by zooky
yay, my first pair of socks.  I'm doing them in stockinette stitch because it's easier to do on the subway, and the self-striping yarn makes it easier.  I got Regia Design Line - Kaffe Fassett yarn in the Fire colorway, and it's lovely.  Bought it at Hilltop Yarn in Seattle (also got a bunch of Twinkle Soft Chunky in Urchin).  They had an electrical fire a day or two after I went, so I was glad to have been able to shop there.  Hope they can open again soon.

The toe is from the knitpicks free basic sock pattern, but then the heel for that pattern is some kind of provisional knit, which made me feel lazy.  Plus, the pattern didn't say how wide to make the sock, so I said "screw it" and I'm knitting up the rest of the sock from the knitty basic sock pattern. 

Some people bother to match stripes, but note that I didn't.

by zooky
I've also completed the Pilot Hat from the Twinkle's Big City Knits book.  I modified it a bit, mostly because I was a bit short on yarn.  I was using some ancient leftover yarn that looks like Twinkle's Soft Chunky yarn, but is much less soft.  Good thing is, I heard that the softer the yarn, the more it pills, so hopefully my hat won't pill much.  It hasn't pilled at all, yet.  I didn't make the pom-pom, and the ear flaps are 1/2 length.  I actually ran out of yarn, so had to end the flaps just in two long strings, and I also had to do it over a couple of times to get the length of the garter stitch the same on both sides, but have enough left over to have long enough ties so i could tie it under my chin.  There was definitely not enough yarn left over for a pom-pom.

People generally like it, but I got more comments when it was new, so maybe it's getting a little ratty and I'm not noticing?

by zooky
 I finished the Ballet T a little while ago.  It was HUGE!  I guess negative ease is a good thing.  This one hung off me like a half-bear/half-hair shirt.  Very bad.  I frogged it, and I'm making the sm/med now.

I just finished the first round of decreases, and I'm trying to figure out whether to put in more decreases.  It kinda looks like the last picture I posted of the pre-frogged ballet T.

by zooky
Durn, I haven't touched this blog in ages. Guess I've been knitting, instead.  Will be posting pics & stuff soon.  Got my invite to ravelry!  It is the coolest site.  It's in beta, so you need to ask for an invite, but it's worth it for every knitter.  You get to search the biggest user database of knitting.  Now you can finally see what that super-chunky knit is going to look like on someone other than a 100 pound, six-foot tall 15 year old.

by zooky
Turns out, I did frog the whole thing and added four stitches to eliminate the negative ease (that's the need to stretch to fit).  I added it at first to the cast on, but that produced weird wings at either side of the bottom, so I ended up frogging it AGAIN and then casting on the original number of stitches, knitting a round, and then increasing by four stitches in the next round.  Now it is perfectly tailored to that ol' 'pod.

In fact, it's almost done.  Now I have to figure out how to finish it off.  I want a rib at the top that will cradle the top of the ipod.  So I think I'm going to decrease 4 stitches, and then do a rib and see how that goes.

Wish me luck.

by zooky

So now I'm doing an ipod cozy.  It's gonna be just like the sidekick cozy, except much less ugly.  It has a little negative ease, though (meaning it's a little small and has to stretch to fit the ipod), which will produce little holes when it's stretched over the ipod, which means dirt can get in.

I think I might frog the thing and make it a little larger so there is no ease.

 

by zooky

Check it out, I have finished all the increasing for the ballet t.  Now all that remains is to knit out the bottom.  I made the larger size, and it is slightly baggy on me, but hopefully it looks cool.  If not, I have to decide whether to frog the whole thing and start again or to just accept it for who it is.

by zooky

As an exercise in just getting stuff done, I've finally finished the sidekick cozy.  Trying to make it tabbed and crazy totally derailed the project.  So I just frogged it a bit, and then buckled down and knitted a ribbed top for it.  Now it looks like a tiny water bottle holder, but I don't care.  It works, and most importantly, it's DONE.  That being said, I hate it a little for being ugly and ill-fitting.

by zooky
So I've been making this washcloth, but I'm a bit sidetracked, as the "WASH" and "DRY" lettering that I'm trying to put in there is turning into ribbing, which is not what I intended, and I doubt it will come out looking ok.  Drat.  Back to le drawing board.

by zooky
Today I thought of getting a cardigan from H&M, because the only substantial cardigan I have is a black cotton one from the Gap. It's actually fine, but black doesn't go with everything, and it's COTTON. And I get bored of wearing it every day when it's cold out.

So...

Rather than buy, I want to knit. It's not practical, but hand knitting isn't about practicality.

The cardigans I want to knit:

The cabled fishing jacket from Loop-d-Loop.

From Knitty:

Starsky (belted aran)
Salty (pseudo-peacoat)
Mariah (cabled hoodie)
Josephine (longer cabled aran)
Bristow (fitted aran, shorter)

by zooky
As the summer winds down, I get back into the knitting.  The good ol' ballet t progresses nicely, with the mirrored increases every couple of rows.  I'm almost done with the balls of yarn I had before!  Soon I'll have to make 2 new balls from the last hank of yarn, so I can keep knitting double-stranded.

In my kitchen, my roommates have taken to using my white cloth napkins as dishcloths.  This pisses me off, because that dirties them and I have to wash them like 5 times in bleach to get the stains out.  So, I'm finally going to take the cheap cotton yarn I got months ago and knit some dishcloths.  At first I was going to use the knitting machine to do it, but I don't think it can do garter stitch for the edging, so I'm going to do it by hand.

I knit a couple of test swatches, in large (size 9) and small (size 5) needles.  The smalls are better as they produce a tighter stitch and a less elastic.  So I decided to use the tighter ones.  I'll post the pattern when I get the chance.

The sidekick cozy still sits neglected on a bureau.

by zooky
My friend Fay is crocheting a pink skull bib, for an as-yet-unspecified baby.  She doesn't know any new girl-people whose parents would appreciate such an item, so it will await gifting when it's done.

by zooky
Got the new Knitpicks catalog the other day, and saw this book in it:  http://www.twinklebywenlan.com/twinkle.html


Looks pretty slick, with lots of cool tailored chunky knits.  Lots of texture in the patterns.  I wonder if the stuff will only look good on anorexic models.  Word has it that the sizes run from small to extra extra small.  This is fine for me, cause I'm tiny, but if the designs are not flattering, I'm not a stick figure, and stuff might look bad on me.  Not that I would get around to knitting anything in here, but I want the book, bad.

Check it out on amazon: Twinkle's Big City Knits: 31 Chunky-Chic Designs

by zooky
I knit a tiny bit last night, just finishing off a row.  I checked the symmetry, and I hope it's fine, because I realize that the mirrored decreases I made a couple rows back match up with the increases I made on the current row, and no way am I going back a few rows.  I was thinking of backing up a few stitches to correct the symmetry, but not a few rows. 

I think there's a logic inaccuracy in there somewhere, but what do I care.

by zooky













                           +
 














            =



http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTvictoria.html



It's one reason why knitty is so cool.

by zooky
If you google "drunk knitting", this is the first link that comes up.  As I said before, knitty men are cool.

http://www.cafepress.com/menknit.14835147

by zooky
I knit more last night, good for me!  This time, I did mirrored increases.  It's when you make two increases in a row.

Each increase creates a "bar", a result of two stitches being knitted into one.  It's sort of analogous to this, where the plus sign is the second stitch that is knitted into the first one (stitches get created right to left), and the vertical bar is a regular stitch :

+|

Two in a row look like this:  +|+|

Now, in a row of stitches, it'll look like this:  ||||||||+|+|||||||||
Note that what looks like the center stitch is actually the left stitch.  That is how you have to plan out mirrored increases.

I'm going to have to make sure that the extra stitch I have in there isn't throwing off the centering too much.

by zooky
No knitting this weekend, but Knitpicks is having a sale!  I don't know why I care, seeing as I hardly knit much anymore... but I do have plenty of knitlust left in me!

by zooky
are cool.




http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/FEATspr07KLM.html

by zooky
honestly, it was for the blog!  but i knit a long row, and did 1 increase.  then i stopped, because

a) it was my bedtime,
b) i didn't want to overdo it and mess up the hands,
c) i didn't feel like finding a marker to put on to mark the increase stitch.

somewhere, when I was making the sleeves, I must have cast on an extra stitch, because now the shirt is one stitch wider than the recipe calls for.  It bugs me to no end, and i must prevent myself from unraveling half the shirt to fix the mistake.  i have to supress the unreasonable perfectionist in me by constantly telling myself that it won't make one white of difference in the end product.  Sigh.

by zooky
    From what I've seen on their website, Vogue Knitting's Knit.1 is a great magazine.  Unlike the ill-fated, trying-way-too-hard and just plain weird Rowan "alternative" knitting magazine, Knit.1 actually has great photography, and really cute designs.  Maybe they're more basic, but they consist of stuff that actually would be fun to knit, and interesting looking. 















http://www.knit1mag.com

by zooky
No new knitting for me lately, but Daily Candy has in the recent past highlighted the Hello Yarn site, full of hand-dyed yarn.  I don't remember the last time Daily Candy mentioned any kind of crafty thing; usually, they're trying to tell you how to pay $500 to buy something that would be easy and fun to make by yourself.

by zooky
I knit last night!  I did I think like 2 rounds of the ballet T with no pain!  While watching Lost!  This is great.  I did it partly because I felt guilty for not having anything to write in this blog.  Well, mostly because of that reason.  I suppose I could be bored with the project...

by zooky
My cousin, who was in town for texas, has finally gone. It was great having her here and all, but she and her little friends had their flight delayed from Saturday until Tuesday, so I've been out with them trolling around town instead of sitting at home knitting.  Not that I'm complaining, but I don't have a lot of stuff to say on this blog lately.  I guess I am complaining.  To myself.

Here, why don't you look at some nice yarn that I've been looking at:

http://www.patonsyarns.com/product.php?LGC=sws

by zooky
My thumb has been hurting, so no knitting lately.  I hope that sleeping with my hand in a brace will help it heal...

by zooky
Ehem, not quoting from Evita.  No, not me.

Anyway, I'm jetting off to Florida this weekend for a friend's wedding, and I was thinking of bringing my knitting with me.  I'm glad it's allowed on planes, but I have to say the 5 minutes a day I'd be able to work on it don't make it worth it.  I'm a super-light packer, and I actually prefer to bring activities I can throw away as I go along, like magazines.  I don't even like bringing books, except maybe 1 book for the last leg of the return trip.

by zooky
the bases of my thumbs are sore, perhaps from shoveling snow.  trying to knit made my hands feel bad.  sad.

by zooky
Oh, I know what I'll do.  I was going to make washcloths out of the krappy cotton yarn I got from Target, but then my hands hurt too much to want to knit something so pedestrian by hand.  The machine will be perfect for this project!  Another fine example of technology determining the project!

by zooky
Fay got the Ultimate Sweater Machine as an early Christmas present from her mom. Since she hasn't used it yet, she's lent it to me. Now I have to figure out what to do with it. At first I was stoked, but truthfully, a lot of the appeal of hand knitting is lost in machine knitting.

Hand knitting feels like making a garmet, but machine knitting looks like it's going to feel like making a piece of fabric. I don't have an instruction manual or the video, so I don't know how to increase and decrease, so I'll just be turning out squares of square bolts of fabric for now. And it's not very organic. A contraption that needs to be bolted to a table as opposed to two magic sticks. That said, I can probably churn out scarves with some alacrity.

Do I want to use this to make a piece of fabric that I'll sew up into a bag and then felt? Or should I just buy some felt fabric and make it out of that? Also, does anyone know how to increase and decrease on this thing? How about cast on and cast off? Confusion...

by zooky

It is coming along pretty nicely.  Check out the little sleevelets!  Or is it spelt sleevlets!  Yay! 

I find that taking the knitting slowly helps with not getting pain.

Because bamboo is supposed to be easier on your hands, I also wanted to get the WEBS interchangeables bamboo needles, but they seem to have stopped making them.  They are searching for a new manufacturer, but are not having any luck.  I hope they don't give up, as they had the only interchangeable bamboo set with big tips for working chunky yarns. 

For now I just have to be careful with my metal tips.  The metal looks great when knitting up a modern piece like this ballet-t, I have to say.

by zooky
Yo, I'm back.  After taking a little break from knitting to help my parents move (and losing a bunch of weekends in the process), I'm back on line.

Check it:

sidekick cozy, getting somewhere (even though the needles fell out, boo!

by zooky
Back now from Italy and Texas (weird, yes).

I'm working slowly, but steadily on the ballet-T.

My needles fell out of my sidekick cozy, so I need to fix that. But I feel disheartened about it and want to ignore it for now.

by zooky
I cast on and knitted the first few rows of my ballet T.  Check it!

by zooky
Oh, sad day.  I seem to have misplaced Swing.  It is/was a very cool hat!  I wonder where it is.  It might have fallen off of me into New York City.  Boo hoo.

Oh well, maybe I'll knit another one someday.

by zooky
On Friday, I got together with my friend Fay to play with the knitting machine her mom gave her as an early Christmas present.  Woohoo, Ultimate Knitting Machine!  It is pretty big.  And complicated.  But, the manuals were missing.  Someone's DH might have thrown it away before he left for Japan.  So, Fay and I being the nerd-girls we are, we decided to reverse engineer how to assemble and knit with the thing.

There were no online manuals, and it comes with a video tape, which had no player to play it at Fay's house.  We found a troubleshooting page on the manufacturer's website, and an online shop to buy accessories.  The only additional knowledge we had was that 1. knitting machines knit stuff  2. they do it in stockinette stitch  3. some kind of weights are involved.

From this, and lots of very gratifying trial and error, and several labor-intensive tries at threading the thing, we got to knitting a small swatch.  Discoveries went thusly:

Me: (referring to the troubleshooting FAQ) "The troubleshooting tip says that you have to make sure the hem has the weight properly in it.  Does that mean you hook some random heavy stuff in the knitting?" 

Fay: (looking at some weight bars  in online shop): "The long bars are weight bars!"

Jen: (looking at spare hems in online shop): "The hem is that long black piece of plastic with the thingys coming out of it!"

And so on. 

We ended up knitting a 10-stitch swatch that turned into a 9-stitch swatch because we dropped a stitch.  It was awesome.  Now we will knit huge swathes of stockinette stitch for felting!  Yay!

by zooky
is coming out kind of weird. i'm putting in a slit, and I plan to knit a tab to go into it, to close the opening a bit, but i'm a little stymied about how to do it without breaking the yarn. i might need to weave in 2 more ends! that kind of sucks.

by zooky
I finally finished my lace scarf this weekend.  Hopefully I can get a picture up soon.  I ended up getting a little into the next repeat, and started the terminal border of garter stitch.  I ran out of yarn and started ripping back, then realized that I needed to rip back to the end of the last pattern repeat, so I would be doing a garter stitch border of 25 stitches rather than the 31 stitches that makes up the rest of the pattern repeat.  Anyhoo, it's finished, pretty much; all i need to do is weave in ends.  Woohoo!

by zooky
I'm trying to figure out the best way to attach the pom-poms to swing with twisted cords... I think I found a way on the subway this morning, but I'll need to sit down and try it a couple times to get it to be just right. This thing is almost finished!

by zooky
Wore my almost-completed swing out and about yesterday.  Impressed a couple of people; it came out pretty good.  My boyfriend wanted to have it for biking, but it's a little too precious for that.  It does look pretty cool on him-- it resembles the helmets that the knights wore in Monty Python's Holy Grail movie.  So he looks like a dork wearing a sky blue version of a medieval helmet.  Pretty cool.