Things I done did

A few weeks ago I learned a friend of mine was pregnant. Real pregnant. Due in a week and a half. I panicked. Baby coming?! Must! Knit! Hat! They didn't know the sex, so I had to find some gender-neutral superwash wool in my stash, stat! Couldn't find any! AUGH! Finally I settled on some green and white fingering weight that I'd whip into some kind of hat-with-fair-isle-sheep.

...but then three days later I saw on her facebook page that Miss Sadie had already arrived! I snagged some pink sport-weight wool (I know, I know, cliché color, but whatever, pink is nice) and the Spritely Hat pattern and four days later I had this:



The pattern is for a child's size, but with the sport-weight wool and size 3 needles it'd be close enough.

The sticks: size 3 circs
The string: Lana Grossa Cool Wool 2000.

The little leaves on the top are outrageously cute.

And remember this?



It became this:



Which I want to be enough for a scarf, but really probably isn't. Alas. Maybe paired with some black wool? Hmmmm... Ooh! No! Dark gray! Yes.

Scandihoovian hat

Gauge: 2 stitches per inch
Needles: Size 13 DPNs (I used a circ, and it was painful because it was too small for magic loop).
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Bulky Natural, 1 skein (45 yards, with plenty leftover for a nice, optional pom pom)
Size: 1 year (your mileage will TOTALLY vary. My nephew is 4.5 months and giant and this hat just fits him).
Notes: My increase was knit-into-the-stitch-below. It doesn't really matter which you use.



C/O 6 (I used Emily Ocker's Circular Cast-on). Place marker at beginning of round.

Row 1: *K1, m1, repeat from *
Row 2, and all even rows: Knit around
Row 3: *K2, m1, repeat from *
Row 5: *K3, m1, repeat from *

Continue until you have 30 stitches total, ending with an even row.

Next row: Increase 4 stitches evenly.

Knit plain until the whole hat measures 6.25".

Next row: K7, wrap and turn (w&t)
Next row: P7, w&t
Next row: K to 1 stitch before wrapped stitch, w&t
Next row: P to 1 stitch before wrapped stitch, w&t

Repeat until you have one stitch unwrapped, ending with a WS row.

Next row: K4, picking up wraps, K13, w&t
Next row: P7, w&t
Next row: K to 1 stitch before wrapped stitch, w&t
Next row: P to 1 stitch before wrapped stitch, w&t

Repeat until you have one stitch unwrapped, ending with a WS row.

Bind off loosely, picking up wraps as you get to them. Add braids at the end of the ear flaps. Add pom pom to the top, if that's your cup of juice.

A second gold!

With two days to spare I finished the acrylic monstrosity!



It needs buttons still but WHATEVER, I'm calling it done.

For the record, it's definitely still a monstrosity. Here! A list of annoying things regarding the "Ready to Play" jumper.

1. It's acrylic.
1b. crappy acrylic. Really crappy acrylic.
2. Flat-knit fair isle. Purling with two colors sucks.
3. The original knitter did a float on every stitch on the purled row, not every 3rd or 4th stitch, which takes approximately FOREVER. So I didn't do it. So it doesn't match on the inside. Shhh.
4. Not only are the colors unappealing, but the pattern itself... not so great. However, I'm open to the option that it might not be horrible if done differently.
5. Since it's acrylic you can't really block it (as far as I can tell). It looks a little wonky, and I don't know if I can fix it.

Maryland Sheep and Allergies

Before I left the house for the Maryland Sheep and Wool I saw a box of tissues -- the decent kind, with aloe and lotion -- and thought ah! I should bring those along, what with my heinously evil allergies, even though I have already had some benadryl, and have some extra in my pocket. Naturally, I forgot to grab the tissues on my way out. I stopped at the gas station, and there were no boxes of tissues, but they had a generic pocket pack of sandpaper brand tissues. I bought a roll of paper towels instead.

And what did I do? I left them in the car. A compacted nasal passage makes me stupid.

MDSW is pretty amazing. It's huge and confusing and there's wool and people and sheep EVERYWHERE. I had to walk around four times before I could actually focus on any one product. This is the line for Socks That Rock:



The weather was pretty good -- cloudy and cool in the morning. The afternoon got warmer and humid, and I started to feel badly for all the people who were wearing their recently-finished wool sweaters.

There was a Ravelry meet-up, and BOY was it crowded.





Being not so wild about big crowds I got my Official Ravelry Pin and took off for shopping. So here're my spoils:



Clockwise from that blue stuff on the left (or you can click for flickr notes): 2 braids Flying Fibers hand painted BFL; 1 oz Nono Cashmere; Socks That Rock (I had to see what all the fuss was about) in Purple Rain; more Cashmere*, this time from The Fold (aka the Socks That Rock booth); three small skeins of Koigu KPPPM which were 25¢/ounce which is actually not as good a deal as you might think, but will make good baby booties**; and finally, in the gold bag, an ounce of buffalo roving. I rave about it all the time and thought since I cause such a fuss about it (and since it was half the price that I've seen it for online -- thank you, The Fold!) I should have some to show off. This may never get used for spinning, but kept for fondling.

I wanted to go to the Ravelry party, but at around 4pm I got hit with some really bad allergies -- sneezing, itchy eyes, general misery, and I dealt with it for an hour, and finally decided it wasn't worth it and went home.

So! Project update. I blame this one on Grace. She was all talking about knitting baby sweaters, and then all of a sudden there I was, knitting a baby sweater.



It also hasn't helped that I've been lusting after colorwork knitting lately, and than it's looking like my nephew is going to be a hefty fella, and everything I knit him already is a little on the small side. But there you go. I'm still debating what to do for the neck. I like button necks but haven't done one before, and am not sure how they should work. Whatever. I'll figure something out.

I used the Yarn Standards website to try and get some sizing ideas, and y'all, babies are some weird-ass sizes. For a 3 month old the length from their armpit to armpit is 8", but the length from the nape of their neck to their waist is just 6".

That makes for a freaky looking sweater, so I'm just using it as a guideline. And if it doesn't fit, well, then I'll just cry.


*See, I stuck my hand into the cashmere bag at The Fold and was all NOM NOM NOM but ended up buying some from a different booth (the Nono cashmere), but then I got back to the Fold, realized THAT cashmere was 1. nicer, and 2. half the price, I bought some of that, and then didn't feel like I could return the first one, and can you really have too much cashmere? I didn't think so.

**Although since I just found out it's not machine washable it'll only be used for knitters' babies. Shoot.

Seriously. Babies everywhere.

Two friends of mine have just had a little girl, and let me tell you, y'all: this girl is CUTE. I mean cute. Spiky gold-brown hair, big eyes, and a sweet pout.

So, of course, it's hat time:



Final successful cast on: April something.

Finished weaving in the ends: May 1.

The originator: Top-down Bonnet by Adrian Bizilia of HelloYarn fame.

The string: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Tahoe

The sticks: Size 3 addis.

Pattern shmattern: The only thing I changed was that I cut the yarn after binding off.

I gots more to blog about but I need to head to bed, since I'm hitting Maryland Sheep and Wool tomorrow!

Babies, babies everywhere

...I think I need a drink.

Tomorrow is the shower for my still-cooking nephew. With the deadline so near I finally got myself over to the local, independently-owned sewing shop¹ for buttons and closures. This is where I learned that there are two kinds of zippers -- separating and non-separating. Non-separating don't release at the bottom, making them a pretty poor choice for jackets. And of the separating zippers, none of them were short enough for the jackets I had set aside for zippers (they also didn't match, color-wise, but that was the least of my problems).

The women cooed over my knits, "They're so small! Are they doll clothes?"

No. No, they're not doll clothes. Have I mentioned I'm a little paranoid that none of these things will fit the kid?

I managed to find some buttons for the Baby Surprise jacket (I keep spelling surprise with a z. I think having a stuffy nose is restricting oxygen to my brain and making me dumb).



I got these GREAT hippo buttons, but they only just barely fit through the buttonholes, and that's with some real finagling, so I just put one on the top.



Since I couldn't have my zipper, I got some clasps for my heavily modified Cardigan for Merry (made without the pattern or cable graph. Even though I had both of those things, I didn't have them with me, so I just figured out the cable over many many bus rides around New Zealand.



Even though the clasps were a total pain to put on and don't close the cardigan all the way I'm really pleased with the way it looks.



I got the same clasp for another Baby Surprise (ha! Spelled it right on the first go) -- this one for a friend who will also be at the shower, and who's due about the same time as Infant X -- and I love it.



In the meantime, with no zipper, I have no idea what to do with the Tomten jacket I knit. A zipper would've been great, but nooooo. In a flash of brainliness I thought of toggles, but of the two the sewing store had, one was too big, and the other was really ugly. In the knitting store they were all plastic and hideous. So I don't think it'll get gifted tomorrow.

I pulled all the nephew-knits out to show off to my parents, and I have to say, it's quite a pile of FOs.



(Click for notes)

I'm feeling a little embarrassed by it all, actually. That's a lot of stuff. Do you ever feel like you've kind of... overdone it? Forced your craft upon others?

Ah well.

IN the meantime, I've been working ferociously on a new project. It's mostly stockinette, but there's some (4 rows) ribbing at the bottom. Even so it's curling like a Canadian on ice. This is the part where I need all y'all's help. I need you look at this picture and tell me that it'll block out just fine:



Please. It's for my sanity.

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what I'm knitting? And why?


¹ The local Michael's doesn't have buttons. What the hell is that about?

Welcome to my undersea lair, Mr. Bond.

Love those Hansi patterns. Made for Infant X (my nephew!) out of Cascade 220 superwash.

Only mod was that I used size 2 needles for the pupils. I think next time I'd try a provisional cast-on for the eyes to aid sewing it down. Sewing the tentacles together involved a large number of not-child-approved words, but it's still hella cool.

If you're knitting her tentacled patterns, slip the first stitch of the tentacles on the side where you'll attach them to the body. You'll appreciate it later.



And more spinning!



So my friend Lizza started getting into spinning with a drop spindle. She told her step-mom, and next thing she (Lizza) knows, there's an antique spinning wheel on her (Lizza's) front porch and a big ol' bin of fiber. When I went to visit her she said I could snag something, so I snagged a baggie of 100% (tussah?) silk. (Boy, that sounds like drugs, doesn't it?)

It was a real mess to Andean ply. It got stuck to itself and wound into infuriating snarls. But HA it's done! Ha. Don't know what I'll do with it, but that's okay.

P.S. It would've been Mr. Rogers' 80th birthday today. Are you wearing a sweater? I am. Speedy Delivery.

Lazy, lazy, lazy

The main reason I write is to procrastinate from doing things that I don't feel like doing (e.g. school or work). Since I haven't had much of that, I haven't had the urge to write. But I have been doing things! Cool things! So it's picture time! And announcement time. I'll save that for last, because tension is good, or whatever.

First up!



Have you seen Hansigurumi's patterns? Go ahead and look, and buy them all. I'll wait here. The whole time I knit I was mumbling "Well christ that's clever." Except when I knit the head, during which I was screeching "How the (very bad word) did she figure THAT out?"

Seriously. I think she dabbled in quantum physics to figure that head out.

I bought the set of four cephalopods. I've started work on the squid. Hella awesome.

Next, I got to meet my friends' wee bairn while I was down in NC, and naturally I decided to knit her a hat, because... because. This is Aviva:



The pattern is Larissa's Feather and fan bonnet. I decided to knit it after seeing this picture (brace yourselves, clicking on that picture might result in death by cuteness). I used DK yarn (Lana Grossa Merino 2000) on size 4 needles. It came out a little small, so next time I make it (and I will again), I'll either use heavier yarn or add more repeats.



I also omitted the eyelet row and instead (hand!) sewed the ribbon on. This took ages. Not recommended. Also, my blocking job kinda sucked. I think I need a styrofoam ball for baby-hat-blocking purposes.

On a whim I took some of the roving I'd bought from TerraBellaSpun's Etsy store, and began spindling up some thick-and-thin singles, which I plied with some green sparkly sulky thread. Since the roving has sparkles, it's a WAY sparkly bunch of yarn.



I think I like it? But I don't know what to do with it. At all.

Speaking of spinning, remember that purple handspun? It became these:



GLOVES. Neat! I didn't use a pattern. I should've used smaller needles for the ribbing, but didn't have any appropriately-sized dpns. So I didn't.

So my friend Paige (who, it should be said, rocks pretty hard) is getting all married in early October, and invited me to be one of her Maids of Honor. The other MoH is making her dress, so I offered to make a lace shawl.

Because I'm an idiot.

I've done one lace thing before -- the Branching Out scarf -- and it had a bunch of mistakes (including being made of super crap yarn). I've done 7.5 (12-row) repeats. Of 34. Then there's the inner border. And the outer border.

I am so screwed.



But I'm using Malabrigo lace, which is hella soft. That part is good.

Now! Announcement time! I want you to meet someone:



This is Short Stuff, my impending nephew. Which explains all the baby stuff, and the octopus. I didn't mention him earlier Just In Case, but we've got 2 months to go and LOOK at that FACE. Somebody's got the chubby cheeks!

Awwww.

Super chuffed and also kind of annoyed

Turns out Kiwi Knitter and I had the same idea: Don't blog for a long time, and acquire a large number of FOs. Then the next post will be all amazing, and we will look like crazypants awesome knitters.

Being all unemployed like I am, with my propensity for sitting on my duff in front of my computer (I used up all my exciting in New Zealand), I've got a LOT to show you. Grab a cup/mug/jug/box of your preferred beverage and get comfy.



This is the baby surprise jacket I made in NZ (out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport). I finally sewed up the seams (though I haven't put all the buttons on, so it's not actually done yet), and I am totally pleased with how they look. I actually looked up the proper way to seam, and it looks way better than what I was doing (which, it turns out, was basting).



Look at that. That's so pretty. (I bought these GREAT blue hippo buttons and put one on, but the buttonholes aren't QUITE big enough, so I think I'll find four better-fitting ones to put on the rest).



I made a Grrr! It's not for me. I like the embroidered face, but the back of the sewing looks not so good. I am only minimally concerned about this.



My first singles, getting wound up to be plied. This picture just made me happy.

And they, plus my blue singles, got turned into this:



Somehow, in the original spinning of singles, it didn't occur to me that blue singles + grey singles = marled yarn. I don't much like marled yarn. But I did it anyway, because by the time it occurred to me to Andean ply each color on itself I was too far in.

I'd read this link about plying a balanced yarn, which made for a pretty loose ply. Then I read on Ravelry that yarn doesn't need to be balanced immediately after plying. Instead, you wind it on the swift, soak it in hot water, soak it in cold, repeat hot then cold, wrap it in a towel and gently squeeze the water out, then take it out and give it a good solid whack on the sink (or wherever). Then turn it and repeat. This makes the yarn "bloom" and should (so they say) make it more balanced. There you go.

This is what Janice had to say about spinning:

That bit about letting the yarn ply back on itself to determine if it's balanced ONLY applies to very freshly spun yarn. IOW, if you want to see what a balanced 2-ply yarn would look like from the single you're currently spinning, do this: spin out a long length, and then double it back on itself RIGHT THEN. Smooth it down and let it find its own level of plying. Break that bit off and keep it as a sample.

After that, spin as much as you want, then ply your singles so that they look like that sample you did. As long as you're spinning your singles pretty consistently, you should be fine.

Whacking yarn and wet finishing it will help fix some things. They don't really BALANCE the yarn per se, because that's determined by the amount of twist in the singles vs. the amount of twist in the plying.

And I don't care what anyone says, I staunchly maintain that "balanced single" is a meaningless term. There's nothing for a single to balance AGAINST. Soft-twist or low-twist single describe the yarn better.

BTW, blocking yarn doesn't get rid of twist in singles either. The yarn that I used for my SAFF sweater last year was spun many, many years ago. I'd blocked it on niddy noddies as I'd spun it, and it looked pretty straight in the skein. But as soon as I put it in water to wash before dyeing, *sproing* all the twist energy was released, and I had little curls and twists all over the wet yarn. :)

(I tend to spin with a lot of twist.)

She knows way more than me about this stuff.

And it's about 205 yards. I have no idea what to do with it, if anything.

The remaindered blue got Andean plied into this:



A much tighter ply. Note the artful application of dog fur on the left.

I also pulled out my new Koigu and cast on for some socks:



I'd seen a sock on some blog (I'd love to know where so I can give credit -- anyone remember?) with a nice light texture pattern that went:
1. K1P1 around
2. & 3. K around

A good idea, I thought! But I changed it to:
1. K1P1 around
2, 3, 5, 6. K around
4. P1K1 around

Deciding, as I do, that following patterns are for suckers I decided to wing my first toe-up gussets.

This sock sucks.

First, I can't get it over my heel.



Then I can't get the heel over my heel.



Then it cuts off circulation in my calf.



And finally, the heel just looks funny.



So it's sitting in the corner until I can gather my wits enough (or stop being distracted long enough) to frog it.

There's one more FO, but I need a different picture of it. It's one thing to put a mildly saucy picture on Ravelry, and another entirely to put it on my blog.

This spinning thing, though...



...I might be hooked.

I do still knit, and not just in extreme ways

I'm back in the northern hemisphere, and back in Philadelphia, where it is quiet and uneventful, even in the wake of xmas. In the interest of my laziness and the motivation-suck that is living with my folks, here's what I've done since I've been gone. With notes! Because I care.

Before I start, though, I would like to note that I am not pregnant. To reiterate, me = not pregnant. Okay! Moving on.



A wee tomten jacket! Made of NZ wool in "Haven." It just needs a closure of some variety. I was thinking a zipper, but my mom suggested a button-and-loop.



Another bebeh shedir! Also NZ wool, but I don't remember the brand.



A very, very modified Cardigan for Merry, which is so modified I've been calling it "Cardigan for Pippin." It's drop-shoulder instead of raglan, and the cable doesn't meet up at the top so I just did a three-needle bind-off and it may just stay that way. Otherwise it's finished.



Bebeh surprise! Just needs to be blocked and sewed up. SO cute. Made from Lorna's Laces Purple Club. I finally found a pattern where the yarn didn't pool.



Snowflake star ornament for mom. I made two, blocked them, and sewed them together. I'll get a picture of it finished. One day. Hopefully before it gets packed away.





Dylan's Hat from Alterknits. The polka dots in the book/pattern are painted on, which is okay, but kind of weak, so I embroidered them on instead.

I also tried to knit socks but they thwarted me at every turn and are in my bag, thinking about what they've done. The jerks.