What do you think?

How do you like the color combos and the pattern?


I'm thinking if this is going to be such a large blanket, I should add some other colors in. Maybe a muted lavender and a coral? Just to spice it up? Or, a chocolate brown (thanks Cara!) and some greys and a tomato-y red?

I may have to bring these squares over to Purl and play around with their stash.

And, check out my miserable attempt at customizing my title bar. Ha! I just threw a pic of what I'd like there, so it's just awful.

The start of a Granny Square Blanket

I've been intrigued by all the interest in the "Babette Blanket" that was publishsed in the Spring 2006 issue of Interweave Crochet. It definitely looked like fun to plan out and make, but I know I would personally want something simpler looking. Not that granny squares have a simple look to them... I guess symmetrical is a better word to describe what I'd want in a blanket. I'm planning on covering my king-size bed with it. So I stopped by Purl in Soho to take a look at their fingering weight yarns. I was tempted by Koigu, but not the price. And my eye finally landed on a pretty warm yellow from Hand Jive - perfect for Spring, not that the price was much better. I threw in some other colors and played around with how bright I could personally go and came up with the five colors below. I had some GGH Soft Kid yarn in a sage I thought would work well, but as you can see in my test square, the brightness of the other colors makes the sage look a bit dirty. I wanted to possibly try different textures, but I don't think this is the right color. Still thinking on it... may stick with one texture. I do love the granny square pattern I found in a book a friend had - 200 crochet blocks, or something like that. (If you know what I'm talking about it's #35 - Tricolor Square). Fun and easy to make, and I think it's floral without being too girly.


I'm still, slowly, working on the sleeves to my Swing Jacket.

And, I'm trying to get my own Blog Title into this darn template, but can't seem to find clear instructions. If anyone has a quick hint as to how to do this, I'd be forever in your debt.

Granny Squares!

It's the little things in life, isn't it? I started making granny squares this weekend, and found myself devouring remnants of leftover yarn with every little square I made. The always fantastic Purl Bee planted the Granny Square bug in my ear. It's a great way to practice crocheting, and I'm finally starting to feel comfortable with it. Here's a close-up of my favorite - taken from the Spring 2007 issue of Interweave's Crochet.



I feel a blanket coming on...

Phildar Swing Jacket update

Finally, I'm making some headway with the swing jacket. I finished the front left last night and am moving onto the sleeves today. I'm going to do both at the same time, which I've never tried before. But since the majority talk about how much faster it is or seems, I've got to give it a try. I'll try anything at this point. I'm excited for the jacket, but it's just taking forever. I was hoping to be wearing it by now.

Please let me know what you think! Any constructive criticism, suggestions and comments... hints, tips :)


More pics on my Flickr site!

Voila! Le' Slouch!

Thanks to Wendy at Knit and Tonic, I have finally knit up a cute little cap I can wear... in public. I've tried crocheting one (see below for pathetic excuse for a hat). I've tried a different beret pattern which turned out much too small so it looked like a brain-sucking mollusk, and another felting disaster that came out looking like a plain old mistake. Since I usually wear my unruly hair up, I'm happy the cap can cover my haphazard bun-knots.

And after many attempts of trying to photograph it on my own head, then my dog's head, I decided to let my dress form model it. Much to my chagrin she does a better job than me.

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Aslan. Less than one skein used.


I've also made some progress on my Phildar Swing Jacket. Just about done with that front left side. I'll be moving to the sleeves next. Hopefully I'll have something picture worthy soon!

Queen of Cups Socks

I just love the name of these socks from Knitty.com. I finally finished them as I kept getting distracted, and they're kinda cute. I like 'em. I don't wear socks though, but I'm putting these babies on. And I tried taking photos of them on the foot, but they just looked better on their own. You can see the pattern more clearly.


Here's a close-up... you can tell the sock on the left is the second one I did. I made a lot of mistakes in the pattern on the first sock. I think I'm going to learn my lesson, for once, and practice the pattern before jumping right into the project next time.


And last night in crochet class, we started to incorporate beads into our work. Oh the possibilities! So I came home and started a very simple cord/necklace thingy just for the exercise of it. I'm still an awful crocheter. It's terribly embarrassing.


I'm using a 1.8mm crochet hook and size 10 crochet thread with some glass seed beads I found. At least I can put these beads to good use now instead of randomly throwing them onto socks.

Mug Cozy: 1st Project Spectrum project

I've been a long-time admirer of the tea cozy. I don't own a teapot, and I don't especially like tea. But, for someone to think of knitting a teapot a sweater to keep it warm? I love it. Anything that brings life to an otherwise lifeless object, I applaud. And, it's practical too.

So, my ode to tea cozies - my Mug Cozy. A specially crocheted sweater for Mr. Piggy to keep my morning coffee warm, of course.

Project Spectrum 2.0

Thanks to Lollygirl, Project Spectrum is enjoying much success in its second year. For April/May, the colors are green, yellow and pink. As I looked at the list of the three colors, I mentally made a note that I probably have a lot more green and yellow (one of my favorite colors) than pink hanging around in my ever growing yarn stash. But as I sifted through my stash, the only color that peppered my sea of neutrals was pink. As I pondered this, I looked down at my Mr. Piggy coffee mug to find myself holding, well... a pink mug. Well, I figured I'd have to consult him as to what I would do with my little bit of pink yarn.


I placed him in front of the pile and he quickly started with the little ball of pure wool in fuchsia.

"Hmm, since you're the only knitter I know of that just randomly buys one ball here, and one ball there, we'll have to think of something small." After a bit of a pause, and chin-rubbing, "I've got it! Felt some flowers with it!"

He quickly moved onto the rest of the pile.

"Obviously," he said, "you'll have to do a fun pair of socks with those self-stripping Lorna's Laces. Nothing too fancy as it will just get lost with the stripping."

"And, that random skein of Malabrigo, which I would barely consider pink," he added with a little arrogance, "try crocheting another hat."

Lastly, he motioned to my one skein of Lorna's Laces Chunky Swirl and looked at me pointedly even accusingly, "I guess it's never crossed your mind to knit up a Mr. Piggy Cozy, has it? Didn't think so."

Up's & Down's

Every weekend has its up's and down's. Mine happened to start with a down. I had to toss away the latter half of my yarn from Bolivia. A tangled mess it was. Merrily knitting my second Queen of Cups sock, I realized that I was almost at the end of my working yarn. How could that be - I had half a ball left the last time I looked down. When I reached down to join in the rest of the ball I realized that the remainder was wound as 3-stranded yarn. Huh. Simple, I thought. I'll just separate the three strands. I don't recommend this course of action. After more than 30 minutes of separating about a yard of the 3-stranded ball into 3 separate strands, I gave up. Luckily I was brought back two balls of yarn from Bolivia and dug the other ball out. If anyone has any brilliant solutions to the strand separation (other than gorging themselves with cupcake out of self pity), please let me know.


I couldn't help the indulgence of this finger-licking delight as it soothed away my ruffled feathers with its chocolate-y goodness.

Not letting yet another yarn debacle get me down, I decided to start the baby bolero from One Skein, as a good friend just had a baby girl. I had the yarn in my stash, and I thought it a cute design. This was the first piece I had to "finish". Sew up the shoulder seams, sew sleeves into armholes and sew up the sleeves. Well, I'm glad my first foray into finishing was on this tiny little piece, because... let's just say I knit and not sew for a reason. Turned out ok, but as I appreciated EZ's designs before, now I REALLY appreciate her minimal to no finishing designs. Genius. Why did I ever stray from her Surprise Jacket, or February Sweater? In any case, an up to my weekend:


I threw my sheep measuring tape into the picture to show just how teeny tiny the cute little bolero is! Teeny-tiny!!! And here is a detail of the cute little eyelet on the back. Just too adorable.


The only change I made to the eyelet pattern was I made a center double decrease instead of the K3tog they have listed. I used the sl2, k1, pass the slipped stitches over. That was the only change I felt confident enough to make.

Branching Out

As I played around with my new Flickr account this past week, I took a trip down memory lane. I browsed through some old projects, beaming with pride about how far I had come. How far I had come knitting-wise, that is. I stopped on this beautiful peacock blue number. "WHAT is that?" I asked myself. I had completely forgotten about the Branching Out scarf I had started months ago with some gorgeous Tilli Tomas silk. "WHERE the heck is that?" I was starting to harass myself.

I just completed it, embarrassed to even admit I forgot about such beautiful yarn I remember scouring for on eBay. It's going to be a birthday present for a dear friend of mine. A friend that gave me the lead on my current job. A friend that trained, long LONG hours, with me for the NYC Marathon. A friend who is always up for some greasy Chinese food. I can't wait to give it to her. A friend that would brag that it was handmade.



This was all good timing too as I had to frog my Print O' The Wave Stole. I'm using some fuzzy hairy laceweight yarn, that's also variegated in color. It just didn't look good at all. I'll have to find something proper for the pattern. I just don't know what to do with that yarn.

And I did finish that crochet homework. I crocheted a hat. And I sewed my crocheted flower onto the side of it. The main point of the assignment was NOT TO RIP OUT AND START OVER - which is so easy to do while crocheting. Anyway, it's a little odd looking. First, because I used chunky yarn as I wanted to do it quickly. Secondly, because I used cream and then black colored yarn. Not that cute. Next, it's very square shaped. And then finally, I'm a sh*tty crocheter people. It's ok. I've admitted it to myself. At least I can only go up from here, right?



Of course, an entry wouldn't be complete without Little Miss Monster Peanutbutterpumpkinface

Overdoing it

When I mentioned not torturing you with my old grainy pics, you didn't think I'd torture you with an onslaught of gratuitous shots taken with my new camera just... because. Well, I am. I'm sorry. I can't help myself. Here's the look I get when I know I've knitted for too long, ignoring my motherly duties:



How could one resist that face? I'm not sure, but I do. I continue knitting, throwing her a measly little treat - the poor dear. But, I'm obsessed. And when she does that in the middle of a row? I'm not even distracted. Speaking of obsessed... has anyone completely cleaned out their closet, donated most of their hanging clothes to the Salvation Army, and hung up knitting projects in ziploc bags clipped to pants hangers in their stead?



To add fuel to the fire of obsessiveness, this has been done in a VERY small apartment, with VERY little closet space. Priorities people, priorities.

Some good news: I have completed my first crocheted object! It's a flower! It was the in-class project for my Crochet class tonight. Our homework is to make a hat next - maybe I'll pin the flower to my future chapeau?



And I've started my first serious lace project - the Print o' The Wave Stole from Eunny Jang's blog. It's not picture-worthy yet as it only looks like yarn that's been diseased. Pictures to come! Plenty of pictures to come!!

Busy busy busy

It's been a long month and a half since I last posted. First, I got engaged. Why no exclamation point, you ask? After dating for 10.5 years, no exclamation point needed. It's just a fact now. But you know WHAT deserves an exclamation point? My ring! I love my ring! My ring my ring my ring! I picked it out, and when I told the Migglesworth that the designer's first name was Lucifer - he said, "Done."



I finished my first pair of socks. Again, no exclamation point. Bittersweet, I tell you. I loved knitting socks, I loved the pattern and I loved the yarn - Koigu - but my pleasure was dampened knowing I was procrastinating. I just can't seem to want to finish that Swing Jacket. I want the finished product. But, I don't want to knit it. And that's not me. I'm a "journey", a "process" lover. This process? Not loving so much. Here are some close-up's of the socks. (Close-up's because the Migglesworth has worn them lovingly and they're not picture perfect.)





In the true style of procrastination, I've gone onto another pair of socks, completely ignoring the Swing Jacket yet again. I'm using the Goblet Lace Pattern from this season's Knitty.com. FUN! The best part is I'm using yarn that a friend brought back from Bolivia. She tells me the flea market merchants were shocked to know that Americans were looking for yarn! I guess they all thought we would shop at The Gap. Don't ask about the beads. I don't know. Just... felt the urge, you know? And then lost the urge. So just four beads around the ankle.



Let's see... what else. Oh! I started taking a class titled "Crochet For Pleasure" (sounds dirty, doesn't it?) at FIT. Crochet goes against everything I love about knitting. Linear, logical, structured... TWO needles. The one hook, the flick of the wrist, the "oh, just stick the hook in anywhere, go with it" attitude scares me. With that said, it can do everything knitting can't. Like... make a blanket in one piece without searching for a 42" long circular needle. I'm just sayin'. And... AND - no dropped stitches.

I took the CYCA Knitting Instructor Certification Levels 1 & 2 at FIT, and loved the instructor, so I thought taking the Crochet class with her would be a good start. As for the CYCA Certification, I have to complete 30 hours of student teaching to pass Levels 1 & 2. I'm pretty close. I have about 25 hours down. It's amazing how many of my friends want to learn (when it's free), and it's even more amazing how much I enjoy teaching knitting. Beginner's are my favorite. They just light up.

Which leads me to... KNITTERS UNITE!! I went to FIT last night to see the Yarn Harlot speak. She's on tour for her fourth book "Cast Off", and she's taking the opportunity to try and rustle up some media attention. The theme: Knitters get no respect. And while delivered in her characteristic sarcastic humor, her point is a real one. I truly enjoyed her talk, and so did the other HUNDREDS of knitters/crocheters. I took the liberty of taking some photos there as well.



And the wonderful Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee:



Photos... photos... photos... ah yes! I bought a new camera!



That's right. No more torturing you with my teeny point-n-shoot digital pics that came out all grainy and under or overexposed. On the advice of knitting/blogger-extraordinaire, Vanessa, I bought the Canon Rebel XTi. It's wonderful. I highly recommend it. Let's hope I learn how to use this sucker to its fullest potential.

Next on my list: learn to customize this blog. The template is a little dry. (Notice SWING JACKET is not next on my list. *deep sigh*)

Phildar Swing Jacket progress

Here's the completed back of the swing jacket. I'm almost done with the right front side of the jacket. But, as you can see from the post below, I'm getting bored. I'm starting to think of other things to knit like finishing up my pair of socks, or embarking on this blanket. Or even starting another sweater. I have to keep pressing onward! I must complete my first sweater!!

I'm not worthy

Blue Sky's Royal Alpaca in Cameo. What more can I say? A girlfriend of mine had to have the yarn since she fell in love with the color. She bought out her LYS's stock of it. What could she make with 6 skeins? I told her if she got more, I'd knit her a blanket (I owe this woman my life - I don't go around offering to knit up blankets made out of fingering weight alpaca to anyone.) We now have a total of 16 skeins. I am embarking on my largest project to date. A blanket made of fingering weight alpaca. Yes, I'll be doubling it up. This is all really an excuse for me to spend as much time with the most luxurious yarn I've ever come into contact with. The color, the feel... the smell - it's all heaven right here at my fingertips.

I'll be knitting up a swatch, and then figuring out a pattern worthy of this yarn. Cables and ribs? Twisted knits and purls? Slip stitches for a doubled weight? Decisions decisions.

Organizational help, please oh please.

I'm knitting up and sending out an SOS. I've decided to reorganize my yarn stash. And since I'm still relatively new to this whole psychosis by yarn thing, I need your much more experienced help. Does anyone have a preference when organizing their yarn stash? By color, by weight? By most-liked to least-likely to be used? By brand alphabetically? I'm at a complete and utter loss. Thanks for any advice/comment.

This, by the way, was a great deterence to me cruising online shops and randomly buying yarn that just happens to tickle my fancy. I highly recommend it if you're trying to curb your not-so-frugal-spend-all-disposable-income-on-yarn ways.

The baby model

Here's baby Penny modeling the sweater I knit for her. Isn't she adorable? And that red hair is just too cute for words.

Delerium.

Maybe it's because I'm dieting.
It looks like a scrumptuous, delicious, tender doughnut.
If I was more shameless, I'd have an accompanying photo of me smacking my lips.

Habu Textiles "Sale"

I couldn't believe my luck! I hopped onto Habu's website and eureka! - their showroom on 29th Street was having a sale! It was dreamlike. I was the only one in the showroom sifting through their precious assortment of exotic yarns with only the whirring of spinning machines in the background. So I ended up buying some Kenaf "yarn" (the big skein in the middle) to crochet some placemats, or one big table cover thingy. Four balls of a linen/wool mixture, and two balls of 5-stranded wool. All the colors were so subtle and gorgeous, I had to back away from beautiful cashmeres, boucles, chenilles, metallic threads... jute-like silk. It was really fantastic just to browse.

And sale is in quotes because only the 5-stranded wool yarn was actually on sale. I just couldn't resist.

Yarn arrived for the Swing Jacket!

Woo-hoo, the yarn finally arrived for the Phildar Swing Jacket. I'll be knitting up the swatch tonight to make sure the gauge is a-ok.

Update: Socks from Vogue

One sock done! (It's really hard to take pictures of socks on your own feet. Will have to make boyfriend model when both done.)



A quick update on my socks: Am finally onto the foot of the first sock. I had some technical difficulties as my yarn kept getting knotted - had to cut and re-wind, then the heel was "fun". Anyway, hoping to get these done soon and put them on the feet as that's really the only way to show off the pattern. It's a very cool twisted stitch zigzag type pattern. Very graphic.

Using Koigu Premium Merino in an olive brown on Size 2 dp's Hm, no dye color or dye lot on my tag. Have two skeins, and thinking I may need a third since these ended up being a bit longer than I thought.

A rhetoric.

I have five plastic bins from The Container Store full of yarn. I just started knitting in July '06. Is that normal?

Socks from Vogue

I generally don't wear socks, or buy them at those streetfairs for $1. But again something you stumble upon as you delve deeper and deeper into this underworld of knitting - sock knitting. So I started a pair (since I'm waiting on yarn for the Swing Jacket) for my boyfriend. My very first pair of socks. I'm using a pattern out of Vogue Knitting's Fall 06 issue - the most masculine one I could find - and am only going to be using this nice olive/brown color as opposed to three different colors. So far so good - not saying much as you can see.

Now that I'm looking over the pattern again do I notice the "for advanced knitters" symbol. Hm.

I'll keep you posted on its... their progress. Damn - I have to do two of these.

P.S. - the background is wrapping I bought to wrap the BSJ in to send off - yay!

For my mom

This is my first Mom-mention. She turned me onto knitting in her own roundabout, parent-by-example way. Aside from getting all my creative genes from her, she was always crocheting, making beaded flowers and cake decorating when I was little. I used to watch her bead up wire, twist it around, tie a few together and end up with a bouquet. I'll never forget taking them out of the little vases she'd have around the house and bend and squeeze all the flowers out of shape. I'd carefully squeeze them back to their original state and place them where I found them, but always loved and would still love the way the beads felt between my fingers. As for the crocheting, she would make blanket after blanket for my brother and me. Always with three different colors, and always in the "charlie brown" zig zag pattern. She claims that's the only fancy pattern she could do while crocheting. I think she just likes the zig zags.

Strangely, I never picked it up when I was younger, more content to watch than join in. It would always hypnotize me. So over the years, her crocheting started me knitting; her cake decorating started me baking; and her beaded flowers... got me shopping for jewelry at Barneys? Oh no no, I mean - got me into beaded jewelry work. But it was only after 25 years did I pick up knitting. I've turned her onto knitting, but she still prefers crocheting. And I still prefer knitting. So, we make a pretty good team.

So I knit this scarf up for her - her most recently added color to her favorites list is purple. Me not being a super huge fan of bright colors, chose this Rowan Tapestry yarn with purple and gold to suit her current taste. This scarf was one of my first projects that I completed late last year. It already seems like a knitting lifetime ago. And I got the pattern from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.

Phildar Swing Jacket

I joined my first knit along a few days ago for the Phildar Swing Jacket. This was the first time I heard about a knit along aka KAL. I feel like I keep stumbling across more and more things in this whole knitting underworld :) I can't wait to get started on it. I ordered the pattern book and it arrived today. So I jumped onto the web and ordered the needed yarn. This'll be my first adult garment, so I'm a bit nervous and I think I've probably picked an overly ambitious project. But hey, why not?

Pouchy perfection

I haven't taken pictures of a lot of the smaller projects I've done, but I just had to throw my little drawstring pouch in. I had bought a hank of some Lorna's Laces worsted weight wool on sale, so was only able to procure one hank. Took out my One Skein book, and decided to use it for this pouch - just for the heck of it. As the finished pouch hung listlessly among my scarves for weeks, I finally decided to recruit it to hold my knitting notions.

This little pouch has stood by me. It's absolutely perfect for my little tape measure, stitch markers, safety pins, tapestry needles... thanks perfect pouch! You're a knitter's best friend.

Voila! A Baby Jacket

Well, if I'll be darned. It actually worked. Like some of you out there, I was highly suspicious of the pattern even after reading post after post of successfully completed surprise jackets. I didn't even get the schematic in the Knitting Workshop book. So while knitting, I had not a clue what part of the jacket I was on. Surprisingly, I got the stripes basically where I wanted them and it worked out just swell!

I used the knitted cast-on method, and when I got to the bottom of the pattern it states how nicely the seams sew up when using the long-tail cast on method. Oh well, next time. I'm still far from being a pro at finishing garments, so I'll have to make an effort in that department.

I also got a chance to practice my Continental style knitting since there wasn't any purling (why oh why is the purling so awkward). But the k2tog's and M1's were challenging enough. Well, I was glad for the practice.

I used La Mode tiny golden buttons since this Jacket is for a boy and I was highly against the huge plastic football buttons. These were the only non-feminine one's I could find that seemed special.

I used almost 3 hanks of Blue Sky Alpaca Sportweight in Lt. Green (maybe it's called Pistachio... can't find the label.) And the stripes are leftover from the first EZ baby jacket I made - Taupe.

Since I couldn't, rather densely I must admit, really picture how the knitted up sea mollusk would actually turn into a jacket, I took some "action" photos of me folding this one up. It may help some of you out there.

Baby Surprise Jacket - EZ #2

My next Zimmermann project is the baby surprise jacket. I had started it months ago, ripped it out. Started it again, ripped it out. Have finished two baby jackets in the meantime. Now. Finally - I'm well on my way having past the "make 9 increase at the two end sections" part. I'm using Blue Sky Alpaca Sportweight in Lt. Green - it's a great pistachio color. And since I have lots of leftovers from my other EZ baby jackets, I'll throw some stripes in there when I finally remember to. Maybe the dark grey is too dark? Hm, probably. This is for a boy so maybe not? And I got some cute gold/brass buttons for it. Wish me luck!

Added on January 9th:

Let me just say. No one could be more surprised than me. I was convinced I was making some sort of sea mollusk. But, I just finished knitting up the surprise jacket and wow. I'm SURPRISED. What an amazing amazing design. You will never realize the genius until you knit it. Even though you thought you did looking at the schematic. But no. Must knit it. Wow.

Pictures to come...

Two "1st's": Lace and Charts

Thanks to my wonderful Intermediate/Advanced Knitting teacher, Lisa, I started this beautiful lacy scarf in Tilli Tomas' 100% silk in Jade color. Lisa's favorite knitting was lace knitting, and she gave us this pattern from Knitty.com as a great start to lace knitting. I was lucky enough to grab two skeins of this color, and two skeins of a silvery color from eBay for a fraction of the cost. (We all know how much TT yarn costs.) I'm very fond of this pattern and I have to say - I'm quite proud of myself since this is my first lace project, and the first time I'm attempting to read the chart as opposed to the written instructions. Symbology? I think it's called. Anyway... here it is.

Another Baby Jacket - thx EZ!

Another baby jacket - whew. This time, a lot easier. But, I still messed up a little in the pattern. After finishing the first sleeve, I moved onto the second sleeve starting from the opening of the jacket - not moving across the back. So, on one side of the jacket I have a row that's knitted without the pattern in it. Can't really see it, but it makes the fabric look puckered there. Oh well. I'm sure I'll knit this one again. I'm doing the surprise jacket now, and it's already not quite as much fun.

Yarn - Blue Sky Alpaca, Sportweight, Lt. Peach, 3 skeins
Buttons - little pink flowers from La Mode