corrvin | Entries tagged with knitting

So, I've survived the weekend from heck; I'm still sad but doing a little better. Survived a little rockiness in my personal life, things are doing better there too.

This week's schedule is going to eat me alive. I have cleaning to do today (Wednesday) and my dad coming tomorrow for us to work on wiring or... something! I don't know what. In the kitchen.

I'm having sleeping problems, as usual, with the 2pm wakeup and inability to sleep again. I'm sure it's stress, it should go away soonish.

I am still unsure how I ever find time to date. I'm just glad I do. I've been having a spectacular time with the folks I've been seeing. I need to make more time for just hanging out with people I care about. Good thing work is giving us 2 weeks of vacation starting next year!

On the knitting needles this week:

1) Charcoal gray pocket hat, needing 2 rows + ribbing + pocket to be complete, hat 1 of 3 for the Tulsa crew (my ex's family)

2) Striped pink and brown hat waiting to be frogged for re-use... I wanted a pointy elf kind of hat, but I should've double increased every 4th row instead of single every 2. Also, reverse stockinette 2-row stripes are PERFECTLY straight and I kind of would rather have those almost than stockinette ones.

3) a fair number of scraps of yarn sitting by for....something. I'm not sure what yet. And a ball of sock yarn.

I really want to knit a vest, and I have the yarn put aside for it (Silky Wool in green/blue) but I need time to pick out a pattern and start work. I have the duct-taped pieces for at least the measurements from waist to underarm.

I still need to do laundry and pack for my trip Sunday. OH MY GOSH IT'S THIS SUNDAY. HOLY CRAP. I have a lot of stuff to find! (I'm only going for 4 days, so I'm taking two changes of clothes at most. This sounds easy, but I also need my laptop, iPod, chargers for those and my cell phone, knitting stuff, and whatever else I can fit in a teeny tiny bag. Also, I'd like a messenger/laptop bag. I'll go look for one in the morning.)

On the real to-do list:

Finish both hats currently on the needles.
Pick out new kitchen vinyl and a new sink (whee!).
CLEAN ALL THE THINGS. (Indy is arriving a week from TODAY!)

On the what-I-wish-I-could-do list:

Draw out, make templates for, and start piecing a double wedding ring lap quilt with a chocolate-brown background.

I made a teensy golden-yellow sweater tonight, with a paperclip hanger. I'll post a pic later.

I found this fabulous black shirt with brown pinstripes. I'm wearing it right now with brown jeans and black Mary Janes. I want another shirt like this but different, something that ties together the old (black! gray!) wardrobe and the new (brown! cream!) wardrobe.

Wednesday, if we get around to it,

marxdudek is helping me with making a.. well, not a dressmaker's form, but the pieces for one, using duct tape and a t-shirt and probably a lot of cussing. Then I plan on drawing lines, cutting it apart, and having a set of pattern pieces I can use to alter clothes.

1. In the Harry Potter books, Muggles are absolutely non-magical, while witches and wizards are magical, and while both kinds can exist in the same family, people don't change from one to the other. Therefore, if you want to refer to non-knitters as intrinsically different ("Muggles") you can't also complain that they don't want to learn to knit.

1)a) Also, if you want to refer to non-knitters as Muggles, please read all the books and look for instances of anti-Muggle sentiment, then determine whether people who hold anti-Muggle sentiment are good guys or bad guys.

2) Behind dichotomy #2, we have this: people who think they should be allowed to take their fabulously sharp, pointy, long knitting needles anywhere they damn well choose, AND people who think it's funny/appropriate/polite to make threats involving their knitting needles. Folks, if we continue with "I have two needles, you have two eyes" speeches in real life, we ARE going to lose the privilege of taking the damn things on the plane. Also, stop trying to sneak your shit through airport security. When and if they give me the pat-down, I want them to be patient with the off-balance nervous person, not suspicious of another sneaky knitter; and I want them to treat items on the "no" list like honest mistakes or forgetfulness, not deliberate attempts to smuggle.

2)a) Also, I'd like to see some interesting knitting-themed shirts that are not suggestive of violence or otherwise rude. For bonus points, one that also doesn't refer to knitting while drunk or extol the sexiness of the knitter would be super. (How about shirts that refer to "knitter" instead of "knitting guy" or "knitting girl/gal/woman/chick"?)

In a non-knitting pondering, I wonder why we have so few gender-neutral honorifics. We have Doctor and Reverend and a few other occupation-related ones, but when you meet someone and want to add something formal to their name, you have to figure out what gender title to use.

I'll post pics of this either (a) as soon as I find the damn camera or (b) as soon as I get paid and buy a new one.

( how to cast on and make a turned-under hem without having to do a provisional or pick up stitches, cut for knitting blather )

I've cast on the bottom hem of a vest using this technique. Hopefully I'll have pics to post by Wednesday.

( in which I review the 25 patterns in the winter 2009 Knitty )
( including one with a bothersome name )
( and one pattern with an offensive introduction that even seems to be against Knitty's no-religious-pattern policy )

( I finished that scarf for my mom. )

And now to more interesting projects-- but I must say that the Clover pom pom maker is lots of fun, and totally worth the money just to have pompoms that easily come out all the same size.

a demo of a widely-known slipper pattern (which isn't usually available in plain English).

I think this is a cool mockup and good picture-taking, so I'm reccing it here for y'all who want an easy knitting pattern-- especially for folks who just started and only know garter stitch so far.

Zimmerman proposed the "Afterthought Pocket," made by snipping the yarn, unraveling to make a one-row hole in the knitting, then picking up the stitches around the hole and knitting the pocket onto them.

PROBLEM: This requires turning the entire sweater twice for every round completed on the pocket, which may be only 10-15 stitches.

Solution: The Promethean, or Before-Thought pocket (guaranteed to be more fun than having your liver eaten by birds!).

Try on the sweater as you knit it. Figure out where on the sweater you want a pocket (e.g. sleeve, front, sides). When you get to the row before where you want a pocket, STOP KNITTING.

MAKE THE POCKET:
Pick up a second set of needles. Cast on the number of stitches you like onto provisional yarn and then knit your pocket to the desired depth. Try it on your hand, or whatever else you want to put in your pocket, and when you are done, bind off and seam together (or bind off front and back of the tube together in one step to make the bottom).

Unravel the provisional yarn. Put the pocket on two needles, one front and one back. Now we're ready to knit the pocket in with the sweater.

Knit around your sweater until you reach the location where you want the pocket to start.

SET UP: Slip the first sweater stitch onto the right needle. Now slip a stitch from the front pocket needle. Alternate sweater and pocket stitches until the entire front of the pocket is slipped between the sweater stitches.

KNITTING FRONT OF POCKET IN:
Now slip all those stitches back onto the left needle, and bind off two together, until you've bound off each sweater stitch with a pocket stitch and you're back to nothing but sweater stitches.

KNITTING BACK OF POCKET IN:
Continue knitting around the rest of the sweater until you are back to the stitches you have bound off. Then, instead of casting on again, just knit the stitches off the other pocket needle and continue knitting your sweater when you run out of pocket stitches.

Voila, a pocket you don't have to manhandle the whole sweater to knit!

short row heel method.

For personal reference.

Katie, here, knit an Ann Boleyn doll-- WITH A DETACHABLE HEAD.

Okay, so she's done most of the other wives so far too. But this was the best.

*2 loaves bread baked

*1 headscarf finished and blocked

( pic under cut )

*Yarn bought for other 1/2 of gold-colored neck scarf (and more needles and some sock yarn)

*3 55-gallon bags of clothes marked for discard/giving to friends/donating
*1 laundry load of t-shirts sorted out of that and washed for a friend
( pics of said shirts )

*2 loads of laundry, that is, ALL MY CLOTHES NOW washed and put away

*Load of dishes running in dishwasher

And soonish, I'm going for a nap.

I am doing the finishing touches on the kiddo's sweater.

As a side note, I discovered that while I remembered knitting her at least one sweater, I've apparently made her FOUR sweaters over the years.

One cream-colored vest with a cable up the front.
One multi-colored double stranded wool vest.
One two-tone pink sweater with mid-length sleeves and stranded hearts around the chest.
And one pink and gray crocheted sweater.

Yes, I'll take/post pics at some point. I've posted pics before of three of them, but not the cream cable vest.

Anyways, I am doing the finishing touches, which means picking up the sleeve pocket stitches and knitting the insides of the pockets. I got through an entire round on my 7" DPNS before remembering that I bought 5" DPNs.

OH MY GOSH. These are AWESOME for pockets. Or anything tiny. They're much easier to mess about with. I want another set or two in different sizes.

When I get tired of messing about with these, I'm going to go ahead and start the sleeves for a sweater. I'm not sure what sweater, mind you, but something will get started today, before I get this project off the needles.

I've got the idea for the sweater I want for myself. It'll be longsleeved, with bell sleeves, but ribbed and smaller around the body. Basically, it should say "I'm not wearing this sweater tighter because I don't know how fat I am*-- I'm wearing it tighter because I look awesome in it."

I will do a provisional caston for this sweater tonight. I think I'm gonna do edge lace on the sleeves, but I'll worry about that later. Argh! I forgot my colored pencils!

*244.6 pounds, this morning.

I found yet another reason for the sweater curse.

(For those who aren't aware, the curse is: if you knit a sweater for your significant other before you are married, you will never marry them.)

Previous theories have included: driving your SO nuts by making them look at patterns and yarn with you, knitting them something truly bad and insisting they wear it, and so on.

However, I thought of another reason today.

You see, you can say all you like, "Honey, you are adorable and I love you just the way you are." You can practice acceptance, you can compliment, you can lavish attention and affection on each and every part of your loved one.

But when you make them a sweater, you have to measure them, and adjust the pattern to flatter them. And there's a difference between "You have the cutest tummy" and "I'm gonna add some short rows here so you don't have to tug the hem down all the time."

Sweaters! Argh!

( cut for pic )

Still on the list:

Sleeve: 50/80 complete plus cuff.

Pockets: 2 on sleeves, one on front.

Hem and sew in ends.

( the sweater body, nearly finished )

Still to go:
--Pick up collar and do ribbing.
--Take out the temporary bindoff, pick up sleeve stitches, and do full length sleeves with pockets in the upper arms.
--Make patch pocket on lower front.

Expected time to finish (and yes,

amysuemom, I'm really tipping my hand here) a week from Wednesday.

So, I had a 15% off coupon and a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble, along with my regular 10% discount card.

I went to see what I could see, and looked at all the knitting books. I picked up volume 3 of the Vogue Stitchionary, a stitch dictionary of color knitting. (Brag: Regular price 29.95, after my discounts $22, so it cost me nothing and I still have credit on the card.)

This thing rocks my world. I have three or four awesome ideas in my head already. I brought my graph paper to work, and if I'd remembered to bring my colored pencils I could've drawn all night.

Sadly for my knitting, which I DID bring, someone left a pair of Craftsman needlenoses here, along with my paperclip stash. So, uh, I made stuff. Stitch markers. Little twisty things. Whee!

I did get some knitting done:
Progress on sweater body: 19/80
Progress on sweater sleeves: 0/80

( so yeah, I'm knitting a sweater for the kid to try out some stuff before I do it full-size, and I've been working on it for a couple of days now, and it's not anywhere near finished but it's just started to look like a sweater. )

And there you have it.

( the two-color scarf )

Colors possibly not accurate; the blue at the bottom is much darker.

Pattern is a K1P1 ribbing, alternating two skeins of Noro Silk.

I'm making a striped scarf with Noro Silk Garden. I have the blue/black/lime green colorway, which is a little dark I think; but it should come out okay.

I'll post pics when I get home.

K1P1 ribbing is not nearly as bad as I expected.

For those of you who aren't knitters, allow me to explain.( rant )

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Corrvin

March 2026

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Entries tagged with knitting

Some better.

Things I want.

Knitting rants: Muggles, security, gender honorifics

knitting hem trick (no pics yet)

Hey, the new Knitty's up!

Done!

(knitting) Garter stitch slippers, made easy.

The Promethean Pocket.

link: short row heels

Paging Armagh!

Progress so far today.

Hooray for 5" DPNs!

The Sweater Curse, explained.

Sweater progress-- nearly done!

Not exactly on schedule.

Recent book purchase.

(no subject)

the scarf I've been knitting.

K1P1

Hospice "throws"-- not all that great. (rant)