"I don't have anything to knit."
When we got back and I started organizing some stuff, he gave me a funny look, "I thought you said you didn't have any yarn?"
No...I said I didn't have anything to knit. Very big difference. Jeez!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Nothing to Knit
We were going to hang out at the coffee shop the other day. Ryan was going to be doing some work, so he suggested I take something to read or something to knit.
"I don't have anything to knit."
When we got back and I started organizing some stuff, he gave me a funny look, "I thought you said you didn't have any yarn?"
No...I said I didn't have anything to knit. Very big difference. Jeez!
"I don't have anything to knit."
When we got back and I started organizing some stuff, he gave me a funny look, "I thought you said you didn't have any yarn?"
No...I said I didn't have anything to knit. Very big difference. Jeez!
Next!
One of Ryan's Christmas presents was his choice from a book I recently purchased. It's Rowan's Knitting for Him. Rowan has great patterns if you're (a) a man or (b) a woman with a 34 inch chest (which I haven't been since, oh, I don't know, 6th grade).
This is the one he chose. Unfortunately, the yarn they suggest, a RYC blend of cashmere, wool, and microfiber, is somewhere around $9 a ball and it takes about 20 balls. For those of you who are slow on the up-take or have already started your New Year's drinking, that's somewhere around $180.
Being the resourceful girl that I am, however, I found equally fabulous yarn for about half the price. Knit Pick's Andean Silk in Chocolate is the orders I got. I think it will look pretty nice. Andean Silk is a wool, alpaca, and silk blend. I have a couple balls of this yarn and not only is it incredibly soft, but it knits up great. It gets a little sheen from the silk and has the kind of stitch definition that will look great in this sweater.
And ladies...before you ask...the nice young man in the pictures does not come with the sweater (sorry, Mom!).
I just have to wait until I get paid again! Because of course I need some more 14 inch Lantern Moons to get it going.
This is the one he chose. Unfortunately, the yarn they suggest, a RYC blend of cashmere, wool, and microfiber, is somewhere around $9 a ball and it takes about 20 balls. For those of you who are slow on the up-take or have already started your New Year's drinking, that's somewhere around $180.
Being the resourceful girl that I am, however, I found equally fabulous yarn for about half the price. Knit Pick's Andean Silk in Chocolate is the orders I got. I think it will look pretty nice. Andean Silk is a wool, alpaca, and silk blend. I have a couple balls of this yarn and not only is it incredibly soft, but it knits up great. It gets a little sheen from the silk and has the kind of stitch definition that will look great in this sweater.
And ladies...before you ask...the nice young man in the pictures does not come with the sweater (sorry, Mom!).
I just have to wait until I get paid again! Because of course I need some more 14 inch Lantern Moons to get it going.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Hooked
In addition to the beautiful yet unfinished jewelry box and some stunning sapphires to put in it, I also got crochet hooks for Christmas. Not just any crochet hooks. Hand turned hardwood hooks from Brains Barn in New Jersey by Brian Bergmann.
Here they are in the not-remotely-worthy new case that I made for them.
This one is an I and is made from black walnut.
This one is a K and is made from rosewood.
This is the J and is what has to be the blackest ebony I've ever seen. None of my knitting needles are anywhere near this dark.
I finally made myself a crochet hook case. It feels very inferior.
I used all three of them today, just playing around with some scrap yarn after I reorganized my stash. They're amazing. It really does make such a difference working with nice equipment and materials. These hooks have ruined me for all others. Even my black walnut Brittany hook pales in comparison. I told Ryan he's all set for the next couple of years worth of gifts...I need D through H and maybe an L!
Here they are in the not-remotely-worthy new case that I made for them.
This one is an I and is made from black walnut.
This one is a K and is made from rosewood.
This is the J and is what has to be the blackest ebony I've ever seen. None of my knitting needles are anywhere near this dark.
I finally made myself a crochet hook case. It feels very inferior.
I used all three of them today, just playing around with some scrap yarn after I reorganized my stash. They're amazing. It really does make such a difference working with nice equipment and materials. These hooks have ruined me for all others. Even my black walnut Brittany hook pales in comparison. I told Ryan he's all set for the next couple of years worth of gifts...I need D through H and maybe an L!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Why On Earth Anybody Felts Intarsia?
One review I read of Nicky Epstein's felted intarsia bag asked why anyone would felt their knitting after doing such intricate colorwork.
I now know the answer.
In real intarsia I would have been forced to weave in all the ends I had left over. By felting it, I got to be lazy and trim them all off of the halfway felted bag. This is the disaster that I had on my hands after the first run through the washer.
This is how much better it looked after I trimmed it. I think that by doing it between washings I nailed it. The ends were secure enough to trim, but the second wash hid the spots that were trimmed.
Again, this is why you felt the tremendously difficult intarsia. It's so you don't bang your head against the wall when you're trying to weave approximately 8,469 ends in. This is the pile of stuff I trimmed of the bag. You know, the stuff I would have woven.
The bag is finished. I forgot to take a picture of it before I wrapped it up for Christmas. It came out pretty well considering I ran out of brown yarn and started taking apart the I-cord, then cut it way down after it was felted because it was humongous, then sewed it by hand (you know how I feel about that!). I'm even considering using the leftover pink yarn for some kind of Valentine's Day felted something-or-other. We'll see how that goes.
I now know the answer.
In real intarsia I would have been forced to weave in all the ends I had left over. By felting it, I got to be lazy and trim them all off of the halfway felted bag. This is the disaster that I had on my hands after the first run through the washer.
This is how much better it looked after I trimmed it. I think that by doing it between washings I nailed it. The ends were secure enough to trim, but the second wash hid the spots that were trimmed.
Again, this is why you felt the tremendously difficult intarsia. It's so you don't bang your head against the wall when you're trying to weave approximately 8,469 ends in. This is the pile of stuff I trimmed of the bag. You know, the stuff I would have woven.
The bag is finished. I forgot to take a picture of it before I wrapped it up for Christmas. It came out pretty well considering I ran out of brown yarn and started taking apart the I-cord, then cut it way down after it was felted because it was humongous, then sewed it by hand (you know how I feel about that!). I'm even considering using the leftover pink yarn for some kind of Valentine's Day felted something-or-other. We'll see how that goes.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A New Beginning
When I first finished quilting the now-famous T-shirt Quilt, Ryan and I had a conversation about how we should have been picking up shirts from various things we had done together to make one for "us" when we had enough shirts.
What he didn't know at the time was that I had already tracked down a couple of them and was planning on surprising him with as many as I could lay my hands on.
There's a few more that he actually has...the Presque Isle Triathlon shirt, the St. Patrick's Day 10k shirt, the VaDu shirt would all be wonderful additions to our quilt. So, 10 or 15 shirts from now we'll have a quilt full of trips and holidays and everything else!
The first batch...the stories behind them and the scheming that went into them:
This shirt is from Chick's Oyster Bar in Virginia Beach, courtesy of one Mr. Brian T. McCune. This was, by far, the shirt that required the most scheming. Chick's is where we had lunch after the Virginia Duathlon during our week long road trip in April. I scoured the internet looking for a shirt from there, I emailed the restaurant, I thought all was lost...until Ryan forwarded an email to a bunch of people and my opportunity presented itself in the form of an email address. Of course, B.T. let it slip that I had emailed him when he was talking to Ryan right before Christmas and I got harassed about that for a couple of days, but it all worked out in the end!
Another part of the road trip was a few days in D.C. where we walked around the better part of the city. We spent a lot of time in the Georgetown and Dupont Circle areas of town, so I figured this would be a good addition. Of course, when I tried to order it, they were back ordered. So, after a few emails and calls back and forth with the nice young lady at the Georgetown University bookstore, I had procured a shirt the would easily fit a 6 year old. Seeing as I only need the logo from the front, though, this works out, too!
One of the most difficult to track down, the King Tut shirt is from the tail end of that same road trip (we get around!). We met my mom, Cindy, and Amber in Philadelphia for the exhibit at the Franklin Institute. This was the first time Ryan was subjected to the power core of the Henneman family matriarchy. All four of us together should have been enough to scare any man away, but he's a tough cookie! (Side note: the reason he fell in love with me is probably the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies he got early Saturday morning when we set out on this adventure.)
The next piece of the puzzle is the shirt from the London start of the Tour de France. This was another toughie. I had seen these shirts at the tour, where we spent (an agonizing) six hours or so watching men in tight pants on bikes. I mean, we saw the fantastic beginning of the race...yeah, right...that's it! I think the plot was actually hatched somewhere around this time to make another quilt. This was actually the first one that I found when I started collecting.
This one probably seems silly, but Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the first movie we saw in the theatre (it was in England, so it has to be theatre) together. This one was tough to get also, because it was months after the release of the movie when I was looking for it. Thank you Hot Topic, for selling random things!
And last, but certainly not least, the MS Regatta shirt. A lot of scheming went into this one, too. I had to get it from Ryan's parents (thanks, again!) without Ryan finding out about it. Not as easy as it sounds, but we managed.
This is only the beginning. Just give us a couple of years and there will be another great quilt (along with a great marriage and probably a toddler!) in between sweaters!
What he didn't know at the time was that I had already tracked down a couple of them and was planning on surprising him with as many as I could lay my hands on.
There's a few more that he actually has...the Presque Isle Triathlon shirt, the St. Patrick's Day 10k shirt, the VaDu shirt would all be wonderful additions to our quilt. So, 10 or 15 shirts from now we'll have a quilt full of trips and holidays and everything else!
The first batch...the stories behind them and the scheming that went into them:
This shirt is from Chick's Oyster Bar in Virginia Beach, courtesy of one Mr. Brian T. McCune. This was, by far, the shirt that required the most scheming. Chick's is where we had lunch after the Virginia Duathlon during our week long road trip in April. I scoured the internet looking for a shirt from there, I emailed the restaurant, I thought all was lost...until Ryan forwarded an email to a bunch of people and my opportunity presented itself in the form of an email address. Of course, B.T. let it slip that I had emailed him when he was talking to Ryan right before Christmas and I got harassed about that for a couple of days, but it all worked out in the end!
Another part of the road trip was a few days in D.C. where we walked around the better part of the city. We spent a lot of time in the Georgetown and Dupont Circle areas of town, so I figured this would be a good addition. Of course, when I tried to order it, they were back ordered. So, after a few emails and calls back and forth with the nice young lady at the Georgetown University bookstore, I had procured a shirt the would easily fit a 6 year old. Seeing as I only need the logo from the front, though, this works out, too!
One of the most difficult to track down, the King Tut shirt is from the tail end of that same road trip (we get around!). We met my mom, Cindy, and Amber in Philadelphia for the exhibit at the Franklin Institute. This was the first time Ryan was subjected to the power core of the Henneman family matriarchy. All four of us together should have been enough to scare any man away, but he's a tough cookie! (Side note: the reason he fell in love with me is probably the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies he got early Saturday morning when we set out on this adventure.)
The next piece of the puzzle is the shirt from the London start of the Tour de France. This was another toughie. I had seen these shirts at the tour, where we spent (an agonizing) six hours or so watching men in tight pants on bikes. I mean, we saw the fantastic beginning of the race...yeah, right...that's it! I think the plot was actually hatched somewhere around this time to make another quilt. This was actually the first one that I found when I started collecting.
This one probably seems silly, but Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the first movie we saw in the theatre (it was in England, so it has to be theatre) together. This one was tough to get also, because it was months after the release of the movie when I was looking for it. Thank you Hot Topic, for selling random things!
And last, but certainly not least, the MS Regatta shirt. A lot of scheming went into this one, too. I had to get it from Ryan's parents (thanks, again!) without Ryan finding out about it. Not as easy as it sounds, but we managed.
This is only the beginning. Just give us a couple of years and there will be another great quilt (along with a great marriage and probably a toddler!) in between sweaters!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Lace Blocking (A Primer on How to Fascinate Cats)
I saved myself 40 bucks or so today by going to Lowe's and buying some coiled 18 gauge steel wire instead of putting up the cash for lace blocking wires. You'll be happy to know that I was correct. They work pretty well...once you get the wire to stop coiling. I have blocked the first half of the Heart scarf.
I'm still working out the kinks (real kinks, this time), but it certainly does the trick.
I blocked it on the trusty ironing board, the favorite hangout for cool cats, so of course I had an audience for this, too. The fact that there was wire moving that they could bat at didn't hurt, either.
While it dries, I can knit the second half. You have to knit up from both ends in order to get the pattern to go the right direction when you wear it. So I have plenty of time to block the first part. Maybe I can block the second part while I finish the felted bag...
Here we have the second half in the fantastic orange bag. Still working with a net!
I'm still working out the kinks (real kinks, this time), but it certainly does the trick.
I blocked it on the trusty ironing board, the favorite hangout for cool cats, so of course I had an audience for this, too. The fact that there was wire moving that they could bat at didn't hurt, either.
While it dries, I can knit the second half. You have to knit up from both ends in order to get the pattern to go the right direction when you wear it. So I have plenty of time to block the first part. Maybe I can block the second part while I finish the felted bag...
Here we have the second half in the fantastic orange bag. Still working with a net!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Safety Net
I, quite literally, ripped this lace pattern out 30 times. I was swearing at it. It got ugly. I put it aside and then went back to it and started using the knitting equivalent of a safety net.
On a plain row (many wrong side rows are all purl stitches) you weave a piece of scrap yarn through your knitting to mark a place where you know you were right. Then, when you screw up you only have to rip out 10 rows instead of a heart-wrenching 30 or 40 rows.
Since then I haven't made a single mistake, of course! We'll see how this goes. Only 25 or so pattern repeats (250 rows) to go!
On a plain row (many wrong side rows are all purl stitches) you weave a piece of scrap yarn through your knitting to mark a place where you know you were right. Then, when you screw up you only have to rip out 10 rows instead of a heart-wrenching 30 or 40 rows.
Since then I haven't made a single mistake, of course! We'll see how this goes. Only 25 or so pattern repeats (250 rows) to go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)