unsympathetic.net

I know it’s been awhile, but I actually started and finished something. In a fairly timely manner, no less.

A few weeks ago, the Yarn Harlot herself posted a pattern for an Unoriginal Hat. The moment I saw it, I knew that I absolutely had to have it. It was easy to justify the purchase of more yarn, since I didn’t have any chunky weight yarn in the stash.

I, of course, chose to use the actual yarn the pattern called for — Blue Moon Fiber Art’s Leticia — and can I say, totally worth the cost? This is one of the softest yarns I have ever used, and it totally made up from the hand cramps that came from using such large needles. I love the color, too, and if I had enough money, I would buy every shade in the Raven collection. I heart black with colors.

I absolutely love this hat, and would totally knit it again.

In fact, I’m looking for any excuse now to buy more Blue Moon yarn. I can’t wait to finish the socks I have on the needles now just so that I can cast on with the Socks that Rock that I bought. I’d do it now, but I don’t have a spare set of needles floating around, since there’s socks on them.

I’m working on another hat right now — a different pattern and for someone other than me — and it’s nice to have something to do with my hands while watching ME play video games, since I can’t read because I’m continually looking up to watch her.

I love my dog, but occasionally I have the urge to beat the crap out of her.

Which I know is wrong, and I don’t do it.

Anyway, on Saturday, I was knitting a shawl-like thing that I started two years ago. I know that I started it two years ago because I was knitting it to wear to C and J’s wedding two years ago, and it still isn’t done.

I had pulled it out of the closet, and realized that I didn’t particularly like it. It wasn’t my style, and I probably would never wear it. But, it was pretty, and easy to knit, so I figured I’d finish it off and give it to a classmate that I’ve had classes with every semester since I started at SCC. It was exactly her style, and since I’m trying to convince her to transfer with me next fall, I figured a present would be appropriate.

So, I had been knitting it. I was storing it in a plastic box that fit exactly under the sidetable in the living room, so that when I was watching TV, I could pull it out and work on it, and slide it back under the table when I was done for the evening.

Saturday, though, I forgot to slide the box back under the table when I was done. I got up to fix myself dinner, did other things, forgot about the knitting, and spent the rest of the evening on the computer.

Around 9pm, I look over at Honey, who was laying down where her bed is supposed to be. I had taken it outside to shake it off, and never brought it back in. So I go out, and I see something that makes me angry.

Right inside the dog door is a black ball of yarn. The exact ball of yarn that was attached to the knitting I was working on. So I follow the string out side, far out into the back yard, when I find a broken end when it got wrapped around an outlet in the backyard.

So, Honey has stolen my knitting, and I don’t know if I’ll get it back. I searched Saturday night. My mom searched on Sunday. The shawl is nowhere to be found.

So yes, I’m irritated. And the moment I found out, I really wanted to beat the dog. But I didn’t. I refrained. And didn’t talk to her for the rest of the evening, after a minor punishment (”Is this your toy? It must be your toy, you chewed it up” sort of thing).

Even though I can’t find the knitting, I’m over it. The initial irritation is what really bothered me, as I didn’t expect Honey to attack cotton yarn. My mom says it’s because she wants to be close to me, and after two years, that yarn definitely smelled like me.

So, now I have to find new TV knitting. Sigh. And it took me forever to pull the shawl out of the closet.

- “Your Heart is an Empty Room,” Plans: Death Cab for Cutie

Remember three days ago when I said I wasn’t going to buy any more yarn until I knit up what I had?

I lied. Seriously. I haven’t bought any new yarn yet, and it might not be awhile until I do, but I am definitely going to buy yarn as soon as I find the perfect yarn for the pattern I just had to buy this morning.

I’ve been coveting Eunny’s “Deep V Argyle Vest” pattern ever since I stumbled across her site. And since there was money in my PayPal account, I thought it was high time to splurge the $6 it cost for the 32 page pattern.

That’s right. This pattern totally beats Rogue for length. And there are no cables and no sleeves, either. Not that I’ve started on Rogue, either, even though I love the cables, love the pattern, and have the yarn. No, that didn’t stop me from getting this new “must have” pattern, accumulating it with the intention of knitting it some time before I die.

Just wanted to update you all on the fact that when it comes to yarn, don’t believe a word I say about whether or not I’ll be accumulating more yarn. I’ll always get more yarn if I have the money to do so.

- “If You Can’t Leave it Be, Might as Well Make it Bleed,” A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar: Dashboard Confessional

Yesterday, I thought up at least five good topics to write about. Unfortunately, they all came to me while I was in front of the copier, and I didn’t write any of them down. So now I can’t remember.

Which means, of course, that I’m going to tell a story that maybe no one will find interesting.

This weekend, I got a new bed. Not really new, but new for me. My uncle’s father died last month, and he had two guest rooms, both with twin beds. When the house sold, I was given the “good” one, which was the newer of the two.

Yes, I realize a twin bed isn’t really moving up in the bed world. But, considering the bed I was sleeping on before was a day bed, I’ll take what I can get.

So, I set up the new bed, which involved taking apart the daybed and moving it into our new guest bedroom—before I moved back in, the room I’m in now was the guest bedroom. After putting the daybed back together in the new guest room, I moved the twin bed in, and for the first time since I moved back in, I have enough room in my room for all of my furniture. Since I can have the bed jutting out into the room, I have more wall space, and finally feel that when I go to bed, my bed isn’t going to fall apart
on me.

One of the side benefits of this room-reorganization is that I moved my yarn catch-all to the other side of the room. This necessitated my removing all of my yarn from the shelves and dumping it on the bed while I moved it to where I wanted it.

Jesus, I forgot I had so much yarn. Seriously, I have enough yarn for five full-sized projects, never mind the mass of lace-weight I have no plans for but have been secretly collection. Yarn enough for seven more pairs of socks. Good thing I like knitting socks.

I don’t think I’ll be buying any more yarn this year at all. Instead, I’m going to try to finish off all the projects I have on the needles now (expect to see that in a post near you soon), and then work on the projects I’ve had planned but haven’t started on.

Of course, this all depends on me not getting distracted by something, like the fall semester of school.

One of these days, I’m going to have to figure out how to read and knit complicated things at the same time.

- “Crooked Teeth,” Plans: Death Cab for Cutie

It might have taken me longer than I had estimated, but I really have finished the knitting on the two bags I had wanted to finish by the end of this weekend.

I finished knitting the purple bag while we were camping—actually started a new project and everything—but I didn’t finish the gray bag until Tuesday at work. Normally, I wouldn’t show a picture of half-finished things, but I wanted to get a good pictures of the cables while they were stretched out and blocking.

I really like the way the cables turned out on the Cleo clutch (gray). I didn’t mess up once I started over for the third time, and I even managed to do a cable row without a cable needle. I don’t recommend it, at least not for myself. However, Wendy has a great tutorial on how to do it.

The Heather bag (purple) I managed to cross a cable the wrong way while on a boat ride. Well, my parents were fishing. I was just along for the ride. I don’t know how I did it, but I caught it on the next cable round, and had to rip back to where I messed up. If I had Stephanie had posted her tutorial on how to fix a mis-twisted cable before I had left, I would have known what to do.

But, it’s very helpful to know for the next cable project, because it’s so frustrating to realize you messed up way back at the beginning and have to frog it all.

Cleo is waiting to be seamed and then felted. I’m a little worried about the felting process, since the last time I tried to felt a bag, it didn’t work out to well, and it’s shoved in the back of the yarn pile. I’m interested to see how the cables felt, though, so it will be a learning experience even if it all turns out like crap.

Heather is waiting to be seamed, a lining sewn with a zipper, and a strap knitted that I’m a little worried about. I am unsure how much the strap will stretch, or how much weight it will have to hold. I’ve never done a purse before, and so am in uncharted territory. And free of the pattern, since the pattern is for a 6″ x 6″ bag, and mine is 11″ x 11″.

I should do the felting this weekend, depending on how hot it is, how much laundrey there is, and what other chores get thrown my way. I feel like I’m 13 again on Saturdays, having to do all my chores before I get to have any fun.

- “She’s Electric,” (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?: Oasis

I thought it was about time for a knitting post, lest people start to think I don’t actually knit. What you see above was taken on June first, as I figured it was high time I got myself in gear and started working on a birthday present for my coworker KG. Since I’ve started working where I am now, I’ve knit–or at least tried to knit–a present for KG every year, since our birthdays are a day a part. Last year, I didn’t quite make it, and the scarf I started last year for her is still on the needles. Lace sure
takes a long time.

So, this year decided I’d knit her something I have a chance of finishing in a month, so I decided on a bag. But, I figured I might want to make sure she likes it, so I had her pick out a pattern from one of the numerous pattern books I have. She picked out “Heather” from 25 bags to knit: Beautiful bags in stylish colors, by Emma King. This is actually the first pattern I’ve knit from the book (I got it for Christmas), and as usual, things are not going to plan.

I’m using Cascade 220 in a purple heather, and I didn’t do a gauge swatch first. The bag is supposed to be a small one, just 6″ x 6″, and when I finished the back, I was at 8″ x 8″, unstretched ribbing.

I’ve started on the front of the bag, and while I’m glad the gauge was bigger so that the pony beads fit in better with the design, it still leaves me in a quandary . With the bigger size, I’m going to alter the pattern from a hand bag to a shoulder bag, but that means I need to do a flap to close the bag with, and I don’t know what a good size for the flap is. A third of the bag? A fourth of the bag? I just don’t know.

Also, I don’t know how long to make the strap, since I like my shoulder bags to be able to be worn across the chest (I hate it when the strap slides down your shoulder), but KG doesn’t normally use shoulder bags, so she doesn’t have a purse she really likes that I can measure. Add into that the stretch factor, and it’s just a crap shoot all around.

I think I’m going to line the bag as well, and am undecided if I should put a zipper in the liner or what. At this rate, I should have just sewn a purse for all the headaches this one is causing me. But it’s going to look so killer when it’s done.

Since I have no project fidelity, I’ve been working on a bag for me at the same time, although this image does nothing for it. It’s a really dark gray heathered Cascade 220. The pattern I’m using is from Spun Magazine - the Cleo Clutch. I wanted something like this all last semester since I don’t carry a purse when I have a backpack with me. This clutch is the perfect size to throw in the front pouch of my backpack, and stop rummaging all over the place for my wallet, keys, etc. Which always sucked when going into the bookstore, since you can’t take your backpack with you.

I know, I’m such a girl.

Anyway, I have only two more repeats of the cable pattern to go, and then it’s on to the seaming and felting. I hope to finish this bag before Friday , so I can focus completely on KG’s bag this weekend. Until I get bored and cast on for a second sock that’s been awaiting it’s mate since February, I believe.

Anyway. When I printed out the pattern, the chart got cut off, and the site went down so I couldn’t print another copy. Working from written out pattern did show some errors, and it took me a couple false starts to figure them out. To begin with the abbreviations contain a critical error that if you have never done cables before would be hard to catch, and the finished project would look rather odd.

>>T4B - Sl next two sts to cn and hold in back of work, p next 2 sts, k 2 sts from cn

By following this, purl ridges will mar the cable on the left-traveling cables. It took me three tries to figure out what I was doing wrong, and it turns out the pattern instructed me wrong. It should read:

>>T4B - Sl next two sts to cn and hold in back of work, k next 2 sts, p 2 sts from cn

This way the cables will come out correctly, looking identical to the right-traveling cables. Also, in the written out instructions of the cable pattern, row 9 just kinda stops before the actual end of the row. Where it ends with p2, it should really say p5, k4, p3, k3, to end the row. In essence, you’re just mirroring what happened with the first half of the row, and by reading your knitting you should be able to see what your doing.

Even though it took me a bit to figure it out, I really like this cable pattern. I nearly have it memorized–I can never remember when the side cables need to cross, but the traveling cables are easy to see. I really can’t wait to see what this looks like done.

- “Carry This Picture For Luck,” A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar: Dashboard Confessional

As I’ve been searching for the perfect sock pattern for my perfect yarn, I’ve come to a startling discovery.

I apparently have rather large feet for a woman. I knew this already. It was quite evident to me at thirteen, when I had to buy size 10 shoes. Especially when there were no cute shoes left. I think this gave me a slight loathing of shoes…

Anyway, all the patterns I’ve been looking at list the size as for an “average” woman’s foot, ranging from 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 inches around the foot. Which is depressing, since my foot is 8 1/2 inches on a good day. I suppose I really shouldn’t be surprised, but still, it would be nice to knit a pattern without trying to alter it for size.

I suppose I should go look at the patterns I’ve already knitting (Broadripple and Jaywalker, for example) and see what they list as the “foot size.” If it’s the same as what all these patterns are telling me, then I’ll be fine.

If it’s different, then I might just have to cry myself to sleep tonight, because I think I want to knit the Fancy Silk Sock from Nancy Bush’s “Knitting Vintage Socks”, and it says that the finished sock has a foot circumference of 7 1/2.”

Update: Oh, I checked alright… Broadripple doesn’t post a target foot circumference, and Jaywalker lists its as 8 inches. Well, I wonder just how much that half inch matters?

- “The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes,” Take This to Your Grave: Fall Out Boy

I’m sure it’s an ominous start to the photos that the very first one happens to be sock yarn.

But, I love yarn. I love socks. And I love sock yarn doubley so. And, I really just wanted to share my yarn.

I had been saving gift certificates to the yarn store since Christmas, so when I got an email telling me that they were having a sale, I practically begged Dustin to take me out there. I was so excited; I thought that maybe the Cascade 220 would be on sale. Or maybe the Rowan yarn. Alas, no, I wasn’t that lucky. And since I didn’t have any extra money to spend, I decided on sock yarn because I am more likely to finish a pair of socks than any kind of larger item.

I decided on the blue-ish Trekking XXL because I had never tried it, and because I really liked the colors. It was the only XXL color I liked, really. The others looked to be the fake-fairisle, and I don’t really go in for that. Also, I am thrilled that one ball will make an entire pair of socks, and am so glad that it is superwash. I dislike having to remember what socks can and can’t be machine washed.

In the middle is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, which I have wanted to try forever. It is also superwash (genious!), and I had to dig around to find two of the color I wanted - Mixed Berries. I am so in love with this yarn that it is still sitting on my desk, waiting to be made into socks. I am looking for a good pattern, but I’m not sure what that will be.

The brown skein all alone is Koigu to finish the socks I started last year but had to abandon when I ran out of yarn an inch before the toe shaping. The brown goes really well, and I ripped back what I had to to heal, so that the heal and the toe would be the same color. I should be finished with the sock by the end of the week, and if I remember, I might post a photo. I really love the way the sock has turned out.

In all I spent just over $50 at Filati, only getting these four skeins. And that’s why I don’t get to buy yarn all that often.

So, there you have it. My first knitting content in over a month… It isn’t that I haven’t been knitting. It’s that the lack of a camera makes it hard to write about knitting. And besides, I’ve had some other things to talk about.

- “7 Miniutes in Heven (Atavan Halen)” From Under the Cork Tree: Fall Out Boy