][ ho, ho, ho boy.

When people ask me about my yarn stash, I like to use the word ‘dragonish.’ I hoard certain things with all the avarice of a huge, fire-breathing lizard. (This metaphor possibly brought to you by The Desolation of Smaug. We saw it. I knit through it. Two-color drop stitch pattern in the dark. I’m pretty awesome, yo.) There aren’t many things I collect this way: yarn is one; books are another; and, apparently, vacation.

Thanks to holiday closures and the fact that I haven’t taken half my time off yet this year, Friday was the first day of my break, and I don’t go back to work ‘til January 2nd.

I sat myself down Friday morning with a fresh pot of coffee, bad holiday films on Netflix (SIDE NOTE: Holiday In Handcuffs is like the best/worst film EVER, go watch it), and my to-do pile.

This was my to-do pile:


The red thing is nearly done; I may or may not add a couple more rows, but it’s at the point where it’s on Not Worrying About It hold; the black bag contains my bff’s secret gift, which of course I can’t talk about; the rainbow-and-black yarn doesn’t actually need to be done until after New Year’s; the two sweaters are knit and seamed, but one needs blocking and both need buttons and only one has buttons picked out, even; the clear bag is a side project that isn’t actually a priority; and the kicker, the green yarn is… well, I don’t even have a pattern, just a rough idea in my head. Ha ha hah. But I’ll manage something.

All things considered I wouldn’t be doing badly if I hadn’t decided to add two things last week or so… so I can’t complain.

Some quick updates on other things:

☆ The Cowlbeast is long since finished; if I recall I bound off Halloween night, and was wearing it shortly after. I love it. I wear it damn near all the time. I cannot actually stop raving about the thing. Go look at all the cute photos on my project page, I’ll wait.

Possibly will write up the pattern for it-- I’ve even got suggestions for commercial yarns it looks nice in… more on that some other time after Christmas. Hint hint. Not that I’m up to anything.

☆ I do also still want to post a pattern for 6H, but I need to make another for some step-out photos and I’m lazy as heck. But, someday.

☆ I knit like thirty tiny pigs. They are the potato chips of knitting for me. They are my new favorite use of tiny scraps. They’re getting stuffed in Ecksmuss cards when I belatedly send them out for everyone to fill up and keep and love.

☆ I’ve already given away three knit gifts-- two coffee-cup cozies and a set of cat toys-- and they were totally loved by their recipients. One of whom gave me a gift of a couple small things, including some really lovely stitch-markers and a needle-gauge card. I’m charmed because it means this coworker of mine cared enough to notice my hobby, go to a shop, and ask someone for advice on what to get a knitter. That’s just a bit touching to me. Happy Ecksmuss and all that.


ANYWAY, I gotta jet because this green thing (with picot edging, because why wouldn’t I do a complicated cast-on on a large last minute Christmas gift?) won’t knit itself, and I have a whole new pot of coffee awaiting.

][ producing... slowly... ish

My name is Hannah, and I am not a process knitter.

Sometimes I am. When I get an idea of a technique and want to try it, I'm a process knitter. My hideous washcloth? Really fun for the first dozen rows when I was learning how to make the gathers, really boring now that I'm on the third repeat. My cable swatch? Interesting when stitches crossed, mind-numbing making the bed of purls around it.

Bubble wrap? Actually pretty interesting to knit-- like my long-suffering and also just plain long scarf, the repeat's short enough that I have to pay some attention but not tricksy enough to drive me crazy. No chart needed. Good travel knitting or TV knitting or whatever.

But when it comes down to it? It's all about the product.


And this still isn't quite a product.
I totally guessed wrong about my quantities. The dark yarn, skeined, looked like a heck of a lot more-- but it turns out the light yarn was just balled very tightly, and there's a ton left. As you can see.

For the finishing edge (the "top" edge, I think), my current plan is to switch to smaller needles and knit stockinette rows a while to create a nice, rolled edge long enough not to eat the first bubble repeat.

But that bottom edge... man, I don't know what I should do there.

The stockinette curls badly enough to really interfere with the edge of the design, so I'd like to do something to weight or stabilize or decorate the edge, to even it out a little. Originally I was thinking applied i-cord, but I knit a few inches and I hate the way it'd look, so that's out.

I think my options are:

1. Stitch the rolling edge to itself right up at the end, which will stabilize it a little and hopefully keep it from rolling more
2. Try a line of crochet along the edge to stiffen it a little and hopefully tame the rolling
3. Pick up stitches along the whole way and knit more to give the roll some more room to go without eating the pattern
4. Pick up stitches and knit them in reverse stockinette, and hope the roll going the other way (on the inside) balances out the outside. May require stitching down of the inner flap thereby created.
5. Pick up stitches and use one of the books of edging to make something actually nice happen there.

I have no idea what I'm going to end up doing, but I do know one thing:

I really, really want to be wearing this, not knitting it anymore.

][ a wildly selfish interlude

It's gotten cold, which has made me want to be knitting twenty-four-seven, but when I actually get my hands on the needles it's a different story. Mostly I've just been soldiering away on Yet Another Washcloth, a wholly ideal project for riding the subway but not a very exciting one. (And it doesn't help that the Candy Dishcloth pattern I'm using, the freebie from the wrong side of the yarn label, is really not to my tastes. It's an interesting enough technique that I don't mind it, but it's not a thrill.)

Other than that the only things on the needles are R's Sekrit Holiday Knitting, which I can't work on (obviously) if she's around, and the Doom Blanket, which is too bloody big to carry at this point, though it's fantastic knitting for laying in bed or watching TV-- since I can throw the bulk of it over my legs to keep warm :3

I decided to stir up a little knitting mojo by casting on something new-- something for me, unlike the Sekrit Project and the bajillion washcloths, which are destined for gifting to someone sometime.

I decided to play around.


So I did.
I grabbed this mysterious handspun given me as a gift a while ago, looked at some cowl patterns, and decided to whip up my best approximation of a Bubble Wrap cowl in a completely wrong yarn. What I've got are two skeins of indeterminate size, in very similar colors, save that one is plied with itself and the other is plied with a much darker strand. Since the ball of lighter yarn looked to be smaller than the skein of dark, I'm using that for the "backing" and the dark for the "bubbles."

I'm loving the results-- the similarity of the colors of these two skeins means that the pattern is not as bright and noticeable as it would be if I were actually knitting... you know, the thing I was inspired by... but it gives the fabric an interesting sort of self-patterning illusion, since the "bubbles" are overall darker than the background, and they are indeed textured, though due to the thick-and-thin quality of the yarn it's a bit less pronounced than I'd hoped. Still, it's working up very prettily.


This is where I was at about two minutes before starting this post, and I cast on and knit lazily yesterday-- so it's pretty quick to boot!
It's much more interesting than striping, uses less yardage than proper colorwork (even accounting for the dropped stitches that make the texture happen), and still shows both colorways in a way that pleases me.

If I were to do this over I'd use smaller needles and maybe shrink it to 80 or 60 stitches instead of the 100 I'm doing. My only worry now is how the yarn's going to work out-- I really have no idea how much I have, so it's anyone's guess. I'll deal with it when I run out of one or both, and maybe use the leftovers to work something on the edging. Right now, it's got a few stitches of stockinette which I intended to let curl, but I wish I'd done more-- I didn't because I didn't want to waste yarn, though. Something will present itself, I'm sure. I'm not worried!

Anyway, if all goes well I expect I'll have a cowl by the end of the week at latest. Maybe sooner-- depends how much TV we consume, I think.

A few more details on my project page, as well as some other photos because I love progress photos. It's a sickness. Deal with it.

<3

][ still here.

And not in Rhinebeck.

The best laid plans of mice and knitters are no match for the cost of a dead starter in your best friend's car. That's how the old saying goes, right?

Yeah, so. I was pretty bummed.

I tried really hard not to be pretty bummed, but I spent most of yesterday in that stage of self-indulgent misery usually practiced by thirteen-year-olds with an inadvisable collection of eyeliners and fishnet gloves. It was pretty sad-- I mean, I was pretty sad, but the fact that I was as sad as I was was the pathetic kind of sad. Eventually I made myself push through it (mainly) by finishing another washcloth (I have so much kitchen cotton. Seriously. Even discounting the ridiculous amount used for my QR code banner/blanket/whatever you want to call that thing, I will be in washcloths forever, and since it's all end-of-summer sale stuff I think I spent less than $25 on the lot of it-- 2 big things of Bernat Handicrafter, a bloody cone of Peaches & Creme and a ball or two of Sugar'n Cream) and starting another other washcloth and doing a few rows on That Secret Thing for R for Ecksmuss and whatever else.

I also cleaned the kitchen, which I often do when I am sad. I think I have this crazy belief that tangible effects and products of my time will make up for how unpleasant it is.

Anyway, then I took a deep breath and steeled myself to do something I've really been putting off:

I seamed childHood. Yup.

Can we talk about mattress stitch?


Click to enlarge because this yarn is so pretty you just should. Do it.
Wow that is magical. Every time I've put off part of this project because I found it daunting it really... hasn't been so bad at all. And now, save the buttons, it's done done done and very nearly ready for the holidays. I just hope little A. doesn't outgrow it before he gets it.


Wool of the Andes worsted, Opal Heather and Pumice Heather, if anyone's interested.
I probably ought to block it too, though it still looks nice from the in-pieces blocking, save the hood (which didn't exist then), so I might be able to get away with not bothering... mainly my concern is I don't know that I have anywhere to pin it up. Possibly I'll go for steaming it instead. First, though, buttons, but I'm in no real rush with those.

B's sweater will get started soon, soon. I'd sort of hoped to finish both by end of October and then give NaKniSweMo a shot with something for me, but it ain't looking likely from where I'm standing now.

Still, that's a lot of progress for a day, and a heck of a lot cheaper than Rhinebeck would have been.

Next year, though. Next Year.

][ the boring kind of update

I haven't done too much knitting this week. Sort of. Actually I've done about five inches of [REDACTED] this week. But obviously I can't really talk about that too much. I can point you towards the project page but it's equally vague and useless. I don't actually think she'd see it, but better safe than sorry.

Other than that? Nothing, really. Having knocked out the rest of 6H I havent even got an alternate on-the-go project. Haven't started Brother B's sweater yet. Nor have i seamed Brother A's. I'm essentially attempting to be monogamous to this secret project which is fighting me pretty viciously.

And it's looking like no Rhinebeck, thanks to car troubles and the like. I am pretty bummed, but maybe it's for the best? I shouldn't spend more money with a stash like mine... No matter how much I want to. Sssigh. I means, knitting from stash isn't a problem, there's a lot of yarn and even roving with a specific or semi-formed project in mind (and, okay, a lot that is just random because I have a magpie hoarder shiny reflex) but there's a handful of stuff I don't have and really want... Plus the thrill of a road trip! A fair! Getting to be around people who care about all this junk!

Ehhh, I just shouldn't dwell.

Boring boring.

Hopefully by next week I'll have accomplished something, even if it's only a couple more inches of [REDACTED] or another few rows on the Doom Blanket.

][ imagine something witty here

An update without much substance, I'm afraid. Some quick notes:

☆ 6H is off the needles at last, after much procrastinating. Pattern may or may not be forthcoming depending on my willingness to knit another for step-out photos.
☆ ChildHood is knit up, but needs to be sewn together. I am dreading it.
☆ Started a new project, but as it's for my bestest friend and she could conceivably see this blog (though she won't), mum's the word &c.
☆ The Blanket of Doom plods along faithfully. I am actually short on shreddable black shirts, oops. I'm going to try soliciting donations from my family first.

But to make this not totally tl;dr and boring, have some pictures.


Look! I followed through on something!
As previously threatened, I knit a bit with that awesomely loud and chaotic yarn to see how the color runs looked comparatively. I'm much, much happier with the knit fabric.


Detail of the knit bits.
I tried a bit of garter on 11s (the first thing I grabbed in my needle case, and way too big,) then switched to 4s to roll off a little stockinette, a little ribbing, some linen stitch for kicks. The color runs are still very brief, but since knitting shows the transitions a little more clearly I think it comes across better that way-- less color vomit, more melted box of crayons I think. Definitely planning to make little tiny hats and/or booties with this stuff, the next time the baby knitting bug bites. Which will hopefully not happen til a bigger dent is made in the ecksmuss knitting.

In other other news, 2 weeks til Rhinebeck. We're planning to go. I'm half excited and half scared, and a little bummed I don't have anything grandiose to wear.

Ah, well. Better get back to the needles.

][ random notes and nonsense…

I took some pictures to commemorate this event:


My fondness for rainbow chaos strikes again!
This past weekend at Maker Faire, I learned to crochet! I created a fairly ugly irregular vaguely square-shaped swatch, out of some nice yarn that frankly looked better in the ball than it does like this.

Featuring: single crochet, double crochet, accidental increases, intentional increases, decreases, gauge issues.
The pictures will live on but probably the swatch won’t; I’m sure I can find SOMETHING fun to make out of this where the riotousness of the short runs will be pleasing rather than overwhelming. Maybe a baby hat. Everything looks good in baby hats. (Shut up I do not have a problem. I can quit knitting baby hats anytime I want. Just not for very long.)


I think it’s likely to either hypnotize or blind viewers like this.
Come on, though, a bulky, warm little hat and maybe matching booties? Mittens? Both? Yes, I like this idea.

First, tho, I think I’ll try picking up some stitches and knitting a bit on the side of the swatch-- I’m curious to see how the variegation plays out in knitting vs. crochet, and to try a few stitches. What’s a couple inches more to frog, eh? My teacher-- whose name I didn’t catch because I am a terrible person-- was very patient with my hiccups and it was a relaxing way to spend some of our time there. I put myself on the list for info about teaching knitting next year, at their drop-in classes… There was spinning, knitting, crochet, and needlepoint. Plus, you know, everything else ever, but it’s a little overwhelming to try and talk about.

My QR code got a lot of compliments, if not too many actual scans, so that was fun!

ANYWAY, moving on to the actual knitting in progress… Let’s talk about t-shirt yarn.

The wicked secret of t-shirt yarn: I’m convinced it takes longer to cut a ball than it does to knit it up.


Severed Barbie head included for scale. And because I’m a geek.
Or maybe that’s just me. Or maybe it’s the size 36s talking. At any rate, that’s what I’ve been up to, mostly-- I’m well into my fourth shirt now, knitting away. It’s portable, but only just barely; the blanket already needs its own mondo tote bag. Bad subway knitting… decent car knitting, though. Aside from the mess.

Yup, actually, the real wicked secret of t-shirt yarn is the lint it creates. Bleaugh.

All in all I’m liking the fabric it creates; it’s heavy without being super-warm, nicely textured, and of course pretty soft. At least most of what I’ve knit in so far. There’s a little textural difference, because some of these are old shirts I wore eight thousand times and others are old shirts I got for free somewhere (excess con staff shirts, promotional junk, souvenirs or freebies) that just haven’t held up, or which I don’t want for whatever reason. Those haven’t gone through a thousand wash cycles so they’re not quite as cuddly.

I’m not worried in the least-- I expect I’ll wash it at least once right after finishing, since obviously it’s washable material, and I’ll want to de-lint it. So it’ll have chances to soften up through use and scrubbing.


Stretching to infinity… did I mention I’m getting almost 1 st / inch as gauge? Fffft.
I also like how the designs on the shirts give little patches of color without detracting much from the overall cohesion. I’m currently planning to stick to black and white, and possibly also grey, depending on what I’ve got on hand to cut up. I may just knit shirts up randomly as the mood strikes me, then knit a second rectangle and sew them together to add width once I hit my desired length. I am also toying with knitting it in squares and stitching together in alternating directions. Or I could try to pick stitches up along the edge… I know there are no-sew ways to do it, to attach something to both sides of an angle as you knit, I just don’t grok them.

Chances are I’ll take the path of least resistance and do two rectangles since this is supposed to be no-think knitting for me. If I get really into it I’ll make a second for my cousins to play with, with all the non-monochromatic old shirts. The texture is more the idea for them.

Speaking of the little ones, my babby sweater is slightly stalled; I’m at the stage where I need to attach the buttonbands, and I’ve had some trouble figuring out how I want to do that.


Second or third attempt, I forget.
I think the current frontrunner is this crochet chain technique, since it almost looks like a stockinette row. It’s not exactly hard but it takes more concentration than knitting so I want to leave it for times when I’m not rushed and have good lighting. My first attempt was a lot sloppier; now I’m being conscious to line up my chain better, one loop to each row of stockinette, matching the tension as nearly as I can.

One band-- the one pictured, actually-- is a little wobbly-looking because I knit it separately and grafted it down rather than knitting it up-- I didn’t want to have the colors travel on the visible edge. I’m not 100% sure if I’m okay with it-- we’ll see. If worst comes to worst, it took me about an hour to do so I’m pretty sure I’d be emotionally capable of ripping and re-doing it. Though if I were smart I’d probably have attached the good one, first.

I suspect I can tug and block it into submission, though, before I cement its current state by starting the hood. I should try to sort out which side goes under, too-- if this is the under side (I never remember how it works, I know it’s gender-dependent but I wear men’s shirts unapologetically so I always forget which is which) I’m not going to worry at all.


Playing with the macro setting on my camera, deal w/ it.
I really, really love the complexity of the color in this yarn-- it looks unequivocally blue to me on the whole, but there’s so much depth to it and the pinkish undertones manage to make it really lively, without being overwhelming. The gray-brown works better than I had hoped in contrast. I can’t wait to finish this project just to see it, and of course, to hand it over.

I’m pretty excited about the hood-- once I get to that this will be good subway knitting again! And after the hood comes the sewing up, which scares me again, buuuut after that it’ll be one more ecksmuss gift sorted out.

I just need to get my mojo back and knit a little more regularly.

][ Swatch out

You know how I basically never swatch?

I swatched. For the t-shirt doom blanket.

It’s a tossup right now whether I’ll use the 60” 11s or the 40” 36s, so I knit up a sleeve with each to see how they looked:


36 on the right, 11 on the left
Both garter, both 5 stitches across.

The 36-swatch is loose and soft, really preserving the feel of an old, worn-in T-shirt, which I really like. I think it would be nice to wrap around me when I want something to cover but don’t want something overly warm. However, it might be too light, and I feel like it’d fail as a picnic blanket/

The 11-swatch is much tighter, of course-- I think it’d be better for throwing out on the ground to lay on, since there’s less loose space between the stitches. However, it’s not nearly as soft, and the fabric is noticeably stiffer-- I can’t tell whether that will be an issue at larger sizes but it’s really noticeable in the little swatch.

The 36s have the advantage of being a novelty to use, too; the 11s have the longer cord, meaning I could probably knit the whole thing instead of potentially having to do it in strips and sew together.

The ideal would probably be to buy a new needle-- something in a ~25 size if possible… but that ain’t happening… so this needs a bit more thought before I start in earnest.

Hmn.

][ inspiration, or something

Worth noting: fronts cast on last night for the stripey sweater. Two at a time, did the contrast color off one ball but have one each of the main color.

THAT SAID.

I took the day off work today for varied reasons, and rather than do anything actually productive, I did this:


The remains of three old, ratty shirts which I was forbidden from wearing.
I'm terrible at ever throwing anything away, especially things to which I feel some sentimental connection. My favorite comfy t-shirts are one of the worst symptoms of this, and my roommate often chides me for strutting around the house in big old shirts that are, admittedly, more hole than fabric in some cases. So,I figured I'd use them to fill a purpose.

For a while now-- since this past spring, really-- I've wanted to knit a blanket. A big, lazy blanket out of the bulkiest yarn I could manage. Washable, because I want something I can abuse-- something I can curl up under in the living room, or throw out on the lawn to lay on. Something soft but not too dear. Of course, finding nice-but-ridiculously-cheap-yarn in a superduperbulky weight has not really worked out.

For a while the plan was a checkerboard green-and-grey blanket in that Billow yarn, but per my last post that's been given a new destiny.

But now?

T-SHIRT YARN, BABY.

Time to whip out my size 36 Addi Turbos...

(And actually, even with THOSE this may have to be done in strips. Unless I bump waaaay down to the 11s, the biggest on my interchangeable set, and use the 60" cable... Ah, well! We'll see what the fabric looks like on the Addis first.)

][ And on and on and on...

I will write semi-regularly. I will write semi-regularly. This is just about forming habits, it doesn’t matter if it’s thrilling or not.

So, just checking in with recent progress:


still lovin’ the colors
Back and sleeves for childHood complete. There seems to be an error, as the pattern (for the 1-2 yr size) says to cast on 54, bind off a total of 8, and end up with 42 stitches. After looking through the rest of it I cast on 50 since the other numbers seem to be consistent; so far so good, though really what’s the worst that could happen.

I knit the back wholly over the weekend, so it’s going pretty quick. Haven’t yet cast on the fronts-- which I plan to do two-at-a-time to minimize the chance for mismatched lengths. I’m rather dreading the button-band, I’ve never done one and this one looks a bit complicated since it’s two-color. I haven’t picked buttons, either, but as they’re meant to go over functional snaps, I’m leaving that til the rest is all done with.

The hood shouldn’t be too bad, aside from picking up stitches for it. I’m considering buying a Tunisian crochet hook or two from KnitPicks-- if they fit on my interchangeable cables, I bet they’d really help for this kind of thing, even though I have very little interest in crocheting.


And next up...
This isn’t knitting… yet. The four skeins of Billow I bought on an impulse with the vague plan for a checkerboard blanket caught my eye the other day, and after winding a couple of ‘em (which was fun, I can’t lie. They’re big squishy balls that barely fit on the winder) I realized I really didn’t have any interest in sorting out the intarsia or whatever for my throw, that I’d need to buy more anyway and I didn’t want to do that, and that I should have just about the right amount and the right-ish weight of this to make my other cousin’s little sweater. And that the colors were awesome for it.

I’m a bit concerned since some of the reviews on this yarn are pretty negative, but we’ll see. I think I can make it work, and if not, I’ll find something else to do with it. I really hope I can though because I adore how these colors look together and they’d be really fun in the pattern I picked out.


Most of a washcloth!
The tentatively-titled 6H continues… slowly. Honestly I just haven’t been knitting as much the past few days on the train, which means less progress on this sort of project. I have most of the pattern written up, and provided I actually like it when it’s done I’ll probably pop it up on Ravelry… though I’ll have to knit a second one if I do, to make step-out photos of some of the trickier bits. Ah, well. Burn that bridge when I come to it.


And that’s it. Yup. Still thinking of various other things but nothing in progress… I may ball up a length of my white lace-weight (not the whole thing probably, I expect it’s going to be huge) and spend some time knitting lace on the subway, if and when I get tired of wash cloths. But that sounds fiddly… I’m more worried about transporting and using tiny, sharp needles than memorizing the pattern, though. Still it’d be nice to have a stash of knit lace on hand to embellish anything I wanted, wouldn’t it?

But would I really use it? I can’t be entirely sure.

I don’t know, I don’t know. I guess I will see how all the sweaters (and my potential second 6h) go.

Til next time, kittens!

][ Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I was going to post an age and a half ago about the progress on my QR, but I finished the thing before I got around to doing so.


Yes, it scans! In fact, this picture scans even more easily than the object. Try it out if you like.
The steeked edges still look a little raw; I may eventually knit on a border, or perhaps knit outward from there and make it the center of a blanket or something, I don’t know. For now I’m content to call it done. It needs to be blocked, really, but one thing at a time. Definitely not getting that done during the work week.

I’ve decided to be good and move on to more Christmas knitting, because I know if I don’t, said Christmas knitting will never get done. I’ve never really done any-- one year a handful of people got scarves, but at least some of those were oh-crap-last-minute scarves, done up on my trusty #17s in the days leading up to the holidays. That was my dedicated BIG NEEDLES ONLY phase. Knitting entire sweaters, even sweaters for babbies, is a bit much to leave that long. And not really doable on size 17’s.


This is my cat absolutely not being helpful.
Actually, the 6s and 7s feel huge after a month of mostly knitting the QR on 2s. It’s kind of hilarious, really. Anywho, I cast on the sleeves (two at a time, knitting from both ends of both balls for the colorwork, because I’m an overachiever) over the holiday weekend… made great progress over the weekend and basically took the whole rest of the week to get anything more done. Hah.


And here are some sleeves! Gosh I love this color combo.
I do manage to get a row or two done each evening, at least, as I catch up on Welcome to Night Vale. Which is great for knitting to-- something I don’t have to look at, so even reasonably complicated pieces are an option. Not that the sweater is all that complicated-- I find it intimidating but only because I’ve never really done that before. Last night I got the length I wanted and bound off sleeve number one before passing out; tonight I finished off sleeve 2 and need to re-wind the balls again so I can move on to the next bit of the sweater. (I started with the sleeves because when I’ve made doll sweaters and the like, I find those hardest to concentrate on. I figured it’d help to get ‘em out of the way, especially as they’re one of the more finicky bits of this design.)


Gratuitous closeup.
My other ongoing project-- my subway knitting, by and large-- is knitting washcloths, as I mentioned last time. I finished my first and started a second at the Schoolbus Demolition Derby the other weekend, and have been continuing in that vein since. The tentative plan is to keep at it and have enough to give everyone one or two with a little bar of fancy soap as part of Ecksmuss festivities. I don’t care if these don’t come as a surprise, so they’re also good knitting for when I need to be around people I can’t knit my main project around.

Mostly I’m just dumping ‘em all in a perpetual WIP entry on Ravelry, though my current one will probably get its own entry eventually, since I think I’m going to write up its accidental pattern. It’s kind of cute.


Thinking of calling it 6H-- Hannah’s Happy Happenstance Handmade Herringbone Hexagon.
The shape is due to me not bothering to count and belatedly realizing I’d messed up the stitch pattern to include an unintentional increase on every row. Way to go, self. But, hey, that’s the happy accident part. The rampant alliteration is just me being a terrible human being.

Anywho, that’s the state of the knitting this week. Stay tuned for tomorrow next week next month whenever I next remember to actually update this, and I’ll try not to let it wait til next bloody year.

Wooohooo.

][ Call it textile speed-dating

I’ve written a half dozen posts about stuff I was working on / thinking about, only to end up scrapping them unused as I pushed past problems and finished projects like a boss. So a quick recap, with some pictures.

CHRISTMAS KNITTING


’Tis the season to have foresight
OFFICIALLY STARTED. These are posevantar, according to my grandfather. (I think). They’re modelled after the inner liners of the leather work-mittens he used as a fisherman; kind of a sentimental choice more than anything. The pattern I used was in Swedish, which of course I don’t speak (and even though I understand a bit when they’re talking, I definitely don’t read it, and I definitely don’t know knitting terms. I also think it’s a bit loose of a pattern.) They’re a bit too big but I hope he will like them. Honestly, if I can get a laugh out of it, I won’t mind if he never wears them. (I’ll get him something else, too, I just really wanted to make these.)

COOL KNITTING:


Hi-tech handicraft
Here is my Modern Day Defarge, a knit QR code that points right to this here blawgh. I’m doing it in the round and will cut and weave in the long floats, then steek and cut the fabric to make a big ol’ patch which I’ll probably just stitch down to a tote bag. If it doesn’t read, if I end up needing to re-knit it, I will probably do it in wool, though-- I think better blocking capability would help. I might also make a (second?) smaller one to see if it will read with one-stitch pixels instead of four, just to sate my curiosity.

The overall feel of knitting cotton took some getting used to, but I’m coming to like it and the fabric it produces is pretty attractive.

QUICK KNITTING:

In fact, between that and the passionate defense of the art of the washcloth on the Yarn Harlot’s blawgh last week, I started down that rabbit hole too.


But, shit, it was 99 cents! Er, the yarn, I mean.
And there were big ol’ skeins of Bernat cotton on sale half price-- clearing the summer yarn, you know-- so I’m loosely planning to try and whip up a big stack for stocking-stuffers. First up is one seed-stitch with a garter border, though, which I will probably keep; and I’m considering making a second, smaller one in linen-and-garter because I feel like that would make a magnificent facecloth-- smooth as you like on one side, scrubby on the other with the clustered slipstitchy purl-bumps. I’m gonna have to go down a few needlesizes, though; most things I am seeing suggest 7s or 6s for washcloth knitting, but I feel like this is way too loose for my tastes!

EASY CHEEZY:


I kind of love how this yarn looks in the sun...
My coworker asked me to whip up something for an impending babby in the family, and since I can pretty much knit baby hats in my sleep I figured why not. Decided to add a pair of matching booties, tho without the random lace bits. (They’re calling the little Cheezy since they don’t know the sex yet. So I made a cheezy hat. The holes’re supposed to be the bubbles in the cheese, get it?)

This was fast. So fast that between the time I started writing this post and the time I posted it, I finished hat and booties alike. Bam. Pair of booties in just a smidge over a day, and a work-day at that.

And that’s a quick glance at all that! Whooo. Back to relative monogamy with the QR, for a while, until/unless I cast on the first Christmas s w e a t e r . Whew. Did it get panicky in here all of a sudden?

][ Strangely Therapeutic...

I am not a fan of visiting the proverbial frog-pond.

I'm usually pretty good at following directions and catching mistakes early, and I have no qualms about ripping back a row or two or tinking down a few more if I need to fix a stitch... and more often than not I am willing to live with little mistakes, because a) no one but me notices and b) if I need perfect knitting, there are a billion stores selling machine-knit flawless everything. A little glitch here and there is part of the handmade charm. Usually, when I choose to live with a mistake instead of fixing it, I have good reasons. Maybe my short-row is one stitch too short, and I don’t care. Maybe I can’t figure out where my math went wrong and I like the look anyway. The point is, I think I have a pretty healthy attitude about hiccups.

But full-scale frogging?

I ripped out... maybe 12 pattern repeats of my reality knits scarf the first time I started it, because I realized I hadn’t properly thought out the provisional cast-on and it was going to cause me all sorts of misery and angst. (Ironically, I don’t love the ends on the finished version, either! but I don’t hate them enough to kill nine feet and three-years of complicated colorwork.) It hurt like hell, even though I knew it was for the best-- like going to the dentist or picking out a splinter.

And ‘til this week that traumatic necessity was probably my biggest frogged project. Once you hit that point of no return, man, it’s tough! I’ve got a little niche in my craft closet full of swatches-- not the nice, organized swatch stash (say that six times fast) that people recommend a conscientious knitter keep, so no pictures-- that may or may not also include a few ill-fitting hats and other poor choices. I figure eventually, I’ll come up with some use for them-- and I do! I’ve given away hats to other people who fit into them, and now and then a decorative such-and-such comes in handy.

Late last week, though, when I finished my latest charity baby hat (a twisted rib one of which I’m rather proud) I had the bright idea to cast on a reverse-stockinette faux rolled-brim hat next-- the brim knit in stockinette, a small ribbed band to keep it well-fitted, and the rest purled in the same pattern as a plain hat. I got through the brim, the ribbed band, and figured out a clever fix to let me turn the whole thing inside out and knit to the end rather than purl... and....

I hated it.

There'd be a picture here, but I hated it too much to bother taking one.
I hated everything about it. The way it rolled, how wide the ribbing had to be to pull in at all and how poorly it did the job, the way the colors were striping, the gauge of the stockinette, everything. So I did the logical thing: I... kept knitting and knitting, convinced it would even out in a few more rounds and I’d hate it less.

On the train on Wednesday, though, I took a good long look at it. I can usually do 2 of these hats a week pretty easily-- especially stockinette stitch! But there it was Wednesday, and I think I’d cast on on Saturday, and I was going nowhere. So instead of spending my train ride knitting.....


I've never been happier to see wrinkly yarn.
Well, you know how it goes.

For the first time, tearing something out was a relief. I wouldn’t have to hope, wouldn’t have to struggle to fix it in the end, and best of all, I wouldn’t have to look at that damn yarn for a while. (I mean I do love it, but I’ve found that more than 2 hats in a row of any yarn makes me start to hate it.)

Now I’m back to a plain ribbed pattern, which completely flies in the face of my recent I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING I CAN IMPROVISE ANYTHING I WANNA trend, but sometimes it’s not about being innovative. Sometimes a squishy, soft hat with colors pooling in attractive ways is all you need.


Look at those swirrrrls!!!
Yay!

][ Like a broken top

So maybe I was a little wicked the other week. And last week. And this week. And always, really.

I’m not on Tumblr, but from time to time I do glance at various people’s various tumblrs, and I happened to see a reblog of these really cool sheep. As much as I would like to imagine myself some kind of sheep-savvy fiber goddess, I’m really not (yet), but I like Jacobs enough on principle to know them on sight, evidently. And, you know how it is, one thing led to another, and I bought some roving from their etsy store, and it came last Monday (my sole qualm with the long weekend, I could’ve had that Friday if it were a normal week... not that I am really complaining...) and I love it.


Baaaa
I got 3 oz of each color, and they’re really pretty and wonderfully soft. It’s all I can do not to ruin them by over-fondling.

I kept from starting by making deals with myself that I won’t start spinning it until I do something with the hemp disaster currently on the bobbin, which is halfway because I feel this weirdly dutiful urge to make myself enjoy spinning hemp, and halfway because I’ve got company this week and I really shouldn’t start a big new project when I ought to be cleaning stuff instead. Besides, I actually had a brainstorm about something I might want to knit with hemp yarn-- even my weird, overspun, not quite even hemp yarn-- so if I could work up a bit more before I surrender and start on my Jacob adventure, that would be best.

But. I’m not that good. And she threw in a little sample of stripey roving. And I have spindles, many of which aren’t even currently in use, so.


Oops.
I need to be a little more careful drafting so I don’t get too much striping, I like the marled look so much, but it’s pretty lovely to work with so far.

And on that topic, this is the first time I’ve really played around with this spindle. I bought it at Maryland Sheep and Wool last year because I wanted a second heavy spindle (my first was an Ashford beginner spindle of some sort), and because I really liked the vaguely menacing cabal of sheep on the whorl, who are clearly about to perform some arcane ritual. (It’s a Louet Beginner High Whorl Spindle, for the record. Not all that fancy.) And man do I love it. I knew when I got it that I really wanted that-- a heavy, no-nonsense spindle-- but I’ve done a lot of my admittedly limited spinning on lighter ones, and I forgot how much easier a good chunk of weight makes it. This baby spins forever even if I just give it a little flick-- on the lightest spindle I have, even thigh-rolling doesn’t always make it to the floor without untwisting. I find that getting a fast/long enough spin is difficult for me so having that to babysit me helps quite a bit. If I get too risky and thin it’s gonna be trouble, I’m sure, but I find that easier to fix than insufficient twist problems.

I really do think the fact that I know the basics of both drop-spindles and wheels has helped me improve as a spinner in general; the spindle gives me a better sense of appropriate twist, and the wheel helps my drafting skills. (Though I want to stress again that I’m not all that great at either, but I’m getting better all the time.) Right now what I think I need is to keep practicing, practicing, practicing. Which shouldn’t be a problem because holy crap do I have a lot of fiber.

Anyway, the bulk of the Jacob is getting tucked away for at least a couple more weeks, but I’m ruminating on making a drop spindle bag so I can start spinning on the go a little without worrying about messing up my roving. Guess we’ll see how my time looks, but it’s on the long-term crafty to-do list, for sure. (Then again, what isn’t?)

Right now I’ve got the whole kit and caboodle wrapped in a bandana, and I’ve been doing a couple feet here and there during lunch. It’s also surprisingly popular; several of my coworkers have asked for a demonstration, and of course I’m always pleased to oblige.


Lunchtime spinning adds up, there's even more now!
I wanted to ply it, because I’m fundamentally happier with plied yarns, but I think I might have to keep it as singles just because there’s so little. I don’t even know what I’ll make with it... a wristband? A headband? Hrmn. The current plan is, I think, to finish as singles and check length on the niddy-noddy, then go from there and either ply or set it and start knittin’.

It’s fun, though, and surprisingly portable-- maybe it’s time to dig out that green roving and the Ashford spindle, once this batch is done. The spindles are nearly of a size so the bag I want to make should fit either....

][ Stuff I made!

Just dropping by to show off a few things. First up, I finished that little green bump I've been working on forever:


Eventually I'll try to figure out what to call it weight-wise (it's very, very light. Shockingly light. Must learn to spin bulkier yarns, stat,) and what to make with it. Something a little lacy would be nice. Something not too complex. There's not that much.

I've been putting in a lot of work on that green cloche, which is officially the longest day of the year, but which I am colloquially calling The Great Hatsby.


This is basically my favorite picture ever.
I spent a lovely evening with it in our backyard, and today I'm taking it out to Long Island, as seems appropriate. I'm currently picking up stitches for the second concentric circle.


And finally I made....


I swear I'll find a method of spinning hemp that doesn't make me completely batty, someday. I couldn't even tell you why I'm so determined, but I am.

][ But myself keeps slipping away...

The other day on the train I was... well, call it what it was, I was swatching. Not exactly for a particular project, because I just grabbed some handy yarn without a particular destiny and a convenient pair of circulars, but because I wanted to test out a stitch pattern I’d been reading about.


It’s a linen stitch, worked flat here across a 30ish stitch swatch, tho the pattern is written with an odd number in the round. (There are purl-side instructions for the short row sections, I just followed those.)

I am in love.

But that aside, it made me think about the ways in which I learn. By preference, I have never been the sort to just dive in and get my hands dirty to learn to do something. I find it wasteful. (Actually, that’s why I don’t like swatching to begin with, even if rationally I know it’s not wasteful, but that’s a whole other debate.) I like to have a conceptual understanding of what I am trying to do before I do it... and though I don’t always meet instant success, generally I do better if I have it than if I don’t. I need to grok it first.

Which brings me back to the linen stitch. (Linen stitch. This is a swatch of maybe an inch knit in old, not terribly soft acrylic, but I like it so much I want to rub my face all over it. Hnnngh. Sorry. What were we talking about?) I’d never encountered this stitch til I bought this book (as a side note, I also love this book so much I want to rub my face all over it, and the pattern I’m toying with is the fabulous hat on the cover,) but the basic building block that makes it go is something I’ve encountered before in pattern reading: slipped stitches.

Seriously what the hell is with slipped stitches?

I have been trying to wrap my mind around the idea, mainly in the context of slipped stitch or mosaic colorwork, and I never could get it. I mean, I think I understand the procedure, but not the why? (This is the exact opposite of my problems with calculus, where I could understand the concept perfectly but could never manage to do the math. My teacher was encouraging because the conceptual part was the “hard” part. I was inconsolable because I had never gotten grades that terrible in my life.)

As I understand mosaic knitting, you knit across a row with one color at a time, knitting the stitches that should be color 1 and slipping the color 2s, then knit across again with color 2, slipping the stitches you just did and knitting the ones you slipped last time. Okay. I think I see how that would make the pattern, but why? Is it just that it’s easier to handle one ball of yarn at a time? On the reverse side, wouldn’t it look the same as fair-isle style work with the floats hanging around in back? (This is something I try like mad to avoid in colorwork, so I don’t see the appeal. I twist on every stitch even if I’m not changing colors. I like the thickness of the fabric it creates, I like the look of the wrong side, and I like that I’m less likely to catch my scarf on everything around me.)

The linen stitch made a little more sense to me, because all the carrying of yarn for slipped stitches takes place on the right side of the fabric. It’s a little like seed stitch, but smoother, with minute floats across the front instead of purls. It looks pretty. It feels lovely. It makes sense, even if it takes twice as long to knit a row, or at least feels that way. (Since you’re knitting or purling the slipped stitches on alternate passes the length doesn’t increase as quickly as my hands want it to.) Hooray for slipping stitches!

That said... I still don’t understand the advantage for colorwork.

Which maybe means it’s time to accept I won’t grok it any better ‘til I get my hands dirty. Hmn.

At any rate, my plans for my next project had been up in the air-- either the Shipwreck shawl I’ve been yarn-hoarding for for literal years now, or the big gray and green checkered blanket that this Billow I bought on a lark wants to be. (Possibly it wants a few skeins more to go with it. I want a big damn blanket. I should see how I feel about knitting it, though, and how far a skein goes, before I invest tons more.)

All that said... every time I looked at this linen stitch, with its charming texture....

well.


The yarn is totally wrong and the gauge feels insane (though the circumference doesn’t seem unreasonable) but I’m going to soldier on a while and see if I can swing it.

][ a wild post appears!

I sort of conceived blogging about my textile adventures as a way to keep myself honest about how much I was (or wasn’t) doing, though of course on the wasn’t side that’s a bit self-defeating... since if I’m not spinning and knitting I have no spinning and knitting to talk about. But I’m doing some things and dreaming of some other things so I figured, may as well talk about that. And then eight months from now when I’ve finished my current project and not touched anything else-- or maybe worse,

On the spinning front: soon I need to make a post documenting the state of my stash, but for now I’ll tell you I am still working away on that green roving. I decided to, as best as I could manage, measure and re-wind the leftover bit, spin an equivalent (re-measured and rewound) bit on the second bobbin, then split the rest of the roving and hope for the best. I think it’s going..... terribly, to be honest. I don’t feel like the second bobbin’s going to have enough and I’m worried the yarn is too thin to stay together to be plied. But I’m soldiering on because I don’t really have a lot of options, and hoping I’m wrong about the various issues. At any rate, all this is a learning experience, which is why I’m using the little curl of kool-aid dyed fluff I got for a couple bucks instead of the huge (and not inexpensive) braids of hand-painted merino or the limited-edition tussah roving or the hot pink bamboo.

That said I’ll still be really depressed if it turns out horribly, or doesn’t turn out at all and just dissolves in my hands when I go to ply it.

After this I think I am going to play around a bit with the interminable bag of hemp roving, and... I don’t know what I will do with it. Yup. I’ve never loved spinning hemp on a spindle, though I sort of had a breakthrough last time I tried, but this roving is a safe “learning” fiber for me, because I won’t cry if I totally ruin it. And I can always get funky and ply it with something else if I really want to in the end. Or dye it. And anyway I’ve never knit with hemp yarn, it’ll be an experience.

It’s not that I believe I will fail, I just don’t want to get ahead of myself.

Some things I have learned, which I will put here so I might actually remember them:

- if the yarn is drafted too thin, don't overcompensate by following it with a thick chunk. That won't help, it will just give you a thick chunk. If the twist hasn't gone into the fiber yet, keep it pinched out and reach back for more fiber. If it has, and you don't want to pause and untwist a couple inches and fix it, giving it a little extra twist to keep the thin spot from unwinding and slipping apart might do the trick.

- slow down. The most important thing is to stay steady. It's not a race, and just like on a bicycle, if you go too quickly you will get out of control and veer off and crash into a fence and mangle your leg and die horribly. Or probably just make some crappy yarn. But! Slowing down means more time to put the twist in, make sure you're pleased with it, and feed it on in to wind on the bobbin. Do that too quickly and you end up way overspun.

- you will overspin things. Plying will take a lot of that out, setting will help even more, and it's handspun. If you wanted perfect yarn you should've bought it at the craft store. As my cousin says, the imperfect spots show where the love is.



I bought some plain white roving too, because I have terrible self-control and when I was trying to buy some extra cables for my interchangeable needles I... well, there were four skeins of chunky cotton, some lace-weight wool, the roving, and a few other bits and pieces in my box, let's just leave it at that.

Anyway. In the name of keeping myself honest here's a knitting to-do list of sorts:

- That Green and Grey Thick Cotton I Bought in a Moment of Weakness: I am envisioning a perfect little checkerboard throw thingie. This means I will need to learn intarsia.

- Socks. Socks socks socks. I might be working on a little something right now (more about that later no doubt,) but I want to knit myself some socks. And I want to knit my mother some socks. To start with I have two skeins of yarn in the closet that want to be socks for me, I think I'm ready to let that happen

- Something Dramatic: every time I go to a fiber festival I'm depressed that I have nothing to wear, as all my knits are pretty... well, warm and wooly. Even the non-woolen ones. I'm eyeing either the shipwreck shawl, which I have been hoarding a skein of Lorna's Lace for, or a sweater... which doesn't help the summer issue, but I think the next thing I might go to is Rhinebeck and that's october so it's okay.

- Other Things.


I wanted to be more verbose but I think I've lost my thin thread of conversation, and I'd better go get dinner started, ooghhh.

][ Up from the depths

Hi, blawgh. Remember me?

I'm that chick that used to spin and knit and stuff sometimes. And sometimes I used to talk about it. And then I stopped, oops.

SO, superquick catch-up time.

Not too long after the last post-- February 2012, yikes!-- I went to Maryland Sheep & Wool again, where I bought way too much fiber and...

An Ashford kiwi spinning wheel. w00t!

I went in intending something completely different-- in spite of the allure of a classic spinning wheel, I wanted to try a Road Bug because they're so small and cute and portable, but I could not for the life of me get it to go the right direction and it wasn't comfortable and then. And then. The shop owner shook his head, put a Kiwi in front of me, and I started making yarn.

Oh, yarn.

Anyway, that was May 2012, and later that summer I had the good fortune to get myself hired... which significantly cut down on my free time for messing about with crafting, though I did do a good spate of knitting early this year. And, you know, the occasional bit and piece before that. I finally finished my scarf, which is a million years old but eminently satisfying.

SKIPPING AHEAD to May 2013 when I... didn't go to Maryland S&W, which is probably for the best. But I did go to the Long Island Fleece and Fiber Festival out in Riverhead. Which should be another post of its own, because it was awesome, but suffice it to say I bought too much fiber again, and realized I better start clearing a little of the backlog.

So I pulled the wheel out of my closet-o'-yarn, and sat down to sweet talk it.


also pictured: giant storage bag of gorgeous fiber, edge of laundry hamper, sock drawer. So sue me.
And there I went, remembering the five minutes or so they spent showing me how to use it, doing my best to replicate those motions, and googling as necessary. The bobbin on there was already pretty full of random yarn that had been spun by people trying the wheel all day, so I just used it as a leader and started spinning the cheapish green roving from my last post.


Not pictured: my ridiculous heart-pounding excitement when it started coming out even.
It was rough at first, but then it all started going right. I settled into the rhythm of it and soon enough I was getting a fairly even twist. It's a bit tighter than it should be, and especially on the early end of things there are some big fluctuations.

But, wow. Once I finally came back to my senses-- it's shockingly easy to fall into a trance, breathing in and out as you pedal, even and quick-- I could not for the life of me believe I hadn't started out with this sooner. Spinning on a wheel felt much more intuitive and natural than drop spindle work for me; not having to worry about the whorl running out of steam and starting to spin back was a relief, and taking care of the twist with my feet meant I could devote more attention to drafting.

I also tried spinning from the fold, in spite of the fact that it went against every gut instinct I had about fiber. I can't really explain how it works or why it was easier for me but damn it felt good.

Anyway, soon I decided I'd gotten a good start and wanted to set up to ply so I popped in a fresh bobbin.

Well, no, actually. I looked at my wheel, realized I had less than no idea how to change the bobbin, googled it, tried it, panicked when I couldn't get the whorl off the assembly, experienced brief but impassioned buyer's remorse, kept at it, and finally managed to get it off, changed the bobbin, reassembled it wrong, took it back apart and fixed it and then I was ready to spin.


Look at that. JUST LOOK AT IT.
The second chunk of roving went well, and once I judged them to be about even I plied them. And totally neglected to take pictures.


shut up, it was exciting.
From there it's business as usual-- off the bobbin, onto the niddy-noddy, dump it in a sink, hang it to dry. Wheee! It didn't even need a weight, it didn't curl up on itself after I blotted the worst of the water out.



Glamorous bathroom shots
I also split and plied the leftover scrap yarn on the bobbin-- waste not, want not. I actually think I did a reasonably good job of judging an equal quantity-- I did have to split the leftover on one bobbin to finish it off, but it was only some ~20 yards, which considering a total lack of ever doing this before seems like a good bet-- and I set those too.

The grayish yarn is oddly pretty, but it smells like the fleece was treated with some kind of chemical... I don't know what it is, but I'm not a fan. I don't know if I will ever use it for anything but, well, there it was.


closeup!
The color's a little washed out because I can never camera, blah blah blah. BUT YEAH. It's damned satisfying.

I still have a good length of the very fine, gorgeous yarn on the second bobbin, and I'm not one hundred percent sure what to do with it. Right now I am leaning toward trying to spin a roughly equivalent length on another bobbin, then splitting the rest of the roving as evenly as possible and hoping for the best when it comes to plying. I could also set this as a single and split the remainder and hope for the best, but I don't think there's enough to use for anything.

After this? Might play a little with hemp-- I hated spinning hemp on a spindle but I think the wheel might be a better fit for me. I also have a ton of wool, a nice length of hot pink bamboo top, and several other new and exciting fibers, but I don't know if I'm ready to tackle the stuff I am really looking forward to knitting up just yet.

I'm also thinking I... should get a book, or take a class, or something. I feel like I've done fantastically well thus far, but I have no idea what I'll do when I inevitably hit a snag of some sort. I'd also like to pick up a few more bobbins, because I know I'm notoriously indecisive and I'll be happier if I can switch up what I'm doing without having to do it in chunks.

Still, looking at my hank of wool, I feel pretty awesome.

Awww yeah.

UPDATE: not enough to warrant a new post of course, but I thought the finished result was worth seeing:


There's 44 yd of the grey, 28 of the green, and 10 of the brown. I was actually surprised by how much that adds up to. No idea what I can ever make but whoooo yarn!

Also, the weird chemical sent of the gray stuff seems to have faded out as it dries, now it smells like clean wool. (Mmm, clean wool.) Huzzah!