October 1, 2008
FO: Monteagle Bag
I knit a reusable shopping bag - isn't it cute? It was really fast - I think it took about 4 days, and that includes having to look on Ravelry for instructions on every complicated stitch. In case anyone is dying to make it (or - more likely - when I make it again) here is everything you need to know:
The pattern (free! Thanks Ann and Kay!)
That tricky twisted cross stitch (Ravelry discussion thread)
Crazytime veil stitch - yes, you actually wrap the yarn around both needles - watch Ann demonstrating on video!
This was a fun little project - a nice break from some bigger thing I'm working on (cough cough Matt's sweater cough) and also a nice segue into an update from last time. I've decided that part of my problem of feeling overwhelmed is that I have a tendency to see everything in long-run/big-picture sort of terms. It's a bit much, you know? Plus I'm always looking ahead to the next thing - next week - next month, etc. I need to just slow down and enjoy the day-to-day. Not to contradict myself, but I'm really looking forward to my vacation next month (San Fran & Napa - yay!) because I think it will be a good opportunity for Matt and I to both just take a few days out of our normal routine and relax.
Posted by zarah at 8:24 PM | Comments (4)
September 1, 2008
Somethings green
SOMETHING OLD: Yay! I'm happy to report that I finally finished my first lace shawl! I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it now, but anyway - it's done! I have to give a HUGE thank-you to JennKnits on Ravelry. I ran out of yarn a few inches before finishing the bind-off, and she was the one person on Ravelry who had any of the same yarn in her stash. I sent a pathetic note, and she gladly snipped a couple of feet of yarn off her skein and popped it in the mail to me.
Project Details:
Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark
Yarn: numma numma Saucy in Green Goddess - 1 skein plus about 3 extra feet of yarn
Needle Size: Size 4 long circular
Pattern Modifications: the edging is shorter than the pattern calls for because I was running out of yarn.
Time to knit: Hmmm... Ravelry tells me that I started this back in February! But there were LONG stretches in there when I didn't touch it.
Final impressions: It's very pretty... but I think the likelihood of my using would be a lot better if it were rectangular. I need to figure out someone to give this to who will actually wear it.
Posted by zarah at 7:59 PM | Comments (6)
August 24, 2008
One last medal ceremony
Caesar Augustus Bobicus, our Master of Ceremonies of the First International Ravelympic Games, Summer 2008, hereby declares Zarah a GOLD MEDALIST! Congratulations!
Bob also extends his best wishes to the runners-up, who gave their knitting a valiant effort but were unable to finish on time.
(They are sad. My brother-in-law is also a VERY good sport.)
Project Specs: (I'll get some better pictures in a day or two)
Pattern: February Lady Sweater, by Pamela Wynne
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy, 3 skeins, colorway In Vino Veritas
Needle Size: Size 6
Pattern Modifications: Shortened sleeves to make body of sweater longer. I used every last bit of those 3 skeins of yarn - I'm guessing the pattern is written for someone shorter than me, so they can use that extra yarn for the sleeves and not the body of the sweater.
Time to knit: 16 days - I think I might have been a little off from the "official" Olympic start and end times, but adjusted for the Central Time Zone I really did knit this within the span of the Olympic Games.
Final impressions: Very cute and wearable sweater. I think I will wear this a lot this fall. And I love the yarn - I will definitely be getting more Dream in Color Classy for sweaters in the future.
Posted by zarah at 6:24 PM | Comments (3)
August 17, 2008
Baby Shower!
Emily's shower was this afternoon, so I can finally post about her gifts that I made!
First up, we have the baby quilt - I wasn't sure what to do since she's having a boy. I ended up going with basic squares and pretty much a palette of primary colors. The back is a really cute green polka dotted flannel.
(By the way - Emily still has 5 weeks before her due date, and her baby's head is measuring in the 95th percentile - pray for her!)
I also made a Baby Surprise Jacket out of Socks that Rocks lightweight. (Emily - I don't think I mentioned this - machine wash cold, air dry, okay?) I turned out really cute, and I have yarn for a couple more BSJs already planned. I think I might make it slightly bigger next time (this one is on Size 5s and it think it's just going to be newborn size.)
Posted by zarah at 4:01 PM | Comments (5)
July 20, 2008
FO: Monkey Hate Purl, and "I'm still alive"
By my count, this is my third - and certainly not last - pair of Monkey socks. Lene of Danceswithwool said last week that the Monkeys were her go-to, standard sock pattern at this point. I have to agree with her. They fit so well - especially now that I've realized that I have to go down to a size 1 needle to make them perfect.
Project Details:
Pattern: Monkey, by Cookie A.
Yarn: Three Waters Farm Handpainted Yarns, Superwash Merino Fingering Weight in the Mediterreanean colorway
Needle Size: Size 1 KnitPicks 32" circular
Pattern Modifications: magic loop; no purls; toe up; toe-up heel flap a la Wendy's Celebration Socks (free download)
Time to knit: Approx. 1 month
Final impressions: This might be my favorite pair of socks I've ever made. The toe-up heel flap is friggin awesome. (I learned how to do it from Wendy herself in the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling.) This beautiful yarn was a gift from LauraB in the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling swap.
So...it's been a while since I posted. I guess I'm just not really feeling inspired to write these days. Probably has something to do with being out of the habit, right? No promises on improving in that area, but I have been keeping pretty busy. In no particular order, since I posted last, I've:
Traveled to Lake of the Ozarks for a Missouri Municipal Attorneys conference;
Traveled to Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia for a family reunion;
Been biking, running, and swimming to get ready for the Concreteman sprint triathlon next weekend;
Knitting (of course);
Working on a new household budget since my husband's promotion and raise have resulted in less income thanks to those fabulous self-employment taxes that now apply;
Buying baby gifts galore for all my fertile friends;
Cutting squares for a new baby quilt, which will have to get done in short order since apparently the baby is due a lot sooner than I thought;
Reading and working on my Style Statement for my book club;
Reading just the first chapter of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and wishing I lived on a farm and thinking that I should learn to can/freeze produce before my grandma gets too old to do it;
Wrangling contracts and contractors at work 5 days a week;
and.... I guess that's about it. =)
Posted by zarah at 5:20 PM | Comments (4)
June 29, 2008
Here there and everywhere....
Blogging has been pretty slim in these parts lately. I'm having a lazy Sunday morning around the house (hooray!), so here's my effort to "catch up" on what I've been up to, knitting wise and otherwise.
First up - the Japanese Fan Scarf!
Project Details:
Pattern: 2 Weeknights with Warrick (basic feather & fan scarf)
Yarn: Diakeito Diadomina - just over 3 balls
Needle Size: Size 8 Denise needles
Pattern Modifications: None
Final impressions: This is my first entry in my attempt to knit some Christmas gifts way in advance. I love this color-changing kind of yarn!
I have also started a few small, fairly midless projects, since that's what I like to work on in the evenings after work.
This strange little blob will (hopefully!!) become a Baby Surprise Jacket for my friend Emily's baby. I'm knitting it in Socks that Rock Lightweight (Banded Agate) on Size 5 needles. My husband says I should have done it in brown and green, so it would look like camo. (The daddy-to-be is really into hunting and fishing.)
My other easy project is a new pair of Monkey Socks - this time, the no-purl version.
I'm using yarn I got in the Loop Ewe Spring Fling swap. I've never seen it before in a yarn shop or online, but it's very pretty. It's Three Waters Farm Handpainted Merino sock yarn.
I don't normally knit socks with 100% merino (cause I think the stuff with 25% nylon or so holds up better, plus I'm too lazy to hand-wash socks), but I must admit that it is very nice. =)
Posted by zarah at 9:24 AM | Comments (2)
June 14, 2008
FO: Short Sleeve Cardigan
This was a super-quick knit! I started it after I got frustrated with the Flutter Sleeve (sizing issues) and had to rip out big chunks of it. No such problems with this little cardi - although the fuzzy angora content probably means I won't be wearing it until fall.
Raveled here.
Posted by zarah at 10:48 AM | Comments (8)
FO: Flutter Sleeve
Get ready for a drive-by blogging. Two finished projects comin' atcha!
Details raveled here.
Posted by zarah at 10:45 AM | Comments (3)
March 25, 2008
FO: Ainsley's Quilt
Hooray! The quilt is done!
Stacked Coins Quilt in Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.
The main fabrics (brown broadcloth and orange flannel for the backing) and some of the accent fabrics are from www.fabric.com. Additional fabrics and pink double-fold binding tape from Jo-Ann..... they have lots and lots of fat quarters! (Sometimes on sale for 99 cents!)
While I was making this quilt, I discovered a quilting store really close to my house called The Quilt
I'm not about to quit knitting and take up quilting, but I think I see a few more of these quilts in my future!
Posted by zarah at 8:31 PM | Comments (13)
March 22, 2008
Extreme Sock Makeover: Darning Edition
Problem: Seven gigantor holes in a sock I made for my grandpa for Christmas 2006. The other sock is mysteriously pristine.
Would you fix it? I seriously considered just chucking the sock in the trash, but I hand-dyed this yarn, and I doubt I could recreate it to make a new mate for the good sock.
Plus, I love a good knitting challenge, so...
Time to fix it!
Step 1:
Use waste yarn to stabilize the holes. I made sure to go out to at least one column of stitches past the hole. I did this with all the holes before I started knitting, so I don't have to worry about any more unraveling during the fixing process.
Once all that is done, I used Size 1 DPNs (same size I used to knit the original sock) to go through all the stitches that were on the bottom piece of waste yarn.
Step 2:
I just started knitting a little rectangle, but I wanted to minimize seaming at the end of the project. I ended up deciding to knit the last stitch of each row of the rectangle together with a stitch on the sock.
This is my addition to some excellent instructions on repairing socks that I found here.
Step 3:
Kitchener the top of the rectangle patch together with the stabilized top of the hole.
(Originally I was planning to do a three-needle bind-off here, but then I realized it was make a really thick seam, which would not be good, especially for the hole on the sole of the foot.
Finished sock - 4 patches and new toe!
Posted by zarah at 3:23 PM | Comments (12)
February 25, 2008
Lavender Lace Cardi
There was at least one good reason for my lack of posting recently! Last week I was knitting like a maniac - It's my first shop model for Simply fibers! The really great thing is that I get it back in 3-4 weeks, which is just about the time when it will be warm enough to wear it!
Project Details:
Pattern: Cropped Lace Cardigan, by Sandi Rosner, from North American Designer Collection No. 6 (Nashua Handknits)
Yarn: Nashua Cilantro. 7 balls, color lavender gray (This yarn is kinda weird - it's mostly cotton, with about 25% acrylic, but it's really squishy and stretchy)
Needle Size: Size 7 Denise needles
Pattern Modifications: Switched the shoulder bind-off to three-needle bind-off.
Time to knit: 6 days! (To be fair, three of those days I didn't have to work. Hooray government job and your wonderful holidays!)
Final impressions: Pretty cute! It's also nice to knit a sweater that I can actually wear in the same season when I decided to knit it. Plus, it was fun trying a new yarn.
Posted by zarah at 10:25 PM | Comments (10)
January 29, 2008
FO: Matt's Rustic Scarf
A quick post for a quick project....
Project Details:
Pattern: Men's Rustic Scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
Yarn: Assortment of Rowan tweedy yarns in neutral tones, plus some lime green bulky yarn from handpaintedyarn.com (Yay for stashbusting!)
Needle Size: Size 10 1/2 Denise needles, with the three longest cables connected together
Pattern Modifications: Matt wanted a long scarf, so I added about 50 stitches when I cast on. The scarf is probably about 6 feet long, when the pattern says it will make a 5-footer.
Time to knit: Two days! I think this may be the first project I've knit from LMKG that actually lived up to its "last-minute" name.
Final impressions: The pattern is not really a pattern, but it was a good starting point for a nice scarf. He likes it, so I'm happy!
ETA: See that red sweater? Cobblestone! I also made him take some pictures outside, and it was pretty cold so he put on his Koolhaas hat. He decided that anyone who wears that many handknit items must be a knitting hobo (link to his blog post about it - hee hee!)
Ravelry links:
Matt's Rustic Scarf
Men's Rustic Scarf Pattern
Posted by zarah at 7:52 AM | Comments (5)