NadaJ Knits

This past week, anything that could go wrong, did. This is the only thing good to come of the past 7 days:

I finished the Pea Pod Sweater.

It took me a week to knit the 12 month size, and I probably would've finished before 2pm today if I hadn't had horrendous back pain all week. So yesterday, I buckled down and finished knitting and seaming while watching the X-Men trilogy, and woke up early today to weave in ends and add the buttons.

Here's the specs:

Yarn: 4 skeins Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere, Strawberry, #15024 from Elann.

Needles: US4's. Spot on for gauge.

Started: 10/30/06 Finished 11/5/06. Buttons from Joann Fabrics.

 

When I read the pattern, I just couldn't believe the sweater called for 7 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere. Impossible! I knit the Debbie Bliss Tennis Sweater in the same yarn, and I think I used 9 skeins, or maybe less. So let me tell you all right now...I used 4 whole skeins. Four skeins, including all seaming and adding the buttons too. So I have three skeins left over, and depending on whether Seth's SIL will have a boy or girl, I may need to knit another one of these sweaters. The pattern was written very well, and it was relatively simple.

I took these pictures in my yarn room, which has to be the darkest room in my house. It didn't occur to me that 1) it's a beautiful day today that 2) I could take pictures in the sunlight till I had already gift wrapped the sweater.

So now, I'm a bit lost knitting wise. I need to finish the other Charlie Brown sock, but I'm thinking of something else to knit first. I'm thinking of something Christmas-y...

Before I make another excuse not to post...

So it turns out, all I needed was to smack my camera around a bit for it to work. Sigh...I desperately need a new digital camera. My pics suck more than juts in my skills. I blame the Kodak.

Anyway, last week was pretty exciting. Last Sunday, I decided to finally dye the fugly yarn I bought a few years ago.

The old color is on the right. I found a site online that had beautiful, hand-painted yarn for sale. The pictures were fantastic. And instead this fugly yarn arrived at my door. All 1740 yards of it went into a rubbermaid storage box under my bed so it couldn't see the light of day till I figured out what to do with it. In my last Knit Picks order, I bought 2 bottles of burnt orange dye, and last Sunday I had the nerve to actually try my hand at dying. It wasn't that hard. I dyed all six skeins in a few hours. I really like this color too. I salvaged the yarn!

Admist dying, I also finished two socks. Of course they don't match, that would make sense.

The brown and gold are for the son of a friend. The yarn is Lorna's Laces "Safari", and I was trying to go for this whole textured, basket weave, African look, but I think they look more like Charlie Brown's shirt.

Oh, see my new sock blockers? I love these! I bought them from this ebay seller--very fast shipping btw too..And those are sheep cut out at the top.

I also finished the SKP two weeks ago, but all I have are crappy pictures, so now I know how to work the Kodak, I'll get Seth to take a picture of it sometime this week.

Okay, so all this was last week. Then, I was on a business trip for much of work week, and despite having my laptop with me and my camera and the camera connecting cable--I still didn't blog. But...I did work on one of the second socks, and now I have a pair...

  I think it's neat how they came out so different. I knit the one on the left first, and the stripe spacings are pretty even. The second one on the right pooled much more. The stripes are much bigger. The beauty of hand dyed yarn.

Here's some specs:

Yarn: Mountain Color's Bearfoot colorway...uhh...I forget right now. Let's just say pretty.
Needles: US2 Clover Bamboo
Pattern: Mountain Color's Facine Braid. The pattern makes a textured braid, and is fairly easy to remember.

Okay, it's 12:40 something in the morning, and now I've forgotten what else I wanted to blog about.
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Oh, right. So my friend Jen, the pregnant one, is having her baby shower this coming Sunday, and I need to work on her gift, so tonight, instead of casting on for the second Charlie Brown sock, I finished the sleeves for a Pea Pod sweater. See the little pea pod leaves?? Awww....soo cute!

The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere, the same I used for the tennis sweater I knit a few months ago. I really do like this yarn. Despite the splitting I keep having (funny, I didn't have much splitting on the tennis sweater), it makes a nice fabric.

These pictures suck, okay? Elann calls this color strawberry, but it looks like the Fuchsia I used for that tennis sweater. Oh yeah, I bought the yarn last week when Elann was selling Cotton Cashmere for $3.20 a skein, or some ridiculously small amount like that. The pattern so far is okay...I'm a bit leery of the body construction, only because I won't have much time to lull things over before  it needs to be done.

I also have the yarn for the sheepy baby dress from the last post, but...I'm keeping that one for my baby hope chest. I think it's so darling, I can't make two. Do people still have hope chests anymore?? My luck we'd have all boys....this is a possiblity, there are no women on Seth's paternal side of the family.

Okay, that's all I have. Next time, SKP pictures. Oh wait! Here's a picture of poor Lucie. I have to rip back 4 rows--I forgot about the waist shaping. After this baby sweater, Lucie will be full time.

How about a post without any photos? Not on purpose because I am such a visual person, but because both of my digital cameras are out if service just now. But I have been knitting! My SKP is almost done, and I'm almost finished w/a sock that is taking me forever to complete...and I've been BUYING too. I was out of control yesterday. I bought two skeins of Socks that Rock online:

That first color is Farmhouse and the second is Dutch Canyon. I couldn't decide on any of the colors so I just picked two and gave them my credit card number. That always seems to work.

I've also been buying baby stuff.

I love to say that, because then people think I'm expecting, and I think that is too funny because how could I possibly sustain another individual when I have yarn to buy? My very best friend is pregnant and last week we found out it's a girl..**sigh** a little girl...I bought some Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton to make the Pea Pod baby sweater that everyone seems to be making, and this book:

With the famous Sheepy dress I've been wanting to knit since seeing Kathy's (hey Kathy, when are you planning to come back??)

Doesn't it just make you say, Awwww...

I keep telling myself this baby stuff is a just a phase. The little outfits are so cute. Just a few months ago I was telling someone I do not knit baby things, and now look at me. Pitiful.

My birthday was October 6th, you know. I'm 26! This year wasn't so bad. Last year I had a quarter life crisis--Oh no, I'm 25..and what am I doing w/my life??--Ahh! This year was much calmer. Seth and I went to Chicago and visited my folks and some friends...had a wonderful steak at the Weber Grill Restaurant. It was actually a really nice trip. I usually digress to being 15 years old when we visit my parents, but this trip was actually really nice. I've said that twice now, haven't I? Hmm..

At my grandparents house, I came across a scrapbook I made when I was in 4th grade. I was a pretty crafty kid back in those days. Inside I had written myself a letter, that was sealed in an envelope with a disclaimer that read "DO NOT OPEN TILL 2006" Eerie, huh? I opened it and it was so cute...the dreams and aspirations of a 9 year old. At 9, I was pretty vague about the kind of job I would have, but I was certain whatever I did, would be located in downtown Chicago, I'd wear high heel shoes and carry a briefcase, and I would live in a loft in the Loop. Shoes, accessories and prime real estate were important to me even then.

In other news, for Thanksgiving this year, Seth and I are going to Las Vegas with my parents. It's official. If you know me, you know I plan to go lots of places all over the world and usually end up in suburbs of St. Paul, but the plane tickets are BOUGHT. The hotel is PAID FOR, and I have enough vacation time to actually go. So that means I need to knit one more quick sweater and pair of socks especially for this trip. I'll post pics of what I'm thinking when my camera is back up.

Egads! It's purple!

At the stroke of midnight tonight, I finished the body of the SKP. I started her last Monday while watching the PBS special on Marie Antoinette, and she's hasn't been out of my sight since....

So how come I've just discovered she's purple??? I have nothing against the color purple (actually, it was a great movie...see, that was a joke). I really thought it was more blue than purple. I don't have anything in my closet purple, so I'm not sure how to wear it--what color cami to wear underneath...now, thinking back, is this the color of the flower Hyacinth? LOL...I don't know...I saw the name, and thought of Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Apperances, and went with that...so this is what Hyacinth looks like...interesting..

The lace part took me all of Saturday ad Sunday to complete, and I couldn't get the exact gauge. Maybe if I went down to US1's and I didn't have it in me to struggle w/a DK weight yarn on US1's, so I used US2's instead, and I think it came out okay. It draws in enough, but not too much. I plan to pick up and knit the neckline next before starting the sleeves. I may have a sweater done in 2 weeks--that's a record for me, usually it takes me a month.

Have you noticed something new on my sidebar over there ----->

I started an I Love Lucie KAL for Lucie. So far there's me and blogless Helen (Hi Helen!), and my pitiful buttons. Email me if you'd ike to join us. Helen already got started, but we can catch up. Last week, while trying to get Phyl to join the KAL, she notified me that the gauge for Lucie was sock weight. I had drooled over the yarn, the color of the yarn, the pattern--hell, had bought the yarn--and didn't even realize the gauge. Helen, did you kow about this??

The Debbie Bliss tennis sweater was knit on US4's and had cables, so I think I can do this...Oh, and the yarn arrived yesterday from Axelle. I waited to open it till I finished the body of SKP.

Check out the presentation. Oh, and the yarn. I'm in love. I was nervous to even take it out the wrapping, but then I caught a gleamer of the silk--the yarn gleams, ya'll...my photography skills suck, so you'll have to take my word on it. I think Serrano will have to wait. As soon as SKP is finished, I'm casting on. I'll go needle hunting for the US4's tonight to swatch...yeah, it's 12:29 now, but what's a gauge swatch in lieu of sleep??

a post from my lap

So, I'm knitting on my latest project, StitchDiva's Simple Knitted Bodice (SKP for short) and I come to the point where I need to add another skein, but I can't get up, because I have two cats in my lap. So I figure now is a good time to post!

The yawner below is Meg, and boy did she throw us for a loop this month. The vet diagnosed Meg w/liver disease--fatty liver. Some how, she had gotten sick, and when cats get sick, they stop eating. So when Meg stopped eating, she lost weight fast and it overwhelmed her liver. I swear, one day she was just fine, and next thing I know, Seth and I are at the vet's office w/a really sick kitty. We had to force feed her the.nastiest.food.in.the.world--something called A/D, which is really high in calories and fat, and apparently pork. But worse then force feeding Meg, we had to give her a children's medicine that made her foam at the mouth, and an IV because she was so dehydrated.

Poor thing. Not Meg, but Seth. These cats are our girls, and it was so hard seeing Meg sick. This was about three weeks ago, so she's actually much better now. Her coat us shiny, she's eating real cat food on her own, and she's picking fights w/the other cats again. Back to normal.

Now Extra, our brown tabby, is acting weird. She's not eating much, but she does eat--and she doesn't hide like Meg did, so we're not sure what's up w/this little one. She likes to sit in my lap, so that's where we are tonight. If she doesn't improve, we'll need to make another visit to our vet.

Despite cat sititng, I've been knitting and picking up more yarn. I've been working on the Fair Isle Cardigan steadily. I just cast on the armhole (armscye?) steeks. I've stopped to read ahead in the pattern a bit and I'm a bit feaked out! The finishing is really....involved, and includes some sewing. I think. I need to read it again, but from what I read while half sleep, it's a bit compicated for me to ponder now...

So, I pulled out my Son of Aran sweater I "started" last year I did start the shoulder saddles, but I had to rip back the first 12 rows I knit for the back. I goofed on the moss stitch, and I know with the pattern and all the texture in the yarn, NO ONE could see it. But I could, so I ripped, and started again. These are all pictures I took from my lap, and Extra was my prop model, and not a happy one at that, but if you can see, this is a pic of one of the shukder saddles--the design going left to right, and on the bottom a portion of the back. The saddles are knit seperate, then you pick up X many stitches sideways on one of the saddles, cast on X more stitches for the back, then pick up X stitches on the other saddle. I'll work the back for a few inches, then start the front for a few inches, and then join them and knit in the round.

Right. I do love cables, and this sweater will be a real challenge, but I've decided this will be my post-Christmas project because it is complex.

Then my Knit Picks order arrived and I've been knitting happily on my SKP. I'm using Andean Silk, which is such a nice yarn. The color is Hyacinth--a deep, blue-purple shade. I'm undecided about joining the KAL for it, because then I may stress myself out about finishng it, so for now I'm just enjoying the yarn, and the simple knits, purls and decreases. I'm almost to the point where I slip it off the needles and try it on. It's knit from teh top down, and the constrcution is so clever. I can't wait till I can get a better picture of it to share. That Knit Picks box also contained some yarn for Serrano from Knitty. I'm in a blue mood, so I'm using Torqouise--I'll have picks of that later.

I'm think I'll have to move the darlings now. I really do need that ball of yarn....

It's sweater season

Well first, I thought this new mac would make me blog more because I didn't have to share a computer w/Seth anymore, but lately, I've just been using it to scour the web for interesting patterns and yarn...

I found my way over to Ebay, and bought Alice Starmore's Celtic Knitting book for a really great price, and then a week later, splurged and spent way to much for Tudor Roses, but now I finally have it...my precious. I love the Elizabeth I design from Tudor Roses, but I actually prefer the $15 Celtic Knitting book instead. How about that? Not sure if I'd knit anything from it, but the designs are interesting and look more..reasonable? Realistic? Like I'd actually wear any one of them. Now I just need to buy a kit on day.

Speaking of patterns, I also picked up the Rock and Weave sock pattern from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, 220 Aran Stitches, and...ummm...there's another one...Oh, the Simple Knitted Bodice from Stitch Diva. I am in agreement w/the rest of blogland--the pattern is hot! I want to knit it, but worse off, I want to use the Tilli Thomas yarn. I think it'll cost me $200 to knit the sweater w/her yarn. At first I was so mad that they used that expensive ass yarn in the first place for the model. I mean, what the fuck...could they have picked a more expensive yarn? And the worst part is that people, knitters, are buying it. Without any qualms! Knitters from Jersey to Georgia are buying this yarn.

So, there I was, all high and mighty on my soapbox ranting and raving that I'm being priced out the knitting market, when I see Lucie...I LOVE LUCIE, ya'll. It's simple as hell, I know, and many Knitty people have said it would look better as a solid, but I went ahead and contacted Axelle--btw, I love her name, and from taking high school French, I imagine her name is pronounced Eix-el, which is probably wrong, but I digress--oh, where was I??

Oh, I LOVE LUCIE. I think I'll start a KAL, does anyone know how to design a button, or would like to desgn a button?..Email me, and if you can design me a button, there may be some sock yarn in your future..Oh, right, so I emailed Axelle, and I placed an order for 4 skeins of her Ariadne yarn, which I think is a wool and silk blend, in this lovely Martha K colorway...

But I dare not say the price. If you go to her website, you'll know. But please don't come back here and rub it in my face, alright? Please??

I am so excited...I may have to drop this fair isle cardigan I'm knitting on again.

That's right, did you all forget the Knit Picks Fair Isle Cardigan I was working on in July? I couldn't. It's been in the yarn room, inside the box in which it arrived, waiting for me to finish swatching the Tennis Sweater, and then waiting till that was done, and then waiting for me to swatch the VK Cabled Tunic, and then waiting for that to be done. I picked it up again Tuesday night, and fell back into the color knitting rhythm. It was fun knitting w/two hands again, watching the  patterns develop...and better yet, reading off a color-coded chart. How relaxing! But now it's sweater season, and it's time in the queue has come. This wil be my full time knitting project, aside from sock knitting on my daily work commute.

Okay, so I've been working on two pairs of socks that are..blah. I mean, the yarn for both are my favorite brands--Lorna's Laces and Mountain Colors Bearfoot, and the designs are coming about fairly well--they both have been approved by the ladies at my knitting night group, but, I'm not feeling socks now. It has to be because of sweater season.

And yet,I keep buying sock yarn, my favorite thing to do actually. On top, I have a skein of Fleece Artists sock yarn in Hercules, from Little Knits (my new favorite yarn market) next, Indian Corn from Dani over at Sunshine Yarns, and I think that last skein is Water Lilies from Dani too-- might have posted about that skein before---no, I have...

I meant to add the Cherry Tree Hill yarn I picked up from Borealis, my LYS in St. Paul, in what they call African Grey. This photo doesn't give the color any justice, but it reminds me of Puff the Magic Dragon, so that's what I hereby rename it.

Oh, and before I forget, I did "pick up" one more thing last week..

The Pinwheel Shawl pattern from Two Old Bags, one skein of Kid Seta in Oyster, and Cover US7 needles, also from Borealis. I know knitting this one day hangs on a hope and a dream, but at least I've made the first step.

I've been yipping and yapping on here, and still haven't posted what I came here to post about. Okay, so my last post, almost a month ago, I mentioned the Cabled Tunic from Vogue Knitting..'member??

I finished knitting on Sunday and seaming last night. She's blocked and ready to wear. As soon as it gets cold..and again, pictures do not give any justice. I really like the sweater, I think it came out great. I may be ready for an Aran. I used Cascade 220 which gave me 4.5 stitches to the inch instead of 4 sts, so I knit the largest size to compensate for my gauge.

Can you see the designs and the cables? I think the charcoal version shoes the cables better than my heathery brown, but I know they're there, and oh well, right? The pattern was written okay, right until the front neck shaping. I couldn't keep he design w/the YO's and K2togs, so I had to knit stockinette for the repeats around the neck edge to keep the stitch count correct. And, I lengthened the split neck by another inch or two. Oh, and I used 2 skeins less than what the pattern called for.

What does that mean? More sock yarn! Because I have a feeling the sock bug is gonna bite me again soon..

(These are the socks I finished 2 weeks ago. The yarn is Schafer Little Lola, on US3's. I call them the Department of Public Safety Socks...same coloring to me...guess you gotta work there to get it..)

Wow--I had a lot to say tonight-It took me two hours to post. Now that summer is over, I'll get back on track with my blogging. I mean, it's sweater season now.

So you know I finished the Tennis Sweater. But now it's official. Behold, the official boobie picture:

Here's the final specs:

Pattern: Debbie Bliss Tennis Sweater
Source: Vogue Knitting Spring 2005
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere, 13 skeins Lime, 1 skein Fuchsia, from Knit Happens
Needles: US2 and US4 Clover Bamboo Circulars

That's it! It's done! I have a few more seams to hide, but I'm not stressing over it, I can do those later. I knit socks so often, I totally forgot about the many hours I have take to seam these sweaters. Granted, I am very proud of the seam job I did on this sweater. I took my time, and I think it turned out just fabulously. I can definitely see myself wearing this sweater. But I am glad it's done!

For fun, here's a scan of my yarn room...

I know, that's a lot of yarn. That table is my working bench..yarn, books, my swift and ball winder.

So, I have all this yarn and patterns already. So where did this come from?

I love the new Interweaves. I want to knit the cover design. The new Vogue Knitting is amazing. For the first time, I like more of the Vogue designs than the IK.

Did anyone else notice that black women are on the cover of both?? Very cool...probably the only time that has ever happened. But I digress..so what's that in the picture too? No not Meg. I mean, Meg is in the picture, but that ball of yarn, and it's eight sisters are for this....

  Design #27, the Cabled Tunic. I loved this cable sweater with the split collar. I chose Cascade 220, despite the gauge calling for 4 sts/". With some help from Katie at Borealis, I hope to knit the largest size with a gauge of 4.5 sts/". We think that'll work. But I only started a sleeve, just in case it doesn't.

Hmm, what else is there to share?? I could show a picture of the almost finished baby blanket. But. It's a blanket. I think you'll all live....

Oh, Meg wanted to properly say hi, but her daddy says it's bedtime...'night!
 

After four hours of seaming with a Chibi needle, 8 coil-less pins and Nancie Wiseman...

And deciphering my pattern notes.....

I fnally have a finished sweater! (let's not look on the inside...it's finished dammit)

With this much left of the 13th skein of yarn (oohh....it's #13..spooky)

Then it's time for a quick wash....
   

And now to block--and hopefully it'll fit....

Oh, and Jo wants to say hi....

I'm tired. I keep seeing pink and green. It's time for bed.

What a week...

I've been meaning to post. Really, I have. Seth's been on the computer a lot lately, and I don't dare drag out my no name laptop from college. Again. So, I bought this:

No more computer tie compromises. It's all mine. Granted, it hasn't been the easiest time converting all my stuff from PC to Mac, especially the iPod, but it's so nice. And it gets easier to use each time I'm on it. I've been playing around with it this weekend, so it's not my reason for not posting. I hope to ditch Typepad soon and build my own blog, but I need to look into that more.

I got the black one for the sheer purpose that it matches my iPod. Sickening, I know.

I haven't posted this week, because--GASP! on Tuesday, I ran out of yarn. I am so close to finishing the sleeves. I knit them both at the same time, and I'm right at the part to start the sleeve cap...I ordered 2 more skeins from Knit Happens online, so it should be here any day. It's my fault. I skimped on the yarn and bought 12 instead of 14, because Debbie Bliss tells you to buy so much more than you need. And I think I only needed one more, but I could use the extra yarn for something.

I've been floating around, because this sweater was my only knitting project for the past three weeks. So, I looked in the WIP basket for something to knit, and I came across these two bags that needed finishing.
I started both these bags when I had an apartment w/a personal washer and dryer so I could felt them, but alas, this new apartment has a timed coin washer that I don't think I can control. I need to look into that..I'd like to add 2 more FO's to my collection. The big strawberry and pink bag is the Vertical Felted Bag kit from Pick Up Sticks, and if you're in the Twin Cities, you may recognize the little pastel pink bag from the Knit for the Cure promotion (for lack of a better word) from last year. Well, that was fun. I'm not a felted bag person, and these were my trial runs to see if I liked felting, but to knit so much and for so long just to shrink it later in the wash? A I the only one that thinks that's crazy? LOL...all that work!

There's plenty more projects in the WIP basket, but I need to start the baby blanket I promised so I can get back to the Fair Isle Cardigan before the Fair Isle Knitters webring I joined a few weeks ago kicks me out (I saw someone bring in their cardigan to the LYS today and I was so jealous).The pattern I have for this baby blanket is so simple. But it wasn't my vision. No, my vision makes it much more complicated..
The yarn is soooooo soft. It's Plymouth Yarn's Oh Baby, and it's the softest thing I've ever laid my hands on. I'm using two colors to stripe, bordered by garter stitch. It took me a little less than an hour to do this, so it could be finished soon, but because of the white, I don't want to knit it on my daily commute. But soon...very soon...

Umm..I think that's it. Seth knows nothing about Macs, he's a PC man--he built our  his desktop, so I'm flying solo on learning this thing. It's not that hard, but building a website and eventually a podcast will be a bit of challenge, but now I can post any bloody time I want! I have my internet freedom!

 

Sleeve Island

Funny how I plan to post to whine about some injustice that I think happened to me, and not to share all the cool things that have been going on in my neck of the woods....

Let me start by saying that I finished the front and back of the Tennis Sweater, and even seamed the shoulders and finished the neckband. Wooo-hooo!

I'm on sleeve island...figured I'd do both at the same time.

I've tried on the front and back, and did a sleeve wrap-around on my arm, and I'm gonna have to block the hell outta this sweater!

Okay, now what I really wanted to talk about--so I'm at knit night tonight, and the conversation is going alright--till we get on the topic of continental versus English knitting.

**sigh**

I can knit both ways, and knit with both hands when I do fair isle work, but I choose to knit English. I throw! I'm much faster throwing, and it's easier for me to do. I am so sick of having to justify the way I knit, or have to listen to people explain the joys of continental. Continental is not faster--I just can't believe that. If your rhythm is great, you can knit like the wind. I consider myself a pretty good knitter, and I felt tonight that because, God-forbid, I throw, I can't be as good as a picker. Bullshit. Let's just say when the conversation made this turn, I finished my increase stitch round and fucking left.

Back to the sweater...Oh wait, enough about the sweater. I have bought some new yarn recently (surprise!):  The Malabrigo was from Playing With Yarn. I forgot I had hidden it in the trunk. With all this heat we've been getting and being jostled around in the trunk I'm surprised it didn't felt.

On the right are 6 skeins of Oh Baby by Plymouth Yarn for a baby sweater. An associate of mine is having a baby, and the doctor's aren't sure the little boy will make it, so she asked me if I could knit him a blanket. Oh my God...yeah..I'll make him a blanket with the softest yarn I can find. So here it is.

There's some Trekking XXL to the left, Abby from Borealis loving calls the MnDOT socks (Hhmm..I don't know Abby...not sure if their logo captures all the cool colors of this yarn. But I like the name, so I'll keep it) This picture sucks, but it'll be on the needles soon enough.

Umm..that's all knitting wise. I've been in a funk lately, I hope it's just PMS, but it may be school too. Going back to school will be harder than I thought..I hope I can do this. I hope it's not a mistake. I'll just keep on knitting and see where this takes me.