November 2009 Archives

I started my niece's Miss Frog this weekend. I don't need to finish it until January but I'd like to be able to take breaks from knitting all those little pieces. And mattress stitch. Lots and lots of mattress stitch.

I'm using Knit Picks Shine Sport in Grass and Leapfrog and Cotlin in Swan. They were all out of white in Shine Sport and I didn't want to wait and pay additional shipping for a single ball of yarn.

I'm knitting it firmly an US #3's but it's still staying very soft. My hope is that if I knit it firmly the stuffing will not show thorough and it will hold up to lots of love (at least, I hope it gets lots of love).

The pattern has been pretty good so far. Things I like:

• Stitch counts for every row that has incs or decs.
• Pics for the unusual instructions like making up the eyes and transitioning from the foot to the leg.

Things that could be improved:

• Gauge. It says DK or worsted weight yarn but doesn't list a gauge.
• When the pattern tells you to work in St st it doesn't say whether to start with a knit or purl row. This has only been a question one time - when knitting the eye - because I hadn't worked any rows yet. A quick read through the rest of the instructions and it was clear I should start with a knit row.
• For the collar yarn, it lists 10dag=400m. I'm still not sure what this says but I think this is telling you to use a thinner yarn because in the instructions for the collar (on page 6) it says "Notice: yarn for a collar is thinner than yarn for a frog!" I didn't see this note in the instructions so I bought the same weight yarn for the collar. I'm sure I can fudge it since it's a toy so I'm not too worried.
• There are several typos in the pattern. To be fair some of the typos may be because I believe the designers are not native English speakers, but in others I think they're just genuine typos. So far they're not anything I couldn't figure out.

The issues are all really small and wouldn't stop me from buying any more patterns from the designers. If you're an experienced knitter you'll be fine and this pattern is probably not for your average new knitter anyway.

BTW, they use the word "nari" in the embroidery instructions for the face. By process of elimination I've figured out they're talking about the nostrils. I googled "nari nostril" and found a definition to confirm it. I think this is probably a translation thing. Or am I the only one who didn't know that word?

I love socks. Knitting them, even. But damn, I sure have accumulated a lot of sock yarn.

I've added to my sock yarn stash every year since I got back into knitting 7ish years ago. You know the drill. Pretty colors. Unique hand dye job. One of a kind. Can't do without it.

I've proven that my ability to purchase sock yarn has exceed my ability/interest in knitting said sock yarn.

It's time for that to stop.

As we approach end of the year I start to think about what I want to work on over Christmas vacation and my goals for the following year. This year I'll be working on sock yarn projects over my vacation, and I'm setting a multi-year goal of ending the year with less sock yarn than I started with at the beginning of the year.

Over the next few weeks I'll be doing a complete inventory of my sock yarn stash. It's mostly in 2 big plastic bins but I know there are errant balls here and there. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this. Lie to me if you need to ;)

This is a reasonable goal. I'm not saying I won't buy any more sock yarn. I'm not saying I'll only knit socks. I'm not saying I'll only knit with sock yarn. Just that I want to have less sock yarn. This should be doable, right?

To get the ideas flowing I've been browsing ravelry and picked out a bunch of non-sock sock yarn projects. I'm using the tag "nonsock" when browsing so I can easily keep track. {see my list}

row 1: alpaca sox legwarmers, springtime bandit, yvaine, sagano, colonnade, daybreak
row 2: centrique, vent d'est vent d'ouest, fizzi, moonlight, swirl shawl, abby
row 3: shetland triangle, gail, endpaper, veilfalt II, lazy day, keefely
row 4: red skies, one skein, october leaves, aestlight, milkweed, akimbo
row 5: spiral mitts, bouquet, heather's mittens, limerick, colourflow, waving chevron

I'm in a modern-wearable mode right now so you'll see a lot of simpler knits. Same goes with shawls. Sock yarn shawls are so versatile! I love wearing them as a scarf with my fall and winter coats.

I've selected:

• 17 shawls/stoles
• 6 mitts/mittens
• 4 scarves
• 2 cowls
• 1 pair of legwarmers

I also tried to pick some projects that would work well with mostly solids and others that would work well with variegated handdyeds.

Since I won't be buying yarn for my vacation knitting I'll be continuing to collect more non-sock yarn patterns over the next 5 weeks. Can you believe Christmas is only 5 weeks away?

At least I've kicked the holiday knitting habit. Now for that sock-yarn-buying habit.

Well, OK, not my tots. My brother's tots.

My brother and sister-in-law are expecting their second child in January! I plan on making a blanket for my new niece. I swore I'd never make another baby blanket unless they had another child (I don't want to play favorites). And just my luck, they're having another child ;)

They're using frogs as the main motif. I found Miss Frog by Twins' Knitting Patterns while browsing on ravelry and knew it would be perfect for my new niece. I didn't want to make a toy for one and not the other, and 22 the Alien is going to be just the thing for my nephew.

I'm using Knit Picks Shine Sport and Cotlin.

Shine Sport in Grass, Leapfrog, High Dive, Marmalade, and Black
CotLin in Swan

Shine Sport in River, Sky, Serrano, Caution, and Black
CotLin in Swan

I was a bit concerned about selecting that many colors online. What if they clashed? They're only $2.50/ball but I'm trying so hard not to add to my stash. And I really have no need for single random balls of cotton blend. So I was happily surprised when I got the yarn this weekend - the images of the yarn were true to life and their descriptions were quite accurate too.

Now I just need to finish my Baktus so I can cast on. Maybe I can have this baby's toy done before she's born.

My friend Liz put up a great post today about the people of Nepal needing warm clothing. I'm already thinking through my stash and several hanks of manos would be both beautiful and warm.

We're all coming across many requests to donate our time, and as the holidays approach we have less and less time to give. The thing that really got me was that these kids walk around in the winter time in flip flops. Can you imagine?

I can't think of a better way to spend a couple of weekend days than making children's lives a little less uncomfortable. Can you?