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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Just knitting

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That's all that's going on right now, just sitting up here in Ohio, knitting away. I finished the knitting on birch. Now all I have to do on it is crochet a contrasting border on it, weave in the ends, and give it a good wet block. The wet block will have to wait until I am more mobile to do it. The border and ends will be dealt with tonight (probably, I always think that I will get much more done than I do) and it will be destined for the big bag of stuff for my cousin who is having a baby in may. I loved knitting birch, but it was a little emotional for me to ever knit again. I had about 5 yards of yarn when I was done knitting, it was seriously close. I really didn't think that I would make it. But I did, I surprised everyone else by making it to. They were all wondering why I was so enthusiastic about finishing something that was A) not for either me or them and B) It was a shawl, no one here appreciates a good shawl. I love it though, but I know that I will love it more when it is wet blocked. It was made out of this label less acrylic that was kind of a Burgundy color. It reminded me of Autumn leaves. A wonderfully fun knit, while it was a really rocky start, it had a smoooooth, smooth finish.
(Image Coutesy of Google Images) (I just thought that you could use a pretty Autumn scene)
From the moment I cast of the last stitch from birch, I was immediately seized by the thought, "now what" which happens to me quite often. So I turned to my thoughts (uh oh) and started to design this sweater that has been in the back of my mind for quite some time. It uses this boucle yarn that I got from goodwill about a year ago. Its Reynolds Katsura (like that means anything) I know that it's pretty old, but all in all I really like it. 15% mohair, 19% wool, and 6% nylon, 100% lovely. I don't have quite enough of this yarn for a whole sweater, so I'm using Red Heart Super Saver in some dark red that isn't to bad for Red Heart Super Saver. I started this cardigan with a garter stitch border. I'm not sure whether to have raglan sleeves, or set in sleeves. I think I will just wait until I get there, then just decide then. It will have a jewel neck and will hopefully look very bohemian and earthy. Cross your fingers for me.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Sit right back

And you'll hear a tale, a tale of some fateful knitting.

So this is what happened when I tried to cast on for birch. Well, mistake number one was not taking the time to learn the appropriate cast on. But I bit the bullet. I forged ahead and proceeded to do the long tail cast on. Well, I apparently underestimated how long that tail needs to be, I got to about 200 stitches, and had to stop, because the tail wasn't long enough. So then I had to stop, rip it out and cast on all those stitches, and I couldn't wait either, I had to try again right then and there. Part of that "never say die" attitude that I have when it comes to knitting. By the time that I had re-cast on all of the stitches, with the appropriate I proceeded to knit birch, with out stitch markers. I have heard of people knitting all sorts of fabulous lace with out using stitch markers and I have even done it myself, on a very similar design, Kiri, and I thought that I could repeat this. No, so I had to rip out all 299 stitches that I had cast on, only having knit like three rows. This time I decided to take a little time to research the cast on that the designer recommends. Then I learned that The lace cast on is just the knitted cast on so I did it, and I am on like the fourth repeat. I love the little leaves patterns and it is pleasing me to no end.

The sweater is a less romantic story. The first time I didn't cast on with the right needles. Then the next time that I did it I screwed up the ribbing. Then I did that again, and again. By the time that I had started to think about just letting the front not match the back, I cast on one mare time and the knitting fates granted me favor. With birch, we were just having a little fight, then we got a little help. The sweater, while we did work our problems out, and managed to get a long for a while, the sweater mis behaved (I got tired of it) and is been put in the bag of bad knitting. A problem with the sleeves also helped the sweater earn its lowly position.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Brace!!

Just wanted to drop a quuick note (why do I have a feeling that it won't be quick, every time I try to do a quick post, I always end up making it much longer than attended.) To let you know that I got my brace yesterday and I can now use crutches. The problen is that I don't like the crutches. And it hurts to walk on my left foot to. So I really haven't done much on them, just a little bit here and there to try to get used to it.

And I also wanted to let you know that I have started this shawl for a baby who should be making an appearance this May. And tomorrow or the next day you can hear the story of this shawl.

Another recent WIP is this Durrow Sweater that I am loving. I have done the back, and have started a sleeve (ah, the sleeves ) and the front.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

A List

I have had a lot of stuff happen to me lately, all good, but I can't seem to string it together to make a decent blog post about it. You know how it is when you have stuff to say, but you just can't say it. That's what I got. So when in doubt, make a list!

Good Thing One: My second surgery went fine and he only had to do one. So now I have this little makeshift brace/splint thing that I keep on my leg with ace bandages. When I go back on 18th for my post operation vist I will get a real brace then (flying turtles). But now my leg is free more or less. It's kind of like its on house arrest. Having a hard cast is like prison (for your feet) and so having a soft cast is like being on house arrest, not the best you could hope for, but better than prison.

Good Thing Two: Last night some friends came over and they came bearing gifts. The good stuff too. I received some fiber from them, a hundred percent wool, some was dyed  (do you know that I almost typed died instead of dyed)some was natural. All of it was soft and will in due time (it will take a while, I spin rather slow) become a pair of socks.

Now, that wasn't all they brought me, not at all. I received a whole lot (I didn't count them, but there was a lot. more that I deserved really) of some of their Kool-Aid dyed yarn. The colors on these are truly wonderful and I can't wait to find a project worthy of them. Now here's the Biggie I got one skein of hand spun Mohair. This stuff is so soft and luxurious that I just want to eat it up. No, this will be put in a box, in a closet, and whenever I have a bad day, I will go into the closet and stroke the yarn until I feel better. I don't care whether this take one minute or one hour, that's what I'm going to do. THANKS ABBY AND HANNAH!!

Good Thing Three: Last night, I finished a blanket. Log cabin, like a million random balls of acrylic were used in the making of this thing (leaving me with only like a billion left to figure out how to use them, I think I will start insulating the walls with them) This is going into the planning a head box for next Christmas. The colors are bright and I really like this blanket. I think part of the reason I like it so  much, is because I made it fast, in like a month. I just wish that I could get more exited about it. I actually got kind of bummed out when I finished it , not that I was sad to see it go. I just felt so blah about the whole thing.

Good Thing Four: Last Night, I put a hand knit sock on my "free" foot and let me ask you, is there a prettier sight in the whole world.

Monday, January 3, 2011

New Years Resolutions

So, what are my New Years Resolutions? Glad you asked I wanted to keep it simple, but I kept thinking of more things that I wanted to do this year. So I decided that I would just post the whole lot of them here, and put the knitting ones on the side bar at least, so that way every time I look at my blog, I would see them there, subtly, but firmly, helping me keep my mind focused on these goals.

I would do a little slide show of all that stuff that I knit this year, but I A) don't have pictures, and B) I knit so much this year, and documented so little, that I can't even remember every thing that I knit.

So here are my knitting resolutions:

1. To knit from stash as much as possible.

2.To keep the number of WIPs around 5.
3. To not buy any yarn that I would consider subpar.
4. To learn to do entrelac.
5. To learn to do the long tail cast on.

That doesn't sound like that much does it? I don't think that it does. I have already learned to do the long tail cast on. I can only hope that all my other resolutions go this well.

Here's some (some, I didn't want to get to personal here) of my personal resolutions

1. To lose a little weight. Or at least keep from gaining any. I really haven't been gaining any weight, now that I'm laid up, mainly because I can't go down stairs to get any thing to eat. It also helped that I eat less when I do eat, probably because I was so busy last summer that I forgot to eat.

2. To post on the blog around twice a week. I don't know how well this will work out, but I have to at least try to be more devoted to blogging.

3.To find a part time job. Enough said.

4. To be more careful about my spelling

5.To keep a list of finished objects on the side bar.

I think that is do able, nothing to major, but enough to make a change in my life. Wish me luck, 10 total with 5 for knitting, and 5 personal, that's a lot of resolutions, but these are all things that I need to work on. I can do it.