Radish Knits

2010-12-27T13:05:00.001-08:00

Hat Swap Hat.

Not the best photo, but wanted to post it for the woman who made it for me as part of my first hat swap. Thank you so very much!

2010-09-29T16:49:00.001-07:00

Walk

2010-09-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dress for Baby

Larisa had a baby back in June. Baby shower was in May. Started dress the night before the baby shower. Finished it for Larisa's birthday in September. Biking season is over. Knitting season is on. Spending this weekend in Bodega Bay with Sonya knitting all weekend long.

Started working on a hat. I like it. It's pretty.

2010-04-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Hawaii to Paris Socks

I started these back in November. Took 5 months to make the first sock starting on a trip to Hawaii, and took a week to make the second one while flying to Paris and hanging out here for a bit.

Bike racing has taken up most of my spare time. I joined the Early Bird Women's Developmental Racing Team; their website can be found here.

2009-10-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

Big Rob Socks

So usually it takes about a month to make a pair of socks. Between the good weather, lots of biking and a size 12 foot Rob's belated birthday pair took 2 (!!!) months. He loves them though. So it was well worth it. They seemed a little big, but my guess is over time they'll shrink like all my socks tend to.

2009-09-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

Kate's Birthday Socks

Made a while ago. Never got a great photo. Hopefully Kate will get me one once she actually wears them...

2009-07-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

It's Hard to Do These Socks Justice

So, with the other socks I've got nearly completed for Kate's b-day (pictures to come), these ones are going to be a hard sale to show how cool they are. Especially with the photos I have of them. But really, they're awesome because my dad bought the yarn for me in support of my sock yarn addiction. I asked him to buy some sock yarn in Monterey and he came back with two gorgeous skeins (another pair of socks to follow with the other skein eventually). Not sure if one would be enough I added a couple other varieties into the sock and toe. Super cute. I love them and I love how the colors pool. But really, I'm just jazzed that my dad bought me yarn and in his words he bought the brightest yarn he could find. Yay! They helped me get up Bald Mountain in Sugarloaf SP.

2009-06-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

Socks and Really Cool Shoes

Here are the finished Knitty Target socks using Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn. Not such a huge fan of their yarn anymore after hearing a few bad stories about their "business plan" and trying to visit their studio in Oregon. They make nice yarn, they're just not the nicest folks. Nuff said, I'll still knit with their yarn and have about 3 or 4 skeins of it left, just more jazzed to get a hold of other hand dyed sock yarn.

The friend that we give shrunken socks to painted these shoes with sharpies. Melissa recently let me wear them. I'm in love! They're awesome with crazy socks. Thanks Kim!

2009-06-10T22:45:00.001-07:00

Happenings

Monkey Socks. Finished them up before a trip to Portland and while at the Santa Rosa airport met a fellow sock knitter who knew on first glance exactly the sock they are. While in Portland worked on a pair of Knitty Target Socks and nearly finished the pair during the trip including the 10 hour drive home. Unfortunately I botched up the second sock and want to undo it before posting pictures. Undoing it meaning that sock knitting has taken a hiatus for the time being.

Super jazzed about the knew knitting store-esque shelving display. I finally get to see all the yarn at once rather than having it shelved in crevices around the house.

Made a habu scarf and here it is mid-felting. Still need to go back and felt it some more. The brown felts (mohair-silk), and the white doens't (stainless steel-silk). I thought it'd felt up really quickly, but it took longer than I expected, having started it at 11:00 at night.

2009-05-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

Couldn't Get My Sock Off...

I don't know if this will actually work as I've never posted a video... This is for those who've made something that ended up not fitting exactly or, as in this case, it shrunk in the washing machine... but you were determined to wear it because you made it. Fortunately we have a friend with itty-bitty feet who is the lucky recipient of socks that shrink.

2009-04-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Socks...

I've been mainly knitting socks lately. From time to time I'll do something else, but really, I could be happy just knitting socks for the rest of my life. Been studying for a big quiz the end of the month. After that may get around to the garden again and taking photos of that. Some amazing iris are blooming at the moment.

(Tom's annual birthday socks).

(Quick Noro socks).

(These come from Knitty, they're the Monkey socks by Cookie. Am looking forward to her book coming out).

(These are the gloves I finished a while back, but never posted a photo. They fit pretty well, though they're kinda big).

2009-02-17T21:41:00.001-08:00

Stuff...

Made a quilt in almost 1 night for Jane's recently turned two year old. Finished sewing it on the way to Half Moon Bay the next morning.

Felted bag from a Cat Bordhi pattern. It was fun to make. Two tubes that then got joined up the sides to form a third pouch. Felting is fun. You never know what you're gonna get. Started it by hand (hand being feet) for an hour of stomping, then tossed it in the front loader wash for the last little bit. Excited that it turned out.

2009-01-05T21:35:00.001-08:00

Here We Go...

77 kippot on the wall, 77 kippot. Knit one more sew it all up 78 kippot on the wall!

(I didn't realize dark jeans were the thing to wear...)

The latest and greatest creation from Sonya. This time I will not loose it. I will not loose it. I won't. The funny thing is that I gave her this yarn last year and it showed up at my house again but woven up. I love the gift that comes back in an even more fabulous way.

And finally someone went out on a limb and got me a ball winder. Apparently everyone just assumed that someone else had given me one so no one ever got it and then Sonya came through and my god it makes winding skeins of yarn so much easier. And it looks cool too.

Here is sock knit with waves. Kind of dizzy, kind of too big on foot, too small on leg. Still learning how to make fitting of socks happen better. But learning. And enjoying. And prefer to make socks above everything.

Melissa working on another quilt for Aviva (the woman we're making kippot for). Picking out fabric thanks to a teacher that let us raid her pre-cut fabric stash. It's looking insane. And fun and hopefully Viv's will like it.

2008-12-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

Knitting Has Come to Standstill. Kind Of.

Rather the Fun Stuff has. In lieu of all the other fun warm fuzzies I was working on Vivs asked me to join her in the fun of making 100 yarmulkes for her wedding in January. It's beginning to look a lot like latkahs. Join in the fun. We've got over 30 between us already.

Figuring out the pattern took some effort. Vivs got a crook in her neck.

2008-10-11T08:27:00.001-07:00

Winterization...

Is your winter plan in place? October 15th is around the corner. Time to get warm and fuzzy. I finished another pair of socks that are beautiful. Hopefully I can steal them back off Melissa's feet. They're supposed to be for my mom if they'll fit her.

(1) Making them.

(2) Wearing them.

(3) Here is a scarf from really pretty yarn I got out at Black Mountain Weavers in Pt. Reyes. It's hand-dyed 50-50 silk-wool blend from Bo-Range Yarns in Bolinas.

(4) And here I'm getting ready for winter with fingered gloves. Got the pattern in Philadelphia last November when visiting Oren. Beautiful yarn. I'm loving how it's knitting up.

2008-10-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

WHERE ARE YOUR WEAR SOCKS?

Right here. Thanks again to the lady I got the other sock pattern and yarn from. These are supposed to look like birds of paradise flowers. Hmmmm... Not as much. Working on another pair of socks from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I heart their art. Especially their sock yarn. Finished a scarf with gorgeous hand-dyed silk-wool from Pt. Reyes, but I lost my camera battery charger and am too lazy to buy a new one.

Moved to a new house. Not as much time knitting of late, but football season has started so I am combating my lack of knitting with plenty of time Sunday and Monday nights in front of the tele knitting. We have cable for the first time in >10 years. Crazy.

2008-07-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

Kids Stuff

Melissa is going to Toronto to see her niece and nephew. I was hoping to go, but work is kinda busy so I didn't feel comfortable asking for time off before my 6 month probation is up in August. So instead I made a couple of hats.

Grrrrr....

Hat likes pattapan squash.

2008-06-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

I knew it'd work!

Thanks Scott for the photo. It looks rad.

2008-06-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

I gave it away...

I couldn't help but give it away when Scott, Nina, brother and grandma came for a visit. Hopefully I'll get a photo of him wearing it cause it's really cute on and hard to see from this photo. Thanks again to Sonya for the New Knit Scarfs book.

2008-06-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

New Garden Photos

Hybrid Rose salvaged by my dad as they demolished the houses behind him in preparation for the 60+ unit subdivision behind him.

Some sort of succulent from Willowside Middle School's 7th grade garden.

Something that was in our yard when we got here and is now in FULL bloom.

2008-05-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

New Things

The Garden has been keeping me busy. Really busy. It's slowly starting to go off and get big. I can't wait for the first tomatoes. I'm holding off buying anything resembling a tomato from the store with great anticipation for things to come. Cosmos are blooming.

We just ate our first salad with three types of lettuce.

Ate bunches of raab (??) broccoli

and have 24 tomato plants doing well, and another 100 or so to give away... Want some??? The sunflowers are coming back to life after getting mildewy and overwatered. The beans are crawling up their yarn stalks. It's pretty incredible to walk outside and think that everything out there came from seed. Enough to get me out of bed in the morning and spend all the time it takes to water around the yard.

That said, we just bought a bunch of drip irrigation parts this afternoon and will hopefully spend a good part of tomorrow figuring out how it all works and undoubtably go back to Friedman's for a trip or two.

For Ben's birthday I decided to make something practical and loud. Picked up some plasticky yellow table cloth fabric and made an awesome grocery/beach bag that is not only loud, it stands up all on its own. Here it is next to its big brother commuter bag.

Check out the insane seams.

Thanks to this website.

Working on yet another pair of socks from the same lady that made the dahlia pattern. These are birds of paradise socks. If only I had one of those in front of the house. That'd be awesome. It's an easy enough pattern to cruise through. Hopefully these won't take nearly as long as the last pair. Worked on them a bit at a knitting group I check out last Monday and will likely go to again tomorrow.

Last winter I made this silly top. It's sweet soft organic (maybe...)
cotton from blue sky. Got the yarn while driving through Bend, Oregon a couple summers ago. I'm a sucker for bright colors though I tend to hide them in places like socks. Maybe I'll get around to wearing this sometime this summer on the river if Melissa let's me leave the house with it. She has a strong anti-80's sentiment. It's unfortunate. Looking at it now I should block the edges.

2008-04-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

It's Time foR Socks!!!

Hallelujah. The dahlia socks are done. Just in time for the dahlia in the front yard to start coming up (still a few months away from actually blooming...) Here they are in fine finished form. And here's a link to the woman who created the pattern and yarn (you rock!).

Then there is also the hat that took way too little time for how long it took me to get around to making it. Last year when we lived in Redding Melissa worked at Lassen View Alpacas with Lynn and Steve. I never met Steve, but Lynn rocks. She spins yarn and we got some from her that turned into this cute cabled hat. It's so soft it's insane. I heart alpacas once again.

Hiding behind Melissa is the monster plant that we inherited from Sarah and Christopher when they headed to Jamaica. It's going off as can be seen here...

2008-04-09T23:00:00.001-07:00

The Photos Keep Coming

Here is another adorable example of why I knit, perhaps inspiration enough to get off the computer, out of the kitchen and garden and back onto the Poang with knitting needles in hand. Holy smokes, thank you so much! Jen for the photos. Here is Nathaniel, super cute sporting his fuzzy yellow hoody that I made eons ago and he's still growing into. You can look back to posts over a year ago and see photos of Melissa trying on the sweater it's that big.

2008-04-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

Me Knitting...

It's been way too long since I've sat down and been productive knitting wise. Now that Melissa and I are living together again and I'm not working as a cook, I'm spending way more time cooking. Reinvigorated the sourdough starter (thanks to Sarah's inspiration taking it all the way to Jamaica!) and made really good sourdough-whole wheat crust pizza last night. So, the knitting has been a bit slow. But more importantly the garden is coming along and the public library is fantastic and I've been requesting way too much reading material. The request and hold feature of a library is the best invention ever and working 3 blocks from the library is dangerous...

Anyhow, found these photos. I've mentioned before that I love photos of people in their knit wear. It's pretty much the reason I knit. This time I actually got to see little Marie wear the sweater I made her. I just about melted and apparently she wore it for much of winter. I miss my Marie (aka Cute Stuff). Hopefully we'll get a chance to see her again soon. She's growing up so quickly it's insane! And everyone's having babies even more insane. Seems like some sort of baby boom. Good excuse to get my knit on.

2008-03-06T21:57:00.001-08:00

Some mores knits is here, but on a bit of a slow down, moving this weekend! Maybe some other photos for enjoyment.

Spring is here:

And here:

Socks finished for Tom. His birthday is tomorrow. I lost his mailing address... Learned these at Knitterly in Petaluma. Socks on two circulars from the toe up. Search for the how to's in an old Interweave Knits magazine.

Don't get dizzy looking at this scarf. Just enjoy it's pretty colors and imagine how nice it feels in organic cotton. Mmmmm... (New Knit Scarfs, again thank you Sonya!)

2008-01-31T16:34:00.000-08:00

Fun Stuff...

A while back I posted on Facebook that I'd knit something for anyone that got in touch. So far I've had a few requests and have already knit a couple things. Here they are. Hoping to get a few more things out. And thanks Ben for the photo! You rock and look very handsome in your new wave scarf!

You can sorta see the wave action here:

Made this for Ksenya. Hoping she sends me a photo with her wearing it! The color is so vivid with the soy-wool yarn. Even though it's "just" from Michael's wow! So beautiful! It's not quite finished here, just trying it on for size. Got this pattern here, but modified it so that it wouldn't be SO pointy.

Can also make a quick plug for the ladies at knit-one-one. Took their switch knitting class so that I can now better pick rather than throw. If you don't know what that means, you're probably better off anyway. That said, my knitting speed has increased even more. Thanks ladies!

Made a hat for Austin since he was the one family member of the Jane, Austin, Marie trio that was still without anything from me. I was attempting to make a beret but it didn't quite turn out with enough brim.

2008-01-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

QUICK PICTURES... for Sonya et al.

First, the quilt progress. Holy smokes. I'm not sure what to think about this one... It's out of control. It looks better in the picture. I'm gonna put borders between rows. I may be able to create two quilts. That was Sky's thought and spread out between blocks more for 2 twin sizes rather than one ginormous king/queen quilt. We'll see. Needed sometime to think about it's craZyness.

Scarf for Ben out of New Knits. It's the new wave in Malabrigo, incredible amazing blue. Loosing my mind beautiful. I should try doing it on two circulars. It's a weird way of knitting and expanding my thinking on knitting. I love it. I hope Ben will too.

Then there's the sock for Tom. It's coming along. Taking a toe-up sock class on 2 circulars at Knitterly (http://www.knitterly.net) in Petaluma. Bitchin'! It's so great doing socks toe-up on two circulars. Learning learning learning!!!!

2007-12-27T14:21:00.000-08:00

Photos! Photos!

Lots of finished things. Lots of ongoing projects.

Sky was awesome enough to get me a new camera for Christmas. She was right in that at first it was like, hmmmm... New camera, eh? But so far it's been rad. Went bird watching in the north east part of the state and took some pretty incredible photos of hawks and eagles. But this blog is about knitting, and sometimes quilting.

Sonya was in town visiting for a bit. Did a lot of yarn shopping with her including heading all the way to a strip mall in the south bay to end up at Purl Esscence. At first thought, WTF are we doing here, but on closer inspection realized the 100+ miles of driving that day were well worth it. Got two colorways of socks that rock yarn. Beautiful. It was fun being the enabler and getting Sonya to pick up a bunch of new yarn and rovings to take back to Italy with her. Apparently it's hard to come across good yarn there, all the more reason to encourage sky's the limit yarn shopping. Everyone was chomping at the bit to send her yarn internationally after her various purchases.

Anyhow, finished projects!

Here's a hat that took a long time. It's the knitted lace hat from Lace Style. Two layers, knitting the inner layer first top down, then changing yarn and needle size and working my way back to the top. It's a bit short because I didn't repeat the pattern as much as they indicated, but I was worried about running out of yarn. Used bamboo yarn. Pretty. Looks very French on especially with my short hair.

Here's a scarf I made that was inspired by a shop in Philadelphia that wouldn't let me take photos of their projects so I invented this from what I remembered of what I saw. Started out with one thing and changed it to this. Love it. Very lacy, super easy to make. Lots of compliments, maybe I could mass produce it. Uses kidsilk haze by rowan and something chunkier by malabrigo. Lots of double yarn overs and dropped stitches for the loopy effect. Fun. Kind of a pain, but great effects, works well if you stick to a pattern of added and then dropped stitches.

Here's a scarf I made, again inspired by another one I saw in a shop. Cast on horizontally, way too many, something like 250, should've gone down to less than 200, but it ends up being very warm and good for a double rap through.

Here you can see the crazy double rap around action.

These are my first fingerless gloves that I made for Vivs. They don't look all that impressive not on, but they look pretty cool on and were easy enough that it'd be fun to make another pair, perhaps with smaller needles.

And here is a really cool hat Sonya made for me from yarn she found in Italy that looks exactly like yarn from one of my very first hats I made that I still wear today despite it being stretched beyond repair. Here's a close up as well. I have no idea how she made it. She explained it in an email, but I prefer the mystery of not knowing. Makes it seem even cooler.

Maybe one of these days I'll get around to writing about progress of various things. Still haven't finished the other dahlia sock. Working on a huge 42 square afghan for Sky, have 10 squares finished so far. Working on a log cabin quilt, a habu scarf of stainless steel and cashmere and I think that's it. Not as many projects as I normally have going at once. I think it was due to finishing inspiration by Sonya when she came to finish all of the sudden I got a ton of stuff done. Yay!

2007-09-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

Dahlia Socks!

Here are photos of the socks I'm working on right now. I love socks with patterns that have just the level of complication that makes it interesting, but not frustrating. These socks hit that RIGHT on the money. The only issue I've had is that I was following the written instructions for a while rather than the lace chart and the first part of the sock (the leg part) isn't quite right, whereas when I followed the lace chart (upside down and in reverse, I think the pattern's a bit off there, could've used some editing), it's way better. Can you see the difference? I almost want to redo it, but I've got another sock, so oh well. The patterns is readable in the knitting as well now so I don't need to look at the chart very much at all. It's awesome. A big shout out to sundara yarns (http://sundarayarn.typepad.com/) and her Pedals of the month sock club. My friend Sonya and her did an exchange and I ended up with this cool kit. Thanks!!!!!

Can you see the difference in clarity of the lace?

Toe sticking through. Almost there...

2007-08-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Wow.

The last time I wrote was in May... Only a couple things to show off for now. I made a couple of dish cloths for a friend who got married last November. The patterns weren't that exciting which is I guess why they took me so long. Don't remember where I got the patterns. The yarn is bamboo.

I also finished knitting a silk ballet top from Loop de Loop. It was one of my first attempts at modifying a knitting pattern. I'd made it before for a friend using the recommended cotton blend from Brown Sheep. For the most part I like how it turned out. Especially how it feels. The collar is a bit big, but I guess it's kinda sexy.

Cool stuff I'm working on... A really beautiful pair of socks from Sundara Yarn. She's got a flower inspired sock of the month club that a friend of mine must of joined and then she then gave me this set. It's incredible to knit. The pattern is just the right level of complexity and the superwash wool is very soft. Will have to get a photo up soon. Also working on a scarf. Finished another scarf, horizontal like. Not a huge fan, cast off too tight and it's too long. Will probably rip out and start over. Still working on the lace hat. Pattern takes Focus. And another modified tank out of flourescent cotton. Maybe one of these days I'll learn how to really blog and have updates more regularly with patterns to click on the side. Meanwhile, I'll just do what I can.

Anyhow. In other non-knitting news I moved to Santa Rosa and am on the look-out for other knitters to knit with. Last time I lived in the Bay I had a craft night at my house which was awesome. Hopefully I'll find or start something like that here.

2007-05-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

Bah-Nah-Na-Nah

Here's the inside of a hat I'm working on out of the Interweave knits lace book. Making it with Bamboo yarn, and I didn't make a swatch, so of course, as is my usual scenario with knitting, it's a bit big, but, hopefully it'll work out or I'll give it to someone with a big head. I like it though. If you know me, you know how much I love bright colors despite most of my clothes being black. Not that I'm morbid, I just prefer to wear black so that when I wear pretty colors they look gorgeous.

2007-04-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

I made a sock.

Don't know if I'll make the other one. Not a huge fan, feel like the yarn was forced into it and the pattern didn't really highlight the attributes greatly. But Here it is. Sonya spun the yarn for me which I love. It's intention was to be sock yarn, but it's just not quite that... Oh well. I still love the simplicity and ease that is knitting socks. So compact.

2007-04-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

Fun Stuff

After buying some peaches and cream on a whim in Oregon, I had to do something with it, other than make your traditional washcloths even though it would have been nice to commemorate my grandma who passed about a month ago and taught me to knit when I was 10 and started out with washcloths. Instead, I went with the "market bag" from some traditional folk bag book. Don't remember the name cause I photo copied out of it... Learned a couple neat new stiches, basketweave and knotted mesh. Bag looks a bit more crocheted as a result. It's kinda cool. While on BART one day in the Bay, got chatted up by various folks. One guy asked if I knew what it meant to knit 1, purl 3, and I said I did, and went ahead and showed him on the bag. I was on the shoulder strap part at the time. It's kinda cool that it's "organic" like that as he called it. Pretty funny. Pretty Bay Area, though he claimed to be from Tahoe. Gotta love knitting. Anyhow, my one thing I'd do differently would be to use just one strand of yarn for the basketweave section since I used smaller needles.

Got some neat yarn last weekend at Heartstrings Yarn Shop in Chico. Dropped off my aunt's cat with my cousin, and picked up a couple fun things. The texture is amazing. A bit too wide (17 stiches) which made it kinda short, but I think it's elegant. Thinking about putting it up for silent auction for a Relay for Life fundraiser at work.

2007-03-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

Yay! New Knits!!!!!!

It's been another wee while, and alas, I finally finised something that I've been working on for too many ages. Not necessarily that excited about it, but... It's the Debby Bliss Baby Hoodie. After my friend and I worked on it together we both arrived at the stage of sewing it up, and found that, wtf?! is wrong with the hood and the lack there of instructions. Not many instructions at all. But I guess it came out pretty well considering that I didn't make a gauge swatch and had to improvise with lengths as I went. Originally I'd wanted to make it for a baby, but it's more for a toddler, or in the case of these photos, maybe the latest valley girl fashion.

Other projects... I made Oren this hat a while ago. Here's a photo of him wearing it that he sent today. Hope it's keeping him warm. I think it's keeping him cute and very Oren. The hat itself is ribbing which spirals all the way up around the top of his head. A very neat trick if I may say so myself. I sat in the Santa Barbara Public Library one afternoon copying knitting patterns down and happily found this one.

A while back Sonya made me some really nice yarn from colors we chose at Deep Colors in Albany, CA. She'd just bought a new spinning wheel and this was some of the first yarn she made! So beautiful. A bit big for sock yarn, at least on the size 2 needles I'm using according to a woman I met while knitting at Osento, but I still think they look rad and chunky. I like chunks. I'm making a twisted rib that's very subtle, especially with the yarn. I love it!

Other than that, I'm working on a "market" bag learning interesting mesh stiches that look like crochet in good ol' peaches and cream cotton. I'm also trying to finish up the second of a set of (hopefully 3) dish towels made out of silky bamboo. I recently got a bunch of new yarn and a SWIFT so perhaps I'll get inspired to do something great... Looking for some inspiration to go big and wild again along the lines of the last baby blanket.

2007-01-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

Jane's Scarf

Who knew I'd get into the business of knitting things for friend's friends. Well, it was fun enough knitting this little piece for Jane. Super easy, and neat effect. Got the pattern, well, the link to it, from a woman in Hood River, OR when our car got "totaled" in Madras and we ended up at the alpaca farm. And have since then ended up thinking about getting alpacas ourselves as a result.

Here's the link:

http://douma.net/Karen/knitting/Accessory-Scarves/Multidirectional_Diagonal_Scarf.htm

And here's a photo of Jane and her scarf. Got the yarn on sale at a cute shop just north of Santa Rosa, CA. Windsor I think, can't remember as it's been a while.

If you look real close you can see that it's composed of triangles that go in different directions. Cool!

2007-01-09T21:04:00.000-08:00

It's Been A While...

But, I guess that's what happens when you get a job. Wore the sweater to one interview that was 2 days long. By the second day I was comfortable enough that I could. I've been working on a handful of things, but only have one photo to show of anything. Hopefully before long I'll get more up. Finished the socks ages ago. Working on dish towels outta bamboo that are great. Looking to do a set of three. Made a multi-directional scarf, but mainly I finished up a baby blanket for a couple whose baby is due this month... Hopefully I'll even be able to get some photos of baby and baby blanket. What I enjoyed most about making this one was that I was using up all sorts of funky odds and ends of pieces of yarn. That's the best. Mostly acrylics, but at least that means it's washable, and it's incredibly snuggly, though I swear I didn't snuggle with it too much before sending it Rahel. Was inspired by an old housemate who went crazy on a baby blanket for her niece. Can you see the wave pattern? Pretty standard chevron. K2tog, K2, KFB, KFB, K3, SKP. Repeat to end of row. Do this every 6 rows or so, the rest just knit. More soon.

2006-10-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

Sweater Time

With nothing much happening at the moment, what better to do than knit a sweater? I'm going slightly nuts playing the job hunting game, though I have an interview tomorrow morning. I started making a sweater a week ago and then with the upcoming interview figured what better to do than make a sweater that I can wear there. Except, I don't think I will. I like it and all, and I did make it in exactly a week, which is nuts, but... not quite engineer interview material. But it's alright. It's the hourglass sweater from the last minute knit gifts book. I like it for the most part, but I would've liked to make the bottom slightly tighter, hence me holding it back a little bit. I like the sleeves and boat neck. Super easy pattern knit on circulars.

Other than that, I thought I'd upload a cute photo of Sky, Fiona and me. 2 outta 3 of us are wearing scarves I made. I made one for Fiona, but I think in the picture I hadn't blocked it yet. Sky's is super soft and super long. Mine is a bit scratchy, but I love the colors.

And finally, I also made a wee little wallet/key/phone holder in under an hour. I'm getting better at sewing vinyl. I like the wee little bag, but the zipper is kinda crap. It's still pretty cool. Again it's from the Denise Schmidt quilt project book.

One last thing to post... Last winter my mom got cancer so I was home a lot having quit my job (hence being in the job market again now that things are going well). I had a lot of time staying indoors and spent A LOT of it knitting. I made this sweater for her from a Debbie Bliss pattern. I'd never cabled, and it was only my second sweater. I was quite pleased with how it turned out, though vowed never to knit with Lamb's Pride worsted weight again. It just feels weird to knit with, but the color was magic. Sparkly almost.

2006-09-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Quilt Progress!

I realize it's not exactly knitting, but it is taking up my time these days.... I'm working on a quilt from the book: Denyse Schmit Quilts (http://tinyurl.com/kfk4s). It's awesome. And I just sewed all 36 squares together this morning. By no means is it very straight or am I a good sewer, but the pattern is fairly forgiving and it is my first quilt.

Other than that, I also finished my hat for Tacos last night watching Italian for Beginners. When I see her again I'll get a photo of her wearing it. I think it came out pretty well and I liked the instructions for how to decrease, but keeping the cable pattern fairly well.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/
knitting/forum/viewtopic.php?t=143

2006-09-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

I finished my first felted project today! It was based on the Booga Bag found at:

blacksheepbags.com/
booga_bag.html

that I saw at a yarn shop just outside of Hood River, OR. At the Foothills Yarn and Fiber, foothillsyarn.com, which is awesome and has alpacas!!! On a recent roadtrip with Sky we ended up there after being rearended going 2mph leaving a parking lot which totaled my old-school Trek road bike. I'd ridden down the Pacific Coast from Astoria, OR to SF, CA and thus was pretty gutted. What better to do than find an alpaca farm and get inspired to buy my first skeins of Noro yarn?

Anyhow, about the bag...

I changed a few things about it as you can see. They recommed 10.5 US needles, but I used 11. I knitted it fairly loose as I'm learning how to knit the continental way. I can tell it's way faster, but it's still kinda tough to get used to. Still can't purl that way for the life of me. If you look at the woman's bag, she's got this funky i-cord for the handle, but I didn't really like this and I saw another idea for the handles elsewhere using grommets and locking key chain rings, which is what I wanted to do, but I wasn't that excited about the end product, so I just went with a simple lining to make it usable. I ended up making handles using 10 sts in garter stitch. It's alright. It seems like it'll hold up pretty well too.

Still working on my first pair of socks. The first one looks good. Enough so that my dad was impressed; a pretty tough thing to do. I convinced him that he should accept a vest from me that he can wear on dates and show off to women that his daughter made it. My mom's partner was convinced I should work for Patagonia. It'd be slow going. The first one took me 2 weeks. The other one I'm slowing down on getting overwhelmed by other projects, namely a quilt at the moment.

Booyakasha!!

Socks are a ton of fun to make and very portable. Next time I go on some big bad bike trip I'll bring a pair along to knit. And probably do something a bit more complicated than just knit.

Finally, a friend is in the country from Japan and lost the hat I made her last time she was here, so I'm just about finished knitting her a new one. I'm using up yarn in my basket, hence the funny coloring. I found the pattern for the braided cables here:

http://www.knittinghelp.com/
knitting/forum/viewtopic.php?t=143

It's kinda cool. A little bit more interesting than the average hat.