Last weekend I learned how to spin!

Here are the crazy energized singles right off the bobbin:
(they're supposed to be curly like that!)

Here they are hanging in my shower:

I hung water bottles off of each skein to act as a weight and straighten out the curly-q's.

And here are my two little perfect skeins!

Aren't they cute?! Just perfect little skeins with about 27 yards in each! I'm so excited about them and can't wait to knit with them!

Christmas time at Chez Knitter

Christmas trees, mother-in-law socks and colored lights!














Mother-in-law socks:
"Go with the Flow Socks" from Interweave Knits, Summer 2005 by Evelyn Clark.
Knit in Koigu KPPPM on size 1, two circular needle method.
This is a great design and it knit up so fast! My MIL is a gardener and the purples, browns and greens reminded me of a flower garden.

My knitting circle...

Aren't they cool?

Two Sweaters a long time in the making...

Here we have it! Ruben, designed by the amazing Elsebeth Lavold, (Designer's Choice, The Sentimental Journey Colllection, Book Two) and knit in Rowan Calmer, color no.481 (which I think is called Coffee Bean). This was originally my Knitting Olympics Sweater, and as you can see it took a bit longer than 17 days!

This sweater may look like it fits me great--and it does--however this sweater was originally meant for Bryant. I measured Bryant's chest a couple times, measured all of his sweaters, and based on that info, decided to knit the small. Unfortunately, and I think partally due to my yarn choice, this sweater has no chance of fitting Bryant. Calmer is a cotton and acrylic/microfibre blend and it's far to clingy and stretchy for a guy to wear. If I had this to do again I would have knit the bigger size without question or knit this in the yarn called for (or any pure cotton yarn). Cotton is so much heavier...I think had I knit this exact sweater in this exact size with the yarn called for, it would have fit Bryant. Alternatively, had I added a whole additional repeat of the cable pattern before the armhole shaping, I think that would have worked too. Oh well, another sweater for me!

Here we have a great detail of the amazing cables on the front and down the arm. If you're familiar with this pattern, the back of mine only has two cables rather than three. Yeah...ops. I misread the pattern when I knit the back, which was the first piece that I did, but not a terrible mistake because it's perfectly centered.







Here's another sweater that I recently finished! (I'm a finishing fool lately).
Side note: why oh why can I not get pictures to center correctly with blogger!???



This sweater is the Fair Isle Cardigan from Vogue Knitting, originally published in 1951. You can find it in Vogue Knitting Vintage Collection: Classic Knits from the 1930s-1960s. Obviously I've taken out the fair isle (I just wanted a good solid and plain cardigan pattern to work from). This is knit with Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK in Frolic, and was started about 2 years ago. At least two years ago...maybe more! The ladies of the Long Beach SnB will most likely recognize this project, can you believe it took me so long to finish?
Detail picture of the amazing Moving Mud glass buttons which inspired this sweater. For this cardigan, the buttons definitely came first.

Also, for fun, my sweet Sake bomb!

Have a great week everyone!

More Vintage Socks

These are the Gentleman's Plain Winter Socks with a Dutch Heel from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.
It's my second pair from this book and I love them even though they're a bit too small for Bryant--I think they'll maybe be a Christmas present for his slightly-smaller footted brother.

Snail Hat

Yay for Zimmermania!





I knit this hat from Knitting Without Tears in a matter of days! I'm so fast (when it's 2.5 sts/in)!
Check out the Zimmermania webpage for more info.

A Quick FO, a Sheep, and a 590 pound pumpkin.

So I've been struggling with blogger a little bit (again) and every time I've sat down to post something I haven't been able to upload pictures. So here they are, the cover model from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, a sheep from the Mendocino County Fair and Wool and Fiber Festival, and my favorite winner at the County Fair, a 590 lb pumpkin!

















(The pumpkin was a lot bigger than it looks in this picture--this is way out of proportion for some reason.)

A few Noro scarves

I just finished the purple one last night. The lace one was finished a few months ago but I never blogged about it.






















Details: (L to R)

Child's Rainbow Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
Knitted on size 9's with Noro Kureyon, two skeins of the same colorway: 148 A
I love this scarf, it's knit in mistaken rib stitch and was a great little break between rows of my Swallow Tail Shawl. (more on that later).

Lopi Lace Scarf from Weekend Kniting, pattern by Pam Allen
I can't remember which needles I knit this with but it's 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite color 2014 A
Another great scarf, very wearable though the colors go from very earthy tones to very bright blues and pinks. The lace had disappeared in this photo, but it shows up pretty well, and was good practice for me considering that lace used to really scare me!















Does it look bigger?
As you can see, I'm less afraid of lace now. Instead my fear has been replaced by a healthy respect for the entire lace-knitting process.
I think this looks beautiful, but one row took me an hour to tink, do, tink again, and re-do during lunch yesterday. I think I've had three headaches due to this shawl but it has captured all of my attention and passion. I LOVE THIS KNIT.
I think it's incredibly beautiful, and it's hard to work on anything else right now.

Since someone has accused me of being a tease, please let me explain.

I did not mean to post pix without discriptions, however I was at work and while knitting at lunch realized that if I didn't post those pictures soon (they were sitting in my "drafts" folder) that they would be seriously out of date. As it is I'm almost finished with the Noro scarf (just a few rows to go) and I'm much further along on the Swallowtail Shawl.

My intention was not to tease, but more to preview upcoming FO's. (Hopefully!)

The scary part is that in addition to these projects I also have two adult sweaters, one baby sweater, a hat and two more pairs of socks on the needles.

Besides the shawl (which is so beautiful!) The most interesting project that I'm working on is probably the top down Malabrigo sweater. I'm only at the beginning but it's a classic raglan design (to which I'll add some updated details to) from Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top. A book I just bought and one that I love!

Just a few WIP's

Homesick or My Trip to Wyoming

Last week B and I went home for the first time since Christmas. It had actually been awhile since I had been to Cody in the summertime and it was so Beautiful. I have no words except to say that it made me very homesick for wide open spaces...

These amazing pictures are of my amazing mother-in-law's garden. The barn in the back was the original Cody Dairy and the pond has these amazing giant goldfish living in it!
We were back for their end-of-summer celebration and it was an amazing party--food, people, singing and guitar playing--everything was perfect and I know that's why I'm homesick. If I were there all the time it wouldn't be so perfect every day, would it?
B went bouldering with his brother, pictured here:














How cool is he? People in Wyoming are so interesting and eclectic.
Knitting content tomorrow!

I freakin' love top-down sweaters!

Yet another Green Gable top...

I'd like to thank the ladies at Zephyrstyle.com for this great pattern. The only annoying thing about it was the cotton content in the yarn. I used the recomended yarn and needles to achieve guage. The only modification was that I added a few inches to the length of the body to cover my LONG torso, and I had to re-knit the bottom ribbing because the first time I didn't knit it tight enough and it kept flipping up which was super annoying.

I've already worn this to work a few times, and I love the color. I think this is one that I'll get a lot of wear out of.

Oh--and between this and the Forecast sweater that I'm knitting--I don't think I can ever go back from top-down sweaters knit in one piece without seams. I even bought myself a little treat and have plans for my stash stewing in this head of mine!

Foot Candy?

I meant to post eye candy pictures for this Friday afternoon, but I realized that I hadn't yet posted the pictues of my new socks!

These are garter stitch rib socks from Sensational Knitted Socks knit on 2 size 2 circs. The yarn is some of that fancy jojoba and aloe infused yarn that's supposed to soften up your feet for up to 40 washes! (wierd, huh?) Bryant bought the yarn for me on one of his business trips to Chicago earlier this month. Yay new socks! They really do feel amazing on my feet!

Check this out!

Yay Bart! How cool is this? I had to stop and take a camera phone picture (sorry for the low quality).

GRRRRRRRRRR...

Why did my most recent post publisth BEFORE my last one????
I don't know how much longer I'll be on blogger. The grass seems greener at typepad!

I bring you...

Bad and blurry pictures! Of my Heeless Sleeping Socks !










This pattern is from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks and this particular pair are now flying their way across the country. Koigu KPPM, knit on size 2 DPNs. They are a belated birthday present for my grandma (who is also a knitter) and I hope she likes them!
They took freakin' forever to knit!

A Quick Knit

Another FO from LMKG. I cast on for this sweater on Saturday afternoon and cast off Sunday evening. I weaved in ends, did a little stitch grafting and added bead/buttons yesterday and it's finished!

This is knit from Jaeger Tweed DK (I'll get the exact yarn info and re-post later) on 24in Addi circs and Brittany DPNs for the sleeves. I love the seed stitch edges the most and the bead buttons which I just happened to have in my other stash. The sweater is knit entirely in the round from the bottom-up with the sleeves knit seperately and then joined at the bottom of the arm-hole. The entire sweater is then joined together on one circular needle. While I know this is a very common technique for raglan sweaters, it's the first time I've tried it for myself and I really enjoyed the construction and how quickly it came together. I would definitely recomend this knit to anyone who is knitting for a wee-bebe and short on time.

This sweater is for my DH's co-worker. It will be a girl...(it?? I'm such a dork) and born sometime next month. B is very close to this guy and so he "commissioned: me to knit this sweater. He picked out the pattern, yarn and buttons and will deliver it to the soon-to-be-new-dad-to-be on Monday.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Here I am again!

Trying to catch-up and make a real go of this blogging bit. I'm still struggling with uploading my pictures and I can't add buttons and I STILL can't get the main page to look the way I want it to, but let's forget perfect and just go for something!


For motivation's sake I've joined the Forecast knit-along and I'm very excited about my sweater so far--the pattern is GREAT and I've loved all of the different manifestations I've seen people create online.

Here's the beginning of my sweater.




Just to try to START to catch-up on these past months of busy knitting here's a brief preview of some of my finished projects:

A baby sweater for a co-worker and soon-to-be MOM and some fingerless gloves for my sista!




















The gloves are from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and the sweater is from Stitch n' Bitch nation. I loved both of these projects.
More catching up to come...

Progress...

This picture is upside down!

I'm into the cableing and have run into a few dificulties. I read the chart wrong and will have 2 cables up the back instead of three but they're centered and look good, so I'm not going to mess with it!

I have figured out the problem so I can fix it on the front. This is just my own sweater! Not designed by Elsabeth Lavold alone, but more of a collaborative effort between she and I.

Please excuse the grainy pictures, I had to use my camera phone and email them to myself!

And we're off...but not like a shot.

Set cell phone alarm for 7:00.
Sleep through it because I forgot that I put my phone on vibrate.
8:00
Wake up with real alarmclock but not in time to knit and swatch for my E.L. sweater.
8:40
Wash dishes for Bryant in anticipation of annoying him with the Knitting Olympics and realize that I won't be able to make the bus and get to work on time.
8:45
Run for bus
8:46
Miss bus, await later bus.
9:10
Roll in to work and hope no one notices my tardyness
9:30
Consult expert knitter at work about my guage swatch. I am in fact, OFF GUAGE.
We decide this is not a problem b/c Bryant has a 40 inch chest and the smallest size EL has to offer is 43.5 inches.
12:00
Work through lunch hour so I can take my break at 1:45
1:45
Grab a sandwich and head over to Yerba Buena Gardens to cast on!
2:00
Cast on (129 sts) and knit first row.
2:20
Frog first row and cast on because I have mis-understood the chart. This is my first time reading a chart and it's showing.
2:40
Finish casting on (129 sts, again) double-count everything and realize that I will be late getting back to work if I don't leave now.
2:45
Realize that I forgot my keycard and have to go around the block to other non-keycard entrance.
2:50
Late for work. Hope no one notices.
3:30
Wonder about chart, realize I may get 4 inches into this sweater and have to frog back.
Pass out.
Just kidding.
5:30
Arrive home, try again.
5:50
Get 2 rows into pattern and realize another mistake.
RIIIIIIP back, again.

7:00
Give up, decide to go "out." The sweater will have to wait for tomorrow. I cannot cast on for the 4th time in one day.

I will arise again tomorrow from this terrible spill like Eddie the Eagle, I swear.

The Countdown to Shame

So I'm going to try to knit a sweater for Bryant (40 in chest) in 16 days for the Knitting Olympics. It is an Elsabeth Lavold pattern that has cables and will be knit with Rowan Calmer in a lovely shade of brown. I am not exactly expecting to finish, but I think I will be taking a huge bite out of the sweater...and who knows. Maybe I will be able to finish the thing. It just seemed like a better idea last week when I was tipsy and surfing blogland and decided to finally email the Yarn Harlot. Today it's a bit daunting!
I still cannot find my cord that connects my camera to the computer and I haven't been to the computadoraria yet, so I have no pictures for you!
Know only that if my camera was working, I would be showing you a lovely swatch that appears to me to be on-guage.
I've been proven wrong about this before though...

Go Jen and LB Stitch and Bitch!
I'm so proud! I miss you guys terribly!

I suppose it will help me write more...

Four Jobs You Have Had In Your Life:
1. Special Events Planner for a non-profit
2. Art Dealer
3. Cabin Girl at our ranch
4. Power-shelver at Borders Bookstore (that was really the job title!)

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
1. Princess Bride--As you wish!
2. Thomas Crown Affair
3. Office Space
4. Dirty Dancing
I own all of these movies and more...they make me happy!

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch:
1. America's Next Top Model
2. Arrested Development
3. Grey's Annatomy
4. House

Four Places You Have Lived:
1. Seal Beach, California
2. Laramie, Wyoming
3. Washington, DC
4. San Francisco, CA

Four Places You Have Been On Vacation:
1. Montego Bay, Jamaica
2. Big Sur, California
3. Cape May, New Jersey
4. Venice, Italy

Four Websites You Visit Daily
1. Yarn Harlot
2. Knit and Tonic
3. You Knit What?
4. Crazy Aunt Purl

In further news, I've lost the cable that goes from my camera to the computer in the move...it hasn't surfaced. This very well might turn into the most boring blog ever if I can't have pictures so I'm working on finding it!

And we're back...

After much delay I'm back on-line. A lot has obviously happened since last I wrote...new job. The move back to San Francisco...decorating the apartment (very big job). First dinner party (very fun job). Christmas. And all that.
So it's a new year and I'm newly dedicated to blogging. For a while anyway! We'll see how long this lasts!
I love writing actually, it's just that sometimes I feel like it's homework...

Anyway, here are some fun projects. First, a Crazy Aunt Purl scarf that I made for Chrissy for Christmas. I hope she likes it. I happen to think she looks Fab in it.

Chris' Crazy Aunt Purl Scarf
I loved this pattern. So fun, and with yarn that I already had flagged for Chrissy in my stash. When you're getting overwhelmed with socks and sweaters and knitting is not as fun as it used to be, as scarf is just the ticket to get you back on the bandwagon again.

This scarf actually motivated me to finish a mystery project to be revealed later (after my mom's birthday, actually--she might check in on VickeryKnits and spoil the suprise) and I've started working on a cardigan for myself that I had put down about 7 or 8 months ago! I've finished a back and a sleeve and I'm going gangbusters on the 2nd sleeve! Woo-hoo!

Also, we have my mom's amazing cardigan. This is one that she made for her mom, with bobbles and slipped stitches. I think it's glorious! It's too cool that my mom is getting so into knitting. She's already finished another sweater for one of my sisters as well and starting on a new one soon! Go Mom!

The Beautiful Back
Why I can't get pictures to publish in the correct order is beyond me.

My Mom's Amazing Knit Cardigan with Bobbles and Slipped Stitches

I realize that I should re-caption this picture. This is a sweater that my Mom knit for my grandma--her mom! It's a beautiful Cardigan with Bobbles and Slipped Stitches . My mom is a great knitter!