Posted by
zyllah – December 31, 2006
So last year was in some ways quite good and in other ways well…But lets start and end with the good. Cause who wants to be depressed on new years?
The Good
- Read 100 books. I tend to binge read. I also like to read in the bathroom. Really I didn’t spend much time overall reading. That is one goal I think I’ll keep up in the years to come.
- I lost over 30 lbs. Still some more to go but pretty damn impressive.
- I did not fall apart when HWKDD was gone.
- I tried to be generous and kind even when I didn’t want to.
- I did not sit on my ass all year. Just a good chunk of it;)
- I tried to become closer to my family.
- We saved some money even though I practiced retail therapy.
- I improved my knitting.
For the next year I have many goals. Some of them I’ll share and some I won’t since this is public.
- Lose another 15 lbs. Any lower and I think I’d look gross. But its sort of a wait and see kind of a thing. Well actually 20 I did put on a few due to the holidays and my vacation from my WOE.
- Be less sloth like. Really though even though I don’t have “job” I am not terribly sloth like. But I’d like to be a bit more productive
- Get Mosaic up and running to at least cover my dyeing habit.
- Knit more
- Read 100 books
- Go back to school. Even if only one class.
- Work on my err phobias
- Exercise more and with less whinging
- Pay off our CC
- Become a less crappy photographer.
- Decide what/where we are going to go when we are not all army.
- Blog more and just write in general I have ideas I just get all caught up in things and then I am too tired in the evening to sit down and write
Posted by
zyllah – December 31, 2006
So looking back over the last year I feel like I kinda cheesed out. I mean yes I did conquer my fear of the sweater but I have yet to finish fixing it or to make another. Then again I still want to finish losing weight before I do since I am so not into shapeless bags. Also less yarn= cheaper to make and all that. However I did increase the number of items made which is a good thing. I also attempted some lace and socks. I fell in love with socks. Odd since I don’t tend to wear them very often. I also took up dying. I am still vastly in the process of learning my craft but its really pleasant to play with color again since it was my favorite part of painting. It was such a great feeling *selling* my first skein too. I mean its such a validation of my work. So in honor of that I will be launching an etsy store and website. It’s more of a hobby but I hope to at least cover my dying habit. I have to admit I’m going to try for richer colorways. Think more mountain colors rather than the candy bright dyeing so many people favor. It’s just not my thing. Anyway in honor of that below is a sock knitted by a friend of mine out of yarn I dyed!
So my knitting goals for the year include doing larger projects and harder projects. Also making time for knitting. I’ve realized by the time I finish cleaning up from dinner I am frequently too worn out to work on anything hard so I’m going to make time during the day. Anyway I suppose I should list goals, cause goals are a good thing. I also started a page listed on the left so I can remember projects I want to make.
Goals:
- A sock a week. Totally doable. Socks will be the mindless knitting in the evening project. Besides I have to work through some of this ridiculous sock stash I’ve got. Its really almost embarrassing.
- Always have a more complicated project going. Spend an hour a day on it.
- Finish Fixing my sweater.
- Knit from my stash as much as I possibly can.
- Only buy yarn on sale unless needed for something specific. Sock yarn being an obvious exception.
- Blog More and better. I realize I have very few readers and mostly am blogging to see myself think but I want a blog that is more than me whining about stuff. Take better pictures so when I am an old granny I can remember what I did.
- Get Mosaic Up and going.
- Knit Selfishly.
- Take another lace plunge.
- Experiment with more advanced techniques. Though to be fair…most stranded work sort of leaves me cold.
- Design things for myself.
Posted by
zyllah – December 30, 2006
So since I last posted I finished the socks for my grandma, a sophie bag for my other grandma and a dog sweater for my brother in law’s rat dog. Grandma loves the socks and will not take them off. I guess I’ll be making her a few more pairs. Maybe it’s dumb but since I live far away it’s a tangible way for her to know how much she meant to me. Not to be all overly dramatic but she does have cancer and she is 85 so its best I show her now rather than have regrets later. Besides its not like I don’t have a freaking TON of sock yarn. Stuff is like crack I tell you. Other Grandma also loved her bag and brother in law was mucho impressed with the dog sweater. I don’t have a photo of it since my MIL has the pics and she is in the process of moving. And now on to the first FO.
1. Socks for Grandma
Pattern: Wendy’s toe up, Judy’s Magic Cast on for the toe.
Yarn: Ultra Alpaca by Berroco in Redwood Mix (6281) Less than one Skein.
Needles: Knit Picks Options in Sz 4 or 5
Notes: Quick knit. They really came out beautifully and so warm and toasty. She loved them. My heels got much better as well. That might be some of my favorite yarn ever.
2. Sophie Bag for my other Grandma
Sadly I only have a picture pre-felted since I was in a rush to get it to the post office in time for the holidays.
Pattern: Sophie Bag From Magknits
Yarn: Artful Yarns Shakespeare
Needles: Knit Picks Options in Sz 10.5
Notes: My favorite “holy crap I need a quick gift” knit. The yarn felted beautifully however I will never buy it again. It is some of the most stunning gorgeous yarn I have ever seen but its like knitting with roving and I had to deal with it just pulling apart on many occasions. But once felted it rocked.
Posted by
zyllah – December 30, 2006
Yes I have been much remiss in updating my blog. I was gone for quite a while over the holidays visiting HWKDD’s family in New Mexico. I had internet access but it was sort of the quick delete the mailing list email variety. So my gift list sort of worked. I got this two extra special shirts from my brother in law. It was really nice since it was stuff I wanted but I would never bother getting myself you know? Mostly just got checks which is ok since I like to shop for myself. I still haven’t gotten my presents from HWKDD but thats really ok since he hasn’t gotten most of his presents from me either. He got some cashmere I will use to make him a scarf, a bunch of clothes I didn’t plan on getting him from the Gap *but when I saw the sale and had recently been reminded of how terrible most of his clothes were…I couldn’t resist* I also got him some books off of his amazon wish list. I did in fact make my goal of 100 books in 2006. I think its a goal I will keep at 100 since well that averages a book every three days. The last book I read was just fantastic assuming you like Jane Austen Fan Fic. Anyway I have much crap to catch up on like paying bills and laundry and hanging up clothes. Such a joy. I also have much much work to do on the yarny stuff in the new year.
Posted by
zyllah – December 1, 2006
Current Mood:
Happy
So this past week I decided to break into the acid dyes I bought a while back. If there is one thing knitting has taught me, its that using crap usually makes the job that much harder and less enjoyable. Anyway…it was late afternoon when I finished my chores and could reasonably expect a block of time where I could do all this. So I dumped all the powder in the containers I bought to hold my dye stock and labeled and mixed away. This part wasn’t so fun and seemed to take forever.
Then I soaked the yarn in some warmish water and synthrapol.
This is when the fun started. First thing I did was dye the house brand from Knaughty Knitter a shade of lilac.
This part was so freaking cool cause the dye would get sucked up without any additional heat. I think I did another go with the lilac to make it slightly more uniform. I was trying to achieve a sundara-like overdye. Basically my attempts to dye involve recreating what other people do or what I think they do. Its not enough in my opinion to dye yarn pretty colors. I want to know how the thing will knit up, so I can dye for specific results. *And* I want to have pretty colors. There is always in almost every handpaint I see, some wtf color. I want to never have one of those. Noro has tons of it. Also when I made my socks out of lornas laces I was so disappointed at the pooling/half striping thing that went on. Also the baby poo color was kinda gross. Anyway after the lilac I applied vermilion 3 times. I just kind of swirled the dye into the bath and shoved the yarn in. Not very scientific I’m afraid. But this is what I got.
You can see some of the purple still in there. For some reason when I brought it to my SNB this is the one people wanted to buy. I keep thinking of selling it. At least I could hope to make enough to support my dying habit. You’ll get to see it all re-skeined at the end. Till then you have to suffer;)
Anyway on to sock pair #2:
This pair I tried to recreate the short repeats of the Claudia’s Handpainted I’ve been using. I did of course switch colors to all purples. This one was fun but man I used way too much dye. I should totally have diluted it. It took forever to wash out. However I really like how it turned out. I used Louet Gems as a base yarn. Anyway on to the picture
I think this is fairly accurate for the purple but the reddish one has a lot more lilac. This next one though shows what it looks like after I reskeined it. Also I so need a tripod! Look at that bad photography in action:)
On the knitting front I finished my first sock for grandma and I am still working on the garter rib socks. Knitting time has been taken up with doing other things.
