I also managed to destroy a brand-new worn only once shirt because apparently I did not pre-wash the fabric and it shrunk. I can still wear it, but now it's a belly shirt. Which I should probably not wear. Wharrrrrrrgarble!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Blahhh
I seem to be lacking the ability to do those last little finishing touches that actually complete a project. Two projects have been sitting around since August just needing to be washed, joined recently by a third. Three shirts just need buttons, though I put them on one this morning to wear to work. And of course, instead of finishing up that stuff or sewing up the fabric that's been cut already, I start something completely new, thinking it would be a fast finish. Which it will be, a simple skirt with only five pieces, one of which is interfacing, but then it was time for dinner and not too long after that, bed, so it's still sitting on the sewing table rather than in my closet. It will look amazing with a shirt that is still in uncut fabric form, waiting for its turn for the cutting board. Sigh. I'd better get on that!
I also managed to destroy a brand-new worn only once shirt because apparently I did not pre-wash the fabric and it shrunk. I can still wear it, but now it's a belly shirt. Which I should probably not wear. Wharrrrrrrgarble!
I also managed to destroy a brand-new worn only once shirt because apparently I did not pre-wash the fabric and it shrunk. I can still wear it, but now it's a belly shirt. Which I should probably not wear. Wharrrrrrrgarble!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Biscuit Blanket (with Bread) and a Topflappen
I made this awhile back, for a Thanksgiving party, and never actually photographed it in use. It's much prettier when used rather than lying flat like a sad little blanket. I had a housewarming party to go to and decided to make a walnut bread (Joy of Cooking's Nut Bread) and this was the perfect way to transport it. I even managed to remember to take pictures of it before I left!
In addition to finally photographing the Biscuit Blanket, I made a potholder (Topflappen in German) as a housewarming gift. Originally, I had wanted to do two, using the same colors but switching the main and contrast colors, but ran out of time when I had one center bit of each color done. They are small and quick projects, but very few projects are small and quick enough to start the project, experiment with it, rip one mostly-finished center, and then re-do on the same day, especially with the number of times I had to rip back because I missed an increase on the row below or somesuch. I don't crochet all that often. I will be making a few of these for Christmas, so it was a good excuse to test out the pattern and use up some available yarn. When friends left Japan this past summer, I was given a pile of yarn including a bunch of DMC Senso. I haven't put it into my stash because some are partially used and they have large cardboard bobbins in the middle making it difficult to weigh how much yarn there is, but they are great for potholders! I did a bit of Facebook snooping to see what colors could match my friend's kitchen, and upon finding a couple of kitchen implements in lime green, decided that of my available colors, orange and green should work:
Pattern: Biscuit Blanket (Ravelry)
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Naturals
Needles: US7/4.5mm
Timeframe: November 8 - December 12, 2010
Mods: None - nice pattern!
Problems: None!
In addition to finally photographing the Biscuit Blanket, I made a potholder (Topflappen in German) as a housewarming gift. Originally, I had wanted to do two, using the same colors but switching the main and contrast colors, but ran out of time when I had one center bit of each color done. They are small and quick projects, but very few projects are small and quick enough to start the project, experiment with it, rip one mostly-finished center, and then re-do on the same day, especially with the number of times I had to rip back because I missed an increase on the row below or somesuch. I don't crochet all that often. I will be making a few of these for Christmas, so it was a good excuse to test out the pattern and use up some available yarn. When friends left Japan this past summer, I was given a pile of yarn including a bunch of DMC Senso. I haven't put it into my stash because some are partially used and they have large cardboard bobbins in the middle making it difficult to weigh how much yarn there is, but they are great for potholders! I did a bit of Facebook snooping to see what colors could match my friend's kitchen, and upon finding a couple of kitchen implements in lime green, decided that of my available colors, orange and green should work:
Hook: 3.25mm/USD
Timeframe: September 3, 2011.
Mods: I made a 14 petal flower and went around the center with the contrast color too.
Problems: Not really problems so much as figuring out which translations/modifications I wanted to use! Final pattern I used is here.
Timeframe: September 3, 2011.
Mods: I made a 14 petal flower and went around the center with the contrast color too.
Problems: Not really problems so much as figuring out which translations/modifications I wanted to use! Final pattern I used is here.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
September 1
No polish today because I like the gold and am being lazy.
That is in fact a downward slope there! I changed to straight, rather than smoothed lines, to get a better idea of when it goes up and down rather than inflection points at odd places. I was worried, but a late-night finish to the Penguin Scarf did allow for another month of negative slope - that's every month since March, though some more than others!
Right now I have two single socks whose yarn is still in the count. Those will be easy finishes for a nice chunk of negative yarn, but I am not touching those until at least a couple more Christmas presents are done! That huge jump up, the last time my numbers went up? That was the Christmas KnitPicks order. A large percentage of that yarn still needs to be knit. It's September, time to focus on that!
That is in fact a downward slope there! I changed to straight, rather than smoothed lines, to get a better idea of when it goes up and down rather than inflection points at odd places. I was worried, but a late-night finish to the Penguin Scarf did allow for another month of negative slope - that's every month since March, though some more than others!
Right now I have two single socks whose yarn is still in the count. Those will be easy finishes for a nice chunk of negative yarn, but I am not touching those until at least a couple more Christmas presents are done! That huge jump up, the last time my numbers went up? That was the Christmas KnitPicks order. A large percentage of that yarn still needs to be knit. It's September, time to focus on that!
Another One
Yay gold:
I'm very nearly done with the Penguin Scarf:
The original scarf is full of geekery, with Tux on one side and the word Linux on the other. I'm making it for my sister who likes penguins, since there were no other penguin patterns and I did not want to make my own. I decided to put a penguin on either end, mirrored. I marked where the first skeins ended, so I could use up the yarn as completely as possible, and that is working nicely. I also, in order to get the mirrored look, read the chart from one direction for one side and the other direction for the second penguin. Obviously the way to do it, right?
Wrong. I knit from the bottom up the first time, and instead of knitting two sides and grafting, I knit from the top down on the other side. If I'd've knit the chart in the same direction both times (i.e. left to right), that would have given me the desired mirrored penguins. Instead I've got two penguins facing the same way, and I just hope she's not as picky about things as I am because I am not going back to fix this one!
I'm very nearly done with the Penguin Scarf:
The original scarf is full of geekery, with Tux on one side and the word Linux on the other. I'm making it for my sister who likes penguins, since there were no other penguin patterns and I did not want to make my own. I decided to put a penguin on either end, mirrored. I marked where the first skeins ended, so I could use up the yarn as completely as possible, and that is working nicely. I also, in order to get the mirrored look, read the chart from one direction for one side and the other direction for the second penguin. Obviously the way to do it, right?
Wrong. I knit from the bottom up the first time, and instead of knitting two sides and grafting, I knit from the top down on the other side. If I'd've knit the chart in the same direction both times (i.e. left to right), that would have given me the desired mirrored penguins. Instead I've got two penguins facing the same way, and I just hope she's not as picky about things as I am because I am not going back to fix this one!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Corona Progress
There's been a lot! This sweater has gone quite quickly so far, especially since the sleeves and body 'til now were great travel pieces and I've been doing a lot of out and about bus rides and such things. Also knitting while walking around UNESCO tourist sites:
Yup, that's the yarn around my arm (I didn't wind it into a ball) and the look on my face is me dropping a stitch while posing for the camera. D'oh!
At this point, the sleeves are attached to the body, so it's no longer a travel piece. Back to the penguin scarf for traveling, and hopefully I'll finish up the sweater yoke and collar soon! I'm really happy with the fit and length of the sleeves; this is the first time I've really made modifications to a garment, and I love how the sleeves came out. It's the little things. I'm not so happy with the fit of the hips. I didn't check the pattern schematic, I just cast on based on bust size, which was how the pattern was sized. It's supposed to be a tight-fitting sweater with 5" of negative ease, but the hips on the schematic are about 10" smaller than my hips. At least it's ribbed, but the ribbing is definitely stretched to the limit! I think it's not problematic enough to rip and re-do; while I might like it a bit looser, I don't hate it as-is and I'll just take that as a learning experience. I'm also not loving the yarn, at least not as an against the skin yarn. If the yarn were a better quality, I'd probably re-do it so I was really happy with it, but since it's not likely to be a favorite, I'll just let it be. Lovely color and I like the pattern and how it's turning out, I'm just not loving Cascade 220 and may not buy it again, at least not for against the skin garments. I think I prefer Patons Classic as my go-to widely available and relatively inexpensive workhorse yarn, though I'm sure I'll have more of an opinion when I've made the vest out of Patons that's next in my queue.
Yup, that's the yarn around my arm (I didn't wind it into a ball) and the look on my face is me dropping a stitch while posing for the camera. D'oh!
At this point, the sleeves are attached to the body, so it's no longer a travel piece. Back to the penguin scarf for traveling, and hopefully I'll finish up the sweater yoke and collar soon! I'm really happy with the fit and length of the sleeves; this is the first time I've really made modifications to a garment, and I love how the sleeves came out. It's the little things. I'm not so happy with the fit of the hips. I didn't check the pattern schematic, I just cast on based on bust size, which was how the pattern was sized. It's supposed to be a tight-fitting sweater with 5" of negative ease, but the hips on the schematic are about 10" smaller than my hips. At least it's ribbed, but the ribbing is definitely stretched to the limit! I think it's not problematic enough to rip and re-do; while I might like it a bit looser, I don't hate it as-is and I'll just take that as a learning experience. I'm also not loving the yarn, at least not as an against the skin yarn. If the yarn were a better quality, I'd probably re-do it so I was really happy with it, but since it's not likely to be a favorite, I'll just let it be. Lovely color and I like the pattern and how it's turning out, I'm just not loving Cascade 220 and may not buy it again, at least not for against the skin garments. I think I prefer Patons Classic as my go-to widely available and relatively inexpensive workhorse yarn, though I'm sure I'll have more of an opinion when I've made the vest out of Patons that's next in my queue.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Camp Loopy Project 3 - Field Day!
For the final project of Camp Loopy, you have to use at least 800 yards of yarn. I used about that much on my last project, grumble grumble, but this does give me a good excuse to knit a large-ish project from my queue! I decided that I wanted to keep it close to the 800 yard limit, because, well, summer's over at the end of August, I have to write exams for two classes, prepare and teach four two-hour classes, create a presentation for a conference, go to said (in-Japan) conference and present, and work on grad school/fellowship applications in that time. An intricate lace piece, clothing in any weight smaller than worsted, or (another) pair of knee-high socks are just not what I need on my plate right now. The same could be said of any new project, with my WIP count creeping ever closer to 20, but I've done the first two so just need one more to actually finish a knitting project goal/deadline on time and get the prize. Crap, I think I just jinxed myself.
Sticking to the not-much-more-than-800-yards rule, I chose to knit Corona (Ravelry), using Cascade 220 in Stratosphere. There were only three skeins of that color left when I ordered, so I changed to Blue Velvet. I chose this pattern because it's mostly simple, in the round, ribbing and stockinette, with a lovely cable panel along the collar that I will modify to be a full collar rather than a hood. I'm also going to lengthen the sleeves and keep the start of the collar high to turn this into a nicer sweater that I will be able to wear in an office setting rather than a spiffy hoodie.
I've cast on, and have a summer open campus where I won't have much to do, and may be able to get a sleeve done while the students and parents are in informational sessions. Really, I should have gotten one more skein of yarn to be sure that I'll have enough, but I should be okay with cutting out the hood. I hope.
Wish me luck!
Sticking to the not-much-more-than-800-yards rule, I chose to knit Corona (Ravelry), using Cascade 220 in Stratosphere. There were only three skeins of that color left when I ordered, so I changed to Blue Velvet. I chose this pattern because it's mostly simple, in the round, ribbing and stockinette, with a lovely cable panel along the collar that I will modify to be a full collar rather than a hood. I'm also going to lengthen the sleeves and keep the start of the collar high to turn this into a nicer sweater that I will be able to wear in an office setting rather than a spiffy hoodie.
I've cast on, and have a summer open campus where I won't have much to do, and may be able to get a sleeve done while the students and parents are in informational sessions. Really, I should have gotten one more skein of yarn to be sure that I'll have enough, but I should be okay with cutting out the hood. I hope.
Wish me luck!
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