too much. Easy to tell what it is/where its from, though. I started one a long time ago (years?) and I feel like I jinxed it by blogging about it too much. I am sufficintely further along than I was when this picture was taken, thanks in large part to my trip to Santa Cruz last weekend. Lots of in-car knitting time and knitting by the beach.

 Next time: general crafty goodness, gardening pictures, possibly a finished sock, and god only knows what else!

I am kind of having on of "those" days. Just when everything starts to get better, everything turns to shit again. blah. It happens. I feel like I want to take a week-long nap. I just feel drained.

Anyway, life goes on and this post will too. Off to a land I have not ventured before. Crochet! Here is what was then my first crochet WIP and is now my first crocheted FO! (pictures of that in my next photo shoot, haha.)

It's the "Boy Beanie" from the SNB Crochet book. So easy it was unbelievable! It looked like a yarmulke after the first few rounds, and made me laugh. A lot. I'm not sure why, even. It was a breeze, and I am surprised I got through it so quickly and easily. I am so excited about learning to crochet! (That was obvious when I took a moment after every round to try the hat on and monitor

Cutesy story time: I had a terribly hard time with crochet, at first. Then, I got a bag of yarn bits and leftovers that had belonged to my late great-grandmother Hazel, an avid crocheter. (She had ten kids, and 30 grandkids. She would crochet all the grandkids slippers for Christmas.)  My great-aunt had it for years, and it had been just sitting in the garage. She'd actually been meaning to sell it at a yard sale but after seeing something I knit for my mom (or maybe grandma?) she decided to give it to me! It had a lot of hideous colors like yellow-orange and this horrid lavender and everything was acrylic. Thank god I am not a yarn snob! Acrylic is fine by me, as long as the finished project doesn't absolutely have to be blocked. I decided to give crochet another go, and this time I got it! It's weird to not really understand how things work, and when I am making mistakes. I know knitting to well now that I can tell a mistake a mile away, but crochet is new and I am not used to the mechanics of it. Anyway, I decided to practice reading crochet patterns by starting with the classic granny square. And ended up with these:

See what I was talking about with that orange?! I'm thinking I might make a ton off differently colored granny squares to stash-bust this yarn, and turn them into an afghan for my grandparents (Hazel's son, and daughter-in-law). They would love it, I'm sure. But then again they're my grandparents. They love everything I make! (I knit my pop a beanie and he not only wears it when it is not cold enough for one, he has worn it so much it now has holes in it!)

Also on the crochet front, I crochet a single crochet edging around the afghan I knit for my mom. I forgot to take pictures, and should sometime soon. It only took me a year!

so much for all the comments. As to how much Cotton Ease I used: I had only 600 yards, and would say I probably used about 500. It has negative ease to the max, so when you swatch and do math and such keep in mind that it stretches a lot. Also, I don't know if I mentioned that my gauge was smaller than the pattern called for, so that's one reason I played with the numbers. I really am shocked at how well this came out! I didn't expect it at all. Being able to get such a good fit is making me want to go rip apart every ill-fitting garment I have ever knit to try to fix them!

 I went to the first day of my sewing class today, and am #10 on the waitlist. I will be showing up tomorrow, hoping to make the other session of the class. However, I was excited to practice my machine stitching. Sewing a straight line is sometimes a challenge, and for curves that is an understatement! But I got some practice sheets, and will probably make copies. It's kind of fun.

On Friday, at my mom's suggestion, I bought Vogue Knitting. The book. More like, THE Book. I love that I know have a guide to at least the basics of everything. I'm also pretty excited about the modular patterns in the back. I've wanted a pull-over with a midi collar for years now. Kind of like what Thora Birch wears in Ghost World, but not zippered.

 Again, thanks for the comments! <3 And I love getting comments from people who have never left me any before; it is an awesome way to find new blogs! Next entry should be about my crocheting thus far. I would post about it now, but for some reason photobucket refuses to work while I'm at school. I've already got everything uploaded, so it will be soon!

I think I have social anxiety disorder. And it's really starting to be a little problematic. I hate being in situations where I know no one, like a brand-new class at school. It's so stressfull and scary that I'm dropping a class just because I walked in on the second day and everyone had all their supplies and such already, the teacher didn't seem friendly, and I was alone. I just didn't like it. And then I had to go through the frantic search of finding a class to replace it, so I can have enough units for health insurance! So instead of a nice 9:00 class on Monday and Wednesdays, I'm taking an 8:00 one. However, it's sewing and that's pretty practical. I need sewing practice. I suck at sewing, though! It's why I started knitting.

I took a shitload of pictures yesterday! I busted out my mom's camera, as well as mine, and I love it! It's a Nikon CoolPix and I like it so much more than my Kodak. I think it just might be that the screen is better, but it looked like my pictures were much sharper and better focused. It is awesome! I am going to stretch them out into several posts, because I took that many. Also, I think I might have taken the best picture of my life. And some really goofy ones, too.

Okay, so here we go with pictures! My favorite of my recent FOs is my boobholder adaptation.

Pattern: Stefanie Japel's minisweater

Yarn: Lion Brand's (discontinued) Cotton Ease

Needles: US7s? Maybe 6s. It has been done for a while, so I forget!

Mods: I tweaked the sizing a little to get a good fit. I think I made it smaller than the original. Closed the front and added the bottom half.

I really like the way it turned out! Thanks so much to everyone on craftster who did this before and gave me the idea. I am so in love with Cotton Ease, and I miss it terribly! I added some increases along the sides toward the bottom, because I've got quite the hourglass figure, and it irritates the hell out of me when shirts ride up to my natural waist. [click here for a picture. also, here is a picture of raglan increases.] I love the way they look.

Moving along down the FO train, here FINALLY are finished pictures of my Mariah!

Pattern: Knitty's Mariah

Yarn: LB's Wool Ease in Oxford Grey

Needles: US7s.

Mods: For once, none!

I still am not that happy with this sweater. I might take the zipper out, for a number of reasons. Really, mostly that a hand-knitted sweater isn't something zipper-y. If you know what I mean. Also, buttons seem like they fit the "feel" of the sweater better. [zipper dumpiness exemplified on the right, below.] I really don't like the bulkiness though, so whether I will ever wear it or not is still in question. Also, I hate the look of the hood/collar, as shown in this picture:

The collar starts a couple of inches back from the front opening, which is in my opinion straight-up stupid-looking. I couldn't tell it did this from the pictures in the pattern, and was pissed when I got to that part. I kind of kept hoping that there would be some magic thing that appeared on the pattern once I was done to make things better. I've thought about adding an edging. It would have to be a 2" deep or so edging, though, so I am hesitant. Anyway, my dog is a BIG fan of this hoodie. He kept sniffing it, (hence his nickname "Sniffy"!) and he also wanted to be included in the pictures! The second one is a good example of the awkward things that happen when trying to take pictures with pets. Especially this goofy dog. I'm not sure what I was going for but, I think I was yelling at him and possibly falling over.

and I am already hating life! I left my phone AND iPod at home this morning, but remembered to bring the sock I'm working on. But as you probably know, you can't knit without music, or at least I can't. I don't know if I am going to make it! But considering that I have two hours to kill until my next class, I might make some good progress on said sock if I can tear myself away from the computer. Details and more on the sock later.

Also, I am crocheting now! Pictures and details with that later, too. I should have a MASSIVE update soon. Once I get around to taking pictures.

Nineteen years ago today the world was changed for the better. KIDDING! [kind of.]

 I had a party on Saturday and forgot to take pictures! I even made a couple of guests gifts and didn't photograph those, which is a total bummer.

 Anyway, I'm keeping this short. because I've got fun stuff waiting to be done. Not that blogging isn't fun but you know what I mean!

One of my friends, kind of acquaintences really, asks me to knit him a black beanie and offers me a CAKE in trade. I am stoked beyond belief. I start working on it with some yarn left over from a scarf I knit a couple of years ago. I run out just as I start the decreases for the top. I realize I have some more black yarn leftover from something else. Then it dawns on me: it's wool yarn and he's VEGAN! So much for de-stashing ...