Knitting through the pages

2008-12-02T14:23:00.003-05:00

I guess my yarn diet is going to have to start next year....
I got ambushed over the holidays by requests for knitted gifts, so I purchased a bunch of yarn with a 25% off entire purchase coupon from AC Moore, and some from WEBS and I couldn't resist getting something for myself too. My stash is growing more out of control and it's making me crazy. Not to mention the fact that I need to finish a sweater and 3 scarves by christmas...

2008-11-12T15:01:00.002-05:00

I am on a yarn diet. Again. For real this time. I have more yarn in my house than I know what to do with, and i bought even more at stitches this weekend. 4 skeins of luscious by kollage for socks, 3 bags of 10 skeins each of ella rae silkience and a bag of 10 skeins of rowan 4 ply cotton. Not to mention all the yarn I already have. Enough is enough I say!

I am officially going on a yarn diet until april 1, 2009, with exceptions for completing projects or for gifts.

2008-09-19T10:48:00.003-05:00

I have completed all the knitting for the relaxed cardigan. Now all the remains is the seaming...which I hate. I hope later today to finish the shoulder seams. I am going to follow some advice I read somewhere (I forget where) not to do too many seams in one day so you'll pay attention to what you're doing.
I've also started a new cardigan out of some plymouth bella that I got from discontinuedbrandnameyarn.com for 1.99 a ball. :) I love when things are on sale! I also just recently bought 5 large skeins of lily sugar and cream from michaels closeouts for .79 each. I love when things are under a dollar! I think I might knit the february lady sweater out of one of the skeins of it. We'll see, I need to do some swatching first.
In other news, I'm trying to keep myself from purchasing the addi click set of interchangeables that just came out. I pretty much use my knitpicks options for everything, but for some projects and yarns, a blunter needle would be nicer. I added up the cost, and 10 sizes of needles in three different cable lengths...works out to be about 4.70 per needle if I pre-order. Not too shabby....However, I really want to wait for the next batch and read reviews first, let them have time to get the design flaws (if there are any under control) so...we'll see.

progress

2008-08-08T14:02:00.005-05:00

I"m making pretty good progress with the relaxed cardigan and cabled sweater from modern classics. I think I'm going to enjoy wearing both of them.
So far I've done the back, left front, and part of the right front on the relaxed cardigan. From the amount of yarn I've used so far, I would estimate I'm about halfway done. I think after I finish the right front, I'm going to weave the ends of those pieces in and seam the shoulders to cut down on the amount of seaming that will have to be done at the end of the knitting all at once. I HATE seaming.

The back and part of a sleeve of the cabled sweater.

relaxed cardi and a garterlac dishcloth

2008-08-01T11:09:00.003-05:00

I am loving the relaxed cardi so far. The yarn is so slinky and nice, I can tell it's going to be a very wearable project. So far I've knitted up 2 out of 13 spools of the fauve. This pic is what I have of the back so far.

Not only am I loving this pattern, i really love the whole modern classics book. I have another pattern started from there too, which I'm going to finish after the cardigan. I ordered the yarn for the cardi on impulse and i want to get it knitted up right away instead of adding it to the stash. :)

After those two projects I already have at least two more picked out from the book to do afterwards. I'm going to get a lot of use out of this book I can tell already!
And...a garterlac dishcloth just for fun! I love that pattern.

Louisa Harding Fauve

2008-07-31T10:27:00.003-05:00

I recently purchased the book modern classics (great book!) and ordered 14 ball of Louisa Harding Fauve a 100% nylon ribbon yarn called for the in the "relaxed cardigan" pattern. I thought it would be a great, simple cardigan to have in black, so I searched around on the internet for the yarn. At first, I thought the cost was going to be prohibitive. Most sites had fauve for around 9.50 a ball, which would make the sweater 123.50 plus shipping. No thank you! I think around 100 dollars is my cut off for a sweater unless it's something extremely special. Even with the 100 dollar cut off, I try to keep it under 50 dollars.
I found fauve in the color that I wanted at knittingzone.com on sale for 4.75. It ended up being 75 dollars after shipping-still a lot, but better than over a hundred.
I got the fauve in the mail yesterday, and swatched for the sweater. I got the recommended gauge of 4 inches= 28 rows and 20 stitches on 9's.

So far I really like the yarn-very slippery, stretchy and slinky. Not sure if I will use it again though, it's going to depend on how the cardi holds up for that price.

pictures posted so I can slurp them to ravelry

2008-07-30T22:35:00.001-05:00

pictures posted so I can slurp them to ravelry

2008-07-30T22:32:00.001-05:00

pictures posted so I can slurp them to ravelry

2008-07-30T22:29:00.001-05:00

pictures posted so I can slurp them to ravelry

2008-07-30T22:26:00.001-05:00

2008-07-28T11:00:00.002-05:00

so I really fell off the yarn diet wagon. I ordered a ton of books from knitpicks sale:
Knit So Fine
The Best Of Interweave Knits
Sensational Knitted Socks
Vintage Knits
Romantic Hand Knits
Runway Knits
Knitting Lingerie Style

I also ordered 7 skeins of berocco love it from webs (I'm going to make a skirt out of romantic handknits with it) as well as two skeins of comfort sock.

I then ordered 14 skeins of louisa harding fauve so I can make a sweater from modern classics.

Yep. Definitely off the wagon... I've got a lot of knitting to do.

rewarding myself

2008-05-21T13:02:00.000-05:00

So I have set a goal for myself. I am going on a yarn diet until the end of the year- I will allow myself a few free days after I finish a few projects. I am going to complete seven sweaters by the end of the year, as well as my ufos-shetland shawl, victorian lace today shawl, and palindrome scarf. If I can complete this goal I will buy myself the knitpicks harmony needles set.

2008-05-19T15:44:00.002-05:00

So I went on a yarn diet for about 7 months, and then back to buying yarn. I am now officially on a yarn diet, from now until the end of summer break. I may allow myself a few free days, depending on how much knitting I am about to get done. However, my stash has reached a proportion I am not comfortable with-it no longer fits into it's 2 designated plastic bins, and basket.
here is what I have-
6 Skeins of comfort in purple-(wicked)
6 skeins of comfort in green-(tree jacket)
6 skeins of comfort in red-(bella paquita)
6 skeins of comfort in black-(something red sweater)
8 skeins of esprit- 2 in red, 2 in burgundy, 2 in sea green, and 2 in blue (socks)
2 skeins cotton sock (socks)
9 skeins cotton ease in berry-(designated for a licorice whip sweater and a the boatneck bluebell from fitted knits)
2 skeins simply soft-one in burgundy, one in black (probably scarves)
4 skeins microspun-(for a blouson from knit.1)
2 big skeins sea silk in blackberry
2 big skeins sea silk in indian summer
3 regular skeins sea silk in midnight
1 cone burgundy lace weight tencel from valley yarns
1 cone silk city bounce in poinsetta
1 cone silk city bounce in ebony
4 balls ggh safari in black
14 skeins shine worsted in ebony

Clearly, I have a healthy stash. I have already planned 7 specific sweaters from all this yarn. SEVEN. That should be enough to keep me busy for awhile, and if I get bored, i have yarn for socks, shawls, and scarves. It seems that all the categories of knitted garment are well represented in my stash. So no more yarn for awhile!
I have a retro redux shrug in progress right now from stash yarn (lion brand jiffy-just awful) that I intend to finish by the end of the week. I also have a scarf in progress with simply soft that I want to finish soon too. After that-on to the cotton ease sweaters. Now, to figure out what to do with the rest.....

2007-09-24T14:30:00.000-05:00

So I have officially gone two months without buying yarn. The yarn diet has definitely inspired me to think up uses for the yarn I have in my stash. i finally got my ravelry invite, so I'm going to use it as inspiration to find a use for some of the yarns I'm not sure about. Right now I'm working on the luxe neckwarmer from knit 2 together and some dish cloths. I think I may join the stashalong again after october, but I may use a free day during october or november for christmas.

2007-09-11T10:44:00.001-05:00

I seem to be having a bit of a lull in my knitting but the good news is I haven't bought ANY yarn (I haven't even used a free day) Since I started the stashalong july 17th. It's been almost 2 months. I'm working on some dishtowels right now, and I want to wash my knitpicks shine and use it to make the hour glass sweater out of last minute knitted gifts pretty soon. Oh yeah and I want to finish my shetland triangle. I also need to find my copy of scarf style, I have some microspun I'd like to make a scarf out of. We'll see if I can find it though, I just moved and I'm afraid I may have lost a few things in the move.

2007-08-19T23:27:00.000-05:00

Alright, no pics this time either. i'm going to take some really really soon. So I finished the cardigan from hollywood knits, it was a good learning experience but over all I'm not pleased with the fit. It's definitely too big across the shoulders. I also just finished the ballet top from loop d loop, so that's two books down, and now I can buy one if I want. I think I actually may make another one knit at a tighter gauge, but the one I made is still wearable (with a tank under it). I'm going to work through two more books before I buy another though. I want to get ann budd's sock book so I can use my cones of silk city bounce to make socks.
But first, I want to make the drop stitch tank top from fitted knits so I can wear it while it's still warm enough. I've also decided to frog the sweater I was making from knitting nature, I decided an acrylic sweater would be too hot and unbreath-y. I'm going to use that yarn to either make another ballet top or the mistake rib scarf from last minute knitted gifts.

2007-08-05T21:01:00.000-05:00

Next post will hopefully includy some pictures, but I just wanted to make a quick update. I'm doing well on the stashalong so far, I haven't bought any yarn, and I doubt that I will use my free day for the first month. Honestly, I've been kind of ruminating today on how many projects I have yarn for, and it is enough to keep me busy for awhile. Here is the stash, off the top of my head, I'm going to take pictures soon:
*enough knitpicks shine in ebony for either one sweater or 2 summer tops
*4 large sized hanks of sea silk
*3 regular hanks of sea silk
*2 hanks of handmaiden lace silk that is going to be a kimono shawl (I think)
*1 cone of laceweight tencel from webs
*2 cones of silk city bounce (I think maybe this will be for socks, which I want to learn to knit)
*1 150 yd ball of caron simply soft I got for $1.50 last christmas (destined to become handwarmers)
*various balls of peaches and creme kitchen cotton for dish towels.
*half a ball of bernat baby yarn, which will become a baby blanket once I buy another ball
*a bunch of spools of nashua june, I'm not sure what they will be used for
*13 balls of elan sonata, again no idea what they will be used for
not only that, I have these projects in progress:
*a cardigan from hollywood knits that I am in the process of doing the finishing
*a half knit sweater from knitting nature
*shetland triangle, which only needs one more repeat of the main pattern and then the edging
*a shrug from rowan cotton tape from the book speed knitting half done

So basically I have enough to keep me busy for awhile, and I'm on a budget as of late, so I think this stashalong thing is definitely a good idea.

2007-07-17T18:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I haven't been a very dedicated blogger, now have I? I've been doing alright, with the book diet, I think I am going to implement a new rule of 2 out, 1 in. Once I use patterns from 2 books, I am allowed to buy another one. I haven't really stuck completely to the book diet, but since the diet began I've only bought 3 new books, which is a lot better than I was doing in the past.
Along the same theme, I'm going to also implement a stash diet. I sent an email request to join the stashalong, but the person who runs it only adds new people the first of the month, and I'd like to set down my goals and start my stash diet before that. As of today, July 17th, I am joing the stashalong for 3 months, until October 17th. I will allow myself one free day a month, with a rule- I can only buy yarn for no more than one *specific* project (ie, no yarn just because) and yarn to complete projects I've started from the stash. I'm also not going to allow myself a free day til I have reduced the stash by a bit. I've been working on using up my peaches and creme cotton collection on dishtowels, I am down from 2 ziploc bags to just one, and I'd like to get that one used as well. I also ordered yarn from knitpicks for 2 sweaters recently, so I'd like to finish those. I also have a sweater and a shrug that have been languishing on the needles for awhile. I am also 1 repeat and the edging away from being done a shetland triangle. I need to make a dent in all that before I get a free day, so I may skip my free day for the first month.
My over all goal for myself is to finish these WIPs, and also, most importantly, to reduce the stash and then start only purchasing yarn for specific projects.
If I do well, I may join for a few more months, but as of now I'm going to see how it goes.

2007-04-20T10:26:00.000-05:00

well, I am on the second row of the 7th repeat of the tuscany shawl (I'll post pics when I'm not being so lazy) and I like how it's turning out so far. Though I will admit, I'm not wild about the colors. They looked different on the monitor...if I had to go back, I would look harder to try and find silken in a solid color. Note to self: you do not like handmaidens paris colorway. I'm also not *that* crazy about variegated yarns it seems, I don't mind if it's variations of one color or similiar colors, but sometimes it just seems kind of gaudy to me. But it looks so pretty in the hank, I can't help it.
I had another yarn buying accident at colorsongyarns.com...they had the big hanks of sea silk in blackberry, a colorway I've really been wanting, so I ordered it. It's shipping today so it'll probably be here within a few days. I swear after this...NO MORE YARN!

tuscany, day 1...again

2007-04-13T12:32:00.000-05:00

So i messed up on my tuscany and had to restart 4 times. Today I restarted for the fourth and hopefully the last time. i have completed 2 repeats so far, and I guess I'm going to try and get it done 11 days from now. :) We'll see.

tuscany, day 3

2007-04-10T15:50:00.000-05:00

I have begun the tuscany shawl, as of two days ago, and I am two repeats into it. THat should change when I get some knitting time later though. I don't know if this is feasible, but I am giving myself a knitting challenge with this shawl: there are 11 repeats, so I'd like to finish in 11 days, averaging 1 repeat a day. I know the repeats grow in stitch count, so I'll probably do more than 1 a day til they get really big, then take a few days per repeat. THe last shawl I made took 3 months, and I'd like a little more instant gratification on this one. :) plus I am a much faster knitter now.

baby blanket finished

2007-04-08T19:42:00.000-05:00

I am extremely excited...I finished the baby blanket this morning. well, I didn't weave in the ends or wash it, but I will do that tomorrow. I was to anxious to get to my tuscany shawl, the yarn has been teasing me since it arrived. I'm not sure how I feel about the color way though, it looked a little different on my screen. Also I'm not that wild about variegated yarns, but I wasn't able to find silken in a solid color.

a pictureless update

2007-04-06T10:24:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try and really use this blog, but we will see. Since my last post, I have not finished either of the things I posted about. Instead, I pretty much made a bunch of scarves and dishtowels, and am now working on a baby blanket, which is half done. I'm trying to go on a yarn diet as well as a book diet, but it hasn't exactly worked out so far. I've only bought 2 new books since I started my book diet, fitted knits and no sheep for you. However, I did fall off the yarn diet wagon pretty hard. I recently purchased 3 skeins of handmaiden silken to make the tuscany shawl in no sheep for you and 3 big skeins of sea silk. I now have enough yarn, including what I already have for at least 4 shawls. At least I have plans for most of it, the silken I already mentioned, 1 of the big sea silk skeins is going to be a shetland triangle from wrap style, the sea silk I already have is going ot be a shawl from victorian lace today, and as for the other two I'm thinking maybe something out of a gathering of lace or traditional knitted lace shawls. We'll see. But first, I'm making myself finish this baby blanket. I know if I don't finish it before I start other stuff it will take a lot longer to do, and my cousin is having the baby in a few weeks, so I want to get it done in time.
Hmm, I just looked back at my first post in november about the book diet, and I think I did pretty well only buying 2 in 5 months. (I was trying to buy NONE but I'll go easy on myself.) I am now back on the wagon and I'm not buying any more books or yarn for awhile. Also though, I have used up some stash yarn. The baby blanket will use the 2 balls of bernat baby I've had sitting around, and I made 4 scarves mostly out of stash yarn (a few more balls of yarn had to be purchased to complete, but those don't count, they were knitted up right away) and I've also made a few washclothes from the peaches and creme stash. Alright, off to work on the baby blanket (I hope to have it finished in about a week, the silken is calling to me....)

works in progress

2006-12-19T12:13:00.000-05:00

Right, now I have two works in progress on the needles: I'm knitting the simple shrug from speed knitting (I really think I am addicted to that book, it's awesome!) in Rowan cotton tape in Hazy and the swirled pentagon pulllover from knitting nature by norah gaughan (a really, really beautiful book) in Lion Brand Microspun in black. Yes, I know Lion Brand sucks, but I love microspun. I think it may be their only yarn that has any redeeming value. It's so soft, and since I'm not using wool right now it seems like it would be the best choice for this project. Plenty of commercial sweaters are made of acrylic. I also hear really good things about Lion Brand cotton-ease so I will probably try that if I ever see it in a store near me. *shudder* When I first started knitting I did a project with lion homespun and lion suede and both were completely awful. Even more awful, I have leftovers of both yarns that stare at me whenever I go into my stash. Maybe I can give them away....
And now for a pic:
beginnings of the sweater:

Scarf style-lady eleanor

2006-12-19T01:47:00.000-05:00

I have my second fo and book review- Scarf Style by Pam Allen
I think this book is just awesome. It has tons of different scarf patterns with a lot of really clear directions for different techniques. Colorwork, lace, entrelac and cabling to name a few. Also, a lot of popular designers are represented: Teva Durham, Norah Gaughan, Nicky Epstein, Annie Modesitt, etc, etc. However, the designs aren't only traditional rectangular scarves, incuded is a triangular neck shawl as well as a shrug that is a turtleneck with sleeves. For my selection from this book I chose the lady eleanor shawl, which will be a gift to my grandmother for Christmas. I found it to be a fairly quick knit, and entrelac is definitely not as hard as it looks. It is knit from 10 balls of patons sws in Natural Plum. I really liked the color of this yarn, but I think it is itchy. I actually think I may be allergic to wool, everytime I've knit with wool lately my eyes get itchy and my neck starts itching like I may break out into hives. I'm going to the allergist soon to figure it out (I have other allergies too) so in the meantime I'm knitting with non wool fibers. I was actually fine when I began this shawl, but after awhile it started bothering me, so I was knitting one tier a day to get it finished. Pics:

And a closeup:

speed knitting-a fo and a review

2006-11-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

Woops. I started a blog and then didn't make any entries. :) But all that is about to change. First, a book review of Speed Knitting: 24 Quick and Easy Projects by Kris Percival

In general, I'm with a lot of other knitter when I say I'm not a big fan of books that include quick and easy in the title. Everything, including knitting does not have to be fast and instant gratification. With that said though, sometimes it is nice to have a quick knit for a boost while working on a large project, or try out a new technique on something small. I really didn't expect to like this book when I picked it up in the book store, but I was pleasantly surprised. I've only been knitting about a year, so I sort of consider myself an advanced beginner (I've already done a shawl, and several scarves, etc, etc.) and this book is good for beginners who want to branch out to knitting something other than scarves. I would definitely reccomend this book, the patterns are clear and well photographed, and I found 5 out of 24 that I would actually knit.
The book is divided into 5 sections: 1-getting started which is pretty much your usual discussion of needles and yarn type you find in some knitting pattern books. Section 2- Accessories which includes a 3 scarves, 2 hats, a belt, a messenger bag, wrist warmers and mittens. Section 3 includes a poncho, a capelet, a shrug, a shawl, a vest, a ballet sweater, and summer dress, a mens sweater, and a halter top. Section 4- blanket, pillow cover, baby shower set, dog sweater, cat mat, small childs tank top, baby blanket, and toddler tank dress. These projects are fairly diverse giving one a lot of different options for a quick project. I chose to do the wrist warmers. I learned dpns and magic loop on this project. Also, I think there is an error, it says to pick up 4 stitches for the thumbhole but I picked up six, 4 made too many gaps. A pic:

Yet another knitting blog

2006-11-12T17:04:00.000-05:00

Since there are so many knitting blogs out there I wasn't going to start one. However, I think my non knitting friends are getting a bit tired of hearing of my knitting adventures. And also, I have a premise for this blog. I've been knitting a little under a year now and in this time I have accumulated some knitting books. Enough knitting books to keep me busy for awhile and yet I still feel compelled to keep buying more. So I am going to make a valiant attempt to knit at least one pattern from every knitting book I own before I buy anymore. (Pattern books, that is. The yarn harlots next book doesn't count and technique books don't either). This blog will also include a little bit of book reviewing.
Here is a list of the books I will be knitting through: (I need to find a way to get this list in the sidebar, but be patient-I've never blogged before)

Wrap Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd
Scarf Style By Pam Allen and Ann Budd
Knit-2-Together by Mel Clark and Tracey Ullman
Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham
Weekend Knitting By Melanie Falick
Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan
Last Minute Knitting Gifts By Joelle Hoverson
Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman
Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle
Speed Knitting by Kris Percival
One Skein By Leigh Radford
A Gathering of Lace gathered by Meg Swansen
Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby
Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman

I am currently working on two projects- Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style and Ribby Wrist Warmers from Speed Knitting. By tomorrow I should have a finished object and a book review of Speed Knitting.