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September 13, 2005
Secret Pal
I signed up for SP6 despite mixed experiences with SP3. My gosh have there been 2 since then? Seems like yesterday that I was plotting my surprise for Lolly. Every once in a while I drop into her blog and/or I hear from her. Because she was so fab I decided to go ahead and give it another shot. Button forthcoming or at least I believe Liz is working on taking off the #3 and replacing it with #6. So here is the questionaire:
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? Yeah I kinda am a yarn snob. Brand and price doesn't really make a huge diff to me but I do tend to stick to natural fibers. A bit of synthetic blended in is OK. What would socks be without that 15-25% of nylon? And microfiber added into wool or cotton yarns gives a certain cushy goodness to the whole shebang
2. Do you spin? Crochet? I like to think I spin. No I don't crochet nor do I have an interest in learning
3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)I just quit smoking Aug 1st so am avoiding the smell like the plague. I have excema which is irritated by perfumed stuff tho I sometimes do spritz a bit on. However I cannot wear scented lotions because I am too tempted to slather tham on everywhere instead of safe zones. I am "deathly" allergic to cats.
4. How long have you been knitting? I have been knitting steadily for 10 years, almost all of 20 years with a year or two off here or there and off and on for over 30
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No but if you have an overwhelming desire to purchase a book for me I will make one
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)I like citrus or spicey scents. Those cinn. stick holiday candles rock. Carnation is my favorite of all time smells followed closely by lemon, grapefruit etc
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? oh my yes
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Except for knitting I am not the least bit crafty tho I keep wishing I was.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I am pretty computer illiterate and have no idea how to access MP3s etc.
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? I am a 'winter' so gravitate towards kewl colors~ purples, greens, blues. I am intrigued by mustard yellows, umber, paprika or pumpkin oranges, yellow greens etc but cannot wear them in large quantities. However they are fab for an accent color. The only thing I really do not like is sweet pastel colors or non blue based reds.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Married with 3 kidlets
12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I compulsively purchase lace yarns. I guess it is safe to say those are my favorite. My absolute fave tends to be whichever laceweight I am working with at the moment so for the next few months its gonna be Shetland 2 ply. There are some that are almost too nice to knit{unless I stockpile enough of it} such as the yak/silk blend I blogged about last month. That stuff is OMG to die for.
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? N/A but check Q#1
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? I have been knitting lace daily for almost a decade. Well not right now cause I am doing a rhinebeck sweater but usually its my warm up to the daily knitting.
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I struggle to not cast on for another shawl
17. What are you knitting right now? 2 shawls, socks, aran, and a beaded wrister
18. What do you think about ponchos? ewwwwwwww
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? circulars
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? bamboo tho I just purchase a complete set of Aero needles which I love. I have a slight nickel allergy so had to replace my turbos
21. Are you a sock knitter? only cause I am fond of warm feet and have poor circulation.
22. How did you learn to knit? My mothers best friend Celia taught me on a car trip before I turned 10 I retaught myself as a teen and then again in my early 20's~ I'm 40 so the almost all of 20 years covers the last taught myself bit
23. How old is your oldest UFO? Nothing is more than a few months old right now. Only cause I ripped all but my shawl UFO's a few weeks ago
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Secret Squirrel and friends... the colors were so fab on that cartoon. Sheep cause its required and cutie birdies.... I managed to finally snag some Amy Ruppels!
25. What is your favorite holiday? any holiday I get to see my mum which is usually Thanksgiving
26. Is there anything that you collect? sheepie stuff like the total knit dweeb that I am. I also really love those beaded stitch markers some crafty gals make. Lately I have been collecting japanese seed beads for knitting with [size 8 or 10] Am trying to stash up so that when I want a certain color I can look and voila its there
27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? none tho I sure wish I had Twists and Turns or Woolgathering. Probably my Xmas giftie to self this year
28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? not that I can think of right now. There are a few that look interesting but I haven't seen them yet to develope a gonna die if I don't get it mode
29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another?? There's always a new pattern out there but nothing I can think of off the top of head.
ETA: 30. What are your foot measurements, and what kind of socks do you like? I use Michelle's sock pattern for my socks and those fit my feet ab fab. I have never actually measured my foot but I gather its a woman's avg. I think the feature I most enjoy is the ribbing over top of foot part~ makes for a very nice fitting sock.
Posted by Elka at 09:25 PM | Comments (2)
Two Down One More to Go
My RS starts at the top with two saddles. First step CO provisionally. There are quite a few ways to do a provi CO. I used to do some sorta Itsy bitsy spider weaving in and out with needle between two different yarns bit. There are actually several varients on this manuever~ I like Barbara Walkers in Knitting from the Top. Then there is CO with different yarn and change to new yarn either before or after knitting a few rows to inches. And then there is the crochet a chain with a handful more chain sts and pick up purl bumps method. I recently learned a varient on this crochet CO and tried to take pictures.
The method is to make a loop with a different yarn, I use a smooth cotton, and place onto crochet hook. Snug it up. Now place your working needle between crochet hook and working thread. The needle is above the working thread. Take the hook over the needle, catch your working thread, pull it down to make a chain. You have just wrapped the working thread around the needle in the process of creating a chain. Your working thread will now be over the needle and between needle and hook. Run the working thread around needle tip to back of needle. Don't loop it over the needle! Ok pictures which hopefully will clarify:
OK we see the original loop on hook, needle over and between working thread/hook, grabbing working thread, pulling working thread down over needle into loop to create chain, moving thread back behind needle between needle/crochet hook, working thread back in positio, several stitches being worked and finally When you have CO one less stitch than called for in pattern~ slide the loop on crochet hook onto needle. Leave a few inches tails on both ends of chain and switch to your main yarn.
For the title of todays post we turn to snafu #2~ being a dumb eff. I worked my provi CO, taking a slew of pictures {4X what you see here so I could edit out the suck ass ones tyvm} like a good blogger, and started my first saddle. First thought "hmmm why isn't she having us work a plain knit row first? This sure is gonna be hard to pick up sts in order with them being knits and purls and increases and all...." Second thought " hmmmmmm why didn't she mirror image these cables? I cannot possibly be the only person who likes mirror imaged cables....." Finished the first saddle CO for second and whats the first sentance 'knit one row' Arghhhhhhh. I went ahead and knit the first row since it had been a mental flag moment during first saddle and muttered yep much nicer. OK we needed to knit 3 saddles. And since we were gonna knit a third anyway why not just mirror image those little cables? Here are saddles one and two:
On the right you might be able to see how the yellow thread is kinda weaving in and out of bottom edge which would make it harder to pick up those stitches evenly once unzipped. And now a closeup of second saddle with mirror imaged 1/1 cables or crossed stitched. A real wasted effort considering how dark the yarn is and how its near impossible to see the cables anyway. Still it pleases me to know I did it.
Kidlet has checkup today so look for sockity progress tomorrow. Great yarny day and knitterly evening y'all
Posted by Elka at 07:37 AM | Comments (2)