Happy Holidays!!!

Ok, somehow my original post got eaten. I'm sure that this won't be as good as the original, but I'm going to give it a shot.

I SURVIVED CHRISTMAS KNITTING!!!

Everyone's gifts were knitted for them before they had to actually unwrap them. I barely made it with my cousin's fingerless gloves, but they still made it under the tree before she had to open them, and Uncle Steve actually caught the last stitch on tape (and me cutting off the excess yarn with the recipient's fingernail clippers). I have made Rullo Christmas history!



I even managed to walk away this Christmas with some knitting related gifts! My aunt gave me Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick. I remember showing her the book at Thanksgiving and saying that it was awesome. She said she thought the patterns were up my alley. Shrug. It will be returned, and I'll chip in a bit for Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book. I've had my eye on that one for quite some time now. She also got me a subscription to Interweave Knits. My mother got me a ball winder. I was kind of confused because I opened it Christmas morning, and I wasn't sure how to use one without a swift (I'm sure it's possible). I was excited nonetheless. However, my grandmother gave me a swift, which is even more exciting! Here are the instructions to the swift. I find them as amusing as hell because they're poorly translated, and well, just amusing!

K.M ALL-POWERFUL REELING MACHINE
Main Features:

Being equipped with convenient metal connector, this tool is attachable to wherever you may wish, in the three directions - vertical or horizontal or diagonal. So there is no trouble at all like entangling of thread or yarn.

It is holding type, and made entirely of metal. The connector is of the utmost convenience and permanent use.

This reeling machine can be used for all kinds of thread or yarn. Because you can expand or contract it as the case demands, either for hand knitting thread of small reel or for woolen yarn of large reel.

The part where thread or yarn are reeled on is covered with vinyl. By this protection, thread or yarn never gets tangled or dirty.

This machine is also convenient for washing of old woolen yarn, as small or large reel is made at your will by the use of handle attached

Push the red buffon and adjust the size of machine - reel. Please.

Yes, that's typed in word for word. My cousin's hat doesn't fit her - it's way too big, so I'm starting it over again. The plus of this is that I got to use the ball winder to wind the yarn up again! It was kinda fun.

So while I'm here in RI for an extended period of time (I don't have to be back at work until January 3rd!), I thought I'd check out some farther yarn stores that I haven't gotten to. I added a link to the side that has yarn shops in RI. I'm headed to A Stitch Above on Wayland Avenue at some point this week. Doug from The Point (what would a post be without a reference to The Point?!) said he used to frequent there and that it was a good place. I'll give it a shot. Maybe I'll get some koigu yarn for the socks in this season's issue of Interweave. Then I'll be able to use the swift and the ball winder!

Definitely Adolescent Socks

Yes, quite adolescent. No other stage of sock would be so troublesome. To prove my point:



Since I've been home, I realized the reason why that sock has about half a heel and looks like crap. One of us was so intent on remembering how many stitches needed to be in between the goddamn increases that they forgot to knit the rows in between the decreases. Some may say that it was me, but personally, I blame the sock. It obviously doesn't want to be knitted. But too bad, because it's going to be knitted, and before Christmas!!!!

It will, however, experience a time-out as I try to start my brother's girlfriend's scarf. I don't want to defenestrate the socks, they still need to be finished. I can't let them think that they ever had the upperhand. I've had control the whole time. Yes. Yes I have.

In other news: I went searching around my apartment this morning looking for my little notions case. Here is what is inside my notions case:

Wonka Runts Tin - contains: 1 paper tape measurer, 1 small row counter, 1 pom pom maker, 1 pair of itsy bitsy scissors that came with a travel sewing kit, several safety pins, 2 point protectors, 2 cable needles (of different forms, 2 darning needles

Bag of loose safety pins

Envelope of large stitch markers

Envelope of small stitch markers

Aforementioned travel sewing kit

Papers - 1 set of Pom Pom making instructions, 1 Knit NY business card, 1 Metropolitan Impex business card (I think this is where I got the paiettes for the Sparkly Hat from SNB

Set of made by tags

1 permanent marker

1 broken tape measurer

3 different sized crochet hooks

pins

A spool of grey sewing thread

a stitch marker

a stitch holder

2 different sized and shaped cable needles

2 more point protectors

Yet more safety pins

A hair clip

So this makeup case has a lot of shit in it that's kinda helpful to get things done. Hence losing it this morning was a big deal. I searched everywhere for it. Up, down, all around. I was late to work because I was searching, yet it was no where to be found. I gave up. I thought I might have left it at The Point last night. But when I got to The Point tonight, it wasn't there. :( Where could it be? I panicked. I thought, I must have left it on the bus when I got off of it on Sunday night. I resigned myself to calling Bonanza, the bus company that I take to get to RI and back. I sadly walked home tired, and extremely frustrated after an SNB session spent swearing at delinquent stitches.

I get home and walk to the bathroom. Now see, the funny thing of having a makeup case for a knitting notion bag is that if you have a makeup case holding makeup that looks just like your knitting notion bag, you're in for a fun time. Yes. Both green bags were sitting neatly next to each other on top of the John just waiting for me to play with them. I must have put the knitting notion bag in there while I was unpacking on Sunday, and just didn't realize that there was already a makeup case in there. Here is a photo of the culprit:



It's one of those Clinique bags they give out if you get like lipstick and eyeshadow or something. You'll notice the purpley Lamb's Pride Bulky tied to this sucker? That's so I know it's the Knitting Notions Purse and not the makeup bag.

Lessons learned:

Make sure that your knitting notion case looks different somehow from your makeup case

Follow the pattern instructions.

Adolescent Socks

The socks are well on their way and unless I break my hands or something, they should actually be done by Christmas!


This one by itself looks like some sort of freaky fish doesn't it?


This one's just lounging around


Bad sock! Don't bite your sister!

The imminence of these socks being done, however, still leaves several projects left to go:

A scarf for my brother's girlfriend (I think I decided to make her a ruffle scarf just like mine in a different color)

Fingerless gloves for my cousin

I decided to make one of my co-workers something knitted related, but I'm not sure if she reads this, so you're going to have to wait to see what that is. I'm hoping to have it done by Friday so I can give it to her when we go to a comedy show we're going to together. But it might have to wait until after the holiday.

I was bad again today....I saw that The Point got in some Alpaca with a Twist Baby Twist. We're lookin at 1,200 yards here in my bag! Unfortunately, the sweater that i wanted to use as a template for the hoodie I want to make seems to have disappeared from my sweater chest, my drawers, the pile of clothes in my room, the reserve duffel bag full of spring clothes and my closet. I have no idea where it went. So I guess it's a good thing that I just got more yarn to make it a replacement right? Only sad thing is that it fit so perfectly that I really wanted to get the measurements and everything to make this right. I guess it could still be at Greg's or my parents'. Regardless, this sweater, especially since I can't find the original, have jumped to the top of my "Must Make" list.

I've been wearing my Sparkle Hat from Stitch'n' Bitch a lot recently. Mostly because it's been cold and I don't have another hat, nor enough time to make another hat before Christmas. And because it's my first hat and has sentimental value. I really like it. I was wearing it today as I left The Point tonight. At West Fourth, waiting for the D to Brooklyn, this guy says "How do you clean a hat like that?" I say "you don't. It's made of wool, if you wash it in a washing machine it will felt." He says "but the plastic things would melt. You haven't washed it!?" I respond by saying no for the reasons I've already provided him. "How long have you had it?" "About a year." I say. "You've had it for a year and you haven't washed it?" At this point, I no longer care about the conversation. The guy didn't look especially well kempt himself, and I was kind of insulted. Do people really wash hats? I think of outer-wear as being ridiculous to clean. It's just going to get dirty again, why bother washing it? Do guys wash their baseball caps? My brother doesn't. Am I insane? Should I be washing my hat and coat (and for that matter mittens)? My coat is black and will never show any dirt.

More importantly, who looks at a hand-knit hat and says to themselves gee, I wonder how you wash that?

What a silly place I live in.

Official holiday countdown:12
*holy shit!

Sock Zygotes!

Mom, if you're reading this, don't! <3

I just realized that there's only 24 days really until Christmas! Holy Crap! How did that happen!? Here's the list of things that need to be knitted for gifts (they'll be joining the WIP list soon):

finish the Argyle Slippers from Melanie Falick's Weekend Knitting that were my mother's gift last year (I don't understand the instructions to put them together which is why they're still in pieces in my yarn box)

Scarf for my brother's Girlfriend

Wrist warmers for my cousin to match the newsboy hat out of the leftover Cascade Quattro

Beanie for my friend Kat (I have at least found the pattern for the hat!)

socks for mom (see below)

hat for my vegan friend

So because I have all of these projects to do, I was looking for a way to knit socks quickly so that they might be done by the time Christmas is here. I'll feel doubly bad if my mom doesn't get a present this year because I can't knit fast enough. I decided that I would try this pattern from KnitPicks to knit two socks at the same time. It's going quite well!



Those are my little Sock Zygotes as My Big Fat Needle donned them. Actually, looking at that photo again, they kinda look like breasts huh? Well, they won't when they're done. Damnit.

My mom didn't tell me until last weekend that she's "allergic to wool" (more and more I'm thinking that people aren't really allergic to wool, they just choose to wear scratchy versions of it, but if I tried to reason that out with her she'd get pissed at me, so whatever). This put me in a mad scramble to find appropriate yarn that's made of cotton. I came up with Cascade Fixation. It's fun to use, but I seem to be pulling it a bit too tightly. Oh well. I like working them from the toe up because if my gauge is off by a bit and I'm using too much yarn, I can just shorten the cuff of them!

The Opera gloves are still coming along. I worked on them for a bit yesterday. They're starting to look fancy. I'm still working on the pattern, but they're going to be awesome, I can feel it!

By Popular Demand

Yes, one person makes a demand, and it's all of a sudden popular! The magic of the internet!
Without further ado:


It's the Candy Cane hat from Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick. I've bought several books, but I've never made as many different patterns out of the same book as with this book. Really, the patterns are great. Even the sock pattern is great, if they just fit!

I need a name for the opera gloves I'm making. They're made of black mercerized cotton held together with a silvery viscose that sparkles. They come up over the elbow and come down to a princess seamed (basically a v shape that points to my middle finger) fingerless glove. There's a lace pattern going the length of the glove as well. I'm thinking of something like Glamour Gloves or O Gloves (I love all the connotations that come up when I call them O Gloves!).

I've started them, and I think they'll be alright. I haven't gotten very far yet, but I just checked a pattern that a friend sent me of something similar (yet completely different) and I think I'm at least on the right page with these. We'll see how they turn out. I think I'm going to put up Christmas tree lights and post about my Washington DC trip on my personal blog

It's Just not Thanksgiving without a Battery charger for my DigiCam!

Yes, I have forgotten the battery charger and extra battery for my digital camera in New York. I hope it's having a good time and behaving itself in the apartment. And if it threw any parties while I was away, I hope it cleans up after itself.

I got quite a bit of knitting done on the drive up here thanks to NYC gridlock on the way out and Connectishit traffic from Stamford on. I finished a Christmas gift for a Special friend in Memphis out of Borroco Suede that I got from Jill's One Way Yarn Swap (that's all I'm saying because Mr. Memphis asked for the RSS feed. :-p I hope he's not bored to tears with listening to my life as a knitter (he's a non-knitter)!

The Thanksgiving James Bond marathon on SPIKE TV is helping my Christmas knitting as well! While Tomorrow Never Dies was on tonight I finished a hat for my friend Tessier who recently moved to Seattle. It was the Candy Cane Hat from Handknit Holidays out of Mission Falls 1824 Wool in Black and Teal (the price tag is right over the number of the color). I loved working with this yarn and it's a total shame that they're discontinuing it. I also really liked the opportunity to do a bit more with color. Though, my right hand yesterday was cramping from the extra use.

I'm totally bummed by my lack of foresight, but once I get home I'll post a pic of the hat at least (maybe more).

Next on the list is the opera gloves. I'm going to start swatching now trying to figure out gauge and the lace pattern that's going to wind its way down the front of the gloves. I should go look at a few pairs as well. I haven't quite figured out how to do the decreases at the top of the glove, nor have I figured out how to do the ring around the finger. Should the back stop once it hits the wrist, or should it continue up with the top of the hand?

I also need to think of a sexxy name for the pattern. Any swank ideas?

Eulogy for a Stocking in Ancram

It was a great project. One to end all projects. Beautiful stockings from Melanie Falick's new Handknit Holidays. Yet sometimes, a project is just not meant to be knitted by me. I can admire them from afar, know of their beauty and appreciate the pattern for what it is and be content. The passion and drive within me does not seem to be enough, and I can't seem to push myself enough to finish making these at the present. Maybe I'll pick them up again later (I've put the one that actually might end up being close to the stocking I want it to be on some string to keep the stitches live). Maybe when I pick them up again, they'll still be original.

It's all about meeting the limits right? Finding which project will simply kill me to finish. This is the first project I'm actually putting down (or more accurately hiding in my yarn box), and I've told myself that it's just honestly not worth it. I've been working on these for about two months now, and I just can't digest the fact that they've taken this long. I almost finished the first one in a couple of weeks. The project is turning into a chore, and it's actually making me not want to knit. So I'm making it sit in the corner to think of what it's done and we'll see what happens.

I went on a SNB group trip to someone's country home in Ancram, New York this weekend. It was so nice to get out of the city, to hear nothing but the tenitis in my ears, to breathe real air, to see a lake and do nothing but eat, knit, sleep and watch tv. This was all pretty much a treat because I don't really do the TV thing, as some of you may know, so watching Law and Order, horrible lifetime movies and a few other choice programs was pretty exciting for me!

Jill, Heather and I went up on Friday. We stopped at Stew Leonard's on the way. That place was an adventure in and of itself! There were so many samples that Heather and I walked in hungry and left satiated! We moseyed back to Jill's country home, turned the heat on, and wandered off to a diner for a late lunch. When we got back to the house, we knit late into the night.

The others showed up early Saturday afternoon and we all had a blast! We ate lunch, went for a walk to the pond, chatted, watched a couple of movies and knit (of course).


Heather gave an impromptu magic loop lesson, and we all picked up some interesting tips from each other.

So since I'm giving up on the socks, you might be wondering what's next on the needles. Here's a list of projects I have on my mind:

Candy Cane hat from Handknit Holidays

Flaptop Mittens also from Handknit Holidays from the same Lamb's Pride Bulky that I used for my Ruffle Scarf. I still have a skein left of each color.

Angie Sweater from some Rowan book (Link: Angie Sweater) I'm planning to make this out of Knit Picks Decadence.

Bowtie which is the current project of the moment. It should be done soon though. I picked up some Borroco Suede for this project from Jill's One Way Yarn Swap this weekend (hah!).

Two mohair sweaters one out of some tealish-green color that I got at Rhinebeck, and one from a hot pink yarn that I yoinked a lot of at Jill's One Way Yarn Swap.

Some sort of shawl thing out of Brook's Farm Yarn I got while I was at Rhinebeck this year.

Snowflakes that Betsy showed to me (I posted the pattern to the Knit List)

Opera gloves with a lace motif out of some silver yarn and some black yarn that I have yet to get. This is my first foray into designing, let's hope it's a good one!

Those don't include the various pairs of socks that I'd also love to make, but that I'm holding off on because of those stockings, or the beanie that's still on the sidebar that I'm planning to make for a friend.

The good part about having Thanksgiving at my parents' is that I will get tons of time to knit while waiting for and traveling on the bus to and from Rhode Island. It's about a three hour drive without traffic, so I'm thinking it'll be closer to four hours at least on the way there. I think I might start on the shawl this weekend, but I might work on the candy cane hat for a friend. We'll see...