Vine Yoke Cardigan

I started this as a knitalong with my Staten Island Knitting group. Then I kinda just knit on it to beat the band over MLK weekend and now it's soaking in the kitchen sink. I think one other knitalonger hasn't started, and the other I think might be on the first sleeve. Oops.



I got some great wooden buttons for it at M&J Trimming.

2012 seems to be the year of knitalongs. I have a couple of projects languishing in the WIP piles. I have a sweater with a hole that needs to be darned and a sock in my purse. February's project is probably going to be a knitalong with blogless, facebookless Johanna. We're each going to knit a pair of Gioielli Gloves from Connie Chang Chinchio's Textured Knits. I'm going to knit it out of some Malabrigo Sock that I picked up in Chicago a couple of years ago. It'll probably match a hat I'm going to knit out of some Malabrigo Gruesa I got from the Staten Island knitting group's grab bag.



Sometime this spring, it looks like Claudine and I might do a Haruni knit along. I fell in love with Haruni when I saw a finished one at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival a couple of years ago.



In the meantime, however, I still need to knit a Christmas Tree skirt (I picked a pattern from Handknit Holidays - officially the book I've knitted the most amount of patterns from). Maybe I'll start on that after I darn that sweater.

Mitts Socks and Hats

So, I'm not sure if it was really cricket, but I knitted all through Stan's cousin's Bridal shower. I really didn't know anyone there, and it kept my hands occupied. When my hands aren't occupied, I tend to try to occupy them by picking at them, and then they end up looking awful and feeling rough. So, I managed to finish the Bergen St. Mitts much quicker than I thought I would.



Sorry for the bit of gut there. One of us went on a happy doughnut, french fry, fried chicken, ice cream binge before my diet started up again. I knit these Bergen St. mitts way shorter than they were supposed to be. I realized that I have no purpose for gloves that go up that high because I tend to wear long sleeves in the winter since i get cold so easily. While I was knitting them, Stan's SIL said she wanted a pair in white, so I bought some of the same yarn (Aslan Trends Invernal) at Annie & Company Knitting yesterday.

I wish I had a photo of the socks I'm knitting now to share with you. They're coming out quite splendidly. I'm knitting the Spiral Boot Socks from IK Summer 2007 out of the purple Kraemer Yarns Sterling Silk & Silver. You're going to have to trust me for now that it's looking great! They're also zipping along. I've only been knitting them for a week and a half I think and I'm at the heel flap!

So, did I mention that I lost the Side Slip Cloche I knit? I'm 90% sure I left it in a cab on my way home from the Rodeo one night. I was a little bummed about it, but Stan never really liked it, and while I really did, knowing he didn't and that I could just knit another one made me feel a bit better. Also, it's the first hand knit of my own that I've just up and lost. It was bound to happen at some point. So, I think I'm going to cast on for the Better Bucket Hat (Ravelry Link). I got a nifty Abalone button at Annie's yesterday, and I think I'm actually going to do that right now. I'm itching to feel some Malabrigo...

2009

Every time I sit down to write a recap of 2009 I just get tired. But here we go. There were some projects that I didn't note on the sidebar that I do note here because they were on my Ravelry page (any links here are to the Ravelry Project).

1. Lucky 7 Snowboarding Hat
2. Hemlock Ring Blanket
3. Huron Jaywalkers A rare pair that fits each foot!
4. Veronique from French Girl Knits (Amazon link)
5. EZ's Bog Jacket
6. Indigo Ripples Skirt It's just a little too short. :(
7. Heather Betty Friedan Primavera Socks Another pair of happy socks that fit both feet!
8. Halvsies I've put the pattern for this up for free on Ravelry.
9. Boy Petal Bib for a co-worker
10. Morocco from Sublime booklet #623 Ended up way too big, so I gave it to my Mom. Lesson learned: wash your swatch!
11. Unisex Petal Bib for another co-worker
12. Vogue Tank #25 from Spring/Summer Issue Knit out of Handmaiden Sea Silk, this is one of my favorite projects of 2009!
13. A Couple of Hooters
14. Side Slip Cloche from Boutique Knits
15. Graded Diagonal Lace Scarf for Kristina for Christmas
16. Dr. Monkey Renner for Dr. Renner for Cristmas.
17. Dashing for Kristina's Mom - finished seconds before the ball dropped on New Years Eve!

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So, I responded to the Yarn Harlot's Knit-Signal today. A little too much actually. I didn't see the confirmation page before I accidentally navigated away from it, so I ended up donating twice! I'm going to file paperwork so my company will match my donation, which will, I think, be fairly helpful to Doctor's without Borders in the end. :) I'm sure my tax lady will be upset with me because it's not in 2009, but that's ok. She'll be happy next year when she sees it. :)

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Oh, but what am I working on? Well, I'm working up a pair of Bergen St. Mitts that are much shorter in the arm, but a bit longer in the fingers than the original pattern. I totally don't have any photos.

I just finished knitting a feather and fan cowl out of the same yarn I used for the bog jacket and the Side Slip Cloche. The idea was that it would match the Side Slip Cloche. I, however, am utterly brilliant, and left the Side Slip Cloche in the cab I took home from the Rodeo on Friday night. This is kinda a bummer, but I'm trying to look at it as an opportunity to knit a new hat. It'll probably end up being a Better Bucket Hat, and since I still have almost 2 skeins of that Malabrigo worsted in Pearl Ten, I'll probably knit it out of that. I'm not really upset with myself for forgetting the hat in the cab. It's ok, it's just an object. I'm kinda ticked with myself that I have to take the time to knit a new hat now. Especially since winter will (cross your fingers) be over sometime soon. Stupid. I'm just going to want a new one in December.

in the meantime, if anyone sees a nifty button that will show up against a deep brown that will match a purple coat (extra points if it'll match an orange coat too!), drop me a line with a link. I think I'm looking for something that's like 1-2" in diameter.

Alright, I'm going back to knitting and watching Conan. Poor Conan. Dude just wants to do his last few shows and folks keep taking up his time talking about what he's going to do next. I'm glad I can carpe diem undisturbed.

Malabrigo Intervention

I might need one. I think the blanket that I'm knitting out of the Malabrigo is making me want more Malabrigo.


Doesn't it make you want to squish it? The project is the Fireside Afghan (RavLink) from Continuous Cables (amz link). I'm knitting it for a friend who got married in May, though, I might actually end up knitting him a Hemlock Ring Blanket and give this to my brother and his fiancee instead. I'm still up in the air about it.

Back to the issue at hand though: I'm thinking about the Malabrigo here at work. I'm almost twitching and drooling at the thought of it. After Bev wore her Side Slip Cloche (RavLink) from Boutique Knits (amz link) to SNB last night, I've been thinking about knitting it, and knitting it with Malabrigo. But if I do that, surely I would have to knit myself a cowl out of Malabrigo to match the hat right? Maybe some matching mittens too?

This seems like a slippery slope, you see? We so quickly went from 1 skein for a hat to 3-4 skeins for a wintery set. I looked at my stash on Ravelry though, and didn't see anything really appropriate (besides the 5 skeins of mint green Malabrigo already in my stash, but that's not a wintery enough or neutral enough color for a hat/cowl/mitten set), or anything I had enough to make the whole set from. Would 3-4 skeins of a wintry or neutral color (Think ravelry red, cabernet, more Polar Morn or Simply Taube, watery green or some sort of blue) be condonable?

Continous Cables Disaster

So, I don't have any photos to share, but I will say that I'm having serious issues with the Fireside Afghan I'm knitting for a friend. Row 12 seems to be quite wonky and it seems as though there are some places where stitches are being increased, but there's no mark to let you know to increase there. It's all rather frustrating.

Anyway, does anyone have time to check this chart out and to confirm my sanity?

Help!

Finished things!

Let's start at the top!

I was finally able to meet up with Illanna and give her the piece I've been working on for her wedding!


I apologize for the blurriness. :( I'm kind of upset that I didn't make sure the photos I got of it were in focus before I gave it to her! You can, however, get the general gist of this, and see that it's all stitchery and looks great with the matting and the frame. Annie from Annie and Company Needlepoint and Knitting affixed the red vase on and it was no small feat. She's awesome. Illanna and Danny seemed to like it, which I'll consider a success!

My next needlepoint project will be an American flag that's done in squares of different stitches. I'm excited about the project because it will help teach me new stitches, and because my roommate and I have decided that our apartment is just a touch dormy, and that we should start putting adult type things on the walls like photographs and art.

But on to the next finished object! I finished the Bog Jacket that I put on hold while I stitched Illanna and Danny's present.


My hair's a little wild there, and I've actually lost weight despite the fact that the combination of that shirt and sweater make me look pregnant. The sweater is done and I think it looks great!

I also think it's the only v-neck bog jacket. I kinda mis-read the instructions and instead of continuing the neck stitches but just splitting them in two, I put them on hold and knit each side of them. Then I sewed the edge before the neck stitches to the main part of the bottom cardigan bit and did a sewn bind off on the neck. I got the clasps at Brooklyn General. I didn't think I was a clasp kinda gal until I saw them. I LOVE them! The sweater is kinda perfect. It's warm and soft and I love the colors.

I've started work on the Indigo Ripples Skirt from IK. After I un-did about three inches because I'd twisted the cast on (awesome), I'm not sure my gauge is on. I'm hoping it won't be too big of a deal. It should be 21 stitches to 4" and I'm knitting it at 22 stitches to 4". I knew my gauge was off, so I think I calculated for it a bit, but maybe not enough. I'll probably try to add in a few extra stitches. Maybe. We'll see.

Busy Busy!

I have certainly been busy! Most of my April was finishing up on Illanna's wedding present. It's done, sort of. It's being finished. Stan and I will be giving it to the Shapiros in a couple of weeks. Once I get a photo of it (and after I give it to them!) I'll post one!

I also knit Veronique (ravelry link) from French Girl Knits for the wedding. It ended up being WAY too big. I think I just need to take some yarn and pull it through the back seam to sort of pull it together in order to make it wearable. I'll do that eventually I guess.

Since the wedding, I've really been knitting on the Bog Jacket. I started the front side of one of the sleeves, so it's coming along. I'm feeling really good about it. I don't have any photos of that, of course. :) Really just imagine what you've already seen of it, but like, a TON more garter stitch. It's been really boring to knit which I think is one of the reasons I put it down, but I've recently really got back into it and am enjoying the meditative calmness it affords me.

I also started a new pair of socks out of some Scheaffer yarns that Beth gave me. I decided to use a rather simple pattern, so I'm knitting the Primavera pattern. It's a free pattern I found via Ravelry. It's simple, not too much going on there, and seems to be fitting the bill. As soon as this Bog Jacket's done though, you can be sure I'll be casting on for something way more lacy! I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve!

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I'm sure most people know by now that I used to hang out at The Point all the time. And I'm sure a lot of people know that Helene closed The Point recently. It was quite sad. I'm still kind of bummed by it because it was always the place I'd go when I didn't know where to go after work.

My dad has always taught me, however, that for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. So, while The Point's closure was a bad thing, I must say, I'm not too bummed with what I got out of the sale!

2 skeins of Kraemer Sterling Silk and Silver in White Veil


9 skeins of Ella Rae Bamboo Silk in Black


5 skeins of Rowan Calmer in a light blue
and a copy of A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swansen.

I've recently gotten quite a bit more yarn, but I'm afraid of making this post super long, and my lunch break is over!

Socks

So I tore my apartment up tonight looking for a ball of Malabrigo in Bijou Blue that I knit my swatch out of. I was going to use it as waste yarn because I'm getting really close to the arms and I need some waste yarn. Well, I couldn't find it. I've no idea where it went.

You're asking yourself right now, how does this tie into the subject line "socks?"

Here's how:

I went through almost every box/bag of yarn I have looking for this damn ball of Malabrigo. And dudes, I have a literal S**T TON of sock yarn. There's a huge bag stuffed to the brim of sock yarn under a chair. There's ends in a box in the middle of the living room. There's "nice" sock yarn on TOP of the ends in the box in the middle of the living room. I know that it doesn't sound like a lot, you're just going to have to trust me.

I've been good though. I haven't bought any new sock yarn since I last posted about buying sock yarn. I've knit with sock yarn that wasn't mine. I knit a sock for Annie's. I don't remember what the yarn was, but I loved it and would totally buy a ball (except for that moratorium on sock yarn).

I totally need to get a photo of all my sock yarn so that you can get an idea as to how much we're working with here. I could probably sock a full platoon at this point.

Hemlock Ring FO and other WIPs

The Hemlock Ring Blanket has been done for quite some time. But it's finally blocked!


Really, it's only marginally smaller than my queen sized bed. I'm actually somewhat surprised in that when it's blocked, the fabric is much thinner than it was when I was knitting it. I wonder why that is. But anyway, I think it came out great. I can't wait to use it.

What else have I been working on? I finally cast on for the Bog Jacket in the Pearl Ten Malabrigo Worsted.


I've found that knitting it while watching tv, movies, and horrible football games (seriously, I thought that Super Bowl game was horrible until the last two minutes) I've knit 17 inches of garter stitch. I've got 4 inches to go before I have to split for the arms. But it's feeling great, if a little warm. I think it's going to be really cozy to wear.

I've also been working on a pair of Jaywalkers.


I had forgotten how slow this pattern goes. It's taking forever to finish even just one sock. I really need a new pair of socks before winter's over. Especially since two pairs I knit last year are pretty much done. I also want to get through quite a bit of my sock stash this year, and if this pattern takes forever, it's never going to happen. My next pair need to go quicker.

I have a ton of books/magazines here that I want to review. Some of them might get done this week. Most of them probably won't. Work is kinda crazy. Speaking of work, though, if you're heading to NY Comic Con this weekend, stop by DK's booth. I'll be there all day every day!

Confessional

Thank you Blogland. It has been 3 years since my last confession.

The first thing I'd like to confess is the 5 skeins of Malabrigo Worsted I took off of Illanna's hands.


I have no idea yet what I want to do with it. Only that it's pretty and soft and green and happy. I took her and Danny out to dinner at Do Hwa in Manhattan (mmm...Korean!) as payment. It was totally worth it. I think.

The second sin I confess to are 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces sock yarn in some happy green color.


You see, I have these embossed leaves socks that have holes in the heels now. So I need to re-knit them. Re-knitting them with a sock yarn that has nylon in it seems like a good idea. So now I have sock yarn to knit another pair. Still, I didn't really need to buy the yarn for them.

And then tonight happened.


I couldn't control it somehow. It just leapt into my hands. It was so pretty and what happens if they don't make any more of it? I'd be stuck without it right?

I'm wondering what it will take for me to hit rock bottom. To realize that I have an addiction and to seek some sort of help. I stuffed the Franklin's Panopticon Lorna's Laces into the bag under the extra chairs that holds all my sock yarn. I realized then that...well...that I have a shit ton of sock yarn. Please excuse the language, I don't swear a lot on this blog (even if I curse like a sailor in real life), but you have to understand that the best way to convey the sheer amount of sock yarn in there is by swearing.

I didn't spend a ton of time looking at all the different sock yarn, I must say, but I did see a few skeins in there that I thought to myself Geez, there's some nice yarn in there. I should knit some of it. So my new resolution (yeah, it's a little late for that eh?) is to knit socks ONLY from my sock yarn stash. I thus proclaim 2009:

THE YEAR OF THE SOCK

I Know Why They Call it the Hemlock Ring Blanket

Because it makes you want to drink Hemlock like Socrates.


What is this, you ask? It's the stitch count for the 8 different sections once i got to the second to last repeat of the pattern. As you can see, it's off by a bit. Four of those sections had the same number of stitches, but not one section had the same number of stitches it was supposed to have. This occurred the Saturday before Christmas. So I started tinking back. I didn't know how far I was going to have to go, and since my markers were all in the right spot, I figured that tinking was the best option.


I put the Hemlock Ring Blanket on a bit of a timeout and while I was tinking I made myself a cowl.


It's from Knit 2 Together. I absolutely love it. It's knit out of Malabrigo Worsted and it's the warmest thing. I could live in it for life. I might have to knit a couple more of them so I can wear it with each coat (I just bought a new bright orange snow jacket for when Stan and I go snowboarding in January).

Finishing the cowl gave me enough motivation to get back to the Hemlock Ring. In total, I tinked back 36 rows I think. Here's what my diagram looked like after the fact:


So, I moved inward every time I got back to a row that was right before a decrease row. Good thing I only had to tink back that much, otherwise I'd have to re-do the chart. You'll see there are three sections in the middle that are circled. They're all off by only one stitch so I said to myself "fuckit, I'm just going to fudge that one part." Fudge it I did, and I think it turned out ok. I've been on the right stitch count now for quite a while and I'm almost back to where I was when I noticed things were awry.



In the meantime, I've gotten a little antsy. I realized that now that I have this bright orange snowboarding jacket, I need a hat that will match. Something about light blue and sparkles doesn't seem like it will go well with the orangeness. So I stopped by Knit One, Purl Too in Wakefield, RI when I was home and scored some Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL to knit up into a hat. I found a Lucky 7 hat pattern on Ravelry and cast on. I've got two repeats out of 8 done, and while I was hoping to get it done yesterday on the ride from RI to NY, dawn was way too late and I didn't get a chance to. So I'm still chugging along on it.


So that's all I've got now. I'll leave you with some photos of the Red Sox Socks I knit for Beth. I've given them to her for Christmas so it's safe to post them! I'll probably post some sort of 2008 wrap up soon. It's the best way for me to keep track of what I knit every year. Then I can re-set the status bars on the sidebar.

I'm Made of Awesome

That's my "OMG Do you know what this means" face!

What does it mean? It means:

I'M DONE WITH ALL MY CHRISTMAS KNITTING!

That's what it means!!



They're the Urban Necessity gloves (Ravelry link) from old school MagKnits (the designer is offering the pattern on her website). I used size 8 needles and Misti Alpaca Chunky. I have a whole hank and a quite a bit of a cake left (I bought three skeins) and I'll probably use that to make a cowl out of.

I hated this pattern. It had nothing to do with anything. I just don't like knitting gloves and mittens. They turned out quite well though and I don't think you can tell how much I hated knitting them. I should mention that the pattern was quite easy to follow.

So this is the status (I just like showing that things have been crossed off, I'm not trying to gloat really):

• Socks for Stan's Mom
• Dairy Queen Hat for Stan's Niece
• Jacques Cousteau hat for Stan's Nephew
• Half Socks for my brother's girlfriend
• "Almost A Mystery" project for Beth
• Flap mittens for my boss
• Puff Daddy for Cousin Sarah
• Puff Daddy for Cousin Rebecca

Jenn vs. Christmas
Jenn: 8 Christmas: 2

JENN WINS CHRISTMAS!

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So what am I going to do with myself? Well, I'm preparing myself mentally for knitting with the luscious Malabrigo I picked up back in October. I'll be turning it into a nifty little Bog Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around. I've been waiting so patiently to get done with all my Christmas knitting so I could get around to this project. Now I'll just make myself wait a bit longer until I can get the Hemlock Ring blanket to a nice size.

I took the Hemlonck Ring Blanket workshop at The Point. I'm way far away from being close to even halfway done with it, but I think it's coming quite nicely.







I wasn't sure if the marled colors were going to show off the design of the blanket, but I think it's turning out ok. I really couldn't decide if I wanted to knit it in grey or if i wanted to knit it in brown, so I decided to knit with a color-way that had it all.

Dedicated to Illanna

Yup, that's right. This post is dedicated to Illanna. Let's call it part of her birthday present. I won't even refer to her gub or the fact that she's a knitting siren that makes me buy all sorts of expensive yarns (except for just there).

First things first, I finished the project she and I were knitting "together." I put "together" in quotes because she finished like a month ago. That chick knits faster than a speeding bullet! I'll have better photos after this weekend, but here's one visual just to prove it's been finished:



Oh! And what do we have here?


Gorgeous buttons! At least, they're gorgeous when you don't look at the fact that they're crooked! I'm not as familiar with knitting sweaters as Illanna is, so I knit in the round up to the armpits and knit the top in separate pieces (back, sleeves, 2 front pieces). The top was huge at first, so I re-knit the sleeves on ones and used the instructions for the next size down. I then knit the garter part of the top on size zeroes (which was so much fun by the way!). I cast off tightly along the sleeve edge as the directions said to. I didn't realize that such a simple step could make such a big difference! it fits perfectly now!

I know, I finished it a little early for next spring didn't I? I figure that I can layer it with some long sleeved shirts until winter.

So, if you're curious as to who this Illanna person is, you can visit her blog or her Ravelry Profile. She and I have decided that we're pretty much the same person (besides the fact that I like new country while she like old country music, she's got longish curly hair to my short straight hair, she can design her own garments while I follow patterns... besides all that, we're identical!). But her awesomeness will be obvious once I show you the below:


Want a closer look at that pattern?


Can you believe she made those for me!? What an awesome birthday gift! She found the fabric on Etsy somewhere. There's a sweater sized project back and a sock project bag (both with drawstrings!) and even a tote bag! I felt so awesome carrying that tote bag all over the city this morning (my commute from hell is a different story, however).

Illanna is also awesome because she exposes me to all this amazing yarn. she kept letting me fondle the Bog Jacket (Ravelry link) she was knitting out of Malabrigo to the point where I had to go buy my own Malabrigo so I could knit an awesome sweater just like hers.


Yeah...I'm the reason The Point has no more Pearl Ten. I'm going to start swatching for my Bog Jacket when I'm finished with Lucille's socks, the Dairy Queen hat for Stan's niece, the hat for Stan's nephew, and the half socks for my brother's girlfriend. You know how it goes, you gotta get through that Christmas knitting first. I'm hoping I can get the hats going and done this weekend when I go visit another awesome friend, Beth in Washington DC.

I started the heel flap of Lucille's socks. the pattern is going really quick and is coming out beautifully. I dont' have any new photos though.

Well, this is long enough, and my Red Sox just won their game against the Anaheim Angels, so we're going to the Division Championship! Time to celebrate!!

We all need a little SEX sometimes...

Stash Enhancement eXperiences for you perverts out there.

I seem to be buying up my weight in yarn. It seems like I'm sticking to the laceweight and sock yarn as of late though.

First up is my own little tribute to Gramps. I bought it the day after he died because, well...touching something so soft was extremely soothing. And it's such a vibrant alive redish marroon I just had to have it:



As the tag says, it's from J.Knits. Lace-A-Licious is the name and i think the color is called Indiana or something along those lines. It's an alpaca laceweight and runs about 1200 yards which is pretty phenomenal. I could get another Icarus out of it, but I think I'll probably use it for one of the other myriad of shawls I currently have queued.

Next up, I met my friend Illana (that's a Ravelry link folks) for some good mediteranian food in Park Slope. I had de-stashed to her two and a half skeins of Twinkle's uber bulky yarn that I accidentally managed to get for $10 a ball (I KNOW!! Way cheap right!?). She told me to pick something from her stash I liked as an exchange. So I got this sexy looking thing:



That's STR lightweight yarn. I'm not sure of the colorway, I want to say it's flower power or something like that. I've used the STR mediumweight, but find that the socks I got out of it were a little too thick for my liking. They're really warm, they just don't fit in my sneekers. So I've wanted to test the lightweight stuff for forever, and this color way is just PRICELESS. It's actually really made me want to seriously lobby my parents come Christmas time for the STR Rockin Sock Club.

I also managed to get out of the deal this cute little number:


That's some sweet looking Malabrigio Laceweight yarn. I'm not sure what the colorway is called, but isn't it gorgeous? So, I think it was a pretty good trade. I got some smaller yarn out of it anyway. I should mention that those two photographs were Illana's, not mine. I never had anywhere near that amount of natural light when I take photos of my yarn. :(

I started organizing my yarns a bit more, in that I now have one BIG bag that I've been putting two smaller bags in. One of the smaller bags is laceweight yarn and the other is sock weight yarn. Those seem to be the two kinds of yarn I've been buying recently. They're easy to pack up with me when I go back to NY from wherever it is I've been, and I don't have to buy a ton of it at the same time.

That said, I'm just now knowing the wonders of a sweater that fits well. I LOVE wearing my TYC around. It's just the right weight. Most of my other finished sweaters I think are a little too warm actually, which surprises me because i'm usually always cold no matter what. My TYC actually keeps me warm, but not too warm.

Aditionally, I just cast on for Jeanie from Knitty. I have really only completed a row so far, so it's not even really worth showing a photo. The project looks somewhat challenging, but I'm sure that once I get into the pattern, it'll fly by.