Knitasha von Stashenskeins

How It Works

First of all, the Yarn Harlot takes it into her head to knit some mittens. Fancy mittens, Nordic-style, with a two color pattern, preferably snowflakes, and a pointy top. Being a wise woman, she asks the umpty-billion readers of her blog for pattern suggestions. You're curious and start to scroll through the comments.

There are many suggestions and lots of them have links to patterns so you bounce back and forth looking at pictures. Some of them are pretty, but none of them really catch your eye.

But a word catches your eye: Selbuvotter. It keeps coming up and it becomes clear that it's a book of mitten patterns. So you click back to Ravelry to check it out and find yourself faced with a staggering array of gorgeous mittens. Five minutes later, you are clicking on the "Buy It Now" button.

The book arrives and you page through it. There are so many beautiful mittens it is nearly overwhelming. You note a couple that are particularly charming and then set the book aside. It isn't really mitten weather and you have plenty of UFO's competing for your attention.

Fast forward several months. You have just finished your second sweater in a row and you really need a small project to break the monotony. But it's also getting close to Christmas and you should really be thinking about presents. Hat? Not special enough. Socks? Just not in the mood. Hey, how 'bout some fancy mittens?

Stash dive produces two beautiful skeins of fingering weight alpaca. You choose #2 dpn's and virtuously cast on a swatch.

Uh-oh. Not getting gauge, not even close. Do you really want to go down to #1's? Naaaah. Let's check the book again. Hey, there are lots of different gauges. Surely there is mitten at your gauge. Happily there are several. After serious deliberation, you pick the prettiest one and cast on. You've got your dpn's, your photocopied pattern, your highlighter tape. It's all good. You cruise through the narrow ribbing and start the cuff.

Hmmm. Not so happy with this. Hard to keep the floats loose and uniform and you can see where you change needles. Not exactly ladders, but not seamless either. Work on two circulars? Drat! Only have one in the right size. Magic loop? Two rows remind you why you rejected that particular technique when it first came around. Now what?

Put project aside and wait impatiently for next day's lunch break when a quick trip to the yarn store erases all the savings created by using stash. Ah well. You grab another #2 circular and then, on a whim, you also grab one of those funny little 8" circulars. You figure you'll hate it, but it is worth a try.

We have a winner! The teeny needle works great and the mitten starts to grow. You have to switch to 2 circulars for the top of the hand and stay with them for the intricate thumb. Before you know it, you have a mitten!

One down, one to go. Gotta love the Yarn Harlot!

And now for something completely different...

Shockingly, I have actual knitting to blog about today. There has been no sewing or spinnng, just knitting and a little weaving that I'm not ready to show yet.

The first item is my creamsicle pullover which I finally finished! I took a long break on this project while it was too hot to work on it, but a couple weeks of steady work got it done.

I used EZ's recipe for a seamless pullover with saddle shoulders and added some X's and O's cables to the sleeves to add some interest.

I just love this yarn (Brown Sheep Lanaloft Worsted) and the color. It is crazy warm and it fits me really well.

Minutes after weaving in the last end, I went in search of yarn for my next project. (I was at Yarn Cravin' at the time) I needed to knit a birthday sweater for my daughter and I had about a week to do it if it was going to reach her in time in Montreal. My requirements for yarn were soft, worsted, and pretty enough to jazz up a plain vanilla sweater.

Malabrigo to the rescue! Can you believe this is the first time I've ever made a sweater of Malabrigo? It will NOT be the last. The colors are gorgeous and it is one of the softest wools I've ever found. I chose Pagoda as my main color, but the shop only had four skeins, so I also bought a skein of Cognac as an accent color. Turns out I could have made the sweater with just the four skeins, but it wouldn't have been as pretty and I wouldn't have had a leftover skein to make myself something!

Standard v-neck vest with steeked armholes and neck. The proportions might look wacky but L is tall with a long torso and she says it fits perfectly. She got her birthday box 3 days before her birthday and was very happy.

The Pagoda is more red than in the picture, but I just love the color variation.

My latest knitting is two-color stranded knitting on size 2's, so you can guess it isn't a sweater! Pictures next time - I gotta make dinner.

Knocked Out

Rough week in Knitasha land.  I'm sick with a cold and the office has been really crazy.  By last night I was worn to a frazzle.  I snore terribly when I'm stuffy, so I packed myself off to the guest room and slept for 11.5 hours without even getting up to pee.  Knocked out cold.  This morning I was feeling marginally improved, but I am getting sleepy again as the day wears on.

Managed to stagger out onto the doorstep and take a couple of pictures.  There is no sunshine in NW Ohio today, but at least it is not raining.

I made a concerted effort to work on the orange pullover this week and I am in the home stretch.

 

I am using EZ's magical saddle shoulder shaping from Knitter's Workshop.  If we go to the football game tonight, I just might get it done.

The crazy purple warp scarf is finished.

 

I really love how the fringe turned out.

 

I will definitely make more of these.  If I used blues or browns, could I give it to a guy?

There is another weaving project in the works, this time on the Dorothy.  I built myself a warping board out of PVC pipe and put on an 11' warp so I could weave two scarves.  I am 25% through scarf #2 with big plans to wrap it up this weekend.  Pictures when they are done.

This is the Christmas mat for my mom.

 

I have a little more machine quilting to do and then I have to sew the binding on.  Weaving has side-tracked me from sewing this week, but I will try to get back to this soon.

Post office, bank, and then to pick up M at school.  Happy Friday my friends!

Retreat!

It should come as no surprise that last weekend's retreat was absolutely fab.  Way too much sugar, not enough sleep, big fun!!!  I had a great massage, we sang Happy Birthday to Mary, Ferol, and Becca, and my puppy chow treat was summarily chowed.

I took my rigid heddle loom to retreat at the request of Dale Ann and Bobbie (who just may be regretting that now)  When I got there I had a scarf already started and I was able to finish it and use my handy-dandy fringe twister.

 

The yarn is Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran in Dark teal.  I bought it a million years ago at Knit A Round in Ann Arbor and it has just been sitting in my stash.  I love it woven - it shows the pattern crisply but is still nice and soft.

Once it was done, I worked on my orange pullover, but the next morning I couldn't resist putting on a new warp.  Inspired by some really cool scarves I saw on Ravelry (but of course can't find now to link to), I concocted a warp out of scraps of purple and pink yarn.

 

I know what you're thinking.  That is going to be one loud and crazy scarf, right?  Well...not if we use a plain sedate black for the weft.

 

Isn't that cool?  I will take a picture of the finished scarf and its very cool fringe if I can ever remember when the sun is out.  This worked out so well that I think I see more multi-yarn warp scarves in my future.

Wanted to show you all the retreat loot that I raked in.

 

Random yarn acquisitions.

Free book and slipper sock kit.  (My kit has the same yarn shown in the pattern picture.)

 

Fabulous and hand silk-screened project bag.

 

With the bag came this luscious skein of Olmue fingering weight yarn - 85% cotton and 15% rayon.  We are all supposed to create something wonderful with our skeins and bring them to the next retreat.

There was a "Chinese auction" on the second day.  Everyone brought a bag of secret loot to contribute and then we drew numbers.  When it was your turn, you could choose a new bag or steal a bag from someone else.  The bag of goodies I brought changed hands several times, so I guess I chose good stuff.  With some judicious bargaining, I was able to get this wonderful Cascade 220 at the end.

 

Four skeins!!  I also got Mary's auction prize, as she didn't think she'd use it.

 

Very bulky denim yarn.  I told her I'd try using it as weft for a rug and if it turns out OK I will gift it back to her.

Since the retreat I have worked more on the orange pullover, finished the black scarf, started a quilted table mat for my mom and warped my Dorothy for a double scarf extravaganza.  Luckily for you, I don't have pictures of any of it, so I will let you return to your regularly scheduled Saturday.

New Friend

I have a new friend.  Her name is Dorothy.

 

She is a 4 shaft table loom and I love her!

A couple of weekends ago I drove up to Detroit with Sarah to check out a spinning wheel she had found on Craigslist.  She wanted my slightly-more expert opinion.  Bridget, the lady who was selling it, lived in a really cool old house and had yarny/fibery stuff all over.  Sarah only had eyes for the beautiful wheel, but I noticed a big floor loom in the corner right away.  When I mentioned that I am a beginning weaver, Bridget said, "Hey, I have a table loom I'm selling.  Want to see it?"  Hell, yeah!!

While Sarah blissfully spun on her soon-to-be first wheel, I checked out Dorothy.  She has a weaving width of ~15"and a reed/beater that is 12 dents/inch.  She was obviously old but seemed to be in good shape.  I had no prior ambition to own a table loom, but now I had to have her.  Bridget and I carried out a negotiation where she threw in some shuttles, books, and magazines and I tried not to drool on her carpet.  We put Dorothy in the trunk, the new spinning wheel in the back seat and went for celebratory ice cream.

Dorothy sat for about a week while I pondered a little and looked through Deborah Chandler's Learning To Weave.  (Really cool book!)  Then I screwed up my courage and started to warp.

I chose a draft pattern from one of the magazines Bridget gave me.  Warping was more of a chore than on my rigid heddle loom, but I got it done.  Weaving was bliss!

 

Seriously, how cool is that?

I used 3/2 perle cotton in Wine and Evergreen and wove until I ran out of warp.  When it was all said and done, I had a 9" x 44.5" table runner with twisted fringe.  (I am twisted fringe mad at the moment)

 

I'm going to give this to my sister because a) it kind of matches her kitchen colors and b) she doesn't weave at all so she is a very uncritical audience.

 

Since I finished this, I found the draft library at Handweaving.net and now I am drunk on possibilities.  For now Dorothy will stay unwarped because this is the big knitting retreat weekend!  YAY!

My knitting project for the weekend will be the orange pullover I started back in August and then wandered away from.  I picked it back up last week and now I have one sleeve done and the second one started.

 

I am also taking my rigid heddle loom which has half a scarf on it and I haven't decided on whether my spinning wheel is coming or not.  So many important decisions!  I plan on packing the car tonight so I can get out there bright and early tomorrow.  Can't wait!

Another busy week.  I was on call and the influx of newborns was steady but not overwhelming.  I had a new Henry this week - that's not a name you hear much anymore!  Nice change from the Joshuas and Blakes.  The office has been hopping - the spate of school-acquired illness has yet to slow.  We are giving flu shots to everyone we can get our hands on  and doing our best to ignore the H1N1 bulletins from the CDC.  They change their minds on policy daily and don't seem to be presenting any info from the standpoint of pediatrics, so we either ignore them or go raving mad.

I was disciplined and worked steadily on the Ric Rac Rayon scarf until I finished it on Thursday night.  To make it go a little faster, I threw in panels of Leno lace.

This is not a scarf for warmth - just fashion.  I only used a 16 end warp, so it is about 5" wide and over 5' long.  I got to use my new Le Clerc fringe twister for the first time.

Sweeeet!

Anybody remember this fiber?

It's Masham that I bought at a fiber fair in Ann Arbor last year.  I loved the colors, but the resulting yarn was really scratchy, so I just tucked it into a drawer until last weekend when I decided my new iPod needed a jacket.

No complaints from the iPod so far.

A little sewing went on.  I used up scraps from the wallets to make a couple mats.

I wasn't happy with the quilting on the black and white one, so it will stay in my own kitchen while the purple one goes on the gift pile.

I think the next sewing will have a holiday theme, as I just received a packet of Christmas prints from Keepsake Quilting, but not today.  Today is about weaving and football.  C'mon Dolphins, you can't lose them all!

Week's Work

The little girl birthday socks are done.  They look small to me but I know that they stretch a lot on the feet so I am trying to be optimistic.  These were knit out of one 50g ball of Hot Socks by Sockenwolle.  Birthday girl's mom says she loves bright colors and likes to wear them all at once, so this was the yarn in my stash that seemed most suitable.

 

For the pattern, I wanted to knit Monkeys but the 64 stitches needed would have made the socks too big.  I tweaked it a little so I could use 56 stitches instead.  Worked out well - I'd be happy to scribble it out for anyone that actually wants to know. 

Wallet #2 is done.  I like this one even better than #1.  My sewing gets better every time and I really like these fabrics together.  I'm still planning a #3, but I seem to be taking a little sewing break now.

 

Over the weekend I wove a scarf.  I found fat chenille on super clearance at Big Lots and decided to try it.  I used my 7.5 epi reed. In all honesty, the yarn is really too thick for that and would have been better on a 5, but I don't have one.  It is still soft, but would have been squishier woven a little looser.  Can't beat the color, though, I love the bright blue.  I think maybe M will be claiming this one so it won't make it to the Christmas present pile.

 

Now the loom is warped for a thin scarf in a fine chenille I ordered from Paradise Fibers.  Because it is so fine, an inch of progress takes ages, so I won't be finishing it any time soon.  I hope to be disciplined and just accomplish a couple inches every day until it is done. 

For the last couple of days, it has been all about spinning.  First I finished the last bit of acid green roving I've had on my spindle forever.

  Then I dove into some violet superwash wool I bought from Hanks in the Hood.  I have 3 oz of it and it seems to want to be spun pretty finely.  Will probably just be my standard Andean 2 ply.

 

On Monday night I dragged my wheel downstairs and spun in front of the TV.  Fiber and football - yay!  This beautiful stuff is from Yarn Cravin', but I can't find the label.  I'll look the next time I'm there to see if they have any more so I can get the name.

I wanted to try to keep the colors from mixing too much so I separated the roving into pink and mostly-green sections and then chain plyed the singles.

It worked!  There is still some barber pole action, but there are a lot of places where it is just pink or just green.  This skein was half of the roving, so I have one skein left to spin.  I an itching to see it knit up, but I have to wait til it's done and then try to figure out what my weight and yardage are so I can pick a suitable project.

Nothing new has been cast on since I finished the socks.  If I was smart, I would dig out one of the multiple UFO's lurking around my house.  I can think of three potential candidates just in my closet and there are many more scattered around.  We'll see how virtuous I feel.  I would like to work on something fairly mindless, since I got the new Dan Brown book on my Kindle and I'm way sucked in.  An evening reading with my hands on auto-pilot sounds good to me.

Ain't It Foggy Outside

First weather related school delay of the year today for fog.  M used the extra 2 hours straightening her hair and then watching excerpts of the Ellen show on iTunes.  They have a crazy feature where they compress every day's show into a minute.  Odd what people will spend their time on.

This weekend will be really busy.  Tonight is the first home game for the high school football team.  Tomorrow I have to make rounds at the hospital and then see kids at the office.  Office will likely be a total zoo.  All the local schools have been back in session for a week or two and now everyone is sick.  Yesterday's work day was extended by an extra hour of sore throats and ear aches.  I shudder to think what tomorrow will look like. 

If I ever get out of the office, I would really like to get down the Bowling Green for the Black Swamp Arts Festival.  I have never attended but I have heard there are a lot of fiber artists and fiber purchase opportunities.  Hubby won't want to go but I might talk M into it if she thinks there is a likelihood of funnel cakes.

Saturday night is the big OSU v. USC football game.  I don't have a lot of confidence that OSU will do anything but get their butts kicked, but I'll watch it anyway.  Don't want to miss a miracle.  On Sunday the NFL season kicks off.  Our local stations always make us watch the Lions, Browns, and Bengals, but the 4:00 game is sometimes a good one and the night game is Chicago v. Green Bay.  WOOO!  FOOTBALL IS BACK!!  And I think the US Open finals are this weekend too, so my cup runneth over with sports on TV.

As promised, there has been a bit of knitting going on around here.  I finished the Regia socks.

These will be set aside for my sister's birthday in October.  My current project is also some birthday socks.  They are going quicker, being a kid's size 13.  Gotta love knitting for little people.

For my niece's birthday, I decided some crochet was in order.

This froggie is from Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts Amigurumi, which is a very cute book for anybody that wants to try some critter crochet.  This will be going into the mail pronto inside a giant box of M hand-me-downs for my sister's three girls. The box of my dreams finally came in at work and now I'm just hoping it isn't too big for the post office.  Maybe I should just take it to UPS.

The sewing kick continues unabated.  My latest project was a wallet from the same magazine I got the little purse pattern from.  It called for 4 coordinating fat quarters, but next time I will use only 3 and have a lot less left over.

As you can see, I went with purple.  You have to cut your own binding strips (eek!) but they aren't on the bias. (whew!)

Inside the top flap there is a pocket for cash and the magnetic closure.

The bottom flap has pockets for cards.  Wait!  What's that in the center?  Could it be...

...a zipper?

Yep, that is a zippered coin pouch and the zipper was inserted by yours truly.  I was scared to death to do it, but my sewing machine has a cool zipper presser foot and it went surprisingly well.  You can't tell from the picture, but the pouch is accordion pleated top and bottom so there is some room for expansion.  It wouldn't hold the 5 pounds of coins I routinely lug around, but it will hold more than a couple.

I was so charmed by this little wallet that I already have a second one all cut out and the fabric and zipper set aside for a third.  Christmas presents for somebody!  (You may not have known, but Christmas is rapidly approaching.  I heard it in a fabric store.)

It is nearly eleven and I am still in my pajamas, un-showered and unfed.  I'm off - have a great weekend!!

Opposite of Labor

Three day weekends always seem to fly by at the speed of light but this one had been satisfyingly lengthy and I have been getting some stuff done.

We have been struggling with our computer for awhile due to maxed-out memory.  With four different iTunes accounts full of music plus all my pictures, the poor hard drive was groaning from the strain.  It had been working slower and slower and then lately it started acting up.  Saturday, I took the bull by the horns and headed to Best Buy.

I wasn't in the computer aisle for more than 30 seconds before my befuddled expression alerted an employee to offer assistance.  Jackpot!  Standing before me was a textbook example of computer geek, the kind of guy who has a FORTRAN tattoo and hacks into NORAD when he gets bored.
I explained the problem and he had an answer for me before I had even finished my sentence.  An external hard drive.  For $100, I could add 640 GB of memory to my little 140 GB system and solve all my problems!  Woot!

There were two steps to install it: plug into power strip and plug into USB port on our hard drive.  (The very last empty port!)  Then I clicked OK a couple of times while it chatted with my system and we were in business!

So far we have moved my and M's iTunes libraries to the external drive, freeing up over 60 GB from the hard drive!  The amazing thing is that I managed to do this without losing anything AND our iTunes still work.  Truly incredible.

The other errand on Saturday was a trip to the fabric store, where my own geek-status is still entry level.  I had a very specific list for a couple of bag projects and I stuck to it pretty faithfully.  I also got a thread spool holder that I was able to fill up immediately and a bobbin holder that is pathetically unfilled.  M got some Thick-and-Quick for a scarf, which she actually had me cast on for her this morning.  She also sent several poor ladies into temporary apoplexy when she loudly announced, "Hey Mom, Christmas is really close!"  Not what a crafter in September really wants to hear.

Yesterday, I had the whole day free to play in my craft room.  I organized all my thread and bobbins and notions and then I lovingly arranged my little fabric stash in a nice plastic bin.  Then I listened to Fresh Air and Science Friday podcasts while I cut out and sewed a little bag.  Probably took me three times as long as my sister could do it, but I don't care.  I had fun and it turned out great!  (Sadly for you, I have an overabundance of photographic evidence)

Ta Da!!

Nifty velcro closure.  (Notice also the mitered corners on the yellow binding.)

Fabric covered button to hide stitches from velcro.

Internal pockets that match button and strap.

OK, I'll quit torturing you now.

I also finished some knitting and crocheting, but that will have to wait until next time.  Today is "Family Fun Day" so I have to get off the computer and have some family fun whether I want to or not.

This and That

M had her first cross country meet this Wednesday and I can honestly say I will never forget it.  For reasons beyond understanding it was held at a horse racing track that is as north and as east as you can get from my house and still be considered Toledo.  Just before the meet started at 5, it started to rain.  Pouring rain.  Pouring chilly rain blowing sideways. 

The kids wear running shorts and sleeveless nylon tops, so they were drenched and cold immediately.  I had on a dress and sandals, so I really wasn't doing any better.  The girls ran second, so by that time the course was wet and muddy.  I didn't see it, but M said there was a pile up at the start of the race when several girls in front of her fell down and were nearly trampled.  Seeing that, she decided discretion was the better part of valor and slowed her pace to stay on her feet.  I was so proud of her for finishing the run.  Her wimpy mom would surely have packed it in halfway through.

The kids have to ride back to the school on the bus, so I sloshed back to my car and shivered back to Whitehouse where the sky was overcast but the ground was dry.  Not one drop of rain had fallen!  I was too cold and wet to sit in my car, so I paced up and down the sidewalk in front of the school until the bus arrived.  I noticed for the first time a sign on the front lawn listing rules and regulations for the campus.  It was so hilarious that I had to share it.

1. No intoxicating drinks, drugs, or narcotics.    Ok, sounds good.  I'm not sure why narcotics are mentioned separately as they are technically drugs, but it is a rule I can get behind.

2. No weapons of any kind.  Could be used against the baseball and hockey teams if we wanted to get picky, but again I applaud the sentiment.

3. No horseback riding.  WHAT?!  That's number three, right after drugs and guns?  Is it really that big of a problem at our little suburban junior high?   Do they imagine gangs of 8th graders on horseback terrorizing the campus?  And is it the horses in particular they object to, or the riding of them?   What about mules?  Or elephants?  I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at the school board meeting when this was decided.

ACTUAL KNITTING CONTENT

I finished my little red shrug.  It took almost ever inch of the two skeins of Fantasy, but it basically looks like I had envisioned it.  I made M model it.

I have a couple of sleeveless dresses that I hope I can wear with it. 

The back center line is more visible that on the Viennese shrug, but still better than a seam.

The other project this week was woven bag #2.  I made sure I warped the loom super long, so it took me ages to weave.  I finally finished the weaving yesterday and seamed it while we watched a movie last night.

I need to wash it, but I really wanted to get it on the blog today.  I imagine there will be a load or two of laundry this weekend that I can toss it into.  First I'm off to the mall to get M a haircut.  Woo-hoo.

ENTHOOSIAZAM



I HAZ IT