A Mighty Scare

This happened in mid-August:

In the days leading up to my PhD defense, there was much knitting being done. Partly I was trying to make a deadline so I could give the shawl to my advisor as a thank you gift, but mostly it was to give me something to focus on to manage my nerves. Apparently I didn't focus enough, because I ended up with a stray eyelet.

I was 4-5 rows past the mistake when I noticed it, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to fix it without ripping back that far. I took it in to my LYS and they tried to fix it, but once I was back home and looking at it, I wasn't satisfied with the fix.

So I did this:

I have never been so scared. I pulled my needles out and ripped back 4 rows. I had more than 250 live stitches just a hair's breadth away unravelling into the last eyelet section ... something I was sure I couldn't recover from if it happened. Without a care for direction, I carefully slipped every stitch back on my needle, holding my breath the entire time (which also helped me not throw up). It was nerve wracking.

I managed to pick them up without missing any, and the next row I knit was slow going as I had to reorient every stitch properly. But I did it!!! (I'm a pretty novice knitter, and this is probably the biggest fix I've ever had to do.)

I successfully defended my PhD, but did not get the shawl done in time. I'm working on the last 4-5 rows now and hope to have it done and blocked by the end of September.

Ardent by Janina Kallio
Hazel Knits Entice in Indigo

This has been a project of firsts ... first major lace project, first major error, first major fix, and first of my big projects almost done!

Back to Basics

Back in March and April I was very busy and struggling to do much crafting at all. I just did not have the time or concentration to work on some of my more complicated projects. So, I started making dishcloths.

Also, there was a sale at Michael's on cotton yarn.

Which sparked the idea to make a "flower" dishcloth (aka The Almost Lost Dishcloth). I had to figure out how to do short rows (without a wrap and turn), so it wasn't a totally mindless knit.

Once I was done knitting, it sat unfinished for quite a while, until I finally taught myself how to kitchener garter stitch (not that I'd ever kitchener'd stockinette before either)... and voila!

This was followed by several more straightforward dishcloths in varying sizes. This pattern is the Corrugated Cloth.

Regular size - 40 stitch CO

Mini size - 25 stitch CO

I've also given a few others away without taking pictures of them. Think I might need to cast on another one ...

It looks like a sock!

I've made some progress on my very first sock ever ... and guess what! It actually looks like a sock. I'm so excited. :P

String Theory Colourworks' Continuum base in Atom colourway

Love the grey, love the purple, and adore the pop of green. These socks should be done just in time for spring. LOL

Knitting Skills

I'm a novice knitter. I taught myself from YouTube videos last March, and have been horribly addicted ever since.

I started a lace shawl in September and have been struggling with (and ignoring) it for several months. I gave up, ripped it out, and tried another shawl. That one didn't wow me (it is pretty but it's just plain stockinette and reverse stockinette). I needed something with more ... pizzazz.

I finally decided on the Vortex Shawl. I love it, but it required me to develop a new skill: knitting on double-pointed needles (dpns). Add to that I needed to learn how to make i-cords and figure out the "belly button/umbiblical cord" cast-on.

A few tries very late at night (midnight - 3am), resulted in a decent umbiblical cord to start from:

After a few rounds of the pattern, I switched from 2 dpns to 4 dpns, and I started to really struggle. It was just too much for me to handle. Finally, it occurred to me that I could go back down to 3 dpns, and that was much more successful. More rounds have been done and progress is being made! The pattern is super easy but looks far more complicated when knit.

It is lace (kind of), so looks pretty terrible as it is being knit. It won't look amazing till after it is finished, washed, and blocked.

I love that I'm getting used to knitting with dpns. I'm going to need this skill when I start knitting socks (maybe Christmas Day?) and other little finicky projects.

However, I am very much looking forward to being able to transfer the Vortex Shawl to a circular needle -- progress will be MUCH faster.

I love knitting.

Stitching Class

So, way back in mid-October my LNS hosted an awesome specialty weekend class. They brought in the prolific blackwork designer Elizabeth Almond of Blackwork Journey to teach a 2-day class on blackwork.

While I have done a decent amount of blackwork in the past (mostly Elizabeth's design too) and currently have her Ciara Blue design on a frame, I decided it couldn't hurt to learn some tips, tricks, and pointers from one of the best.

We were given a choice of designs to work from, and I chose Floral Fantasy:

It's a neat design because it's customizable. You can choose to do all 16 squares or 9 squares or 4 squares or just 1 square. I decided to do 4 squares -- over 2 on 32 ct white evenweave. And over the course of the weekend, I got a decent amount of progress done:

I sadly haven't had the chance to pick it up again since the classes, but I do want to finish this piece. I've chosen some lovely green metallic and bronze beads to "bling it up."

Restarting a restarted new start

I haven't had the time to block and take pics of my Hitchhiker yet, but it is finished. All 42 beautiful teeth of it!

Since then, I've started two new projects. (It's amazing that I kept it to only two new starts.) The first is a toque for my brother. I'm using a pattern by Tinksdarkerside called Ribbed for his pleasure… It's a free pattern, and while the name is funny and describes the pattern well, it's kinda weird to knit it for my brother. Anywho … it's a simple 2x2 ribbed hat in fingering weight yarn. I'm using Cascade Heritage Silk Paints (an 85% superwash merino, 15% silk blend) in green. I particularly like the crown design. It's so pretty! I've read that it makes a pointy tip right at the top, so I might try doing the decreases on 5 needles instead of 4. I'll let you know how that goes.

It's great travel knitting, though I find it very slow going. I'm not very proficient at purling and switching between knit and purl slows me down too. However, I think it looks great.

The other new start is another Hitchhiker. This time though, I'm doing it in a worsted weight yarn - Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in Iris Garden. It goes fast and is getting big quickly. I have 2 skeins, so I'll just keep going till I'm out of yarn.

Now the title of this post is a little cryptic. I started my first lace shawl (Haruni by Emily Ross) in mid-September at a mentoring session at my LYS. I brought it home and screwed it up almost immediately. Hence the restart. I made it much further this time, all the way to row 30, and I even put in a lifeline a few rows before that.

My lifeline didn't work (or I couldn't make it work might be more accurate), and so I had to rip out everything. All the way back to the beginning. I'm restarting my restart. At least I'm getting practice with doing garter tab cast ons:

Le sigh. I'll get the hang of lace someday.

A Foot

That's right … a foot of knitting! Twelve whole inches!

This is my tweed stitch scarf right before I joined my second skein of yarn. I recently started attending an afternoon knitting group at my LYS and that has helped move this thing along. A solid two hours of knitting means pretty decent progress! Usually I'm lucky if I manage a row or two before bed. I will admit that I'm pretty tired after two hours of knitting. I have to concentrate a lot! :)

It's funny -- looking at it in the picture I can see a distinct pattern emerging, which will likely change when I join the new skein. I probably should have knit from two balls to help avoid this, but that kind of feels like a waste of yarn. Oh well … it'll be fine I'm sure.

More yarn = More starts

I started two new knitting projects - a double seed stitch blanket and a lacy shawl. I've never worked with lace weight yarn before and it is proving to be more challenging than I like at the moment. I've put that one on hold for now. The blanket is a joy to knit. I just wish I knew how I screwed up so badly only 2 rows in. I'm trying to get my nerve up to undo and restart the silly thing.

The obvious solution, of course, is to buy more yarn and start yet another project! I, as usual, can't just buy stash for one project, I have to buy for multiple projects. I'm only starting one project though.

I picked up some Cascade 220 Superwash Paints for a scarf for my dad. Several years ago he asked me for a red and black scarf. I crocheted him one last year, but he doesn't like it much. He says it curls up on him and turns into a rope around his neck. So I'm trying again with a Tweed Stitch Scarf.

I'm loving the tweed stitch! It's quick and easy and I can recognize the stitch pattern as I knit. I'm still learning how to recognize stitches (and mistakes) in my work.

However, I am a little pissed about the seed stitch border. I'm following the pattern, but it looks like a line of stockinette stitch. See:

The pattern reads as follows (it's a free pattern and I linked to the original above):

Row 1:  Slip 1, P1, K1 (these 3 stitches are the seed stitch border), K1, *yf, sl1, yb, k1*; repeat between *’s to last 3 stitches (Row 1 of Tweed Stitch), K1, P1, K1 (seed stitch border).

Row 2:  Slip 1, K1, P1, (seed stitch border) Purl to last 3 stitches (Row 2 of Tweed Stitch), P1, K1, P1 (seed stitch border).

Row 3.  Slip 1, P1, K1(seed stitch border), *yf, sl1, yb, k1*, repeat between *’s to last 3 stitches (Row 3 of Tweed Stitch), K1, P1, K1 (seed stitch border).

Row 4:  Slip 1, K1, P1, (seed stitch border) Purl to last 3 stitches (Row 4 of Tweed Stitch), P1, K1, P1 (seed stitch border).

I am not happy with the border at all. I tried knitting a swatch where I invert the Row 1 & Row 2 and Row 3 & Row 4 border order. It still doesn't work. Anyone have any idea why this isn't working for me?

I can't decide if I should continue knitting with the messed up border or if should I undo everything and restart it either with a fix for the seed stitch border or with a different border. Opinions?

I also picked up yarn for a tweed stitch scarf for me - Manos del Uruguay silk blend. So gorgeous!

I definitely need to figure out the border so I can get my hands busy with this stuff!

I love Alpaca?

I finished another dishcloth yesterday. This one was seed stitch with a garter border.

I struggled with this one. I wasn't used to switching between knits and purls, so my knitting speed slowed down considerably and I felt awkward and clumsy. It made me not want to knit. Finally I forced myself to do more than a row at a time, and I began to get into a rhythm. Next thing I knew, it was done! Yay!

I will say that I love the texture of seed stitch. It looks lovely. Almost too nice to use as a dishcloth!

Now to the alpaca situation. I didn't know this about myself, but apparently I love alpacas, or at least the yarn that comes from them. I decided to start two new projects for the summer (both are pretty big projects). The first is a double seed stitch blanket for a friend of mine using Misti Alpaca Chunky in natural. It is the softest thing I have ever touched -- 100% baby alpaca. It is heavenly! I also decided to start a lace shawl using Shimmer lace yarn by Knitpicks in Elderberry. It's 70% alpaca and 30% silk and beyond lovely!

Now … to knit!

Learning to Knit - Progress!

I was stupid in March. I let myself try something new … I tried knitting. And of course I fell in love with it. Totally stupid, 100%, head-over-heels in love with it. I'd been avoiding knitting for years because I knew this would happen …

Anyway, I took the advice of a dear friend and started small and simple with a dishcloth (here). Then I tackled a bigger version of the same pattern to make a doggie blanket for my boy Toka. I was hoping to have it done in time for it to go with him the first time he was boarded at a kennel, but no such luck. I was 3 weeks late. But … it's now finished!

Now, I have a major gigantic project planned, but it's a wedding present and I want it to be perfect. So, I needed to learn/practice the purl stitch. It made sense that the practice piece was a stockinette dishcloth.

Look at that!! I did it. Woot! :) Stockinette stitch!

Thankfully, I got the hang of it quickly. My knitting in general is a little slower, but at least I can do it without major mishaps. I got so into the swing of it that I actually finished it in just a few days! Holy crap! This one used Sugar'n'Cream worsted weight cotton in Moondance.

I'm quite proud of this one. It's pretty, has no mistakes, and was done in a flash. Now I feel like a knitter!!

I think I still have a little more to learn before I tackle my big project though.

A great idea

I have lots of those -- great ideas -- maybe more than is good for me.

A few weeks ago I finally caved and decided to learn how to knit. A dear friend kept making me put on the brakes and just practice instead of diving head first into a major project (she's pretty smart).  After several hours lost on Pinterest and Ravelry, I'd picked out a kazillion knitting projects I'd like to do and also found a really simple, small project that would be perfect for the stage I'm at in the learning process.

I decided I would make a doggie blanket for my boy Toka. He's going to be boarded at a kennel for the first time ever in May, and needs a blanket that can smell like me but is washable too. I found a pattern for a diagonal garter stitch baby blanket that I plan to do in cotton. Nothing but knit stitches and yarn overs; a perfect practice piece.

I bought a big cone of Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn in Country Side Ombre.

I also bought a few small skeins just cause I liked the colours!

I had a similar pattern for a dishcloth, so I figured I should try it out on straight needles as a practice practice piece. And I'm glad I did. I ended up casting on and knitting the first few rows 5 or 6 times before I got it quite right. After that, I was good to go.

I did discover that with the straight needles I tend to wedge the one in my left hand against my body and I use my left hand just to throw the yarn as I knit with the right hand needle. Try as I might I couldn't seem to keep both needles in my hands. I did some research about needle and hand positions, I tried English style (my tension is super tight when I try to hold the yarn in my right hand) and continental style. I tried out almost every combo I could think of, but kept coming back to wedging the one needle against my body. I finished the dishcloth and it looks pretty good (I need practice with binding off) and I feel confident about my knitting tension.

However, I was nervous about attempting the doggie blanket on a circular needle. I just hoped that things would work out once I got started -- and they did! Somehow I seemed to automatically choose hand and yarn positions that worked and I got going on the circular needles quickly and easily. I am actually really enjoying knitting this thing!

Here's hoping I can keep up the enthusiasm for another 300+ rows. :)

Time for something new … seriously?

I've said on here several times that my spare time is extremely limited. A PhD is not conducive to endless hours of leisure time. However, this fact doesn't seem to stop me from picking up new hobbies. Last year I added English paper piecing and counted canvas to my repertoire and the year before I taught myself how to crochet.

After much urging, encouragement, and enabling by a dear friend, and despite my weak attempt at resistance, I have succumbed and agreed to try knitting (again). I tried once when I was a little girl, but my tension was so bad that after a few rows it was impossible. I had thought that I was never going to be a knitter. With age and crochet experience comes a better feel for tension, and so I tried again.

I picked up some cheap needles and pulled some ridiculously green acrylic yarn from my stash and gave it a go.

Not to shabby for a first try! Look at all that pretty garter stitch. I am a knitting whiz! Slipping stitches like a pro!

*fast forward 3 days*

Sadly adding in purl stitches and the pretense of a pattern (k3, p3) and it all went to hell. LOL

As much as I hate to admit it, I need to practice. Here's to umpteen rows of stockinette stitch in my future!

A quiltin' I will go ...

A few months ago I was introduced to English paper piecing (a hand-stitched quilting technique) and I couldn't resist trying it out. I now have two projects on the go. :)

My first and major project is a Batik Hexie Quilt. It is mostly dark blue with green, purple, and aqua blue flowers and will consist of just over 1200 hexies. I've managed to make a few more, bringing the total up to 119 basted hexies:

I've also started a wall hanging piece made of 96  2" diamonds.

These are done in Robert Kaufman Fusions Mist fabrics in Pear, Forest, Sable, and Ivory (I think - not sure about the greens). I've managed to baste more than half of them:

And I've figured out the design layout for the 6-point star I'm making:

A bit of a bender

Some insomnia plus a little extra "me" time means a good amount of progress!

Elizabeth got most of her bodice and more of her bow added:

I love this one more and more now that it actually almost looks like something. She is going to be huge though!

Metamorphosis had two motifs completed and a third started:

This is such a quick, easy stitch. I forgot how fast it can go. The fire colourway looks better than I had hoped - I like it!

A new start was made on my next crochet project - a stripey scarf:

I must admit that I struggled to get this one started (had to chain 432 ... twice!), mostly because I have fairly tight tension in my stitches and the first chain was just too tight to use. On the second try, I moved up two hook sizes to make the foundation chain, then went back to the called-for E hook and it is now going swimmingly! I really, really enjoy working on this. It's super simple as well, using either slip stitches or single crochets. I do appreciate the mindlessness. :P

And the quilting store received another visit from little ol' me (oops):

I just love the Robert Kaufman Fusions Mist fabrics -- great colours, awesome mottling, and subtle print. I keep thinking of things I want to make!

Updates on progress, finishes, framing, and a new start

I have a bad habit of not updating on projects when I only do a tiny bit of work on them. Over the course of a month or so I might work on a project several times, but only minor progress occurs each time. However, that progress adds up. :)

Today's post is full of updates -- most of the work took place over the last month and not just since my last post. I sadly can't spend that much concentrated time on my crafting.

Alright, let's get on to the good stuff! Pictures coming up ...

Birds of a Feather got some zig zag added:

Elizabeth has more of her poofy pink skirt:

Rules for Life came home from the framers:

My granny square lapghan is finished!! It is currently being blocked. (This is my first time ever blocking something, so it isn't perfect, but it's a huge improvement from before I blocked it.)

And I started something new ... Metamorphosis (by Ink Circles) in a "fire" colourway (think yellow-orange-red ... eventually):

It always feels like I never have much time to craft, but looking at this post makes me think I manage just fine. Yay! :)