January 2004 Archives

I get home from work yesterday and find a little package waiting in my mailbox for me. What's inside? Rowan Calmer! Johanna was sweet enough to send a sample ball my way since my LYS didn't carry Calmer. How awesome is that?

Well, everything I've read about Calmer is true. It's just gorgeous. It's so lightweight but the 25% microfiber gives it a wonderful soft hand. I can imagine this stuff is quite breathable for summer months while retaining its shape due to the microfiber. I have about 10 projects in mind for this stuff!

I don't have alot of progress to report on either sweater. I did a few more rows on Rogue. Much more pleasurable with the Addi Turbos! I'm just starting the cables. They haven't really popped yet so it's not worth a pic at this point. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have something nice to show for it

In weather like this, it seems like nothing really works well. I pulled out Rogue last night after getting in from dinner, and barely got thru the twisted knit facing. My left hand even cramped up a bit. But it's done - yay! And since it's in the round the rest is st st or cabling :)

BTW, the needles I'm using right now are Inox. It's the only Inox I have - the rest are Addis. I really dislike these needles! I feel like I have to wrestle with each loop to move it across the metal part. So I'm slipping out of work at lunch to get me some 5.0 mm Addis in the right length. That might actually be what's causing my hand problem.

I do love this yarn though, and that's very encouraging. I've never used the Top of the Lamb - only the Lamb's Pride. I like the TOL for this one though because I didn't want that mohair haze. While it's beautiful it just wasn't what I was aiming for. I still have 9 skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky in Sable though, so I need to find it a good pattern. Or, do I smell a swap? Anyone interested?

And finally, I'm ending today's blog with a public service announcement.

Those of you out there (like me) who have trouble keeping their tops tucked into the backs of their jeans - have a looksee before you sit back in your car after it's been out there all night, because those seats can get mighty arctic. I know, seems like common sense, but really, it's one of those things you never think about AFTER you experience ice cube cold on the small of your back.

I promised you a few pics of the Rogue yarn yesterday so here goes.

Here's a lovely shot of all the yarn stacked nicely on my kitchen counter:

I love Brown Sheep yarn. So stable and even. Can you tell I've been working on Araucania alot lately? But seriously, the quality is excellent and the price is so reasonable. Awesome color selection. A couple of gauges to pick from. 100% wool or wool/mohair blend. What's not to love?

So, I took a few pics of the WIP (if you can call it that - I think there's 8 rows right now) but the color is coming out almost black. The truer color is in the yarn pic above. Here's where I am now, in her 1% done glory:

Since it's just stockinette it's curling so you can't really see the knit side. I took a few closeups but they're blurry so I'll do better tomorrow. I should have the purl turning row done by then and it should help it flatten a bit.

Speaking of...I'm curious which way people have chosen to go on the edges. Rib or twisted knit. Purl turning row or not. I'm a big fan of the purl row because it creates that nice natural fold.

BTW, I still can't help but think I might like this sweater better in a natural honey/oatmeal/camel/moss green sorta shade. This red is my favorite color, but I'm not too crazy about the way it looks with lighter colored jeans. Khakis are cool though. So I'm not 100% sold yet that this is the right choice. I think I'll do a few more rows and decide then. Whaddya think? I guess a second one isn't out of the question, although I don't know if I have the attention span to knit 2 of the same sweater!

I placed my order on Friday and guess what was on the doorstep yesterday? Rogue yarn - all the way from Oregon! I got my yarn on eBay from Oregon*Trail*Yarn. Her store is here: http://www.stores.ebay.com/id=25865687&ssPageName=L2. She was very easy to work with and super fast. I'd highly recommend this seller. The quality is superb and the yarn is in pristine condition. I took a pic of it but I left the camera at home (posting from work today). But here's a shot of it from the eBay site:

It's a perfectly rich deep red color. It's called Burnt Red and it's Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb. I knitted up a swatch last night and got perfect gauge on 5.0 mm's. So you know what I did next, right? Cast on and started my facing. I chose the twisted knit stitch for the facing - the rib seemed like it might be too bulky. Twisted knit stitches are slower though so I still have a few rows to go. Can't wait to see the cables start to take effect - hopefully tonight!

As you can tell my mood has pretty much 180'd since yesterday. It's amazing what a little yarn can do to a yarn ho :)

Bear with me on this one - I promise there's a knitting angle to it

So, I was in a grumpy mood last night. I was dreading work today. And it didn't even make sense. Last week was my yearly review and it was probably the best review I've gotten in my career. Yes, that good! My boss (the CTO) is known to be a really tough reviewer so I was nervous all week leading up to it. But in the end he had a lot of really nice things to say about me. So, you'd think I'd be looking forward to coming in today. I'm starting off the most fun part of the project - early programming. It's the part where you get to try new things out, bounce ideas off people, that sorta thing. Yes, deep down I'm a geek girl. I just love this stuff. But last night, I was in no mood to look forward to work.

Or anything for that matter.

I sat with the Cabled & Ribbed sweater on my lap for probably 2 hours. And I accomplished 3 rows. Yes, T H R E E. All the while thinking 'What's my problem?"

So, I quit on that for the night and went to bed early. Got up this morning to about 4 inches of snow. So, at 5:15 in the morning I go outside to shovel my walk. Why you ask? It was still snowing afterall. Well, a week or so ago we got an inch or 2 of snow. It fell during rush hour and while I was at work. I shoveled when I got home (like most normal, working citizens did that night). Well, the next day I get a letter from the town that I need to keep my sidewalks clean. If it happens again I'll get a fine and a trip to court. Lovely. So I grumpily think about "the letter" as I shovel this morning. Alone. While everyone else sleeps. Grrrrrr.....

So by now I'm really in quite a mood. The kind where it's best not to talk to me. I shower, get dressed, and pull together my knitting bag for tonight's Starbucks meeting. Get in the Jeep. All everyone is talking about is the snow. So, pull out the first CD I can find - Norah Jones - and play that.

Now, can I tell ya how perfect Norah's velvet voice goes with snow driving? Just perfect. And she totally changed my mood. On the drive up to work I listened to her whole CD more than once (lots of traffic today) and thought about what my friggin problem was. And here's my conclusion....

I've been putting too much pressure on myself to knit this sweater and get it done. It's become a requirement - not a priviledge - to knit this thing anymore. So, I barely knit this weekend. I missed my "alone all to myself" time and my mind was revolting. Knitting is so much more than just creating something beautiful. I love the way my mind wanders to far away places, or to solving a problem I might have, or to something as simple as what I'd like to make for dinner. Whatever. It's my time for me. And I didn't get it this weekend.

So, I'm ditching all deadlines. I want to make this because I enjoy it. Because I want to (which I very much do). But if that means swapping out another project for a week or 2, then so be it. It's been almost a week now without any real progress so what's the harm anyway?

As for tonight's knitting. I think I'll pick up the Kureyon scarf or maybe a backpack pattern. I've had that on my interest list for a while now.

A few weeks ago I broke down and finally ordered a few things from the knitty store. I must have had a half dozen things in my shopping cart at some point (including the Yarn Ho baby T - I mean, no self-respecting yarn girl should be without one of those, right?). But I put a few things back, including the T...telling myself that it's too cold to wear it anyway, and there's always next time.

Well, the items I did keep came in the mail the other day. And I promptly whipped them out. Here's what I got:

Can you see it? No? Well here's a closeup:

That's right - a KNIT euro :) Yes, Scott, I can see you cringing from here. Well, it's my Jeep and I can do what I want with it :P

And here's what I put up at the office:

Yup...the "i'd rather be knitting" bumper sticker. Right next to the froofy pineapple lamp and the hand lotion. Sometimes I'm surprised the guys around here let me even sit by them. But hey, I had to buy a Yankee Candle to battle the foot odor (*not* from me!) a few weeks back so I guess they can deal with my girl stuff.

Wondering about my sweater progress? Nothing to report. I needed a few days away from it this week. I hit that point where I just needed not to work on it. But I'm looking forward to getting back on it this weekend. My goal...to finish the back (uhm, guess that's now the front!)

Have a wonderful Friday everyone - the weekend is a comin :)

I just joined Amber's knit along. Come on over and join in the fun. You know you want to!

I added a gallery section to the blog. Yes, I'm aware there's only 1 FO in there. I just got back into knitting after a 10+ year hiatus. I've been loving (obsessing?) every minute of it. So, for now there's one FO. I have a second item that I have finished - a little baby "snowsuit". But I gave it away for a shower gift before taking a pic so I need to work on getting one.

Rogue + Calmer = ??

I'm really getting curious about how Rogue will look in Calmer. It looks like it will hold cables nicely. Here's Hush from the Rowan Calmer Collection:

The gauge is a bit off so I'd have to adjust for that. Calmer is 5 and Rogue is 4.5.

The color palette is a bit limited though. I think I'd try Zeal, Jewel, or Amour. Especially Amour. But that's not a surprise to those of you who know me. Half my wardrobe is some shade of deep red.

And the Cabled & Ribbed sweater? I spent some time determining the pattern if I do just ribbing. I want to make sure the body ribbing matches up well with the neck. That's right. I'm wussing out and going cable-less for the back. Thank you very much Evelyn!

I haven't been able to get Rogue off my mind since the weekend. Given I can exhibit the attention span of a toddler, I think this means I really really really like Rogue.

So...any ideas what I might be making next? You guessed it. God you're good.

I slipped out of work yesterday to visit a LYS and pick up a few balls of yarn. I'd like to make Rogue in something that's fairly light-midweight so I can wear it in the fall, winter, or spring. So, I'm thinking about a cotton blend. But, we all know how unstretchy and growing cotton can be, so I'm going to knit up a few swatches. Here are the 2 yarns I have so far:

Rowan All Seasons Cotton - 60% cotton, 40% acrylic. Machine Washable! But kinda feels like cotton - you know, inelastic, a bit rough.

Rowan Wool Cotton - 50% merino, 50% cotton. Hand wash or dry clean only. But, it has a much nicer hand to it, and a bit of stretch.

Another I want to try - Rowan Calmer. It's supposed to be lovely - stretchy, lightweight, and wonderful. But my local Rowan stockist doesn't have any. So I may order a ball online.

I'm not focussing on Rowan for any particular reason, they just seemed to be the only 2 I liked yesterday. I'll knit up a swatch or two when I need a break from Cabled & Ribbed sweater.

Oh yeah, the Cabled & Ribbed sweater. Well, not much progress to report on that. But I had a great night hanging out with Evelyn last night. Guess I did more socializing and pattern/catalog perusing than knitting.

However, Evelyn had quite the idea last night, and I'm seriously considering it. The sweater has 56 stitches of cables in the center of it. Her suggestion was to make the back just ribbing, and only have the cables in the front. I think it's a pretty good idea. It will certainly speed up my progress. But I'm struggling with the "am I doing this just to get it done faster?" sorta question. I mean, no one but me (and my blog readers - yes, all 3 of you!) would ever know the back was supposed to be cabled. Well, I have a few more days to think about it before I get to the point where I need to shape for the front or back neck.

Rachael found this gem a couple of nights ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. OH....MY....GOD. Isn't it gorgeous? I bought the pattern yesterday. Now I know how Gollum felt...my precious ;)

I absolutely LOVE the attention to detail. Look how the cable V's in the bottom of the neck opening, and how the side gussets decorate the side seams. Just gorgeous. Amber is thinking about a knit along. I think it's a must!

Now, to decide on the yarn and color. I have no idea right now. It takes 1824 so there are alot of choices. Any suggestions?

Cabled & Ribbed Update

Did another half repeat. It's coming along well:

Tonight I'm meeting a friend for some knitting and chatting so I should make some more good progress

Alright, my first weekday post. Um, this is tough. I already get up at 5 or 5:30 in the morning. We're gonna have to figure this one out, because I am NOT getting up at 4 am!

SnB
It was great! I met about 10 or 12 fellow knitters - all different levels. In fact, one attended just to learn how to knit yesterday. By the end she had a couple of inches of garter stitch, knew how to purl, and was going to try some ribbing. Pretty fast learner, huh?

Cabled & Ribbed Update

I got another half a repeat done. Yes, I said I wanted a whole repeat, but there was a fair amount of socializing going on and I didn't want to miss out. I'll have to try to make up for it during the week. I started hank 2 of 9 yesterday, so that is something.

Speaking of a new hank - I rolled my first center-pull ball yesterday. Yes, hardly forging new territory but it was my little accomplishment for the day. If you haven't tried to do this you really have to - so much nicer to not have this ball rolling around everywhere (especially for those of us with kitties!).

Here's how I did mine:

Take an old medicine bottle (about 3-5 inches tall). Take the end of the yarn and cap it inside the bottle. Now, roll the yarn around the bottle. That's it! More of the yarn will go toward the center rather than the ends but that's good because it will let the skein sit flat rather than being almost round. See - easy, right?

Today's my first PhillyKnitter's SnB. I'm really looking forward to meeting alot of new knitters. The weather could have been more cooperative - it snowed last night but turned to rain today. So everything's a slushy mess. Yuk. Can't think of anything better to do on a day like today than stay in and knit :)

Cabled & Ribbed sweater

I got done a half a repeat yesterday - about 16 rows. I do love how variant the Araucania is - I think you can see it in the pic. Hope to get a full repeat done today. Right now I'm about a third of the way finished with the back.

I joined Johanna's knit along. I need all the support I can get to get this sweater done for good.

I am such a good procrastinator! Wish me luck :)

I got the new vogue knitting yesterday. It's not bad. Lots of scarf patterns. An interesting one on the front cover that uses Kureyon in a color blocked way. You wind small bobbins of each color and use them in a geometric pattern for the first 12 or so inches on either edge. Creative way to use Kureyon!

There were one or two other patterns in there I'd consider knitting up, but nothing burning. Definitely not like Interweave, where I need to control myself from not buying up a ton of yarn in anticipation of making all the sweaters I see in there.

I guess it's kinda a blessing though. Given how little of the Cabled & Ribbed sweater I have done, and the newly self-imposed deadline it's best that I don't get too distracted with other ideas.