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January 31, 2006
On Color
Nona wrote a nice entry about color dominance a while ago. Sranded color knitters are told that they are to always strand the same color[either CC or MC knitter's choice] the same way~ from below, typically left hand, or above, typically right hand. I was quite pleased, several years ago, to have Meg Swansen comment on some gloves I knit noting that I had obviously followed the trueism of maintaining dominance. She didn't use those terms but I was pleased nonetheless. It is difficult for me to remember which yarn is being submissive vs which is being dominant. I don't keep notes on such things myself and when I travel from one mitten or sock or even, truth be told, a project that has been set aside for while I spend quite some time peering at the insides trying to puzzle through what I did. For those who do not believe in the power of dominance I have pictures. Recently I ordered Inca and one of the designs utilizes dominance vs submissiveness as a feature. Copyright police please don't call me cause I rudely photographed the swatch photo and chart photo. It is enough to knit an entire garment from but I hope you like having the math already done for you and won't. Or buy the book at least~ excellent stuff in there. Photo 1 is the swatch:
Note how on the right side the white stands out and on the left the gray stands out. At first I thought this effect was created by maybe doubling the white vs gray or working two sts in the white vs gray. And pardon the flash btw~ only so many times I will photograph something I really shouldn't. The guilt is eating away at me.... Anyway I puzzled over the swatch for a few minutes and then looked at the chart:
I have no idea what Mork and Lys means but I can only assume 'dominans' means what it kinda sounds like~ dominance. Especially given that it is a 1/1 pattern on both sides. If you ever doubted the importance of maintaining color dominance I hope this proves the point. I know those photos in FI books that say see how this color stands out more in this swatch didn't seem like much proof to me. And how clever of Isager to use it!
Anyway I wanted to talk a bit about color because I have been thinking on such things. I personally am 'a winter' preferring jewel or deap dark rich tones that are nice and cool~ blues, greens, purples, black, bleached white and blue reds. But lately I have been admiring other people's knits that are beiges, browns, and creams. Even orange! And a mitten in the Cimdu book that is screaming 'knit me' just happens to be a pastelly blue[the worst possible shade of any cool color is pastelly] with yellow on it. Yellow. Now these colors make me look like I have been feeding the maggots for quite some time. And I started wondering about color trends. How, for example, FI used to be woad and indigo and carmine with some gold thrown in and then became natural sheepy colors. It was a trend from what I have read. I wonder if Elka is getting ready to embark on natural colors. Somehow they just seem more knitterly to me right now. More earthy and natural and to the roots. Forget that most of them look dingy and dirty on top of making me look dead~ knitterly as in I am isolated woman knitting by the peat fire with yarn I spun shorn from sheepies on farm. No dyes available to my overwhelmed with keeping myself and family warm tasks. Or if available too time intensive for my dozens of kids needed to keep the farmland running. Ah the romanticism of knitting.
I'm off to knit a bit more on the shawl~ one more row to go before its grafting time~ and ponder the vagaries of color preferences. Til tomorrow yarny days and knitterly evenings....
Posted by Elka at 10:15 PM | Comments (4)
January 30, 2006
Sunday Socks Part 2
yah the Jaywalkers. I am so wicked weak.... a total lemming. The love of last socks in last yarn had me perusing other patterns in KOTR but I had promised a blog reader that I would try the Lorna's in this pattern. Liking it! I am knitting the largest size cause wouldn't you know it~ my feet are 9.5" round! Who knew? I certainly didn't until I measured for Sockapaloooza questionaire. I have pulled them on over my ankles and they seem a bit loose but considering I have been knitting ribby type of socks 8" max round what can I expect? I haven't even bothered gauging cause we are being gauge challenged but I am using 2.25mm needles and my 2mms are in use on a shhhhhhhhhh secret project. Yes I spend hours a day knitting something behind your backs. I spend hours a day knitting so I have something to blog about and then sneak in another few hours of behind back stuff. But being gauge challenged I have no clue if I am getting what I am supposed to be getting so I might have to rip. Natch Too big I might felt/too small well knitting is stretchy.... I am so not purchasing smaller needles and my biggers are on the Jays. ummmm I cast them on back to back on the same day. The socks stuck where you see em the other project 1/4ish done. Maybe this weekend I will be done?
Cherry Garcia calling ~ yarny days and knitterly evenings to all
Posted by Elka at 10:11 PM | Comments (2)
January 29, 2006
Sundays Socks Part 1
Finito. Love these socks and adore this yarn. Finished up the pair in the wee hours of the morning~ before going to bed even. Hence part 1 cause we are working on another pair.... had to have socks for Sunday ;^> My prime knitting time is 9 pm to 2 am so I will take a picture for Part 2 tomorrow and post then. Oh I left a comment on Rose by Any's site cause she is counting socks knit by bloggers. A pair counts as 2 socks so I am updating her every time I finish a single sock and emailed the Purling Ps
yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 07:28 PM | Comments (2)
January 28, 2006
Misery Week 4
Misery is living up to its name. Last week I gave my sweater a little shota steam before photographing it for blog. Since I took the picture I have been walking past it and pausing to look but not knowing why or what I was looking *for* Something was off but I had no clue what exactly was the problem. I wrote it off to beautimous intarsia design and big headed admiration. But then it hit me~ the sweater was wider towards the needle than it was towards the hem. Ah the hem was done on smaller needles and the stitches on needle were not compressed by a row of sts above them no big. Finally, unable to quiet the nagging voice in head, I pulled out my tape measure. 23sts/4" as required near hem. 20 sts/4" midpoint. So this week I have been cogitating on gauge and how to deal with this sweater. True misery. Next week we shall go for negative progress and rip.
yarny day and knitterly evenings to all.
Posted by Elka at 08:15 PM
January 27, 2006
Swatching Mama
Today I spent swatching the BWA and am really considering returning the yarn. Except for the two hanks I have swatched, washed, swatched, washed ad nauseum. I am so not enjoying working with it. And Hello the BWA is the 3rd yarn I have used for St Brigid swatches and its impossible. 20 sts instead of required 21 sts and 32 rows instead of the 27 rows called for. On all the swatches I have too many rows and not enough sts per inch. Is there a 'oopsie we screwed up' on this book out? I know people complain about the difficulty in getting Starmore gauge but I haven't had problems before. Mind you I have done FI not texture designed by her so that may be the big issue..... *sigh* back to swatching.
yarny days and knitterly evenings.
Posted by Elka at 11:33 PM | Comments (2)
January 26, 2006
Shawl update ummmm not really
Ummm it looks like it did yesterday but you know bigger. Tomorrow Zoe and 4 of her closest, bestest friends will be eating chips, chex mix, pizza, cake and icecream while watching a whopping 4 movies[or choice of 4 movies] and then~ after they sleep ha ha ha~ eat donuts for breakfast before I send them off to their poor innocent parents overdosed on sugar and fat. I don't like that Zoe's idea of a real party involves a sleep ha ha ha over. If you have never hosted a sleepover trust me the ha ha has are appropriate. Last year I went to bed at 3 am and they were still up. Running wild. Like banshees. As soon as I recover from this ordeal I will be planning a nice sedate party at Build-a-Bear for Ashley. Believe it or not a Build-a-Bear party with its minimum requirements on $$$ spent still costs less than a sleep-over. In fact I spent more on junk food for one night than I spend on real food for a week. Zoe is overjoyed and informed me that I need to shop like that all the time....
OK face it I am super crabby. I hate cleaning for these parties but I always think I have to cause I know if I dropped my kids off at a dirty messy house I would worry about them eating anything or touching anything or even falling over anything. Not that my house is that bad but lets face it~ I have 3 kids and you never know about other parents standards of minimum cleanliness. I figure if the bathroom and kitchen are clean and the floor is picked up then I am doing good. Other parents might oh I don't know scrub tile grout for jollies. I don't mean to sound glib there. When I only had Zoe and I was upset over something I would get on my hands and knees with a toothbrush and scrub the kitchen floor tiles' ummm cement crap seperating them and crevices between wall and tiles. Screaming babies would have me scrubbing tons. Not while she was screaming but, you know, when she finally fell asleep I was so wound up I had to do something and why not scrub? And yes I knit at the time. I just was too wound up to knit which is a pretty sad state of affairs.
Here's hoping you never get to the point that scrubbing floors with toothbrush is more appealing than knitting! yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 08:04 PM
January 25, 2006
Shawl update & a Meme
Step away from the sock. Put it down. Remember Sundays are for socks. No sense in being miserable knitting socks day in and day out. Specially when there are shawls to be completed ;^>
I mentioned that the shawl center diamond was being reworked as two triangles to be grafted together. I am not that good at grafting. Usually the sts I graft come out to be at a much tighter gauge than the knitting. Basically I do the weaving portion and pull the thread. This time I decided to knit a few rows in a contrasting similarly weight yarn to 'duplicate stitch' over while creating the graft. Pull out the contrasting thread and I should have a graft at similar, if not same, gauge as the actual knit portions. Here is the completed triangle with contrasting thread from both sides:
And:
Hopefully no matter how the other triangle ends~ with a valley or a peak~ I will be able to graft in pattern by following the path of my contrasting thread. Thats the plan.
I also started the second triangle and here is where I was at earlier this evening:
I expect a few more rows by time I conk out tonight.
Lady Prudence et al tagged me! I have been seeing this thingie go round blog land for quite a while and I gotta tell you.... nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever flipped burgers to save money for college. I decided to switch up the tag a bit and so go ahead and skip over or read as you like. Wasn't it nice of me to put the knitting stuff first?
List 4 jobs you've had~ changed to first 4 real jobs[not babysitting, newspaper route etc] you've had
Waitress at diner~ much fun slopping coffee inot the bottomless 49 cents cuppa joe that lasted hours really these peeps had no jobs to earn the shiney quarter. Believe it or not I loved this job.
Artists Model~ best paying job I ever had in college~ see above if you don't believe me. Standing nekkid in front of a classroom full of strangers takes nerves. The first class I did the prof well he was my best HS friends dad and she was now my room mate. I kinda felt weird on weekends when he dropped by after that. I got over it.
Projectionist~ I asked and asked for this job. I was the first female projectionist ever in my not so small college town. The manager refused to believe a woman could lift those large reels. When he was transferred to another theatre that was opening and some new guy put in charge I was promptly moved to concessions. Don't tell me there aren't glass ceilings cause women serve popcorn and men run the flicks.
Nanny~ I moved cross country to be with my gal pal Loretta and it was a good paying gig with room and board included. The downside? You lose your job you lose your home in one fell swoop.
+1 related to Nanny was Elder Care Companion~ people pay more to take care of their parents than their kids let me tell you. And I have watched more Angela Lansbury and Andy Griffith than any other person my generation. Hours and hours and hours a day every day for years by the time I was 25.
List 4 movies you could watch over and over
Sabrina with Hepburn not Ford, Sound of Music, any of the Thin Man series and my favorite of all time: Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks. I love old movies.
List 4 TV shows you love to watch
Law and Order every day~ we have the original, SVU &CI daily thanks to USA and TNT. The Shield and The Closer. Give me a crime drama anyday. Loved Buffy but thats gone. BTW Chiklas is hot. Loved him in The Commish[which being a policey type of show I watched duh] and love him in this too. The first show I ever had to watch? crap can't remember the name but it was a police show as well.
List 4 places you've been on vacation
Mexico, New Orleans, Memphis[you knew that one] and San Fran. Basically family vacations. I never took one on my own....
List 4 websites you visit daily
Daily Kos, CNN, knit related Blogs and here cause I know you noticed I am blogging every day
List your 4 favorite foods~ only 4 favorites? Who wrote this?
Beans 'n Rice are very very nice. Icecream. Is coke a food? I vote yes. Multigrain cheerios with a sliced up apple. Almost anything with a combination of pasta, rice, and potatoes. Oh and gyros.
List 4 places I'd rather be right now and with whom
in bed with my man, in Ireland with my gal pal Loretta, in S Carolina with my other gal pal Rosemarie, in bed with my man again.
List 4 bloggers I'm tagging
breaking the chain plus I think all memes are scraping the barrel by the time they get to me. But if you wanna do it then go ahead ~ tag your it!
yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 09:06 PM | Comments (1)
January 24, 2006
gahhhhhh
I couldn't bear it another second. The sock~ its never gonna be done. 4 rounds at a time is all I can stand. And looksie~ I joined Sockapalooza! And better yet I added the button all by myself! Back to the neverending wonderful sock. Really its wonderful but I have knit on it every single day for 8 days and we all know I am not Miss Sock Knitter. I have decided on my Olympic chore. You guessed it~ socks! One measly pair for my Sockapalooza pal knit in 16 days. I have yet to finish a pair of socks in less than a month so it will be a true challenge. Meanwhile I scoff at my lofty goal of freeing up my needles. I CO a brand spanking new project....
yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 08:59 PM
January 23, 2006
Sunday Socks
I should call this the week socks. Tuesday I knit the ribbing, Wednesday the leg to first decrease row, Thursday decreases, Friday leg from decreases to ankle, Saturday flap and heel turning, Sunday gusset. I am a sock knitting fiend. Did you know that I, in all my sockity knitting love, have sock knitting tricks? I do.
You know how in typical heel flaps you slip 1, k1 accross on RS rows and slip 1, purl to end on WS rows? And then the instructions invariably ask you to repeat these two rows X times for so many chain sts along side. Like you can count the chain sts in dark yarn knit at 8 spi. Yah. Well Elka has a trick to make up for the mind numbingly boring knitting that puts her brain to sleep ummm I mean so exciting she doesn't have the sense of mind to count. She counts the floats. Yes the floats. When you slip the stitch on RS rows you are creating a float on WS row and, after having completed a WS row she can slide her needle between floats and fabric and then easily count them. Each float=2 rows or 1 repeat. Here we have 14 floats and the pattern calls for row 1, row 2 repeat rows 1&2 14X for 15 chains. I need to knit 2 more rows for 1 more float..... see
yarny days and knitterly evening everybody
Posted by Elka at 08:01 PM | Comments (3)
January 22, 2006
Misery Week #3
Ah Misery. I didn't show a picture last week cause I had a wicked headache and hadn't managed to knit an appreciable amount. I did do my required hour but an hour isn't much in intarsia land. This week I made up for it by knitting a whopping 5 rows. 5 people. But I also weaved in all my spare ends, knit a pocket, did the attaching pocket row. In other words we are making progress. Here is the picture of Flower Print Jacket designed by Kaffe the intarsia gawd Fassett and appearing in Libery Book #1 for Rowan yarns way back when. Like 1989. BTW I did find somebody with some spare 'Midnight' DDK and it is being held for me just in case....
In other knitting news I ripped the Celtic Dreams and am working hard on freeing up my needles. Well my Aeros at least. The WIP count is now 4: Flower Print, Hap Shawl, Cobweb wrap, Conwy socks. The hap is using Nobles but since I decided to graft two triangles into center diam the first triangle is sitting on some Aero needles. I believe I can finish Conwy and the second half of Hap Diam including grafting before the Olympics and thats the big honking goal of moment.
In non knitting news
Hey! Zoe turns 10 tomorrow~ Monday Jan 23rd
does anybody else find this odd?
Its annoying in skin care products but tickled my funny bone here. ... Oh well I'm strange.
yarny days and knitterly evenings everybody
Posted by Elka at 08:43 PM | Comments (3)
January 21, 2006
Don't Remember
Picked up from Terri's blog
If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don’t speak often, please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL MEMORY OF YOU AND ME.
It can be anything you want–good or bad–BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.
When you’re finished, post this on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON’T ACTUALLY remember about you.
Posted by Elka at 07:41 PM | Comments (2)
January 20, 2006
Book Her Dano
Just because I am not buying yarn doesn' t mean I am saving my yarn pennies. I am buying books instead of yarn and we all know a book costs more than the avg ball of yarn. Come to think of it the stashalong is gonna break the bank. Today's arrival consisted of 4 books from Schoolhouse Press. Tonight we look through Cimdu. Duraini // Gloves. Mittens This small book is written in Latvian and English and has tons and tons of pictures of Mittens with a few gloves thrown in. No charts of any of the hand coverings nor patterns for that matter but oh the inspiration. Now I had read that there were no charts on several peeps blogs but was misled by this post OK I need to chart myself and how can I not with such clear photos? BTW two of the other three books are gonna require my charting from pictures as well and this is what I really love about knitting. Not the process[which I agonize over too much] nor the FO[which I whip out quickly when I wanna] but the whole analyzing of patterns. Yay.
OK Nece got into more beads and now I do not think I have a single bag left. Swatches are getting tiresome and I am thinking of doing a EPS or PGR plain st st sweater~ patternless per se has to count for something. But the color patterns of mittens and gloves.... ahhhhh. Off to eyeball some more fabby pictures.
OH almost forgot! I was tickled pink today while perusing various yarny sites to find my pattern yes mine as the "pick of the day" on the One Fine Yarn site. I feel like screen shotting it for posterity but am getting woozy from all the giddiness and don't want to seem to big headed. Cause its giddiness not big headedness but I realize that they can seem the same. Still woo hooo my pattern!
yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 08:58 PM | Comments (1)
January 19, 2006
Shhhhhhh Gauging
I am still madly preparing for the Olympics. After the numerous swatches I mentioned yesterday I went down in needles and finally ended up with a swatch I felt was too firm for the yarn. Oh sure it showed the stitch work better but it seemed a waste of yarn's potential drapiness. And it was still not firm enough for Dame Alice. Phooey. Then I thought about Celtic Dreams which I am not enjoying in the given yarn cause it seems not dense enough.... hmmm swatch Celtic in the Jaeger aran and St Brigid in BWA? Yes thats a good idea but since I am pulling out different yarns to swatch why not the DLT for Refined Aran? Already I have gone down a needle size for the DLT and am questioning my sanity. Then there is Rogue but Rogue has the hoodie and well I think the hoodie would make it a sweater and half with the half coming on last days when I am already blind. Refined Aran is getting big votes cause its a vest even if its knit in size 3 mm[or so it seems at the moment] needles on dark yarn. You didn't think I would knit something light colored did you?
Non Olympian news brings us to the sock which I started last night. And beads. Did you know I like to buy beads? There is a bead store not 5 mins from my home and everytime I am feeling a wee bit down I run out and buy a couple of packets of beads. Each packet contains 30gms and I tend to buy 60gms of each color that catches my fancy. Just in case I end up knitting something that needs more than 15gms. Elka the stasher. A little kidlet name Nece also known as the eco terrorist reminder picture:
decided to open all my packets of beads and play with them. I have been gathering up beads for days now and have a big ol container full of mixed size 8 seed beads. Maybe I will take a picture of them and do a 'exactly how cheap is Elka?' post. Cause I am seriously considering sorting them..... cause I am cheap. Way cheap.
Toodles~ yarny days and knitterly evenings everyone
Amost forgot: major major props to Lady Prudence for walking me through button land. Not that I could do it on my own cause she did all the work and just told me to copy and paste wherever I wanted them in such and such place reached by clicking this that and the other.
Posted by Elka at 09:25 PM | Comments (1)
January 18, 2006
Learning something new
No picture today because I spent the last 24 hrs learning something new! and exciting! and new! Did I mention new? There I am swatching for St Brigid in stashiola yarn stash a long unofficial participant doncha know and I judiciously start with one needle size smaller than recommended in pattern. Cause I am historically a loosey goosey knitter. Ah my swatch was too wide so I make another swatch and another and another. Yes 3 more swatches. Each time puzzling over why my gauge is getting more and more off. Ah heres the new part: When you are getting too few sts per inch decrease needle size. Can somebody send me something to help me sleep already?
yarny days and knitterly evenings ya'lls
Posted by Elka at 08:39 PM
January 17, 2006
This and That
Thanks for all the kind comments on sweater. I felt kinda braggerty posting it but hey its not like you *have* to read my blog. OK in knitting news I finished the first sock. Not sure if I should lengthen it or not. Why do we stop the foot 2" shorter than desired length when the toe shaping isn't that long? Not grinching. Here is a close up of the sock on foot[I didnt' shave my legs so am wearing pants]: 
As mentioned before I love this sock and I especially love this sock in this yarn. If you paid attention to fuzziness of a few days ago you may have noticed it looked a wee bit off. The ankle is 4" around unstretched and maybe 6" at top of cuff unstretched. But when I put the sock on I can almost hear it....."ah elka I was nothing til I met you~ your feet are wonderful and I love them so much.... let me cling to every beautiful curve .... no! your callouses are lovely don't feel bad let me love you .... baby I mean it I love you... stop your being silly ~dont be shy really you are lovely and I love love love your feet...." Don't believe me? Check out the love:
In other not weird feet loving sock news I have asked The Mistress of Pain, The Goddess of all that is Unholy in Knitting, The... words fail me if I joined the sadist in training's group could I be excused from her weekly sessions for the duration. I haven't heard back but I suspect its cause she is cackling evily and composing suitably chastising letters about discipline and building character. Why oh why do I have to be such a masochist? I am swatching just in case.
Mama Liz, to whom we owe the blog, posted about MT and comments. I found 6 comments that had been automatically junked and the list only went back to beginning of year{I have been blogging almost 2 or is it 3 now}. I think I have fixed the problem but if you left a comment and it never showed up or I didn't reply its cause of MT not cause I thought your opinion was unworthy. I have been quite dismayed, and in fact mentioned it on Michelle's blog, that I never get comments. Or at least 20 comments in a year is close enough to never for me. I was even tempted to get rid of blog and just stop boring everybody who accidentally got here due to following a link. Not that I blog for others but the fact is I can keep track of my knitting sans photos with pen and paper. Every knitter likes to get feedback~ either positive or negative~ about what they are working on. At least I think thats why people have guilds and knit ins and other sorta gatherings. We like to see what people are working on and show off what we are working on. Even if what we are working on happens to be craptastic and we want some help in how to solve a problem or its fabby and we want to help others achieve their visions using our tricks. So anyway I am glad that is fixed.... fingers crossed
yarny days and knitterly evenings ;^>
Posted by Elka at 07:29 PM | Comments (5)
January 16, 2006
boo yah
Hey they changed my last name....
Happy knitting this... the other isn't on site yet. Will alert you when its up.
Posted by Elka at 08:25 PM | Comments (6)
January 15, 2006
Sunday Socks
In keeping with the Sundays are for Socks mode I worked a bit more on Conwy. Not much more since I am still headachey from lack of sleep. I did turn the heel and finish the gusset area. Here she is:
I am starting to think that the reason my pictures are coming out fuzzy is cause I can barely see. Unlike last time its not dirty little finger prints on lens but the pounding head. How many times can I mention this BTW?
OK I did hear from my fabby SP Carol and I did a quick skim of last 60 msgs. I need to go back and read it very carefully but I likes Carol. I think she is as cute as can be. And while I am linking to peeps do you read My Adventured in the Breadbox? Its a cooking blog and she makes some yummy stuff. How yummy? Margene asks how do we read blogs and tho I plan on reading all the replies to maybe help this blog be more appealing I haven't yet. What I can tell you is that Alice is so into the yummm that I actually read each and every single post. More than once. The first time I stumbled across her site I hit archives to follow her from day one. Forget I was late to the party. Yumm. Let me say it again: yummmmmmmmmmmm
Goofing on the not gonna mention it again but you know so signing off~ yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 07:24 PM
January 14, 2006
Not at All Pleased
Wicked headache from lack of sleep. This is so old fashioned thats its rediculous... I cannot sleep when my husband isn't home. When he goes on weekend tournaments I stay up til 7 or 9 am then crash from til maybe noon if I am lucky. My sleep schedule gets thrown off and I end up stuck in some vicious sleep deprived cycle of forcing myself to stay up to deal with life and being too sleep deprived to relax. I get hyped when I am tired. Anyway I am praying I get to sleep by 11 tonight even tho he isn't home since my entire head is pounding. All this means is that I have barely knit on my Misery Loves Company project. Don't feel too bad. I managed to put in over an hours worth between midnight and 4 am today. 4 to 8 was spent pacing *sigh*
For even more knit related content I have a picture of the hap shawl. Lorraine left a message on my last post stating that she too is working on the same project and I asked for pictures of her almost completed shawl. She kindly posted some today so go check them out. Anyway I am less than pleased with how mine is turning out. I last reported that I had just begun decreases for center diamond and here is a picture of the corner:
On the right hand side you see the increase section created by YO, knit to end of row and on the left side of triangle you see the decrease section created by YO, K3tog, knit to end of row. See how the YOs on increase section are relatively same sized and evenly spaced but how the ones on the decrease section are all mangled and icky? I had planned on knitting each YO to end up with border stitches seperated from center by a row of eyelets but now I doubt I can knit into the decrease sections YOs and worse yet my row of eyelets will look really sloppy. Lorraine's shawl gives me hope that I am worried over nothing but I did turn to 3C for a pow wow over sitch. We have decided that, given my adoration of increase section edge, I should knit 2 triangles and then graft them together to create a square. I am not much of a grafter. Oh sure a sock toe or edging beginning to end but 162sts! Hmmmmmm. Still it is what I think I am going to do. If the grafting doesn't work then I will do the center square or, since I will be breaking away from my usual method of shawl construction working the shawl traditionally. Edging to border to center square then edging to border graft to center 3 times and grafting sides of edgings/borders to each other. I should be an expert grafter by the time I am done with all of that ;^>
yarny days and knitterly evenings to all
PS: dearest SP if you are still checking my blog please email me. I would 1} like to check out your blog and 2} sent you a package and need to talk to you about it. Thanks!
Posted by Elka at 07:38 PM
January 13, 2006
River
As predicted River got blocked today. On my kidlets orange sheets. Have I mentioned the tie dyed orange sheet story yet? OK when we purchased this house Zoe asked for the room with Blue curtains cause she likes blue and green and cool soothing colors. She picked out blue paint for her walls and a blue-white paint for trim. She picked out blue and green sheet set. This summer she decided she can't stand her room and wants to trade with her baby sister whose room is still white. No big. We go to the Bed and Bath type of shops and I let her pick out sheets and accents~ no more wall painting for her. She goes with orange and red cause shes a "hot girl." Joy. Anyway orange and blue/purple etc kinda illustrate some sorta optical illusion due to color wheel theory I am sure. So not gonna look it up. The wrap was stretched to point that it stood offa the tie dyed orange sheets so are a bit outta focus but its probably fuzzy cause it makes "my eyes get all confused and head hurt" according to Ashley. 2 views:
And
For those who don't care overly much for op art I did take one soothing picture with wrap draped against wall.....
The WIP picked is another shawl.... grey hap shawl from Sharon Miller. I was still increasing to create first half of center diamond and have just started doing decreases for second half of center diamond. I hope to be at picking up stitches for border in a week. We shall see ~ yarny days and knitterly evenings.
PS the blocking instructions call for pinning shawl out every 2"ish for wavy edge.... am not sure if I like it or will turn to handy dandy wires. Hmmmm I might just steam the edges to strait edge.
Posted by Elka at 10:55 PM | Comments (1)
January 12, 2006
out of sorts
I finished the river wrap but haven't blocked yet~ will do so tomorrow. When I CO the last stitch, actually before but lets not quibble, I decided to ignore my WIPS and CO for Daisy or the gloves in same issue of Rowan. I can't get the stitch pattern on Daisy to work. My mind is so gone. I am sure its a matter of misreading the instructions so I guess its WIP land after all. This is soooooooooo frustrating and has been happening a bit lately. The satchel I knit for Alchemy, not shown on blog due to being work, was finished incorrectly. I had the sense to know I wasn't making the frog closure properly and sent the froggity bits unattached with a note that I was doing it wrong and coulndn't figure out how to make it right. Blindness and losing my sense of what I am doing are my two greatest fears as a knitter. Guess I'm shallow....
Posted by Elka at 10:38 PM
January 11, 2006
hmmmmmmm
I have wicked problems getting gauge on the hat pattern and am becoming discouraged. So I working on River between swatches ~ numerous swatches mind you~ and am almost done. To the point where I am contemplating scrunchiness. The scrunchy pros and cons have been weighing in and I think I am going with the cons here. The lists:
Pros; hands free wrap, hands free without sticking a pin into clothes that is
Cons: kids will play with scrunchie and possibly lose scrunchie, will need to wash scrunchie even when unworn along with wrap to maintain fading, bloopy ball of fabric over busom or waist area during hands free wrap wearing.
Since River basically looks the same only longer I am picture free today. For your viewing pleasure scope out the current Textile Display for Latvian textiles and if you have the time look over the previous displays. I love the lace on Men Who Knits pages. You will get a listing of previous displays on bottom of Latvian Textiles page. Enjoy and as usual
yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 10:32 PM
January 10, 2006
Cheat #2
This morning I blocked a wrap I basically finished last year. Ah the weaving in of ends and blocking going on this past few days is upping the official FO count to real impressive heights. Unless your the sort to think 5 FOs in 10 days is weak ;^> The pattern is for Oriel Wrap/Scarf and purchased as a kit via Wooly West in cream Nordic Lights. I saw many of these floating around blogland a while ago knit in KSH and the Nordic Lights is more of a fingering weight. There was some serious 3D stuff going on:
I have no clue if the 3D was due to sturdier yarn. BTW I really liked the Nordic Lights. Springy goodness that smelled sheepy when wet. I wouldn't hesitate to use it for any two color sock or mitten type of project. Anyway the 3D stuff blocked out beautifully:
And close up view:
I did modify the pattern slightly. I worked half a pattern repeat less than called for because I wanted to have the column of holes at garter edge on both ends. I also ended having worked a pattern row~ RS row~ and then started garter ridges on WS row so that the holes were worked immediately after and before the first purl ridge of garter. Thats one of my irks BTW and something I do quite often. You see it all the time: CO x sts work 6 knit rows begin pattern which means purl row/pattern and end with complete pattern finishing with WS row work 6 rows knit which means pattern/knit row. Persnickity. And isn't it great I can be persnickity? Knitting rules ;^>
Yarny day and knitterly evening yalls
PS the wrap goes into kids play basket cause *somebody* wiped up mustard with it. I soaked the wrap for 24 hrs in dish detergent water and its still stained. If anybody knows how to get rid of mustard stains shout out pls.....
Posted by Elka at 08:23 PM | Comments (2)
January 09, 2006
Who are you....
... and what have you done with Elka? Oh wait I am Elka but something strange is going on. I often say that I am not a sock knitter. In fact I am sure I have written that sock knitting is not travel knitting being rather icky. In my goal to knit 3 non~ Michelle socks I decided to dedicate Sundays to socks.
This week was such a bust. I started with a hank of Anne sock yarn and the Jaywalker pattern but after about 4" of leg knitting I realized my gauge was way off. Finished circumference of 7" and I couldn't imagine knitting the yarn any looser. So then I pulled out my Lorna's sock yarn and the Conwy pattern which I had worked on previously:
If you were reading my blog way back when you may recall I didn't like the pooling. I wound the second ball of yarn and worked with both alternating every round. Within a few inches I decided the pooling was worse than before since, by some absurd fluke of nature, both balls started at the exact same place in color sequence and each pool was now twice as deap. Ewww. Then I dug out two hanks of Shelridge Farms Soft Touch Heathers yarn in color Fury which is way more green than the website shows on my computer. I restarted Conwy. MAN I love this yarn in this pattern. Pros: its a 3 ply and therefore more rounded which any aran knitter will tell you shows cables more clearly than a flattish 2 ply, its a semi solid which shows the cables more easily than the variegated lornas, its slightly thicker than the lornas so the cables pop! Yep SFSTH is so much better than Lornas IMO. And I finished the decreases cause I cannot stop knitting sock
happy knitting
Posted by Elka at 09:52 PM
January 08, 2006
With friends like these....
During the period of virus and computer down time there were several posts on one of my lists dealing with non-perky bobbles, horrid cotton yarns, icky intarsia, difficult patterns and dreaded WIPs. I didn't read them all because I wasn't exactly computer bound. They led to a grand plan. 1 hr a week knitting your most fearsome project cause Misery Loves Company. Oh I was so in. But which project to chose?
I put two projects on the table. The first a Kaffe design that I had CO and ripped several times over the past 10 yrs. The second a lace design that was, OK I admit it, a cop out. Still there are problems with the cop out and it had been stalled for an equally long time. The along hostess Junie suggested the Kaffe. Oh how can I begin to list all the reasons not to knit this project? The yarn was discontinued ummm 15 yrs ago. It is a drop shouldered boxy cardigan not suitable to either the fashion du jour or my figure. It is stranded colorwork worked flat. I can't work in round cause it has intarsia bits and I am sure, with every fiber of my being, that I am going to run out of yarn anyway. Still I joined the along and dedicated Sat as my MLC KAL day. Yes we are required to pick a certain day for the hour. I went way beyond an hour starting at 11 pm Friday night and ending at 11:46 pm Saturday night. Every single free moment was dedicated to knitting this nightmare. It looks pretty cute if I have to say so myself. See~
Actually its not even at the good and pretty part yet but we have the ooglie border done and have started the gorgeous crackling part. And if anybody has any DDK in the long discontinued #628 Navy aka Midnight not second incarnation Lavender shout out. I will ask for the beige DDK next week. Til then yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 07:15 PM
January 07, 2006
Forgotten
I was waiting for a designer friend to resend hat instructions and decided to tackle my WIPs. I listed 3 earlier in the week. The WIP I picked? The fourth forgotten WIP~ River. I had completed the first 10 rows prior to visiting Liz and 3C and was just at the point that things got interesting. At least that is where I think I was. The guilt of forgetting its existance made me pick it. I have made some good progress:
Just past half way done. I am not knitting it in KSH since my LYS did not have any in stock when I picked up the pattern. I chose to ignore the fact that I have @50 balls of KSH and KSH-like yarns in stash. I purchased some Crystal Palace Kid Merino which was being unpacked while I shopped, This yarn is more woolly than KSH and therefore has more oomph. A good thing considering the size 10.5US needles called for in pattern.
OK yarny days and knitterly evenings to all
Posted by Elka at 10:33 PM | Comments (1)
January 06, 2006
Cheating
Yes I admit sometimes I cheat. Does that make it OK? If I confess? Last year again with the long ago feeling I was bored with whatever I was knitting at the time. I needed a wee bit more pizzaz. Or color actually. So I picked up the Unikat yarn and a pattern by Pick Up Sticks called Bow I knit it up in a weekend then set it aside for a while. After about a month I threw it in the washer and shrunk it down to size. Still it falls into 2006's FO pile cause I didn't cut my yarn ends until just now. So here she is~ 2006's second official FO:
Gonna go look around and see what else needs a few minutes worth of work to qualify for FO-dom.
Til next time yarny days and knitterly evenings for all!
Posted by Elka at 10:59 PM | Comments (1)
January 05, 2006
Three Little Kittens
Last year~ oh how that sounds so long ago instead of just under a week ;^> ~ I saw some cute little fishie mittens on Van's blog. They are shown on Dec 14th. And yes one day I will learn how to track back but not now OK. This photo led me to my last yarn purchase of 2005 made on Dec 16th. Yeah I was a bit behind in my blog reading. While picking up a kit for fishie mittens I also picked up reg mitts for kids kit, extra yarn of same weight, and headband kit with extra yarns. Lotsa yarn. Lotsa patterns for stuff I coulda figured out how to do myself but I was thinking X-mas quickie kidlet gift no time for math. The kits with extra yarns arrived Dec 24th folks. Why in the world would I think I would have time for knitting my children mittens behind their backs in @ 12 weekend and vacation hours? Musta been some sorta druggie channeling going on. Still school started on Weds and I managed to whip out three pairs of mittens for my three little kittens in time for beginning of school:
I voted against the fishiness after I thought about how cruel kids can be.
they call my sweet little angel faced Ashley 'crazy girl'
Still pretty cute. And the first offical FO of 2006.
not such a yarny day[and oh how hard that was today while looking at others holiday hauls and new projects and along listings] but promising to be a pretty knitterly evening...
Posted by Elka at 07:33 PM
January 04, 2006
Whoosh!
My DH plugged in my Cam cord so I downloaded pix. Proof that I didn't totally forget about blogdom rests in the 30 pictures I took in past month~ more than I normally would have posted! I will save them for when I am in the midst of major knitting work. But I did promise pictures of my Holiday Haul. After opening the sheepy related gifts from family the door bell rang and it was the postman with a package from my SP. She sent me some laceweight merino, a Fiber Trends shawl pattern, and a good luck frog. I feel lucky to have such a generous SP. A few days later a package from Marti arrived with Tuir yarn to make the lovely bag pictured on her blog on Dec 14th. I just absolutely loved her bag and left several comments asking for colors used so she popped into her LYS and purchased them for me. She also sent one of her handknit mini-ornament sweaters which the kids have hidden from me. Darned brats. OK here is the picture of loverly gifts which just happen to compliment each other color wise:
Ah yarny bliss. BTW I came accross the Stash-along page again and its too darned late for me to officially join. Big pout. Since my B-day falls on April 7th~ one full week after the along ends~ I thought it would lead to guilt free yarn splurginess. I am unofficially participating so there. Knitterly evening to all
Posted by Elka at 09:13 PM
January 03, 2006
Well Pooh
I had a virus for a week or so and my husband also rebuilt our computer desk area. End result? Long time with no computer and now without camara connection to computer thingie plugged in. Would I have any idea where to plug it in? Not on your life. I did finish my first official non work project tonight so will take pix to show after gifties are shown. Gotta drag out the fodder for as long as possible. BTW I noticed on a blog~ can't remember which but was on somebody's sig line~ that they are doing a stash along. Jan 1st through March 31st. I think I can wing that.....
Not a yarny day but a knitterly evening ;^>
Posted by Elka at 11:05 PM | Comments (1)
January 02, 2006
New Year's Projects
One of the lists I belong to had a New Year's Projects contest. Basically state your fibery goals for 2006 and be entered into random drawing for fabby prizes. I didn't win but I enjoyed everybody's responses and nailed down a few goals for myself. Ready for my goals?
One Elka sized pleasing sweater. I have a tendancy to not knit for myself and when I do I overthink yarn choices, pattern choice and techniques used. Really when you only knit one garment in 10 years for yourself the bevy of choices amongst long list of cutie projects becomes which ONE will I do? Top it off with my tendancy to rip things half way through cause I am not sure I want to be knitting said pattern in said yarn using said techniques its really pathetic I even bother to call myself a knitter. I did knit a tank for the Nathania's Tank-Along and decided to rip it tho haven't bothered to do so yet. This was completed in 2004.
Three fabby socks not in Michelle's fabby sock pattern. I really think I need to extend my sock knitting horizon although~ and here is the overthinking part~ Michelle's sock pattern is perfection itself and why should I bother with fancy socks? But then I have some solid yarns that would suit several Nancy Bush patterns more than plain jane socks. But then .... you get the picture. Its a goal.
One more lace shawl. This a giftie from my SP which arrived X-mas morning. I knit a shawl every year so this is a doable goal. The other two are iffy.
Most entrants had UFO/WIP goals in addition to brand spanking new project goals and my still needing knitting projects are made up of 2 shawls and a sweater. The rest of my projects are basically done except for blocking or weaving in of ends. This means I will have good blog fodder soon to make up for the radio silence of past month. I actually got a phone call over the radio silence. I was busy working on a sweater for Cascade and I forgot to take its picture before sending it off. I am also working on a satchel for Alchemy yarns that needs to be put together~ knitting done. And finally a hat for a designer friend. Since I stated in Nov I wasn't going to blog about work stuff anymore *and* it isn't my place to show off other designers stuff before its available to public sans permission well there you go.
Tomorrow I will be back with pictures of fabby gifties from SP and Miss Marti. Til then yarny days and knitterly evenings
Posted by Elka at 08:12 PM | Comments (2)