Filed under: progress
I may not be blogging, but I’m certainly knitting!
Instead of making baby socks, which were taking waaay too long, I’m making the cutest baby booties EVER. I have to make 12 pairs, and I think I have about 4 or 5 pairs done. I can’t keep track of them! I’ll make one or two on the bus, then when I take them out of my purse when I get home, they disappear! I really should try to keep my knitting in one place.
I’m also working on the cardigan from Stitch ‘N Bitch in an alpaca/silk blend from Debbie Bliss in a gorgeous blue. It’s slow-going because I’m a big girl, but I’ll get through it eventually. This will be the most expensive piece of clothing I’ve ever owned, so I’m going to take my time and do the best I can, even if it means frogging it 4 times because my gauge is off thanks to the bad advice of the yarn shop lady.
When I get bored with the booties and the sweater, I’m working on a pair of basic socks using Stephanie’s pattern from Knitting Rules! As with the sweater, it’s slow-going, because I have to be careful that the stitches don’t slip off the needles when I’m not working on it. I’m planning to get a needle shell from Namaste this week, so that should make it easier to travel and knit. I need to finish these socks, because I’m joining Sock Wars this month, and I’d like to have at least one pair of socks under my belt so I can have a little bit of experience before I enter the war.
I made some cute stitch markers last week, but I have yet to take any pics. For some reason, all of my knitting pictures have been coming out horribly, so I’m avoiding posting anything. I’ll try to get some decent pics this weekend.
Welcome to my newest blog! I already have 6 or 7 Livejournals, plus my blog on Myspace, but this blog is devoted to knitting talk, as you may be able to tell from the title and the layout. I think my friends were getting tired of hearing about my knitting on my regular blog, so why not make one that’s completely separate? I have an extra 8.95 a month, so what the hell. :pFirst and foremost, I’m a hooker. I’ve been crocheting for about 17 years now. My grandmother taught me when I was 6, and I’ve never stopped. When I was younger, I made scarves and that was about it. But when I was about 16 or 17, I got really into it and started making hats and purses and blankets and all kinds of other things. A year or so ago, I even crocheted an art piece for a local show. After that, I got sort of bored with crocheting. It just wasn’t very challenging anymore.
A Clockwork (Sans) Orange
Then a few months ago, my grandmother gave me all of -her- grandmother’s knitting needles. What in the world was a life-long crocheter supposed to do with dozens of sets of knitting needles? Learn to knit, of course! I already knew how to knit and purl, and I could even sort of knit in the round. But that was the extent of my knowledge. I couldn’t even do ribbing properly, and I know I still don’t yarn over quite right. I’ve slowly been teaching myself how to do more, using the internet and a little bit of Stitch ‘n Bitch when I need it.
So far, my biggest accomplishment has been half a dozen Jayne Cobb Hats. However, I’m planning a huge knitting fest soon, including a much-needed and well-deserved trip to The Fiber Factory in Mesa next weekend. While my great-great-grandmother’s knitting needles are decent and all, the aluminum just doesn’t compare to the feel of bamboo. Mmm, bamboo. *drools* I also plan to spend mucho dinero on yarn. There are 12 pregnant women at work, and all of them will be getting pretty much the same thing: socks. I was finally able to finish one decently enough that you can recognize that it’s a sock. On the first sock I attempted, somehow, part of the inside ended up on the outside (left), but on the second sock, it all ended up in the correct places (right). By the time I’m done with all 12 pairs of socks, I’ll be an expert on baby socks.
Jayne Cobb Hats
Baby socks (wonky and decent, respectively)
I’m also planning to make a pair of Jaywalkers for myself. I’m not sure how it’ll go, but I guess I’ll see. I also want to make the cardigan from Stitch N Bitch. I’m sort of afraid I’m trying too much too fast, but what have I got to lose? Time, money, and my mind? Ha! Those have all been gone for years! I spent a good portion of last night swatching for the cardigan already. I’m planning to use Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride (color to be determined), so I swatched with some leftover yarn from the Jayne hats. I recently discovered that I yarn over weird. I use my whole right hand to move the yarn and twist it around the needle. In all the knitting videos I’ve seen, they all use just their index finger to move the yarn across the needle. So I decided to do two swatches and compare the two methods. While the index finger method (left) was a bit faster and yielded tighter stitches, I think the stitches were a tad too tight. It also made my left hand hurt from holding the needle so tightly while I wrestled the needle through the loop. My usual method (right), while slightly slower, gave me looser stitches and didn’t make my hands hurt. Also, my usual method was the one that got the right gauge. Weird yarn-over it is!
Swatches: right way, my way
Wow, this was a very long entry. But it was an intro post, so the first bit was unavoidable. My next post will be much smaller, I’m sure. 
