How about a WIP update?

The lack of reliable pirated Internet at home is getting annoying! Sheesh! Don't these people know that I depend on stealing their service? ow am I supposed to do blog updates and waste copious amounts of time on Ravelry with no Internet service? I had planned on doing a couple WIP posts spaced out over the weekend, but obviously, that didn't happen. SO you are getting the sweetened condensed version.
The KAL sweater AKA Iceberg Lettuce

I have started the second sleeve! the first came out great, and fits really well. The skirt, however, is a different matter entirely. I will be ripping it back and re-doing. I am stalled at the moment while I try to decide what I am going to do. I might need to rethink the stitch pattern.
Angee Mink Socks

These never even made it to the blog. I started them the 22nd of August, and just didn't get a post written before now. I'm on the gusset of sock #2. The pattern is an awesome Cookie A. sock from her book. The yarn is called "twinkle toes" and I picked it up at the CT Sheep and Wool Festival last year. I've been really random about working on these socks, since they are my travel project right now. That said, they are flying off the needles!
#62 Nichole Collared Pullover "peter"

I'm naming this after the colorway of Schaefer Yarn Nichole. Peter Sweater. It's fun to say. Try it! It is a test knit, so I've been concentrating on it the last two days. I made a pretty good dent! I'm about 1.5" from finishing the front, then I have the sleeves and the finishing to do. Not too shabby!
You are now officially caught up in the knitting world of Costumechick. Congratulations, and please be careful debarking the ride!

The aformention post re: all my damn books

I am a major bibliophile. I have been all my life. When I was potty training, I had a stack of Golden books on the toilet tank. I would 'read' them for hours. My parents had to threaten to take them away if I didn't get off the pot. Actually, my parents threatened to take away my books all the way until high school. I always had my nose in a book, often (in my parents' opinion) to the detriment of chores, social interaction, and other activities. With so many kids that HATE to read, it's hard to imagine a parent needing to limit a child's reading time! Before I started knitting in earnest, reading was my main hobby. I still enjoy a good book, but I take my time and really enjoy it now. I have knitting to pass the time!
In all seriousness, I can read a novel in a day. Two days if I have to work. I would go to the library and check out a stack of books - literally - and bring them back a few days later. It is an awesome free service! The problem for a bibliophile is that the book isn't yours. You don't get to keep it. It is gone forever once you take it back. Yes, you can check it out again, but it still isn't in your collection. Sitting in front of the collection and scanning the titles is as good as actually reading.
So, as you can imagine, my collection of books has grown and grown... and grown. It probably doesn't help that I married a bibliophile. We enable each others book collecting something fierce. Almost any topic can be met with the phrase "I read a book on that" or "I have a book about that." Come to think of it, it also doesn't help that I am in a field that I need a vast amount of period research at my fingertips. This is why I have books about the history of the outhouse and decorative finial designs.
What does this have to do with knitting? You didn't think it stopped at research and novels did you? Oh my no! Knitting books - I haz dem. I have vintage ones, new ones, history of ones, stitch dictionaries, easy pattern ones, hard as hell pattern ones, hardcover, softcover, falling apart,.... I could go on. My point is, I have a lot of knitting books.
I have read all my knitting books - cover to cover. Not just the descriptions and intros and useful information sections. I've read the patterns. Beginning to end. Every one. Even the stitch dictionaries. Why? why not? I like to read how each one is constructed, where the needle sizes change, what the designer's idea of body proportion is, and so on. I knit each pattern in my head as I read, making a little three dimensional knitted thing in my head. I always read the parts with unique shaping/ construction multiple times. (It's the best part!) I realize that this might border on insane, but I liken it to reading recipes and imagining how all the flavors will fit together.
Unfortunately, I discovered that I have a lot of books that I have never even knit one pattern from in my collection. This shouldn't bother me as much as it does, I don't think. But, for some reason, this is a REALLY BIG DEAL to me right now. So, I made a list. I love a good list!
When I made the list, last week, I had 32 books on it. (eep) Since then, I have knocked two off. (yay!) I still have 30. 30!! Now, according to my SnB friends, I don't need to count the books I bought as "work research" (i.e. vintage pattern books) or stitch dictionaries. Great!
I recounted.
I still have 25. Crap. So I picked a project from each book. If I make a list, I'll stick to it! (maybe) I totalled the projects up. (this is funny)
on the list are:
5 large lace shawls
11 sweaters
1 hat
3 baby items
2 gloves/scarves/other
7 pair of socks
Now, dear readers, I ask you this, "What are my chances of knitting all of these things before I buy another book?"
secondly, "Since this is impossible for me to do, as I love books too much, and am afraid I'll just buy more magazines to keep having patterns to read, how long should I try to not buy more books before I can claim success?"

Gradient

Summer is an interesting time to be a knitter. Really, there isn't much you can knit when it is 90F in the shade, with out feeling like you are laying under a bear skin coat. The loose fibers stick to you, the extra layer of insulation is unpleasant - at best, and sometimes even the fiber running through your fingers is enough to make you want to sit in the freezer. It is this time of year where I end up working on little things - also usually quick things because the idea of the yarn touching me is nearly unbearable. I finished a little sweater on Saturday that I started for just this reason.

Name: Gradient

Pattern: Seamless Yoke Sweater from Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in sea spray and hazelnut

Needles: Knitpicks Options, size 7

Notes: As per usual, Ann Budd's patterns are easy to follow, super customizable, and accurate to a fault. Unfortunately, I wanted to knit a sweater smaller than 2T, so I had to do a bit of resizing. I just combined info from other patterns with her basic instructions. Not too hard!

I knit the body a bit long to be a regular sweater, so I decided to dub it a "jacket". I hope it is useful to whomever I give it too. It should be warm, at least. I put buttons the whole way down the front to be a good "bundled up" type of jacket.

It took me a few tries to get the button band picked up "just so". It probably did not help that I was on pain pills at the time. The first time, I forgot button holes. Ooops.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my little jacket with gradient stripes. It makes me happy!

doo dee doooo

I'm a little loopy from my pain meds! The surgery went fine, I'm not too sore, but I'm a little swollen. It is much much much better than the one in March was!

I did do a little knitting today, as I was convalescing.

It's a hat!

Name: Bruise snail

Pattern: Snail Hat by the queen mother of knitting, Elizabeth Zimmerman

Needles: Us 10.5

Notes: Yep. another project that came about about because it just did. I knew I needed something relatively easy to work on whilst high on vicodin, but fun to knit, so I didn't try to knit on any of the more complicated projects I have sitting around, and inevitably fuck them up.

I should have been catholic, because I have a butt load of guilt about random things that I shouldn't really waste time worrying about. This current obsession I have with knitting form every book I own is becoming quite overwhelming. When I am not quite so loopy, i have a longer post to make about my list of projects, but you should know, this was one of them!

The pattern was fun, and EZ is awesome. I have read "Knitting with out Tears" several times, and I always get something new out of it every time. Her humor just resonates with me. Anyway, the pattern is a great little unvented thing, and did not disappoint in anyway. The yarn was another matter. I bought it originally because I thought it might be a potential "Noro" sub. It is really soft, the colors are great, and the color changes are nice and long. It is a little too much like noro in the knits department though. (boo) 4 knots in one skein! That was a little irritating, to say the least. I would have been more frustrated, I think, if I hadn't been loopy...'

I held the yarn double - using the inside end and the outside end at the same time. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, color wise, but I am happy with the end results. I have no plans about who this hat is for, but it'll be someone that likes "bruise" colors, like me!

I ate it again.

See:

Evad reminded me before I took the second bite that I wanted to take a picture.
I didn't *just* eat for the past two days. I also finished the silk purse/ sock bag!
Pattern: Silk Pure from Knitting Classic Style
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Lite
Needle: Knit Picks Classic Circ, size 3
Notes: I made this bag considerably larger than the pattern (on purpose, for once). I wanted to be able to fit a 100 gram skein of sock yarn, socks in progress, pattern, and whatever else one needs to knit socks. I think I succeeded. The finished size is about a 6" diameter, and 8" workable length - with room to close it. Aside from just upping the needle size and yarn weight, I also added length before the eyelet row for the strings. I did 8 extra rows, adding about an 1" in length.

I managed to use all but 6 yards of my skein, which is how I like it! No extra stuff to store! The yarn itself is a bit stiff to work with. I has no give at all. this could be a one day knit if you had undivided knitting time. I couldn't say that I could do it with SG though. I need hand rest time, especially after all those purl 3 togs. In a nice wool sock yarn, this could be easily knit in a day, if you had too.
Blocking it was the hardest part. Finding a tall cylindrical thing with a 6" base isn't as easy as you would think. I ended up with this:

Cheap Vodka at work for the win!

So far so good.

I realize that I have no right to complain about having a bad day. Things could be much much worse - and for many people they are. I get it. really, I do. I'm just happy that I seem to have broken my little irritating streak of sand in my shorts style annoyances!
I went to breakfast with Evad today at our favorite breakfast place - CHIPS. http://www.chipsrest.com/ They have fan- fucking-tastic pancakes and omelets. Today, though, they had something that called to me from the specials menu:
Raspberry and Blackberry Croissant French Toast.
Oh.
My.
God.
It was three slices of croissant, prepared like french toast with glorious mounds of raspberries and blackberries on top. It was drizzled with a raspberry reduction, and dusted with powdered sugar. No, I didn't take a picture. I was too busy eating. The one owner came up to see if I liked it. Ha! I told her I want to eat it everyday - possibly live in it. Three of my favorite things in the world in one food dish. Heaven.
Excuse me while I wipe drool from my chin....
In knitting news, I worked on my KAL sweater last night! Evad and I went to see Julie and Julia. It was really something special. We enjoyed it intensely. Movie knitting is perfect for this sweater - especially the skirt bit. (No shaping to worry about!) The air conditioning was awesome. I hadn't been working on the sweater because I was too hot at home, but two hours of uninterrupted air conditioning knitting kicked ass!

tuesday wasn't much better

OK. I know the universe reads my blog. So I'd like to say, here and now, "Cut it out."

I went this morning to get my window fixed - the one that refuse to go the whole way up yesterday. Evad and I took the door apart last night and determined that it was not a simple mechanical issue. It wa a burnt out motor. Right. SO we called around and found a place to do it today. We ghetto-fied the car last night, in case of a thunderstorm, and went to the car place with high hopes.

HA! 6 HOURS later, they finally fixed the car. Granted, we had to wait 45 minutes before they could even look at it, but we knew that going in. We didn't know that they had to get the part delivered from Sweden by horse and buggy. Seriously. They didn't have the part, and sent someone out to a competitor to buy the part. Meanwhile, we sat. It's good our schedules are flexible.

I, of course, used my time wisely. Last night I finished the knitting on my little sweater.

I didn't take it along to work on because I thought, "Oh, we won't be there long, and the button bands are fiddly." HA! Again! I could have finished it, wove in the ends, and knit a damn hat!

Instead, I looked through my list of "books yet to be knit from" and pulled out a good take along project. "Silk Purse" from Knitting Classic Style, knit in Noro Silk Garden Lite.

I got a lot done - like most of it. Can I say, I love a project that carries its own yarn! I'm embarrassed to say how many books i have that I haven't knit from yet. Maybe that is a post for tomorrow...

Anyway, it took so long at the car place that I missed lunch and ended up eating drive though. This doesn't sound bad, but it is. Too much sodium makes me really sick, so I've had a sour stomach ever since.

Finally, we had a big "financial accounting systems" meeting at work. It sucked. It pissed me off. And, it ended a completely ass ended day in a completely ass ended way. At least my knitting looks ok!

You know it's Monday

Did you ever have a great weekend, only to have rotten things happen on Monday that ruin the whole experience? Yeah. I hope this trend is not going to continue. I have fun things to do towards the end of the week, including a hair appointment on Thursday. I'd like that to go well. Well, Friday isn't really fun. I have oral surgery, but really I'd like that to go well also.

What happened?

Let's start with the weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day. It was sunny, and hot - but not oppressively humid. Dee, CBeth and I went to a wedding reception for a co-worker of ours. Carpooling is awesome. (If you are going to be late, be late together!) It was outdoors, but in a gorgeous shady backyard. There was a large pond for swimming and kayaking, copious amounts of booze and amazing food. The bride and groom made all of the snacks and salads - mostly from fresh stuff grown in their garden. The event was decorated with homegrown flowers, and veggies, and leaves from all manner of plants. It was very unique and very them!

The hot portion of the meal was catered, and equally as tasty. But, the best part was the cake. Evidently, one of the grooms relatives is a cake decorator and baker. It was three tiers of vanilla goodness, with marzipan inside, and nougat! The bestest best part was the decoration on the cake. Our co-worker has a thing for painting still-lives of cabbages. Her invitations had cabbages on them. The event was decorated in cabbages. The cake had a full size chocolate sculpted cabbage on top!! It had cabbage leaves on the base! It as amazing looking! From what I understand, she made molds from real cabbage leaves ( and kale for better texture) and poured chocolate leaves. SO cool! We all got a pieces of dark chocolate leaf with the cake. mmmm. chocolate......

After the three of us over came our sugar shock, we drove back to CBeth's for tea. Ahh. Much knitting occurred, and I nearly finished sock #2 of the Charity socks! All in all, a good day.

Sunday was hot from the time the sun came up. Perfect day to go to the beach. I called up Dee to see if she wanted to go with Evad and I. We all met at the beach, us with knitting, Evad with book. (even if I could convince him to try it, he wouldn't do it at the beach. I guarantee it.) I sat in the sun trying to take a little of the "pasty" off my legs for about 15 minutes. Holy crap. It was way too hot. You could just tell you were going to get burnt if you stayed in the sun. Thankfully, we have an umbrella. The three of us crammed under the umbrella all afternoon, but it was still nice to be outside, and by the water. As usual, I got a lot of knitting done! I love the beach!

I finished my socks:

Name: AIDS Project New Haven Charity Socks

Pattern: Van Dyke Socks from 'Socks From the Toe Up'

Yarn: Gedifra Fashion Trend Sportivo, 2 balls

Needles: Knit picks classic circs, size 2

Notes: Not much to say, really. The pattern is very clearly written, very intuitive, and has a great finished look, for not much work! Like every book, there is errata, and this pattern has one. Of course, I didn't look if there was any until after I couldn't figure out why my stitch count was off. (duh) It was an easy fix, though, and quite successful after I noted the error in the chart.

I do like this book. It has great info about changing socks to fit you, different types of heels and toes, and changing patterns from DPNs to ML or 2 circs. The Patterns are lovely, too! The patterns are broken down by yarn weight and by lace, cabled, and textured patterns. SO, for example, I knew that I wanted to use sport weight yarn, so I flipped to the sport weight section. So much easier than reading every pattern to see which ones are for sportweight, or could be modified for sport weight.

I chose the red yarn because it is for AIDS Project New Haven's annual Gala Silent Auction. I hope someone will love them and donate lots of money! This yarn has been in my stash for ummm.... 4 years? I think? I got it at WEBS, on clearance, right after I started knitting socks. I knit up the other colors long ago, but this colorway just didn't want to jump on the needles until now. I guess it was waiting for the right reason!

Since I am a smart cookie, I knew that I didn't have enough sock left to make it though an afternoon on the beach. There was no way I was working on an 'all in one piece' WOOL sweater on the beach. I'm crazy, but I'm not insane. I quickly looked though my 'small project' yarn and decided to cast on a lil'un' sweater with some cotton-ease. I photocopied the "Child size Seamless Yoke Sweater" instructions from Ann Budd's "Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns". I'm making shit up as I go along!

I got to the armpits, and one sleeve done last night! I like it so far!

Back to my story.

All was going well. we had steaks for dinner. Mad Men season premier was on. It had cooled down enough to sleep.

Then I woke up this morning to a (personal) leak on the bed (gross, and tmi, I know), a soggy played with ball of yarn (thanks kitten), and a car window that won't go up the whole way. Good. Lord. Let's skip to Tuesday. I'm afraid to knit today. It can't go well!

Progress

Progress is often a hard won enterprise. I think we, as humans, take for granted that we move forward, develop technology, even generally accomplish tasks. It strikes us as weird when we move backwards, or have an insurmountable obstacle in front of us.

Why the waxing philosophical? Well, a couple reasons. I have a friend going through a very rough time right now, and she is just trying to tread water. She is measuring progress in millimeters. Just trying to keep her head up, and not be sucked down the river to the waterfall. Still, she is remarkable, strong, and every minute of every day is a milestone on her progress chart. I think of her everyday, and want to be a big branch sticking out in the river for her to grab onto when she is too tired to tread. Her progress is slow and cautious.

The other thing omnipresent in my mind is the Health Care reform bill(s). There are many reasons that this issue is important to me, some personal, some social, but mostly, it is about progress. Often we look at eras in history and define them by advancements - progress, if you will. Most times, the eras that see the most development of technology, art, and science, also see a major leap in health and life span. This isn't happening now. We are going backward in health. Blah blah blah - I know it has to do with diet and sedentary life styles, but not having access to all the medicines and medical advancements plays a part too. I'm not saying that if we have universal health care no one will get sick, but at least they won't be near death before seeking treatment! People will still die, accidents will still happen, and doctors will still make mistakes. I could go on to say why I'm for it, but that isn't my point. My point is that we, as a nation, cannot seem to discuss this issue with out someone screaming down whoever else is talking. I don't get it. Having your Representative hear your opinion is important. That is what they do. Screaming and shouting like a moron isn't helpful. No progress comes of it. It doesn't further debate, it doesn't make your argument stronger, and it certainly doesn't make you sound rational. Frankly, it is starting to wear really, really thin on me. I watched another shouting person video today, and wanted nothing more than to be able to tell him what I really thought.

In that spirit, I'm writing an open letter to the (majority of the) screaming idiots at the town hall meetings. Feel free to flame away. I don't care. Just know, I'm serious.

Dear screaming moron in the back,

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day of handing out inflammatory propaganda pamphlets and protesting at "Planned Parenthood" to be with us. I understand that you don't want people to have health care access. That is fine. You should know, you will still be able to utilize the current insurance plan you are on, if you choose, whether that is private, group, or the kind that you just "pray that God will fix it". No one is going to make you see a doctor about anything. But, if you want to keep going to the doctor for your boner pills, since we know that is how you get it up to reproduce and made all 16 of those kids, and since you only get a stiffy naturally at your 'men's prayer group' on Wednesday night, you can keep right on going to him. That said, please sit down, shut the hell up, and let the rest of us talk for a little bit. we have important things to discuss. If you choose to keep trying to talk while others are already speaking, I will come back there and shut you up myself. The jail time will be worth it just to have the chance to kick your ass so hard you forget your name.

Thank you again for coming to this meeting. Oh, and please remember, "louder does not equal better."

Costumechick

/political rant for the day

In other news, I'm making steady progress on my knitting projects. The AIDS socks are about 3/4 finished. I just reached the heel on the second sock. I hope to finish them this weekend.

I've also picked up the Iceberg Lettuce sweater again, since it is marginally cooler now. I managed to get the "skirt" part of the thing - after mucho modification of the top. Then I ripped back to the start of the skirt. (backwards progress) I didn't like the brioche rib. It looked like ass. I'm doing a plain slip stitch rib instead. It makes me much happier.

I took a look about for buttons too. I have two choices. Which do you like better?

Later!

too hot to knit

Seriously. We've had a very nice and temperate summer. It really hasn't been "hot" at all. It has been muggy a few times, and kind of hot-ish once or twice, but not "oh-my-god-I-want-to-climb-in-the-fridge-even-if-I-suffocate-and-die" hot. Until yesterday. It was blistering, Hell hot yesterday. It was so hot I couldn't even fathom knitting my KAL sweater - even if it has a 'cool' name.

What to do?

I considered just sitting and watching TV, but the song "too drunk to fuck" by the Dead Kennedy's kept running through my head with the lyrics "too hot to knit" embedded. Not knitting was as bad as knitting. I needed to cast on a hot weather project.

I remembered seeing a call for donations of hand knitted socks for AIDS Project New Haven on the Nutmeg Knitters forum on Ravelry. I went over and re-read the post. They are looking for hand knit socks, to fit adults, to auction off in their silent auction. The money goes to AIDS Project New Haven and helps the local people dealing with AIDS in our community. "I can do that", I thought. I contacted the poster regarding the project- and to make sure they still needed donations. They did, and I cast on for a pair of charity socks.

I got pretty far, considering the frequent 'stand in front of the fan' breaks. The yarn is sport weight, so they are going really quickly. Also, I picked a pattern that has a ten row repeat, so you can really see the progress. Obvious progress always motivates me even more. They need the socks by the beginning of September, which is a bit close, but won't be a problem if I keep going a this rate!

I am trying to knit these socks for an "average" foot. Considering I have wee-tiny weirdo feet, I have to just guess at a good length. I went with this much longer than my foot:

Good system, eh?

Other than feeling good about helping a charity, these socks are a bit selfish. I cast on a pattern from a 'yet to be knit from' book, thus aiding my 'knit from every book you own before you buy more books' project. Double win!

Vestage!

DUuuuuuude.
Dude.
Dude!
Dude... we have achieved Vest-age!
Totally.

Pattern: #109 Elaine Scoop Neck Vest
Yarn: Schaefer Yarn Company Elaine, 2 skeins Ash
Needles: Us 10 and 9 knitpicks options
Notes: Wow. Quick knit! I knit the back in two easy going evenings, the front on Friday, seamed and knit the waist band on Saturday, and finished it up in a couple hours on Sunday! Not too bad. Overall, it might have taken me 20 hours to knit this vest. That, my Friends, is my kind of knitting!

I knit the medium size, which is 38" finished. Just for fun, I tried it on. It is a bit short on me (by a lot) but it does go over my copious boobage. SO, it has a lot of stretch! If I were knitting it for me, I'd definitely do a size with negative ease for a nice close fit.
It is quite an easy knit, advanced beginner, maybe? You have to pick up stitches at the NL, WB, and AE to finish, which seems a little harder than beginner to me. I could be wrong though. I'm not good at judging what it "hard" for other people. Every one's scale is different.

Like always, the colorway is beautiful, and the yarn was really soft. After I got through my learning curve with the thick and thin yarn, I didn't mind the texture so much. The bonus to the highly textured knit surface is the "sin hiding" factor. Picking up stitches can sometimes be a real bitch. You get holes and lumpies, or tight spots and pulling. You really can't see much in the way of "perfect" or "not perfect" with the Elaine! It just is. I liked that part very much!

I don't know if I'd knit this again for myself. It's not really my personal style, but I enjoyed the process of knitting it, so I'd consider it for a gift. It is fun to knit outside of your "normal" box once and a while!

Something new!

I have a lot of new stuff going on in my knitting world right now, including my Iceberg Lettuce sweater, but I have a *new* new project too show you!

Schaefer Yarn sent me another model to knit, this time in "Elaine". The yarn is thick and thin wool in "Ash" - one of my favorite colorways from Schaefer! (I love to knit with grey. I am sooo boring.) The project is a scoop neck sweater vest, woman's size medium. So far, I managed to complete the back.

I haven't knit with thick and thin yarn before. Well, I might have, but it was so long ago I can't remember it, so I'm going with "haven't". I had an OCD moment when I started, that went something like this:

Ack! Not even! Ack! Ack!

I moved past it pretty quickly, reminding myself that the yarn was doing what it was supposed to do. I also had a problem with my gauge swatch. How do you measure it when it is so different place to place? Ack! Ack!

Ultimately, I measured a few places and took an average. It seems to have worked. I cast on the back, knit a few inches measured, and according to the "finished size" I am on target, so I suppose my method worked!

I'm alternating two strands of yarn, to keep the "pooling" to a minimum, which also seems to be working. (I have a good trend going here, so I'm hoping to keep it going!) The Slip stitch pattern is just enough to to to keep it from being boring, but not too much that you can't talk or watch tv. The vertical element is nice too. I'm a fan of anything that gives me vertical length, being short and busty.

Maybe I'll have a finshed vest to show you monday!

Ants in the Pants... and possibly the lettuce

Around and about the house of Costumechick, seemingly rash and sudden decisions are often made, especially when it comes to knitting projects. Really? Are any of you surprised? After all, I am the queen of procrastination and impulsiveness.
i heard that. Some of you don't believe me. (The rest are laughing heartily.) For the ones that are less than convinced, let me give you an example. Last year I had several knitting "due dates" looming shortly on the horizon, at the same time I was designing/building 5 shows. One would think I would work on my knitting projects with looming due dates in my very limited free time. haha. You would be wrong. No, I'm the crazy person that casts on a hat, or a pair of socks, or a bib. Then I knit like a person possessed when a due date is just days away, all the time thinking, "I thought I had enough time to make this!" Then, even when I do finish a project weeks ahead of schedule, I block it and NEVER weave the ends in. Unless it is a pair of socks, (and especially if it is a shawl) I will put it away, never weaving in the ends. This isn't the end of the world for most people. Normal, non-procrastinators, would get the gift out a day before the gifting event and weave the ends in and wrap the gift. haha!!! again! I am the one running to Target a hour before a gift giving event to buy wrapping items, then rush home to weave in ends and wrap the thing up - with care instructions, all while cursing like a sailor and promising to not do this again.
Incidentally, I did it again last weekend. The Fountain Pen Shawl and Fountain Lace Hood were given away to great response, but I managed to wait until an hour before I needed to be at the Gift Giving Event to weave in ends and wrap them. At least this time I bought the gift bags 3 hours prior, and wasn't wrapping in the trunk of my car.
Which brings us to yesterday evening.
I said on the blog that I would knit through the armhole decreases on the front of my Dahlia sweater, then cast on for my KAL sweater. I actually did. (I know! I'm shocked too!) I decided a month-ish ago to knit the Tilted Duster from Interweave Knits. ok. good. it'll be an easy knit, but with lots of finishing, making a KAL a good idea because they will poke me until I weave in the damn ends. End of story, right?
You are so wrong. (You are bad at this.)
Two weeks ago I got a bee in my ass about knitting at least one pattern from all my books before I buy more books. (This isn't going to happen, I guarantee it. But I'm giving it a shot.) So guess what happened? I felt guilty about knitting from a magazine instead of a book. Go ahead. Roll your eyes. I'm rolling mine. So I went to my ravelry queue and perused my sweaters. I don't know how the hell I did it, but 9/10th of them are magazines or free patterns. As you can imagine, if I felt guilty about knitting a pattern from a magazine, I would not be knitting a free pattern. So I went to my ravelry Library and searched through the patterns I had at my finger tips - but in book form. I would have just thumbed through them on the floor in front of the bookshelf, but I was a work.
Two front runners came into focus. I dug through my yarn. I did maths. I thought I had a plan. I was going to knit the cable and lace sweater from French Girl Knits. (the one with no cables). I had my yarn out. i had my needles ready. I finished my Dahlia armhole shaping! I cast on and knit four rounds of the sleeve! It is at this point that I realize that the yarn sucks for this pattern. mumble mumble fuck mumble mumble.
At 11pm last night I got all of my sweater yarn out of the closet, spread it all over the bed, and proceeded to see if I over looked any yarn that would totally rock for this sweater. I did not. I had several choices that were 'ok', but not what I wanted to knit with. DAMN IT! So instead I used the opposite approach. I found yarn I wanted to knit with, and decided to find a stupid pattern to go with the yarn.
My favorite all purpose yarn of goodness came with me to the living room - Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted. I had my neutral yarn, now all I needed was a cardigan pattern. The previous choice wouldn't work because I didn't have enough LP to do it, and it has funky construction that would make it hard to alter for length.
Insert elevator music while I flip through books....
Ah ha!! I found it! The Lettuce Coat form Custom Knits! How did I miss it before? It has a similar feeling to the Tilted Duster, but next to no finishing, and it is from a book! And easy to adjust for being a little short on yarn! So before I had time to think about why I didn't want to make this sweater, I cast on for the damn thing.

I managed to get the back yoke and 2 inches into the front done before I went to bed. No swatching, no thinking. Hell yeah! Impulsive Costumechick decision for the win!

It's been a week?!

Really? Well, tech will do that to you. Time just gets away from you when you are watching dress runs. That said, I did manage to knit up a pair of socks and get up to the armholes on the front of my Dahlia, Darling sweater! Tech might suck for blogging, but it rocks for knitting!

Get ready to go "awwww".

Name: Tiggers

Pattern: Frankie Striped Socks from "Vintage Baby Knits" - size 6-12 months

Yarn: Brown-Lang Jawoll Superwash Solid; Orange - Conjoined Creations Flat Feet

Needles: Knit Picks Classic Circs, size 0

Notes: Tiny socks are so cute! They are also so fast! No time to get bored! They also seem to make me use exclamation points!! I named them "tiggers" for obvious reasons, but they also remind me of candy corn, and 'witch socks'. (I think I have autumn on the brain...) Still, 'tiggers" seems best, seing how babies tend to be a tad on the wiggle-wormy side of things at 6-12 months.

The pattern is well written, easy to follow, and generic enough that you could just use it for size and gauge info, and knit your own sock. Of course, just like with any striped sock, you have to deal with the color jogs and carrying the unused yarn up the sock, but it's hardly difficult - especially on such a small scale.

I used leftover yarn for these, and had plenty of leftovers leftover. Enough to make a stripy hat I think! I used less 50 grams of yarn, but my scale at work only goes so low, and I can't measure accurately. I do know that it isn't much.

I was a bit concerned that they are too "girly" to give to a baby- to -be -of- yet -to- be- determined-gender. Evad told me I'm crazy. He'd wear them. I don't think that means much except that evad is willing to wear loud socks. But, I like them, and if i have find a baby to give them too, then they will be perfect!

In other "knit news", I am 2/3 through the front of my 'dahlia, darling' sweater. No rash has come back yet, so I don't think the yarn was to blame. (hooray!)

I have yet to cast on my KAL sweater, since I feel like I'm cheating on this one. Maybe I'll knit through the armhole shaping tonight, then cast on the KAL sweater.....