firecat

Lately I feel like I want to learn something new, or continue learning something I've already done some of...mostly along the lines of arts and crafts. It's great that I want to do stuff and might have the energy to do stuff, because it's been a while since I felt that way. But it's also frustrating right now, because whatever part of my brain that I use to choose among various more or less equally good options seems to still be offline, so I can't make up my mind what I want to learn or where/how I want to learn it.
( lists )

What do you want to learn? What are you glad you learned?

If you're on Ravelry you can see it here:
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firecat/curly-q-hat

Curly Q Hat by Hélène Rush
Needle: US 8 - 5.0 mm
Yarn: Feline Fibers 2-ply wool
How much? 0.9 skeins = 108.0 yards (98.8m)
Purchased at: Black Mountain Weavers in Point Reyes Station, California

Someday I will learn how to compensate for the fact that I knit really loosely. The hat came out too big around. So I felted it.

Someday I will learn how to pay attention to the washing machine when I felt something. It felted it a bit more than I intended it to.

Now the shape is sort of cloche-like. I like it in an “embracing serendipity” sort of way.

( my behatted and bespectacled mug )

Have Fun! Scarf by Sally Melville, The Knitting Experience, Book 1: The Knit Stitch
I finished this in 2005 but I got it out for a photo today because auntysocial was talking about the book in question. I don't remember what needle size I used. I knit this from a bunch of different yarns I got at the Mendocino Wool & Fiber Festival in 2004. It’s knit sideways and self-fringing. I made the mistake of hanging it on a hanger, and it grew so now it’s over 10 feet long.
( Read more... )

Regia Jacquard socks (two at once, top down on 2 circs)
(Finished last month)
Pattern: Boot Socks by Knit Picks Design Team
Size: custom
Needle: US 1 / 2.25 mm
Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Jacquard Color 4-ply / 4-fädig
2 skeins = 460.0 yards (420.6m)
Color family: Blue
Acquired: as door prize, TKCS Oct 07
( Read more... )

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firecat/diamond-waffle-socks

Needles:
US 0 / 2.0 mm Knitpicks nickel-plated 16" circs
US 1 / 2.25 mm Knitpicks nickel-plated 16" circs


Yarn: Fleece Artist Nova Socks
1 skein = 355.0 yards (324.6m)
Colorway amethyst
Purchased at Stitches West in Santa Clara, California


( photos and gory details )

In my review of the Golden Compass movie I mentioned a couple of the cool knitted garments that showed up in the movie.

The OH and I recently watched Jailhouse Rock. Elvis wears an very nice sweater in one scene. I wondered if I could find a pattern for it. A brief search turned up an adapted version (a personal pattern):
http://colorguardblog.blogs.com/knitblog/2005/01/can_i_have_the_.html
http://colorguardblog.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/april_presley_2.jpg

It also appears you can buy a reproduction of the sweater.

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firecat/silly-hat
Made for Naomi

Needles
US 6 / 4.0 mm (top)
US 4 / 3.5 mm (ribbing)

Yarn
Plymouth Dreambaby DK Solid, 0.75 ball
Baruffa Fur, 1 ball

Adapted from the top down hat pattern in Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top. Reversible. One side has an I-cord "stem". The fur and dk part is stockinette; the part with dk only is 2x2 rib, with a stockinette edge.

( hatted firecat with silly grin inside )

11/01/07

733 out of 50,000

11/02/07

912 out of 50,000

11/03/07

2103 out of 50,000

Widget from gngr here.

Other:

• Started 3 Garage Band pieces and finished four others
• Finished a sleeve of the Heartbeat Sweater
• Started the second sleeve of the Heartbeat Sweater while watching one of the dumber Original Star Trek episodes ("The Naked Time")
• Knitted several rows of the Tidal Wave sock (and ripped half of them out again) while hanging with Serene in a cafe in San Francisco
• Finished one Tidal Wave sock (it took two tries because I misread the instructions the first time and produced a too-short toe)
• Finished the second sleeve of the Heartbeat Sweater and started the neckline
• Started the second Tidal Wave sock
• Started and ripped a lace shawl (my own design)
• Finished the Heartbeat Sweater
• Finished the Tidal Wave socks
• Started a sekrit winter gift project

This info is written up more tidily on http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firecat/heartbeat-sweater

Pattern: Heartbeat Sweater by Jill Vosburg
Craft: Knitting
Made for: me
Size: 44" bust with side panel modifications
Needle: US 5 (back panel), US 3 (front panel), US 2 (side panels, sleeves, neckline)
Yarn: mercerized cotton
Colorway: purple and pink varigated (front/back panels), purple (side panels, sleeves, neckline)
I got the yarn in a swap. (Waves to punkmom)

Notes
The pattern goes up to a 64" bust, but as written it isn't all that well designed to accommodate larger sizes - the shoulders and neckline end up too wide. Also the side panel width doesn't change (but I think that it should—a person who is bigger around also tends to have wider sides).

We did it as a KAL on the ample-knitters yahoo group. Different folks modified the pattern in different ways to address these issues.

My bust is larger than the 44" size I knit; I made up the difference by increasing the width of the side panels. Also I modified the triangles at the bottom of the back sweater panel to accommodate wider hips. (I won't do that again if I make another Heartbeat Sweater, because it makes the bottom of the sweater into an upside-down vee shape, which isn't entirely flattering. But it looks OK for this one).

I used #5 needles and continental knitting for the first front/back panel, but the fabric was too loose. I switched to #3 needles and combination knitting for the second front/back panel. When I was ready to start the sleeves, side panels, and neckline I discovered the purple yarn was much thinner than the multicolored yarn, so I knit with two strands held together on #2 needles.

The sweater is loose on me - my gauge-fu for garments larger than socks or hats is weak (and it doesn't help when I change techniques and needle sizes mid-project). It has some drape so it looks OK at this size, but I may take in the side panels at some point.

Better pictures to come. I've mislaid my camera so I took this on my crappy cellphone camera. It's a detail of the front panel and neckline. ( stitches )

My third pair of socks, first pair of worsted-weight socks, first pair that didn't follow a specific pattern. I'm getting better, but I still haven't figured out how to get rid of the holes at the edges of the heels where I turn the short rows. Next time I'll try the flap-and-gusset heel.

Made from Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm worsted superwash wool, 1 ball red and 1 ball red and gray stripe. I used #3 casein DPNs. They were lovely to work with, except you can't hold them in your mouth or they start to melt.

( Read more... )

This scarf has been on the needles since last December; I started it in the airport waiting for a flight to Las Vegas to visit the OH's cousin and kitchenwitch. I've been carrying it around in my bag as my "knit in waiting rooms" pattern, and I ended up taking it to Wiscon. Every time I got annoyed in a panel I picked it up, so I quickly finished it. :-)

The pattern is from a book called Knit It Now!. The book teaches six stitch patterns and gives patterns for three or four garments in each pattern, each made with a different type of yarn, so you can see how a single pattern looks in a wide variety of yarn types. Nice idea, but the garments are mostly kind of dull.

They call this pattern Brick Stitch. It's a slip stitch pattern, which means that you're only knitting with one color per row but slipping some of the stitches from the row below to bring that color up into the current row. To my eye the result looks complex but the process is pretty easy. It was my first attempt at two color work that wasn't multi-row stripes.

The yarn is Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo. I really like the yarn; it feels really nice in my hands, drapes well, is lightweight, and has good stitch definition. It's not particularly warm.

I really like how this scarf turned out, and I got lots of compliments on it while I was knitting it.
( pix - also available on flickr at firecatstef )

I put together this soap bag from two practice swatches made from instructions in Module Magic by Ginger Luters et al. The bag is made from two different kinds of worsted weight cotton. The blue cotton is very sturdy and firm, the green cotton is soft and more stretchy. The bag has very long I-cord straps. There is knitted and crocheted edging. It's my own made-up-as-I-went-along pattern. I didn't try to make it pretty or neat.

Next time I will change it as follows: Crocheted strap instead of I-cord, which took forever. Body made in one piece, or two swatches of the same size rather than different sizes. The same edging throughout.
( Read more... )

I have a Finally Fucking Finished Object (FFFO), a version of Branching Out by Susan Pierce Lawrence on the Knitty web site.

I've had it on the needles since August or so.

I wasn't actively knitting it that whole time, but I had a very difficult time with it and probably knit about twice as many pattern repeats as ended up in my finished scarf. If this is "easy lace" (as billed on Knitty) then I'm not cut out to be a lace knitter.

(I haven't given up on knitted lace yet though.)

It's made out of some mystery yarn on a cone that I got in a Newton's Yarn Country sale. The yarn is soft, light and fluffy. It's not very elastic (and therefore not the smartest yarn to use for a first lace project. Oh well). My swatch was completely unaffected by the washer and dryer so I don't think the scarf is going to be "blockable" per se.

There are still a lot of mistakes—but most of them are relatively invisible, even to me. The one that isn't invisible (but I'm too lazy to fix) is that the first 1/4 of the scarf is "inside out." I noticed quite a while later that I had switched the right side and wrong side rows. It's still probably not noticeable to anyone but another knitter.

Design decisions as a result of mistakes department:

I hopelessly fouled things up around 1/3 of the way into the scarf and "fixed" it by knitting some rows of garter stitch and starting over. So then I knit another chunk of garter stitch 2/3 of the way along.

( 2 photos )

I finished knitting my first pair of socks.

I used some German self-striping sock yarn, I don't remember the brand, washable wool/polyester. It wasn't the softest stuff I've ever knit with, but it feels good on my feet.

I used the Universal Toe Up Sock Formula from Knitty.com. This pattern works quite well to create a custom fitted sock (although for me the toe came out a bit too narrow. I have wide forefeet).

I had one problem with the pattern: When I went to start knitting in the round again after making the heel, there were holes in the corners. The pattern suggests that you make some extra stitches to compensate, but that didn't work for me.

I knit them on size 2 Brittany birch DPNs, which I loved. The gauge is a bit looser than I prefer for socks, though; if I did them again with DPNs I would use size 1. They are stockinette except for an inch of 2x2 ribbing at the top.

( Herewith are photos of my socks and my hairy shins. )

My next sock project will use circular needles. I like working with DPNs; it's portable and most of the sock could be done without my full attention. And the yarn did not slide off the DPNs nearly as often as I expected it to, but it did do so a couple of times. I want to see if I can learn to do circular needle socks the same way and if doing socks on circs will solve the problem of ladders where one DPN shifts to the next. (I did find a way to solve that, which my brain isn't letting me describe in words right now. But the way I used would make doing patterned socks more difficult, I think).

How am I supposed to know whether I want to buy a book of knitting patterns if I can't see photos of the patterns? The publishers' web sites, Amazon, and the yarn companies' web sites usually show photos of one or maybe even up to six patterns, but most of the books contain lots more patterns than that. Yes, I can go to my LYS* to look at books, but they usually don't have every book I want to look at.


*local yarn store

Proof that there is such a thing as a garment with Too Many Cables:
http://www.knitpicks.com/books/books_display.aspx?itemid=30920