Monday, September 29, 2008

Jasmine Issues

Ugh. I was doing so well. I finished the front and the back. I finished the sleeves. When all was said and done, it looked like this:

Jasmine Mishap

Which looks great right?
Too bad it hung off my shoulders. When I say that it hung off my shoulders, I mean that my massive breasts couldn't even keep it up, which means it was humongous. Upon further investigation, Illanna and I found out that my gauge was 28 stitches to 4 inches. The pattern called for 24 stitches to 4 inches. It's just a tad bit different.

So I cast on for a pair of socks for Stan's Mom.

Lucille's Socks

I'm knitting them out of Knit Picks' Felici. I haven't been a huge fan of Knit Picks, but it worked for that sweater I knit for my brother. I just wanted to see what this yarn would be like, and it seemed appropriate to knit it for someone else so I wouldn't be stuck with it. :) But it's actually really soft and machine washable and can go into the dryer too!

The pattern is a free pattern I found on ravelry. It's Criminy Jickets' Ridges and Ribs. It's really easy to memorize and looks really great with all those stripes!

While I knit on that, I decided that I'd knit the sleeves for Jasmine a size smaller on size 1s (I knit the body on size 2s). While I did that, I'd knit the top part of the front and back on size zeroes. I think it's working, but I've only finished the sleeves and the back so far. I'm hoping to be done with the front by the end of next weekend so I can put it together and all that. Wish me luck!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Sock Meme

I was reading Blue Garter this morning and found a nifty sock meme. Since I haven't had much sock specific on the blog in a bit, I thought a sock meme was just the thing!

When did you first learn to knit socks? A couple of years ago. I think I was looking for things that would be relatively cheap to make (compared to sweaters and afghans).

What’s the first sock you ever knit? It was a custom dealy from Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks Warm Feet (ravelry link) I knit them out of mercerized cotton at 9 sts to the inch. They make my feet sweat, and I don't wear them ever. Cool colors though. They were stockinette with a short row heel.

Favorite Sock Pattern? I'm not sure I have one. I like a lot of the patterns I've done. Maybe the Monkies by Cookie A or the Jaywalkers by Grumperina.

Favorite needle method? I really only knit my socks in magic loop. I feel like other methods are fiddely and take too long.

Favorite sock needles? Addi Turbos, size 1 32"

Who do you knit socks for? Me. I have knit socks for my roommate and my mother though. Stan's mom wants a pair next, and my brother told me that his girlfriend folds her socks so that she only wears them up to the heel. He asked me to knit a pair of those, whatever you call them.

How many pairs have you knitted to date? My sock drawer says: 9, hurt bag says: 3 and I'm reminded of two pairs i've knit for others. Grand total: 14.

What is on your sock knitting to-do list? In no particular order: Spiral Boot socks, Coriollis by Cat Bordhi, argyle knee socks, nutkin, Narragansett Bay socks (for my home state!), scroll lace socks

What kind of socks do you like to knit-
striped? Meh. Not unless it's self striping. I don't really dig weaving in ends.
colorwork? I'm not big into colorwork either. I have done one pair of color work ones, and they were a bit tight.
plain stockinette? I do like a good stockinette sock every now and again. especially with some good colors.
cabled? as long as the cable isn't too intense. I'm not a fan of using cable needles on such small yarn, so i'd have to be able to rearrange the stitches sans needle.
lace? I think these are my favorite socks to knit. They just can't look too girly, cause that's not really how I roll.
anklets? I knit a lot of anklets because they're nice to wear in the spring. I soon found out, however, that I should be knitting nice long legs to my socks to keep my legs warm!
knee socks? I have a few knee socks on my queue. I knit a pair of over the knee socks and I didn't mind them so much. So I think that regular knee socks won't feel as bad.
solid colors? I think I've only knit one pair of socks in a solid color. It worked for that pair. It just seems like I gravitate towards variegated yarns.
bright and crazy? I do tend to lean towards bright and crazy color combinations that don't match anything I wear.
Faux Faire Isle (where the yarn is doing all the work) I haven't ever used those kinds of yarns. I feel like my gauge would be off and they wouldn't be faux faire isle at all.

Tag a few sock knitters: Claudine, Illanna, Beth, and anyone else really that wants to. How about that!?

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Jasmine Frustration and Pause

Jasmine

I'm at the point where I'm breaking for the armholes. I've been kind of stuck for a bit. Not that I don't want to keep knitting it, just that I have a vision of how I want to knit it, and I'm having trouble translating that to English. :)

I wanted to knit it all in the round. Because let's face it, seaming sucks, and the more seaming that's involved, the less I really want to complete this project. So I started looking at ways to get it to work that way. The sleeves in the pattern, however, decrease at a different rate than the front and back. Also, there's that whole thing in the front with the eyelet trim of the button hole band. It just came to a lot of different instructions to process at the same time. So, I decided, I'm just going to knit it front and back from here on out. I've got a flight to Vegas tonight, and then one from Vegas back to JFK on Tuesday night. I'm hoping that with those 10 hours in the air that I might be able to finish it altogether.

I found some nice mother of pearl shell buttons at M&J this week when I was with Illana. Illana has already finished hers. I blame that on the fact that she knits at the speed of light and she was knitting a smaller size than me. I do kind of feel like this size of shirt is going to be massive, but we'll see. Oftentimes I think these things are too big and when I try them on they're either just right or a bit small.

So that's that. I took about a week to figure out if I wanted to knit it in the round or flat from the pits up. And now that I've decided, I just have to actually knit it.