Craptina

Pink Tea Raglan Complete

Hello to the latest FO!
The Green Tea Raglan from the Spring 07 IK. (unofficially, this is the Pink Tea Raglan)
Yarn: Artfibers Phyz in number 07
Needles: size 6 and 7 circs
Mods: I made the body slightly longer and lowered the neckline, but other than that I pretty much stayed with the pattern. This was really quick to knit and Phyz was fun to knit with. It's got a nice sparkle to it, especially in the sun.

So many of you know that sewing is not my passion, but I do like to do simple projects, and basic mending. Two weeks ago Kaitlyn and I wiped out Brooklyn General with the last of this awesome fabric...

 
I'm not sure what my plans are do to with it yet, but I'll probably make another drawstring project bag, since I not longer have the one Kaitlyn made at Christmas from the Spider exchange. It was stolen about two months ago, and I bet some hipster who doesn't even knit swiped it just to put some chinsy patches on too tight jeans. Dammit! I'm still pissed.

Anyway, my sister is moving from Brooklyn to New Jersey and I'm becoming the recipient of many unwanted household items. She brought over some things over the weekend, but the most exciting was this:

My great grandmother crocheted this table runner. It feels like cotton, and I can't guess what size hook she must've used because the stitches are teeny tiny! My sister has been hanging onto it for years, and I didn't even realize she had it. This lay in our dining room as we grew up and I'm so excited to have it in my home now. As you can see it's a little beat up and dirty, and I think some mending and a frame will best suit this piece. It'll should be treated like a proper heirloom now.

Here's a closeup on the tiny stitches.....

Any suggestions on how to clean something like this would be grately appreciated. See you all next week, I'm off to North Carolina to visit my folks for a long weekend.

I feel like a doctor

Before I go into the long haul of blogging that is overdue, let's start with some pics from the big Morocco trip, which I'm sure you all are waiting for.....

If you'd like to see the whole she-bang, click here.   While on holiday, I was able to put the finishing touches on these babies:

I am in fact, another Jaywalker lover :)
Yarn: two hanks of Claudia's Handpainted sock yarn
Mods: drop that heel flap, baby! I'm going short-row!!!
For: Moi.

Morocco was terrific. There was adventure, mystery, confusion, language barriers, the whole nine. I would go back in a minute, even if only to practice more of my high school French skills that were generously challenged. The food wasn't as good as I had hoped, and I recently learned that Moroccan's feel that restaurants are a waste of money, and the best food is found in mom's kitchen. Unfortunately, the only Moroccan we befriended was far from his own home, so we didn't get a taste of the real goods. I did however, purchase some spices and a tagine for myself, and lugged it all the way back home. I've made four different dishes with it so far, all of which have been winners, so our apartment has been smelling very nice.

Just after getting back I was shipped out to Fairfield, PA to a seminar and tour of a paper mill and a book manufacturing plant. For work, of course. I brought my camera but unfortuantly we were not allowed to take pictures of the process, but it was a very interesting to learn;  paper is basically made from 90% water, and 10% soaked tree plup. I also got to tour a paperback and hardcover manufacturing plant. It was really cool to see the machines that put books together. It was better than watching Mr. Rodgers visiting the crayon factory. Immediately after returning from that my Mom and niece came to NYC for a visit for a few days. It's been pretty busy since I got back.

I did however, manage to make a serisous dent on the Pink Tea Raglan, which I'm not showing any pictures of yet. Not that I won't share, I just don't find miles of moss stitch thrilling. I do however have some photos of Glee. It's soley this pattern that makes me feel like a doctor. See, when I cast on for this top,I was fully aware that my stitch gauge was on the money, but my row gauge was a little off. Keeping this in mind, I cast on for the smaller size, hoping to compensate. And while knitting I kept checking and measuring, and all was going to plan until I actually tried the damn thing on. The shoulders were waaaaay to wide. Now, this is would be fine if it were 1986, but I wasn't about to rip back all of my work- it's a top-down shirt, that'd be going back and redoing alllll that stockinette.  No, I decided I'd plunge ahead and finish the body, and then go back and pull out the sleeves only. Check out this photo, paying attention to the armhole on the left side.

See all that yarn just, uh, hanging there? I think the work needed to save this project deserves a medical degree. Because one couldn't just rip back- the sleeve stitches are worked in the round! So I ripped back as far as I needed to go, where my arm wasn't swimming in the material. Then I picked up the live stitches and alternatively cut one strand at a time, knitting it into the round of the live sleeve to the other end, weave in the end, cut a stand on the opposite end, work that into the sleeve round, weave in that end and around and around back and forth, until  it was too far to go back and pick up. By this time there were about 12 or so strands left, so I wove in the ends. Sounds like a feat, yes? It was knitting surgery.
Here's a photo of the wrong side post-surgery:

The right side is looking pretty good, and a picture will be forthcoming upon completion. I doubt that anyone who didn't know about these hideous strands wouldn't ever be able to tell they are there. It's totally embarrasing to me that I made this mistake, but at the same time, I impressed myself by taking a risk to fix it.  My task for this week is to finish the neck and then tackle the left shoulder the same as the right. I hope it goes just as smoothly.

Shipping Off in Style

Last week Prink and I made these........


With inspiration from Jess we made a whole shebang of these cute bags. However, Prink is such a super sewer, we didn't look at the tutorial except to oogle over her cute prints. Definitely a good guide, if you're interested in making one of these guys yourself.

Next week this gal and some friends are off on a big vacation, so projects bags were required.  Marie , Big A, Joe and I are of to Morocco! We'll be there for 11 days to experience some culture, weird food, and some possible desert camping. Jess has been a big help with guidence and advice since she was there just a few months ago. Check out her picture gallery, it's pretty cool.

I've got some jaywalkers on the needles for trip, and that should hold me for awhile. In other knitting news, I've cast on for Glee and I'm in Stockinette Hell. I'm currently up to 324 sts, and I'm increasing every RS row until there are 384. (!@$!@#^) Then I can get psyched to work in the eternal round of never ending stitches. Ugh. This project is going to take awhile, but the end results look worth it. Check out how cute Carrie looks....

Oh, and I finished the front side of the Pink Tea Raglan. No photo to share for a blob of pink seed stitch. I fear that the projects I have chosen are much too repetitve. Something should be done about that. Casting on for the Dollar and a Half cardigan is a must upon returning from vacation.

So I'll leave you with these photos before my departure, since I love my cats so much and they crack me up all the time. 

I swear there was water in the water dish...but I bet this was more tasty.....

                                                                                       

No....this is the best way to get a drink!

Whatever initially interested her in the drawer wanted her to stay....
















                                                                                                REALLY STAY.....

Almost off the wagon

Well, I binged. I'd been holding pretty steady on my yarn diet but I buckled this past week and purchased yarn. Twice. It wasn't sock yarn. However, this was not a complete lack of restraint because I did follow the rules. The problem is that there's too many patterns I love and the stash yarn isn't fitting all of them!! (strange, I know.) I used the gift card the spiders gave me for my birthday for some delicious Rowan Calmer, in a deep purple. I've already casted on for Glee. Lisa is working on the same project with different yarn, so she, Carrie and I will all be Glee sisters soon.

My second gluttonous yarn purchase was done in Long Island, at Knitting on the Lamb. I spent Saturday with Ann (left) and Flair-the-blogless-wonder.

Flair and I work together; she's a sales rep for a vendor. I love it when she comes in to talk printing and yarn. She should really get a blog, though. For now Ann and I will just keep nagging. We spent the day hanging out in Ann's yarn shop and I used my get-out-of-jail-free for some Berroco Denim Silk and some Eculan too. mmmmm. I'm swatching for the Dollar and a Half Cardigan from the Spring 07 IK. I haven't officially casted on yet, but will very soon soon.

While at Knitting on the Lamb on Saturday, I finished up the horns on a hat for baby Diego. His mother specifically requested horns. I thought I might show you just how these knitted horns are made.....

Cast on 10sts, double stranded. The thicker the yarn the better. I'm using up some Brooks Farm here (to match his pullover)

I knit in stockinette for 6 rows, then decreased on each end of every right side row. This will form a triangle.

Sew the ends together, and you got yerself a horn!

Here's a photo of the end result, a cheap shot, really. It looks much more tough in person; too much like rabbit ears on a basketball cap. Pony- I promise it'll fit him.

In other news, I started working on the Green Tea Raglan, also from the Spring 07 IK. I'm using some Art Fibers Phyz. So I guess this is the Pink Tea Raglan, you could say. I'm getting gague perfectly, and it's out from the stash, which is what matters. It's all seed sts, so I won't bore you with a photo. I've also got some jaywalkers on the needles, mostly for subway knitting. Lucy totally loves the way the Claudia's Handpainted is striping and so do I!

We Now Continue for Our Regularly Scheduled Blogging

Yowzaa!! It's been a long time since my last post. The delay from the blog was caused by some serious running around these past few weeks. I swear there was not one slow day where I had time to sit and write. However, that has not stopped the knitting, which there is LOTS to show.  Let's start with the FOs......

The Sienna Cardigan completed!
Pattern: Sienna Cardigan, from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Wool Ease worsted weight
Needles: Size 8 Addie Turbo
Time: About two months
Mods: As previously blogged, I worked the back and front panels at the same time, basically to avoid seaming. However, I ended up purchasing this book and if you don't have it GO GET IT. I've never been very good at seaming, but this book was fabulous. I am so proud of my shoulder seams :) Prink helped me pick out the buttons at M&J.
Notes: For all the G.D. stockinette, I'm really happy with this sweater and can't wear it enough. 

 

Oh yeah, some Jaywalkers!
Yarn: Lanna Grassa
Needles: Size 1 DPNs
Time: About 1.2 months
Notes: I made these for Big A, hence the hairy legs.

So one of the reasons for the delay from blogland was our anniversary. Big A and I made it a full year. We had a big party at the end of February sice it was also our roomate's birthday. I made big A the jaywalkers as a gift. For my present he gave me this drawing:

He took my things, my favorite things and drew this still life from pencil and charcoal. After a year of dating and even living together, he hasn't let me see his portfolio from art school, but I knew he was good. Here's a close up of the drawing, for all of the stunning details.

There's more to show and tell, but I don't want to overwhelm you all so sit tight, more coming soon!

podcasts!!

Not many of you know this, but I am a huge fan of podcasts. I listen to lots of shows and I'm a pretty loyal fan; it's rare I miss a show. Some of these are so good, I thought you should know about them if you don't already.

Sticks and String
This is a really great podcast about knitting, particularly about men and knitting. It's hosted by an Australian man, David Reidy, who is a teacher and lives with his two cats. The best part about this show is his essays. David is an excellent writer. He focuses on one aspect of knitting, and relates the rest of the show around the same idea. Some of his essays are about  knitting groups, giving projects away, how we face challenges, etc.  I ususally listen to this during my lunch hour, but I tend to skip over his musical choices. It's nothing personal, I never seem to like anything in the Podsafe music library, it usually sucks in my opinion. You can download this from itunes too :)

Knit Cast
Some of you probably already know about this show- and it's a shame there aren't more episodes. This show is set up like a news cast where Marie Irshad interviews knitwear designers. She travels to different knitting shows and conventions to interview various designers. The notice on her website promises to have new episodes in 2007. I'm holding my breath....

Savage Love
This is a podcast for those with a strong stomach. Dan Savage is a sex advice columnist, the author of Savage Love. He's a gay man with a partner and an adopted son. He's been writing for who knows how long; I've read Savage Love in the Village Voice and online every Wednesday morning for about 6 years now. The podcast is relatively new. The show is set up with live calls. Anyone can call in at 206-201-2720 and ask Dan a question. It's really hilarious to listen/read to other people's kink, questions, and experinces. He's written several books and you can find all of them on Amazon. On an interesting note, after the death of Ann Landers he won the auction to her desk.


How Urban Radio Saved My Life
This is a really great music show for old funk and 60s-70s dance. Lexi has a very insteresting style that I love to play on my computer at work when I need some backround tunes. It takes awhile to download from itunes, but it's totally worth it.

The New Celebrity
I don't really know how to describe this show, except to say that each episode is an entire farce. An old co-worker of mine, Chris Meyers, started this podcast with two of his friends just to entertain themselves. The first season is them maily poking fun at each other and making up stories, but  in the second season they got their act together a little more to incorporate some "reality-tv/raido" drama with love and murder. It doesn't quite make sense all the time, and you almost always want to smack Matt for being an overbearing dork, but in the end, it's a pretty funny show.


What podcasts or raido shows do you listen to?

Radical Baby

Please welcome into the world baby Diego!

My best friend recently had this beautiful baby boy. Here is Diego at three weeks old. As you can see from his huge eyes he's very curious about the world.... he also enjoys feeling warm in toasty in his Placket-Neck Pullover his Auntie Ginny, or Crazy Aunt Ginny, as Pony kept calling me the whole day. The little guy loves to curl up on a shoulder and sleep, as we had lots of cuddle time. The pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts I love just about all the patterns in here! This sweater pattern comes with instructions for newborn to 8 years old! In the 6-8 hour gift section, I was able to whip this up in just a few days. Does that yarn look familiar? It's some more good-olde Brooks Farm, itching to get out of my stash. It's nore the best machine washable sweater for a baby, but I figure it'll stretch with him as he grows.

And in other knitting news, I completed a hat for one of Austin's friends, by request:

If you're thinking that this hat is really big,you're right. This guy has a 24.5" knocker, and he specifically asked for it to be kinda longer so it would "poof" on the end. And the pom pom? He personally requested that too. Now, this is just a basic hat, but I made a serious attempt to challege my skills one more step.....do you see it?
Wait- here's a close-up:


It's the teeniest bit of fair isle, no- I'll say color work, because it's not really very much at all, but I'm proud of myself for trying. I was knitting on the train and gave it a shot with no books or instructions. So with some contorted fingers and super twisted colors, I figured out how to strand the two on the wrong side. *smile* It's a small step in a new direction.

Tomorrow I'm going to see the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit at the Museum of Arts & Design. There's a field trip bound to happen with the spiders, but who says you can't see a knitting exhibit more than once? 

Show me your stash!

Voila! A Scarf!

Here is David, my sister's  roommate. David is the nicest guy you will ever meet. He recently moved here from Mexico and is totally shocked at how warm cold it is. He requested a scarf, so I quickly whipped up a k1,p1 special.

And the Sienna Cardigan is finally out of the dark ages! I am working the back and two fronts at the same time and boy it took forever to get out of the stockinette hole. It's finally onto some shoulder shaping which is a very nice change. Once that's finished, all that's left are the sleeves and the trim, which should be easy-peasy.


Maybe you have noticed that there's a new button on the sidebar: Knit from your Stash! Now I'm not a hoarder of  an overflowing amount of yarn, but I've got my share. And I'm not going to share a picture of it, because I tried that and it didn't turn out very good. Please don't make me haul it all out again.....trust me, there's a sweater or two, some cami's, a couple shawls, a log cabin blanket, and a ton of hats and mittens in that stash.

I think I could use a KAL like this to pair down on the yarn that I've been sitting on for, well, years. I buy yarn that has the best of intentions for projects, but seems to get lost in some plastic bag in the depths of our closets.* And as I get older I've learned how to live with less, so this seems like a good way to reduce the clutter with creativity.

Now, this KAL needs some modifications for my personal needs. Since I don't spin fiber I'm extending the get-out-of jail free card. I still have a free pass, but I am allowing myself one additional personal yarn purchase with the condition that this ticket can only be used if there is a kick-ass sale of at least 35% off.
Really, who can resist 35% off? I have weak knees for a good sale.

I shall leave you with Darla, who recently won our weird cat picture of the week.


*yeah, right. closets....I wish. 

6 weird things you don't want to know

Ok, I guess since everyone is doing it, I figured I would too. Therefore, without further ado, Six Weird Things You Probably Don't Know About Me:

1. I was a jazz enthusiast in junior high. I played the clarinet and I had a very modern Buddhist music teacher who would have me transpose Lester Young solos to clarinet. I was pretty good. In high school the music from the marching band was so awful I switched to the school orchestra. Apparently my guidance counselor wasn’t aware of the difference between the two, so I was the only woodwind in the orchestra. All the other kids played string instruments. Yep, it was kinda weird. The teacher was such a nut job-she was out sick for 4 months straight, and when she came back, it was just about playing a few measures and mostly talking about our teenage dilemmas.

2. I used to suck my thumb until I was 10 years old. Well, it wasn’t exactly only my thumb. It was my index finger and my thumb kind of twisted and pushed together. Anyway, I did this every day and night for so long that my right index finger is crooked.

3. Sometimes it takes me a moment to identify my right from left. I didn’t understand the difference as a child. Big A had this issue too. It’s part of what brings us together.

4. When I am very focused on something I bite on my tongue. It’s totally regressive, and I’m very embarrassed about it, but it’s one of those subconscious things that I don’t even know I’m doing.

5. I have an insane ability to remember phone numbers. I can remember the phone numbers of my friends growing up. If someone tells me their number, I can usually recall it shortly thereafter. I have no memory for names, movie directors, or shoe size. I will remember things like your favorite food, but then forget your birthday.

6. I am a pesto freak. I’ll make a batch, (the more garlickly the better), and put it on crackers, toast, or just eat it plain. Of course it goes on pasta, but I cannot get enough of the stuff.

It's been a very merry.

Does everyone know how much the Spiders kick ass? I hadn't posted about it, but they really made christmas come early with the most amazing birthday gift, shortly after the special day. I recently got to take a test drive on my brand new blocking board.

Lucy, Dizzle, and Darla couldn't resist checking it out. Thank you so much to all of you who helped give such a generous gift. And even those that couldn't put in, you guys rock too. Look at this thing!>?!@ I love my spiders :) Who could ask for a better group of women?

It has been awhile since my last post, and there has been so much crafting going on, but first let me share the awsome gift Big A got, without any hints from me: The KIPer Knitting Bag Set

This bag set is perfect for the crafter on the go. God that sounded dorky. But really, I can't even count how many pockets this thing has, and each craft bag has it's own detachable shoulder strap at different lengths! I've already switched bags and transferred the wallet- you can't imagine how thrilling it is.
((If you haven't noticed yet, my goal for 2007 is to include as many cat pictures as possible into this blog.))

And for the holiday Big A and I went to Long Island to be with his family and we had a great time. I got quite a bit of knitting done while I was out there, including another inch or two on the Sienna Cardigan. But since that is such a big project, I cast on for some split finger mittens, or shall I say smittens?  I hadn't tried my hand at mittens yet, but i figured it was time, and I think they came out nicely.
          
Pattern: Split Finger Mittens (I'm calling them smittens)
From: Vogue Knitting Mittens and Gloves, Knitting on the Go   a cute book with lots of interesting patterns.
Yarn: Leftover Brooksfarm from the Accidential Kinda Sweater, this stuff is so sweet.
Needles: Size 5 DPNs
Time: about two serious knitting days. 5-6 hrs per mitten?
Mods: I did the straight up ribbing, it called for twisted rib, but I don't like it as much. And the ribbbing is even, it's just shoddy in the picture.
For: My lovely roomate and friend Laura, who also happens so be a smoker, so she'll love 'em.

This pattern was so fun and quick  that I decided to do another pair for myself with some other Brooksfarm that I had lying around.
                                                                                        
Lastly, I cast on for a scarf for my sisters roomate who just moved here from Mexico. He's completely unprepared for the winter, and has requested a scarf. I'm working up some Lambs Pride bulky, so this baby should be done soon.

I hope you'll notice my new knitting bag and needles from The Sassy Stichess. I got these at the spider halloween party. She made that knitting bag herself. Check out some other things she's made at her Etsy shop.