How many is too many?

So, not content with the 3 projects already on the needles plus one or two other types of projecty things hanging around, I decide that today I absolutely must, yes, MUST buy the pattern for Heroine and cast on. Immediately.

I fell for this coat and fell hard. Quite some time ago I bought just a few (well, maybe one or two more than that) skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky in Roasted Coffee. I had grand ideas of making myself a knitted coat that would be slightly felted of my own design. Well, that coat never happened. It's still in skein form.

This yarn wants to be a coat. Every once in a while a sad little whisper will emanate from it wondering when it will be its turn to come out and play.

In a while, I'll say, as soon as I have to chance to work up the pattern which will, of course, be really great and exactly what I wanted. And felted. And cool. Then those people from Twist Collective went right ahead and posted the pattern. I know that the designer says Jennifer Lippman-Bruno but that is quite obviously a typo, and this is really my pattern.

I'm quite excited by this project. And, so is the yarn. It told me so.

Location, Location, Location

So, in the interests of merrily procrastinating other tasks I am supposed to complete today, I have decided that it is much more important to create this blog entry.

Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’?  Knitcroblo5

I spend most of my knitting time on my couch at home which is nice and comfy and which I have outfitted with a very strong light source. I don't mind knitting in public, and since I do have some after-school activities I have taken my knitting along on occasion.

The thing is that I have to be working on something that requires a very minimal amount of concentration. Something along the lines of 2x2 ribbing is about my speed when also expected to participate in any other type of activity such as, say, listening. The piece I'm working on now (in yes, 2x2 rib) after working on it at an after school activity, I found that there were quite a few spots where somehow the 2x2 rib had become a 1x3 rib or perhaps a 3x1 rib and I had to drop those stitches and fix them with a crochet hook.  (One of my critically needed skills when knitting.)

Since I tend to work on complicated items as I like them better, that means that most knitting needs to happen where I can concentrate on it. Also, I tend towards larger items such as sweaters, which if knit in one piece usually become too unwieldy to haul around.

It's not that I mind knitting in public, it's the distraction factor that gets me.

I do know though, that if you want to generate conversation from random strangers that knitting is not the way to go. Cross-stitch has that beat by a mile.

A new skill - Day 4 Topic

This is day 4 of the group knit blogging. So far this has been fun and a good way to start off this blog.

Today's topic is what new skill do you want to learn related to knitting or crochet. Now, I need to know how to steek in order to knit some of the sweaters I want to, but want to learn it? Nope, it's going to be more like HAVE to in order to get the sweater.

The skill I've been working on for the last year or so and which I want to get better at is shibori dyeing methods on silk. I've done tie-dye. Tie-dye has turned into a family summer event and we do a production run of around 100 items every other year. No, we don't sell it, that's just stuff for the immediate family (yes, we are crazy. If you knew what was involved you would know just HOW crazy.) We've dyed about everything you can. Underwear, socks, hats, all types of clothing, towels, sheets. Practically anything that can be made out of a natural fiber. Once we found Dharma as a dye source we never looked back.

The guitar was definitely the hardest to dye of the three as it involved sewing in the shape by hand, gathering it up to get the definition, and lots of plastic baggies protecting the parts that had just been dyed from the parts about to be dyed. It was a challenge. I've never worn this above twice, as the shirt is a basic box T and extremely unflattering. Until I figure out what to do with it, it lives safely and securely in a box where I can get it out once in a while and admire it. The other two shirts I actually do wear and get compliments on.




What I REALLY want to do though is somehow turn into someone like Carter Smith which means not only figuring out how to MAKE the stuff but how to market it, sell it and eventually make a living at it. That would be the bomb. I'm not on Carter's level, but here's a few attempts for silk-dyeing.

If you have anything nice to say please, please go right ahead - I won't mind at all.

Starting Out - Week (sorta) of Knit Crochet blogging knitcroblo1 knitcroblo2

So, over on Ravelry which I just found out about last week, there is a knitblogging thing going on this week with specific topics. Of course being somewhat late to the party, I'm not quite doing Monday's assignment on Monday but oh well.

Starting Out
My mother taught me how to knit when I was around 10 I think. Also embroider, crochet, sew, can stuff, and other household tasks. We had an attitude of figure it out and get it done in my family. I remember many times my mother saying, I'm not going to pay that $$, I could make that myself! We would can fruit, tomatoes and make jam every summer. Handwork was seen as a valuable skill.

The first thing I ever made was a knitted owl hotpad out of extremely bright and ugly yellow yarn. Of course, it was meant to go around hot pan edges and it did its job well. The pattern taught knit and purl stitches on the back, and on the front to make the owl you learned basic cabling. Then of course you had to sew the back and front together. I did a good job because that hotpad went through the wash many times and was never the worse for wear. After that, I occasionally would knit a scarf. Until a few years ago I usually turned to sewing or crochet when making a major item. I've made quilts, clothes, and crocheted afghans, one of which I still have as the first afghan I ever made.

A few years back I started getting into knitting a lot more. I found I really liked the look of a knitted garment as opposed to crochet, and it just seemed like you got a better end product if your goal was to make clothing. I then found myself taken aback by the price of the yarn, but I think I have finally reconciled that one. It used to be that you knitted in order to save some money. That is not true if you compare the cost of a handmade garment with something purchased from Ross or Marshalls. However, if I compare the cost of what I make with the cost of something that is high-end then I am definitely saving money. So, all I need to do is keep that firmly in mind and I will not be so stumped by the price of the yarn.

In fact, my sister, designer clothing wearer, asked me to make her a sweater after she saw the two that I made for my father. She bought the yarn, Jade Sapphire 12-ply Cashmere and I started making it. I've had a few false starts due to the fact that I think the high $$ cost of the yarn is stressing me out but I think I've got it figured out now and I do have to say that knitting with this yarn is extremely, extremely enjoyable.


An Inspirational Pattern

My inspiration was not so much a pattern as a couple of specific designers. I fell in love with their colorwork. I learned about the terms fair isle because of Alice Starmore. I do NOT like the shape of her sweaters, no-one looks good in a giant box. However,  the colors, patterns, and photography in the two of her books that I own; The Celtic Collection and Tudor Roses are simply stunning. The other designer who really inspired me was Kaffe Fasset. Once again, not for garment design but for colorwork.

Of course, to all of this I have to say I have not knit one of these designs (yet). I was not good enough. I would need to restructure the entire garment shape so that I would not only love knitting it but wearing it. Also I found the cost of these designs is jaw dropping.

So, since I also love cabling and the rich textural detail that can be created, most of what I have made over the last few years has been cabled sweaters with a few forays into felting.

I think I'm ready to go for it now though. I'm a better knitter than I was a few years back, and frankly, I'm just getting really tired of buying wonderful knitting books but yet never knitting the patterns because they would cost too much. It is really somewhat farcical. I'll drop $100 on pattern books but not on the yarn to at least make one item.

Actual Knitting

Yes, this post will contain Actual Knitting Content, which is quite exciting.

First, this sweater. I am making this for my sister who bought the yarn, 12-ply Jade Sapphire Cashmere. Can you say SOFT? I love this yarn, and I am enjoying it vicariously. Although I'm going to have to RIP this back again. Why? Because although I THINK I am OK Tension Knitter in reality I am Super Tight Knitter especially with cabling. I need to go up a needle size, from 6mm (10 US) to 7mm (no size US).

I know this. So, why do I knit most of the back in the recommended needle size? Who knows. Some sort of sick proof. I also need to up the size a bit, as my sis is a small, but not XXS. It's gotta fit. It's pretty though, even though it must go back to the drawing board shortly. The pattern is from Vogue Knitting Winter 2005. It's #11 and the one with the mega sized bobbles which I am going to tastefully edit out.

In order to not think about the re-do of the above project which is just sad, I've started another project for me, me, me. To take my mind off of Angie's Aran, I figured out all of the changes for sizing on the below project. The largest size was for a 43" and I want it at 50" which means that there were some serious edits that needed to occur to the pattern. I enjoyed it though being a math geek. So, now it should all be perfectly reworked... hopefully.

This is a project I've wanted to do for a very long time, and I really have no idea why I haven't ever done it. Anyway, I started a day or so ago, and look how far it's come! Really cool. I even saw a really cool way to cast-on using Kitchener stitch which was simple. (And no, of course, now I can't find the link.) I actually used waste yarn and cut it out later.

Below is how far I got to yesterday. For two days on this so far, it's going swimmingly. The pattern is from Vogue Knitting Winter 2003/04. It's the Fringed Collar Jacket in Lion Brand Homespun. No, I'm not doing the Fringe. Really? Homespun frays out so fast if not fastened it'd look like crap in 10 seconds. It probably will be good for spring, because Homespun is not very warm, but I love the way this jacket looks. We'll see if it looks as good when I'm done.