2011 Knits

Every year I post a list of the projects I completed the previous year. I'm a little late on this one, but I think it might still be relevant sometime. A goal of mine this year is to post a bit more. I haven't been writing much recently, and I'm thinking that's a skill that falls under that "use it or lose it" deal.

2011 Knits

1. Day Glow Robot
2. Baby Bobbi Bear for Colin
3. Silver Ishbel for me to wear at my brother's wedding
4. Lobster Pot Red Livias
5. Star Tank
6. Hurricane Irene V-Neck
7. 2 minna key covers
8. Mini Sock for Maude
9. Whale Watch Hat
10. Silver Beaded Ishbel for Aunt Pat

There was a rather large project I was working on that took up quite a bit of time. I just finished that, so it'll be on the 2012 list next January. The strange thing to me is that there's only one pair of socks here. I think that's largely due to the fact that I could knit bigger things on my commutes to work from Staten Island. I'm hoping that I can fix the sock situation this year. Some of my older ones are starting to get holes in them.

The big epic project this year is going to be a Christmas Tree Skirt for our Christmas tree this year. I'm hoping to knit a few Christmas Balls too. I just got 55 Christmas Balls to Knit and it looks like a fun time.

Also, I signed up for some classes this year already. A sewing basics course at The Sewing Studio in an effort to figure out how to do that kind of craft.

My grandmother gave me one of her old 8 shaft table looms for Christmas and a Warping Wheel. I'm insanely excited about weaving, and signed up for a class at the Textile Arts Center. My classes start in february!

Travels

The past couple of weeks have been somewhat of a whirlwind.


It started with a work trip to London last week. I was there for the better part of a week, but I did get a bit of time to go wandering. I walked from my company's offices on The Strand (practically on the River Thames) to Liberty. I was totally blown away by the exterior of the store:


And the interior was just as amazing. There were gorgeous scarves, beautiful wood architecture, some amazing Christmas displays, soft Rowan yarns and beautifully printed fabrics. I managed to score 2 meters of these fabrics:


I gave the one with the stars to Illanna.

After I spent too much money in Liberty, I wandered on over to I Knit London for their Thursday night Knit night. They were all so friendly there and the yarns at the store were all so beautiful! There were even a couple of people there that were good enough to tell me if a yarn I was looking at wasn't available in the states! It was the kind of knitting group that I wished I could knit with all the time actually.

As soon as I got back to the states, I headed on over to Illanna's place. We had organized a weekend of sewing together. I passed out super early on Friday, but ended up waking up rather early on Sunday. We sewed the pajama pants from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing. After breakfast we traced the pattern pieces out and then traced them onto the fabric. We took a break and wandered over to Yarn Diva & More.

Now, if you've never been to Yarn Diva, let me describe it to you (because I'm too shy to ask to take photos of a yarn store from the inside): it's pink with floor to ceiling yarns. They've got EVERY yarn imaginable from Patons to Berocco to Malabrigo, Handmaiden and Blue Heron. Amazing colors and notions and it's kinda the bee's knees. I ended up getting a new tape measure there (my old one is starting to rip actually!), an amazing button, and a pair of amazing glass needles that I absolutely love knitting with:


The stitches just fly off the needles and I can't wait to find another excuse to knit on size 5 needles!

We came back from the yarn store, cut the fabric out, and started sewing. We even managed to finish relatively early that evening (maybe around 8?)! I'm still so shocked I haven't managed to snap a photo of the pj pants yet. I love wearing them, they're super comfortable, but next time I think I'm going to put a draw string into them as well. The elastic is great, but it's too loose around my waist. However, if it were tighter it wouldn't fit over my hips and would make getting them on rather a pain.

The next day, we wandered over to south jersey to WoodsEdge Wools Farm. They have over 300 Alpacas and Llamas. Someone from the farm was nice enough to explain the differences between the Alpacas and the Llamas to us. The Alpacas, she told us are more like cats in that they're not really that friendly to people they don't know, and they won't really come when you call them. I still think they're really cute. A Suri Llama named Firefly (I think that was the name anyway) was super friendly and adorable:


It was a great weekend filled with fun, awesome food and wonderful friends! I did end up buying more yarn, and as I take photos for Yarn 365 I'll be posting them. I might actually round them all up together. In the meantime, you can check out more photos of London, llamas and alpacas on my flickr stream.

Bust Darts

Oh wow. I have a blog! Hello blogosphere! I am terribly sorry for having forgotten you. I've been somewhat busy. Hope you're prepared for a long blog post...I'm ready to eat your lunchtime up! I know from the top that this post looks identical to the last post, trust me, it's different.

I had a great crafting weekend about a month ago with Illanna. She showed me the gift I gave her for her wedding. It's hanging across from their bed, which I think I kind of special! I got to take a much better photo of it...with like stitch definition and everything!


One of us had a bit of trouble winding our bobbin (uhm, I'd only threaded a bobbin once on my machine, and had completely forgotten how to do so - I've since reminded myself), but once we got through a bit of that trouble we were mostly ok. We sewed hats! Here's mine:


The fabric is some sort of disco circle something or other according to Illanna (that was such a half assed description eh?). I got it at Brooklyn General and kind of fell in love with it. We couldn't sew the whole weekend though. That would be crazy. So we visited Ridgewood Needlepoint since I've been doing a bit more of that recently. I had been waiting for a flag canvas to come my way from Annie & Company, and I wanted to stitch something while I was waiting for it. So I bought a belt at Ridgepoint Needlepoint. I've got to be honest though, I haven't even started it yet. It's a pretty cool pattern though. It's chocolate brown and a nice pastel teal color. A combination I happen to totally love.

Illanna's a bad influence. We've known this for a while. So, even though I'd spent a decent chunk of change at the needlepoint store, she brought me to Yarn Diva & More, her favorite LYS in Hillsdale. This range of yarns at this place is amazing! From acrylic to silks and cashmeres, Pattons and Berocco to Handmaiden and Tilli Thomas, the place was ceiling to floor filled with yarn! They barely had any books because, Illanna told me, they have so much yarn that they want to display! We're friends on Ravelry, this yarn store and I. It's really too bad that all these awesome stores are far away from me! The owner of Yarn Diva and her daughter are amazing people, so friendly! It was one of the few places you can walk into for the first time and feel completely welcome. As Illanna pondered what colors of Malabrigo she was going to get, she pointed me in the direction of the handmaiden silk (I told you she was a bad influence, you've had your warning!). I had to, of course, wipe them out of a color:


There's a really great tank top from the spring 2009 Vogue knitting I intend to knit it into. Hopefully soon. It's a really simple pattern, almost wife-beater esque. I'm seriuosly hoping I can bang it out with only 5 skeins. We'll see. I'm now taking bets....

While I was on the floor staring at the Handmaiden Sea Silk, however, I saw this beauty just lying there in a bookshelf, and thought it looked pretty lonely. So I decided to adopt it:


It's a laceweight yarn by a company called Prism. It's going to be such a gorgeous lace shawl, I almost can't wait to knit it up (but I have to knit that Briar Rose stuff first because it's been beckoning to me from the stash for longer!)!

I finished a pair of socks that weekend as well. Beth had given me some Schaefer Yarns Heather sock yarn to play with for my birthday last year. It took me a while to figure out what to do with it and exactly what pattern it wanted to be. I finally settled on the Primavera sock pattern (Ravelry Link).



I knit it on size 0s, which was probably not necessary, but they'll be amazingly warm. That weekend was so amazing that I really can't believe it was so long ago and that I'm going to have to wait soooo long for the next one!! All the sewing and knitting and crafty store goodness and awesome food (Illanna's a great cook!) and hooping! I'm like booked solid through October now, because I'm crazy. Sick thing is that I can tell you what I'm doing each weekend - and yes, there is plenty of time for knitting.

I have also been sewing and needlepointing, however. A few weeks ago, I took a class with Heather Ross author of Weekend Sewing (a great book if you haven't checked it out yet) at Purl Patchwork. That was a linkfull wasn't it? She taught us how to make her Smocked Sundress. The folks that took the class were pretty good (one of them was a mega-marathon runner who was going to run a 100 mile race that weekend!). While I didn't have my awesome camera, I did have my crappy iPhone camera, and here's the shot I got of all of us in our respective sundresses:


I love wearing this dress, even though I have to be careful of it falling! The fabric is really cool and very me. It's so cool to know that I made it all myself, and it was so incredibly easy to make! I even hemmed it myself (which was a bit of a challenge, but I got through it)! It hits just above my knee. I'm planning on making another for when Stan and I go to Hawaii, and a different type of sundress that I'll take from Heather's book to sew.

Ravi took me to The Eduardian for a bit of needlepoint a couple of weeks ago. The owner of that store was totally amazing. I don't think she even charged me for a lesson on how to lay threads. I'm practicing that a bit on a blank canvas (!!??) that I'm stitching as a headband. I think it looks pretty good so far:


It's just a simple chevron pattern, but I wear all three of those colors quite often, so I think it'll be quite wearable.

All I did this weekend was knit. I met up with my friend Nancy from work at Knitty City on Friday. I was particularly surprised that Pearl remembered my name. There's so many people that frequent that shop, and I come in so rarely, she must have some sort of magical way of knowing it! As infrequently as I go to that shop, it really is one of my favorites. I walked in and told myself self, you're not to buy any yarn. We need size 7 dpns, so you're allowed those, and I guess those new Norah Gaughan books will be ok. Fine...add in the new Jared Flood book from Classic Elite. But that's IT!. I took a hard look at myself, and did just what I told myself. Then I sat down, and knit.

Someday, I'll remember to write down the notes I make to myself when I create bust darts. Hopefully, I'll do it with this shirt, so I don't forget for next time. I put Morocco (it's a sublime pattern - ravelry link) down for quite a bit because the bust darts were making me a bit nervous. I wasn't sure exactly how to do them, and I didn't have any information on how I'd done bust darts before, but I knew this pattern needed it. Once I sat down to knit at Knitty City, though, for some reason I felt really confident. Maybe it was just that I was knitting around a TON of knitters, maybe it's because Knitty City is the friendliest place on earth. Whatever it was, it made me feel like there was a huge safety net and that I should just go for it! Which I did. A bit too early, actually. I started in on my short rows, and when I measured the back after I had done them to find out how much more I had to knit, I found out too quickly that I needed to actually start 2" later than I did. So out it all came, and I re-did it. There was a lot of knitting with the Ella Rae Bamboo Silk this weekend. Probably too much.

For the first time since I really started knitting, my hands are KILLING me. To the point where it's actually hurting me to write this post almost. I really want to keep knitting tonight though. While I pop a couple of Moltrins, check out the yarn I ended up getting on Friday at Knitty City (really, did you think I was going to be placated by knitting books?).


I have no idea what this colorway is called, but it's quite pretty. I know it's sock yarn, but I really don't think I've bought any sock yarn all year, I'm allowed to slip up every now and again. Or think of it as my consolation prize for not being able to go to Rhinebeck this year. I can't explain yet why I can't go, I just can't, but I think that means that the year after will be just that much better.

In other news, look out on the Berocco newsletters for voting on their sock contest. I think the voting starts on September 25th or so. I entered a pair into the mix, and I really hope they like them. If they don't publish them, I'll probably whip them up into a pdf and publish it myself on Ravelry.

Well, is your lunch break over? If not, I think you should just knit for a bit until it is. I'm going to watch some Adult Swim and let those Moltrins take my pain away so I can knit again.

New projects!

So much has been going on! I went to Cape Cod last weekend to visit my grandparents. My grandma is the reason I started knitting. She knit me this awesome poncho and I couldn't figure out how it worked, so I started trying to figure it out. Do you want to see how awesome my grandma is? This is what she's in the process of knitting:


She bought the yarn from Knit Picks and it came with a pattern for a vest that was on the cover of the magazine. She's never done steeks before, so she's kinda nervous about that, but it looks absolutely beautiful (and crazy!).

While I was there, I asked her to help me out a bit. I found some adorable fabric at Purl Patchwork a few months ago. I've never sewed before, so I wanted to sew something simple (I chose a skirt) and I knew my grandmother knows how to sew (she's made a lot of quilts). So it took us just a few hours to whip up this little number:


I LOVE how it came out! I love the mushrooms, the style, all of it! Do you want to see the invisible zipper?


I totally feel like I need a sewing machine now and I want to do like all these projects and everything. I loved how instantly it gratified my need for an FO, and how it's like...(this is going to sound stupid) real clothes!!!

Pretty much all I did while I was on that little mini vaca was knit. I mostly knit the clapotis, which is now finished. Here's a still WIP shot. I have to block it still.


My grandparents live on a lake...which is what that is in the background there (not sky). I'm taking Friday off of work, but hopefully, I'll already be packed by then so I can just set to blocking things. First on the blocking table is Icarus. I'll be making my bed before I go and then I'll soak and pin Icarus out to block. When I get back from BM, She should be wearable!

I think I'm going to steam block the clap, because, let's be honest here kids, I don't really care if the clap is perfect or not.

I've started a couple new projects (OMG this is the longest post ever) - which can be seen from my ravelry page. :) Jack Sparrow's Favorite Socks are on my needles right now. I just started the Fair Isle bits:


I saw the colors together at the store and knew they had to be together. This is my first time doing a toe up sock, and I must say, I like it a lot better than cuff down. I tend to get excited when i get towards the toe, which means I start decreasing too early and all of a sudden I end up with socks that are too small for me. Well, these are bound to fit perfectly as long as the fair isle doesn't end up getting too tight. The yarn is Koigu KPM. I've never used it before, but I must say that I really like working with it. At some point, I'll post a hierarchy of sock yarns. This one's in the top 5 for sure!