AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

Resurrected from ages past

Sometimes you pull out some yarn and go, "Oh yeah, I was going to make X." and then you go out and do it.  It's true!  I bought 4 skeins of Crystal Palace Deco Ribbon Print (or however it is called) at least a full year ago.

I tried to work on it when my honey had friends over to play the Order of the Stick game, and dropped a stitch (I was right at the bind off for the back).  So, I ripped, ripped, ripped and started over.

Instead of the Ribbon X-Back, I present the Ribbon Halter.

Yeah, I like how it looks from the back better.  So sue me.

This top was about 1.5 years in the making, shows off the tattoo, and is a quick easy knit.  I should make another, right?

The caveats:
The top is short.  I could pick up stitches and work more (even more) seed stitch going down.  However, this pattern is stretchy, and warns that you should make the straps about an inch shorter to compensate for the stretching that will happen.  Theoretically, this top will also stretch in length and my concern will be moot.

Seed Stitch.  The entire top is done in seed stitch.  While not a hard stitch, it can get tedious constantly moving back and forth - knit and purl.

The ribbon.  The yarn called for was discontinued, so I used the suggested substitute.  It is really easy to stab your knitting needles through the yarn, and while it heals well... suffice to say I would rather have not stabbed through the yarn any number of times even if it isn't noticeable at all.

The pros!
It's stretchy.  It hides a multitude of sins and I made the next to smallest size.  I could easily have made the smaller size.  It only uses 4 skeins (in my size) of a relatively affordable yarn.  The colors!  I love the way the ribbon with its light variegation and pinstriping makes a more interesting color than a single color by itself.

Of course, this means I have finished 2 things this week (finished this on August 30th), and will start another project later today.  But yeah, finished!

Hat and scarf (yum, yum, yum)

For the Stashalong One Skein (Kwak!), I pulled out my last 1.5 skeins of Chasing Rainbows Tussah-Merino blend.  I love this yarn.  It is stupid pricey, but the yardage is lovely.  The colors are gorgeous, and it is just wonderful to knit with (pet the yarn!).  I bought 9 skeins of this for my wedding, and I made 3 shawls for my bridesmaids, W from Knitty, and now Shifting Sands scarf with hat.  It's all gone, but 9 skeins made 6 garments.

I'm pretty sure that the scarf with hat will be going to one of my coworkers.  I'll just put it aside until cooler weather arrives, because no one needs to be gifted a scarf when it is still in the mid-seventies (Fahrenheit) or about 297 Kelvin.  Umm, yeah, I'm a geek. (Edited to remove the degrees before Kelvin - even geeks can make stupid mistakes.)

I love the Shifting Sands pattern.  It's easy to memorize, makes good practice for uneven cables (I've done 4s and 6s etc, but nothing over 3), and looks like it would be easy to convert to a lace pattern.  I'll probably do that the next time I want to make a fancy looking scarf or shawl and can't find a pattern I want to make.  Maybe with my missing skein of Sea Silk.

I cast on for Tangled Yoke on Saturday (I'm running in the morning, so probably mid-afternoon), so I've been trying to motor through on as many of my outstanding projects as possible.  I don't want starting something new sullied by the overwhelming feeling of unfinished business.  Getting the scarf with hat done has put me back down to the 8 WIPs admitted to, which is pretty close to where I want to be by week's end. 

Alterations

When I lost weight (I'm nearly at the point where I can stop thinking about it - I promise!), I dropped off a lot of clothes at Goodwill.  I didn't have the time, the energy or the skill to fix them up into something I would wear now.

That hasn't changed.  What has changed is my ability to care that I don't have the skills.  It is clothing that I like (or spent a lot of money on), and I want to keep it.  I don't want to fit it.  I want it to fit me.  And I don't have the money to pay someone with skill to do the job. 

Of course, this mostly means that I want to rip my wedding dress apart and build a dress I can wear to weddings (aka, fancy enough for weddings but does not look like a wedding dress).  I think I can do it if I am careful.  My needs are relatively modest (I have images in my head, but they are all very easy seams, clean lines).  I have this strong desire to just do it.

My drawbacks are quite a few: a lack of room for some of the truly large projects, a bit of mess on the dining room table (easy to fix), and no dress form.  But I have clothing I like and I can pin things out to size against it, and then try it on (carefully, oh so carefully).

I think I need to dye the fabric.  I think I would dye the final product rather than dying the fabric to begin with.  I might need to add embroidery to change the look of the dress a bit.  I might even need to add some additional beads.  I can probably do all of that without too much worry, and as long as I don't freak out with unreasonable expectations it should be fun no matter when I get as a result.  And I'll learn something.

Obviously, someone needs to tell me not to do it.

a lesson in creativity

Or maybe necessity.

I go running on a fairly regular basis (I'm still waffling on whether I'm a Runner the way some people waffle about whether or not they're real knitters).  When I run from home, I gear up and it isn't too much of an annoyance to carry my ipod in one hand with my keys folded around a finger.  Not too annoying, not too bad, though I'm not trying to carry water or anything else with me at all.

When I go running with one of my friends (a few towns over), I hop onto the public transportation.  I need a little bit of money (for coffee afterwards), my transit pass, my ID in case of emergencies, my keys and my ipod.  While not all of these are necessary, I really want to carry three or four of these items, and anything else I can manage just makes the entire thing more pleasant. 

So, I want to make myself a runner's pouch that will wrap around my waist, is adjustable, interesting to look at, and can be made out of scraps of yarn.  The ideals are a single pouch and sock yarn.  Should be not too hard.  I sort of like Hipster, but it is too big and I don't have time for intarsia if I am going to make something by Saturday and finish the project of the moment.

Right now I'm envisioning something like this:

Of course, this idea is mostly based on the idea that I like cables and would like something that is shaped on the diagonal.  There are no ideas about flaps or closings and barely an idea about how to attach it.  If it doesn't work around my waist then it is completely useless.

I also have a strange idea about making a fine gauge belt similar in style to the braided scarf in the holiday Vogue Knitting last year (it was gorgeous, but way too much yarn). 

Not so similarly, I am thinking of finding a different dress for the fall weddings.  I get cold a lot easier now, so I've been looking at a fair number of kimono style dresses and knit dresses (because I'm apparently sick enough in the head to believe I can finish an entire knit dress before the end of September - hoo rah).  So, I've been hanging about on Craftster, looking for tutorials and ideas.  I have a sewing machine and it needs a bit more love than I give it.  It would be good to make something free hand (without an actual pattern).  I'm pretty certain that I can do that with a bit of thought.  I've made tabards that way, but well - rectangles equal easy.

Of course, none of this matters because I will probably just go to a random store in a panic about a week before the wedding when I realize that the short party-style dress I got in April-May is going to be very cold in September-October.  Umm, also I am almost all leg, so it feels very short.

In the annals of time...

I started the Ribbon X-Back sometime back in 2006 or 2005 (I think it was 2005, but the memory is fuzzy).  Earlier this year while my friends were playing Order of the Stick, I pulled it off its shelf and quickly realized that I didn't want an x-back, dropped a couple of stitches, and ripped the entire thing out.

There are 4 days (not including today), until I can cast on for Tangled Yoke and I remembered this easy, brainless knit of a project.  Yesterday, I took the project off the shelf again and went back to seed stitch.  It moves fast with its large needles and small size - I was worned it grows, so I'm making either the XS or the S.  I'm nearly to the 11 inch mark, where I will get to start binding off stitches. 

If I time grabbed a few hours tonight or tomorrow night, I could finish this X-back turned halter and have time to wear it Friday evening or Saturday afternoon.  Today's been unsettling enough that I just might do so.

T minus 7 days until

Project Monogamy

(cue bold, dramatic music)

I'm pre-declaring September to be a one project month, and in preparation for that goal I'm using my last 7 days of willy-nilly startitis to finish some of the projects I have relatively close to completion.  I have two scarves that are at the 50% or higher (umm, the progress bar is my new favorite feature of Ravelry) and a pair of socks that is also pretty close to done.  While a good little knitter would take one of her older UFOs and just knit on that for a month, I can't see that happening.

September will be Project Tangled Yoke.  If it takes me less than a month (har har.  I say plaintively, "it could happen."), then I will pick one of my WIPs and try and transform it into an FO.  I already have yarn for Tangled Yoke, a Sirdar acryllic blend.  I can't truly justify a better yarn until I finish a real sweater with sleeves.

Of course, I am writing this today (or some time closely approximating today) and have started a scarf (which is mostly done) and a pair of socks (umm, not anywhere near done) this week.  I'm hoping to have at least a couple of the scarves I've got going or one of my larger projects (probably just the scarves though) finished by next Friday.  I have to do something or I will willy-nilly start the Tangled Yoke (I am determined to wear it in October) and have more than 9 WIPs.

Ravelry is good for a number of things, and one of those is mind bending fear.

Long haired sweaty humans with guitars (because the keyboardist is bald)

Picture taken from the husband's cell phone.

Tuesday night I saw Dream Theater in concert.  I haven't been able to go to any of their concerts before, so I rejoiced at the happy convergence of overtime pay and a free night and went.  I haven't been able to load their new album onto my iPod (nicknamed iParsley because I'm silly), but they played a number of songs from the entire breadth of their discography.  I especially enjoyed Surrounded, because pretty much all of us without shame were singing along like this huge mob-like choir.  Also, The Dark Eternal Night features the video of the group as the "North American Dream Squad," which pleased both my hubby and myself with its old style geekiness. 

Of course, while Dream Theater was excellent, the same couldn't be said about both opening bands.  Redemption was pretty good.  I like my hard rock/prog rock/heavy metal (or whatever we're calling it today) to have musicality.  Screaming isn't music.  The instrumentalists were spectacular, but the lead singer needed a little more oomph and enunciation (a problem with pretty much every musician I've ever heard including Tori Amos and Rush - though Pink Floyd was excellent for enunciation).  Into Eternity was the opener for the opener as it were.  They were very old school metal with much in the way of driving beats and screaming vocals.  I joked with the hubby that I could understand the words, but it didn't count because they were the title of the song.

Oh, and one phrase:  blink crotch.  Do not put a blinking light as part of the drum rig.  Furthermore, do not have the lead singer standing in front of the rig as the light is blinking.  Just no.

I did get some knitting done that morning and on the trip home.  The Shifting Sands scarf is over halfway done and might be done by Friday depending on how much knitting I get done tonight.  Once that is done (and I will celebrate if I finish two WIPs in a week), I will go back to working on the Swiss Cheese scarf with is still in time out in the freezer.  I need to tink back another couple of rows because I forgot to alternate the cast off row.  Other than that, knitting land isn't going too badly either.

down by the riverside

My weekend of finishing actually culminated in a finish.  Yesterday afternoon (while over at a friend's house) I finished the last of the crochet edging and wove in the last set of ends.

I love the use of color for this project and will probably make another one in colors more commonly part of my wardrobe.

I was completely ecstatic to be finished.  I even wore it to work (almost as soon as I was finished with it).

Project specs:

Lorelei from yarnplay
Size: second smallest (33 inches around for the bottom section?)
Yarn: Manos Cotton Stria in 3 colors (3 skeins green, 2 dark brown, 1 red-brown)

I am not completely in love with the yarn.  It's soft, but I don't know aobut its wearability/durability.  I also found that I was knitting tight enough that doing the crochet edging was a lot more difficult than it should have been.  Those concerns aside, I would definitely make this again in an instant.  It is fun with minimal shaping, and pretty snazzy.  I have some silk and a skein of Noro Lily that I bought ages and ages ago that might make a pretty dressier version of this top.

I am thrilled and I have gotten a lot of compliments.  Now maybe with the coming soon advent of fall, I'll be able to finish EBTKS as well.

Swiss Cheese redux

Umm, so I spent Saturday and Sunday ripping out and restarting the scarf.  I finally figured out the right pattern, and then went to the site where I had printed it out on Thursday.

It's been fixed.  It's glorious and fun.  I'd say everyone should make one, but that kind of thinking has kept me miles away from the Clapotis and the Jaywalkers.  So, if you have about 800-1000 yards of laceweight and don't want to make another shawl, go check out Swiss Cheese.  It's not difficult, the result is pretty snazzy (even in its partially completed state), and it does a great job with some of the weirder variegated yarns.

Need proof?  Well, here's mine.  Now given that I started before the correction was posted, I did rip out a few times.  The yarn stood the test pretty well, though there are areas that I am hoping a good blocking will help even out.  But it is gorgeous and unlike any Swiss cheese I'd actually eat (can you imagine eating Swiss cheese in purple, brown, yellow and gold?). 

Of course, it will likely take more than just a couple of weeks to knit this.  I just need to find a couple of smaller projects (ignoring the other 8 projects I have on the needles for a moment) to do alongside this.

Malabrigo lace weight and mocha ripple

In 2005 or so, I bought a number of skeins of Malabrigo lace weight online.  This month, Stashalong is doing one skein projects for its knitalong within a knitalong.  I pulled one of my skeins out and decided to knit the Swiss Cheese Scarf (unsurprisingly, I found it via Ravelry).  I looked at the pattern and I knit.  I started on Friday, forgoing the items I have that are close to completion to add another WIP to my list.  I looked at the pattern and decided that as it was written out the holes (it is Swiss Cheese after all) were not going to alternate, so I shoved my yarn in the freezer (this was Saturday evening and I'd made good progress) and then when it was less grippy I ripped the entire thing out.  This morning, I decided that I needed to make the edge wavy still and as I had done it the first repeat wouldn't be wavy but the rest would be (trust me, obvious with a picture).  Back into the freezer it went.

And I started again.

I hope this time goes better.  I feel hopeful, because I've worked out most of the kinks.  So, I rewarded myself with a treat.

A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of mocha ripple (an ingredient in the Tiramisu ice cream), but didn't use the entire thing for the ice cream.  It makes a lot of ripple, which is like the coffee version, at least as I made it, of chocolate syrup.  I've taken to treating it just like the Hershey's syrup you would add to your milk.  A couple of small teaspoons in my skim milk and I have delicious cold coffee (and chocolate) milk.  The only thing that could probably make it better is kahlua for a tasty adult treat.