Ravelympics: Day 6-9: Crossing the Finish Line!

Today, I crossed the finish line by adding the lining to the bag!

I decided to forgo making the strap for the bag. I might make another bag *with* a strap, but something that's a little better thought out on my part.

I washed & blocked the bag, and let that dry. Since it's been a little bit cold, it took a bit longer to dry than I had anticipated. In the meantime, I braided two ropes for the closure -- a three plait braid, each plait consisting of 3 strands of yarn of different colors. The first braid had plaits of: (3)white, (3)white, (3)blue. The second braid had plaits of: (3)blue, (3)blue, (3)white.


The inside & outside of the bag (unlined)

Saturday morning, I cut out the lining fabric from some nice gold fabric scraps that I had from a previous sewing project. The lining only took about 15 minutes to whip out, and then it was a matter of attaching it to the knitted bag.


The unattached lining

It took me a bit to handsew the lining into the bag, but then again, I've always been a slow handsewer.


Finished bag with attached lining

I'm inordinately pleased with how it turned out. I still want to "embroider" black noses for the cats, but can't find my embroidery floss. And, yes, there are mistakes in the bag -- tight tight a tension, too loose a tension, and some actual chart mistakes (that frankly, no one is going to notice).

I definitely want to do a bit more colorwork in the future. And considering I still have 3/4ths of a skein of each color, I might make variations of said bag. :-)

Ravelympics 2010: Day 5

Last night, I ripped back the eyelet section of the bag, and redid the whole color band. I'm much much happier with how it looks. So, I bound off the bag portion.

I decided that the i-cord was a bit too thick, despite only being 3-strands, for the bag closure. A simple braid worked a lot better.

There's still the little problem of the strap for the bag. My attempts to make one didn't work out as well as I wanted. However, I did find a potential solution of a braided icord strap that I might have to try.

Or I might just forgo the strap all together. I haven't quite decided yet.

Now, I just need to line the bag.

Ravelympics 2010: Day 4

I, more or less, finished the bag last night, including the eyelets. However, I've not bound off yet, as I am not particularly happy with how the eyelets look. I'm seriously considering frogging back to the beginning of the last color change and re-doing the eyelets.

While I debate that quandry, I started making a 2-color icord for the bag closure. While knitting icord is fairly simple, it's also rather boring. I'm highly tempted to go down to JoAnn's and buy one of those little icord making machines...as I need about 2 icords about 8 inches long.

Ravelympics: Day 1 - Day 3

My Ravelympics projects have proven a lot easier than anticipated. In fact, I'm having a lot of fun knitting my colorwork project for Team Sasquatch, AND I've fallen in love with alpaca fiber (Team Spindlers).

First, the yarn I picked for Team Sasquatch is Cascade 220 Wool in teal, white, and red. My knitting tools: Knit Picks 60" circular for use in magic loop. (US 7s), and several stitch markers.



Day 1
The broadcast for the Opening Ceremonies didn't start locally until 7:30pm to coincide with Prime Time, but I did cast on starting shortly after 6pm PST. I cast on with a circular cast on, then increased every other row.

Then I hit the rocky part of the slope. This part was so simple that I had to frog back after the 8th round because I wasn't paying attention and didn't increase when I should have, which promptly worsened as I tried to fix it.

After casting on the 2nd time, I managed to actually pay enough attention to finish the first part of the project.



At this point, the bottom of the bag measures 5.5" in diameter. I have repositioned my stitch markers to mark every 13 stitches in order to know where I am in the pattern

I thought about pacing myself, but I continued knitting, and started to really enjoy and get into the colorwork. However, I did have to really pay attention to the chart. I realized that I needed a better way to quickly look to see where I was in the pattern. I ended the day after finishing the 2nd band of colorwork.

Day 2

The start of Day 2:



At this point, I realized I had a made a mistake in reading the chart, which would mean that I would have to rip back all of the blue band of color so I could fix the mistake. I opted to keep it as a "design feature" rather than a bug. LOL. (Essentially, in the smaller band of white, there should have been single stitches of "blue").

I kept having minor setbacks at certain places, as I would misread a row in the chart. Again, this was due to not having a good way to just "show" the row I was working on at that moment. Often times I would discover my mistake one row above. Usually, this was mistake was the wrong color. I was loathe to rip back because of the colorwork, so I just opted to drop stitches and pick them up with a crochet hook. Luckily, with the color floats in the back, this was a little bit easier. However, if you inspect the knitting, some stitches are either a little tighter or looser than the ones next to it.

By the start of the evening, I was pretty much done. We went out with friends that night for some needed relaxation time (involving Tiki drinks and food). Needless to say, I didn't knit during this time (mostly due to the low lighting in the bar).

Day 3

The start of Day 3



The cats are starting to actually look like cats instead of blobs of white. For the eyes, I opted to add "blue" for the eyes, which proved a little tricky trying to juggle three strands of color.

At this point, I'm using the principles of the Philosopher's Wool 2-handed fair island technique of 'weaving' in long floats. It took a bit of getting used to doing, as I'm a continental knitter, and they show the technique as an English knitter.

There are certain areas of pucker, but it's acceptable pucker. I'm trying to knit loose and to move stitches around every 5 or so stitches to loosen up the floats so they don't pull.

So, far, so good. I probably will have this finished long before the end of the Olympics.

Ravelympics 2010: Training

As part of the training for Ravelympics 2010, I decided to swatch last night, despite saying previously I might not, because I wanted to see what the *best* size needles to use. The yarn (Cascade 220) recommends the following:
* US 8 for 4.5 st/in
* US 7 for 5 stitches/inch

My gauge?

- US 8 = 4.75 - 5 stitches / inch -- a bit too "loose" of fabric weave for my taste)
- US 7 = 5 - 5.25 stitches / inch -- gave me a better (tighter) weave of fabric.

However, I did run into a slight problem. My US 7s were on my raglan sweater that I am currently knitting and I couldn't find a second pair. UGH! In order to swatch I took off the interchangeable needles off the sweater, then put them back when I was done swatching.

I hurriedly placed an order with Knitpicks (that I had been putting off) to get some new needles. Of course, I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner.

But, when cast on is called for on Friday, I'll just take off the interchangeables and start my new project. (I'm putting aside the raglan sweater until Ravelympics is over.)

I just hope I can finish the Ravelympics project in 12 days!!!!

Monogamy & Me

I've never been a monogamous sort of person, specifically when it comes to certain projects.

Sewing: For the most part, I'll stick with a specific sewing project, because most of my projects are rather large in scale (i.e. a whole outfit for a specific event) and I know I have to finish up before the project deadline. Consequently, I will stick out the sewing project.

However, my anti-monogamous project tinkering has really come out with knitting & spinning projects. However, I do try and keep it under control. Currently, I have two projects on the needles:

- Hemlock blanket back in June2009. It's started & stopped on-and-off for the past several months, because it is SOO BIG! I'm nearing the end, but there's 5 rows of stockinette stitches after every increase, and currently, it's almost done. Currently, it's 3 feet (about 1 meter) in diameter, and I still have another foot to go!

- a top-down raglan sweater using the Incredible Fit Raglan Sweater calculator using some recycled yarn from a sweater

Of course, I'm itching to make a new pair of socks, but lately, since I don't have train time to knit, it's a little harder to push through knitting projects.

I do have one project hibernating peacefully -- my Slouchy Cardigan. I just need to do the two sleeves, but I can't seem to bring myself to work on miles and miles of stockinette rows. I hate purling....

Spinning:

- I'm nearly done with the Shetland on the Kundert drop spindle. I need to free it up for Ravelympics so I can spin my 2 oz of alapaca.

- I'm almost done with the 1lb of dark BFL that I'm spinning on Nona, my Kiwi. Who knew that 1lb of fiber was a LOT?!?! I'm down to the last 2 ounces!

One bobbin was divided up into plastic bobbins so I could ply the early yarn (when I first started spinning) with the later yarn for more consistency. Because I know my consistency has changed, despite having a sample swatch.

Training for Ravelympics

Team Sasquatch: I went down to Purlescence Yarns several weeks ago to pick up yarn. I had my chart in hand, and proceeded to sit on their floor looking at color combinations from Cascade 220 yarns. Sandy, one of the owners, had to walk over me several times as I contemplated this color over that and this color combo over that. (It's a good thing I already have a working knowledge of color theory or it might have taken longer!)

After about an hour, I finally picked 4 potential colors, of which, I only need about 3: a nice turquoise/teal blue, a lovely dark red, white, and a neutral grey. I picked up one skein of each color. Sandy particularly liked the color combination, so I think I have a winner.

I've planned out the color combination that I want to use:
* white for the cats.
* red for the background behind the cats
* turquoise/light blue for the other bands
* grey or white for the patterning on the inside of the other bands.

The skeins are now wound into cakes for ease of use later. I haven't really swatched, as this is bag and the pattern is just a chart, so I suppose it doesn't really matter. I probably will swatch with two colors just to determine the best needle size to make a nice fabric.

Team Spindlers: I'm going to be spinning about 2 oz of alpaca fiber on my Kundert spindle. Unfortunately, the spindle is currently filled with my *last* project -- Shetland. So I'm currently hurrying to finish the last 1/2 oz of shetland fiber so I can free up the Kundert.

Remaking Potential

Some time ago, I had knitted up a project with some of my first handspun. I *loved* the colors & how it knitted up. I thought I had found a good pattern for it (Lacy Backtus). I *liked* the pattern.



When I didn't like how the pattern was going, I thought, "Well, I'll probably love it when it's finished. I can't tell with a half-finished item"

So, I finished the project, and *still* didn't love it. And I thought, "Give it time"

So I waited. I still didn't love it. BUT I still loved the colors & the yarn. I didn't understand why. The lovely knitted item sat unloved and unused.

Later, I made a sister pattern to the Lacy Baktus -- Lacy Karius -- with some other handspun, because I loved the idea of the pattern. Both turned out very differently, and I really *love* how the Lacy Karius looks.



So, last night, I was waiting for something and spotted the Lacy Baktus I had made, I grabbed it and started to frog the finished project so I could reclaim the lovely lovely yarn I had made. I felt a deep immense sigh of relief when the ball of yarn was neatly wound.

Now, it has the potential to be something else. And I have the pleasure of knitting with it again.

The Golden Gate Fiber Institute's schedule of classes is up for their Summer Intensive. It's the one I *really* wanted to go to, as they had not only Judy McQuinn, but Abby Franquemont and Cat Bordhi on their teacher list.

However, having now read the class descriptions, the two I'm interested in, seem geared towards beginners and I'm not sure I want to shell out the nearly $900 for the 6-day retreat. (Plus, there's taking a full week off work...)

So, I opted instead to go to the Jared Flood Sweater Class in March.

Ah well. I'll check to see if Abby or Cat are going to be doing any other classes in the Bay Area while they are out here.

Gift Knitting for Treasured People

Normally, I'm not a big gift knitter (except maybe for DH). Gift knitting can entail a lot of stress, heartache, and general unhappiness for a lot of knitters. However, on the flip side, gift knitting can also bring a lot of joy to both the knitter & recipient, *but* it can also cause a lot more heartache when the recipient doesn't enjoy the product (i.e. the boyfriend-sweater syndrome, or having to wear Aunt Martha's itchy sweater whenever she visited).

But, recently, I was at the receiving end of people who absolutely *loved* what I made them.

over Christmas (2009), my Eldest Niece took absolute delight in a pair of my hand-make socks that had shrunk/felted in the wash. When she wore them out (2 days later as they were knit with handpainted yarn), I decided to knit her a pair, which I cast on shortly after discovering the very large heel holes in those aforementioned socks!

---

Unblocked Socks for a 7-year-old. Size US 2 (7.5")
Knit Picks: Stroll (Clematis Heather) & Kettle Dyed (Eggplant)
Toe-up: Ran out of Stroll just as a I got to the heel turn.

---

I planned on finishing them in time for her birthday (which I did finish exactly on her birthday, so mailed them off a little bit belated). And with two different colors because I ran out of one yarn and had to finish with another. Her mother tells me she absolutely adores them, and was heartbroken when her mother wouldn't let her wear them to school (considering what she did to the last pair...). However, I did let her mother know that I used a much sturdier wool for her socks and reinforced the heel (unlike the last pair).

Also, I had made the Trilobyte hat for my BIL (father to Eldest Niece), as he is a geologist. His wife (the mother) also let me know that BIL has been wearing his hat *everywhere* as it gets cold in the morning. She tells me that he loves it as it is his most comfortable hat AND that if I wish to knit him more hats, he wouldn't complain! LOL

So, I can definitely understand that warm euphoric feeling of giving a gift that is loved and treasured. I will still be very picky for whom I knit gifts, but I probably will be knitting gifts again.

Lost Train Knitting Time

I switched jobs recently, and although I much prefer my new job over the old one, I kinda miss having a whole hour (or more) of unadulterated knitting time on my train commute. A lot of the projects over 2009 were mostly done on the train, allowing me to finish them a lot faster than I normally would have.

Now that I do not have my train time to knit, I am knitting my projects a little bit slower than previously. I try and sneak in a bit of knitting time here and there during the day -- at lunch, while I'm waiting for something to happen (doctor's appointments, etc) -- but there's nothing like having that huge chunk of time devoted to just knitting.

Recycling a Sweater

Several months ago, I purchased a man's XXL sweater from a local thrift shop that I intended to unravel and recycle the yarn into a new project. Little did I realize how much work goes into unravelling a man's XXL sweater. There's definitely more than enough to knit myself a sweater and then some.

After taking apart the knit seams, I managed to unravel the front panel of the sweater and to get it wound up into a cake. I started unravelling one of the sleeves, but, did I mention the amount of work to unravel a sweater?

It's not that unravelling a sweater is difficult, although sometimes finding the beginning in order to unravel is frustrating, but unravelling just takes so much time! Plus, this sweater was knitted double-straned using a sport/DK weight yarn. So, I have to make sure that I unravel it evenly. Unravelling & winding onto a niddy noddy at the same time to help get rid of those kinks is TIME CONSUMING!

Here's the yarn on the niddy-noddy double-stranded

So, I put the the unfinished bits aside. However, it was taking up room, and I really wanted to try making myself a top-down raglan sweater, but I didn't want to buy some really nice yarn just to flub it horribly. So, I started knitting using the recyled yarn I had already wound up.

Wow, this yarn is just absolutely lovely to work with. It's a soft wool/mohair/nylon blend. It's a dark chocolate tweedy/heathery brown. I've almost worked my way through the first cake. Now I'm working to unravel the other unfinished bits so that I can continue knitting.

Sorry I haven't posted for a bit. Life(TM) got in the way. But, I just found out that Jared Flood (aka Brooklyn Tweed) is going to be teaching several classes at a local LYS.

I'd love to take a class with him as I think he's a brilliant designer, but none of the classes really appeal to me. The only things that remotely tempt me are the Shetland Colorwork & the Seamless Sweater class, but not *enough* to plunk down the cash for the class.

I'm really more interested taking the Golden Gate Fiber Institute Summer Intensive with Judy MacQuin, Abby Franquemont, and Cat Bordhi! Maybe I should save my pennies for that, as it is somewhat pricey.

My Craft Room....

I was perusing CRAFT emagazine, and they were showcasing people's craft rooms & organizations. And, I thought, "Wow, my craft room (i.e. dining room) looks nothing like those being shown."

Essentially, these craft rooms, looked extremely functional, wonderfully organized, AND *amazingly* tidy & clean. In short, the Martha Stewart / Sunset Homes & Gardens magazine-ready craft rooms.

Oh, sure, I have most of everything organized. You need to be able to find buttons, closures, fiber, yarn, beads, thread, etc, quickly without rooting through everything. I *love* plastic storage bins of all sorts. All my craft books are (more or less) organized according to topic (historical, sewing techniques, fiber).

However, my craft room doesn't look very *crafty*. There aren't any interesting personally hand-crafted items hanging from the walls or decorating the tables. There are no cutesy items or hand-crafted lamp shades, gaily painted pencil holders, or fabric banners on the walls to attach little notes. Nope, my craft room is pretty much bare bones on the "craft-yness" scale -- unless you count the permanently (more or less) very used cutting board that adorns my dining room table as well as the serger that sits at one end...or the neatly piled fabric on the other end. Or the occasional cat that decides to lay on the table. I just don't have the time to do *that* much "craft".

And, my craft room will probably never look that neat or that tidy ... except *maybe* just after I do a massive cleanup in order to start a really big project that requires more table-space than is currently available. Or maybe just before the photographer shows up to showcase my craft room (and after about a week's worth of work....!) LOL

Coz seriously? My craft room looks more like a production room than a craft room of any sort with the pre-requisite organized mess. :-)

Fiber Photos!

The 2-ply Black BFL I spun up (my first attempt on the Kiwi)

The 2-ply BFL after dye'ing. I love the color...

And, the Mixed BFL top/roving I got from Village Spinning & Weaving in Solvang, CA. Isn't it beautiful? It's going to dye up quite nicely after it's been spun. The wool will take the colors differently, and I hope it comes out a beautiful heathered color.

Training for Ravelympics 2010

So, I joined Team Sasquatch for the Ravelympics 2010, just because I listen to multiple podcasts and this seemed the simplest way. I'm also on the Spindlers Team so I'll be doing two *small* projects.

For Team Spindlers: I'm basically doing what I have been doing, and working on new wool types.

For Team Sasquatch: I'll be doing a small color work project in the form of a bag using the Medieval Cat chart (ravelry link)

Here's my game plan:
1) Work in the round and do a two-sided bag.
2) It will be in 3 colors, but only two colors are worked at any given time.
3) Knitting in the round:

a) I'm going to cast on circular cast on and increase until I get to the needed # of stitches:
(78 stitches for pattern x 2) + 4 extra stitches on either side = 160 stitches

b) work pattern chart

c) finish with drawstring

d) add one tassel at the bottom.

4) Line the bag with denim or somesuch so that it doesn't stretch out.

5) Strap -- not sure what to do here yet.

In terms of colors:
I like SinisterSpinster's project with the jeweltones
but another did her cats in black which I find very appealing.

In terms of yarn:
- definitely wool & worseted, and probably Cascade 220 wool, methinks.

Shrunk Socks

A bit ago, I had made myself some very short ankle socks using Mirasol Yarn Chirapa yarn in a lovely blue-berry ish color.

Unfortunately, DH decided to throw them into a wash of hot water...which promptly felted & shrunk them down to about a size "2" sock (I wear US Women's Size 7)

As we were going to family for the holidays, I thought maybe it would fit my niece (about 7) or one of the nephew (4-6). And, it fit my niece perfectly...the cuff had shrunk so it was a bit tight, but she LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the socks.

She loved the socks so much that she never took them off in the time we were there (except to take a bath) AND she managed to wear a whole through *both* heels during our visit (playing outside, inside, wearing them around the house, in her shoes, etc). I thought I could mend them, but she had continued to wear them even before I noticed the hole and almost the whole heel was gone. She was devastated when her mother told her she shouldn't wear them anymore and made her take them off.

I promised to make her a new pair of socks just for her. I was tickled pink at how much she *loved* these socks that I had made (and that she knew I had made)

Now, these socks weren't "old". I had made them back in July 2009, and barring the last washing (which felted and shrunk them), I had taken good care of them. I hadn't expected a very active 7-year-old girl to wear through the heels that quickly.

The yarn was definitely lovely to work with, but not good for something 'hard' wearing. I am going to watch my other pair of socks made from another colorway of the same yarn to see how long *they* last.

And, from now on, I'll probably be adding reinforced heels to all of my socks.

Brief Update

Surprisingly enough, with extra time on my hands after the holidays, I haven't had time to knit (except sparingly!) I knew I got a lot of train knitting done, but now that I'm on vacation (and at home) there hasn't been much time because it's been filled with other activities.

I'm still plugging away on DH's new socks, which should have been finished a bit ago, but now I find myself dragging without being able to knit on the train.

Hopefully, this changes, soon-ish.

Fiber Holidays

This past $WinterHoliday, we drove down to see family in the southern part of the state. So, per usual, I packed up my holiday knitting (socks, what else?) along with two spindles and extra yarn (just in case).

I managed to finish 1.5 pairs of socks on the trip (my socks as well as started a new pair for DH).

But, on the way back home, we stopped by Village Spinning & Weaving in Solvang. What a *wonderful* fiber shop. I walked inside and was really pleased. They had a very healthy selection of coned yarn for weaving and a rather ample section of fiber all neatly bagged and assorted. There was a nice assortment of merinos of various counts, BFL, Jacob, different alpacas, colored tops, and assorted luxury fibers (yak, bison.....). They had a gold wrapped ounce of quivit! Oh, and they had some lovely lovely yarn, but I was there primarily for FIBER!

It was like being a kid in a candy store. I didn't know where to start!

Unfortunately, I had totally forgotten my list of what I wanted, so decided to just go with some pretty fibers that caught my eye. I picked up some lovely soft merino, some nicely dyed merino (purples & dark reds), and a LOVELY mottled BFL (oatmeal, dark, and white). I seriously debated on the quivit, but knew that I had no knowledge of spinning short fibers so it would have to wait. However, the already-spun quivit from Musk-Ox farms was SORELY tempting....But I held myself back.

DH started a lively conversation with the owners about sheep and indigenous species, which tangented onto man's involvment in breeding & environments. They were lovely people and very helpful.

So, now, I think I shall have to make this stop on our trips whenever we go and visit family. The shop was lovely, well-organized, and had a healthy selection of fiber-y goodness, AND the owners are just nice, nice people.

Charity Knitting

Charity knitting is a wonderful idea. The thought of knitters getting together to help make the world a better place is great. It combines the love of knitting with the kindness of giving to others less fortunate.

However, this past week, I read on Ravelry someone being "guilted" into doing charity knitting. No one should ever be guilted into doing something they might not be able to do.

Perhaps that one lone knitter doesn't have enough time to complete their own knitting let along anything for charity.

Perhaps they are helping in other ways, by giving a monetary donation or donating time (like helping out in a soup kitchen).

You don't know and can't assume otherwise. And it would be wrong of us to assume that just because they're not doing charity knitting that they aren't otherwise contributing to their chosen charity.

We all love knitting. It provides a relaxing way to unwind and to create something. However when we are *forced* to knit something, we start to look warily on knitting or the knitting groups to which we belong. It's the reason why some knitters don't like to knit gifts -- it causes too much stress and worry to the point where knitting is no longer enjoyable, but a chore. I don't see knitters "guilting" others into gift knitting. So, why should charity be any different?

Charity should be given from the heart and provide the giver a sense of doing good in the world. Being forced to *do* something makes people resent not only the process, but the end product as well. And we don't want someone to resent a charity or their knitting.

We all give in our different ways. We need to respect each others' abilities to do what we can, when we can, and not force the issue just because everyone else is doing it. It makes that person not only resent knitting, but the person or group that is forcing the issue.

And, that is not in the spirit of charity.