Ugh - spam

I had to enable the "type in the word you see before your comment will be posted" feature due to massive comment spam (how in the world do they know when you've posted something new?" Anwyay, hope its not too much of an inconvenience....

Categorization

There are two categories of knitting in my world.

Solitary Knitting; This is the knitting that I can only do when the PumpkinBoy is napping, out of the house or asleep for the night. This is the knitting that requires concentration from me or is knitted on teeny tiny pointy sticks, that, if a toddler were to come crashing into my lap suddenly out of nowhere, could cause some not so nice results. My butterfly vest and almost any sock I knit fall into this category. The list of appropriate times for this knitting sounds plentiful, but when you add in the fact that I usually have a long list of non-knitting tasks that also are best done during my "alone time" it doesn't really add up to too much.

Here is my progress on Butterfly, my Solitary Knitting project:

18 rows in

Disruptable Knitting: This is the bulk of my knitting time. Projects for this category have to be pretty simple, and can't make me scream in agony if, by some strange chance, a little hand snags my ball of yarn and runs away with it, or if a little body all of a sudden needs mama's undivided attention RIGHT NOW. I need to be able to toss this stuff aside quickly without worrying about losing my place.

Here is my current Disruptable Knitting: can you guess what it is?



Do you have mental categories for your projects? I know many out there think in terms of portable and non-portable, but I'm curious to hear in what other ways people sort out their work.

Tempted by the Fruit of Another

So, the last we spoke, I was going to dye my ugly sand colored laceweight some color and cast on for some shawl. I got the dyeing done:


before and after

But, while it was drying, I had nothing to knit (husband-socks don't count, stop looking at me like that!) So, I did my swatch for Butterfly.


true love

And guess what? I can't put it down now. I am so enjoying this knitting. I am even enjoying it through casting on 296 stiches, dutifully knitting the whole first row, realizing I had a twist when I joined, ripping and casting on again. Phew. This is one of those knits that makes me want to call in sick to work, send PumpkinBoy to daycare and knit all day long without interruption.

There will be a shawl on the needles soon, but I don't think it'll be laceweight. I think having 2 detail-oriented projects on at the same time would not be a good move for me. So, I have my eyes out for something that'll work in heavier weight and won't hurt my brain too much.

Next Up...

I have 2 family weddings coming up in Sept. and Oct. I would like to have a shawl to wear to at least one of them. I'm not crazy enough to think I can get one done by the Sept. 10th one, but maybe, just maybe I can crank one out for October.

I've had this Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud for some time now. I got it in a Knittyboard swap for some sock yarn. I hate the color though - its a very bland gray-taupe. Blah. I plan to dye it for the shawl-to-be. However, it was already balled up when I got it, what to do, what to do?

shawl-to-be

How about we make a niddy-noddy? After plonking down about $4 at Home Depot, and 15 minutes of woodworking, ta-da! A perfectly serviceable niddy-noddy: woo-hoo! Ingredients are 1 16" chair leg from the moulding section (with screw embedded in one end already) 1 3/4" diameter dowel, cut into 2 10"pieces, and one 1 1/2" screw. Add a cordless drill, and voila! Niddy-noddy and one ball is quickly ready to be re-skeined.

Now, on to decisions. I've been thinking about the ubiquitous Kiri, or the also ubiquitous Flower Basket, and I also have the pattern for the Baltic Sea Stole. I need to decide which, because that will determine my dye color. You wouldn't be able to tell from this blog, but red is one of my favorite colors (I have yet to knit anything red, although my Eris will be) and I think if I go with Kiri or FBS it will be red. However, if I go with Baltic Sea Stole, I'm thinking bluey-green. I plan to experiment with some test dyes today to see what pans out.

Rogue Final Update

Rogue was assembled and blocked earlier this week. Photo shoot was delayed do to camera battery issues. I love this sweater. It is by far the best thing I have ever knit in terms of fit and enjoyable knitting. My first attempt at patient gauge-making was well worth it. This pattern is wonderful to knit - not a moment of feeling like it was drudgery, each step was crystal clear and well written. I could easily cast on for another one right now, if it weren't for Eris or my Butterfly vest calling my name. I love this sweater.

Project Specs:
Pattern: Rogue, by Jenna Wilson
Size: 43.5"
Yarn: Cascade 220, color 9338, 7 balls
Needles: Hems on Denise #7, Body on Denise #8
Notes: just a great knit (see above rave)



side view (for some reason looks like I have a bun in the oven - eek!)


pumpkin head


Ms. Casual

I must repeat: I love this sweater.

Rogue Update #3

I just finished grafting my hood! Very fun, and not too hard at all....TA-DA!

yeah baby!

Grafting in pattern works how I expected it to work, and to make my life easier (and because I'm a dork) I made a little chart to follow so I didn't mess up. In the spirit of giving a little back when I've gained to much from all you other knitters out there, I wrote it up to share in case someone else doesn't feel like figuring it out on their own (I know I wouldn't have if something like this had been out there). Its just a plain old text file, but it gets the point across. You can get it here. Hoping to get the sleeves on this baby and get her blocking tomorrow.

More Good Mail

My birthday present arrived from overseas on Monday:

Butterfly Kit

The yarn is absolutely stunning - the depth of color is incredible. Not sure when I will start this one. I need to read up on how to actually knit with two strands, and get the proper needles - my Denises only go down to size 5, and I will need either 3's or 4's for this.

Meanwhile, Rogue progresses steadily. Both sleeves are done - I love doing both sleeves at once, it is so much more efficient. I have about 30 more rows to go on the hood, then more reading to do - how to kitchener in pattern. I think I have a pretty good idea how to do it, but want to make sure I'm thinking about it the right way. If anyone has any good online reference for this, please send it my way.

Brittany Rocks

So, I had read on one of the socknitting yahoo groups (forget which one) that if you break one of your Brittany needles, you can just email them and ask them to send a replacement. While knitting my first sock with the #2 Brittanies from my SP, I sat on one of my needles - oops. No biggie, as I typically knit with 4, not with all 5, but if I snap another one I'm a goner. I sent them an email a couple weeks ago, and lookee what arrived in the mail box today - not just the one I needed, but 2 extras, I suppose for "just in case". Thank you Brittany Needles - you have earned repeat business from me, thats for sure.

insurance

Much Better

OK - the orange design was killing my eyes (please hit refresh if you're still being blinded) - apologies if it was doing the same to yours. Many thanks to this site, I was able to find a good color scheme quickly that still had some pumpkin-ness to it but won't burn out your retinas.

I think this is a good place to stop fiddling. It is very much fun to do however, but I think this will hold for now.

As for knitting content - I ordered my birthday gift last night. I'm excited and scared for it to arrive.