knitting: a tangible form of string manipulation

cowl

brenda — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 05:40:14 +0000

Things have been super hectic this month, and I expect it to be pretty busy for the next month or so. But I still exist for my…oh.. one or two readers out there Really, this is just for me to keep track of all the things I’m knitting. And I forgot to take a photo of the mock-rib scarf I made in the super soft Blue Sky Alpaca cotton. In the prettiest colour (Thistle) too. You’ll just have to take my word for it. It was a plain scarf in a beautiful colour. I didn’t want to give an itchy scarf as a gift, and the recipient is extremely sensitive to some fibers.

For my mom, I made this cowl, which looks much much better -on- than flat on a table, but I’m not so sure my mom is ready for the internet.

It’s made of Blue Sky Alplacas Alpaca Silk in a pretty light blue. I found the yarn a bit splitty and I was in such a hurry it’s not the most beautiful thing I’ve ever knitted. Next year I will start earlier. I’m still working on my last christmas present. It’s so late!

This whole watch-a-movie-on-the-shelf idea isn’t progressing very fast. In fact the last movie I saw, elizabethtown was on tv, not even on the shelf! Bad me! I liked the movie though, it was cute!

christmas presents and war games

brenda — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 07:00:52 +0000

Now that all the festivities are over, I present my latest finished objects.

the checker scarf

Debbie Bliss Alpaca & Silk. Two balls. Obvious checkerboard pattern. It was originally for me, but it was itchy for some reason, so I gave it to my grandmother.

the cozy socks

Sweetgeorgia River Speed Demon sock yarn in colourway River
Top down socks, cast on 48 stitches, with a k1p1 rib for about an inch or so.
Peasant heel.

the special mitts

Gedifra Living in Pumpkin colour overdyed with Orange & Cherry Koolaid. I needed two balls, but used only 8g of the second ball. Followed this pattern except I prefer a pointier top in mittens, so I ended them like regular mittens. Also, I added cables to these to make it my first cabled project (and learn something new), and used 4mm needles. The ribbing was not a k1p1, but a k2p1 rib and I only cast on 36 stitches for the cuff, and increased to 42 after the ribbing for each cuff, but I should have probably cast on a few more, as it’s supposed to be shared with a guy, and guys often have big hands.

and not a knitted object

This has nothing to do with anything I made, but Bryony send me this sock bag and all that candy, and it arrived in the mail! I’m already using the sock bag! It’s much better than ziplog bags! I heart caramacs!

Also on the movie part of this blog, I’ve now seen

War Games and Red Sonja (but Red Sonja doesn’t count because it wasn’t in the collection).

sam the cat

brenda — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 09:53:42 +0000

Last week I had a good friend over, and I was showing her this book, and how cute the cat was. The book is filled with cute photographs of different coloured amigurumi cats in all sorts of positions, and instructions for crocheting them in Japanese. The problem is I don’t know how to crochet or read Japanese. That’s where she stepped in, and with the aid of the internet she surprised me with:

He’s so amazing and cute, I’ve taken it everywhere with me! Unfortunately, I did not have a camera with me until I got home, but then I took lots of pictures while trying to construct a gingerbread robot.

That’s Sam pondering all the candy we were decorating our robots with. I’m not sure if Sam’s a girl or a boy, but I’m pretty sure Sam’s going to want me to knit a bikini for him/her in the summer, so we’ll see. Gingerbread robots turn out to be a 3 day project. And I’m not sure if the head is too big, because it’s alreayd put a dent in the body, and fallen off. There is an attempt to reattach the head after reinforcements dry.

Last night I also dyed a bit more yarn for my mystery gift project, which I will be giving away tomorrow.

But in case you were curious about the colour, that’s approximately the red-orange. I think my monitor is a bit too bright (it’s at least brighter than almost every other monitor I use), so it’s difficult. I just need to sew a bit up. I’ll post pictures soon!

blog party!

brenda — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 04:35:07 +0000

I had no idea there was such thing as a blog party, but it seems as there is, and Bryony invited me to one! I have just returned from eyeglass shopping, which brought no new glasses. How come eyeglass designers don’t give examples of all four colours? I’d like to check out a red/black pair before committing to teal & chocolate. Why are there no websites! Also just came back from Daiso the best $2 store in the world, and have a lovely evening planned with ben (whose hand you can see right in the picture as he is pulling me away from this computer!) Tomorrow: whistler!

In knitting news, I’m making a … I can’t say yet.. but it’s out of Gedifra Living, originally in the orange #5121, but I’ve overdyed it in cherry & orange koolaid, and it looks much more awesome. Yay presents!

Also I’m nearly done the four inch cuff on the red mitts, but no picture yet. Yay!

woo hoo!

brenda — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 03:19:29 +0000

There has been more knitting than movies in my life lately. Christmas is busy! Today, after picking up my snowboard from the shop (yay it’s waxed! Company ski day is on Wednesday and I wanted my board all spiffed up), I came home to find this at my door:

Yes, yes, this package came to me from Belgium!! I am making a sweater from the Winter2006/2007 Tendances, and I’ve been using more wool than I think I’m supposed to, so wonderful Nicole at Phildar Wervik hunted around for some of the same dyelot, because she is awesome!! And who can buy just two balls of yarn, I decided to see what their other yarns were like:

There is some Licorne, which I might try to make a three colour version of the Blue Sky Alpaca hot water bottle cozy. Not sure what I’ll do with the Partner, it’s softer than the Quietude, but only 25% wool. Maybe something babyish. I like how all of their yarn is machine washable!

I do have other recent additions to the stash, you’ll see that soon!

brenda — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 08:36:26 +0000

No movies this week! But I’ve finished and mailed a few things including:

This striped scarf is intended for a good friend in Montreal, who I’ve kept in touch with thanks to the power of the internoot.

Yarn: Noro Kureyon, two different colourways (one browny, and one cheery ball)

Pattern: Just a k3p1/p3k1 repeat, and switching balls every two rows. It was kind of curling up on me big time, until I blocked it! Yay! I think I might have preferred the mistake rib version I saw in Last Minute Knitted gifts, but I started this before I saw that.

I also finished today a christmas gift:

Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Cotton doubled up.

Pattern: Home Debbie Bliss book.

It was a great way to get rid of the stray ball of yarn I wasn’t sure what to do with in my stash. I have barely any of the ball left over. Maybe enough for a finger puppet. I’m pairing this washcloth with a little soap I found in Aix-en-Provence in October for a cute little gift.

While I was making cookies today, I was inspired to see what I can do to Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora and my Cascade 220 with KoolAid:

What do we have here? I took some Cascade 220 in a heathered green and tried to dye it with green & icy blue kool-aid. (That’s the top row). Then I also took some Debbie Bliss cotton Angora and tried with green, icy blue & cherry kool-aid.

I wasn’t sure the cotton angora would do anything as I understood cotton wasn’t supposed to dye well with kool-aid, but the angora really helped out here. When I look closely I can see the lighter fibers, which I can only assume is the cotton. I only tried short little pieces of yarn, and they unravelled a bit after being microwaved. I’m a bit concerned dying a whole ball might wreck it? I might just go for it. I want to make the wine & roses handwarmers, and I’m thinking of the light blue or limey green.

Also have two new skeins of merino to make endpaper mitts when I’m done all these christmas presents and my phildar sweater!

baby mitts

brenda — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 07:53:48 +0000

No movie, not even Heroes. But I do have a finished object :

Pattern: Loosely based on the garter stitch mitts I made from the Weekend Knitting book, only with ribbing and for a size much, much smaller. 24 sts around on size 4mm needles.

Yarn: soft soft soft Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Sid & Nancy

brenda — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 08:13:05 +0000

Sex Pistols! I was watching the BBC Interview on the dvd with these guys, and one guy had the coolest black & white striped angora sweater.

I finished two mitts. Only not the same pair:

Samurai III

brenda — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 23:21:55 +0000

The trilogy is over! No more Otsu searching for Musashi, or birds falling dead out of nowhere!!!

I have a mitt and a half. Here’s the first mitt:

Ben tells me it looks like a paddle, but I think it’s cool.

Samurai I & II

brenda — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 06:41:38 +0000

Sick at home today, I covered the next two in the collection:

Just one more to go!

I also started my second mitt, even though I haven’t figured out the colour scheme for the top yet. I think it depends on how much green I will have left!

Pattern: Garter Cuff Mitts from Weekend Knitting

Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Silk 8ply Kat mailed me from Austrailia. I love the lime green, and it is the softest wool ever! I can’t wait to be wearing them!

Also, a for a future project:

I have some awesomely red koigu to make these “mittens for women”.