Category: knitting

Playing Catchup

My mom pointed out that the blog has been a little bit quiet recently. I know! I’ve been feeling bad about it, but most of the major activities of the last three weeks (work, taxes, replacing the water heater…) just aren’t blog fodder. If you know what I mean.

See? 14 years old, way out of code, I could go on, but it’s really not interesting. (If you live in Seattle or the Eastside and have water heater people recommendations, we are ALL ears. We’re on company #4 and only moderately hopeful. A backup plan might be just what we need.)

I’ve been enjoying our new lawn mower. 🙂 Taking it out for a spin after work = so satisfying. We seem to have a lot of moss, plenty of clover (and a bunny who comes to munch on it in the evenings!!), and about three kinds of grass. I’d like to plant more, probably just from seed, but I’m not sure how to match what we already have. Any advice?

Kevin went out last weekend and came home with a ton of crafts supplies. Not exactly the norm? Turns out that he wanted to make a light box. (if you think of product shots, where you just have a white background with diffused light and a vague shadow, and no specific lines or horizons, you’ll get the idea.) Apparently you can also tint the light, and there are other benefits. In any case, 45 minutes and $8 later, he was able to take pictures of my sock progress. 🙂 The colors aren’t true and I’ve tripled the progress in the last week (1″ till the heel turn!) but you get the idea.

Finally, try and tell me that THIS doesn’t make you want to improve every switchplate in your house… Just when you thought you might be reaching the end of the pri-1 house projects, the internet comes through again! 🙂

Finally blocking something!

Progress on the Isabella! Knitting finished, shoulder seams and picot edges sewn, and now it’s blocking!!

With everything else going on, I’ve really missed knitting – this has been a treat to work on. And I was watching Netflick documentaries on my computer while sewing the picot hem at the bottom, so I’m not sure precisely how long it took, but I’m a huge fan. So lovely.

Vacation Roundup

We’re back from a wonderful week-long Thanksgiving trip to Boston and New York, but somehow managed to take almost no photos. Oops?

In New York, we saw a fun group of my college friends (including one couple with their two week old baby!!), and a slew of Kevin’s college friends. Most people have been living their for at least as long as we’ve been in Washington, and it’s so fun to see the lives that they’re settled into. New York still isn’t my kettle of tea, but I bought a map this time with all the subways and neighbourhoods marked, so I at least felt competent. We also got to see my brother for a few hours during the afternoon football game.

We took Amtrak up to Boston on Monday, which was so much more pleasant that flying. Once there, we stayed with my aunt and her family (the same place we stayed before the wedding) – which was wonderful as always. Again, I’m so disappointed I don’t have photos. We didn’t manage to see Larry before he had to leave for Thanksgiving, but I did go to the Thanksgiving service at St. Andrews with my mom and sister (a treat), and the standard group was at my aunt Carol’s for Thanksgiving Dinner, which was enjoyable as always. It’s just good to be home.

I managed to actually get a good bit of knitting done over the week – the Conwy sock from Knitting on the Road, in Trekking XXL, color #104.

We got to Seatac airport, and I realized that I’d left my needles on the hall table. So disappointing! Luckily we were staying just a few blocks from Purl in NYC, so I went over there first thing on Saturday. It was a fun store to see, but (like everything else in that city) so expensive!! Luckily the needles were way cheaper than the yarn.

I’m afraid that I may end up ripping out the socks and starting over. These needles (#0) are a great size for the yarn, but I’m a bit below gauge and the pattern has very little stretch. I’ll give it a week and see if the socks grow at all – otherwise I’ll frog them and cast on a few more repeats.

Secret baby knitting

Kevin’s cousin just had a baby girl, and so I had a great time figuring out good baby knitting for a gift. I ended up choosing the Elizabeth Zimmerman February baby sweater, the Saartje booties, and the Vine Lace Baby Hat ( the non-pointy pictures are adorable). The yarn was Butterfly Mercerized Cotton (Super 10), in color #3882, a deep periwinkle/blue. The buttons came from Windsor Button in Boston, MA (the mystery flower buttons in this post). I used 3.5 mm needles on the sweater and hat, and 2.5 mm needles on the booties.

The Saartje booties turned out so well, and look to be about a 3 mos size (I made the smaller version). The hat was also adorable, but fit the 8 lb newborn at birth – she definitely has a big head, but I think this hat runs small. And I made several changes to the sweater. First of all, my yarn knit at 6 st/in instead of 5 st/in, so I cast on 60 and increased at a rate of two every five instead of one every two. Then, I ran the divisions for the different body parts at 26 for the fronts (including a five-stitch button band), 35 for sleeves, and 49 for the back. I started knitting buttonholes at row 4.

If I knit it again, which I probably will, I’ll make the sleeves a good inch, at least, longer than suggested. (Two might not hurt.) I stressed about the increase rows showing up in the yoke, but the effect, at the end, was actually quite good, so as long as all increases are done on the same side, I’m a fan.

I love the front – it’s cute, the lace is pretty, and the buttons work for once. 🙂

But that said, I *LOVE* the back. Something about that lace, and the garter stitch, just makes you want to hold a baby. It’s evocative and perfect.

Finally, here are the too-cute booties (and finally an accurate photo of the color of the yarn). The buttons took me two tries. The first time I tried to sew them in, I used the same yarn as the sweater. Blueish yarn + white buttons look like eyes (see bootie on the right). It was so distracting. Lesson learned.

I sent the package to Kevin’s mother so that she could deliver it, and some of the first baby pictures that we got included the hat! I didn’t mean to be pushy, hopefully people were just amazed at that large head. 🙂

Sorry that it’s been so long

Oh, man, I’m far behind. I got lulled by my lack of bloggable photos and didn’t post, and now all sorts of interesting things have happened: the start of (fantasy) football and the related knitting, the back deck gardening success, the baby born (and sweater, etc. revealed, finally), the quilt progress and regression…

Usually I cope with lack of posting by just putting up five posts in a night (RSS feeds be damned), but for some reason this all feels intermingled, so this will be the longest post ever. Sorry?

So first of all, I went to the Farmers’ market a week ago Saturday. My intention was to pick up flowers, peaches and veggies (all of which were accomplished with the typical farmers’ market glee), but there were a few fun additions. I ran into Pam from my knitting group at the skirt stall, fun. And then after I was done shopping, I returned to the booth and bought one! (My Christmas stocking had a bit of fun money in it, and though we’re a full ¾ of the year later, I found something great to use it on. 🙂 Nice! )

Here are the farmers market flowers with the front of Isabella. I’ve finally made it to the lace – the knitting is so, so much more interesting now. I’ve made quite a few more rows since this photo and they’ve just flown by. All of the football in the last week hasn’t hurt the progress!

The plants on the back deck have been entertaining. The tomatoes are going strong. I’ve picked five so far, and there are at least 10 more in various stages of ripening waiting in the wings. The beans keep appearing – every time I give up and expect the end, I see 7 more waiting to be picked. No complaints! Best snack ever.

The strawberries just started blooming again a few weeks ago, and the fruits are closer and closer to being ripe to pick. And, exciting to me, the poor pepper plant that got overrun by the beans, is actually making peppers regardless. How cool!! Definitely runty and late, but I’m just delighted by every sign of progress.

And finally, I’ve been working on the pine trees for the quilt. They’ve been weighing on me ( a classic case of unexecutable vision), and I finally charted and started to construct them last weekend. Here’s the result about a third of the way in…

Since then I’ve been finishing and ripping back squares without quite finishing anything. I LOVE the deep-dark pine tree colors up close, but against the lake and land business, they don’t really work. I’m struggling to come up with a reasonable solution… so far I’ve tried improving the tree/water contrast (helps, but not enough). Next up is mixing in more medium greens to go with the darks. I may have to switch to mountains and hills and then return to this – I love the squares but they just don’t fit the quilt.
I meant to write about the baby knitting as part of my catch-all post, but then realized that it would be easier to have my pattern notes separate. So, to be carried on in a later post… 🙂

New yarn and fun buttons

I needed cute, fun, wash & dryable white flower buttons for my mystery knitting project, and so I made a point while we were in Boston of taking a trip to Windsor Button. It’s between my old office and the Park Street T station – and so a fun and nostalgic place to visit. I haven’t been there in three years, and it’s gentrified quite a bit. Much more yarn — I had fun browsing. And all the buttons you could wish for, except they’re all behind a counter, which makes color matching hard. That serendipity of an unexpected match can’t happen because you’re squinting from two yards away. Kind of a pity.

In any case, I found my flower buttons.

And, I found good gender-neutral Cotton Fleece for a friend’s fall baby, and adorable elephant buttons.

The buttons don’t quite match, but it’s a near enough miss that I’ll probably use them anyway. 🙂

A new posting strategy

I seem to be stuck in a phase of only being able to blog about knitting when things are finally finished. Continuing in that vein, I’m ready to post the back of Isabella! But, for general interest, and the fun of showing off pretty new things, I’ve decided to start posting progress pictures accompanied by our wedding gifts. So here’s Isabella’s wicked curl being tamed by the gorgeous wood salad bowl and servers (thanks, Andi!).

I’d started Isabella before the wedding because I needed stockinette for all the plane rides, and the pattern called for a perfect amount of yarn to match the sale yarn I bought in New Hampshire last summer. Add the green color to the leaves on the front placket, and it all seemed meant to be. 🙂 Fun.

It’s taken a while to get this far, partly from being put down so often, and partly because the gauge is teeny tiny: 7 stitches and 9 rows per inch. I’m about 40% through the yarn, and so it’s still a bit of a gamble whether there’ll be enough to finish the front, picot trim, and seams. We’ll see! I’m optimistic.

I cast on last night for the front while watching a movie (a little late to the game, we’ve just signed up for Netflix. Good fun!), and so here’s the first eight rows of the front, with one of the new fish glasses.

And a lemon peel knot? Happy Friday afternoon cocktail hour!

Flight to Hawaii

First of all, we have wedding rings!!!

How cool, right? 🙂

Second, I finally, finally finished the seams and thumbs for Fetching during the first hour or two of the flight.

Yarn: Cotton Glace from Rowan, 1 ball
Color: #747 (dusty pink)
Needles: #6

Alterations: I worked 22 (instead of 18) rounds in the 4X1 rib, and then in the final line of instructions before the Picot bindoff, I worked 10 (not 4) rounds in 4X1 rib.

Third, there’s Kevin. He brought Dumb and Dumber for the flight. I found that not having sound for the Mockingbird scene was actually quite peaceful. (Sorry, Shar and Dave.)

New Yarn!!

Can you guess the (apparent) color of the week?

🙂 I’ve been sitting on Christmas “yarn” money for months, waiting to be inspired. Best of all, not only did they all come at once, but they were all on sale. Best kind of yarn! 🙂

I’ve been admiring the Soy Silk for the better part of three years now. Finding it for 1/2 off in the Parrot color was worth two skeins. I don’t have plans… Maybe wrist warmers, maybe a scarf. Any thoughts?

The blue cotton ease was an impulse sale purchase. All of a sudden, there are a bunch of fall babies. It seems like something that wouldn’t go to waste.

Next was the sock yarn. I’ve been mulling over a new pair of “Knitting on the Road” socks for Hawaii (advantage — small enough not to interfere with tanning in a bikini!). Meanwhile, I’ve been coveting a fellow S&Bers’ Trekking XXL– I’m hoping this is a monochromatic enough blue to satisfy my rules against self-striping yarn. We’ll see! In any case, it’s pretty, soft, and machine-washable. Trekking XXL, color 104:

Then there was the Rogue cardigan yarn. I’ve been looking for a good machine-washable cotton for ages. I knit a Rogue two and a half years ago and loved it. The cardigan, though, is more my style, and I’d love the zip. This yarn was billed as “True medium blue”, and after a few days of looking at it, I haven’t come up with a better name. It will be a great match for khaki, black and grey pants. The yarn itself is shiny and round — I can’t wait to knit it up. King Tut, %100 finest cotton, color #1142:

Yay new yarn. Other than two baby sweaters, the last time I bought yarn was March 2006! The shopping has been fun!