Yarn Kitten!!!

I am still a little traumatized by my summer working at Old Navy and I don't know how I feel about this grandma-bot machine that churns out knitted items while I spend days working on a single sock cuff but I love the knitty kitty so much I had to share:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CinTc-8vdaQ

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season and that your knits, whether bot-made or handmade, are keeping you warm!! 

Cowls and Socks and Podcasts, Oh My!

So many things to talk about today. First, obviously, the WIPs for WIPW:  

My second burberry inspired cowl

I only have one more repeat left to do in this pattern and then the most annoying challenging part- kitchener stitching it all together. I am actually looking forward to it a little bit because I feel like I  have the kitchener rhythm down now (famous last  words).

sock

Then there's my sock, which I took out on the metro today instead of the cowl because it was rainy and gross outside and I didn't want the cowl to get soaked from people dripping their umbrellas or jacket sleeves all over it.


I think I am still on track to finish this sock by the end of Socktober, thus meeting my goal of completing my first pair of socks but it would have been nice to make two pairs. I know, I know. Given my schedule that is not only greedy but also ridiculous and impossible. There is something wrong with me.

After Socktober of course, comes Glovember (join my group on Ravelry!) during which I will be completing a pair of handwarmers for a good friend. I started them in the spring so yeah...good timing.

What else to share? What else? Oh well there's this- poor little penguins. Apparently they have enough sweaters now, oops, jumpers? But it doesn't hurt to keep some handy and model them on your cats. Do send pictures if you do. 

cats love being dressed, promise!

There's also this, which I heard about on Cast On. It is so cool. I want one.

ALSO- what is going on with Cast On? And Never Not Knitting? Is everyone leaving the podcast-o-sphere? Where did Sticks and String go? Thank goodness I still have Just One More Row and 2 Knit Lit  Chicks and Stash and Burn. I don't know what I am going to do when I am caught up with all the episodes.

My knitting podcast obsession started several weeks ago when I started a new work project. My work involves looking at hundreds of billions of boring documents all day. It doesn't involve a lot of brain activity though and so we are allowed to listen to music or whatever else while we do this. It became pretty clear early on that ABBA Gold loses its magical powers when you listen to it three times a day and I didn't want to waste it so I turned to podcasts. Generally speaking, they have changed my life. I listen to NPR, The Nerdist, WTF, Rachel Maddow, Freakonomics to name a few (I am not linking to them all) and I feel like I learn all these cool things every day. I also listen to a whole bunch of knitting related podcasts. Ones I didn't mention above that I have started listening to are YarnGasm, Cogknitive and Purl Diving (are there any more I should be listening to? I prefer them to be over half an hour and audio only so I can pay attention to my computer screen).Oh no! There are not going to be any new Purl Diving episodes either.

My only issue with the podcasts, the knitting ones specifically, is that I can't keep up with all the knitting I am hearing about. Relatively speaking, I am quite a new knitter, but because of the podcasts I feel like I know all this stuff which I don't have the time to put into practice all at once. I want to do cool things like the ravolympics, or go to fiber festivals, or dye my own yarn because it all sounds SO AWESOME. But I am at work, working, and I just can't. The good side of it is that I am constantly inspired and look forward to going to work, if only to learn about what is going on out there in the world. All these podcasts have also inspired me to create my own, but that dream has been hindered by my work and volunteering schedule the past few months. I hope to get my weeknights back at the end of next week (finally) as well as my weekends, and am going to start putting together episodes then. Phew.

This has been a very long post for me so I am going to go and work on my cowl now. I hope to be able to update soon with pictures of the matching hat I will be casting on tomorrow if not (fingers crossed) tonight.

Knitting Without Pictures

I have been so busy since the last time I posted. I can't believe it has been almost a week. I am pretty bummed about that. The good news is that at least I have been squeezing in some knitting when I can. I have cast on another cowl. This one is for my best friend (I don't think she reads this blog, shocker) and I was a lot less nervous about using the provisional cast on this time. Also how cute is this- my husband glanced over at me while I was knitting the other day, noticed the different colored chain on the end of my work and asked "is that a provisional cast on?" So cute. Anyway, will post pictures of that tomorrow for WIPW, but now it is definitely bedtime.

Perfect Drive

Today my husband and I went clay pigeon shooting. It wasn't really my thing. I think I would be much better with a handgun (he disagrees, because he is scared) but it was fun to learn how to do and the weather was beautiful as were the surroundings. On the way back home my husband drove and I tinked the baby sweater I was making and re-cast on in a smaller size because another friend is due soon (and the originally intended baby has already been made to wait this long so what's a little longer) and I had made some sort of mistake I couldn't figure out on an earlier row.

One thing I found out (besides the fact that knitting while being driven around is wonderful) is that things are much easier the second time around and you also remember them a little bit. I remember when I was knitting my first sock, wondering what in the world was I doing, what would this look like, slipping and knitting and picking up stitches. I didn't know what would come next and each step seemed so bizarre. Now on my second sock, not only do I remember most of what needs to be done but it is so much easier knowing how it is supposed to turn out. Same with the sweater- I know how to do the seed stitch edging now, and when and where and how to make the buttonhole and when to switch to stockinette. I feel so validated and proud of my little brain for retaining this information.

Anyway, when I got home I began work on finishing a hat for my husband. He picked out the yarn himself from Rosie's Yarn Cellar which we visited when we went to Philadelphia. It is Rowan Lima, which is a baby alpaca, merino and wool blend and it is fuzzy and fun. It is finished and while the sizing is a bit off unique, we have made it fit, so basically it's perfect.

Rock Out With Your Sock Out

I have finished my first sock! I am going to cast on for the second right now. I am also working on a hat for my husband which I will be frogging for the third time later as it is still too small. Gah.



Sock #1



 I am so excited that I am finally going to have some time off to knit and relax. I have so many things I would like to work on, including this blog and future podcast, and it has all been on the back burner for a while. I have a much longer post in mind in which I want to talk about where my mind is right now, what knitting has done for me over the past several months and where I would like to be several more months from now, but I am going to put that off for another day. Since only one or two other people besides my mom read this blog, I am sure that is not a huge deal. Till then.

Sock it to Me

Lately everything has been coming up socks. I have been reading about them, hearing about them, seeing sock patterns everywhere. I don't have much experience knitting socks- I tried knitting a pair on double points but ripped out my first sock before I signed up for a two-socks-at-a-time class at my LYS, thinking I would like that more. However, I didn't really take to that method- maybe I'm not there yet with respect to my knitting capabilities, but it wasn't as satisfying as the DPN approach, and I ripped out those as well because they looked weird. But like I said, I have caught the sock bug a little bit and Socktoberfest seems like the perfect time to turn out some pairs.

I also heard about Sock Assassin recently which is actually how I found out about Socktober. Apparently this game is like regular assassin where you have to "kill" certain targets. In Sock Assassin you get a target and you have to start knitting them a pair of socks which you send to them when you are finished. Once they receive them, they are "dead" and send you their half-finished socks which you complete and then send to their target, "killing" them, and so on. The person holding the last half-finished pair of socks at the end is the winner?

I missed Sock Assassin this year but I am hoping to get in a lot of sock knitting practice this month as I fully intend to dominate next year.

So far my sock is looking good- the frustrating thing about knitting them one at a time is that you have to make another one, but I am looking forward to having two. I guess.

IT'S SOCKTOBER!!!

Ohmigosh I am so excited! I am going to make my first pair of socks! I am using the Shibui Sock in Dragonfly which I posted about a few days ago and already I know it is going to be a fantastic experience. It is a wonderful texture and the color is sublime. I am dubious about these toothpick like needles, but I think that's part of the fun?
So I'm all cast on, my ribbing is done and I am ready to make that heel flap. Happy Socktober y'all!

Glovember is Coming

I know it's not even Socktober yet, more on that later, but it's always good to be prepared:

You have been warned.

(Yes, I did make that by cutting out pictures of gloves and mittens.)

KIP it Real

I am a huge fan of KIP (knitting in public) especially lately, as I have been leaving the house before 8 in the mornings and coming home a little before 8 in the evenings at the earliest. This means the only time I can knit while giving it my full attention is on the metro or if I am waiting to meet up with friends after work. I am not self-conscious about it in the least- people do much weirder things in public and I also I love knitting, so that's that.

Until today, no one has really said anything to me about it or at least nothing that I was startled by. Some people might ask what I am doing or what I am making and I am happy to answer them. Today I was taking the train home with a co-worker who gets off at the same station as I do. We were chatting and I had told her when I sat down that I was going to work on my sweater and I wasn't ignoring her, etc., and we were having a nice conversation about work and the sweater and I was saying how even though I knew it wasn't likely to happen, I really wanted to finish it by Saturday evening.

All of a sudden, a woman who was sitting to my left decided to chime in. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," she said (at which point I knew I wasn't going to like what came next), "but I really don't think you are going to finish that sweater by then." Gah. "Well, maybe by Sunday," I suggested and was in the process of turning my body away from her and toward my buddy from work when she continued, "Yeah...so I don't know how fast you knit but I'm a knitter and I knit pretty fast and that sweater isn't happening by then."

Wait, what? Seriously?!  Who says that?! I think by this point I was making my most extreme lemur face because I don't know why she felt the need to chime in at all, let alone to rain on my knit parade. Of course she was right, well sort of. If I pulled a couple of all nighters I could totally finish. But given the fact that I have 3-4 hours of awake time at home during which I have to make and eat dinner and clean up and the fact that I have plans Friday night and am out all day Saturday...it's not going to happen. I know that. But something about this interaction got me quite riled up and I walked home telling myself I was so going to finish that sweater.

Once I got home though, and Missy ambled over and nuzzled me and wanted to settle down on my lap, I realized how silly it was to get so worked up over it. What I like about knitting is that it is fun and relaxing, even when I am trying something new that scares me (I'm looking at you, lace). If I put the same amount of stress on it as I do on other parts of my life I will lose the relief it provides me on days when those other stressors are getting me down.

Also, more importantly, when you are making something for someone it is never nice to do it while angry. Maybe I am superstitious but I really believe that your feelings can seep into what you make (see e.g. Como Agua Para Chocolate) and this is why I am going to chill out about the sweater. For now the postal service is still in business and it will get to the cute baby when it gets there.

Perhaps most importantly, I can now finish my cowl in the spare moments I do have because it's dropping below 60 degrees this weekend. Yay! So thank you random lady on the metro. I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week.

Cowl Break

Because I am working on my baby sweater my Burberry Inspired Cowl has been put on hold. Here is a picture of it in its pumpkin colored glory. Isn't this the most beautiful color?? I made a friend a hat with the same colored yarn and wanted to make myself something, hence the cowl, and I have three four more hanks in my not-so-secret stash because I love it so so much. It reminds me of fall and stomping through crunchy leaves and butternut squash soup and Halloween.

It's looking pretty good so far. I am a tiny bit worried about the provisional cast on (what if the crochet chain doesn't unravel!?) because I haven't used that method before but am much more comfortable with kitchener's stitch after working on the armpits of my stripey sweater.

Updated: I meant to say that I uploaded this entry for WIP Wednesday - check out the other posts, people are working on some fabulous things out there!

Good News or Bad News?

That's the question I asked my husband last night as I got into bed after working on my sweater for an hour or so. In the order of his reply, the bad news was that I had to rip out all of what I had started. The good news was that I hadn't worked on it that long and so I didn't feel as bad as I would have if I had realized my mistake when I was on the sleeves. The mistake? Confidently casting on 100 stitches instead of the 106 required for the 18 month old size. The baby recipient has turned one, so I wanted to make his sweater larger but sleep clouded my eyes and I looked at the wrong number in the parentheses at the beginning of the pattern. Lesson learned? That my mom is right again- one should not knit when one is tired. Also that I should triple check the pattern I am knitting from. No new pictures for this post- the ones from yesterday still apply.

My First Countdown

I haven't knit on a deadline before- I have pretty much been knitting for myself. I have made a couple of gifts but they never had to be ready by a specific day so it's all been quite relaxing. Well it's on now. I have finally cast on a 100 stitches in my Berroco Vintage on size 8 needles to make a sweater in 5 days. I knit several rows already because I couldn't not but I have sleeves to add and a hundred or so more rows to go I am guessing. I already know this sweater is going to look great.

Unswiftly Winding

A few months ago I bought a swift. I had seen one at my LYS and I loved how unruly hanks of yarn were quickly transformed into neat, easy to knit balls. In the beginning, when I was only buying yarn from that store, it didn't seem like something I needed because the lovely ladies who worked at the store would wind up all the yarn I bought. However, once we got a car and began exploring yarn stores in the area and once I discovered Knit Picks I found myself with many hanks but no one to help me wind them.

I tried using the backs of our chairs but the yarn kept slipping down. I tried to get my husband to help by holding apart his hands but it was  difficult for him to keep his hands like that which was very frustrating challenging endearing but I still needed to wind all the yarn I had brought into my house.

Dragonfly

So like anyone looking for a good deal I went on ebay and won a swift in an auction. Fast forward a few months later and I am thinking I should have bought a ball winder as well because just the swift doesn't really speed up the winding. It took me close to an hour today to wind four hanks into balls, which was frustrating because all I wanted to do was cast on the sweater I decided to knit yesterday.

To knit said sweater I bought some Berroco Vintage in Chocolate (it may be Mocha, I can't tell) and because I have been hearing a lot about sock knitting lately, I also got some gorgeous Shibui sock yarn in Dragonfly. Sigh. So lovely. I also bought the Vintage in a blue colorway- I am not sure which one but it looks good and frankly it was so reasonably priced that I struggled to not buy more. Looking back I am glad I held out because I will enjoy it all the more with a ball winder in my life.

Phew.

Uneventful

I didn't make much headway on any knitting this weekend. I know I have tomorrow but it doesn't look like I will be able to go back to anything I want to finish. I had to work all day today and then met up with friends afterwards which was great because I am going to be working tomorrow and both days next weekend as well so it was nice to get some fun in there. Even though I didn't knit, I still managed to order lots of yarn last night and I pre-ordered Coastal Knits today which I am super excited about because I get to download two patterns before the book gets here next month AND as part of the pre-order package I also get 50% off coupons for patterns on the Never Not Knitting site and on Knitbot (the book is a collaboration of Alana Dakos from Never Not Knitting and Hannah Fetig's designs). I am looking forward to casting on my first sweater for myself from this book.

Tomorrow during my lunch break I am heading to Looped Yarn Works to buy three skeins of worsted weight yarn. We have a friend coming into town this weekend and I am determined to make a sweater for his tiny son by then. I guess he's not so small anymore-  it has been over a year since we have seen him but he will always be tiny to us I guess (the baby, not the friend). I am going to use the stripey sweater pattern again but in a larger size and I am doing it in one color, either grey or brown, and using little wooden buttons to give it a nice grown up look. I think this baby can definitely pull off this sophisticated style. Excited!!

Busy Knitting

It has been a long busy week and it is going to be a longer and busier weekend. I have about a few hours of knitting I can squeeze in tonight and have been looking forward to it since I left the house on Monday morning. Pictures of my completed burberry cowl will hopefully be up soon!

Re-frogging

Not that kind of frogging! A few months ago I knit a frog for one of my favorite babies. I used the Ribbit pattern by Susan B. Anderson and it was my first toy and one of my cutest FOs (if not the cutest). We have a couple of friends having babies, one in due in the next few weeks, and I am really toying (see what I did there?) with making the same frog for this new baby because it was such a great knit and even though the seaming was kind of a pain it just came together so wonderfully in the end. BUT Susan B. Anderson has a whole book of supercute toys, so maybe I should check that out for more inspiration.

Changes Good

The past few days I have been working on the format of this blog and also (surprise!) laying the foundation for my very own PODCAST. You may have noticed the link above. I don't know when my first episode will be up but I am really really excited about it. I listen to knitting podcasts during the day while I am at work and they brighten up my day and keep me inspired and looking forward to knitting fun new projects. My favorites are the Never Not Knitting Podcast, Just One More Row, Stash and Burn and I'm getting into Sticks and String (how can you not like an Australian guy who knits, sometimes for his mother, and plays some cool tunes?!).

So...this was pretty much to say that I have been busy, but I am eagerly anticipating more sharing and updating. This was also my way of saying I haven't really been knitting much the past few days. I worked on my Burberry cowl while on the metro and am going to continue that right now.

Knitty Woman

This video made the rounds earlier this summer but it doesn't get old. I love Tom Hanks and watching him knit in his hipster glasses and leather jacket makes my day brighter, which is important on Tuesdays- for me they are the sluggish-est days. Worse than Mondays for sure.

Creative Outlet

On our way back from our weekend trip we happened upon an outlet mall. I did some damage at the Banana Republic store but it would have been foolish not to buy t-shirts which are perfect for cold weather layering for several dollars each. And a sweatshirt. And an argyle sweater. And some other items. It was a fun day and I actually got quite a deal for my new clothes. I also popped into J. Crew and the Kate Spade store. Sadly the deals in those stores were not for me, at least not if I didn't want to spend any money for the rest of this month and next.

Both stores, like all the others, had some wonderful sweaters and knitted fall/winter accessories. Of course I thought to myself, well if I can't buy them, maybe I can make them, because I am in desperate need of more projects to cast-on and not-finish. Then I had an even better idea- I can make them for the holidays! Okay, I am not making anyone a sweater (babies excepted) any time soon because it is just too much. But, if I did have to make an adult-sized sweater (I am debating making myself a birthday sweater) it would be this one I saw in J. Crew. I am trying to find a pattern that is similar. I think it would look wonderful in Berroco Flicker.

Isn't it cute?

What I am thinking about making as a holiday gift is a set like this seen in Kate Spade.

The flowers each have a little bead in the center.

I just love it and I checked on Etsy and I found little felt flowers. I would do it in a different color, maybe teal or maroon and I am still thinking about how to go about making the scarf. Both sides looked like the knit side of stockinette stitch. There was also no curling at all- totally flat so I am wondering whether it was knit in the round and then sewed up as it was also thicker than the hat. I have seen a scarf pattern that is like that on Ravelry for a Harry Potter scarf but I don't know how the edges would look without tassels if sewn together. What stitch would I use? Kitchener? Three needle bind-off? Would I use a provisional cast-on? I am going to post these questions on Ravelry as this would make a really great looking gift if made properly.

Missing Knitting

I knit my last stitch on Friday at around 8pm. I was waiting for my toes to dry at the nail salon and was catching up on an unfinished scarf. Since then I haven't knit anything. We went to a wedding this weekend and as I was driving I didn't take anything to work on. I came online to update the blog but all I want to do is work on my cowl- I ran out of yarn and had to order more online so I had to abandon it for a while. It is here and I just wound it into a ball so I'm ready to go!