TAKING BACK [THE KNIT]

cutest thing ever might be this phone cozy. i often think that about bittersweet's stuff, though. so much cute, i can barely take it. i have a ton of scrap yarn, and i am really thinking about making this. or at least using the concept for some other sort of cozy.

i forget how much easier it is to bind off with a crochet hook. especially with ribbing. and when BingO hundreds of stitches.

i have been knitting like crazy! it is amazing how much i can get done if i knit during all of my free time. i've been doing some stash-busting, and finally finishing something i gave up a long time ago. i started a Fiery Bolero, the first time, years ago. it was in red cotton ease, which eventually got frogged and turned into the fabled modified boobholder/minisweater. a better use for that yarn, i think. i had some white cotton ease laying around after finding it at Tuesday Morning, in kits to make baby hats. (this was while it was discontinued, mind you! i paid like $6 a ball for it, because it was in the kits. but i love this stuff.) anyway, i put it to good use and started another Bolero. i like this pattern for is simplicity. the fun is in the constrction. but not in the picking up 258 stitches, just for the front edging. also, BingO those 258 stitches, not so fun either. tedious! i usually like a little more texture, but for this shrug, the plain stockinette is perfect. (i went back through my old posts and found the {only!} one with a picture of the FB in-progress the original time. check it out here. even in 2005 miss Amanda Cathleen was leaving me comments! i love it.)

i've finished a couple of boring things, a mitered square washcloth among them. it's done in Paton's Grace, and i must say that i love this yarn. the mercerized cotton makes it so silky smooth and soft. i will definitely be making more washcloths with this in the future.

i really ought to be blogging more. it's just hard for me, these days. i play around on flickr too much!

this sweater is so cute! Lady Linoleum's stuff is always cool in my book, but this is very wearable. trendy, too! i like it a lot!

  i went to michael's on friday, and i must say i was delighted when i discovered that cotton ease is back on their shelves! i had read that it was coming back, and seen all the colorways on the LB website, but actually seeing it in the store was great. i love this stuff, and my most wearble knit to date it made from it.

so i had to buy some. now i've got 1,000 yards of the "stone" colorway. it's a really nice, washed-out grey. i've got a few ideas about what it will become. summer is coming, and that is all i will say about that.

this morning, out of boredom and wanting to get out of the house, The Boy and I went to check out Twisted Stitch in West Sac. Overall, I'd say I like it much more than other LYS's in these parts. I ended up with two hanks of Chery Tree Hill SuperSock, since all the yarn was 40% off! One of them will be another pair of socks of The Boy, and one is for me! I will finally have some nice, warm, wool socks! I'm not sure what exactly I will do (pattern-wise) yet.

Speaking of socks, I am the last knittter on the planet to make a pair of Jaywalkers. Soon I will have some. (And trust me, it will be soon, because the sooner I am done the sooner I can start knitting with that beautiful stuff pictured above!) I'm liking them so far, although because of the plain color of the yarn, they're kind of tedious. Also, this is a test run with this yarn. It's made ofr crochet, and it's really cheap! $2.99, I think. It's a wool/cotton blend. Not very tightly spun, though, and there is virtually no spring or stretch. It's like the opposite of STR (Sproingy, shiny, stretchy). I'm just really curious as to how this yarn will last and wear.

I have not done/bought/made anything Project Spectrum related recently. I'm still stuck on the grey from the last couple months, I guess!

Kool-Aid was 4/$1 at the grocery store, so I couldn't resist! (I think it's always 4/$1 but I don't often go to the grocery store.) Long story short, I've now got some lovely Kool-Aid dyed yarn.

I used grape, strawberry, black cherry, and lemonade plus some yellow McCormack food dye. There are some more pictures on flickr. I love all the colors, especially the grape. I just don't know yet what I am going to make with all this. Maybe a Calorimetry or Panta, with the grape. I'm just not sure yet, but I really can't wait to use it. And to dye some more! I wish I had a ball winder and a swift because things would be a lot easier, but I can get by the old-fashinoed way.

Now I've got the Misfits in my head! I apologize if you do too.

I ordered earrings from Pam a while ago, got them, and then was too lazy to take pictures of them. So with no further adieu:

 I love them. And I loved the flip-flop/beachy stationary, Pam! I was totally expecting something black or something subculture-ish in some way. I actually laughed when I saw it.

I was planning on going to the zoo this afternoon, and then I found out it costs $8.50! Too expensive for me right now, even as much as I love the zoo.

I had quite the weekend. Lots of drinking, partying, knitting, vomiting, and promoting my friends' new craft group. I had the hangover to prove it yesterday. (I don't normally even get hangovers, and it takes a lot of le booze for me to get one.) There are pictures to prove all of this, but none are online as of now. Check back with my flickr in a day or two.

 And speaking of flickr and new groups, I started a group for projects from the Stitch'n'Bitch books, because frankly I couldn't believe there wasn't already one. So if you've knitted/crocheted/sewn something from one of those books and it's on flickr post it there! Also, I started one for flowering maples, but I wouldn't really expect that many people to be able to contribute. But you might want to check it out, because there are some gorgeous pictures from amazing photographers.

I've been working like mad lately, and managed to finish two projects in the last week. Firstly, the "Fat Bottom Bag" from Stitch'n'Bitch Crochet.

yarn: LB Lion Cotton, in a teal color. I don't remember the name. Heck, it might even be "Teal"! I used less than one ball, which was nice.

hook: whatever the pattern called for. A G/6 maybe?

mods: none. I did the handle flaps a little differently, working into every other stitch instead of SCing across the row. It was easier, as I'm still not sure where exactly I'm supposed to be crocheting into when I do border-type stuff.

The handles are from JoAnn, and I love them.

This purse is going to my sister for Christmas, even though it is a really summer purse. I'm a little late or really early for that. This is the best purse I have made, without a doubt. Simple, and easy to customize.

I also finished my mittens. No FO pictures just yet, but here are some almost done in-progress pictures:

I didn't really want them to match, so I just started the second one where I ended the first without even thinking about where I was in the striping sequence. I am really liking mittens, and think a lot of people will be getting them for Christmas.

 I'm working on my first toe-up socks! They're just plain stockinette, worsted weight yarn on #3s. I love tightly knit stuff! I did a lot of work on them while drinking this weekend, and managed to not fuck them up! I don't usually knit under the influence, so I was proud of myself.  

 When I'm hungover I don't so much get the headaches or sensitivity to light, but my stomach does weird things. It's unsettled and I feel like I want to vomit yet really hungry at the same time. It sucks! Then when I do try to eat, it doesn't taste good and I am full quickly. It is pretty much the bane of my existence.

So I only got one sock done. I like it though, but it might be a bit too short when it come to the length of the foot. But I'm happy with it. I'm not looking forward to the second one. Also, I feel like I should get going on my holiday knitting first. (A pretty good way to justify my procrastination, don't ya think?) If you want specs, I'll give them to you, but I am going to wait 'til I get both done to post all that juicy stuff. I really enjoyed Socktoberfest, mostly because of the inspiration I got from everyone else! Everyone's socks are so beautiful. I love looking at the flickr group. I'm so glad it's going to stay open year-round!

Since it's getting colder every day, I've wanted to start on some mittens for a while. Once Socktoberfest was over, I figured that was the perfect time! So have some other knitters, and thus MittenFest was born! I'm not usually a "joiner" but lately there have been some great knit-a-longs.  Two days ago my mitten progress looked like this:

And as of last night, it's DONE. D-O-N-E. C'est fini! Ends woven in and all. It's amazing! I have a few friends who left sunny California to go to college on the east coast, and now I know what they're getting for Christmas! I really like a lot of the things everyone likes about socks: quickness, easiness, customizability, etc. Since I have fallen in love with the Magic Loop, that makes me love them even more. Mittens have even made me want to think about color work, which is something that I have never done. They seem small enough that it would be a good intro to such things.  Hell, everyone might be getting mittens for Christmas! I just wish they weren't so confining

I just don't feel inspired to put up a whole, entertaining, interesting blog. But I do feel like posting something. So, for your viewing pleasure, here is my progress on my newest socks.

Here's my progress as of last night:

And as of this afternoon:

I love the fit so far. I went down a needle size, and it fits so much better. I had planned on making them longer and using garters (like we do for dance. Just an elastic band that goes under the flipped-down cuff. Not like a garter belt), but is fits so well I won't have to do that. Trying it on for these photos inspired me: I'm supposed to knit some legwarmers for a dance frined and I think I am going to give them a heel! It would be easy to flip it up if she doesn't want it, but it will help keep her ankle/achilles warmer.

 I just want to mention, once again, how much I love the Magic Loop techinique. It was a little tough in the picking up sts/gusset part but it is worth it. I love the ease of being able to try my sock on anytime I want, with littel hassle.

 In non-knitting (but yet still nerdy) news, I am soon joining Rainbow Girls. One of my friends is a Past Worthy Advisor, and asked me to join her Assembly. As a much younger young lady, I was in Job's Daughters. (that wikipedia page SUCKS, and I am actually going to edit it!)  My dad was in DeMolay, and my aunt is a Majority Member of Job's. My grandpa is a Shriner.  I joined because my cousin was being installed as an Honored Queen, and my aunt wanted all of us cousins to be there so support her, I guess. Then we all continued and she quit. Anyway I age out of Rainbow at 20 so I figure I'll get a couple of terms under my belt and get my Majority. Not enough time to run for the line or anything. Then, if I ever have a kid she can be in Rainbow. I am also considering going back to Job's to get my Majority there. It would be cool, but Job's and Rainbow meet on the same night. Am I just talking to myself here, or are any of you knitters familiar with Masonic stuff? I know it's weird ...

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about switching away from blogspirit. ... blogger fucked up when I was trying to leave natasha a comment today, so I'm thinking it might be a sign to pick wordpress. Which is easier to import old posts? ha!

I love flickr. Just the whole tagging thing, and favorites, and groups and all that. For example, I just found pictures from a Highland Games in Japan! I didn't know they had Highland Games in Japan! I am actually considering going pro, which says a lot. Supposedly the new YahooPhotos is supposed to be really rad, and it sounds a lot like flickr. Hopefully it is! Speaking of YahooPhotos, I hadn't really been keeping up with adding pictures to mine, but I went back and added all my old craft pictures. So if there are any old craft pictures you want to see, or you want to laugh at how bad my old photos are, check that out. (I guess I didn't get the memo that pictures that are so dark you can barely see aren't good.) I'm still in the process of adding titles and descriptions, but that's fairly quick. I'm updating all my albums so if you need more weird/boring/highland dance pictures in your life, you can find some there. Link is to the left.

I took another million pictures yesterday. I just do it in bursts, I think. No pictures for a couple of weeks and then pictures of every minute detail of everything. (All the pictures of yesterday's photo sesh are in my yahoophotos. Some are on flickr)

For some reason, I'm all worked up about Socktoberfest today. (That said, I am sitting here with a washcloth in front of me and not a sock!) I joined the flickr group, and put a couple of pictures in the pool. And I got a comment from Lolly herself. Wheew!

Older socks and newer ones. Same yarn and pattern, different colorway. A girl can never have too many knee socks! Especially not a Highland dancing girl. And speaking of Highland dance, I have a special something planned for the end of the month for the sock appreciation week. 

 I bought a pound of Peaches and Cream cotton in Daisy Ombre to make washcloths for some of my friends. I've got 2 1/2 so far. Easy peasy. But kind of addicting. The crochet one is just half-double crochet on a size I-ish hook. (It was my great-grandma's and doesn't quite match up with what I's are supposed to be. I think it's way old, when sizing was different!) The knit one is sotckinette with a garter border. I'm doing one know that is bias knit. Fun, but again easy. I finished it in the course of watching the new Law And Order SVU. I don't like the new detective broad ... but that's a whole other story. 

The yarn looks a lot more orange than it is. It's really just white, light yellow, and yellow.

I've mentioned granny squares and all the scraps I got that were my great-grandma's. Well, I have been crocheting granny squares on-and-off lately. I like that they're small and yet when I finish one I still feel as if I have accomplished something. Anyway, here is the progress so far:

I think I've decided that I'm going to switch to blogger, for sure. This is just not cutting it.

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.

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!