All Buttoned Up

NOooo! This is a knitting blog. Silly.

I’ve started on the dishcloths. A few people suggested the colors that I ended up using - but ultimately, it was my mom who called (after reading that blog post - check it out, there’s a contest goin’ on) and told me that the bride’s maid (what a funny word linguistically… why did I never notice that before?) dresses were going to be brown with little pink accents. I like the combination, but there’s a fine line before one gets into neopolitan ice cream territory (which I’d like to avoid). And so I made the following dishcloths:

They’re not my favorite, but I suspect that’s because I’m not a huge fan of the color combos. Oh well. They’ll do.

I’ve also made another Velvet Oblivion. I make tons of these. So much so that I have a system for naming them. This one, for example is VO version 6.08 (month, year). They’re like my stand-by gift because they’re awesome, decently affordable (I can get 3 out of the ball of Touch Me) and SUPER quick since I’ve long since stopped knitting the furry border - a single round of double crochet just goes soooo fast. These are also like the ONE thing, IMO, that I’ve found as “acceptable use” of eyelash yarn.

It’s difficult to take a photo of yourself with a blindfold on. Here’s a few outakes.

I’ve made this version for a family auction that will occur over the holiday weekend. Benefits go to a great cause (you’ll learn about this later) and I’m sure that my auction item will bring in lots of dollars!

Yay!

And I’ve also made something for me!

($20 bucks says my mom leaves a comment asking for one/a collection)

I didn’t use a pattern for this. I was inspired by Annie’s (Ravelry), but after about 4 different attempts at knitting my own in the past few months, I had to give up on the knitted wire idea. Until… I went to a bead store and got some 28 Gauge silver wire. Tried again. Failed.

So then… I tried some crochet! Yay! It worked! Should I write up a “recipe” for this so you can make your own? Keep in mind that I don’t really know much about crochet… or writing crochet patterns (hence, the “recipe” idea).

In other news. It looks like texture wins for the upcoming sock design - for those of you who wanted lace or colorwork, keep in mind that this tutorial/design will definitely be adaptable for your own colorwork/lace - trust me - it’s just that in this case, the finished product will be texture. I’ve got some swatching ideas comin’ up… I’ll post an “intro” post and step one after the holiday.

Hi! My name is Nicole and I suck at sewing (and the crappy photography doesn’t help).

Anyway. I was inspired/jealous/peer-pressured/whatever by my knitting friend’s fabulous infinity dress. And I wanted to make one too. So I stopped at Jo-ann’s and bought some knit fabric (polyester, yuk) to make my own.

I was not as successful and I would have hoped. The dress involves ONE seam. One. Sewed. Seam. And I couldn’t even get it right. Here’s my timeline of the project (not a recommended avenue for your own dress):

1. Cut straps. Say to self “there’s tons of extra fabric at the end. I’ll be able to make a skirt, no problem.
2. Cut waist band. Wish really hard that there was some sort of direction in the “recipe” for how thick the waistband should be (clearly, my first attempt, 4 inches was too wide). Otherwise, the recipe was very helpful.
3. Hold up the remaining rectangle shape. Think to self “Hmm. this is going to be a short skirt. This might be a problem.” Consider the possibility that the other large chunk of “leftovers” might be the skirt section and then dismiss this possibility upon closer examination. Decide to continue without serious concern.
4. Make the rectangle more rounded, hoping to preserve as much length as possible. Decide that instead of cutting a hole in the skirt, a slit would preserve the most length in all directions. Cut a slit large enough to go around hips.
5. Step into skirt (to make sure the slit is wide enough) and consider again the fact that this is turning out to be a bit risque.
6. Remember Huan-Hua’s advice and attempt to pin all the pieces together, all the way around the waist.
7. Begin sewing. Curse the long straps (that get in the way). Have general frustration.
8. Finish the seam, hold up the dress, right side facing… and see 3 giant spaces where the seam did not go where it was supposed to and there are giant gaps.
9. Attempt 8 times (or so) to close these gaps, in the process shortening the skirt by milimeters each time. Finally decide that 2 of these gaps are now small enough that they are not important, particularly when the straps can be wrapped such that the seams essentially disappear.
10. Try on dress, realize that it shows a LOT of leg. Like a lot. Also realize that I may be a bit too… busty to wear the dress low enough to cover leg without sacrificing support and side coverage.
11. “Grrr.”
12. Decide to call it a learning experience and not obsess, move on to next project.
13. Just before closing out the firefox tab of the recipe, read that this dress could be worn as a top. Genius.
14. Decide that next time, I will make the straps wider (for less revealing side boobage) and double check the width of the fabric before I buy so that I can be sure the skirt will be long enough.

Here’s another photo, this time of the back.

I went home for the holiday weekend and my mom and I spent a few hours garage-saling (a word I made up just now, verb; shopping at garage and yard sales). I had some great finds! The best? Check this out:

I got a pair of these - and the best part is that they rock back and forth. I would guess they’re from the 30s

or 40s at least and they’re super solid, in great, sturdy shape. My parent’s were pretty jealous and threatened t

o steal them. Why am I so excited? What do

I plan to do with them? Well, I think I’m going to knit new covers for them. Annie Modesitt has a pattern that is sort of like what I want to do - you can see to the left. I’m not a fan of the pattern itself. The instant I saw these chairs, I instantly thought of an Interweave Knits pattern that features lots of cabling designs and a gorgeous natural look. I’m not sure when I’ll ever have a pair of finished chairs… but I think there’s some good potential in these chairs. Check out the IK version (different chair):

I got a few other good finds: Some neat retro pyrex, and… a ton of sweaters! There’s a university back home that does a huge garage sale of all the stuff the students leave behind. I got a bunch of sweaters to felt for different projects, and a few to take apart for the yarn. The best was a hand-knit Irish Aran sweater. It was on the top of the pile after I’d walked away - I saw it and almost killed 3 people trying to grab it.

There’s a ton of wool in it - I already took it apart and balled it. If I had a scale, I’d weigh it to get an idea of how much there is… but I know it’s a lot!

And finally, I got some old knitting and crocheting booklets. Follow the jump for more photos and some smarmy comments.

Continue reading ‘Thrifting’

I promised you another FO post… and here it is. And by “it” I mean the big blanket of foreverness. Finished.

It took me so, so, so long.

Seriously. I started this blanket almost a two years ago. This blanket and I have been through a lot together. We knit through my last summer as an undergrad, my senior year at IU and the 72 page thesis I wrote (not at the same time, obviously). I knit on this blanket when I broke up with my ex-boyfriend (that was when I introduced the color green, actually), when we got back together, and then, when we broke up again, this time for real. This blanket was near when freaked out about graduate school, the start of two other blankets (but no finish), and the many times this past year when I was frustrated beyond belief. Oh, and let’s not forget the summer of mold-hell. As I knitted the i-cord BO (yes, i-cord BO, about 24 feet of i-cord), I actually almost cried I was so sad to be done with it. If the i-cord didn’t look so gosh dang-nice, I might have taken another year just to finish that one.

I don’t really have a lot of specifics on this one. All the yarn (except the orange) is KP Wool of the Andes. The orange is Arucania Nature Wool. I knit the blanket on size 7 needles (6 for the border). I have no idea how much yarn it took, but I guess about 45 balls (I’ll weigh the thing one of these days). I also don’t remember the exact colors - but it was most, if not all of the blues available that summer and some white.

Here’s another photo:

Whew.

And now, I’m itching to start another blanket.  The only question is - which one?

I finished the Sunrise Circle Jacket. Or at least as finished as it’s going to be in awhile. Right now, It’s only got two buttons/button loops, but in a few months, I’ll change that. I’m in the process of losing weight and I don’t want to add the other buttons until I’m closer to my goal weight/the fit I want. And this isn’t a silly little diet/fad or what not. I’ve actually lost 7 or 8 pounds (imprecise scale) so far… anyway… Yay for this sweater!

Oh, yea, there was supposed to be a great story with this post. Ummm ok. Here goes:

There once was this knitter (me) who knit an awesome sweater in like 8 days (seen above). She seamed this sweater, promptly tried it on and thought it was too small. Specifically, she was concerned about the stretching in the arms. Frustrated, she decided to continue the sweater and then give said sweater to her younger sister for her upcoming birthday. Generous yes, but what can you do?

A few days later, this knitter brought her sweater to her fantastic knitting group. She explained her concerns and the gifting decision, something she was obviously sad to admit to have to do. Finally, she tried on the sweater and became overwhelmed with the overwhelming chorus of - “oh, you should keep it!” “I think it fits just fine” and “I’m sure blocking will help.” Our knitter left this knitting group torn between the trust of this group, and the love of her sister.

A week later, her sister came for a birthday visit. The knitter kindly and nonchalantly (noncommittally might be a better word) asked her sister to try on the partly-hemmed sweater. And to her disgust, the purply color clashed with her sister’s skin tone like no other color known to man.

Rejoice! The sweater remains with the knitter (and blocked to a much better fit).

(You can see the details on the Ravelry page.)  OH.  And I have another FO - but I’m not going to blog it until I get some photos next weekend.

Hello Friends!

I wanted to introduce to you my latest design. I call it Baske. I was inspired by a gorgeous gold and white coverlet that I saw in a catalog. I kept staring at the pattern, knowing that there was a great knitting garment in it… when finally it came to me! A fleur de lis pattern!

And so… I present Baske… an awesome new mitten pattern that I hope you love as much as I do. Here’s a photo of the back and the tab thumb:

Elizabeth Zimmerman says that May is the perfect month for knitting winter mittens. When you finish them this time of year, they’re all set for you once the weather turns! Clearly she’s a genius because lately, I am all about the mittens!

The details:

Needles: US 3
Pattern: BASKE (By me!)
Yarn: Cascade 220 or similar weight yarn (I hand-dyed my gold)
Sizes: Available in Small, Medium and Large (7.75, 8.75, 10 inches)
Cost: $6.00
Available via:

Ravelry: or without: buy now

Anyway… Thank you all for being patient with the teasing posts. I hope it was worth it! I’ve worked really hard on this pattern and I’m really, really thrilled with the results. Each size has it’s own chart (you do not change size via gauge) and each size has been test knit.

A number of people were confused about my previous post (since taken down). It was password protected, which is a weird thing to do all the sudden. I was working on an upcoming design and wanted to share photos with my knitting group so I could get their opinion. I wasn’t sure if I was going to submit the design or self-publish. I’ve decided to self-publish.

Anyway, for your patience, I offer you this teaser photo. My test knitters have the pattern right now, I expect to have the pattern ready in 2 weeks or so.

P.s.  If you’re not already in Ravelry, you should go get on the waiting list (it’s down to only a week or so).  It’s pretty much the best, easiest way to sell patterns… and really, do everything else related to knitting.

Sigh…

So, I have this new knitting group. It’s pretty f’ing awesome… except for one thing. Everyone at my group always has such cool stuff… and my knitting ADD prevents me from finishing objects at a pace with which I can also brag. It seems like every week someone has something new to show off… except me. It’s really quite a problem and it makes me feel insecure. I’ve contemplated doing the whole “one project at a time” rule, but I’m just not sure if that’s realistic. So, in a bit of a fit of inspiration, I make a scarf. A rather nice scarf, actually:

It’s a basic scarf pattern, one you’ve seen millions of because of the inspiration of Jared of Brooklyntweed.

I liked the scarf though. It’s probably the warmest scarf I own, totally versatile (look at those colors!) and it goes great with both my corduroy and denim jackets. And it was a delight to knit. It’s one of those patterns where you keep say “oh, just two more rows” or “let me get into the purple and then I’ll stop” and then before you know it, you’re done!

Specifics (I want to be lazy and just link to my ravelry page, but not everyone’s on ravelry.)

Yarn:  Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Black.  Plymouth Boku in a warm, mix of colors
Needles:  US 7s, Bamboo
Time Spent Knitting:  One weekend (started Friday night, finished Sunday night)
Pattern:  See links to Jared’s page above
Mods:  None.
Love:  Tons.  It’s definitely not the softest scarf - but it’ll definitely be something I reach for on those windy days.
Regret:  I wish I’d bought more of the Boku in that colorway.  I wanted to take advantage of the color changing and make a set of winter wear… with maybe some mittens like this.  I should know better.  Always err on the side of too much yarn.  *stupid, stupid, stupid.

Also - super kudos to the first person who can correctly NAME the part of the IU campus where I took these photos.   It actually has a name, not just “over there by that one building.”

This sock is knit from the top down on dpns. After the cuff, the pattern is only worked on the top of the sock - the back of the ankle is worked in a rib stitch to add elastic to the cabled pattern. The larger sizes have a purl ridge on the top of the sock to prevent the roll-top from getting too out of control and rolling too far.

If you’ll remember, back when I finished my Bird in Hand Mittens, I promised a couple of posts that would helpful for others working on the pattern. The first of this was the quick, easy, seamless Estonian braid. The other thing I wanted to share was how I catch my floats.

When I was sharing my mitts with my knitting group we started to talk about how we catch our floats. I showed everyone who I caught my floats and got some intrigued looks. I think that the way that I catch the main color (held in my right hand) is a little different than the way some people do it. You can see after the part about how I wrap the contrasting color (held in my left hand), which is probably the way most people do it.

Um. So I hope this is helpful - and just so you know, all the videos I’ve made/will make are also up on the helpful videos tab.