Bad Blogger

I am bad about blogging, but I’ve been knitting away!

Andrew’s scarf is coming along well. It’s great train knitting! It has a couple of little hiccups in it, between remembering how to read my work and falling asleep on the train while knitting it (not because it’s boring, but because I just plain don’t get enough sleep!), but it is looking very much like something I will be able to give him and not be embarrassed to have him wear. I’m into the second ball now and since he likes his scarves short and on the narrow side, I might not actually need the third ball! Coordinating fingerless mitts, perhaps?

I’ve also started a slightly more involved project in anticipation of our steampunk New Year’s party. It’s not a costume party in the sense that costumes are required, but they are definitely encouraged. I am working on a shawlette to wear over my outfit for the evening. The pattern is Ysolda Teague‘s Damson. I just love her! The pattern is well-written and clearly presented, including both a chart and written instructions along with stitch counts for each row (VERY helpful, especially as a beginner who is super paranoid about screwing up!). I’m using Knit Picks Gloss Sock, a merino/silk blend, in the colorway “Cosmos” which I think will be warm, comfy, and pretty to boot! I’ve had some false starts but hopefully this time it will go smoothly.

Finals are coming up and my break is short, so I can’t promise to get better about blogging…but I’ll try!

Back in the (Proverbial) Saddle

So, unfortunately I don’t have any lovely pictures to show you, but I have made progress!

For my first return project I chose a simple scarf for Andrew. Actually, he requested a scarf, because he said he knew how much I wanted to get back to knitting and thought that if he asked for something I would allow myself to spend some money to restart a hobby I enjoy. I think this is actually really sweet because it is completely true; if I just wanted to knit because I enjoy it and want to do it I’d never have let myself spend any money on it, but if my poor cold family needs something warm to wear, well, I supposed I can justify a little expenditure.

So I got his preferences and sorted through Ravelry patterns and eventually settled on Eton’s Scarf, which is absolutely the perfect pattern for me right now. It knits up nice and skinny as written which is exactly what Andrew wanted, but could easily be made wider by just casting on more stitches (in a multiple of 4). The repeat is simple enough for the train and it’s very easy to read my work, even with my meager skills, so if I doze off or stop in the middle it’s trivial to find my place again.

For the yarn I chose Knit Picks’ Swish Worsted. I haven’t worked with merino before and I am not disappointed! It’s very soft and workable and feels absolutely lovely in my hands. I don’t blame people who work with acrylics and I’m sure I will do so from time to time, but wool just feels SO good. If I get too drowsy to keep knitting on the train at night, I will just listen to my iPod and stroke the wool, seriously. Andrew requested something neutral for the color, so we settled on a colorway called “Cobblestone Heather,” which I think is a fantastic name and luckily it is also a gorgeous color, a nice dark heathery gray.

Try, try again

This blog went dormant when several massive life changes and the accompanying lack of money meant that knitting wasn’t really an option for me anymore. I was still lusting after patterns on Ravelry, but there was just no way to make them a reality.

Last night I ordered some things to get back in the game, though. So there should be activity here soon.

I no longer live in New York; I have moved back to Pennsylvania where I grew up and am working full time as a vet tech. I also go to the University of Pennsylvania, where I am taking science classes to hopefully go to vet school in a few years. That leaves little time for knitting (mostly on trains in and out of the city) and less for blogging, but while my updates will be short I’m hoping I’ll have time to post at least a little something once a week or so.

One person’s pooling – Another person’s pattern

As I mentioned before, I am in the midst of a Not Blue project. Like everything else I’ve made, it’s simple, small, and didn’t require any new materials, as there is still no job in sight for me. The yarn is Berroco Comfort, in the Mixed Nuts colorway. The pattern is a nice simple Drawstring Bag that I thought would make a very good dice bag, and the project was intended as a gift. I cast on for the base, and all seemed to be going well.

(Sorry about the dark pictures…)

Anyway, I was pleased. The colors seemed to be breaking up well and playing nicely together. This is just the kind of varied coloration I was hoping to see from this yarn. I thought it would make a delightful, masculine look for the bag.

I finished the bottom and proceeded to pick up stitches around the perimeter, in preparation for knitting in the round to create the sides of the bag. It took a few tries (I slipped each stitch at the beginning of the row, but I didn’t get the nice slipped stitch border I was expecting. There must be a trick to it that I haven’t found yet). There were some mistakes, but I finally got it so that it looked right and had no gaping holes, so away I went!

A few rounds went by, and I realized the colors didn’t seem to be breaking up the same way as they had on the base. Oh well, give it time. Just keep knitting.

A few more rounds, and it didn’t seem to be breaking up yet. Well, maybe it will look all right anyway.

About halfway up the sides of the bag, well…

Not exactly what I’d expected. Now, for myself, I don’t think this is that bad. Looks kind of nice, even. But it’s much more likely to be something you either Like or you Don’t Like, as opposed to a relatively neutral, understated pattern like the bottom. But look at it! Look how far along I am! All that time and work, wasted! Plus, if I can’t use this yarn, what am I going to make this present out of? I don’t have yarn money!

As I was bemoaning my plight to Andrew, though, he came over to have a look at my work. And wouldn’t you know, he loved it! He says it reminds him of the coloring on a pit bull. Which I have to agree with! So I’m going to finish it out, and give it to him instead. It doesn’t solve my problem of what to make the actual gift out of, but at least all the cursing I did while picking up stitches isn’t going to waste.

Snippets

First things first, let’s get it out of the way: today is Election Day in the United States. Yes, I voted. No, I won’t be saying any more about my positions.

I have started a project that is not blue. I hadn’t realized it until I looked at my profile on Ravelry, but all of my FO’s are blue. (To be fair, my last project was supposed to be blue because it is the giftee’s favorite. But the others are totally my fault.)

Unfortunately, the Not Blue Project is not very interesting yet. I thought it would be interesting enough to photograph by the time I got back from voting, since I expected to spend a decent amount of time waiting in line even though New York isn’t exactly a battleground state. But in a completely unexpected move, Fate decided that there would be no one in line to vote at 1:15 this afternoon. Oh, there were a few people in line for some of the other districts, up to about 5 or 6 in the longest line. But the 49th District was dead empty. Zero people. I’m not kidding. My polling place is just at the end of my block, too. I think I was gone from my apartment for maybe 15 or 20 minutes all told.

In other news, I need a job. I interviewed for one that I haven’t heard back from either way. I keep applying, but no one else calls me back. I know the economy’s bad, but why advertise that you have a position available if you’re not going to respond to those who apply? Grr. My reward to myself if I ever do get a job is going to be a set of DPNs. I want to learn socks and fingerless gloves. Everyone tells me to just use Magic Loop, but 1. I’d need to buy needles to do that too, since I only own 16″ circs, 2. Silver’s Sock Class uses DPNs, and that’s what I’m planning to use to learn socks, so it’ll probably be easier to follow the pictures if I’m using the same equipment, and 3. DPNs are both impressive and scary. If I can master them, even if I don’t end up liking them, it will fill me with a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Spoo-oo-ooooky Success!

It’s Hallowe’en! In lieu of a party this evening, Andrew and I holed up in the apartment with candy and movies. And I knit the last repeat on my (slightly belated) lapghan square. It’s now all finished, packed up, and waiting to be mailed tomorrow morning. I forgot to take a finished picture before I packed it all away, but it doesn’t look all that different from the last few posts. It’s 14 x 12 inches instead of the intended 12 x 12, but it’s soft and blue and made with good wishes. I learned a lot on this project, most importantly how to “read” my work. Once I figured that out, I was able to complete the piece without the pattern, but it’s more accurate than the first few repeats where I was completely reliant on reading each stitch from the paper. So overall I count it a success.

Slave to the yarn.

My lovely 12×12 Square for my Rav-friend’s lapghan? It was just under 12 inches wide when I cast on last weekend. I swear. Andrew will swear too, I made him double check my measurments. Each of the 3 times I cast on. Really. We both measured 12 inches when I finally decreed I was satisfied, and again after I’d knit the first row.

It’s now 14 inches wide. It is, to its credit, uniformly 14 inches wide. I did not accidentally make more stitches than I should have, or anything. It was 12 inches wide when I started, and now, with the same number of stitches, it’s 14 inches wide. Poof, voila! I was afraid that the cast-on stitches were actually too spread out on the needle and I’d end up with it being too small as I knit! But no, apparently cast-on stitches are good buddies and they don’t spread out until they’ve got a lot of company. Now I know.

Luckily the organizer says not to fret, she’ll make it work. We’re all just slaves to the yarn.

I finally feel…

…like I might be getting the hang of all this.

I’m a perfectionist. It takes a lot of effort for me to leave even insignificant errors alone. This can be a good thing, of course. I generally do good work and producing something I’m happy with feels very good. However, when I’m still in the “learning curve” phase like I am now, it gets pretty frustrating. I end up tinking or ripping back every time I make even a tiny mistake. So rather than pushing through and figuring out WHY I keep getting split yarn or WHY I purl when I should knit (or vice versa), I just keep starting over and over and over.

The project that’s beaten that out of me is actually, I’m a little embarrassed to say, going to someone else. A member of one of my Rav groups recently lost everything in a fire. And knitters (and crocheters, of course) like to help each other in times of need, so our group is contributing squares to be sewn together into a lapghan for her. Self-conscious as I am about my still meager skills, this is a great effort that I’d really love to be a part of. So I gamely cast on for a 12×12 square. 

I chose the Seed Blocks Square. While I would have loved to choose a cable design and learn a new skill, the square needs to be sent in by Halloween, and I worried about not being able to finish something presentable by then if I was struggling with a new skill. Seed Blocks is an attractive design, simple without being boring, and something I think I can handle at this level. But it wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

The first three sections have mistakes in the seed stitch blocks. I was trying to follow the pattern stitch by stitch rather than letting the work “tell” me where I was. I didn’t trust myself, not being a visual-spatial kind of person, to recognize just by looking at my knitting what stitch I should be on. This would be great, if I could count. But all it takes is one stitch off, and you don’t get seed stitch anymore. You get this:

Not exactly right, is it? Can’t see it? Look now:

Two knit stitches next to each other vertically, when one should be a purl. It may seem like a small thing, but I couldn’t stand it. Just one stitch off on one row, and all the seed stitch blocks were shot! If I’m not mistaken, this makes it 1×1 ribbing instead of seed stitch. But by the time I realized it wasn’t coming out right, I’d already gone so far after casting on 3 times trying to get something 12 inches wide…I wasn’t about to look back. I determined to figure it out or die trying. Then, halfway through the second pattern repeat, I got totally lost. I forgot to tick off a row I’d done and suddenly didn’t know where I was. And then I thought to myself, “I have to be here, because the stitches look like this, and so if I do that next, I should be back in the pattern.” And this is what I got:

It doesn’t seem all that impressive if you already know what you’re doing, does it? “Well SPLUH! I could have told you that!” But it was a big deal for me. I looked at what I had, and figured out what I needed to do to get it to look a certain way. I can’t do that…or at least I couldn’t until I’d started this project. I feel a lot more optimistic about my ability to get good enough at this to make some of the cool things I’ve seen other knitters make (like free-form cables – that stuff is the shiznit)!

My only regret is that my Rav-friend is going to get an imperfect square. I’m almost halfway through and I’m still thinking of ripping it all out and starting over, but I seriously doubt I’ll have enough time to finish it by the 31st if I do. I can only hope that it’s taken in the spirit in which it is meant, and that she won’t mind that it definitely got better as I went along.

Hiatus Summary Part II: Knitting!

First, another episode of yarn acquisition that should have been included last time:

Before I left on my honeymoon, I had a lucky windfall in the yarn department, courtesy of Lime & Violet. In their Charity archives, you’ll find this post, putting out the call for donations to help a gorgeous pit bull named Roo raise enough money for his expensive knee surgery. Being a big softie for animals in general and pit bulls in particular, I tossed in a donation, and though I would have done it even without a reward, I sent in my information for a shot at the yarn raffle just for the heck of it. And what do you know, my number came up! The result?

Three skeins of L&V Sasquatch yarn in the one-of-a-kind colorway “Roo.” At 425 yards per skein, that’s a lot of pretty pitty yarn! What I’ll make with it I have no idea, but it’s a good motivation to keep learning!

I chickened out of taking any knitting on the plane, but when I got back I was determined to get back into the groove. After all, we’re coming up on the season for wool, which I think will help me remain focused. Knitting in the apartment with the yarn sticking to my sweaty fingers was NOT appealing, let me tell you.

First up, remember my first-ever project? The garter stitch scarf that fell victim to my impatience? I finally went back and finished it. My craving for the purl stitch had been satisfied, and I was facing a potential job that would involve a lot of being outdoors in winter (which has since fallen through), so I resolved to get it done once and for all. I really wasn’t that far from the end, as it turns out. 

It’s very soft and squishy, which I like, and seems to be reasonably warm. It doesn’t have any blatant, glaring mistakes. It’s wide, which I like, although I have discovered that contrary to popular (that is, my) belief, there is a point at which a scarf may become too wide. It’s also short, which I don’t like. I have another skein of this yarn and could theoretically remedy that problem, except I’d already decided that this year I will wear a hat when it’s freakishly cold outside. This means I need a hat to go with this scarf, one that uses the same super-bulky yarn and is not your typical tight-fitting knitted cap that doesn’t fit over a ponytail and gives hideous hat hair. Oh, and if at all possible it should use garter stitch to match the scarf. That particular enough for you?

Luckily for me, the aforementioned Ysolda has apparently been reading my mind, as her Urchin Hat is exactly what the doctor ordered. Of course, it contains new challenges – a provisional cast-on, short rows, and grafting – but I’m beginning to think that Nietzsche must have been knitting when he coined the phrase “That which does not kill us makes us stronger,” as the only way to accomplish anything with this pursuit seems to be to jump in with both feet and press on come hell or high water to the finish line. You can get input, ask friends, scour the ‘net, but in the end, it’s just you and your fingers that have to sort it out.

While I wait for my 7mm needles to come in the mail and scrape up the courage to start my hat, I have two other projects to work on – an acre of purple stockinette that will eventually be something adorable for a dear friend, and part B of the mysterious gift in progress previously mentioned. Not to mention hunting up a job! I find my immediate challenges in knitting are more connected to my lack of funds to procure appropriate needles than any remaining lack of motivation.

Hiatus Summary Part I: Yarn!

I am soooo behind. On everything. I’m going to attempt to catch up on blogging so that as I get back to knitting I can keep up. So here we go!

When last we spoke, dear reader, I was cleaning my apartment, locked in a death struggle with the purl stitch, and working on a mystery gift. I was also approaching my wedding day. To tie up these loose ends: The apartment was cleaned. The purl stitch was more or less bent to my will. The mystery gift part A has been completed and part B will be started soon.

Then I got married!

The wedding was everything I’d hoped, with no major disasters and plenty of fun had by all. Then it was off on our romantic honeymoon in Scotland.

Scotland is full of sheep. Therefore, logically, Scotland is also full of wool. As a budding knitter with an avid knitter for her new mother-in-law, this was rather thrilling to me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get photos of the aran-weight natural Hebridean Black wool I bought for my new mother-in-law as a souvenir, or the awesome purple Rowan Scottish Tweed DK and green Jamieson’s Shetland Heather DK that became her birthday present. But I did get photos of my new goodies!

For myself I brought home two balls of lovely green Rowan Scottish Tweed DK, purchased on the Isle of Skye at a yarn and woolens shop called The Handspinner Having Fun:

This shop was large, and mostly full of finished knit sweaters of various sizes and types. As the name implies, there was also an abundance of handspun yarn made of everything from alpaca to silk to camel(!). The customer before me made off with the Hebridean Black wool I was eyeing for myself (not that I can blame her), and I really wanted something more or less local, so I settled on the Rowan. I was repeatedly amazed by the high level of just plain old friendliness among the shopkeepers in Scotland, and this was no exception. The shop also happens to be dangerously situated immediately adjacent to a used book shop, so be forewarned!

I also came home with eight (yes, eight) balls of Jamieson’s Shetland Heather, aran weight, which I hope to someday be skilled enough to turn into a lovely garment of snuggly cabley goodness, like perhaps Norah Gaughan’s Wandering Aran Fields or some kind of vest.

This yarn came from K1 Yarns in Edinburgh, a store that scored at least a 12 on my scale of 1 to 10 (and, if I’m not mistaken, is the workplace of designer Ysolda Teague, though she was not there when I was). While not huge, the shop had a large selection of yarn – brands, colors, weights, prices, etc – that was accessible to the customer, well-organized and easy to navigate. It also had customer service that was literally second to none. I was greeted by a friendly lady who asked if she could help me. When I told her that I was on vacation and wanted to purchase some local yarn for myself and my mother-in-law, she gave me a guided tour of all the Scottish and Welsh yarns, then let me browse in peace until I was ready with my selections. The shop also endeared itself to me as a total amateur by offering friendly little charts all around the store with tidbits like “How much of what type of yarn do I need to make an average sized (blank)?” It’s located just off the Royal Mile, too, making it easy to fit into your trip – and I *highly* recommend you do!

I’ll end here for now. Look for Part II of my catch-up posting before the end of the week, in which you’ll hear about the knitting I’ve done since I got home, and what’s next!

Wherein I Wish For a More Interesting Life

Ok, not really. My life is pretty interesting now, what with the whole “I just got my Master’s” and “I’m getting married in just over 6 weeks” situation. But my day-to-day existence, and particularly my needles, aren’t really all that thrilling.

There is the ongoing epic apartment cleaning quest. I have vanquished the kitchen and bathroom, and have leveled up to…drumroll please…the BEDROOM. Yes, I know, how exciting for me. I hope it will be over soon.

There is also the knitting, which I have been doing, mainly unsuccessfully. After having necessarily neglected it for several weeks, my meager skills had atrophied appropriately, leading to some highly frustrating mistakes, ripping back, and my realization that while I’d figured out a motion that would create a purl stitch on the needle, it was such an uncomfortable movement that I resolved to teach my hands to move the way the video on KnittingHelp.com shows it, or die trying. That held up actual progress a bit, although I did eventually succeed (more or less).

These obstacles conquered, I went on to complete something! Pictures of the new FO are lacking however, for while I doubt that this blog is being read by the recipient-to-be, it’s possible and therefore I’m taking no chances on spoiling the surprise. Rest assured, though, I have been working! I’m hoping, now that I’ve sorted out my purl issues and got my hands back on track, that I’ll have something more interesting to show you soon. We shall see – it will depend on whether I ever resurface from my spring cleaning!

Dream a Little Dream…or Several

#1. Tomorrow I will be FREE! Only one more paper to finish off, and then grad school will be over and knitting can resume. I can’t WAIT to get started again. I have small gift projects to make for two lucky recipients. Then I’ll whip up (hopefully whip, not f***) an iPod cozy for Andrew and go back to the stockinette bunny that is not yet of doom but may well be later. The iPod thing might be too ambitious though…you see, it requires two colors. EEP!

#2. I need money to feed my habit. As soon as the tax rebate gets here I’ll be able to order more needles and get on with more projects! There’s the Brown Bag where my gauge is completely FUBARed despite using the exact same yarn the pattern calls for. I wanted it a teensy bit bigger than it is and figured felting would be forgiving…but I knit the bottom and realized there was NO WAY all those stitches would fit on my dinky 16″ circs. Plus I would like a Paris Loop for fall, since I already bought yarn for it on eBay! Oh, I could go on and on. Hurry up, free government money! I want to spend you to reinvigorate my knitting addiction the economy! With you I will also buy DPNs, because…

#3. I have yet to knit my first pair of socks, but I think I may be addicted already. I love looking at all the cool sock designs on Ravelry. I love imagining myself wearing the socks. I think all the time about taking my sock-in-progress on a tour of Manhattan a la Yarn Harlot. I have like five bajillion sock patterns in my favorites on Ravelry, plus I’ve saved off all of those and dozens more to my computer…plus I may have to knit every single thing Cookie A. has ever designed or I will explode. That happens to me sometimes.

#4. I also hope to spend more time outside this summer. I haven’t really fully taken advantage of living in New York City, and now that I only have a year left before a possible move I really would like to remedy that. Perhaps there is some knitting-in-public in lovely Central Park in my future? I like to think so. If I am careful to vary my tank top sleeve placement each day I do this before the wedding, possibly I will not blind everyone with my pasty whiteness and yet not have to visit ::gasp:: a tanning salon.

#5. I need a clever scheme to minimize the likelihood of knitting needles being confiscated on airplanes, even flying out of Heathrow Airport which is apparently VERY strict about knitting needles. From everything I’ve heard, I should be OK going over when we fly out of Philadelphia, but coming back I will probably opt for a nice safe book. Not that that’s bad – I do love reading and I can’t knit and read at the same time. But on principle, I think it’s a little ridiculous not to allow wood or plastic knitting needles when wood pencils and plastic pens are no problem. Metal, ok, MAYBE. But come on.

Checking In

I know from my blog activity, it looks like my commitment to knitting has waned. Well, yes and no.

I have not been knitting as much as I’d like, I don’t deny it. Between the end of the semester and all it entails (presentations, final papers, and exams) and the fact that my wedding is just over two months away, things have been kind of crazy and moments to knit have not come as regularly as they did before. My time has been taken up with scrambling to finish my Master’s degree and assembling wedding invitations instead, but that should all be changing soon and then I will have more interesting things to post!

The other reason it’s been quiet here is that when I do get a chance to knit, I’ve been working on a surprise gift that I don’t want to be discovered thanks to the fact that this blog is linked to my profile on Ravelry. Rest assured, there will be pictures and words about it once it has been joyfully given. Enjoy the nicer weather, and I will see you on the other side of my finals!

In Which New Projects Abound

Last weekend was a very busy weekend, as Andrew and I went back to PA to take care of some wedding details and visit family. We did a lot of running around, but I did get a chance for some knitting related activity! Before we left on Friday I was almost finished with my pawprint dishcloth, so I left it at home to be finished when we got back. This way, I could get started on some other projects!

I cast on for a gift project that involves a whole lot o’ stockinette, so that I would have something easy to keep track of to do on the train. A couple of false starts and I think I’m really getting the hang of the purl stitch! Plus, I got a few inches done on my boring scarf, but since it’s getting warmer (finally) it’s a lot harder to get motivated to work on that. Andrew has picked the pattern he wants for his “real” scarf, so I’ll probably leave this one alone until I figure out whether I’ll be good enough to make the one he wants for next winter or whether I still need this one as a placeholder. I’m sure I can find a use for the yarn if I scrap the scarf!

When we got back to NY, the first thing I did was finish off the pawprint cloth. The picture doesn’t show up so well on the variegated yarn, but up close it looks pretty good! I’m happy with how it turned out, and I think I’m ready to start my kitchen gift sets. I bought the yarn for them at A.C. Moore over the weekend. Unfortunately, this means that my stockinette project is going into hibernation, since I need those needles for the gift projects, but I’m ok with that.

I’ve also started one other thing, Knitty’s Brown Bag for Andrew to carry his lunch in. He said he wanted one, and I am itching to learn how to work in the round, so I thought it would make a good learning project since even if I do screw up, it will (hopefully) disappear when it’s felted! I’m using the exact yarn she recommended, but my gauge was WAY off, so Andrew helped me recalculate the pattern to make it work out. So far I’ve just worked on the garter stitch bottom, but it’s been really fun! The yarn is a lot less splitty than the Caron Simply Soft I was using on the stockinette project and I like the nice, even stitches I’m getting with it. It makes me feel like a better knitter than I probably am!

I love, love, love my new Harmony circulars from KnitPicks, too! I knew I would need a 16″ circular for the brown bag, so I decided to order the nice ones and try them out. I know I don’t have much to compare them to, being a new knitter, but I swear this must be what knitting is like in heaven! They’re so pretty, I feel like I’m knitting with crayons and it makes me happy. And the action is so smooth! I just can’t stand the metal-on-metal noise (the clicking is ok, but I get a scraping sometimes that sends chills down my spine) and with the beauty of the Harmonies, I don’t think I’m going to be able to give them up! I’d better start saving up for the interchangeable set!

Very First FO!

I’m finally proud to post my very first finished object!

It’s not much, just one of Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloths, but I’m very excited about it. It’s Lion Brand Lion Cotton yarn in colorway “Denim Swirl,” since Andrew and I have a blue scheme going on in the kitchen. I learned that yarn overs are nothing to be afraid of, nor are knit 2 togethers. If finishing a dishcloth feels this good, I can’t wait to see what it’s like to finish a sweater!

I love the pretty eyelet border that the YO’s made! I thought it was especially fun seeing my progress on this piece, compared to the Boring Scarf (which is currently hibernating while I move on to learning the purl stitch – I’ll get around to finishing it eventually). Since the dishcloth is done on the diagonal, I  got to see it grow in width and then shrink back down to the original four stitches at the end. It went really fast, too, which I think I needed. The bind-off corner is the pointy one, but I did a kind of half-assed blocking last night and it evened out a lot.

Now, as I mentioned, I’m determined to learn the purl stitch so that I can finally start making things I’m willing to give to other people. The project I’ve chosen for this is another dishcloth, since the first gifts I intend to give are dishcloth/towel sets. So I’m making myself one for practice!  I’ve chosen a pawprint motif, of course. Bet you weren’t expecting that!

I’m only a few rows in, mostly because I had to frog it this evening after I took a break, because I got confused as to which side was supposed to be knit across, and which side was supposed to follow the knit/purl pattern to make the picture. But now that my hands know the motion of the purl stitch a bit, I was able to get back to about the point where I made the mistake fairly quickly.

I’m surprised at how I’ve been able to pick this up using basically only the videos from knittinghelp.com to learn. I’m not really much of a visual-spatial person. I can’t recommend the videos enough! Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of the pawprint cloth and the beginning of my REAL projects!

Know Thyself

I should so not have taken up this hobby in the middle of the semester.

Not because it’s not great – on the contrary, I’m having a lot of fun with it despite the fact that I’m one of the least patient people I know. I am constantly drooling over all of the amazing things there are out there to make that I’m not good enough to knit yet. This obsession has gotten that much worse since my Ravelry invitation finally came – a nice reward after my comprehensive exams last Friday.

I actually think that the fact of my having so little patience might actually make me more, rather than less, likely to keep knitting. As long as I pace myself and keep doing small projects where I can see progress quickly, I can see myself forging ahead to bigger and better – and more rewarding – projects. Luckily one of the things I’m itching to do the most, cabling, is supposed to be much easier than it looks.

Going along with my lack of patience, though, is the discovery that I am not going to be a monogamous knitter by any stretch of the imagination. I anticipate needing to have one large project and one or two smaller projects on the needles at any given time, hopefully with one of them close to completion. This will keep me sane through endless rows of garter/stockinette/other boring stitches that everyone complains about!

I am making good progress on my boring scarf, despite all of the craziness of the past two weeks. I finished one skein of yarn and am on to the second, as you can see. It’s soo soft and warm and fuzzy! The only thing that drives me a little crazy are the thick stiff acrylic fibers that stick out from the yarn every now and then. I fear I will soon be an anti-acrylic purist! I feel very comfortable with the motion of knitting and am getting a fairly consistent tension, now that I can sort of feel it and adjust for it when necessary. But it is starting to get kind of dreary looking at the same thing in the same color day in and day out, so I ordered some yarn and needles for my next project.

I’m going to throw together some of Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloths for my kitchen in preparation for the two kitchen sets I want to do for some early summer birthdays. After these three projects are complete, I should have learned the purl stitch, how to switch between knitting and purling in the same row, how to do a yarn over, how to knit 2 together, and how to read a basic pattern. And since they’re small and have some variation, I’m hoping they’ll be a more interesting alternative for when I get sick of looking at garter stitch.

Lesson Accomplished

Yesterday was my knitting lesson, and it is official, I’m hooked. Or needled, I guess, since this isn’t crochet.

Katie reassured me that some of the irregularities I was worried about in my trial runs were really not anything to worry about, like loose end stitches, and showed me some ideas to cope with them. We knitted and talked and I had a really great time! I made a good start on my scarf, although I screwed up the very beginning pretty bad and ended up frogging and starting over once I got the hang of it and was confident that I wouldn’t repeat the mistakes.

So, here’s what I have so far on my first project:

It’s just your basic garter stitch scarf. Both of my prospective teachers knit English, but after watching the videos on knittinghelp.com I’m all about the Continental style – it seems so much more efficient in general, and especially in going back and forth between knitting and purling. But it’s going to take a number of repetitions and trials to figure out the movement of the purl stitch, and I was about ready to see some progress.

I was right about the needles -  in addition to being much prettier than the plastic ones, I like working with them a lot better too. They are 9 inches instead of 10, which might be why they have a shorter taper, I don’t know. But in any case, the shorter taper makes it much less awkward, in my opinion. Plus, the needles move against each other a lot more easily than the plastics, which had a lot of friction against each other. The yarn is awesome, too! It’s knitting up all warm and snuggly. It still fuzzes kind of a lot, but now that I’m starting to figure out what I’m doing it doesn’t throw me off as much.

I may put off the basket-weave scarf I was talking about doing for Andrew and let him use this one until closer to next winter, since the weather has taken a sudden turn for the spring-like. I’m still entertaining possibilities for a new second project – I just want to make sure I learn the purl stitch for the next one! Maybe something like this dishcloth for Andrew’s parents. That moose looks a lot more like a deer to me, making it perfect for his deer-hunting father (yes, everything killed is eaten). I bet it would be easy to make matching towels, too, just continue the background until it’s long enough for a towel, maybe make it a little wider. We’ll see if it turns out to be too ambitious.  For now, it’s back to knitting!

Just in Time!

I was sitting at home working on my presentation for class tomorrow night, when who should arrive but the mailman with my package of knitting supplies! It was a glorious haul, in my short experience. Just in time for my lesson and the Honors Commons knitting circle tomorrow!

The needles are so much nicer looking than the plastic ones, and they have a shorter taper before reaching the full needle diameter. Based on my limited attempts with the plastics, I’m hoping that this shorter taper will make the motion less awkward for me. I don’t know what more experienced knitters will think about this, but I guess I’ll find out if it works for me!

I got plenty of other goodies too – along with two sets of the Clover needles (sizes 13 and 15), I also got two skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarn for what will hopefully be my second project, the scarf I mentioned in my last entry. Plus, I got a set of large-size Susan Bates acrylic crochet hooks.

I’m super excited for my lesson tomorrow. The more I read the more I can’t wait to get started!

Now, if only my Ravelry invitation would show up. Still over 2,000 people ahead of me. >.<

To the Yarn Store, Away!

This morning I made my first trip to my local yarn store, Sandy’s Knit ‘n’ Needles at the corner of Union Turnpike and Parsons Boulevard in Flushing. I pass it almost every day on my way to St. John’s, and I’ve even considered going in to get something for my voracious knitter future MIL, but just never seemed to get around to it. Well, no more! Today I was on a mission.

Photo from sandysknitnneedles.com

As you can tell, it is SMALL! The store was packed with supplies for knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, cross-stitch…you name it, it was in there, plus even some finished items for sale. The ladies (one of whom turned out to be Sandy herself) were very nice, friendly, and helpful, although the other customer was a little grouchy. Well, you can’t pick your clientele! They helped me find what I needed, and as it turns out they offer their customers project assistance free of charge! I can see that coming in very handy.

Of course, it was a little overwhelming for me, Miss Leave-Me-Alone-Unless-I-Ask-For-Help. Usually in a store I like to browse around, examine all my options until I find what I need, narrow down my choices, and finally mosey on up to the ol’ checkout counter in my own sweet time. I’ve actually been known to leave stores if too many salespeople ask to help me as I’m trying to shop. Unfortunately, due to the small size of the store and the amount they have to offer, that’s just not possible here. You’ll never find anything without a salesperson’s help, and if you want more than one of something it’s just not to be found upstairs. It’s a function of the size of the store and completely understandable…but still, not what makes me most comfortable.

They were very eager to help me find exactly what I needed for my first project – except I don’t actually have a first project yet. I was actually even considering not making anything in particular for a while, just practicing casting on, knit stitches, purl stitches, and binding off until I have the hang of it. Then my yarn could go into retirement for a bit, or perhaps turn itself into some sort of headband or small scarf or something. I think I know what my first serious project will be – a scarf for hubby-to-be following this pattern. But I want some practice before I make something that’s actually going to go out in public.

Following the advice of my friend and soon-to-be-knitting instructor Katie, I procured the following items:

Three (3) Skeins Sirdar Denim Ultra Mega Chunky Yarn – Katie had recommended Lion Brand Thick & Quick (either Wool-Ease or Jiffy) for economy, but they don’t stock Lion at Sandy’s. This was the chunky yarn they recommended in its place.

They sent me off with three skeins once I gave in and said I was making a scarf, since this yarn only has 82 yards per skein. It’s big and soft, though, and I’m sure eventually I’ll be able to turn it all into something delightful. There was a beautiful two-tone blue color that I wanted, but unfortunately they didn’t have enough in stock. I was a sad panda.

One (1) Pair Susan Bates Quicksilver Knitting Needles (Plastic, 10″, Size 15) – Striking out once again, there were no bamboo knitting needles to be had in the store. But the plastics were cheap, which I appreciated given the difference in cost between the Lion Brand yarn and the yarn I ended up with.

I really want a bamboo set, though, so I came home and ordered some online. The consensus in the knitting fora seems to be that bamboo needles are less slippery than metal or plastic. This can be a pain when there’s too much friction with the yarn and it slows down your knitting. Of course, as a beginner I certainly won’t be going very fast, and knowing myself I think I’ll get less frustrated with the stitches wanting to stay on the needles rather than wanting to slip off of them.

I still took these, just in case my bamboo ones aren’t here in time for Thursday’s lesson. Plus it’ll give me something to mess around with in the meantime.

Hello world!

This blog was created for me to log my adventures into the world of knitting! Don’t worry, the good stuff starts soon.