Extermi-knitting

So I finished a knitting project. Despite all of the crafty geekery that's been going on around here lately, these handwarmers are not for DragonCon! They were a birthday gift for my sister-in-law, who is also very much into all things Doctor Who. (Happy birthday, Julia!)

The pattern is "The Oncoming Storm" by Laura Isaacs. She gives options for knitting in the round and flat, and I chose to do the flat version since this already had a couple of things going on that were new or fairly new to me-- I haven't done that much knitting with multiple colors of yarn, and I'd never had to pick up stitches for a thumb before. So for the latter in particular, I figured it would be simpler to just leave a hole when sewing it up instead of lots of binding off for a thumb hole or whatever.

The black yarn was leftover from Doug's hat, and I'd actually purchased the grey yarn for this (Caron's Simply Soft) about 2 years ago, because I've been meaning to make these for her for that long. But, time being the wibbly-wobbly thing it is, it got away from me a bit and I just never seemed to be able to get them started. So I started knitting these back in January, because I figured if I did that, surely I could finish them by August! I probably would have finished them a lot faster, if I hadn't been doing things like taking Craftsy knitting classes with my mom, working on that never-ending cardigan, and having my usual springtime work-induced carpal tunnel flareups. So it was very stop and start. But I did finish these around the end of July, save a quick wash and light blocking that I had to do last week. I don't think the blocking made much of a difference in the stitches since it was all acrylic yarn, but one of the silly dogs likes to carry things around in his mouth, so he's perpetually stealing things like any sock he can get his paws on, and my pajamas. And apparently, one handwarmer, because I was dumb enough to leave my knitting bag on the sewing room floor. You just can't give family members gifts that are coated in dog slobber, you know?

Aside from having to figure out the picking up stitches thing, they went together pretty easily, and I'm feeling a little more comfortable with switching between colors now. I do still have a pretty good chunk of that grey skein left over, and a little of the black, but I figure I can always use that to make Doug another hat or something. Hopefully it won't take me another two years to get to that.

I didn't manage to get a picture of both mitts on, because Doug was working on a messy house-related project outside at the time and I didn't want to interrupt. But I can leave you with a canine photobomb shot!

Top 5's of 2013, part 4: Knitting and other craftiness

Because those things deserve recognition, too, right? So here's all the things that weren't sewing clothes.

Top 5 hits of 2013: 

1. The Branching Out mitts that I knitted. Look, I did colorwork! And they're soft and cute and from a pattern I already had on hand. And I used the yarn in a fairly timely fashion, so win all around. I did have a bunch of this yarn leftover, but I'm actually using the leftover blue in a current project, which I will blog about when I have more to show for it.



2. The "Project Life" scrapbooking system. I started playing around with this during the summer as a way to try to stay more on top of my scrapbooking and document newlywed life. For those of you who don't scrapbook, the basic concept is that you can get these kits with pocket page protectors, cards that fit into those slots, and then you just add your writing and photos and you're basically done. Most people seem to do one spread a week. I've been doing more of a system of add stuff as I have photos for it or things I want to write down, occasionally mixing in more "traditional" scrapbook layouts, and go on a more month-by-month basis. I can't say I'm caught up, but it really is making it easier to scrapbook on a more regular basis--it's so easy to just grab the stuff, sit in front of the tv, and see what fits where. I'm also able to use some paper and stuff I already have, just slicing it down to size. I haven't showed too much of that on here, so here's a sampling of some things that I've (mostly) already gotten done!



It's not all pocket pages, obviously. The top two show what I've been doing when I have a "real" scrapbook page on one side--I've been making my own cards here and there to coordinate with whatever the main page is. The bottom left-hand corner is a finished page, from a concert that I went to over the summer with two of my closest friends, the bottom lowest right is one of the straight-up Project Life pages, though with a few additional filler cards that I made or printed myself, and the one above that is an in-progress one from the honeymoon. Yes, they're all Instagram pictures of a little plastic TARDIS. Doug and I were having fun with that! I just need to print out the captions and paste them on, and then that spread is done, and same thing with most of my honeymoon pics. I've only gotten stuff through the end of the summer mostly done at the moment, but I'm still feeling much better about this particular hobby than I have for a couple of years!

3. Geeky shoes. My bridesmaids and mom got a huge kick out of our mostly Whovian shoes for the wedding reception! And I have occasionally worn mine since, though not recently since it's been wet and icy a lot lately. Not the best scenario for painted canvas footwear.





4. It's nowhere near finished, but I'm going to add my Roheline cardigan. This is what it currently looks like. I have a long way to go, but once I got past the initial trouble with starting it, it's been a pretty easy knit, albeit slow. I think my stockinette knitting is starting to look pretty nice and even, which is why I'm calling this a win, even if it's still in progress! And now that I finally understand what it means by "wrap and turn" on the short row sections, the top will look even better.

5. Making things for others. Yes, this includes sewing too, but I tend to often be selfish in my crafting, and I did make more things that were gifts for other people this year. So that makes me feel pretty good.

Top 5 misses of 2013:

1. The scarf I knitted for Doug near the end of last winter. It was successful for stashbusting, but he hasn't really worn it at all so far this winter. This isn't a criticism, because he does wear the hat I knitted for him in 2012 all the time! He just doesn't get as cold as I do.






2. The bedroom curtains, to some extent. They do block more light than the blinds do alone, though it still can get way more bright than I like in the mornings. They're way shorter than I would have preferred. Note to self: Next time, be more generous with curtain yardage estimations.

3. Jewelry-making. Mainly because I just didn't take the time to do any this year. Note to self: must start playing with beads again, because I have way too many of them not to!

4. Home decor crafting in general. I meant to do a lot more, but once again, time management and I didn't get along so well, and I only got to the bedroom curtains.

5. Honestly, I can't come up with a fifth thing, because that more or less encompasses everything I made this year! So let's just say the time factor and leave it at that, since having more plans than I finished was a running theme this time around.

Finally, in the interest of not leaving projects unblogged, here's the handwarmers I actually finished to wear to my retail job.

It's honestly not my best work--I messed up the very easy stitch pattern here and there because I was in a hurry, and the yarn is pilling very quickly, because my job is hard on them. The stripes don't match up, and I don't care, because I just wanted to get them done--though I did do a surprisingly good job of getting the thumb gussets to match the stripes without even trying! But they've been keeping my hands warmer than they would have been on their own, especially during October when I was still mostly sitting at an outdoor register. This is how I was wearing them then:

Yes, those are other gloves underneath. Along with a hat, a scarf, long underwear, at least 2 other shirts, and a 2-layer sporty winter coat. Incidentally, one of the main reasons I still want to sew a new winter coat rather than just use this one, other than fashion, is that the inner layer is fleece, and I've found that it's really, really difficult to pull that on over my sweaters and blazer jackets, on the occasions that I forget to bring my "real" winter coat with me to switch to before I go do my teaching!

Aside from a couple of secret projects that I won't post until after Christmas, and a few in-progress things, that pretty much wraps up 2013! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas (or whatever you celebrate)!

branching out

Both literally and in terms of knitting technique, as that was the name of this pattern.

These are the "Branching Out" mitts from the Coastal Knits book, which I got for Christmas in 2011. This was also my first foray into colorwork other than stripes, and I think that I handled it pretty well overall! They could probably use a good blocking to even the stitches out, but as usual, I'm impatient and wanted to show off my finished project! Also, I may want to wear these tonight, since despite the fact that we're finally scraping into the 60s, my hands are still perpetually cold.

Aside from the colorwork, this was also my first attempt at a thumb gusset instead of just a hole! I think it went pretty decently. And they fit really well, too-- I know they look very long, but I don't mind most of my fingers being covered. Aside from playing the flute, I should still be able to mostly use my hands fine.

It was a little bit of a challenge to come up with yarn that would work, since I can't do the wool thing, but I ended up using the Milky Whey yarn that I got last summer at the beach yarn shop. It's half-soy, half-milk (!), and absolutely lovely to work with and to wear--it's so soft! Once again, I seriously overestimated how much yarn I needed, and have at least 2/3 of a skein of the tan and maybe around 1 1/4 of the blue left over, so I think a matching slouchy hat will be in order. If I can find that full ball of yarn, that is--somehow, between last night and the previous time I'd worked on it, the entire unused skein of the blue disappeared from my knitting bag! I hope it turns up as I'm packing!

Also in knitting news, I was recently gifted the Craftsy class of my choice by Gwen, as an early wedding present! It was a tough call, because there's a lot of tempting sewing classes that I haven't signed up for yet. But in the end, I decided to sign up for the Knit Lab class, because I've realized that there's some finishing details, like sewing up seams and especially weaving in ends, that I could really use some extra work on to take my knitting to the next level. I probably won't get to it before the wedding, but hopefully I have some yarn in the stash that will be good to use for the class project.

Guess what? I also have a sewing project to show! But not in this post, as I still need to take pictures.

Surprise-- I'm still knitting!

It's not a really focused thing right now, obviously. But this has become the answer to the conundrum I posted about awhile ago for what I can do in situations where I want to craft but can't work on the dress. Namely those where I'm just chilling at my or Doug's house, watching tv with him and wanting to keep my hands busy.

So I have two in-progress projects to share with you today.

I started this one first, though it's hibernating for the moment. These are the "Branching Out Mitts" from Coastal Knits, which I received for Christmas last year. Over this past year, my best friend and I have become fascinated with the "bucket list" idea, though several years late for the movie, and have been working on creating ours. I've ended up with several craft-related ones on mine so far (yes, including "sew my own wedding dress," though that would have been on there anyway even if I wasn't currently planning my wedding!), and one of the things I've decided I'd like to do is to knit at least one project from every knitting book or magazine that I own. I liked several of the projects from this book so I'm sure I'll be revisiting it, provided I can find good wool-free yarn options for some of those sweaters. The yarn is some that I purchased near the end of the summer, and it's been very nice to work with so far. The biggest challenge has been trying to teach myself to knit with a second color within a pattern, and I'm hoping that I'm allowing enough slack for those little runner strings, or whatever they're called, on the backside, since I do tend to knit rather tightly.

I set it aside for a super-simple scarf for Doug, to go with the hat that I made him for his birthday.  Now that it's getting colder again, he requested one, and I have to take advantage of such rare opportunities. He's flat-out admitted that I probably won't ever be able to make clothes for him! He's super-picky about comfort, and once he's out of work, pretty much all he'll wear are oversized t-shirts and black athletic pants. I've never seen him even wear jeans! (On the plus side, I won't have to feel guilty that I'm sewing all clothes for myself and not for him, right?) Anyway, this is pretty much the perfect brainless tv knitting project, because it's just knit 3 purl 3 rib. The hardest thing has been keeping track of the number of rows before I need to switch colors. And, well, the switching colors. Since that hat is pretty much the only striped thing I'd knit ever, and that was in the round, I'm honestly not sure if I'm doing this right. I've been tying the ends of the yarn together for now just to hold it together, and I have started knitting the tail of the new color into the scarf so that I have one less end to weave in later. But weaving in ends is something that doesn't seem to work too well for me so far, and on the couple that I did do, I have little puffy yarn ends sticking out. I guess I'll just trim those out with scissors, but I'm not sure how this is going to hold up in the long-term...any suggestions from you veterans?

I've been doing the alternating stripe widths on the black and the tan on purpose, so I can use up more of the other. My plan is basically to knit until one of the yarns, probably the green, runs out. Hurrah for stashbusting! (Hopefully it won't be the black that runs out first, since I used the most of that in the hat.) And although he knows he's getting this, since I've been knitting it right in front of him, I am still hopeful that I might finish this around Christmas so that he has it for the coldest part of the winter.

Not that I'll be working on them today, because I have another day not scheduled at the shop. (Even though this time I have to work Saturday instead....boo. Oh well.) So today, other than my teaching, is all about muslin deconstruction!

Random thoughts

First off--thanks for the kind words about the scarf! That was pretty different for me, but it was fun to make.

Second off--once again, not being able to do a craft compelled me to add to my stash. I spent part of the weekend and yesterday at the beach with my family. And while we were there, my mom/aunts/yarn-crafty cousins decided they wanted to check out this cute little local yarn shop. So this is what I brought home. The greenish one on the left (really more of a green-blue mix) is Chacabuco Multy from Araucania Yarn--it's exciting because it's from Chile, which I've actually been to, and it's hand-dyed, and it's cotton. You have no idea how exciting it is for me to find hand-dyed cotton, since I can actually use it! The brown and blue are Milky Whey by Kollage Yarns, and it's a super-soft soy/milk blend. I'm excited to have some new-to-me wool-free yarns to play with! And I think going to the store was inspiring for others in my family too. One of my cousins decided that she wanted to give knitting a shot, so we got her some cheap needles and yarn and I taught her how to make the knit stitch. She seemed to be getting the hang of that pretty well by the time I had to leave to come home (had to work today, boo), so I'm excited to see if she sticks with it!

I already have projects in mind for both of these yarns. I'm thinking the Whittier Hat from last fall's KnitScene for the Chacabuco, and I specifically bought the Milky Whey to try out the Branching Out fingerless gloves from Coastal Knits. My best friend and I have been making bucket lists lately, and I have several sewing/crafty-related items on mine. One of the things I added was to knit at least one project from every knitting magazine or book that I own. And since I didn't really have stuff for either of these publications yet, that means I'm justified in buying the yarn, right?

As for that background....several yards of dupioni silk that arrived yesterday. Guess I'm committed to that wedding dress thing. Or, as it's gotten dubbed by some of my geekier friends and family, the "One Dress To Rule Them All."  So now I have the lace and the outer fabric taken care of, and I just need to get some underlinings and linings. And bodice support stuff.

Between the beach and some wedding-related stuff, there hasn't been much sewing going on in the last several days! But I did get the basting in the jeans ripped out, at least, so now they're ready to sew together for real.

Something old, something new, something gifted and something blue

No, this has absolutely nothing to do with weddings. But it fits.

First of all, the something old/gifted. I started these handwarmers (also from the Constellation pattern) waaaaaaaaaay back in April. But I didn't finish them until today, mainly due to the Odyssey tank. I actually got the knitting done on Monday or Tuesday (spent a good chunk of Hurricane Irene working on these, since I didn't want to get involved in sewing in case the power went out), but I had to weave in the ends. I used the same type of yarn (the chunky-weight Deborah Norville Serenity in "Majesty"), though I was more careful about lining up the stripes this time when they're next to each other. I also actually remembered to do the ribbing on smaller needles sometimes, so I think it'll end up fitting better. The thumb holes feel a little tight right now, but I'm hoping I can stretch those out a bit.

I made these for my friend Shantelle, who was threatening to steal mine last winter! (She's from Trinidad, so she has a better excuse to get cold easily in the winter than I do.) So hopefully she'll like them and they'll fit ok.

And for the something new/blue:

My first time doing an exposed zipper. Not what I would normally go for, but I had it on hand, and I figured it would be good to try one out before I do the Vogue dress. It specifically calls for an exposed zipper, and I'd rather do my first attempt on a stretch woven than a jersey knit! So this is the sneak preview of the reconstruction project I'm currently working on, hopefully to be finished tomorrow.

baa baa wet sheep

Wet mostly plastic sheep, really.

I was planning on sewing more last night after Nicole left. But by the time I got everything cleaned up, I was so tired that all I was up for was sitting in front of the tv for Doctor Who and the most brainless crafting I could think of--unraveling the rest of the Stay-puft Marshmallow sweater. I washed it this afternoon and hung it to dry and hopefully stretch out. (It's draped over my music stand, covered in plastic to keep it from rusting where I've chipped the paint off, with water bottles at the ends of the skeins to weigh them down. I found the idea on Ravelry and got all excited since I wouldn't have to buy anything to make this work.)

It hasn't quite unkinked as much as I'd hoped...might be due to the high synthetic content. But I think it is a little straighter than it was. Balling it up might help, too. It actually dried almost all the way in the approximately three hours I had it outside--the only damp spots were right at the bottom, where the water bottles were. So I've got it in the basement to dry the rest of the way.

Other things I did this afternoon:

• Went to the garden center where I work with my parents to help them get stuff for their gardens (with my employee discount, of course). The tradition the last couple of years that I've done for Mother's Day has been to get the stuff to fill her couple of flower planters on the deck, so she and I picked out stuff for that too.
• Planted said flowers in the pots, as well as the herbs that also go on the deck.
• Finished one half of a knitting project:

 This is the second set of Constellation Gloves that I'm making for a friend of mine (who loved mine and wanted to steal them.) I was planning on sewing once I got done dealing with the planting and yarn washing and laundry and such, but then my brother and sis-in-law stopped by to visit Mom. And then they put in a Star Wars movie. So I had to watch it with them. Darn. Finishing this was quieter than sewing, and quicker to grab. So there ya go.

Ok, off to finish tidying up here a bit. And then maybe actually do that sewing!

We'll make our own constellations...

As of last night, I finished my third knitting project! At least, my third successful one. And haven't thrown in the towel on yarncraft yet--this is definitely a record for me!

This time, it's the Constellation Gloves, which was a free project on the Lion Brand website. I liked that they were long, which means no chance of my wrists getting exposed to the cold, and it looked like the perfect project for my chunky-weight yarn that I snagged as soon as I decided to give knitting another go. A good choice for my hands, since they're nice and thick and warm-- I'm looking forward to wearing these to Bible study tonight, since the basement we meet in was really cold last time! (Also, I know this is a bit of a silly picture, but taking pictures of both of your own arms is hard!)

And here's what the whole thing looks like. I had to learn how to do a lot of new things for this one--first time doing ribbing, first time knitting in the round (on both circular and double-pointed needles), I had to bind off and add on stitches up at the top to make the thumb holes, I had to learn to increase....definitely a good skill-building project! I ended up making several changes to the pattern, which surprised me since I'm new at this. Nothing seriously major--things like, since they were ending up too big, I had to go down a needle size from what I'd come up with in the gauge test. The pattern called for making them about 10" long before starting the increases for the hand, but I ended up opting for about 8" instead. (After measuring my arm after I started, I realized that 10" would result in these shoving up against the bend of my elbow, and would probably be rather uncomfortable. Not to mention annoying to deal with for sleeves.) I also ended up making the top shorter than it called for. It wanted a total of 3" above the thumb hole--about 2" for knitting and then the 1" ribbing. I realized that doing so would take this about to my knuckles, which would make them rather non-functional for actually using my hands while wearing them--and isn't that the point of fingerless glove-type things? So I only did about 1/2" of the knitting post-thumb hole and then the inch of ribbing.

I do wish they were a little more snug around my wrists, but my wrists are also super-skinny  And since the ribbing at the bottom and the hand section fit just about perfectly, I really can't complain.

So now there's just one thing left to do....figure out what I'm going to do with these two orange-sized balls of yarn I have left over, since leaving several inches out of the pattern means that I didn't use nearly as much as I thought I would! I thought about knitting the second from the partially used ball, even started to do so, but was really afraid that I wouldn't have enough to finish it. So I ripped it out and used the second skein instead. I know I don't want a scarf, because I have a lot of those. A hat, maybe? Though I was already planning to make/got yarn for a different hat... I liked this beret that I saw listed under the easy patterns on Ravlery, and generally prefer that style of hat because it's looser around my hair. So I end up with less tangling. (I have the sort of hair that tangles if you do so much as look at it funny.) But I guess I can have more than one hat, right?

(p.s. To give credit where it's due, the title lyrics came from "Constellations" by Jack Johnson. A fitting choice, I thought, considering the name of the pattern.)