Month: July 2007

Pron for Friday…

Posted by zyllah – July 27, 2007

Ok I was being incredibly optimistic when I thought of doing a weekly review and a weekly heresy so…now they’ll be here when I’m inspired and when I need to test a new technique. However this week I do have something for you. I made some blocking boards this week and wrote up a tutorial in case anyone wanted to make their own.

I pinned out a piece of the zipper cardi on it and I have to say they block like a *dream* So my wips…well I am past the heel of the sock and I finished the two fronts for the zip cardi and I made it to the waffle stitch on thermal. Things at chez zyllah have been sort of sucking and when I get stressed I read. Since last week I’ve read HP 7 twice and two Phillipa Gregory novels. I also finished off an audio book. Anyway needless to say that has taken up knitting time:) But now that I’m on the waffle stitch I get to use the fantastico row counter Sarkasmo made for me.

So not all of this was bought recently but I finally got a chance to show it off. I got this jitterbug from fleabay for a fairly good price, I will admit the copper beach is sort of meh to me but they’ll be gift socks I guess.

Jitterbug Copperbeach

Omg I love this yarn. I am not sure what to do with it but it just makes my heart happy.

This is some Malabrigo lace weight I traded some unused needles for.

Finally we have the wollmeise I snagged at the last loopy sneak up.

This is Granatapfel.

This is Wilder Mohn.

The base yarn for this feels really unique. Sort of cottony. It’s dense but not as dense as str. (I sound like a wine snob) Also the yardage is fantastic. I should easily be able to get two pairs out of each skein.

This is something I dyed a few weeks ago.

Colorway: Peacock

Yardage: 550 Yards

Base Yarn: Henry’s Attic Kona Superwash Fingering that I got here.

Techniques: just basic hand painting.

Notes: I am not 100% pleased with this. However it isn’t awful, its just not quite what I had envisioned:)

Posted by zyllah – July 27, 2007

The army is trying to drive me mad I swear. The rumors of the day. Argh…I can’t even express how the stress is getting to me. So I was supposed to go to my cousins wedding next week and I have to go but I was also going to spend time with my mom since she needs a break and now of course Justin might have to go out to the field. Can’t leave the cats that long. Well I could but my house would stink to high heaven of cat forever since a certain someone is picky. So I woke up to guilt trip deluxe, heck I was stressed about it I had a hard time sleeping. So I’ve been reading because reading is better than knitting for relaxing me. I finally reached book 50! only 60 more to go. Well depends on if I count the audio books…if I count those I’m at book almost 70. Anyway I have a knitting post to do…

Knitting Heresey Part 2: Seemingly in the round

Posted by zyllah – July 15, 2007

Although I originally pictured the knitting heresy series as a light hearted yet snarky series poking fun at some of the tenets of being knittish (knittish: a term borrowed most gratefully from sarkasmo), I now want to branch out a bit more. Perhaps I have too much time on my hands or perhaps I think to much but either way I get to inflict my knittish rambles on all of you. So while I do have ideas for posts more like last weeks, this week I want to talk about that most eternal of debates, no not cuff down or toe up, but sweaters in the round versus in pieces. Perhaps this is premature since I am working on my first sweater in pieces but I do have thoughts on the matter and it will be interesting (to me anyway) to see how or if those opinions change once it is done. So first up is in the round.

Sweaters in the round are more organic. You are essentially knitting a sculpture that is a garment. This can allow for some really beautiful garments like Serrano. Since the human body is not a stick figure this makes some sense. Also knitting in the round lets you try it on as you go so you can make adjustments to fit without ripping back too much. Also for many people the lack of finishing is a huge bonus. Also since so many people have the delusion that ‘purling is teh suxor’ you are just doing the knit stitch for most of it. However I have noticed that the quintessential top down raglans do seem to have some fit issues. They frequently create extra fabric right by the arm pits. Also if you are chesty like me it can take some fiddling to get all the pieces to fit right. They are *quick* which I think is their primary appeal for most people. Also for designers its fairly easy to do the math.

Sweaters knit in pieces are more like creating fabric that fits a sewing pattern. In fact I read an article in vogue that suggested that approach. I am finding it fascinating to watch it come together in my zip cardi. They do require various amounts of finishing however and many people seem to find that to be a turn off. However unlike a sweater knit in the round they do allow for more customization of various body parts. Also supposedly seams add a certain amount of strength to a garment, there are even people that knit in the round and do fake seams to get that added support.

Overall I think both have their places and it really depends on what you are trying to accomplish. The key to any pattern is to know your body and your body type. Unless and until you know your measurements and what looks good on you, picking any pattern is going to be hit or miss. There are fantastic articles in knitty about adjusting patterns to fit your body type. here, here, here, and here . Also do not fall for the pattern photos, *THEY LIE*. In the beginning of the book “Knitting in Plain English” there is a short section on dissecting photos to see the problems in patterns. I highly recommend you read it before you go looking for projects. Also if you are on Ravelry look at the other finished versions of the project if they exist. Look for the things that didn’t work and figure out a way to fix them. If you are not on Ravelry, flickr can serve the same purpose though there is a bit more of a search involved. In the end patterns should be looked at more as a recipe than an iron clad rule that you can’t break. This is more work but you will be more assured of an FO you will want to wear.

WIP updaterie and Yarn Pron

Posted by zyllah – July 14, 2007

So yes I have been a sucky blogger this week. Lots of stress about the future makes me feel rather unlike blogging. I am working on the knitting heresy for the week and I hope to have that up before the end of the day. Tomorrow I’ll be reviewing something, I still have to go through and pick the technique of the week. I also have been so stressed I’ve been reading rather than knitting all out so progress has been slow. So on to the wips and no photos yet cause I was being all lazy.

Slip Stitch Rib Socks: I’ve got about an inch and something to get to the heel. I didn’t really work on these too much this week except for at SNB. Still loving the colorway and the pattern.

Zip Cardi: Back is done and I’m a quarter of the way through one piece of the front. I apparently dropped an edge stitch at some point but I was able to work it back up. It’s rather neat to see the pieces come together. Claire and I were talking about how the finishing on this sucker is going to take a while. It has a lot of crochet finishing and I’m not very good at crochet. I did find a neat online crochet school though so I plan on sitting down with some crapcrylic and working through that. In fact perhaps I’ll make that my technique of the week and kill two birds with one photo.

Thermal: Well I made it through the cast on last weekend. That was a sucky two day procedure. I do have to say it was worth it the cast on edge is stunning. Now that I’m getting into the rhythm of the twisted rib I’m enjoying it. I’m almost half done with the ribbing, so depending on how the weekend goes I hope to get to the actual stitch pattern by Tuesday.  I love the yarn I’m using (ryc cashsoft 4ply) so I just hope it holds up well.

And now for the yarn pron, I dyed this last week but I was trying to space out the yarn pron so that’s why you’re hearing about it this week. When I took it to SNB they wanted to auction it off to the highest bidder so I guess I’ll have to attempt to recreate it next time I dye.

Colorway: Elphaba

Yardage: 550 Yards

Base Yarn: Henry’s Attic Kona Superwash Fingering that I got here.

Techniques: I had several smaller remains of earlier dye mixes that I wanted to use up.  So I had some extra Kelly green and Spruce. I took the Kelly green and added some black to try and tone down its St. Patrick’s day flavor. The spruce I left alone and then there was the Chartreuse. I knew it would turn out acid bright which wasn’t what I wanted.  I added some black to also tone it down.  Then I painted t on in short repeats cause I much prefer how that knits up for me.

Notes: I had better be able to recreate this since I’ve had a bunch of requests for it. I’m so pleased with this one I wish I had done it in Louet. So perhaps when I recreate it I will and give this one away. Although the kona did puff up nicely after it was dyed I just prefer the louet in general.

Posted by zyllah – July 13, 2007

The whole wth is going to happen and what are we going to do is driving me mad. I can’t stand not having a plan. My dad will probably bust out laughing if he reads that one but its true. So its long been a crap shoot on will the two most dreaded words in the military happen to Justin. We *still* don’t know. This makes planning out the future rather difficult. It’s getting close to that time when we need to start looking for houses and jobs and such. Anyway, although we had investigated the school drop option before it didn’t seem to apply to him but he seems to think he can get one. This would at least give us an indication of things to come since if he doesn’t get the school drop it would be reasonably certain that he will have to go to the ‘stan. At least that is my thinking. But its all a case of who knows. Meanwhile, I was investigating residency issues for the stl option Since it wouldn’t be a case of being able to wait to est. residency with school drop. And the price difference per semester was like 6k. So I got all freaked out. Since it would mean either staying here or moving to NM. You know its not that I don’t like NM cause I do. I just don’t think I could spend the rest of my life there. Also our last move was such a disaster in so many ways it freaks me out to tempt the gods like that again. So I started researching option 3 which is to stay here. It has the cheapest cost of living of any of the three. Hell what we can get for like HALF of anywhere else in housing is impressive. I found two I fell absolutely in love with downtown. In the midst of my wild hunt for *stuff* I spoke to the director at UMSL about residency and he seemed to think there wouldn’t be a problem since I had maintained my MO residency and we were military etc. So it sounds like that could work out. However we will have to make sure of that before putting in the packet since 6k is nothing to sneeze at. Also the downside of the school drop is that we lose his terminal leave. I just hate all this uncertainty so much. It’s making me depressed which is not good since I need to be strong and productive and active in our quest to find the next stage of our lives. Also I’m discovering that the thought of leaving my home is upsetting me. I know its a rental. I know there are things I would change. I know that I would never buy this house and yet it is my home. I love this house. I love my life as it is. I mean of course I hate the fact that Justin is miserable and govt property. I hate the looming threat of deployment. I just really have enjoyed my time of hausfrauerie. I’m being a selfish baby twit is what is going on. I’ll get over it and learn to see our new life with hope but right now its very difficult to see that.

Random Updaterie and the tubular cast on

Posted by zyllah – July 7, 2007

I know I promised more knitting heresy but until I finish this stupid freaking cast on…I have not the heart to mock the knittish gods. Perhaps if I am a very good sort of knitter tomorrow. So when I had last posted I had swatched for thermal. I really was being overly picky about my cast on and decided to teach myself the tubular. This has prompted me to decide to randomly do this once a week so I can get more familiar with various cast ons and bind off’s etc. Sort of nona swatches but more like zyllah grumbles… Anyway the tubular was fine and dandy and I decided to use it. Not really considering the problems of it being in the round and such like. So at one point you go back and pick up the purl bumps every other stitch. Yeah turning your work every other stitch is a real freaking blast when you have 154 to knit and 154 purl bumps to pick up. I worked on it a fair amount yesterday and I’m maybe half done. Anyway here is the review:

Tubular Cast On: Gorgeous edge. Love the way it looks, be prepared to have your knittish faith challenged by the pain in the ass it is.

I have more done now but I’m too lazy to take an updated photo. Now the prepicking up knitting and the stitches on the right needle represent more time of my life than I want to admit to.

Moving on to vastly more pleasant things…. I do not have updated pics of the zip cardi or the sock since they look the same just you know longer. Thus makes for boring blogging…however Soxia continues to smile upon me and depending on the cast on idiocy I can assume I might get to the heel of the sock before the weekend is over. I also have delusions of finishing the back of the zip cardi.

So Thursday because I had leftovers to serve for dinner I decided to dye a bunch of yarn. I actually dyed more but I’m saving it for future blogging material and cause I don’t want to fight to wind it. The whole lack of wanting to wind it will be made clear in a second. So first up we have a quarter pound of Louet gems goodness…

Colorway: Iced Wine (feeling uninspired and lame)

Yardage: 430

Base: Louet Gems Pearl that I got here. Fantastic prices and Customer Service.

Techniques: So not like I’m sundara or anything but I find is frustrating that so many people treat dyeing like its alchemy in the 17th century so I figured I’d talk about what I did. First off I dyed it pink. My original plan was to dye it and then hand paint the darker sections on. So pink umm yeah try some weird inbetween pepto and neon. So I thought about how to tone it down and decided a dilute black mixture was in order. So at this point it was very uneven and over dyed like which pleased me so I painted on burgundy before setting it. In the end I got some nifty tiny bits of icy lavender and pink and burgundy. I am really pleased with it.

Notes: So anyway I really need to figure out a better way of not getting slightly tangled when winding and yes I do have a swift and winder…so after I got everything straightened out I am winding it for the second time and the ball comes FLYING off the winder and hits me. So I wound it ummm 3 or 4 times.

So Next up is the crockpotted junk I did to use up leftover dye.

This is the roving that came with my learn to spin kit. It is crapalicious. It doesn’t even come close to soft and I hated spinning it. So in the interest of not wasting it and not letting the dye leftovers sit I decided to dump it in the crock pot and see what happened. Not terrible looking…However I had way too much dye in there and it wouldn’t exhaust so I went rooting through the stash and came up with the alpaca I used for husbands scarf. It was natural colored before I tortured it.

Its very kettle dyed looking. No clue what I’ll do with it but hey at least its something I would consider using for myself now. And now I have procrastinated enough and must return to my cast on hell.

Soxia why hast thou forsaken me!?!

Posted by zyllah – July 1, 2007

So after that mistake with charade and the dream in color, I decided to change patterns and yarn. I chose misty mountain farm in the apple rose colorway. See isn’t it purty?

So I cast on and I merrily knit away…then I realize at some point I completely screwed up and have my increases done on alternating rounds. ARRGHHH at this point I decided a little intervention was in order. Soxia, the goddess of sock knitting, clearly was displeased. How was I to regain her favor? I was desperate so I considered a burnt offering. I was however stopped in that escapade by the lack of a fireplace or BBQ grill. So then I decided to just set up in altar to her. I figured some lovely sock yarn and handknit socks might allow me to regain her grace. So I set up an altar, some sock yarn, some hand knit socks, a candle…

After this she was pleased, so pleased that I now have this:

It’s the apple rose colorway by Misty Mountain in a slip stitch rib from SKS. I’m knitting it on the KP 1.5′s and it’s lovely. Slight slight pooling but nothing that makes me want to hurl. The first of my two sweaters is going well too. I’m doing a free pattern from Blue Sky Alpacas. The pattern looks like this and its a crappy photo but it’s really cute. You can get the pattern here if you want.

It’s my first not in the round sweater so this should prove to be interesting. I chose a yarn that I love but was not that expensive (and it was from stash) so if it turns out crappy I won’t want to cry too too much. This is what I have of the back so far.

I did not get gauge but that’s no shocker really. So it will be a grand adventure. I just love how heathery it is and hey its superwash! I also need to cast on for thermal since I want to finish it for the fall. I (again) did not get gauge and I am currently torturing myself over which cast on method to use so all I have done so far is swatch.

I used a size 3 on the bottom and 2 on top. I’m going with the 2, they really don’t measure that differently but the pattern pops a whole heck of a lot more. I know I promised further installments of knitting heresy and I will work on those later in the week, I’m still letting ideas marinate.

Random News

Posted by zyllah – July 1, 2007

So I finally finished the black hole. It’s stunning and everything I thought it should and could be. I’ve started a sweater and a pair of socks with another sweater I am going to cast on to celebrate. Steve came through this weekend and it was good to see him even though it was brief. I do half wish I had gone with him. I didn’t realize at the time that he was only going to chicago for a day. There is tons for me to start doing in st louis too. I really want to start looking at homes. I know its a bit early but its a slow market. We’ve been talking about buying a 2 family if we can find the right one. Since we don’t have kids its not a bad idea plus in a few years we can either renovate it to a single family or rent out both units and buy a house. I’m leaning towards the latter since I always wanted to be a slumlord. Today I found two I *really* like. The woodwork is absolutely stunning and they have updated kitchens. Upper end of the assumed price range though. However, this is all assuming of course that the two most dreaded words in the army do not occur. It is sort of sounding like they might. I’ve been praying though. If it does happen I think I am still going to recommend we buy a house. Since we will be here till summer 09, it would make some sense. Plus we really could use more space. I am going to insist on a pantry though. Claire did not get one in her kitchen and although I really do like her house umm a pantry is a necessity. Although the way her house is I could easily stick shelving in the basement for one. We shall see. But getting back to why I did not go with Steve, Justin has a bunch of time off this week and he’s been really really stressed because of those two dreaded words so my place is here. He was really happy when I told him I had decided to stay home. I got my hair cut and its just about shoulder length. I think I like it. I’m not sure since its a bit shorter than I was expecting. Well things to do!