Wednesday, December 29, 2010

merry winter solstice

My heart broke when I had to leave my grandma in Mississippi with my grandpa and coming back to real post-Christmas life is traumatizing so I am knitting The Most Comforting Garter Lace Scarf for my g-ma.

Here pattern is:

Cast on 22.
First row and every odd row: Knit.
Even Rows: K2Tog, K2Tog, y/o, k, y/o, k, y/o, k, y/o, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, y/o, k, y/o, k, y/o, k, y/o, K2tog, K2tog.

So basically feather and fan. Great for knitting when you're hungover on bourbonized eggnog: fluffy, lacy, and just barely engaging enough to keep you going until lunch. However, this pattern won't keep you from joining your new yarn to the tail.



Time for colada.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

To Florida, my home, my love and my people on responsible fiber choices

Cotton is not an acceptable fiber to wear when it is 32f in the mornings. Please replace your seven cotton sweatshirts (you look ridiculous) with animal fiber. Wool is the gift from the sheep. Down is the birds' gift. Dressing for winter weather doesn't mean wearing every long sleeve cotton thing you own at one time, it means switching fibers and layering to lessen bulk. It means pampering your extremities with cashmere and mohair. I know its new, I know its cold, I know you're going to have to wear clothes and all and we aren't used to having to do that around here but I promise. You don't have to be cold, baby.

Wool.

Socks.

Hats.

PLEASE put a good warm hat on, Florida. The season has just begun.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Cold weather can do funny things to a knitter

It is still regularly 85f in the afternoons here in Central Florida although today may be the turning point. I spent Thanksgiving break at Horse Pens 40 in northern Alabama with three cold people that I love, a skein of supersaver we got at Walmart, around 100 grams of unknit wool of different ilks and colors, and a small camping knit-kit (US7&9 DPNS, yarn scissors and needle). What happened that weekend was a massive amount of knitting and a knew knitter. Let me try to show you.




First I needed a hat and some fingerless mitts I could possibly climb in. HP40 is full of sticky slopers so I ended up needing my entire hand and rarely climbed in them. That hat got felted down a bit when I got home.



We got freezing rain Thanksgiving night and the requests poured in. I recruited help and taught a loom-knitter how to knit with needles. Here she is posing with a Hiya Hiya bamboo DPN on Lookout Point. I love this picture.



Her first project! A garter square sewn up the sides so she can have fingerless mitts, too, without having to fuss with a thumb gusset. Since she had her hands covered I could worry about her toes. The poor thing only brought cotton socks. So I doubled up all my wool scraps:



Then a headband:



And something fun on the long ride home with a matching locksock (not pictured)



The new knitter also got a ruffly drop stitch hat from the rest of the super saver. After that I put down my needles and slept because we were all wearing something I knit on our heads and my hands needed rest after climbing and knitting for 5 days straight.


Boulders are suitable runways. More on that dress later.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Stitch n Bitch

hay yall. Lookin forward to Saturday's stitch n bitch (whale, technically not a stitch n bitch since crafters of all ilks are welcome). It's at A Comic Shop in their new Geek Easy lounge. I'm excited to see the new space and to park my ass in something squishy under some yarn. I'm also bringing patterns I'm working on so I can get some knitterly eyes and advices on them so yall cmon down!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

stones and bones



My super is getting his gallbladder removed so knaturally I knit him a knew one. I love fiber arts because whatever you're doing, its already been done, so you have something to best. While mine is much larger than life sized, I felt it was important to work short rows going into the icord for that classic turn into the cystic duct and to cast on a new icord for the common heptic duct, so that he has all his connecting pieces that he needs.

Monday, October 25, 2010

LOCK SOCKS

Lock socks are my favorite instant gratification projects. I work them up in every yarn and gauge in my stash, usually as a round swatch for another project, although only non-slippery fibres and tight gauges ever see practical application. My muse was not particularly thrilled when I offered him the jumbo mohair seed stitch scrunchy.



Locks and wool have deep felty love for each other. The little white wool one will hug and felt a bit onto his lock after a steamy shower and individual kinky hairs always turn up wrapped in between and around the plies in my wool knitting.

Monday, October 18, 2010

I didn't forget you.

Lildubz has been experiencing some "life changes." I got a new desk job (there is not a lot that I like about sitting at a desk 8 hours a day but I can knit so we will just leave it at that for now) and I moved into a new house so all my projects and yarns were all over the place. But the weather is now wool friendly, yarn shops are having great sales, and I'm just about to finish two projects that I think The Blog would really like. Soon.

<3

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

watch your swatches



I splurged on some wool for this winter today. It was on sale. I'm going to make a sweater, and I swatch'n'block'd today like a responsible knitter.



I mistook my swatch for a triscuit and nearly ate it.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

ok, blocking.

I'm still a little new to knitting and I hadn't ever blocked anything until I realized that the point of my thick n thin vest's hood could be much pointier and the whole thing needed a bath anyways. I don't have blocking wires so I ran lengths of Berroco Suede through all the selvedges. I very gently hand washed it in ice water with Bronner's and baking soda then the Taj Mahal came to life.





To achieve the pointy tip of the hood I was after, I ran some yarn through the very tip of the hat and up around an overhanging floor lamp. I am quite pleased with the results. It smells delicious, things are straighter and pointier, and drape was MUCH improved. Its a pleasure to arrange the wet knitting exactly how you want it, but its torture waiting for it to be bone dry.



Thursday, August 19, 2010

dress n dubstep



I knit this dress out of t shirt yarn entirely on a #15 circ. Big, burly stitches.








After knitting an entire dress, I can honestly say I am not a big fan of t shirt yarn. You don't knit with it, you wrestle it into your garment, especially on grippy ass bamboo needles. This dress is incredibly sturdy though, it's about 3/4" thick and heavy with the weight of 18 t shirts. I wore it to see Borgore and I felt protected.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

ok back.

Well being injured was plain shitty. I'm not healed, but I finished a project today. Dr said no knitting but that doesn't count knitting with jumbo needles and airy gauges. Which is perfect because I was just gifted with some vintage thick n thin wool:



Yum.

I want to be a part of the online knitting community but "That Girl" is not flattering on any body I have seen. However I do want new cropped outerwear, so I organized the thick n thin into a hooded vest.



It is basically a little simple vest with a hat attached to the top so giant it has to sit on my shoulders. The hat/hood is big enough for two ;)



I'm considering adding sleeves. Maybe in November.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Climbtime

Bouldering indoors is my kind of sport. It's inside soft floors and colorful walls. There are snacks, cubbies and comforting chalk bags. I knit my chalk bag with just one supersized skein of sugar n cream on #7, complete with a clif bar sized pocket and a loop for a carabiner or belt should my crotch get over it's fear of harnesses.



The bottom is garter, big enough for two fists plus some room. This is a good, quick project for refining your picking up and grafting gauge, all the knitting is just knit and purl. I lined it with fleece, reinforced the corners with coffee swizzle sticks so it can stand up straight, and installed magnetic purse clasps. Chalk makes a mess.

Yesterday, I was climbing and I fell on my elbow the wrong way. Knitting is in slow motion. Sad.

Monday, August 2, 2010

bOObies

Florida's seasons: Summer A, You Can't Breathe Outside, Summer B, and Outside Feels Like A Windy Inside. In celebration of Summer B:



I love natural fibres, but why in the hell are there so many Ravelers that knit or crochet bikinis in cotton!? This top is made of Berroco Suede in Roy Rodgers, 100% fake ass nylon. Like normal, useful swimwear. All the staps are 5 stitches on #6 needles, and I simply yarned over to increase. There is elastic sewn into the insides to keep the stockinette from rolling and for general sturdiness.

I'm addicted to Project Runway. I watch it online because I don't know how to work things like fax machines and TVs. I was pleased to learn there was a knitwear designer (Michael) on the show this season, but he knits with a machine and all his "knit" pieces are sewn together. Seamlessness is one of hand knitting's greatest virtues, this top has no clasps, seams or stringy bits.




Sunday, August 1, 2010

Hatz 4 Hedz


Knittin hatz... bliss in the round. We don't use knit hats in Florida but I put 40 stitches of yummy light worsted-ish wool on each of three #6 dpns for a total of 120 stitches, figuring about 5 stitches to the inch. Twisting the purls, I 4X4 rib for about 6 inches, enough to fold the rim over for extra ear protection. After an inch or so of rib or stockinette after the rim, you'll have a 7ish inch tube.

The knitter's multi tool, a paper clip on the ground is luckier than a penny. A paper clip can become a cable needle, a crude yarn needle, and torn up for as many as 4 stitch markers- just enough for a hat. Completely unwound paperclips are akin to naked pipe cleaners.

Twist decrease stitches by knitting two together in the back of the stitches on every row so there will be four "braids" swirling up to the pointed top to make an simple knit swag. Per the Yarn Harlot's wisdom on the tops of hats, I pass the yarn through twice.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Berto's Owl Towel



Why not start with something garter! Sugar n Cream on #9, a whole super sized skein. Here the towel is folded into hamburger thirds, just a whole lot of exfoliating garter. Not a really big fan of the yarn over eyes, would only do that again with a looser gauge, a bigger owl, or both. I did the knit letters on a purl background, and next time I will twist them.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

begin


Hoping to keep track of knitting projects in a public sharing is caring sort of way.