AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

a fine spring day

My back is starting to feel better (I think it is how I sit when I knit), so I'm going to take one of the folding chairs outside and knit and read outside.  It's just too pretty to spend the rest of the day inside.

I have 2.5 repeats left of Convertible, and then it is weaving in and blocking time!  There will be button pictures, though I'm pretty sure that I am just not a good enough photographer to capture them properly.

And now, before I go back outside... Miss N-- has won the book.  The email has been sent (now that the Internet is playing well with others again).

omg buttons!

I am really loving Convertible (I'm just over three repeats from the end), and figured that it was time to get  the buttons (in another parathentical aside, this made me think of time to make the donuts). 

Now, 36 buttons is a monstrous load of buttons.  The average button box or jar isn't going to have 36 buttons of the same type, especially when what I was looking for were 36 small shank buttons that wouldn't be too heavy for the lace.  So, I went to Windsor Button.

Sue had vintage mother-of-pearl shank buttons of just the right size in stock.  I was ecstatic.  So, I picked up my 36 buttons last night, and left a bit poorer (because buttons are pricy, especially in quantity).  But buttons!

Also, I'm planning on revising my rotation tonight.  I told my hubby that I was buying yarn soon, and he asked me if I planned on finishing things first.  So, I need to re-tally what is close to done, so I can finish a few projects up before the end of May.  Definitely gunning for new yarn in June.

Hanami?

I really love the fancy pattern search on Ravelry.  The hardest thing for me is to go through all of the patterns, wondering how much yarn they call for, so a pattern search that allows me to limit based on the yardage I got and my stitch gauge (not important, because I'm thinking about lace) is a wonderful tool!  I have enough yardage in the lovely laceweight to make Hanami, so I'm adding it to my list of projects.

So, I am fully expecting to finish two items this weekend.  I have the finishing work to do on one project (tiny amount of sewing and a few more ends to weave in) and I'll be finishing Convertible as well.  That will be two projects down (and only one more to go to earn me a free day for buying more yarn)!

A few weeks ago I was commenting on Bitter Purl's hypoteneuse stole and it came up that I have knitted garments that I don't actually wear.  Now for some of them, it is a matter of doing something simple:  the skirt that needs belt loops (or for me to open up the waist band and shorten the elastic) is a prime example.  But I made one of the items from Loop-d-Loop (umm, the faded ribbed stole), where I was so in love with the knitting that I completely ignored the yardage requirements.  I bought 6 skeins of single ply yarn from Mostly Merino and I was going to use them.  But I made what was effectively a wide-striped tube dress.  Not a great fashion for me regardless of weight, because the wide stripes did nothing for me.  So, earlier this week I ripped it.  Because the yarn is a wool (and mohair?) blend, it spit spliced super well.  I now have 3 skeins of yarn in a maroon, light maroon and a heathered oatmeal.  I'm thinking of Vestish for these.  Probably without pockets and with a contrasting hem and neckline (anywhere there is ribbing).  It will be good to bring the yarn back to something I can wear. 

This isn't the only item I plan to rip.  I'm also planning to rip the Pinup Sweater, though I'm not sure that the yarn will take the abuse quite as well.  We'll see.  I just know that I'm not likely to ever add the lace and modesty placket to the front and fix my issues with how it fits on me.

cue dramatic speed

I put aside Convertible yesterday morning after working on it for about 2 hours (waking up before 4 a.m. gives you lots of extra knitting time) to do some work on another project that I'm hoping to have finished this weekend.

Well, the knitting is fast.  I have only one small section left to do and I have finished weaving in all of the ends from the first part of the project.  I have a couple of reservations about using the Tahki Cotton Classic, but that is mostly how it handles things like bobbles and other structural elements.  It's great for stockinette (and is both affordable enough and easy enough on the hands to possibly make the Violet Beauregard skirt (Ravelry link) from The Happy Hooker) though, so I am pretty happy with it.

Of course, I'll probably not work on it for the rest of today.  Convertible is the more important (and more importantly slower) project on my needles right now.  But it still feels good that not every knit takes a ton of time to do.

Stash Addition!

A few days ago (because I'm stupid about photographing stuff in a timely fashion) I received this lovely laceweight yarn. 

I never expect to win anything, so it was just such a nice bonus to see this in my mail!

Of course the best thing about receiving any treasure like this is the when.  I always receive mail like this after a busy day at work and a long commute on the train.  While I am not always grumpy, I'm not normally all happy and perky either.  It's packages like these that make you feel like someone cares for you (even if it is just yourself - I totally get the appeal of belonging to a yarn club) and helps reverse the feelings caused by the endless stream of bills and junk mail.

So, I have 880 yards of this beautiful yarn.  What should I make with it?

Give-away!

I've sent off the prizes for donators for the CCFA today (Congrats and Thank You to Carol).  I didn't have a large list of donators, but I still feel odd keeping things I added to the list of prizes.  So?  Giveaways!

This week I'm giving away The Knitter's Book of Yarn.  If you are interested in receiving this book, please comment on this post.  I will randomly select someone Saturday morning, May 17th, at 8 a.m.

I will ship internationally, so don't worry about where you are from. 

(and because I feel like there should be real knitting content in here: I am on repeat 12 of 17 for Convertible, and should be going to Windsor Button on Thursday to pick up small shank buttons to complete the project.  I do not have a picture today, but should have a picture for tomorrow.)

Making a list

Between Tweed, the new Interweave Knits and the new Interweave Crochet (and, umm, my large-ish WIP and Queue in Ravelry), I have a veritable army of projects.  It's hard to focus on any one project without some form of deadline, especially once the project has become less desirable.

Over the last few months I have realized that one of the things that seems to make me less likely to finish a project is picking up stitches.  It's not a problem for a pair of socks.  It's a small area and I am only trying to get a max of 18 stitches in there.  For something with a shawl collar?  It's a couple of hundred stitches on diagonals or some other more difficult configuration.  Of course, I like these patterns, which is why I knit or bought them in the first place.

So, I want to make (not putting these in Ravelry yet) the following in no particular order:

• Baby hat (I have a pattern, but there is a chance that the recipient could read about it);
• Butterscotch Cardigan;
• Roped Shell (the one with the cabled edging from the latest IK)
• Scottish Isles Pullover

Those are just the new projects.  It's only 4, but in a month or so there will be a new Knitty out and the process will start all over again.  Of course, there are probably more than 20 items in my queue (I'm in denial, so I'm not going to look)....

How on earth do you pick what you want to work on next?

committed?

Obligatory charity info: Today is recommitment day for Team Challenge, so please donate a couple of dollars to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation (donation link).  This is the last day to decide whether or not the minimum donation amount can be raised, and to guarantee a space on the team.  After this point, if you have guaranteed your space on the team you will be charged the difference between what you raised and the minimum amount.  It's important, because it keeps the event costs down and allows a reasonable percentage of the fundraising to go to the charity (overhead can be a monster).

Knitting stuff!
My hubby broke my yarny fast last night.  We went to Windsor Button and I got three skeins of the Tahki Cotton Classic for a hat.  I bought and paid for the hat pattern last night and printed it out this morning.  I probably won't start the hat until tomorrow (umm, yeah, that WIP list?  So hosed), but I should be able to finish the hat by next week even with my training runs and working on Convertible. 

Convertible is a great pattern.  I'm at just about the half way point in just over a week of knitting (and at least three of those days were when I was sickest with my cold where I didn't do more than 5 rows), and think I'll have it finished by May 18th.  I'm counting the Muppet and Convertible as my two projects to complete before buying more yarn (though I do plan on not buying yarn for the Butterscotch Cardigan until I have finished the baby hat and my latest pair of socks), so I need to get cracking!

I blame Brainy

Sorry about that.  Alison mentioned a few weeks ago the Butterscotch Cardigan in the latest Interweave Crochet.  It's hard to believe, but crochet was the first fibery craft I really got into (umm, unless of course you want to count cross-stitch, which I've been doing since I was maybe 6).  Over the weekend I finally picked up the magazine, and the Butterscotch Cardigan is one of my top three design favorites in the issue.  Most of the things I have the skill for just weren't my cup of tea, but the Cardigan is pretty feasible as is the spiral hat (which I'll probably do first once I am done Convertible), but Alison was right.  The Shepherd Sock makes this a fairly pricey top.  Not completely outside of the realms of affordability, but not as thrifty as I'd like to be. 

So, I've been searching out alternatives.  I figure I can buy the yarn once I am down under 10 WIPs listed on Ravelry, which probably won't be until June.  I had this crazy idea in my head of double stranding a laceweight yarn.  As long as it wasn't too fine, I could probably get away with it.  Even if I had to buy 3 skeins, it would possibly be cheaper than buying 8 of the LL.  I do this sort of math all of the time as part of my browsing pattern online.  You know, I could probably buy the Comfort Sock or the Knit Picks solid sockweight yarn and make the project under $30... but I would probably enjoy the project more if I sprung for this slightly more expensive yarn.  A silly thing to do.

So, I emailed the Loopy Ewe yesterday late afternoon and within 10 minutes had an answer I could probably live with:  Lane Borgosesia Cashwool is one of the laceweights Sheri carries, and two strands of it together is pretty close to the apparent weight of one strand of the Shepherd Sock.  Even buying a third skein would still be pretty affordable.  So, now I know what I'm doing with my fun money in June!

making progress?

I'll get the boring part out of the way.  Fundraising is hard!  I'm hoping to get to $1000 by Friday, May 9th, so if have an extra $5-10 available, please consider donating it to the CCFA.  My donation page is at: http://www.active.com/donate/napa08newengland/seannalobue.  'Kay?  Thanks!

Onto more interesting things for everybody else. 

I gave J- her shrug (which I've been calling the muppet) last week, but I wasn't done the knitting for her.  She wanted something lacy for her niece.  I have been using this Angelspun by Unger (a mohair/acryllic/nylon blend), and it has turned out to be a lot more interesting to work with and less problematic than the muppet yarn.  Truly a wonderful turn of events.  Of course, I was trying to get Convertible done for this week, and I'm still a fair bit off.  I did my normal mathimation and if I keep up the same minute per row rate, then I have about 26 hours of work left.  I was supposed to do nothing but run and knit last weekend, and while the weather cooperated for knitting (I didn't go running in the rain) I caught a cold.  I did a tiny amount of knitting, but at this point I feel like I am days behind.  I'm trying to decide how much sleep I can give up and get it done this week without compromising my health!

But pictures, everyone loves pictures! 

I am on repeat 5 of the pattern (each repeat is actually two lace repeats).  I might be able to cut down the time it takes if I can spray block it overnight sometime this week just to see how big a blocking will make it.  The pattern is only meant to be about the length of your wingspan, so theoretically if she had gorilla arms I'd want to knit it longer.  I have some yarn in my stash that will probably work to make one of these for myself when I'm done.

The pattern at this point is mostly mindless (just hard enough that I really don't want to get distracted and forget what I'm doing).  I made a mistake this morning that took me 15 minutes to figure out.  Thankfully the lace pattern is really easy to fudge.  All in all the pattern is pretty forgiving.  I'm pretty sure that it would be dead easy to alter this pattern to use your favorite lace pattern instead.  If your lace pattern produced a wavy edge, then you would want to graft it in the middle, but that's pretty minor.  It is basically a stole with a border on each side and buttonholes every so many rows.

Closeup of the stitch pattern?  Sure.
I'm pretty sure that this would work with nearly any fingering to lace weight, though given that it originally took two skeins of a sockweight bamboo yarn (has anyone seen this yarn by Blue Moon?  I didn't see it listed on their site, and it would be nice to try out.  I love to use bamboo yarn (and for that matter finer weight yarns in general).

Of course, it is not helping my progress that I picked up the latest Interweave Crochet over the weekend when I decided I needed decent coffee.  I have gone through some of my smaller skeins of yarn to see what I could make, and really want to try and make the spiral hat.  I'm really a crochet beginner for all that I used to do a lot more crochet than knitting, so it looks like a good pattern to get in the practice of, well, following a pattern. 

I unsurprisingly want to make the Chinese Yoke Top and the Butterscotch Cardigan.  I'm definitely not skilled enough to make the former, and don't have 8 skeins of matching sock weight yarn to make the former.  I keep trying to figure out what the most affordable sock yarn would be to make these, an exercise that at least will keep the project in mind for the next couple of weeks while I try to finish Convertible and a couple other projects on my list (it's getting warm, so the Frog Camisole is probably the next thing I'll finish after this).