WiP Thursday

As usual these days, I’m a day late and a dollar short.

There hasn’t been a ton of free time, but here’s where it has gone:


My Love Actually cowl is marching right along. Got about four rows into the third set of hearts. I’m so ready for this to be finished!


I got my doubleweave blanket sleyed into the reed. Next step is threading heddles. If I’m lucky, I’ll get that done on Sunday.

And, because that cowl is starting to make me twitch, I’ve swatched for my Dublin Tee. Oops.

Festival!

Last weekend was the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, and I spent Friday and Saturday working at the SpaceCadet Creations booth. Of course, a few additional items had to come home with me.

On Friday, I went and checked out the Knitting Notions booth, and as always, I found a bowl that I loved.


It’s fairly large, and I’m quite certain it will find a place to live somewhere in my house. It’s handmade and beautiful. I love it!

I also snuck across the aisle and brought home a self-striping skein of DK-weight yarn from Fibernymph. I’m gonna have stripey feet to keep warm next winter!


Saturday was spent elsewhere, and I really had no plans to buy anything else. But on a bathroom trip, I walked past the Knitting Notions booth. And the runner-up bowl from my difficult decision-making on Friday? Still there. Oops.


This one is much smaller, and is already in use as a catch-all next to where my phone plugs in overnight. I love it too! For scale:


Working the festival added two items to the top of my queue. A Lintilla (long story, I’ll probably be knitting it this summer!) and a Dublin Tee. I had intended to be very patient and get some SpaceCadet yarn (Lyra!) for this project, but then I spied the precise color that I wanted in the Knitting Notions booth. And it came home with me.


Here’s hoping I can get started on my awesome summer sweater very, very soon!

WiP Wednesday

Ahh, another super-busy stretch with the part-time job. My regular job has re-started too, so there has been very little free time. Zoom!

But, between all of the crazy, there has been a little crafting here and there. I’ve gotten a little bit done on my Love Actually cowl. It’s a little hard to tell, but I’m into the third row of hearts!


The Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival was last weekend, and my cowl got to hang out at the SpaceCadet Creations booth while I was hanging out with the Hubster for his birthday on Saturday. So I busted out my Nittany Lions scarf and did some work on it. I’d say I’m awfully close to halfway through the second skein of each color.


In other news, I’ve been preparing a warp for the loom. I’m lucky to have lots of great extended family, but my Aunt and Uncle in Pasadena, Calif., have been fantastic about letting me crash at their house whenever I visit the left coast. So I’m making them a doubleweave blanket!


A little over a week ago, I caught a destash of a warping mill at a really great price, and I’ve used this project to make friends with it.


The warp is wound, and when I have a little time I can get it on the loom and start weaving. There are two chains, here’s the blue/green chain…


And all four colors together…


If you remember my blog post from my Doubleweave Blanket Class two years ago, this blanket is going to be very similar to the tweedy-looking blanket that Hedy made in class. The cobalt (royal blue) color is going to be the weft. I hope I can get it done quickly and it’s a big hit!

WiP Wednesday

Well, hello there! Sorry I missed last week, I was off to California to run a great big softball tournament. I did virtually no knitting while I was gone (or since I've returned home!), but my Love Actually cowl is through the first repeat.


It should move fairly quickly from here, which is awesome. Then I’ll get back to my EZ slippers, and do a second pair for the Hubster. At least that’s the plan.

Since my return home, I’ve been busy with my part-time job working for SpaceCadet. I had a big pile of yarn to tag and twist. Since it’s for the Interstellar Yarn Alliance I can’t really show it to you, but here’s a little teaser:


I hear my taskmaster has another metric crap-ton of yarn waiting to twist and tag, so it’s a good thing I have lots of TiVo to catch up with. Maybe I’ll even get some knitting time in soon, and be able to start my next weaving project sooner than later.

Let’s face it. What I really need is Hermione’s time turner…

WiP Wednesday

OK! It’s been lots of simple knitting around here. When I’ve been watching the Pens or reading, it’s been my Harry Potter scarf. I’m into the second skein of each color and it’s moving right along.


But, because the scarf now requires a larger project bag, I needed a smaller project for last week’s trips to the theater. Last week started with a field trip with my former co-workers at Bloomin Yarns. When we visited Wexford Dry Goods, there was a really cool dishcloth they had in many colors. So I decided to give it a try!


It’s great for short stretches of knitting, and I’m happy with how it looks. There won’t be a ton of knitting time over the next two weeks, but we’ll see what happens!

Runnin’

When I came home from Beginning Weaving Week at the Mannings way back in 2010, I took show-and-tell to my knitting groups. My dear friend Sara/CelticQueen (who is the designer of the super-awesome Knitty Surprise! pattern Love Actually) admired the twill sampler and thought it would be nice as a table runner for her kitchen. She picked the weft color, I ordered it from The Mannings, and it all sat around exactly like that for … a really, really long time.

I finally got a warp wound in April and had everything ready to weave before I left for the Women’s College World Series the day after Memorial Day. Eventually I started weaving, hemstitched the starting edge, and was off to start the marathon.


Marathon? Yeah. This thing sat on the loom for what seemed like forever. I just didn’t carve out a whole lot of weaving time last summer. I don’t know why that was, but I really want that to change!


I finally finished the weaving in late August. I felt great when I cut it off the loom … until I unrolled the fabric off of the front beam. And realized that I’d forgotten to hemstitch the finishing edge. Crap.

So I contacted the Jedi Masters of Weaving at The Mannings, and Sara (different Sara) reassured me that I could do the hemstitching off the loom, it just would have been a little easier under tension.


It took until January for me to buckle down and do the hemstitching, then wet-finish the piece. I Scotch Guarded it for Sara and got it off to her in mid-January. Finally. It’s chock full of the mistakes of a beginning weaver, but hey. The more I weave, the better I’ll get. Just like quilting and knitting.

Table Runner for CQ 

Draft: Twill Sampler from Beginning Weaving Week at The Mannings 

Thread: 3/2 Perle Cotton

Sett: 15 EPI 

Started: 27 April 2012 

Finished: 14 January 2013

The Owlery

I woke up on New Year’s Day and had nothing planned but a full day of football-watching. I had some breakfast, went to the gym … then came home and decided it was time to start knitting.

Some wonderful friends of mine had been talking about doing a Hogwarts Express Knit-A-Long. I had received the pattern as a Christmas gift. I’d had yarn and beads picked out for this shawlette for months. Yes, I said beads. Don’t panic.


So I started knitting again for the first time since August 12. I know some knitters start tearing their hair out with miles of garter stitch, but I’m not one of them. It makes me happy and made this the perfect re-entry project.

I threw together a dash of recent experience with a spoonful of my knitting preferences and made a few modifications. I hate yarn overs (well, the holes they create), so I did a M1 increase instead. Because I knew this would “eat” any give to the edge that would have been contributed by the yarn-over, I did the edge very similar to Color Affection. I added a yarn over to the start of each row and dropped it on the way back.


I wound up with an edge loose enough to allow some manipulation in blocking, but snug enough to create the required curl. I win. When it was time to start making the Owls, I got lucky and the precise number of stitches appropriate for the repeat. Yay for no adjustments!


I did the wider border version of the pattern, paired with the less-pointy tips, and did not do the “more ruffles” variation. I used a crochet hook to add the beads for the owl-eyes. It was very simple and I’d do it again when I find another pattern I want that needs beads.


All in all, a successful project on many levels. And it’s cute, too!

Hogwarts Express 

Pattern: Hogwarts Express by Susan Ashcroft 

Yarn/Color: String Theory Caper Sock in Skerry 

Quantity: Less than 1 skein. Started with 119.3 grams, finished with 22.5 grams left. 

Needles: US 6/4.0mm Signature Needle Arts 36” circ 

Started: 1 January 2013 

Finished: 13 January 2013 

Mods: No icky yarn overs. Less-pointy tips. Inadvertently did an extra garter ridge worth of border prior to bind-off. Oops.

WiP Wednesday: Re-entry

Back from Florida and trying to catch up. I managed to take a picture of my scarf last Wednesday, on the pool deck at my Dad’s house. Woo 4.5 stripes!


And here it is this morning. Yay 10+ stripes!

I
n other news, I got a big hunk of slipper knitting done before I left on my trip. It wasn’t trip-appropriate knitting, so it stayed home. Hopefully I can finish my pair this weekend. The first slipper is waiting for its exterior second sole, the second slipper is ready for decreases. Zoom!


Of course, the scarf is too big for travel, the slippers are too complicated, so I’ll have a new tiny project to entertain me during intermission at the theater tonight. Lots of littles happening around here, plus planning for sewing stuff. Oh, and two finished project posts coming right up!

2012 In Review

Last year was nothing like I thought it would be, but what year ever turns out as expected?

 I intended to knit 12 pairs of socks. I knit four (five if you count the man-socks as one pair each). I knit a hat early in the year, some shawls/wraps, then didn’t finish much for quite a while. There were two sewing projects for SpaceCadet’s InterStellar Yarn Alliance. A pair of baby quilts. More weaving.

My mom died in August, and I didn’t knit another stitch for the rest of the year, although my knitting needles have gotten back into the action in the last month. In all of its less-than-expected glory, here are my finished projects from 2012

1. Dawn Gnot Socks, 2. Koolhaas Hat, 3. Sweet Tomato Foot Ovens, 4. Gaskell Shawl (name of shawl was changed from Cranford to Gaskell by designer), 5. I.B. Footsie, 6. Ginormous Man Socks, 7. SpaceCadet Notions Bags, 8. Northwestern Baby Quilts, 9. Wiggle Wrap, 10. Color Affection, 

11. Rag Rugs, 12. Rainbow Rep Weave Placemats, 13. Dad’s Doubleweave Blanket.

Roaming Tigger’s Florida Adventures

RT and I have been in Florida for a week. The first half was spent in Bradenton with the Hubster. We had a number of adventures.

Almost as soon as we hit dirt in Florida, we headed out on a sunset cruise. We did actually get a sunset on this particular evening, so Tigger wanted his picture taken.


Early flight had meant early wake-up, so we went to bed shortly after the AFC Championship game ended (boo, ratbirds!) Besides, we had plans for Monday morning.


Apparently, John and Mable Ringling (yes, the circus Ringlings) based in Sarasota, Fla., where Mable built their grand home: Ca’ d’Zan (which means House of John)

With all the landscaping around the mansion, it was hard to get a good view of the full house, but RT gave it a good shot.


After we took the docent tour of the first two floors, we spent a little time on the back patio. You can see that the entire back of the house is full of art glass, and really, this is just the middle-third of the mansion.


Then, we went over to the Circus Museum, which is also on the grounds. Tigger thought it might be cool to be part of a Trained Animal Show in order to see more fo the country


But then he tried it for a few seconds and really didn’t like it very much.


And, just for the record, the Hubster and I were there as well. This is us on the boat dock. John Ringling invested heavily in real estate and owned everything you could see across the water. (click through to embiggen … if you must)


On Tuesday, we took advantage of one other piece of our package, a tour of Pirate City, winter home of nobody’s Pittsburgh Pirates.


Our tour guide had clearly been taught to fear showing people anything interesting. Even watching a dozen high-A guys play catch made her twitchy. So we were polite and moved along. To the South Florida Museum! Which has a very famous resident!


Snooty, the Manatee! Snooty is in the middle. His tank buddies were Charlie and Epac, who have their tails tagged and are getting ready to be released back into the wild. The manatee presentation was a lot of fun, and we learned lots of stuff about Snooty and other manatees.

Tigger was fascinated by the manatees once he’d met Snooty, so we went to the marina to see what we could see.


Tigger was a little bummed that this was the best we could do “in the wild.”


So after some lunch, we headed back to our room, where Tigger found some friends on the beach that reminded him of home.


It wasn’t much of a beach day, but this was a great way to end it.


A few more days, currently in Vero Beach, and we’ll both be headed back to the real thing.

WiP Thursday: Sunshine

I’ve been in Florida since Sunday. First it was three-plus days in Bradenton with the Hubster, now I’m finishing my first full day in Vero Beach with my Dad and Aunt Suzie.

I didn’t want to bring any of my other in-progress projects on this trip. I wanted simple. Period. Of course, I also needed something simple for the theater last Wednesday when the Hubster and I went to see Les Mis (stage show, NOT the movie!), so I cast on a Harry Potter scarf.


This is leftovers from my Nittany Lions doubleweave blanket from two summers ago, and the scarf will have the same recipient. Now you will excuse me while I go back to my book. There is sunshine to chase tomorrow, pictures to take, and Roaming Tigger escapades to document. I’ll be back!

WiP Wednesday

So. The Hubster’s slippers officially last two winters. Period. Right around the holidays, holes appeared in the heels of his latest pair of Fuzzy Feet. So he needs something else.

We have a front-loading washing machine, and that makes it tough to do the fine-adjustment felting necessary for a pair of slippers that fits. And since his slippers wear out on the soles, I decided to try a new plan of attack.

Of course, the Hubster wears a men’s 11.5 wide, which means that pretty much any slipper pattern that’s out there won’t fit his Hobbit Feet without some adjustments.

I picked Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Add-A-Booties because they are re-sole-able. So I’m getting a pair first for my women’s US 8.5 feet so I can figure out how this pattern works before I adjust it for Bigfoot. The first slipper got to the sole decreases last night.


I’ll finish with the Eco Wool sole, then pick up and knit a Wool Ease second sole for durability. I figure the wool insole will felt a little and the acrylic-heavy outer sole will help these things last longer.


And, if they don’t, I can just add another sole! Expect to see this slipper get finished and three more parade through the blog. It’s a good thing they’re pretty quick!

WiP Wednesday: Hogwarts Express

So. I’ve had the yarn and beads (yes, beads!) for Hogwarts Express hanging around for several months. I got the pattern for Christmas from an awesome friend, and a couple other online friends wanted to start too.

 On January 1, I started knitting again. For the first time since my Mom died on August 12. (I'd been doing some crochet and lots of sewing and weaving. But no knitting.)

 Last Wednesday, my progress on the Hogwarts Express looked like this


And this morning, it looked like this

 

 

How about a close-up of those owls? 

 

Yep. Express is about right. I may have it done by the weekend! (maybe. Knitting time will be very scarce the rest of this week)

I’m already planning what I’ll take with me on an upcoming Florida trip at the end of the month, and I’m sure I’ll get back to my previously-in-progress projects soon.