firecat

Tidal Wave Socks by Deby Lake
Free pattern from South West Trading Company
www.soysilk.com/

Knit from Ellens 1/2 Pint Farm hand-dyed wool/tencel fingering, "Evening Shadows" colorway

This was my first top-down sock project. I did the lace pattern all the way down the front of the sock instead of stopping at the heel. The yarn is luscious and perfect for the simple lace pattern. The top-down construction method was easy; the only problem I had was with the kitchener toe.

Jury's out on whether the socks wear well. (I am hard on socks.)

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firecat/tidal-wave-socks


( piccies )

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

As worn by a pretty contented firecat
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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 )

UFO = "unfinished object"

Interweave Press has a fun blog/newsletter called Knitting Daily. The past few days they have been talking about UFOs. Many folks seem to be buying into the assumption that UFOs are bad and you should have only one project at a time. Here's the comment I posted:

I've realized I have a multitude of different knitting desires. This means I need multiple projects going at once. So my seven or eight unfinished OTN projects aren't UFOs so much as multiple WIPs (works in progress).

I desire: (1) variety (so I allow myself to start new projects before finishing old ones, if they are different); (2) some easy *small* knitting that I can take with me to doctor's offices, on planes, etc.; (3) some easy knitting that I can do while watching movies at home (doesn't have to be small); (4) to learn new techniques; (5) to work with delicious yarn; (6) to make clothes that fit me; (7) stashbusting; (8) to practice my design skills; (9) to experience the delight of wearing home-made socks (I've only got 3 pairs so far, I need at least 14 in order to be able to wear home-made socks every day!); (10) to make practical things (hats, shawls that will keep me warm when my cat insists on having the window open in winter).

Of course one project can and usually does meet multiple desires, but no one project can meet *all* those desires. Hence, multiple projects are necessary!

One task for today is to look through my stitch dictionaries to find a colorwork pattern suitable for a band of my new sweater.

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.

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I'm on a mailing list called GLBT-knit (at queernet). I asked them for suggestions for plain-color wool yarn raised and produced in the US and Canada and dyed in a variety of colors.

I got many suggestions and also other related suggestions for undyed yarn, non-wool yarn, roving, progressive yarn companies, and web-search sites for local products.

Here's a summary of what list members suggested and what I found on my own. More suggestions welcome.

DYED WOOL YARN

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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.
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