Notice!

Hey!

In the case that you never deleted this blog from your RSS reader – you can find my crafty stuff over at: theknitter.nicolehindes.com – head over and update your RSS feeds my friends 🙂

There are pretty pictures of spices over there :0

This blog is moving…

Elsewhere.

Come on.  www.nicolehindes.com

I know you want to hear about that hot scarf up there…

I’m a Swatch-lete!

I was going to resist doing the knitting olympics this round… but I decided that a swatch a day should be doable (and easy enough to “work ahead” – which I guess is like I’m doping, but don’t tell!) and so… we’ll have a swatch a day… but probably only occasionally on this blog.  I’ll post them each day to the WTP blog, however.

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: US #8
Gauge: 5 st/inch after blocking
Pattern: Barred Knit Pattern
Stitch Count Repeat: Multiple of 6 stitches
Book: A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Page: 152

Comments: easy and pretty fun.

Secrets and Obsessions

I finished a blanket!! And, by my deadline! (check out Rav for the details.)

I’d been wanting to make Babette (which is crocheted! ::gasp::) because it’s just so freaking pretty – and it reminded me of the blankets that my grandma used to have – but with a nice new modern feel. But I knew that if I made the blanket for myself, it would take years. Probably even longer than my log cabin did.

So I pitched the idea to my mom (the one with the mad crochet skillz) that we BOTH work on it and present it to my sister as a graduation present. She liked the idea and one awesome yarn-shopping-trip later, we were all set to go. I did crochet some of the squares, though my mom did more than her share. I had the awesome job of seaming, weaving in the ends and making the border. The fun stuff right?

It was worth it. My sister likes it, and as a friend said: It’ll be perfect for those movie nights.

Next up:

I started a new, mindless sock.  I lurve it.  The yarn came from a sock blank swap that we had over on Ravelry and the package totally made my day.

I know that I promised that I was going to design a sock and show you the whole project along the way… but there are a few things stopping me right now, only one of which is that I haven’t yet come up with a stitch pattern that I want to use.  The other thing?

I have an addiction.  An obsession really.

I’ve become a twilight fan.

Luckily, I only started the series 2 weeks ago so I haven’t had to wait that long for the final book to come out (tonight.  Midnight.  Eeek!) – but I’ve re-read all the three books and I can’t stop thinking about it.  I joined a Ravelry group and it’s more than 3/4 of my posts (out of the last 30 days) on Ravelry now.  At knitting night last night, I was yelled at more than once for checking out some of the latest posts on the topic.

As you can imagine, reading about 2,000 pages twice (and daydreaming about irresistible vampires) has seriously cut into the knitting time.

Anyway.  I was ashamed and hiding my addiction, but now I just don’t care – I fully acknowledge that I have an addiction.  Kalani reminded me that this is the first step.  This should all be over in a few days and then I’ll hopefully be back to my knitting self.

And Mom?  You still cannot read these books.  Edward is mine and I don’t want him in your head.  I’m just not comfortable with that. Really, I’m just trying to protect you from this terrible addiction.  Yea.  That’s it.  I’m just looking out for your best interest.

Popsicle! Limesicle!

I’m pleased to be able to announce one of my secret projects!

Yay!

Here we have Popsicle (Rav link), a new sock pattern that features a mirrored patterning across the foot. I designed this for Three Irish Girls yarn company and their Sock Yarnista sock club.

I’m incredibly proud of this design and the way it turned out. It’s pretty easy/simple… and the swooshing off the foot makes me hope that people will be able to avoid some second sock syndrome. Just doing my duty, you know…

One of the design challenges in this sock was that I had to figure out how to do the gusset decreases (since the instep had it’s own party going on, I didn’t want to crowd it with your typical gusset decreases).  I knew that as Cat Bordhi explains, I could place the decreases where ever I wanted in the gusset section, just so long as they existed…  I tried a few options and finally found a perfect solution… along the bottom of the heel.  You can see a photo here that illustrates this.

Um, so yay!  I love this pattern and I hope you do too!

Here are some specifics:

Popsicle, Designed by Nicole Hindes
Gauge: 30 sts over 4 inches (36 rows over 4 inches)
Yarn:  Three Irish Girls Kells Sport Merin
Needles: US 2 (But use what gets YOU gauge)
Download available: at the Three Irish Girls Website ($5.95)
The inspiration:  This sock is an homage to the summers of my childhood. It’s a fairly simple, top-down sock with a heel flap. The interesting element to keep you out of the heat is the way the pattern melts off the top of your foot like a popsicle during the dog days of summer.

Quickies! The Best part of life!

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.

…and I suck at sewing.

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.

Thrifting

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.

Le Fin.

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?

A finish and a Journey

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.