Something Non-Crafty

Oh the power of the internet.  I understand that this post has nothing to do with quilting, sewing, crafting, or my insanely adorable dog... BUT it has a lot to do with me.  I love otters, the new Sherlock Holmes (and the classic books for that matter but they don't have someone named Cumberbatch in them now do they?), and wacky/zany/irreverent/absurd things.  This post; "Otters that look like Benedict Cumberbatch" from Red Scharlach has all of my favorite things.  Also, did you know there is a website that just has pictures of otters?  We truly are living in magical times.

Chevron Intervention Time

Perhaps you remember this sweater that I finished recently.  The awesome Hollywood Herringbone Pullover by Kate Gagnon Osborn.

Then I recently attended a quilting workshop.  The pattern was a Jacob's Ladder Quilt but unfortunately half way through the workshop something just wasn't gelling for me and I decided that if I was going to put in the time to make a quilt I had to like the finished result.  So I scrapped the nine patch segments, rearranged the half square triangles, and am now putting together something that looks like this:

Finally, let us look at the knitting project currently on my needles.  The oh-so-awesome Delancey Cardigan by Alexis Winslow which I am doing as knit-a-long with a friend (I posted about having the yarn for this  a g e s  ago and finally took the plunge and cast-on).

Knitting this in Berocco Ultra Alpaca and so far it is coming out absolutely delicious!

Hmm, notice any striking similarities between these?  I obviously keep getting drawn to the zig zags.  Heck, it's even the background on my blog!  In my defense, I'm not the only one to jump aboard the chevron train.  Pinterest has been blowing up with chevron for awhile now.  Do you find yourself drawn to similar patterns, colors, or styles time and time again?  Do I need a chevron/zig zag intervention?

Knitting and Rules

Ruby knows that all rules are meant to be broken, like that one about not getting on the couch.

I've been gathering quite the to-do list lately, and also creating quite the long craft rules list for myself.

Anyone else out there create rules around their creating?  You know, rules like "I cannot buy any more yarn until I use up my stash" or "no new fabric/patterns until I make something with the last fabric I bought" or my current rule "I can't sew anything new until I make progress on that quilt."  Obviously my rules are meant to motivate me to complete projects, or use up supplies/avoid a yarn and fabric hoarding issue.  I have to admit that I don't like having multiple unfinished projects lying around so I try to bust through them before they start to stress me out.  However, today I caught myself thinking, why all the rules?  Isn't crafting supposed to be my fun hobby?  Why would I let my hobby stress me out?

So what do you think?  Do you make "rules" for yourself?  If you do, do you keep them or are craft rules meant to be broken (like when you REALLY need a skein of that gorgeous alpaca or a yard of that adorable Heather Ross print)?  Also, please tell me I'm not the only one who stresses themselves out over something that is supposed to be fun!

Absentee blogger

Oh my, a whole year? A whole year of blogger absenteeism? I have good reasons, I promise!

That whole getting married thing was very exciting but time consuming, I also got an awesome new job which has been keeping me busy, and I've started getting into fitness and working out more. All of this has combined to me having less time/energy to be crafty and also less enthusiasm to document said craftiness. I do have projects I've completed though, and I've started a whole new crafting endeavor: quilting. So as a way to force myself to be more creative and spend less time just watching Downton Abbey (can you blame me? the show is amazing!) I'm going to try to get back into the blogging. Here's hoping the next post from me is in a week and not in a year!

Now more pictures of my completed Hollywood Herringbone Pullover:

I have a few plans for upcoming posts so stay tuned for more deets on this sweater, a recently finished beret, some more folk mittens (it's not an addiction if I can stop knitting mittens anytime I want, and I can), recent sources of crafty inspiration, and my full day quilting workshop!

Winter Knitting

Outside it continues to look like this:Which means that I will be inside knitting this:
Pattern is Road to Golden by Lisa Shroyer. I'm not totally in love with the colorwork design but I'm going to get a little farther into it before I decide if I should switch to something different. I've been browsing Ravelry and found some inspiring projects that might be more fun (like a hedgehog sweater!).

Not going to lie, I consider myself to be a good knitter, and I happily brag about stuff I've made. Then I go on Ravelry and see someone who has a bazillion projects they've completed, all of which look amazing, and most of them are sweaters (not like my huge pile of mittens and easy hats!) Oh, what's that you're serving? Humble Pie? Oh, I don't want a slice, I'll take the whole thing...

Shovel, knit, rinse, repeat

We got hit with about 18 inches of snow overnight, the upside of which is that since I work at a college, it was closed and I got a snow day. I'm not sure if I'm a masochist or just a true Northeasterner, because I love a good storm. In bad weather I take a perverse sort of pride in being prepared for the weather. On go the lined L.L. Bean boots, the Smartwool socks, maybe some long underwear, my boiled wool sweater, and best of all, my hand knits. There is no greater feeling than stepping out into whatever weather mother nature throws at you and actually being prepared.
Plus cold, blustery weather just reminds me of why it is so awesome to be a knitter. I can stay cozy and stylish in my hand knit cowl, hat, mittens, or fingerless mittens. Even with all the hard work I did on my snow day (aka watching No Reservations and drinking hot cocoa) I've been able to get some knitting done. I recently finished a bulky garter stitch cowl in a lush single ply and a winter white hue, it was knit side to side and then kitchner stitched together. Then I fulfilled my dreams of having a slouchy beret. The pattern I made was inspired by folk knitting motifs and was knit in Beroco Ultra Alpaca (stash from the MIL mittens I made for Christmas). After blocking it's a little too slouchy and I tried soaking it in boiling water to get it to shrink down a little. Might have to give that a second go since the brim has lost all elasticity, or I could try sewing some elastic thread into the brim. I'm even thinking of ripping out the brim section and working it again on smaller needles since I have had visions of this hat dancing in my head for so long that I want it to be perfect!
As for the fuzzy creature above... no, I did not knit her. But she is a good tool for measuring our snow accumulation. "Look, we got belly-height inches in the last 12 hours." If hoity-toity kings can make their own feet a standard form of measurement, why can't the distance between my dog's belly and the ground become the new standard? It can be called the Ruby system and I'm sure it will be all the rage within the next couple years!

Now to get back to swatching my next project. More on that next post.

Christmas mittens

This is one of the Christmas projects I wasn't able to show before. They were made for my mother in law out from Berocco Ultra Alpaca (so soft and delicious to knit with, plus I love the slight haze you get from the raised pile on them).
The pattern was Lopi Mittens from the book Folk Mittens. These at first were too small, so I added a pattern repeat on each side, and several repeats before and after the thumb to get a nice long cuff and a good comfy fit through the hand. I also did the same knit braid embellishment along the cuff that I used for the Inga hats I've made.
Folk mitten patterns are pretty irresistible (bold graphics make them visually appealing, and the patterns often have simple repeats making them easy to remember and fun/fast to knit). I'd recommend this book to anyone since the patterns are great but the historical background information is even better! Did you know that mittens used to be used as currency; I wonder how my landlord would feel about me paying my rent in mittens. There also were a lot of traditions around marriage, such as knitting a pair of mittens for every guest at your wedding, or a pair for every member of your new family. I have toyed with the idea of knitting things for my bridesmaids, and I do knit things for R's immediate family, but I feel a little faint when I think of making 100 pair of mittens between now and September! EEK!

Back to the book though... I love so many of the patterns in this book that I'm toying with the idea of knitting my way through the e n t i r e book ala Julie Powell who cooked her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her exploits then turned into the book Julie and Julia (although I have NO plans to be as whiny or melodramatic as Ms. Powell!). 38 patterns would be a fun challenge and force me to get some more techniques under my belt, as well as work on perfecting some skills I already have (gapless thumb anyone?) however with a wedding coming up I don't think I would but a year deadline on myself, that just sounds like a recipe for pain rather than a fun learning experience.

Mission Accopmlished

All of my Christmas knitting is FINISHED!! All the bundles are wrapped under the tree, ready to be shipped off to their future homes. My mom selected this sweater pattern and has tried it on, so I figured I wouldn't ruin any surprises by showing it on the blog.
This project was a royal pain! I appreciated the unusual construction but the directions for the sleeve were archaic at best. I also had finished it, only to have to rip back on the sleeves and bottom of the sweater to add about an extra inch to each at my mother's bequest. Throughout I kept thinking "anything worth doing is worth doing right..." to get myself through my feeling that it was good enough. Luckily I pushed through and will now be proud to give this, rather than apologetic about a half-assed attempt.

The other finished project? I'll keep that under wraps until after Christmas. Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Joyeux Knitting!

Delays in Santa's workshop

Oh knitting, you fickle, fickle art. Some projects positively fly off the needles (and I'm not just talking about those projects on bulky yarn and size 12 needles!) while others make me run and hide. I had been doing so well on my Christmas knitting and then I got completely stymied by the last pair of mittens.
There were mittens I made this year where I tried completely new techniques, and made up the patterns as I went (see above and below, the ones below are flip top mittens with an attached i-cord for the button loop, hello improvisation!) yet this last one is currently entering its fourth attempt. The first attempt was a new pattern I'm designing, I did the color chart on a hat and liked it, then I started adapting it for mittens, that's when I encountered problems.
I have become a thumb snob on my mittens, when I started knitting, the afterthought thumb was sufficient (it has no gusset or gore which means no shaping, it is the easiest to add to a pattern as the name suggests). Now though I have come to prefer something with a better shape. I'm a big fan of the thumb gusset on the Give a Hoot Mittens which I posted on here. I incorporated it in the mittens above easily enough, but here's the thing about that gusset technique; it does not play nice with stranded colorwork! I figured a side seam gore would do the trick (thumb comes out of side of mitten and you do increases and then transfer the extra stitches to some waste yarn) but was having a hard time getting the colorwork pattern to line up with the increases. Add in the fact that this was going to be done on fingering weight yarn, size 0 needles, and I thought there was no way it would be done for Christmas.

So I moved on to the second iteration of Plantress' Christmas mittens: a folk mitten pattern titled "Mittens from Halland." They were all lovely and good, except that it was worsted weight yarn, on size 2 needles, and I was silly enough to use acrylic yarn. The knitting was at such a tight gauge, that with a yarn that doesn't have any natural give to it, I felt like I was fighting e v e r y single stitch. OUCH! My hands and wrists started hurting and I was making such slow progress that I just stopped by the Franklin Mill Store on my way home from work and bought two skeins of lovely Berocco Ultra Alpaca. Worsted weight, natural fiber yarn on size five needles? I did a mitten in a day! Then, disaster. This mitten was a little snug to begin with (7.5" diameter, and I tend to think 8" or 8.5" is nicer) and it had ... [dramatic pause] ... an afterthought thumb! GASP, the horror! I tried the mitten on and it was too snug, pulling in an unsightly manner around the thumb, and I just couldn't do it. Going with the mindset of "anything worth doing is worth doing right" this mitten is getting frogged. I cringed thinking about someone opening up their Christmas present only to try it on, be understandably disappointed, and then feel like they had to tell me how great they are.

So tonight I start anew. Same pattern, same yarn, but I will add four extra stitches on each side and do some extra stitches before the thumb, and before the decreases to achieve a better fit. Hopefully I can bust through these mittens this weekend. Then I just have to sew buttons onto my mom's mittens and block them, lengthen the arms on my mom's sweater and block it, and Christmasknittingpalooza 2010 will be done!

Mouse Musings

I think we have mice in our house. I keep finding little singular mouse poops on our kitchen counter. When I told R that I think we have mice he said "oh yeah, I know." To which I had to query "you knew? why didn't you tell me?" I worry that my partner is a little too supportive of mouse rights. I understand he doesn't want to put traps out, but the day I find him hand feeding them Gruyere or asking me to knit them sweaters is the day I pack up and leave.

Over share? I'm taking a page out of Plantress's book and injecting some realism into my blog.
(Plantress is also R's mother and has had a bit of a mouse problem herself lately. You just have to love old houses with all their character).

Christmas-palooza

Everything is coming up Christmas here! Tree up. Wreaths up. Centerpiece made. Christmas cards started. Stocking made for dog (she obviously had to have one to that matches ours!).

But of course, what would Christmas be for a knitter, if not a time to have a heap load of projects to finish. I think so far I'm making better progress than last year (where I had to wrap someone's present that was still on my knitting needles, when they unwrapped it I said "hope you like it, now give it back to me so I can finish it!"). I have my mom's sweater to finish and ONE pair of mittens left to make (Plantress, they're yours if you're wondering), and then some projects that still need to be blocked and have their ends woven in. I had optimistic plans of crafting some felt bird ornaments for everyone a la Purl Soho but I think I just have to accept that it will not be happening.

I'm not sure if this is part of growing up, but every year it seems harder and harder to get into the Christmas spirit. I try watching my favorite holiday movies, listening to Christmas music, decorating, drinking eggnog, making cookies, eating clementines (these are Christmas for me, not sure why), anything to get that spark of Christmas started. Is it because stores have been decorated for Christmas since Halloween? Or is it just that as an adult your Christmas involves more "have to's" and less of that holiday magic? What do you do to start feeling all Christmasy?

Well I should stop musing and get back to knitting. I'm determined to not have to gift an unfinished project this year!

Happy Holidays!

meet my new fiber animal...

Wait, that's not a fiber animal in the picture above? Hmm, I'm confused.

Really though, meet Ruby, the new member of my little family. In the last several months I have moved out of Boston and now have a home with land and a view of a pond. I got a car, a job, and a very drooly but loveable rescue dog. I also took an eight week long sewing class and have rekindled my love for sewing. Even with new job and settling into a new house (and cleaning up destruction from our little separation-anxiety prone dog) the knitting has been going strong... or at least going! I will have some finished objects coming up, mostly Christmas gifties for people and I'm planning on casting on for the Delancey Cardigan soon since a girl has to knit for herself sometimes, right?

Shrug it off

As promised, here are the details of my latest finished project! (I love how the light in this picture makes it look like the sweater is the Holy Grail or something, haha).
I had two skeins of Seacolors wool from my Mom that I wanted to use for a sweater. Last time my Mom gifted me some of this yarn it became the modified Cloud Bolero by Ysolda. While I'm normally not a huge fan of shrugs I decided it might be useful to have in my wardrobe and it seemed like a good solution to the "how to get a sweater-ish item out of two skeins of yarn" problem.
So here it is- a heavily modified version of the Textured Circle Shrug by Stefanie Japel. While there are a lot of things I like about the original (namely the neck and the ribbing details) my yarn limitations required some big changes.
The most noticeable difference is that I removed all the reverse-stockinette texture. I never liked it that much to begin with so that was an easy change. It was harder to say goodbye to the 1x1 ribbing sections but ribbing eats up yarn like the dickens, so that was a no-go. I also knew I wasn't going to be able to achieve the same length so I shaped the front with short rows to try to get as much bust coverage from the yarn and some length in the back, without using up yarn on the neck.
This project was very free-form, I knit until I decided I wanted short-rows, then I added some in, then I knit some more. I kept my eye on the ball of yarn to try to figure out when I should start the border and cast-off. Then I decided I could add some length to the arms (and improve the shaping with decreases) so I ripped the arms back and knit them out again.

I'm not totally in love with this project, and I'm not sure if it's because I'm not a shrug-lover in the first place, or if it's because the modifications make it a little odd. At least my stash-busting adventures have continued, and I'm hoping that once cool weather rolls in I'll find this to be a useful little sweater.

Knitting progress

Please behold my newest finished project, the Foliage hat by Emily Mooney. This was a fun and fat project and I want it for myself (or to knit another one for myself). It has a really nice slouchy fit to it when it's on. Plus it used up another skein of spare yarn and will be gifted with that scarf I did the other day (forgot about it? here it is) for a combo Christmas and Birthday present . I'll have to post more pictures of it in better light, and I have a secret project that is almost finished and ready for its time in the spotlight!

Awesome Giveaway

One of my favorite crafting (and general awesomeness blogs) is hosting a very cool giveaway. Go to Jones Design Company and check it out. Or just get some very cool inspiration for DIY projects. I love the paper wreath they show (although my inner librarian definitely cringes at seeing pages ripped out of books!).

Sweater Love

We need to have a talk. About how in love with this sweater I am!!

Meet the Delancey Cardigan by Alexis Winslow.
This is one of those sweaters that I see and I don't even want to knit, I just want to steal the sample so I can be wearing it Right NOW! Oh wait, it's still 90 degrees outside... But you get the idea, I think this sweater is amazing.
Not feeling it yet? How about the amazing back? And don't even get me started on the delicious shawl collar (my favorite in sweaters). I'm picturing doing one for myself with a soft heather/oatmeal color for the main color, and then a light heathered lavender or purple for the stripes, although the bold orange on white combo is perfect for the retro feel.
Aack! Too much awesomeness for just one garment! I think I'm going to try a little taste of reason however. I'm F O R C I N G myself to knit up more of my stash, and get through some of my Christmas knitting before I buy a whole bunch of yarn and dig into this amazing project.

But Delancey, I'll be dreaming of you!

Twist Collective

Hi my name is Lulu and I have an addiction to Twist Collective.

Really though, it's amazing, and if you don't know what I'm talking about go here!

Do it now, do not stop, you can thank me later.If you needed a little incentive to click that link here is the amazing Acorns cardigan by Carol Sunday.

Or perhaps you prefer the more feisty Hazelwood by Robin Melanson?
Don't tell me you could possibly resist this absolutely adorable cardigan. The whimsical Cityscape by Laura Chau.
And if you're not already salivating on your computer, how about the lovely Anthera by Janel Laidman which includes a beret, cowl, and cuffs (and I think we all know how I feel about a good cowl).

I absolutely adore Twist Collective, and I'd been itching over the last couple weeks to see when the Fall one would come up. With other pattern sources I might like a couple of items in them, especially with Knitty where I might be lucky to find one thing I like. But Twist Collective is totally my aesthetic; beautiful and classic. Remember my Vine Yoke Cardigan? That was Twist Collective at its finest. Plus they have some of the best articles, like knitting in Peru, or life on a fiber farm. When a new one comes out I always make sure I have plenty of time to read everything and savor all the amazing-ness!

Why are you still reading me ramble on about them? Go. Check. Them. Out!

Winter White Cowl

The herringbone cowl is complete! I now want to knit everything in herringbone. I'm so in love with the texture, the easy peasy stitch pattern, everything about it!
I think the cowl will be gifted, although I will need to make one for myself. I had always had a cowl aversion but then it's like a flip switched, maybe when I accidentally dunked one of my long scarfs in my coffee one too many times, or when I got it caught in my coat's zipper, again. But now I'm loving these super functional items, and they make amazing stash busting projects. I'm sure everyone is relieved that I have moved on from my love of hats. Just have to say that I never understand people who say "I don't really wear hats," ummmm, doesn't your head get cold?!? We live in New England people! Not Abu Dhabi!!, phew I feel better getting that off my chest.
Anywho, here is one last photo, and it is full of the ridiculousness that comes from finishing knit items in summer, oh the insanity, modeling cowls and summer dresses together in one photo.

Time to pick my next project. Hmm, I would like a hat with a side of stash-busting.

Projects Projects Everywhere...

But not a cold front in sight!I know in the knitting world there is often the discussion about summer knitting. As in, do you like to, can you, if so what do you make and with what fibers? While I wilt like a fern when summer rolls around, I have obviously not taken a complete hiatus from knitting. Some of my projects stick within the realm of traditional summer knits (aka little projects) such as the cowl above that I finally finished with a picot edge, and the herringbone cowl below.

However my other project I'm currently working on is a sweater for my mom. And no, it's not cotton, bambo, silk, or any other summer-heat friendly fibers. Luckily though it really hasn't been that bad. I definitely took a break from anything fiber related while we had a heat wave in Boston that caused my apartment to be a steady, broiling, ninety-five degrees. That has now passed though and my knitting needles are back in my hands where they belong!
I'm happy to get a start on my Christmas knitting, plus I take Elizabeth Zimmerman's advice in Knitter's Almanac to heart. When suggesting to start knitting mittens and hats in August and September she points out that if you wait till it's cold to start these cozy projects you are going to have some unhappy (and chilly) waiters!
However that should not be my fate as some of my Christmas knitting is already done! Plus I made a lot of progress over the last week on this sweater for my mom. It now has a front and a back, which is good for modesty sake, and they have been joined together. Now it just needs some sleeves and for A L L of those loose ends to be woven in. Eek! I guess that's why God created the audio book though! To distract me through all of those pesky little finishing parts of knitting!

Stash Scarf

Last night I was up until 2am finishing this scarf, but it is done! My late night knitting was fueled by an America's Next Top Model marathon (I never professed to have good taste in television so don't judge me too harshly) and I was able to get it blocking before I went to bed. I forgot just how amazing blocking is, before I soaked this scarf the purl ridges were super close and this scarf was super short. It was not my favorite project and I was fretting about the proportions: too wide and too short. But, one magic bath and a whole lot of pins later and my scarf r e l a x e d and stretched out.
I'm now very happy with this little guy, and come Christmas I will be able to gift it without shame! Not only is it longer but the fabric is now much more open and relaxed, giving it a nice drape. It should look cute either slung simply around the neck, or doubled up and pulled through the loop (my personal favorite for wearing scarves or pashminas). I'm happy it worked out since I completely improvised on the pattern and instead of doing the feather and fan all the way through the scarf I decided to have it be more solid in the parts around the neck (for warmth and stability of the fabric, and honestly, I just got sick of doing feather and fan). I did two separate parts since the feather and fan stitch has a "direction" and I wanted them to match, once the two sides were knit up I just used the Kitchener stitch to graft the two sides together. Presto!
The best part is that this was stash yarn. A good friend of mine sent me a box full of spare yarn (stash) and some knitting books a couple months ago in preparation for her first baby arriving. I have had a lot of fun finding projects for this gifted yarn. Plus I love any project where I use up some of my stash and this scarf used EVERY LAST BIT of the two skeins that I had.

Goodbye clutter, hello finished project!