March 2006 Archives

On the long path to a wedding, there are many bridal showers you must endure...

My sister is getting married this May! (She's the one with the blue sweater in the picture.) This weekend we're having a shower for her with all our female family members. I think it will be really fun - I don't get to see my extended family members too often.

In knitting news, I have turned the heel of my March/April project spectrum socks! I always think that socks go soooo fast after the half-way point. (Probably because I get to knit straight stockinette for half the sock). The really good news is, the self-striping matches perfectly! I have never quite been able to make "identical twin" socks before.

There's a big spring clearance sale at Simply Fibers starting this Saturday night... and hopefully I'll get to dye my Project Spectrum Yarn Swap yarn this weekend.

 And last but not least... Who is my Secret Pal?

Here's one last pretty pink flower for March's Project Spectrum colors.

My March P.S. projects included: knitting a sock (which is red & yellow, so I'm stretching it for two months), dyeing yarn for the first time, and making the P.S. Postcard.

I've really enjoyed seeing all the red and pink projects people have been working on during March - but I am really looking forward to April (yellow & orange) because most people don't knit in those colors very often, so it will be a good way to test our creative boundaries.

Hmm.... what do I have planned for April?
- PS Postcard Swap with Patricia over at Shanghai Lily (a really neat craft blog with more than just knitting)
- Finish the red & yellow socks (for my sister)
- Dyeing yarn for the PS Hand-Dyed Yarn Swap (April entries are closed, but you can sign up for May!)
- Maybe a few other things... but I will be working on Orangina for Sexy Knitters Club (but it's definitely not orange) which is small yarn on small needles, so it might take me a while.

I think my friend Meredith and I are dyeing yarn for the swap this weekend, stay posted for details!

Another pretty flower for Project Spectrum! 

What's more fun than knitting? Well, if you're my husband, that would be almost anything. But for me, well.... there's not much. It's true. I am a total knitting addict. But if I had to pick something, it would be:

Planning new knitting projects!

I know, that probably doesn't count. But it is so exciting for me. Almost like planning a vacation or something. Ever since I finished the Knitting Olympics, I've had a serious case of startitis, but nothing to start! You know what that means.... it's yarn shoppin' time!

I am one of those knitters that doesn't buy yarn unless I have a plan for it. Not always a pattern - but definitely a plan. That yarn will be a cool scarf. This yarn will definitely be something felted. You get the idea. But a few weeks ago I was at Simply Fibers and there was some Cascade Quattro on sale - 30% off! Cascade is such great yarn. Nothing fancy, but extremely versatile. I figured, at that price, what the heck. I found a color I liked and bought all four skeins. Then I started thinking, ummm.... that's not enough for a sweater. How many felted bags does a person need? And that could make a heckuvalotta hats!

So yesterday I posted a picture of my forlorn yarn, so sad without a project to call its very own. And the delightful Jennifer from Craftylily came up with the perfect idea: Forecast from the latest Knitty.

 

I usually look through all the Knitty patterns right when they come out - but somehow I had not even looked at this one. It's perfect - a really interesting sweater designed by Stefanie Japel of Glampyre Knits. AND guess what - it calls for 4 skeins of Cascade 220! Clearly, it was meant to be.  Don't you just love a happy ending?

Matches have all been sent out (even a little early - go Sarah!) so please contact me if you have any questions.

In a rather unusual turn of events, I got TWO bouquets of flowers for my birthday last week. I brought them home from work with me on Friday, and managed to take some pictures before they wilted.

I also dicovered the digital macro function on my camera: ooooh... super-close-ups!

I realized that most of my flowers match March's Project Spectrum colors: pink & red! So I'll be featuring a new flower photo each day this week to send out Project Spectrum in style!

 

I mentioned in my last post that I got a gift certificate to my LYS, Simply Fibers.  I picked up this Cascade Quattro (Cascade 220 with multi-colored strands) on sale (I actually have 4 skeins, but they kept falling over.)  I think the yarn show owner is trying to make room for more summer yarns, so I bought all there was in this color.  Any good ideas on what I can do with 4 skeins of Cascade 220?  I'm thinking possibly a sweater vest for my husband?  (Can anyone pull those off anymore?)

I also got a Addi Natura for the upcoming Sexy Knitters Club KAL - Orangina!  I have never tried this type of needle, but I love Addi Turbos and it was $2 cheaper than the Turbo, so I figured, why not?  Last but not least, I found this pretty little skein of bamboo yarn!  I think there's enough orange to qualify it for an April knit in Project Spectrum.  I'm planning on using it to make Bamboozelle - a small knit basket from the latest Winter 05/06 Knitty, perfect for jewelry or other small items on my bedside table. 

 

So I turned the big 2-7 last Monday... such an old lady, i know!  =)

I actually love birthdays and love making a big deal out of them - so of course I expect my friends and family to do the same for me.  My mom made me my favorite cake (carrot cake) and I had strawberry-rhubarb pie at the office (we always order pies for birthdays... yum.) 

But the real question... presents!  I did get several yarn-related gifts this year, so I figured I would share a little about each one.  My mom knits but is not quite as obssessive as I am, so I pretty much told her exactly what I wanted when it came to knitting stuff.  But hey - I definitely wasn't disappointed!  She tried to order me some Socks That Rock yarn, but apparently the owner is swamped with orders and wasn't able to ship in time.  (oh well, there's always next year!)

In the knitting book category, I got The Knitter's Handbook by Montse Stanley.  This isn't really a "sit down and read it" kind of book, but I have heard a lot of people rave about it.  One of my knitting resolutions was to work on improving my finishing techniques, and I think this book will be able to help me a lot.  I also got Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.  I have Knitting on the Road and I love it, so I knew I had to have KVS too.  I can't wait to try out one of the patterns - thank goodness I have a limited number of size 1 and 2 DPNs or I would never finish anything, only start new projects. 

My friend Crista also gave me two knitting magazines, Vogue Knitting (Winter 05/06) and Knit.1 (Winter 05/06).  I found some beautiful sweaters in Vogue (which I normally don't buy) but Knit.1 was a little out-there for me.  It does have a few bags and accessories that I might make, though.  It would be great if you area teenager or tween or you are knitting for one.

Last but not least my friend Bethany got me a gift certificate to Simply Fibers - shopping spree this weekend!  I need to get the needles for Orangina and maybe some yarn for another summer tank.

Edited 4/11/06: Because I am the most spoiled sister ever.... last weekend when my sister was visiting for her bridal shower, she brought me ANOTHER knitting book - Handknit Holidays - and some yummy Rowan yarn to make the cabled sock pattern (I think she might be hinting for a Christmas gift!)   I have got to get to KC to visit her, she says the yarn shop there (Overland Park area?) is awesome (and she hardly even knits!)

Only one more day to sign up for the swap!  Just to make it a little easier on me, please send me an email with:

Your Name

Your Mailing Address

Your Website (if you have one - not required)

Whether you are dyeing superwash yarn or not. 

(I will try to match up bloggers with bloggers and vice versa, as well as superwash with superwash.  In case you were wondering, there's several links from Jessica~'s blog.

This time in the form of two baby hats in two days! (I love quick projects every once in a while... so gratifying.)

Anyhoo, these cute little hats were made using the Children's Cotton Hat design (and slight modifications) from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. It's a great pattern that I have made quite a bit - but I thought the bow might be a little girly, so I added some eyelets instead for the boy's hat.

If you're interested in doing some charity knitting during Lent, go check out Annie's 40 Days for Others project. There's still almost a month until Easter - and you can knit for her charity or for your own local charity.

For everyone wondering if amateur hand-dyed yarn would be, well, fugly... here's your answer: sometimes.

I usually avoid mulitcolored yarn, unless it's specifically created to be self-striping. That whole hand-painted thing is a little to random for me... and HATE HATE HATE! it when the colors pool together in my knitting. So you can imagine my dismay when I was working the garter stitch cuff of these mittens and saw the horrid pooling going on. I tried to humor myself: "maybe it will look like a candy cane! I like candy canes!" because after all, it was my first try, what could I really expect anyway? If worst came to worst I could always just dye it all red.

But oh! What a difference an extra 12 sitiches evenly distributed around the hand of the mitten make! Look at the lovely stripeys! They're all even and geogetrical and stuff... I love it. I probably will try to dye the cuffs when I finish - I just hope the second mitten looks somewhat similar to the first. 

(You know you want to get in on the hand-dyed action - send me an email or leave a comment to join the Project Spectrum Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn Swap!)

I made this sock a little longer than normal... and what do you know! It fits my sister's ginormo foot (size 11!) perfectly!

I am saving Sock #2 for my April Project Spectum (yellow) sock project. I will post a complete Finished Object report after I finish the second sock.

The universal sock pattern worked really well. I'd like to try it with a more complicated stitch pattern. Any suggestions?

I have extended the time for sign-ups for the April edition of the Project Spectrum hand-dyed Yarn Swap to Friday, March 24! Sign up now by leaving a comment or sending me an email.

Look at this neat hand-painted postcard I got from my PS swap-pal Jennifer over at PieKnits. It just matches my hand-dyed yarn so nicely!

My favorite thing about the postcard swap is getting to know a new knitter that I would not have otherwise known. Today is the last day to sign up for April's swap - so get over to Lolly's and sign up!

Also, speaking of hand-dyed yarn, check out the hand-dyed yarn swap I am organizing in conjunction with Project Spectrum - you can sign up by leaving a comment or sending me an email.  Dyeing yarn is not that hard, and lots of fun! 

I'm smiling, really - the sun is just in my eyes!!!

Here is my Clapotis-inspired scarf making her debut at work. I love the colors - perfect for a spring scarf and also great for a Pisces girl (that's me! My birthday is next Monday!)

Project Details:

Pattern: "Clapotis," available at knitty.com by Kate Gilbert.

For a close-up of the stitch pattern, click here.

Yarn: Mango Moon, 2 skeins (color unknown)

For a pre-knitted view, click link above. 

Needle Size: Size 8

Skills needed: cast on, cast off, knit, Knit through back loop, purl, increase, decrease, yarn over, dropping stitches on purpose!

Pattern Modifications: I only did two pattern repeats before starting the straight section of the scarf. I knew I didn't have anywhere near the amount of yarn called for in the pattern, so I decided to play it safe. It was a goof thing - I cut it very close, and I had to sub in some novelty yarn for the fringe.

Time to knit: I started this the night of Simply Fibers' first Knit In - at the end of January. So, I would say it took a little less than 2 months - but it was totally ignored for a large part of that time. (Olympic knitting and all)

Final impressions: Love it! It really suits my style, although it doesn't necessarily go with most of conservative work wardrobe.

 

Well, I'm heading home this weekend to attend a bridal shower for my sister.  I don't see my family very often, so I'm really looking forward to it.  See you on Monday!  (And go sign up for the hand-dyed yarn swap in yesterday's post, if you're so inclined!)

I had so much fun making my PS postcard, and so much fun dyeing the yarn the other day.... I just thought, why not combine them?  Everyone loves getting yarn, right? 

Would anyone be interested in doing a hand-dyed sock yarn swap that coordinates with the colors of Project Spectrum?  We can start next month (yellow & orange) if anyone is with me!  Just leave a note in the comments if you want to try your hand at dyeing.  The cut-off date to sign up for April will be March 24.  (Deadline extended!)  At that point, I'll email everyone to get your mailing address.  I will send out info on your PS yarn pal on April 1.  Yarn should be mailed by April 15 so it arrives within the correct color month. 

UPDATED 3/23/06:  This will be on a monthly basis, so you can participate as much or little as you want.  You will get a new pal each month, too.

Dyeing doesn't take very long at all - maybe an hour or two plus 24-48 hours drying time, but you might want to give yourself a little extra time to practice if you've never dyed before.  I know I liked my second skein a lot better than my first!

There are lots of great resources out there on Kool-Aid dyeing and dyeing techiniques - if I get enough interest I will post a list of links.  As far as yarn, you can either buy light-colored yarn and dye it, or dye-your-own yarns from KnitPicks or other online sellers.  Jessica~ has posted a great list of yarn resources - particularly dyeable superwash sock yarn - on here site here.

I got this sock yarn from my secret pal back in January, but I've been saving it for March, when Project Spectrum is focusing on red and pink.  I am normally not a fan of self-patterning yarns, but I like this one.  I'm using the Universal Sock Pattern and I choose a ribbing pattern (vertical) that sort of matches the stripe pattern (horizontal) - it's an 8 st repeat: stockinette for 5 sts, seed stitch for 3 sts. 

At this point, I think I am ready to start the heel flap - or I could go totally crazy and try short row heels again, does anyone have any recommendations for a good resource on short row heels, since I don't have a true "pattern" for these socks?

As you can see, the flowers are starting to bloom in Springfield.  Some areas in the north of town got really bad hail Sunday night, and several smaller nearby towns were hit by tornadoes, but I was very lucky and only got some strong winds and small hail (thank goodness for a two-car garage!)  All the daffodils that had started to poke their heads above ground in my yard were in full bloom the morning after the storm. 

I have officially joined the sock-yarn-dyeing cult.  I bought some Knitpick's Color-your-own merino sock yarn and Kool-Aid, and went to town.  I am not much of one to follow directions, so I just picked some colors, looked at this site for some basic info, and plunked that yarn in the fruit-flavored water.  I bought two skeins, one for myself to dye for Project Spectrum, and another for my Secret Pal, so she could dye some for herself too.*

I used the dip-dye method so I could have a variety of colors.  I didn't measure out anything, so I hope it will turn out okay - if you want a more detailed description of how to get the stripes to match up with your pattern, see Eunny's description here.  Apparently it turns out better if you stretch the yarn out into a REALLY long loop before dyeing.  I guess that makes sense, so you get longer color repeats.  I used a pretty small loop, so hopefully it will still look okay.

The yarn I used is not superwash, so I'm not sure if I really want to make socks out of it.  It's not terribly thin, I'm guessing I would knit it on size 3's -- any other ideas of what I could make?  Probably something with a Chevron pattern so there's not as much of a flashing/pooling problem.

I am already scheming what I am going to dye next.  I don't want to go into business or anything, but I think it would make great gifts -- soooo much cheaper than buying sock yarn.  I think that hank from KnitPicks from about $4, and 4 packets of Kool-Aid cost $1.  But, first I have to find some superwash yarn - it's a necessity for me for socks.

* I hope she won't be disappointed, because once I started dyeing I couldn't stop!  So I dyed her hank with the Kool-Aid I had purchased to send with her final package.  I hope she likes it - it's one of her favorite colors!

 

 

Yesterday my knitting group met at Panera for some ridiculously enormous cookies and knitting fun.  My friend Kristin recently found out she is having a baby, so I guess the nesting instinct kicked in and she decided she wanted to learn to knit.  I brought some basic supplies for her, and showed her how to cast on and the basic knit stitch.  She picked it up really quickly, and had a cute little square of garter stitch going before I knew it!  So I went ahead and taught her how to purl.  Again, she got it super fast!  I sent her home with my well-loved copy of Stitch n Bitch.

Apparently she was doing so well that her husband decided to have a go -- great pictures and commentary here!  I am not laughing at make knitters in general, but I know this guy and it's just funny.  After seeing the pictures, I'm just imagining him getting all tangled up in the yarn!
 

Hey hey!  I bet you didn't know Zarah could cook, did ya?  Well, I was feeling the multitasking vibe last night, so I whipped up some cookies while I dyed some sock yarn with Kool-Aid.  (You'll have to wait til tomorrow to get the full report on that!  The yarn is still drying in my back yard.  But you can get a sneak peek here.)

I very rarely have sweets around the house, but when I do, I really like to have homemade cookies, brownies, etc.  This is an adaptation of a favorite cookie of mine (Gooey Butter Cookies from the Keeping Good Company cookbook) that is unique and very tasty.

Zarah's Orange Creamsicle Cookies

Beat the following ingredients until smooth: 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), 1 egg, 1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, and 1/4 t. vanilla.

Mix in one box orange cake mix and 1 t. grated orange zest.

Chill batter for 30 min.  Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Drop teaspoonfuls of chilled batter into powdered sugar, roll to coat (and remove excess sugar).  Please cookies on a cookie sheet lightly greased with cooking spray. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes.  They will not get very brown, except around the edges.  Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies.

Zarah will return to her regularly scheduled knitblogging tomorrow. 

IMG_0561.JPG
Originally uploaded by kerner.

 
Well, I don't have much to report on the knitting front. Whenever I unearth that log cabin quilt to add some scraps, I get all motivated and want to finish it (ha!) So I've mostly been rooting through my yarn looking for odds and ends that I can add to it. But there's not much progress to show, so here are some pictures of my friends.

This picture is of two of my best high school friends. I visited them last weekend in Jeff City. Corrie (on the right) secretly got married two weeks ago. I guess it wasn't a total secret, since her and her hubby's families were invited, but I didn't know until I got an announcement in the mail! It's okay though. They've been dating like 8 year or soemthing, so at this point it's like, "It's about time!"

We all look pretty good in this picture (if I do say so myself!) considering we had stayed up til 2 the night before talking. I guess I should get together with them more often, huh?

 

This is a picture of the women's Bible study that I have been going to. It's a neat group because even though we all go to church together and have a lot in common, each person really has a lot of unique things to share with the group. Yay for friends in Springfield - this was my biggest fear when I was moving here about a year and a half ago. But luckily I have met lots of really nice people.

Have a good weekend everyone! I have a couple of knitting-related events to attend, so I should have lots of good pics next week. Carol at Simply Fibers is hosting another Knit-In tonight from 6pm to midnight, then my knitting group is getting together on Sunday afternoon. A couple of my friends recently found out they're pregnant, so I'm looking forward to seeing all the little baby things being knit.

 

Here's my first contribution to Annie's 40 Days for Others Charity Knitting Project (for Lent). I really enjoyed making these mittens (Super Mittens from Weekend Knits), and I have a lot of bulky wool in the stash, so I might make several pairs. These are the women's medium, and I was able to knit them in two evenings, without any problem.

Isn't the yarn pretty in this pattern? It really shows the variations in the dyeing from handpaintedyarn.com (a great resource for bulky hand-painted yarn, if you're willing to wait for shipping from Uruguay).

I wanted to thank everyone for their concern about my fainting episode. I had a check-up with my regular doctor yesterday and got the all-clear. My head is fine (just some major bruising, but that's a good thing) and apparently I am just prone to fainting. I guess if that's the worst health problem I have, then I can't complain. Thanks again for all your nice comments.

Oh - I know someone will ask - the background for this photo is the log cabin quilt I am slowly but surely making with scraps from all my knitting projects.   It's about 2 feet square right now.  I had it out because I was adding on a few strips from recently finished projects.  I love this quilt already - it's like a knitting scrapbook!

Wow. My first sweater. It certainly isn't perfect, but I like it pretty well. I looooove the color (I promise never to wear it in public with this turquoise t-shirt! So "Totally 80's")

Project Details:

Pattern: "Cutaway," available at chicknits.com by Bonne Marie Burns.

Yarn: Queensland Collection, Kathamandu DK Tweed, Color 417, 8 skeins

Needle Size: Size 5 & size 3 (for the ribbing)

Skills needed: cast on, cast off (preferably stretchy cast-off), knit, purl, increase, decrease, picking up stitches, making a buttonhole, mattress stitch, and other seaming techniques.

Pattern Modifications: I added an inch to the length of the sweater. It was still very short after knitting, but I wet-blocked it to where I wanted it to be.

Time to knit: Back of sweater - 2 days, during Christmas break. Rest of sweater - 16 days of the Olympics plus about 3 days of seaming.

Final impressions:  Like I said, I like it, but...... The sleeves seem overly roomy to me. I wanted them long, but they are also pretty big - actually, it's really comfortable, just different than most sweaters I have that are more fitted.  What do you think?

 

Lucy likes my new sweater, too!

IMG_0575.JPG
Originally uploaded by kerner.

Hmmm... I knew there was a reason I don't do more crafts. My house would turn into one giant scrap pile!

Well, I'm fully recuperated from the Olympics and ready to get back to blogging again. In a strange turn of events, yesterday at work I fainted, fell straight backwards, and hit my head on the marble floor. One of my co-workers drove me to the emergency room, where I mostly sat around for 6 hours, had a few blood tests, and they sent me home with the diagnosis: "People just faint sometimes." I feel fine except a massive headache where I hit my head. I know that in the ER they are really more concerned about the people gushing blood, so I'm going to go see my regular doctor in a few days to make sure I'm okay.

Anyhoo, back to crafting, yes? As you can see, I've been hard at work for my PS Postcard Swap. I also finished the One-Skein Wonder for Jeannine (no photo - it's a surprise!) and Cutaway!!!!!
The arms are a little long, which I actually like, but the sleeves also seem too big. I made the smallest size (and I'm usually a "medium" not a "small.") the wierd thing is that the body of the sweater seems to fit me fine. So maybe I'm just used to storebought sweaters with super-tight sleeves... who knows. I'll try to post a picture later today so you can see for yourself!

I've also started my first charity knitting project (ever - oh, the shame!) for 40 Days for Others.  I'm making a pair of the Super Mittens from Weekend Knits in a hand-dyed buly yarn from handpaintedyarns.com.  I originally bought the yarn to make a scarf, got it in the mail and hated it, but I love the way it knits up in a small project like a glove - it almost looks like subtle stripes.  Okay, I'm going to stop before you hunt me down and demand photos! 

It has been nice to have a little rest from blogging (and knitting).  I've been doing a few odds and ends, but my hands were really tired from the last weekend of the Olympics.  Cutaway is seamed (yippee!) and just needs another blocking and the ends woven in.  My bind off on the ribbing was a little tight, so I'm hoping a good soak will relax it and help the fronts of the cardigan lay flat. The sleeves are the perfect length, but I would like the body of the sweater to be a little longer -- can I do that in blocking after it's been seamed?   

I'm headed off to visit some high school friends this weekend in Missouri's capitol, Jefferson City.  We are going to catch up and maybe hit the outlet malls -- maybe I'll do a Cutaway photo shoot, too!  See you on Monday!