Yardage: A Knitting Narrative

Um, hi

2008-05-26T18:37:00.005-04:00

Ok, so, I'm back. Sorry about the MIA semester...I went underground. But:

Recently, with end-of-semester paper writing, I've become much more productive again. I think this summer is going to be an all-out knitting summer. Things have been pretty stressful, and I've forgotten how much knitting helps with that. Hopefully this summer will be more knitting for fun than for stress relief.

Since I've last posted, I've finished a scarf out of two skeins of Malabrigo chunky, another scarf out of one skein of Misti Alpaca to go with the cabled hat, and have started a summer scarf in Rowan Kidsilk Haze. Pictures and patterns to come later today or tomorrow, when I finish my last paper. Replay the scarf obsession.

I'm planning on doing holiday knitting over the summer, so there's not as much pressure when it comes closer to the time. (Yeah right. I'm almost positive I'm going to get sidetracked making things for myself.) But at least those promised projects from last year can finally be addressed.

February

2008-02-13T17:19:00.003-05:00

Hey, so. I haven't been updating this blog very much because I haven't been doing a whole lot of knitting...running around doing school things and getting my sh*t together. I think I promise to get back on the wagon, but you know how my blog promises go.

Also, I hate February.

More later, when I have knitting-related stuff to discuss...

hat hat hat

2008-01-21T00:29:00.000-05:00

Arrow says hello from his nest in the couch.

I am working on the Horseshoe Hat right now, and it is almost done - just 11 more rounds to go. I love it. The yarn is Misti Alpaca Chunky in Natural Cream.

Yes, welcome to my world of Anglo-American emotion.

Can't stay long because I want to finish my last paper tonight! Yes, I said TONIGHT! Because I will, as the Yarn Harlot said on her most recent blog post, "freak the frak out" if I don't have enough time to edit the junky parts tomorrow and Tuesday. Even if I have to stay up until 3 am. Or 4 am, more like.

Arrow says goodnight.

Edit: obviously "TONIGHT" meant "tomorrow." I mean, obviously. Time to freak out.

So...

2008-01-13T23:27:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know, this post comes in a little later than the aforementioned once a week, but...better late than never?

I don't have any new finished-object news, but I will list the wonderful knitting books I got for Christmas:

Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book
The Harmony Guides: Cables and Arans
Inspired Fair Isle Knits
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Favorite Socks
Classic Knits
The Best of Interweave Knits
Cables Untangled
The Harmony Guides: Knit and Purl
Vogue Stitchionary 2: Cables
The Knitter's Book of Yarn

From TheBolter, I received Lace Style and an audiobook of the Yarn Harlot's At Knit's End. I received from lilyriver a subscription to Interweave Knits. So cool!!!!! Thank you!!! You get your own paragraph because your gifts are awesome. (I know you read my blog so I can thank you again over the interwebs.)

I made out like a bandit this Christmas. A part of me feels bad, like I'm in hoarding mode...but another part of me says I'm a poor graduate student, and I like gifts. (Although what part of me wouldn't like gifts, really?) I'm very much looking forward to having the time to knit all these exciting patterns once I've gotten sufficiently caught up on the (post-) Christmas knitting.

And of course, I also received yarns, including this Malabrigo Chunky in "Velvet Grapes":

I think it will become mittens.

And now it's time for bed. I'm sorry, I would link to all the book titles and yarn, but I'm too exhausted. I hope it snows really hard tomorrow so that we in this central Jersey area get snowed in with the shi*tload of work that we all have to complete in the next week (although maybe I should just speak for myself...I certainly have enough to keep me on the edge of hysteria for the remainder of the break) but a lot of comforting knitting as well.

New Year

2008-01-03T15:59:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about some resolutions, both knitterly and non-. The knitterly ones are as such:

1. Only make blog promises I intend to keep.
2. Post at least one entry (with picture/s) each week.
3. Do not promise scarves, shawls, wraps, or stoles as presents when there are deadlines for said items involved.
4. More socks.

In relation to the knitting resolution number 1, I am finally going to share with you the little Christmas knitting I have gotten done so far.

This is the garter-stitch wrap I'm making for my grandmother. It's only about a third of the way done. I had decided sometime around October that I'd be ready to knit the lace wrap "Cozy" from knitty for Christmas. I was so wrong. I hated knitting through the back loops, I hated not knowing how to count my stitches until it's too late, and I hated how the circular needle I was using kept snagging the yarn on its cruddy brass join. I will not mention the name of the needle; maybe it was just a dud. In any case, four hours into Cozy and a half-inch done, I realized I was going to end up with a schmatte, a schmatte which would also be a waste of this beautiful Artfibers Kyoto in number 40. So I cast on 60 stitches on size 11 needles and knit from there. I was able to show it to my grandmother on Christmas day, and she really liked it. And then as I knit furiously throughout the rest of the day and into the night, she kept saying, "So, how ya doin' with that?" and "It's really cold outside...". She has a very dry sense of humor and is usually very reserved, so when she jokes around it is really great. I still felt bad though.

This is the Irish Hiking Scarf that I'm making for my dad in Autumn House Farm Alpaca Brush. (Got it at Rhinebeck, but here's their website: http://www.autumnhousefarm.com/). It is also only a third of the way done. As per knitting resolution number 3, these kinds of things have to be around 6 feet long, and what with cabling for this one and a good amount of width for the other, they take much longer to knit than, say, a hat. Obviously I haven't gotten very good at estimating how long things will take yet. Anyway, my dad saw the WIP and he likes it a lot too. But I still gotta finish that.

The other things on my list have not even been started yet. Eighhhh. But I am not going to take them out of my "queue." By the way, I'm on Ravelry now, as sarahanneG.

Oh yah, last but not least, here's the sock that I promised to show so long ago. It has not progressed beyond this point yet, because of the Christmas knitting:

It's not too badly fudged for my first sock, although something happened with the decreases for the heel gusset that I can't explain. All I need to do for this sock are toe decreases and then kitchener.

Now I must face the writing of my final papers. Help.

End of Semester Blank

2007-12-20T01:04:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long hiatus! Finishing up the first semester of teaching put me in a mute knitting situation, blog-wise. But that's over now.

Updates on Christmas knitting tomorrow! (!!!). Never agree to scarves as Christmas presents.

Cabled scarves at that. Fifty-five inches - are you kidding me?

But I am getting ahead of myself.

And When My Computer Died...

2007-11-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

Yeah. That was a few days ago, which is why I haven't been posting. I had to get a new one (!!! glargh)...we'll see how this Toshiba does, but next time I may just get a Mac. The Geek Squad has no idea why my "video card" doesn't work, but they think there's also a problem with the "LCD screen" and the "motherboard," and they don't know why those things aren't working either. They said I must have dropped it. I did not. Thankfully I backed all my stuff up on an external hard drive.

Anyway, I will post a picture of the halfway-finished rainbow sock #1 very soon, as well as a picture of my brother's new hat, which he says he loves. He wore it to the Dartmouth v. Rutgers basketball game on Tuesday. Awesome.

Hey: a revised to-knit list. I realized that I can't finish all of those things before Christmas, so...

Dad - cabled scarf.
Mom - stole, Fetchings, maybe cabled scarf.
Grandma - shawl.
Adam - mittens to match hat, cabled scarf.
Jenny - surprise things.
Sarah - surprise things.
Katie - the rest of a pair of socks.

I also want to knit myself some socks somewhere along the way!

I realized that Natalie is not really running that much anymore, so she doesn't need a headband; my sister might not wear the things I make for her (but if I have time I'll make her something); Stef (thank you!!!) said that her hat could wait; and Phil doesn't have a due-date attached to the scarf.

Oh yeah, I did the heel turn for the sock and that turned out fine (although I dropped a stitch in a post-turkey sedated state yesterday doing the gusset decreases, but whatever). I'll give a more detailed sock update later.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone!!!

Oh my

2007-11-14T01:02:00.001-05:00

I have been so exhausted recently. I'm definitely ready for Thanksgiving break.

In knitting news, I've finished a green hat for my brother (in Dartmouth green as per his request), using a pattern from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. I was worried that it'd be too big just judging by its size on the needles, but I am not a good at eyeballing size since the hats that I've made end up being a too tight when I think they look fine. Thus, the hat is just the right size. I used Valley Yarns Berkshire in Hunter.

I've also started a sock, my first sock and half of a pair for my friend Katie's birthday present, also as per her request. I'll post a picture tomorrow. I'm not at the crucial heel-turn yet, and hope I don't make too many mistakes. The yarn is Trekking XXL in color 181 - the striping rainbow effect is really neat. Sorry about not posting Sunday when I promised to - laundry, cats, and reading for class all led to a late bedtime with no time for posting. And as I write this, I'm falling asleep, so once again, I need to relent and sleep. By the way, Pilot, the cat of the multiple operations, seems to be all better. He doesn't even smell sick anymore, and he's no longer incontinent. Cross the fingers he'll stay that way.

Knit List

2007-11-11T13:18:00.000-05:00

I need to get this to-knit list down before I forget all the projects I've bought the yarn for!

Dad - cabled scarf
Mom - stole, Fetchings, garter-stitch scarf which I've already started that I might rip back (because it's boring)
Grandma - shawl
Brother (Adam) - surprise mittens to match hat, cabled scarf
Sister (Rachel) - hat or scarf
Natalie - earwarmer headband for running in the cold
Jenny - surprise for Christmas (but I know what it is of course, just can't say because she reads this blog)
Sarah - same as above, can't say!
Katie - socks for belated birthday (ahem, must needs figure out socks in the process)
Cousins (Tracy and Samantha) - toddler clothes (must figure those out in the process too)
Phil - scarf (?)
Stef - hat

Ok. I can do it...? Before Christmas?!!

I'll post again later this evening when I've gotten more reading and teaching-work done.

Ouch

2007-11-02T19:37:00.001-04:00

Due to cabling for about eight hours straight a few days ago to finish the second Fetching (I would post a picture but, you know, it looks like the other one), I have a case of "The Claw" (scroll down to March 4th). It hurt to pick up dish soap last night (conveniently enough, though - at least I didn't have to finish the dishes). It's a bit better today, but still a little achey. I think it was because of the cotton as well as the cables - while that Blue Sky Alpaca cotton is beautiful and soft, it doesn't have very much give, and I really fought with it the whole time. Also I think I was using a cable needle that was too big. Oh yeah, but despite what I thought before, I did not do the cables backwards (phew) - I only did the left hand first, and thought it was for the right hand because I didn't pay attention to the pattern. So I thought all my cables were slanting the wrong way when they weren't. I hope you understand what I mean. I'm not very articulate today. After looking up "repetitive motion disease," which is very scary, I have decided to take the rest of the day off in terms of knitting. Although this bugs me, it will mean that I will actually do work tonight. Stupid the claw. I started a hat for my brother because he really needs it up there in New Hampshire where he goes to college, and now he will have to wait even longer. And my socks (such as they are, which is yarn) will have to wait, as well as the mittens, and my grandmother's shawl...oh well. I will read Phyllis Wheatley and I will like it.

Um

2007-10-29T18:29:00.000-04:00

I just ordered three pairs of needles (bamboo, though the only reason I didn't order the Harmony Wood from Knitpicks is because they're out of stock at the moment) and three skeins of sock yarn. For no real reason other than that I might need the needles to make mittens. And the yarn to make socks. Although technically I don't know how to knit socks yet, and I can't read the charts in "Folk Mittens" yet. The sock yarn is a really nice tweed from Knitpicks though...and did you see the sock yarn collections at Knitpicks?! Look, under "Kits and Samplers":

Woowoo.

Ta Da! and Rhinebeck

2007-10-24T15:46:00.001-04:00

Here are two new finished objects:

The Silk Garden Beanie, as previously linked.

And the first "Fetching" fingerless glove, from knitty: http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTfetching.html

I love the Fetchings. And the way that the thumb is done with this one, I found out from "Folk Mittens," is a "peasant thumb" - which is better and leaves less holes, I think, than the thumb of the poor the red mitten. I think the Silk Garden beanie is really pretty, too, because of the yarn. So the knitting has been going better. Now I just have to make the other Fetching...but I'm actually looking forward to that. I learned how to cable from this pattern, and how to do this new kind of thumb, and how to do a cable cast-on and picot bind-off; and now that I know all of this, the next one will be a little easier. I also know that I need to keep an eye on the last stitch on the needle while I'm doing the cables, because that thing can fall off and drop all the way down the freakin' glove, causing me to have to rip out five hours of work and start all over again. But it's ok...I still like the the glove, so much that I'm wearing it now as I type. Oh yeah, the yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca, organic cotton, number 625. I thought it was a really super-soft wool when I bought it at the spree at Webs, but I like it as cotton just fine too. The color and the softness are really nice.

Now, about Rhinebeck!! It's hard to fully describe, but it was really great. It was so great that I want to live there - what if there was a Sheep and Wool residential graduate school?! I digress. There was a lot to take in - the grounds are really huge, and there are many, many tents full of fiber, yarn, and things related to yarn, like books, needles, sock-in-progress holders made out of pretty wood (so cool!), and herbs and flowers that you can fill up paper bags with that will keep moths away from your wool. There were also sheep, and goats, and some of those sheep and goats had won prizes. Good job, sheeps and goats. Some were also very friendly, and some were for sale. And, there were also indoor setups full of yarn vendors, and in another indoor setup, gourmet food and baskets and things, and spinners, and weavers. Outside there is a whole lot of food, from lamb sandwiches (yikes!!!) to vegetarian stuff to apple pies. I brought home an apple pie. And in the background, there are the mountains with fall foliage. It was very pretty, and very crowded, and everyone was very friendly. Unfortunately, my camera died in the very beginning, so I only got to get a picture of you know who:

The Yarn Harlot!

Sorry about the blurriness. Her talk was amazing - at least the part that I stayed for. I had to stand up in the back because there were so many people there, and I got a little claustrophobic and overheated and stuff. It would have been embarassing to pass out in front of her, so I left a little early. But I DID come back later, and she signed two of her books for me...and I showed her poor the mitten. She laughed and laughed, and took a picture of it. She was really nice, and I was really nervous. But I think I just came off as crabby...it's because I'm from NJ and that's how we do.

So here's the stuff I got at Rhinebeck:

Three skeins of Moorlod (?) Tweed (I can't read the label very well) and two skeins of Grey Alpaca Brush from Autumn House Farm; and two skeins of Fox Sox yarn and a pattern for "Corduroy Socks" from Foxfire Fiber and Designs.

Here are the links for the companies (stores? spinneries?) that sell them:

http://www.autumnhousefarm.com/

http://www.foxfirefiber.com/index.html

The sock yarn from Foxfire is really pretty - it comes with the pattern as a Sock Kit, so look under "Kits" on the site.

Not too bad, right? I didn't buy too much...I think.

You see that nice tweed? You know what that's going to turn into once I'm done with the Fetchings...mittens!!! I seem to have a handwear fetish. I'm going to try the patten for a basic mitten from "Folk Mittens" for those.

In other news, my poor cat Pilot had another PU on Friday to open up scar tissue (his urethra had sealed up again from the scarring), and he is recovering, albeit slowly and with incontinence. Only a year old and at least six surgeries for this problem! I hope that this time the operation "takes" and he won't have to get another one. It is pretty traumatic and painful. So, back to work, and cat care, and laundry care.

Poor "The Mitten"

2007-10-15T18:24:00.000-04:00

I must stress that the length and width of the mitten are not a trick of the camera. This mitten did indeed suffer from serious gauge problems. I understand I should have swatched, but I was so excited about mitten-making that I overlooked that step. Now I know. See, when I put on the mitten, it actually hurts my hand and cuts off the circulation in my palm a little bit. It is about one-third the width it should be, and my long fingers have ensured that it is not in proportion at all, and nobody will ever be able to wear it. Honestly though, I think that's ok...it is my first mitten and at least I know the basic tenets of mitten-making. Please disregard the dropped stitch at the base of the thumb; I decided to ignore that. Please also disregard the grizzled "securing" of the yarn end at the tip of the thumb. I am still learning.

I plan on making a pair of matching mittens using size 9 dpns, not size 7 as I did with this first one. That makes me feel a bit better. Also, after reading the Yarn Harlot's archives (I have to get caught up!), I happened on her recommendations of various mitten books, including this one: http://yarn.com/webs/0/0/0/0-1202-1203-1266/0/0/2969/, Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I currently covet that book. I'm not sure if the recent trip to Webs will prevent me from getting it, especially since the YH told a blogger, in response to her comment, that some patterns are certainly easier than others and could be undertaken by the beginning mitten-knitter.

But this project makes me much happier than the above pictured poor the mitten:

It is the beginning of the "Silk Garden Beanie," the pattern for which can be found here: http://acunningplan.typepad.com/andsheknitstoo/patterns/silk_garden_beanie.html I think the yarn is very pretty, and the ability to do something that is progressing moderately normally again is very gratifiying. I am using Noro Silk Garden #268.

In other news...I went to Webs over the weekend! It was so cool. I kept stopping to touch wool, and almost picked up much more on my list. Thankfully, spending nausea kicked in. I did bring home enough to warrant using a plastic set of drawers (supposedly for "office organization") for all the yarns, as well as satisfying every single thing on my list, plus a few more (including a beautiful Lantern Moon needle organizer, which is the coolest thing ever). I felt bad that my friends at Swinging Squares (http://swingingsquares.blogspot.com/) were not with me though. My mom, at least, now understands that my yarn fetish is not exclusive to myself only, especially when she saw many others toting around those shopping baskets full of yarn, and many many more people sitting in the chairs around the store knitting, weaving, and ball winding. I think she finally understands the movement. I had gone up to Northampton and Amherst, MA for Hampshire College's annual weekend for "friends," family, and alumni (I am an alum), which was pretty cool...but one of the biggest perks was going to Webs, of course. Also Ken Burns, who is a Hampshire alum as well, came to talk, and I got to see him up close and personal. I was too nervous to ask a question at the Q and A, though.

And in other other news...my friends at Swinging Squares and I are going to see the Yarn Harlot this Friday!!! I am so excited. I can't believe she's coming to New Jersey.

Now I must go do my graduate student work and try to disrupt this almost exclusive and happiness-inducing focus on knitting (my poor little mitten included). Sigh.

Ha, ha

2007-10-09T00:23:00.000-04:00

(How old am I, and I still think this is funny.) It certainly doesn't look like a mitten yet, I can tell you that.

The horror

2007-10-05T23:43:00.000-04:00

I have started the mittens, then frogged them. Then started them again, then frogged them, times four, at least. Something is evading me when I start the next dpn with a purl stitch instead of a knit stitch (for ribbing) - I'm sure it's a really dumb mistake, but I end up with two stitches instead of one.

What is this raging piece of poop? And why?

I meant to make progress on the mittens, but this just keeps happening. It's not the yarn back/front; I checked that. I'm also doing the purl stitch right (at least, it works fine for the rest of the purl stitches further down the needles). Something about a twisted stitch...?

I'm at a loss, so I'm just going to keep banging my head against the wall and making the same mistake until I have an epiphany. Unless I have an epiphany.

P.S. - I've sidestepped the horror. I put even numbers of stitches onto the dpn's instead of odd ones, so that I start each dpn off with a knit stitch instead of a purl stitch. I still don't know what was causing that terrible stitch though. In any case, my mittens are finally progressing!

The ribbing ("cuff") looks quite small, doesn't it? But that's another story...

No Time Management

2007-10-04T19:23:00.000-04:00

So the plan for last night didn't work out. I stayed up working on a project for class, doing finishing touches and tweaking my argument. And yet, although I worked long and hard on this project, and went into the classroom feeling like I was very well-prepared and my analysis was on point...some crucial part of the project fell through the cracks (my fault, I don't want to get into it). Thankfully, most of the people in this class are my friends and they didn't laugh at me. Until after class. Woowoo. Funny. Sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees. Sue me...my uncle once told my mother, "You're one of those 'doctahs' who loses their ability to be rational the smarter they get!" He's my mom's older brother. My mother has her Ph.D. in History. When my family went to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins again a few years later, and I had told them I was entering into a program for Ph.D. in English Literature, my uncle said, "You're going to be one of those 'doctahs' like your mother!" The teasing continued when he and my aunt were trying to draw out directions for a running loop for me in their neighborhood, and I couldn't visualize it. At all. I think he's right. Sigh. All of which is to say that I did not get started on the mittens last night. I will tonight, and will post a picture of the work-in-progress later. Here's a picture of a scarf in progress, started over the weekend, to make me feel better: The yarn is Manos del Uruguay, and the colorway is 36. Poor neglected scarf. I'll pay attention to you in just a little bit.

Time-management?

2007-10-03T13:56:00.000-04:00

If I can get the majority of my work done tonight by 11 pm, then, and only then, will I allow myself to knit. I am itching to start the knitpicks "Lucy" mittens (see link from previous post) to match the red hat. It seems a little unfair, in the grand scheme of things, that for the past week and a half I've been felled by the worst cold/bronchitis/sinus infection thing I've had since college, and then papers to grade and schoolwork suddenly tripled on me. All I wanted was to knit on the couch...The cats slept on me last night though - one on my leg, the other by the crook of my arm - so I think they feel my physical and metaphysical pain. Three, two, one...go!

The yarn, the hats, the scarf, the cats...

2007-10-02T21:30:00.000-04:00

I've started this blog to narrate my knitting impulses and forays, and to document my works-in-progress. Although I'm not an expert knitter, I am learning; and I enjoy it to the point of distraction (e.g., planning my new purse around whether it will be large enough to carry a knitting project with me at all times).

............................................................................................

Having found an LYS, and having ensured that my digital camera is still functioning after my cat (Pilot, the one on the right on the coffee table) - trying to get attention by sitting on my desk while I was working - knocked it on the floor, I decided to plunge into the world of knitting blogs.

And one of my favorite things to do while resting from graduate school intensity is to read other knitting blogs, so I thought I'd contribute my own to sort of even out my level of consumption.

Speaking of consumption: I have an affinity for yarn. One would hope that any knitter does, but I'm just putting it out there. My closet is getting very full of very pretty yarn which I hope I can do justice to; and as my list of planned knitting projects grows, so does the amount of yardage in my closet. However...disproportionately, this yardage increases even with the absence of a planned knitting project. Thus, the name of this blog.

Now, let's get down to recently finished objects: four hats, one of which I gave away to my mom the minute she saw it ("ooh, that's a great color; it's just my kind of color, dark and tweedy; what a nice hat!"), and three scarves, two of which I've also given away.

The red hat is from knitpicks' free pattern: http://www.knitpicks.com/Lucy+Hat_PD50392220.html, in Cadena, colorway Cranberry.

The blue ones are based on that pattern, and are in Schaefer Elaine, colorway Everywoman. The scarf is a basic garter stitch scarf, using Berroco Foliage; I can't remember which colorway it is.

Back to work.