Much Cry and Little Wool

I was working on a new pair of Mary Janes, in purple this time.

Remember the hippo buttons?

The first one was nearing completion:

I started thinking back on the month of March, and how broke I was after paying to get my driver's license back and then my insurance. How I got that darn fortune cookie in December that promised good fortune in 3 months and how no such good luck appeared. How many days went by with no spare cash, and how many days Vyvyan had a cold that warranted staying inside all day. Again.

I guess it was the cabin fever that got to me, and so I told my mom I was taking myself on a date. I left Vyvyan with her and went to my local bookshop. I got myself a grande White Chocolate Mocha, and I chilled out with a knitting magazine and the second slipper, and I sat there and people watched. I sat there and contemplated my life, and existence in general. Then I wandered around, bought a book and went home.

My pair of slippers looked like this:

 Can you see the problem?

Well then the next day I went outside when I had a nice chunk of time and worked on them some more. I crocheted the whole slipper and slip stitched the back together before I realized it: My gauge was off!!

The first slipper was made during a regular ol' stressful day. The second slipper was made while I was actually relaxed! The pattern calls for 12 rows of double crochet for the foot of the slipper. I'm a loose hooker and have small feet, so I was doing 10. The second slipper? I could have stopped at 7.
No kidding.

I wish I took a picture before I frogged it to oblivion.
I am pretty grumpy about this failure because I was hoping it would be my FO for Friday, since there's no way I'm finishing the blanket in time.


Oh well.
I also procured more yarn. I don't know if you know this, but sometimes Big Lots stores have yarn. (Sometimes it's good yarn, too. Check out your local store- you may have to dig around for it, though.) Right now they have a bunch of sock yarn at my location for $1 a ball. I assume the skeins are underweight, but a buck a ball is still not bad. Here's my haul:

I may talk more about this yarn later; I plan on doing burn tests to find out exactly what the fiber content is. Apparently this "Gala yarn" (actually Ice Yarns from Turkey- you've probably seen their lots of yarn selling dirt cheap on Ebay) uses the same label for each yarn. All three of my yarns have this information on the label:
GALA Yarns
Mixed Fiber
Acrylic, Polyester, Nylon
50 gr-1.76 oz
Machine washable and dryable
Made in Turkey

Of course, you'll notice there is no information about yardage, or fiber percentage. Still, I liked the yarn and have plans for it all! I just have to make some swatches and test out the wash-ability. And what can beat 9 skeins for $9?? I usually buy a skein of sock yarn for twice that much!

WIP Wednesday

This week I have been working pretty monogamously on one object. One giant crocheted object.

Size H hook.
(Yes that's Red Heart)

In an attempt to rid myself of the bulk of my acrylic stash, I've decided to crochet a blanket or two.
This one is already pretty big:

I haven't measured it lately but there are about 5 balls of Red Heart Super Saver in it already. I've laid under it and wrapped myself up in it and it seems like I can stop if I want to, but I've put it aside for the night and will judge again tomorrow. (When I'm awake, have a tape measure, and perhaps a few family members to ask.)

I plan on doing a cute picot trim in red, as well as some decorations. (I'm thinking hearts, but a part of me wants to do rocket ships or balloons.) That will be in red:

Also, I'm not sure if you can tell, but there are 3 colors in this blanket: white, cream and grey.
The more I work on it the more I wish I had chosen Neapolitan ice cream colors.

So that's my WIP. I find myself drawn to other crochet blankets, particularly Wool Eater and Granny Stripes. But I doubt I'll be starting either of those any time soon. I recently bought Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard and am itching to start a new sweater.
 

Anyways, thanks for reading/commenting, and check out more works in progress with Tamis Amis.

March in Review

March Finished Objects
(Links to rav project pages)

1. "Fastest Sock in the West"
   for my brother
2.  Amy March Slippers
   for my niece
3. I Heart Aran
   for myself
4. Holden Shawlette
   for myself
5.  Teddie Bear Hoodie
   for my niece
6. Enterlac Hat
   for myself and for practice
7. Baby Booties
   for my newest niece

Compared to last month (17 FO's) I am a SLACKER! But of the 7, more than half were gifted (or will be) and there were two sweater projects so I don't feel too bad.

My proudest accomplishment this month was the Teddy Bear Hoodie, which I designed myself- including the armscye shaping. I'm also quite proud of the Entrelac hat, and I have been wearing it a lot more than I'd expected.

I still have 4 projects carrying over from last year: The Mara Shawl, The Hexipuffs, The Ski Sweater(which is totally hibernating), and my Calcetines Azules (which is also hibernating at this point).
And I cast on about a billion new things this month, too.

Techniques Learned
1) Entrelac
2) Cluster Short Rows
3) Top-down Sleeves in-the-round
4) Rudimentary Armscye Shaping

Last month's March Goals:

1) Finish Calcetines Azules OR Guitar Man Socks:12 socks in '12
2) Finish the Holden Shawlette
3) Knit Bear Mittens
4) Sleeping Beauty Cowl- 12 tok in '1

So obviously I did pretty bad this month. I did do a TOK knit, though (the slippers) and I knit a piar of socks as well, so I don't feel too bad about it.

So APRIL goals look like this:
1) Don't buy any yarn online. Yes, this does include the WEBS anniversary sale (I can hear the yarn-ho inside me hyperventilating)
2) Finish the Mara shawl
3) TOK knit: Magic Treetop Bag
4) Sock Knit: Lovesocks
5) Finish the crochet blanket ^_^

I didn't buy any yarn online this month, though I did buy....
2 skeins of sock yarn I used up immediately
3 skeins of Patons Classic
2 skeins of Cascade Fixation I found at the thrift store
and
5 skeins "Yummy" 1/2 off at Tuesday Morning


PS
Sorry if these posts are incredibly boring, but they are useful for me to look back on.

Dagnabbit!

So guess what I found in the stash bin today:

That's right. A third ball of "Soft White."
So now I'm torn between two options:

Option 1:
Pick up along the "cast on"(stll don't know what that's called in crochet) edge with Soft White. After th third ball is gone, buy a new ball of "Light Grey" and add that in after, so that it goes 1 skein grey, 3 skeins white, 1 skein grey. That would be balanced, but I'm not sure I'd like the way it would look. However, I've already established that I don't care how a crocheted afghan looks because when I wrap myself up in them I feel cozy no matter what.

Option 2:
Pick up along "cast on" edge with "White" (Much much brighter color) and work 2 balls of that in. Then go buy another ball of Light Grey and it will go 2 skeins bright white, 2 skeins soft white, 2 skeins grey. That would have a nice gradient, and I like the idea a lot. However, I only have ONE skein of bright white- the other skein is in a hibernating project. I would like to re-use the yarn, but I was working with it doubled so it would be a pain to retrieve and I think I'd end up buying another ball of white. So the problem with that plan is ... buying 2 balls of Red Heart wasn't really in the plan. Ever.

Also, I neglected to mention last post what I plan on doing with the border. I've decided I'm going to do it in a dark red/maroon color. I'm either doing an easy shell/wave stitch, or a cute pointy picot trim. I also plan on adding some big bubbly hearts to the main afghan, either as appliques or surface crochet. In my imagination, it is very modern and hip.

For now, my baby is napping so I'm off to watch a movie and work on the big ol' blankie. ^_^

Still here...

Hello blog readers! I had a bit of a scare there, and lost my blog for a while. Apparently blogger was having hacker/spam issues, but thankfully my blog came out unscathed.
At the same time, I finally switched over to the "New Look," and I'm really barely getting used to it. I am not a fan so far but I just wanted to do a quick post to say hi! Still here!

I've been working steadily on a brand new project with really old yarn:

You may have noticed that, while I have up to 20 knitting projects going at a time, I am a monogamous hooker.

I'm crocheting a blanket out of Red Heart Super Saver. The idea was that I kind of want a nice white backdrop for my photographs, like One Sheepish Girl (one of my fave blogs)has for her Weekend Plans posts. Her blanket has some nice bobble or popcorn stitch happening, but as a noob crocheter, I'm doing simple double crochet. I recently picked up the Harmony Guides Crochet Edgings and Trims book at my local Tuesday Morning, so I might try to add a nice border.

Unfortunately, I know nothing about yardage for crochet blankets and ended up running out of the "Soft White" I was using. Rather than go shopping (the last thing I need is more RHSS in my stash) I just continued with a light grey.

I guess half of the blanket can be "nice backdrop" and the other half can be "weird color-block afghan that is technically made of plastic." (Sometimes I don't think my projects through.) One thing is for sure, though, this puppy is working up FAST!!

Right now it is measuring about 30" x 46"
Going by this website, I think I'm almost done. Depending on whether I want to make a child's size or an adult size afghan, that is. I had planned on a solid-colored child size afghan, but....

It already looks pretty weird with 2 colors, so I'm thinking I might just amplify the weird: Make a huge afghan and get rid of a few more skeins of Red Heart. No matter how it looks, I think it will be really snuggly once it goes through the washer and dryer.

Here's a terrible picture of my progress, in case you're wondering how big it is:

And no, I really don't know how I'm going to make it look any more balanced or attractive.

So that's what I'm up to.
That and mourning the loss of a Ravelry friend. If you are in the Tiny Owl Knits group (Tokland, as we fondly call it) then you have probably heard about Clementina3. If not the thread is here where you can light a candle, say a few words, or give owlie hugs. I still can't believe the news, and I have been trying to just do a regular blog post, but I can't not mention her. I can't not say how-even though I never met her in person- her death has affected me, and what a sweet and wonderful person she has been. To me, and to others, Clem was just a wonderful friend. I was very sorry to hear the news, and had to mention it here. After all, we are all members of a small community, and maybe she was a friend to you once, too.

((hugs))
Cecilia

FO Friday

I have 2 objects today. (No, the shawl isn't one of them)


1) Teddy Bear Baby Sweater

Yarn: Caron One Pound, RHSS accents (100% acrylic)
Needles: size US 10 (6mm)
Size: 4T
Pattern: Improvised.

This project spawned from my realization that I cannot sew set-in sleeves. I decided to knit a pair of toddler sweaters (size 4T) for my son and neice to practice sleeve techniques. One (Teddy Bear Hoodie) will be to practice arms in-the-round with short rows, the second (Shark Hoodie) to practice seaming garments worked flat. Both will be made with acrylic that has been sitting in stash forever.

Pre-wash: it was pretty crunchy before it went through the dryer.
(I haven't worked with acrylic in a long time)

This first sweater was knit in the round up to the armholes. There I separated the front and back, did the armscye, neck and shoulder shaping. I then used mattress stitch on the shoulders, and picked up the sleeves to knit in the round from the top down.
I used a set of videos from Paula Ward on YouTube to figure out how to work the short row sleeves. The video explaining it can be found here, and the actual technique is shown here. I am very glad I learned this technique: I will definitely be using it in the future.

 Here is a close-up of the armhole:

It actually looks surprisingly good, especially when I compare it with a sweater I made last year. In my Cable Car Coat, I made a mistake in the sleeve and ended up trying to knit the sleeves from the top down, but didn't know about short rows at all. So there is quite a bit of armpit pouch, and this technique is a great improvement.

(When I wear this sweater I try to keep my arms to my sides.)

Anyways, this is (almost) the first time I have ever really designed a sweater. I used the following books for help with sizing, decreases, and the math:
1) Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti
Found plenty of detail for sizing toddler sweaters here. (No I didn't just measure my son, because these are for next Christmas)
2) Stitch n Bitch Superstar Knitting by Debbie Stoller
Used the chapter "Bringing out the Big Guns" to work out armscye shaping.
3) The Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee
Found necessary information for hood.

Then I busted out the crochet hook and added a simple border for the hood and ears from the pattern "Perfect Bear Ears" (and yes, they are pretty perfect) to make it extra cute.

I thought about adding some embroidery to the front, maybe a honeypot of a few bees to practice my embroidery. But if I haven't done it yet, I probably won't. So I'm calling this one DONE! Since it was pretty small it only took a week or two to go from concept to completion.

Though my son is modeling this sweater, it is actually for his cousin. His shark hoodie will be coming soon... Once I feel like working with 100% acrylic again.

2) Entrelac Hat
A week or two ago, I signed up for a workshop on Craftsy to learn entrelac. My hat is finally finished, and I am very happy with it.

I'm glad I didn't quit early because the final few decrease rows make a nice starburst pattern.

I used Cascade 220 and size 6 needles. I didn't really pick the colors, I just reached in and found the 3 biggest balls in the partial-ball bag. (I keep almost all my leftovers, and generally end up using them on hats...)
I haven't blocked it yet, and probably never will. I know how much Cascade likes to grow, and this hat is pretty big already.

I know I will do some more experimenting with this technique in the future. It was quite fun, and made a good break from some of my more boring projects. However, my next attempt at entrelac will utilize some self striping yarn to limit the number of ends to weave in.

And for those of you who want to see the reverse side...

Thank you for reading/commenting  ^_^
Check out more FO's at Tamis Amis.

Ribbing....

So much more fun than garter stitch.

Stats:

Yarn: Bryspun Kid-N-Ewe (50% wool/50% mohair, discontinued) I think I've knit 6 balls into it so far.
Needles: Started on size 6's, but it went into deep hibernation and I forgot what size I used and picked it back up on size 7's. (Yes, you can tell. But it goes faster this way.)
Pattern: Mara

At last count, there were 697 stitches on the needle and it was taking 24 minutes to get through one row. It is really big. Like, it is 30" deep, and has a 62" wingspan. To give you an idea of how big it is, here is a picture of it on my full-size bed:

It was incredibly difficult to get a decent picture so I settled for this one. Sorry. At least you can see how big it is, even if all of the texture is completely lost.

Naturally, every RS row adds on four stitches and counting them just makes me sad. So I'm just going to knit two, purl two for 4 painful inches while thinking back on just about every other project I have ever knit. Especially the ones that were bright.

Whenever I'm not reminiscing about previous projects, or rhapsodizing about projects to come (hello, pullover!) I will be dreading the epic bind-off that looms ahead...

What are you working on this Wednesday?
Check out Tamis Amis for more. ^_^