Busy busy

With nothing to show for it. Been working a lot the past two weeks because of a sale.
The yarn for the fiery bolero came in! It's 24 Karat by Plymouth Yarn. I'll try to get pics as soon as there's time and the light's good. I had a false start at the last Snb meeting I went to. I was so excited to finally work on it and the yarn had came on the same day that I ended up misreading the increases so I had to go kermit on it. I'm now up to the part where you're suppose to start the increases for the sleeves. Since I'm going to do cap sleeves instead, I started reading up on set in sleeves. Knitty has a nice article here.

Ziggy Scarf

Well, the purple scarf is done! Only took about six hours. I followed the pattern for the Dropped-Stitch scarf from Teen Knitting Club. Aside from it being geared for teens, the book is one of the best beginner's book that I've read. It's also spiral bound so it lays flat. I wish more knitting books are made this way. I've bought and returned it previously because my other books already covered the same material but it turned out to be pretty useful. The library is our friend. The pics and the project I made really inspired me to try more novelty yarns.

The scarf was knitted on size 15 needles and I held together Plymouth Encore in purple and Sax in gold. The result looked like I accidentally smudged it with gold paint. A little glam, a little rock & roll, it would make Ziggy Stardust proud! Now to brainstorm how to gift wrap it.
Here's how far along the blossom scarf is.
I'm about half-way through and it will be a tad wider after it's blocked.
I've also picked up Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop today. It's great how she writes about what inspired her for each project. The photos are gorgeous! I loved her pattern for the Lace Leaf Pullover that was also featured in the Summer 2005 issue of Interweave Knits so I find myself looking at a lot of green yarn lately. Guess the pullover is the next project after the bolero.

How fast can I knit?

Well, I'll find out this weekend! I have some friends that are moving and we're having a going away dinner this weekend. I want to make one of them a scarf but I only have a couple of days. Time to break out the size 13's. I'm thinking something purple and glittery.
The blossom scarf is going well but slowly. I'm about half-way through. For something so simple, it sure is taking a long time. Maybe that's the problem, it's not complicated enough. Why did I decide to knit it in two pieces? I could have been done by now.
The yarn for the fiery bolero had to be ordered so its probably another week or so before I can start. Oh well, gives me time to finish both scarves, right?
I'm finishing up another womb knitted with some horrible cotton, Fantasy Naturale by Plymouth Yarn in fushia. Fantasy my arse, more like nightmare. When I was winding it up, I found three knots. Grrrr Arrrgh! I am having fun knitting the womb though. I couldn't put it down until I got the main body done. I still need to work on the fallopian tubes and I have an idea for an embellishment.
How about some good news! Eartha Kitt will be judging Craft Corner Deathmatch again. Hey, its craft related. So there.

More Reading Material

I have way too many books stacked in my room. So what do I need? More books! My copy of Handmade Modern by Todd Oldham came in. The projects look easy enough for me and I have never taken shop class. One project that looks like fun is the Smokestack Lamp (I get to learn wiring). I've also have an idea for the Cubby Credenza that involves yarn. See, this post involves fiber!

New Interweave Knits

I just stopped in at Isle Knits and picked up the Summer Interweave Knits. I've been coveting the pattern for the fiery bolero but with some changes, of course!



I'll be knitting it up with cap sleeves instead like a knitted version of a crocheted sequined bolero I saw in a store. It was too hard to wash and was loose in the back, so, why not make my own.*
I had planned on using the gold Gatsby Katia but then I spied the prettiest ball of yarn just sitting there on the shop's work table. It reminds me of sari fabric with different shades of pink (yes, pink!) and bits of gold. I didn't write down the name but do know it had a lot of yardage, 187 yards, so I won't have to buy a lot of skeins. The most I've bought at one time is three. Its so strange though, I'm terrible at math, but I can remember numbers. Meh. We could only find one ball of it when I was there. The rest are buried under bags of other yummy yarn that just came in. So Sue, the owner, will call me in a couple of days when she excavates the rest of them. Gives me time to read the magazine cover to cover!

*Edited because I am not label-conscious. All hail the mighty edit button.

Fashion insight from my father

The day before, I had read an article about how some well-to-do parents are dressing up their little ones in designer clothes and how it's justified because they're "age appropriate". I couldn't help rolling my eyes at the thought of three-year-olds in trendy velour track suits with a designer name emblazoned on their tushes. I ended up venting to my father about how ridiculous these parents are, buying their kids Prada flats and Chloe blouses when they would outgrow them in a matter of months and how, when I have children, I would never spoil them that way. My father replied that he hopes I stick with my convictions. Then he told me something that made me rethink the whole issue. He had bought pricey designer wear for my brother and I.
This comment brought my tirade to a halt. Neither of his kids act like spoiled brats (I hope!). I started recalling my dad telling me about the expensive toddler shoes he got for me when I was learning to walk. Then there was the beautiful red coat from kindergarten that sparked my passion for red outerwear. And what about the leather backpack from Japan that my godfather sent me in the fifth grade that I am planning on having restored. I realized that what bothered me wasn't that these children were wearing designer clothing, it was because they were learning to be label conscious.
What my father has taught us is how to appreciate good tailoring and craftsmanship. There's nothing wrong with learning how to look how a shirt is made to determine if it is a sound investment. It's worth it to save for several weeks to purchase one well cut dress that you could wear for years instead of five badly sewn dresses from some discount chain (and probably manufactured in a sweatshop). And its alright to buy cheap clothing, just not cheaply made ones.
I have learned to be aware of labels not because of status, but because of workmanship. Isn't what I'm doing now, with my knitting, striving for even stitches, the right drape, and the perfect yarn, a product of this upbringing? I came to the conclusion that spoiling your kids and teaching them to appreciate the finer things in life are two different things.

Knitted Depressed Android

Someone from the Punk Rock Knitter's Journal created a pattern for a knitted Marvin the Robot from the movie, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I haven't seen the movie yet but recall reading the book in junior high. Don't remember a thing.

Lil' Womb will see you in D.C.

WoW has been rescheduled for June but this lil' womb is getting an early start on her trip.

Where did you come from?

I innocently decided to go to Isle Knits after my last post to pick up some pink yarn for the womb. I figured I might as well give it a go. I casted on at 8pm expecting to finish a week later. At 11pm, I found myself staring dumbfounded at a finished womb. Its a personal record for an FO. Spent the next several days terrorizing the bro with it. It might have been the fleshy pink color of the Reynolds Utopia acrylic. The SnB met twice for WoW so we could get a bunch mailed together. I managed to finish another womb to drop off for the second meeting...but not before a photoshoot in the downtown area. Felt a little like the main character from Blowup. The photos are developing now.
I did go back and bought a faux plum blossom branch from the candle store. It is currently wedged between my bed and a corner of my room so it looks like there's a tree growing in the room. It kind of reminds me of Odysseus. One of his bed posts was a living tree. Now, when I open my eyes every morning, I have a lovely reminder to hurry up and finish the scarf! I should change the name of it now because it looks more like a plum blossom branch.

Knitting Boy

Lovely article in the paper today that mentions the SnB. The Bro is worried he may be known as the Guy Who Knits. I say right on! I'm contemplating knitting up a womb for Wombs on Washington. Looking through my stash, I find that I have no pink yarn. No pink. I find this very perplexing.

Grrrrrrrr....

That's the sound my scarf makes when I'm frogging it. Yep, it was too wide. The increases and decreases worked out though. One of the members at the SnB meeting told me the pieces looked good curling up at the sides. I have to agree so know I'm knitting the two pieces about half as wide so that when I sew them together, the scarf would look more tubular (dude!). I got more inspiration today when I stopped by a candle shop during my break. It had some very realistic looking faux cherry and plum blossom branches for sale. They were so pretty! One of those branches would look so cool in my room. I'm going back soon to admire them again.

Eeep! Casted on

The Marsan Watchcap is almost finished. Just need to weave in the ends. I'll post pics later. The branch for the scarf is coming along. I decided to knit it in two pieces and sew it up later. I'm almost to the point where I have to do the increases and decreases which is making me a little nervous (What if it doesn't work out? Should I have planned every row instead of doing it freeform? Eeek!) I did finally remember to get the white yarn for the berries and thread for the stamens on the blossoms so I'll be embroidering them soon.

Hello Kitty Stitch Markers

My Hello Kitty cellphone mascots were getting lonely since I switched to a new mobile. Now they keep me company while I'm knitting the marsan watchcap.



The rings are jewelry findings from a bead shop. They have a smaller ring attached to the bottom of the main ring. I think they're used as part of a fastener for necklaces or bracelets.

Brown Yarn & Hummus

Why am I doing the Snoopy Dance? The brown yarn came in! I never knew brown could be so beautiful.



Here it is with a blossom.



The bro was nice enough to take some photos so this post will be rather pic heavy:

The spiderweb capelet is missing some roses.



I've removed the roses on the capelet because the gold yarn is just too slippery (there's still one left on the bottom left). I'm going to try knitting up a couple of gold blossoms and using them to embellish it instead. I just really like how the gold contrasts with the blue.



Last are the blue and off-white yarn I ordered from Knitpicks and Elann. The center-pull ball is the Merino Style (Knitpicks) in dusk. As you can see, I've already started a new swatch in woven cables. Next to it is the misshapen skein of Admiral Blue Peruvian Collection Highland (Elann) after I frogged the lattice swatch. The scale of the lattices was too small so I'm staying with the woven cables. Also, I like the color and feel of the merino wool better. I'm going to have to start a mock-up of the robe soon so I can figure out how much yarn I'll need.



The beige skeins are from right to left, Ecru in the Peruvian and Vanilla in the Merino style. Again, I prefer the Merino Style. The color is the light cream I had in mind for the next film inspired project. I'm still testing stitches for it so nothing yet until I finish these WIP's.

M.K. made a mini version of Jay McCarroll's poncho! Its in the March 7th posts on her blog. Never thought I'd be jealous of a doll's wardrobe. Must finish WIP's.

I finally tried out a recipe for a bastardized version of hummus. The recipe for mashed chickpeas is from Jamie Oliver's Happy Days. I spent about fifteen minutes looking for canned chickpeas at the supermarket but found everything but. So I resigned myself to just getting premade hummus. Then I had the bright idea of looking at the ingredients of a couple of them. Turns out chickpeas and garbonzo beans are the same thing. Go figure. It was fast, easy, and really good. I even added some paprika on top so it looked like the hummus from the local Greek takeout. Loved it on spinach tortillas. I haven't been eating well lately because I've been too busy, which may be why I've been getting sick so much. After reading his newest book, Jamie's Family Dinners, it reminded me how important it is to eat more nutrient rich foods. I also made one of the pasta recipes from it tonight for dinner. It was a rigatoni, eggplant, and mozzeralla dish. Yum!

Blues

What have I been up to? Well, I'm sick. Again. That's the third time this year, and it's only February. So, to go along with my mood, I'm stocking up on blue yarn. I just got a skien of Peruvian Collection Highland Wool from elann.com in Admiral Blue and ordered some Merino Style in Dusk from KnitPicks.com. One or the other will become the blue robe. I've also found the pattern for a lattice stitch that I'm testing out with the Highland Wool. I'll post pics when I'm done with the swatch.
The Cherry Blossom scarf is still on hold. I've decided to go back to my original plan of knitting the whole thing in cotton so I'm still waiting for the brown to come in. Maybe I'll check again before work.
The Spiderweb Capelet still needs a couple more gold roses. But the lattice stitch test swatch is really distracting me. I just need to set some time aside to work only on the capelet.
Speaking of capelets, here's another distraction (like I needed another one):



It's from the collection of my fave designer on Project Runway, Jay McCarroll. He so deserved to win! I really like this capelet but I think I'm going to make a shorter version. After my capelet and scarf are done, guess I'm going to learn to crochet. Until then, no new projects until I'm done with these two.

Great minds...

Saw this at Borders the other day:



It's the current issue of Fiberarts magazine. I'm debating whether or not to get this issue. I do love the idea of wearable art.
I just started another job so now I have more yarn money. The bad news is that I that I haven't had time to buy yarn with said money. I still need some cashmerino for the branch of the cherry blossom scarf. At least I made some progress with the spiderweb capelet. The R2 inspired embroidery became embroidered roses instead. The lovely gold yarn proved to be a slippery little bugger when it kept coming out of eye on the yarn needle. Just a few more roses, then I'm done!

Been outta town

I've been away the last couple of days because of a family emergency. I had to fly to North Carolina. While there, on Wednesday, it snowed! Strangely enough, snow is my only memory of the state up until now. My cousin said it hadn't snowed there for seven years so, yay! Downside was that we were stuck in traffic for more than four hours and my other cousin missed his flight.
My first day there, I did manage to get some yarn at this craft store called AC Moore. I was totally overwelmed by the aisles of yarn and tools. Then was dumbstruck by a wall of the stuff. Eventually, I ended up buying a skein of Chunky Araucania Nature Wool in a light violet and four balls of some low end "Cashmere Luxury" Aran. The content is similar to Debbie Bliss Cashmerino but the quality isn't as high. I got a ball each of navy and grey for a hat for the bro and two of purple. Also got some better stitch holders and more point protectors.
While on the plane to and from, I started another Marsan watchcap from redlipstick.net with some turquoise Cashmerino Aran I exchanged the extra Nature Wool for. The last watchcap I made was a little short so I'm going to knit a couple more rounds for the body.

The Saga Begins...

I've started testing stitch patterns for the first movie-inspired knit project for this year, Padme's Naboo Nightgown Robe. Maggie has amazing research about the robe on her site, padawansguide.com. The original costume was done in velvet using a technique called lattice smocking. The plan is to knit it in wool with a shiny yarn held together to give it the right amount of sheen. There are several reasons I decided to knit it instead:

1. I'm actually going to use the garment for everyday so I didn't want to have to worry about crushing the velvet while wearing and storing.
2. Smocking shrinks the fabric. With knitting, if it ends up too small after a couple of rows, I could just frog it and start again.
3. The work would be portable so I can take it with me everywhere to work on.
4. Most importantly...any excuse to knit!

Below are some pics of the test swatch. I used some leftover Debbie Bliss Merino DK and followed a pattern for woven cables (8.6) from 220 Aran Stitches and Patterns. It was knitted up on size 7 needles and are 4.5X4.5 inches.

Charty Goodness

Somebody at the Knitty Coffeeshop Forum posted about a free custom chart program, called knitPro, that converts any JPEG, GIF, or PNEG under 1 MB into a chart in PDF. Great program to play around with since I like intarsia so much and very useful for a sweater I'm planning.

Lace Done!

Woohoo! Finished knitting the lace early this morning. The bro seemed pretty impressed when I showed it to him. When I was knitting it, the capelet looked like a tangled mess but it looks a lot better once its done. I still have half of the first skein left so I can exchange the second skein. The gold yarn was really expensive so it worked out great!
The capelet still needs to be blocked before I can start on the embroidery. I also have to decide whether to follow the pattern with the ties and pompoms or use ribbon. There's a stationary store near work that has a lot of pretty ribbons to choose from so I'll try to check it out tomorrow.
In other news, Lauren Kent has her pattern for Hermione's red mittens are up. These and the matching hat are on my list for this year. They'll be my portable projects to go along with the two other movie-inspired projects for this year. I'm still looking at yarns for those two so more on them later.