Slip Jigs & Slippery Slopes

Finished in time for Irishgirlieknits return from Sock Camp:


RSC March 2010 kit
Slip Jig by Irishgirlieknits
BMFA STR medwgt in Wild Irishgirlie
size 2.50 mm KP circs
med pattern size
no mods


We've got a nice respite from the spring rains, but by the time I remember to take pics, it's too shady in our back yard. Pics at work are a little better, but flourescent lighting can be icky.


Have I mentioned I have slid down the slippery slope that is spinning? Obviously I'm no where near good, but at least I enjoy the practicing. Now if only I can take a pic of this fiber in the right light. It's Superwash BFL in No. 9 from A Verb for Keeping Warm. I have no idea about my yardage from the 4 oz I spindle spun. I also Navajo-plyed it, but from singles I had already wound on toilet paper rolls, so it was super tricky to keep the tension right. I can totally see how loose I was in a few spots. I do love Navajo-plying, so I'll do it the way I learned in class on my next dyed fiber (but not one that is more semi-solid).

Next step is to figure our my wraps-per-inch and swatch it to see what I can knit it into. One of my other goals too is to see if I can load my spindle with more fiber instead of having a bunch of little skeins when I'm done spindle-spinning.

And one time at Sock Camp...

Hah. Not really. While my Rockin' Sock Club friends are having a kickin' time up at this year's Sock Camp, I'm back at home in a quieter mode working on one of the March RSC patterns.


Slip Jig by our darling Irishgirlie, Carrie
pattern size medium
STR medium weight in Wild Irishgirlie
size 2.50 mm KP circs (just 'cause I know Carrie enjoys circs rather than dpns)

One down, one to go after a brief detour in another size.


Apparently I had a Cinderella stepsister moment and cast on for the small instead of my usual medium. I should know better than to not believe the designer and tech editor. Even my DH noticed when I tried on the small cuff (on top in the pic above) that it would be too snug. Despite the purl stitches in the cable rows, it doesn't lend itself to being very stretchy.


And since hats are quick, I finally got around to knitting Monkey1 a beanie hat version of the Scroll Lace pattern (there's a chart here) that was used for my Malabrigo Twist cowl. I used the recipe directions for this Pomatomus hat to do my decreases for this hat as well. I think I figured it out correctly.


yarn: Dream in Color Classy in Some Summer Sky
needles: size 7 & 9 KP Harmony circs (I'm hecka tight when I knit Dream in Color yarns)
CO 100 sts


And in the spirit of Sock Camp class-taking, I took WonderMike's Navajo ply on a drop spindle class at A Verb this weekend. My over-the-fold technique still blows, but the Navajo-ply method is so awesome! I'm looking forward to practicing this technique more on my little stash of dyed fibers.

Raven Swirl

RSC November 2009
Raven Swirl by Cookie A - medium
Socks that Rock lightweight in Blackbird
size 2.25 mm KP nickel-plated dpns


unintentional mod:
1 extra repeat of the cuff because I wasn't paying attention and kept knitting on before realizing I should be doing the traveling panel portion of the leg.

And that's all I've got 'cause we've got a new member of the family:


Lots of re-arranging to puppy-proof the house for Monkey1's little Andrew. He's already snagged a stitch of my Beached LSS Shawl that Jazz, but luckily we caught him in time and no damage was done to either cute puppy or shawl. Whew.

Drive By Post

We've got 2 milestone birthdays, so this'll be quick (links to be added later). But as usual, I'm showing latest Rockin' Sock Club kit after a couple STR projects.


November 2009 RSC kit
yarn: BMFA STR lightweight in Blackbird
pattern: Raven Swirl by Cookie A
needles: 2.25 mm KP nickel-plated dpns
left sock


Unintential mod:
Extra repeat of the cuff. I actually had done way more repeats, but did not rip back all the way. Working on the right sock now.


yarn: BMFA STR lightweight Rare Gem mill end from the Once in a Blue Moon sale
pattern: Traveling Woman
needles: size 6 & 8
mod: 3 reps of Chart A
13 g leftover

Inspired to cast on after Stitches West by Cockeyed the Sockateer.


Love the March 2010 RSC kit.


I'll probably do Irishgirlie's pattern w/this shipment of yarn and do Janel's with some other spring colored STR in my stash.

Sew Knit

I finally caught up with my work knitting friends on our February Lady Sweater KAL.


yarn: BMFA Socks that Rock Heavyweight in Korppi
needles: size 8 KP circs


Comments:
Not much to say, especially since this is my second time around with the pattern. Because the violet in one skein was brighter than the other 2, I alternated the skeins. Pardon the back shot, but the color is truer in this pic. I have Monkey1 trained well as she made sure to ask if I wanted my head cut off or not before taking the pics.

Love the colorway and since it's a favorite pattern already, it'll probably get as much wear as my first.


pattern: Lush-ious Swirl Cowl (though there are other free scroll lace cowl patterns out there, especially on Ravelry)
yarn: Malabrigo Twist test skein when it was called Gusanito
test skein yardage: 130 yds (as compared to the current 150 yds)
colorway: Azul Seco
needles: size 10 KP circs

mods:
- CO 100 sts
- Extra purl & knit round after the cast on round & extra purl round before the bind off round.


The yarn was a x-mas gift from tapmouse a couple Christmases ago and I had been ruminating what to knit with it since. Due to the shorter yardage, I stuck to a cowl pattern.

I had actually knit this completely the first time around exactly as written on size 9 needles. I decided that the thicker parts of the yarn were a little too stiff and wanted a slightly looser cowl. With 17 g leftover the first time, I took a chance that I would have enough if I cast on one more repeat on larger needles. So off I frogged & re-knit. Since it took me one day while home with a sick Monkey or 2, the frogging was totally worth it.


In honor of Monkey2's birthday over the weekend, I made her a dress in fabric and ribbon she picked out. Because she was sick the entire weekend (and then some), it took dinner and a dose of kids tylenol before she was in a good enough mood to model it for me. That pic is on Facebook, but here the dress itself (and the little matching bag) will do.

Back to the usual

Cloudy days make photographing black items pretty darn tough, but I'm too lazy to wait for a sunny day.


pattern: Bella's Mittens
yarn: Cascade 128 Superwash in solid black by request
needles: size 9 & 10 KP nickel-plated circs
mod: by my sister's request, made the mitts convertible

As much as I love this cute reverse-engineered pattern, I think knitting this 3 times is more than enough. But then, the only reason I knit this is again is that my sister requested a pair of mitts that would allow easier access for her fingers when iPhone-ing away on her mass transit to work. What I do for family.


pattern: Yarn Harlot's sock recipe
yarn: Regia Flusi das Socken Monster
needles: 2.50 mm KP dpns

Monkey1 picked this colorway out during one of our visits to Purlescence. I originally started knitting this in my normal continental fashion, but was inspired by Irishgirlieknits & Cupcakefaerie to practice my lever (aka Irish cottage style) knitting. So aside from the cuff and half the toe (I got really impatient by then), most of this pair was done lever-style. I think I've got the hang of it, at least on dpns, especially since I've reverted to my norm of tightening my gauge on the second sock. Whether or not I'll switch to this style entirely will most likely depend on my mood & gauge I need.


So. In a recent training class at work, the lecturers talked about how there are 3 parts in our skills process - the comfort zone, the learning zone, and the panic zone. While not in my comfort zone, I am at least out of my panic zone and firmly in the learning zone when it comes to my newbie spinning.

I love the Kundert spindle I got from A Verb's booth at Stitches West. While no where near consistently competent, at least I'm no longer afraid to practice w/dyed fiber as opposed to the white BFL I started with. It probably helps that the dyed BFL mix I bought is in my color comfort zone too.

I will also say that a large part of getting out of my panic zone has been all the encouragement I've been getting from my crafty buddies, especially Tapmouse, my awesome teacher WonderMike (always willing to give suggestions on spindles and fiber) and the fabulous Verb ladies, Kristine and Adrienne.

Closing Ceremonies

Finished on Wednesday with time to spare!


Pattern: Shawl that Jazz
Yarn: BMFA Luscious Single Silk in Beached (almost 2 skeins)
needle: size 9 & 10.5 (bind off only) KP circs - my 8's were tied up on WIP's
mod: the extra ruffled version


top: BFL mix in Bleeding Hearts
l-to-r: Tumbleweed, Lenka (nicely out of my comfort zone), Rabia, ValenTINA, Vancouver Violet

I'm glad I finished early since I got to cruise through the Stitches West Market in a relaxed mode. I spent most of the time looking at lots & lots of fiber, testing spindles, and just enjoying the atmosphere. Aside from a smaller budget, the time spent meant I was a little more thoughtful about what I should buy. My final BMFA buys were nicely restrainted with just some lightweight STR and only one BFL mix roving. I already had some BFL & Polwarth from a Verb from Keeping Warm after my beginning spin class, so I felt I didn't need to get more yet.

After such an exciting end to my February knitting, I can go back to my usual schedule.

Ravelympics update

Halfway through the 17 days of the 2010 Winter Olympics, I am more than halfway through my Blue Moon Fiber Arts Luscious Single Silk (LSS) Beached Shawl that Jazz.


Since the LSS yardage is a little shorter than the pattern calls for with the regular ruffled edge, I'm not going to even attempt to try the extra ruffled version. I might've been further ahead on this Ravelympics project, but I haven't exactly been faithful to all it's garter stitch glory.


Instead, I managed to finish Monkey2's little pair of Fetchings. She loves them so much she asked me to make 2 more pairs...for her 2 BFF's. In the exact same color. LOL! But that's not going to happen.

Cascade 220 in a bright turquoise color
size 6 KP circs
mod: CO 40 stitches


I also messed around with my sister's second pair of Bella's mittens. This time she requested the convertible version that she saw somewhere so she won't need to take a mitten off when she texts on her phone while commuting on mass transit to work. The first one is done 'cept for the convertible part. I probaby won't do the button & button loop though.

Multi-themed weekend

It's been quite busy with the usual President's Day holiday weekend being combined with Valentine's Day, the Lunar New Year, the start of the Winter Olympics, & NASCAR season. The number of knitting projects I've got going seems to match this weekend's multiple events too.


For the Ravelympics which is scheduled for the Winter Olympics, I cast on for my second Shawl that Jazz in the Beached LSS I bought at Sock Camp last year. I decided that I wanted a bit of meditative garter stitch so I could watch the Olympics with ease.


But before that, I finally joined in on our mini-STR February Lady Sweater KAL at work with Tapmouse2 and Calafia. They're practically done, while I'm struggling to not make more errors on my second FLS. This time it's in heavyweight STR in Korppi.

My first set of errors were not doing all my increases in the increase row while watching the premiere of Lost's last season. I should know better than to knit anything that requires even the remotest of attention when Lost is on. My second set of errors was repeating the wrong right side row of the gull lace pattern. With alternating skeins, it's a pain to rip back a couple rows to fix. Then there's the botched garter stitch edge in one little section that I worsened in an attempt to correct it. Apparently, familiarity breeds errors and not just contempt.


The only new pattern I've been working on is the Raven Swirl sock. I won't even start my 2010 RSC sock until this is done. I love this sock, but it would also go much faster if I devoted more time to it. As it is, I get a row or 2 in here & there. But I do love how it's knitting up.


On my quick, but distracting, pile is Monkey2's new K&K Cap. The first 2 were getting too small, so I knit up the medium size. Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't swatch, so the hat's a little big, but that means she's got room to grow. It's in a turquoise Cascade 220 colorway that she would not let go of the last time we went to visit Purlescence Yarns.

I may need to knit up a second hat as Monkey1 decided to attach her freeform crocheted "snowflake" to the hat. It's very cute, but Monkey2 wants her hat plain.


Of course, the hat wouldn't be complete without a set of mitts to match. I'm almost done with a child-sized version of the Fetching fingerless mitts. I kept the row counts the same mostly, but CO 40 sts instead of the pattern's 45. Fits her great.

And that's not even all. Not pictured are Monkey1's second Regia Flusi das sockenmonster sock on which I'm practicing my lever knitting and my sister's second Bella's Mittens, this time as a convertible pair.

Digitessa

It only took me over a year to finish the pair, 4 months after I finished the first. Which is why this was in my UFO-in-denial project. I kept it as a WIP on my Ravelry project page and only once-in-awhile put it to sleep. But Nathania's call for a UFO Smackdown on Twitter & a Facebook group got me going. So glad I did.


pattern: Digitessa
yarn: Wollmeise 100% merino sock yarn in Digitessa (the yarn & pattern came together in a kit)
needles sizes: 2.50 & 2.75 mm KP circs


Yarnissima (Marjan) isn't lying when she says this pattern is demanding.

Modifications:
Because my row/round gauge was shorter than the pattern spec, I ended up at a different spot on the top of foot chart. I had failed to make clear notes on the first sock, so when I did the second (finally), I didn't quite get it to match. :p

And to alleviate any problems in getting the sock on, I switched to the larger needles on Chart 5B instead of Chart 6 as suggested in the pattern. That's right, there were at least 6 charts for this design. I won't complain though as the alternative would be to have the charts printed in teeny-tiny font which would've created issues for me if I had to enlarge them on a copier.


So now that my UFO-in-denial is done, I cast on the second half of my Mystery Stole #4 (aka the Serendipity stole) a year after I finished the first half. Sense a trend? Hopefully I'll finish this second half before the year is up.


Also done is my spinning class with WonderMike. I may not be drinking the Kool Aid yet, but I do appreciate all the skill and hard work that goes into hand splindling. It does seem to be quite an attractive craft as Monkey1 asked me to show her how. I may need to sign her up for a class sometime 'cause my teaching her is like the blind leading the blind at this point. :p


So to distract her from my lack of spinning skills, she and Monkey2 got to split the wares in Woolgirl's Hello Kitty Valentine's kit. I get to keep the yarn (Curious Creek Fibers in a special Woolgirl colorway & yardage) and project bag of course.

Don't get any ideas.

Yes, I'm talking to you, all my spinning friends!


Just because I'm taking a class doesn't mean I'm hooked. Especially since my practicing in between the 2 sessions seems to be getting worse instead of better. :p But that reflects nothing on the sweetheart of a teacher who is Wonder Mike. I just think that the Yarn Harlot's rule of thumb that you have to practice a skill for 28 days straight before one gets anywhere near decent definitely applies to me. And then some.

At the moment, it's not a relaxing thing to do. It seems to have a way of bringing up my control issues. At one point, I looked at some messed up fiber and contemplated pulling out my metal eyelash comb to re-comb it so I could re-spin it an effort to not let it go to waste. It's good thing the call of dinner-making duty kicked in and I let that crazy thought go.


But before testing the waters in the world of spinning, I managed to finish a baby gift set that I started after the baby was born. I was stuck on inspiration when I didn't know what gender the baby was 'til after our friend gave birth.

Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Violet - over 1.5 skeins total
Mason-Dixon Baby Kimono
SnB Umbilical Cord Hat
Ruth's Perfect Baby Booties


Lastly, It's hard not to cast on while I'm working on my UFO Smackdown when I got my second to last Embrace the Lace club kit, so I'll use it as motivation to finish. The yarn is Dream in Color Classy in an exclusive Woolgirl colorway w/a pattern by designer Lisa Dykstra, who's been Woolgirl's designer of choice for quite a few of her club & special kits. I'll be sure to send healing thoughts her way when I knit up her patterns.

Knetted

I finally finished this pair that I started during the BMFA Blue Moon cast-on. It's still raining so no pics of my sock pair right next to the river rocks in our backyard.


Sept RSC kit -
BMFA STR mediumweight in River Rocked
pattern: Knetted by Cat Bordhi
pattern size: medium-ish
needles: 2 x 2.50 mm KP nickel-plated circs (doing them Cat-style)

Mods:
- 1 extra diamond pattern on the leg. Had 55 g of yarn leftover so the potential was there to make the leg even longer if I wished
- Decreased to 54 sts for the leg. I think I finally close to my magic numbers to keep the medwgt STR from pooling. I've always pooled/flashed w/this weight & only rarely stripe.


I've got 2 RSC 2009 knits to knit up before RSC 2010 starts. I wound up my Nov RSC yarn & started on Cookie A's pattern. I still need to knit up the Jan RSC yarn, but I've hit a wall wrt having beads on it, even if I go with the fingerless gloves or mitts I'm thinking of going with instead of the socks.

I'm debating with myself if this should be the first year (out of 3 so far) that I won't do all the patterns. As much as I love My Blue Heaven, the Jan RSC yarn, my motivation to knit it up is nowhere to be found. So not like me to do that. Maybe if I complete the second half of a UFO'd mystery stole w/bead, I'll find the motivation. It is UFO Smackdown time anyway. We shall see.

The good, the bad, the ugly

The good: from the Once in a Blue Moon Rare Gems sale at BMFA -


All lightweight, one in each category (Earth, Fire, Air, and Water), not necessarily in that order since I think Tina & her dyers based the categories on what dyes and overdyes were used, not necessarily what the end result was. I love them all, but if I had to pick favorites, they are the 2 intensely deep ones on the left.

Also good: The first Knetted sock I cast on for the Blue Moon Cast On -


Sept RSC kit
medium weight STR in River Rocked
pattern size: medium-ish
size 2.50 mm KP circs
mod: foot decreased to 54 sts, 1 extra diamond repeat on the leg, but I bet if I weigh this sock & the remaining skein, I could've gotten on more diamond repeat on the leg.

The good & the bad:


pattern: Jasmine fingerless mitts by Adrienne Fong
yarn: Crystal Palace Mini Mochi in Neptune Rainbow
needle size: 2.50 mm KP Harmony circ
mod: extra lace repeat since Monkey1 wanted it longer

When we got back from vacation, I realized that the light turquoise was very sparse to almost non-existent in the second skein. The second half of the first skein & most of the second skein had a royal blue instead of the turquoise, so I punted the idea of getting both mitts to match color progression at all.

I do like the pattern & the colorway though, so that's good. The bad however was the yarn. It's splitty, the single ply is underspun in spots & I had to spit-splice it together many times, and it behaves like sticky mohair when attempting to frog or tink back a bit (looks mohair-ish too w/its halo). Maybe if I knit my Noro sock or sample Malabrigo sock, I would feel differently. Or even if I got a second generation of the mini-mochi instead of the first? Who knows, but it'll be awhile before I knit up the second skein.

It's just bad:


It used to be a completed Brioche Hat for DH. Then he asked me to extend it - several months after it sat in a dresser drawer in our cabin upon completion.

The bad part's not that I started slowly frogging it from the top even though I don't remember much on how a brioche stitch in progress looks like after several months. It's the stitch that snagged on something in the drawer he kept it in. It's to the right of the orange stitch marker, an inch from the cast on row that is currently causing me much angst. So, to fix that somehow (duplicate stitch for 2 inches on each side of it?) or to frog entirely & start over? That is my dilemma.

The ugly, though I could call it a swatch since I intend to frog & start over, but probably in a different pattern, maybe something stripey instead:


pattern: Beginner's Fair Isle Headband
size 7 KP circs
yarn: Nashua Handknits Grand Opera in Teal & Silver

Sometimes I should say no to Monkey1's requests when I feel it probably won't work. It was a bad combination of needle size, gauge, yarn and pattern. I didn't bring my entire needle set when we were vacationing, I had limits but tried it anyway. I did like the initial pattern & yarn combo on size 5 dpns, but that made the headband infant-sized and too stiff to work as a headband. I probably should've started a stripey scarf instead, which is what was intended for the leftover yarn. Knitting on size 7 circs Magic Loop style made the colorwork look really crappy and made keeping the floats even at the transition halves w/this yarn difficult.

Hopefully next time I tell Monkey1 it won't work, she (and I) will believe it and I won't need to "swatch" to prove my point. But then, that's par for the course in the parent/child experience.