Not my week… but socks make it better

Posted on April 19, 2007 by rycrafty

So this week was the whole moving-to-a-hotel fiasco. I won’t get in to moving day, apart from asking what MOVING company shows up with NO boxes? Yeah, I thought so. But all that aside, the long day, the sitting in the empty house, the problems at check-in (damn tiny credit card limit) etc, Tuesday was stressful and I was kinda late for rehearsal.
Yesterday, we had a nice meal in the restaurant downstairs, and then I went out to my car to get to rehearsal on time this time. As I approach my car in the parking garage, I can see something funny about the driver side door. It doesn’t look quite… closed. True enough, I didn’t slam it hard enough the night before, so the little light inside stayed on until the battery ran out. I turned the key and it didn’t even make a peep. So I waffled about waiting for someone to drive by in this parkade that would actually stop (and it was rush hour so everyone was in a hurry to go sit in traffic) and know how to jump the car.
I talked to my wonderful boy, and he suggested a taxi to rehearsal, followed by bumming a ride home, and he would get his car and jump me (heh) the next day. That seemed better than my waiting idea, so I went and stood outside the hotel to wait for a taxi. In rush hour, it’s hard to get a taxi. They are either (a) full or (b) on the wrong side of the street. But that eventually happened, and me, the one who is supposed to be in charge and on time, straggled in to rehearsal late.
Oh, and did I mention the terrible wind and rain/snow mix that was going on? Yeah.

But in better news, I have a pair of finished Roza socks! I Kitchenered the toe just this very minute. Pictures some time on Saturday. I knew I would finish soon after we moved out, so I brought yarn for the Dollar and a Half cardigan from the same magazine. I’m going to start on that now.

Progress report

Posted on March 15, 2007 by rycrafty

I haven’t posted in a bit! And I’ve been busy. ish.
First, I don’t think I’ve ever posted pics of the capecho:

That’s where I currently am. Tomorrow I should finish sleeve 2 (sleeve 1 is on the left looking weird because it is on a stitch holder) and hopefully start the collar. I’m leaving the sleeves on holders in case I want to lengthen them.
I haven’t tried it on… I only finished that first sleeve today, but I’m a bit scared. And I’m so close now I may as well finish. Wrapping it around me when it was just a line of pentagons, it did seem a bit long. I’m hoping sleeves will pull stuff down? Failing that, do you think it would be possible to get rid of the first pentagon? Un-pick it? The thing is, other pentagons are picked up along its edges; will they unravel, or can I fix that? We’ll see I guess when I get there. Each pentagon is 4″ on a side, instead of 5″ for the XS so hopefully it’ll work out.
I ordered some yarn off Etsy a while back, and it arrived the other day.

They are both from Yarn Ahoy, who is now actually on vacation. The laceweight is amazing, all tan, gold, a touch of orange, a touch of green. It’s going to be something from Victorian Lace today (Leaf and Trellis with Trellis border I think? In the book it is yellow). The handspun is equally lovely, but unfortunately, I ordered sock yarn (in similar but darker colours than the laceweight). I emailed, and got one back the same day saying to keep the handspun, and she will send the sock yarn out free of charge. Now that is service.
This evening I went to Fabricland to get interfacing for the shirt I’m making. And of course, you can’t go into Fabricland without buying other stuff. Stuff I need though, like a seam ripper (mine broke), rotary cutter (whee!), thread (oooh, not black or white!), some patterns (I was planning on those), and some fabric (not planning on that).
I’m going to make a summer dress (one of the patterns I bought) and I found the cutest fabric:

Bugs, frogs, lizards and leaves. So cute! And see what the leaves say?

I’m an explorer! (Why do I hear that in a Ralphie Wiggum voice?)
Cute, casual, summer dress coming right up. After I make one in the stripe.

My gripe with the pattern I bought (McCalls 4826) was that it had two possible envelopes to buy. One was sizes 4-10, the other 12-18. Looking at the measurements, I couldn’t decide if I am a 10 or a 12! (which is a weird debate in itself, because most things I own are a 2 or 4). In the end I did notice that they had a finished garment measurement as well, so I went with the 10. That was odd, because a size 12 is a 34″ bust, but the finished garment bust was 35.5″. Halters are not something you want ease in, I thought. A 10 has a finished bust of 34″, but the body measurements say bust = 32.5″. As I’m 33″-ish, I think I made the right choice…. But that’s why I’ll make a muslin.

Bits and bobs

Posted on March 11, 2007 by rycrafty

So this is what happened to my needle:

I’m going to email the Denise company and let them know.

I finished sewing the skirt! I put in a zip! Did French seams! Made some mistakes! But it fits, and there’s no raw edges hanging out. And when I say fits…. when they say ‘waist measurement’ they mean WAIST. I’m so used to the waistbands of everything I own being below my belly button, that I sort of forgot. So the skirt fits, but definitely sits much higher than anything else I own. Not that I’ll be wearing it, this was a learning thing.

Tonight I cut out fabric for my next project, the green shirt from this pattern:

Although I’m doing it in a stripe, with one pocket that I have stolen from the pink version. The same stripe I did the skirt in, actually. I started with 9m of that fabric, I’m going to have a whole wardrobe soon.
It was great, the pattern was already cut out for me! And all the bits were still there, which was a worry.

I have frogged the Bubble-stitch Vogue sweater, and I’ve actually put the yarn up on eBay. A whole 12 skeins of Classic Elite Waterspun! I’ve just had it for so long and never done anything, it’s just excess baggage. That, and I have ordered some yarn, and I need to (a) make space and (b) feel not so guilty by selling some stuff. It’s not like I can’t afford it, I’m just not used to having extra yarn money. I made a Webs order. And let’s just say I qualified for the 25% discount. In my defense, I will be receiving yarn for 5 projects ($1.50 Cardi, Eyelet Rib Bandeau, Anemoi Mitts, Raspy, Crinkle), and if you average the price out, it’s super cheap. Usually for sweaters I end up paying more more for yarn than I would for ready-made, but this is much, much cheaper. But yeah, I was just tired of looking at that brown yarn. It’s making me wonder what else I can sell off.

I’ve got some beaded necklaces I made ages ago, I never wear them. I may put those up on Etsy. Hm, if I take pictures tonight, I can do that from work tomorrow….

I’ve done a couple more pentagons on the Sanddollar/Capecho thing. With my gauge, each side is coming out at 4″, a whole inch smaller than the smallest size listed. I’m hoping this will cut down on the flappyness. Tomorrow I should finish the last pentagon, and start on the sleeves!

Tomorrow evening the boything and I are going to see 300 in IMAX which will be so cool. The last thing we saw in IMAX was V for Vendetta, so it has a tough act to follow.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!

Posted on March 7, 2007 by rycrafty

At work, nothing to do, and my needle broke!
It is my trusty Denises, the black bit that attaches the needle to the cord snapped in half. Most of it is still in the needle tip.

What am I supposed to do for another 4 hours? I purposely didn’t bring a book so I would knit more and get more done. poo.

Sneak Peak

Posted on March 2, 2007 by rycrafty

I’m going out to buy buttons tomorrow. Soon the real thing with whole pictures!

I did it!

Posted on February 26, 2007 by rycrafty

I would like to post and say that last night (Sunday the 25th) I finished February’s FO. Rambling Rose is DONE! All I need now is buttons. But it’s done, and fits not too badly.
There are short rows at the back neck, so you don’t get choked by the sweater (good). But I think there might be too many (for me at least), as it bunches a bit, and give me a bit of a hunch. That may come out with another block.
I started pentagon # 5 today at work. I don’t have the laziest job in the world anymore, I actually had to do stuff today. People are finally starting to move into ‘my’ lovely empty office, so this job will probably end on Friday. sigh.

I just went through my closet, and added stuff to the giveaway pile. All but one pair of my shorts are in there. Funnily enough, the ones that fit are the ones I would’ve said are the smallest. Well, I guess they’re tighter in the leg than the others, but there’s space in the waistband. All the others I could only actually do up around my waist, and I prefer to wear them closer to hip level. sigh. They used to fit. I should be too hard on myself though, two of those pairs I used as uniform shorts (we could wear non-school issue, if they weren’t too short) at school, and I know I’ve put on weight since then. Healthy weight. So that’s:
- 3 pairs of shorts
- 7 sweaters/shirts
- 3 shirts put into my ‘to alter’ pile, for when I make friends with my sewing machine.

Closing in…

Posted on February 23, 2007 by rycrafty

One of my New Years Knitting Resolutions was a finished object per month this year. I had included bits of a sweater as objects, as I can get very busy with shows. January I managed two objectss, Clapotis and Odessa. February’s? Hopefully an entire sweater!!
Tuesday night I finished the entire body of Rambling Rose. I soaked it in a sink of water, and it’s been drying on a towel since then. Tonight, I start the job of seaming the arms. I’ve been practicing my seaming with my next project: the Capecho. More about that later. So yes, tonight my goal is the neckband, and if I can do a button band per weekend day, I’m great! I just need to find buttons. I never thought I could finish a sweater in one month, but my current job is to thank for that.

Monday night was the first class for the Vogue Capecho, which I much prefer to call my Sand Dollar Cardi. Capecho is just an ugly word. I cast on and did the first few rows of one pentagon that night. When RR was blocking, I took it to work, and I ended up deciding to rip out and restart on smaller needles. I had the exact stockingette gauge on size 9 needles, but it was looking a little loose. Then, after finding some finished ones on the internet, I realised that this needs to be as small as I possibly can, so now I’m working on 7s. That makes each pentagon 4.5″ on each side rather than 5″ for the extra-small. Seeing as the only one I saw on the net that looked the way I want mine to look was done in DK weight, I’m a bit worried. But, I’m on pentagon #4 now, so we’ll just see what happens.

Long weekend

Posted on February 16, 2007 by rycrafty

It’s the weekend. A long weekend to be exact.
Most weekends I’ll sit, watch some DVDs, knit, read a bit. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do this weekend, as that’s what I’ve been doing at work for the past week. And, I don’t want to exhaust my collection of stuff to watch, as I’m going back for another week.

I finished the annoying intarsia cuff of sleeve #2 today, should probably finish that tomorrow or so. And then… the yoke!

Big piece done

Posted on February 15, 2007 by rycrafty

I’ve finished the combined back/fronts piece of my Rambling Rose. Now I just need to knit the other sleeve, then join all the bits together and knit the yoke. I even took the time just now to weave in the ends on that body piece. I even looked up on Knitty how to properly do it, because usually I just weave randomly and hope it doesn’t show or come undone.

First, I have do decide what I’m going to do with those sleeves. Looking at my yarn supply I don’t think I have enough to do the vertical lace pattern. It goes all the way to the neckline, and I think I’ll run out. That leaves me with the sleeve scallops in cream. Or nothing in cream at all. But no, I think I’ll do the cream at the cuffs. If I get enough done tonight, I may even be able to join everything tomorrow!

Ramblings on Rose

Posted on February 14, 2007 by rycrafty

My progress so far! The big piece grows slowly, so every now and then I have to remind myself that I am knitting fronts and a back all at the same time. It’s about 9″ long so far, it has to be 14″ before anything else happens.

I’ve got stitch markers dividing fronts from the back, and marking where the different colours would be, were I doing it that way. It’s just easier than making sure I’ve only purled 15 sts, instead of 16 or anything.

With the lace pattern unstretched, it measures 27″ all the way across. I think it’ll be a good fit, as the yarn will block a bit wider, the lace stretches, and there’s a button band too. Yay!

In the lower-right photo (here’s big) you can see a line of knit stitch in the garter triangle between the two leftmost scallops. I could have put that in pattern, but I decided to do it that way to have a phony seam type thing. Although, when I got past the scallops I decided I wanted the reverse stockingette to be completely smooth. I’m fine with it, it can be a design feature.

As for the sleeves… I did that one, but I think the next one I do will have the scallops all red, and the vertical panel in the cream. Then I can decide which way I want it. I will have knit 3 sleeves in total by the end of the sweater, but I’ll survive. Any thoughts on which sleeve will be better?

Oh and a while back I said I was novelty yarn-free. Here’s a pic of what I donated:

Blogging from work

Posted on February 13, 2007 by rycrafty

Blogging from work, where I’m still all by myself.
I’ve been powering away on the Rambling Rose cardigan (no pics, left camera at home). I’ve made a few changes that should affect the fit for the better.

Before I cast on any pattern, I always do a Google blog search to see what other knitters have to say about the pattern. It helps me find out about issues and errors, and makes the process easier. I also get to see other people’s opinions. The opinions on this sweater were not so hot. Everyone thought the sweater was much too small for the model, probably because it only comes in two sizes, 30″ or 43″. I would guess the model is 36″ ish, so what you see in the magazine is 6″ of negative ease. Now, I don’t think it looks terrible. It stretches out the lace pattern so you can see it, it hugs her curves, albeit a bit too much.
I am 34″ on a big day, so I’ve already got an advantage on her. I am also knitting the body in one piece (the pattern has right front, left front and back all separate pieces). This helps the sizing because the stitches that normally get eaten up in the seam are now adding to the circumfrence. Those 4 stitches (one of left front, two on back, one on right front) add almost another inch, so I will have 3″ of negative ease. I think this will work out.

I have one sleeve done, with the scallops at the hem in cream, the rest of it in red. I am knitting the body entirely in red (yay stash!). I’m undecided on if I like the scallops in cream or not. I only have two balls of the cream. I was thinking sleeve scallops, button band and neckband in cream, but now I’m wondering if instead of the scallops, I should do the vertical lace pattern on the sleeve in cream. The straight lines may tie the button band in better. Then again, I don’t know if I have that much cream yarn.

I really like how it looks so far, I love reverse stockingette.

WEATHER REPORT: -21C on the walk to work this morning, close to -30C if you factor in windchill. I was toasty warm! Why? Well, apart from snowboots and a down coat, I have handknitted wool Jaywalkers, thrummed mittens, and Clapotis.

SCORE!

Posted on February 7, 2007 by rycrafty

Okay, so I may have mentioned that I quit the bookstore. I have been waiting for a call from the temp agency I signed up with. I got that call today, and let me tell you I have my dream job now. For a few days at least.
There’s this company. With an office. They are opening a second office. Second office is not open yet. BUT, they need someone to sit in said new office, just in case someone calls.

I have been encouraged, nay, instructed to bring something to do to amuse myself. I have two books and my knitting (Rambling Rose). And possibly some sudoku if I can fit it in my purse.

I am novelty yarn free, are you?

Posted on February 3, 2007 by rycrafty

I did something great last week. I had seen a post on Whip-up (or possibly the Craft: blog) about a women’s shelter in the States running a knitting program. I wandered over to the blog, and they use novelty yarn! I know some places you can donate yarn to only want wool or natural fibres, but here is a group who will happily take, and put to good use, your novelty yarn. I also sent 3 balls of some acrylic, and some almost-whole balls. No, I wasn’t an ass and didn’t send measly little scraps, but I had some skeins that were almost all still there, and great learning yarn.
I’ll put the photo in when I get my camera back from the theatre. I left it there yesterday by accident.

So I got rid of some yarn that has been following me around for a few years. And the same day I mailed that parcel, I picked one up! I had bought this yarn on eBay for the ‘capecho’ (I hate that word) on the cover of the winter Vogue Knitting. It’s a bit paler in real life, which was a pleasant surprise. I did a quick swatch the other day, and it seems like it should work. Haven’t tried one of the pentagons yet though. I feel that’s like cheating for the class I will be taking.

So, as I couldn’t use the new yarn, I found a use for some old yarn! I wanted to make the Arwen cardigan from the most recent IK, so I did a swatch, even washed it, and it was just wrong. WRONG. And for a pattern with such weird construction, the adjusting would be too awkward. So I started flipping through the mag, and realised that I did have gauge… for the Rambling Rose cardigan.

This got a lot of flack on the blogs when the preview was released, I remember. They didn’t like the skin-tight, popping-open look the sweater has. Well, it’s a 30″ sweater worn by a model with what I’m guessing is a 36″ or so bust. I am not a 36″ bust. Nor am I 30″, but I’m closer to 30″ than that model is, I’m sure.

I liked it, liked it enough to cast on 5 times before I got it right. There is no ‘mistake’ in the instructions, it just doesn’t explain everything. Specifying the number of chart repeats for the scallop on the sleeve (one centred? two that just fit?) or whether odd or even numbers are the RS when you’re working the chart. I have also never done intarsia before. I think it is going okay. It is hard to tell, because at most change points, there is a yarn over, which makes a hole anyway.

I cast on a sleeve to try it out. I think I like it. I don’t have enough of the second colour to do it like it is in the magazine, so it is going to be mostly red, but the scallop-y bits along the bottom of the sleeves and the body will be in cream. Possibly the button band too depending on yardage.

Aquisition!

Posted on January 13, 2007 by rycrafty

People all over blogland are doing the ‘Knit from the Stash for the New Year’ thing. I contemplated it, and made a vague mention of it on here I believe. But I am weak. My excuse is a good one.

I have discovered the magic of recycled yarn on eBay. Go on, search for it. Be astounded at the deals! I got a sweater’s worth of merino/cashmere yarn for under $40 Canadian! It’s a rich royal blue, if the seller’s picture is accurate. There’s also a lot of 100% cashmere laceweight out there. I was very tempted, but I couldn’t be that bad. But…

I bought Victorian Lace Today! We got one copy in in November, and that immediately sold. It has taken this long to get another copy in, because the publisher was out. Go knitters!

Thinking of the power of knitters we’ve all heard the story of how Blue Moon Fibre Arts brought a bank to its knees. That is on one hand the best proof of our power and existence, and on the other a giant pain for Blue Moon. I actually have a code for the sock club, I wandered onto their website quite by chance when it was still open for sign-ups. I did it because it was there. Then, the email came this month asking for the money, and I actually did the math.

Yes, you get exclusive patterns, exclusive colourways, and binder and the other odd freebie or two, but I still can’t pay $50 for a pair of socks. That’s what it works out to. And there’s the possibility I’ll get stung for duty too, which adds even more. It’s not that I don’t want to support a wonderful entrepreneurial business, I just simply don’t have that money.

I shall just make do with free internet patterns, and less expensive yarn.

I really want to buy laceweight yarn, with my new lace book and all. BUT! I want to meet more people in this city. I only know people in the theatre industry, and while that is good, and they’re great people, I want to talk about knitting with actual people. So, I am going to take a class at my LYS. That’s why I took that drop-spinning class, but it felt like I alienated the other two students by somehow being naturally successful at something I had never done before. I am going to take a class on making the cover sweater from the Winter 2007 Vogue. I’m sure I could do it by myself, but it’ll be nice to talk to people about it. Also, so I get more wear out of it, I’m contemplating making it longer. I don’t know if it’ll be with more motifs, or with ribbing, like the sleeves (which I also want to make full-length). It was this sweater that prompted the eBay buy.

My one issue with that is that I got aran and worsted mixed up. Then I checked a website that has them in the same category. But they aren’t the same, are they? The sweater asks for aran, and I bought what the seller called worsted. Oh well, the swatch is my friend.

Oh, and another note. I will not be using the word ‘capecho’. I’m not one for naming things, but I think the motifs look like sand dollars, so that is what it will be.

Of course, I’ve made all these plans, but haven’t signed up yet. I should do that. There’s a lot of stuff I’ve been procrastinating on, that I should really do. And I have today off, but I’ve just lazed around. I want to do something but don’t seem to have the energy or something. There is some stuff I definitely need to do though. Resumes, health care, and the like.

Picture update.

Posted on November 19, 2006 by rycrafty

My first handspun. Nowhere near even, or anything like that, but I had so much fun! I want to use it as a stripe in a hat or something. I even did a little bit more today, with the needle felting roving I bought to finish of my mittens. I did one colour after another, worsted-ish, then spun up all the white very thin, and plied them. It looks like a multi-coloured candy cane. It’s drying right now, pictures later.

For Eunny’s fingerless mitten pattern. I love the semi-solid green, but knew I had to find something solid for the other colour, and there was a lovely (and cheap!) denim colour in Socka.

The sweater so far. It’s just a teeny bit past my elbow now, and I just started a new ball a few rows back. I’m feeling good about having enough yarn. For a basic-shaped sweater (no weird vents or flappy sleeves) I figure that the two arms are the same (duh), the front and back are double an arm. Especially as this is a cardi, I break it down into units. One unit is one arm. So:
Arms = 1 unit each
Fronts = 1 unit each
Back = 2 units

So if I use two balls on a sleeve, I need 12 for the sweater. Seeing as I have 12, it should work. For the size I’m making, you cast on the same number of stitches for each front as you do for the sleeves.

Mitten pics soon!

Victorian Lace Today

Posted on November 17, 2006 by rycrafty

We received our copy of Victorian Lace today at the bookstore. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. SO wonderful. I want to knit so many things from it! I’m sad, I have no laceweight in my stash.
I’ve been so tempted by so many books lately (all the Vogue Stitchionaries, Nicky Epstein’s books…) that I’ve had to tell myself I’m not allowed to buy more knitting books until I finish the project. I’m still trying to decide whether or not that mitten counts as a project. I think, so I don’t go broke, the reward for finishing the mitten is the spinning class I’m going to tomorrow. And that is costing much more than a book, as I get 30% books.

The Bubbly Jacket sleeve #1 is just a teensy bit past my elbow now, and still looking to be a good width. It looks huge on the needles, but it’s fine when I hold it against my arm and pin it.

I went to a craft fair last night, very good. A couple booths had knitting, not many though. This was a huge craft fair in a conference centre, not a school bazaar. Amazing iron work, jewelry, handmade shoes!, woodwork, it was all amazing. I bought a couple little gifties, and some stuff for me. What I bought for me came from The Old Island Stamp Company, which is odd, because they are a mere hour ferry ride from where I used to live, and I bought their stuff out here. I couldn’t resist.

In fact I may now go play with my stamps. If I don’t knit more sweater, that is…

Shyness strikes again

Posted on September 29, 2006 by rycrafty

That’s as far as I’ve knit on my bubbly sweater. This weekend though, should have some good knitting opportunities.
First of all, I’ve been home since 1:15pm. Normally, I work till 5, but I checked my cell phone messages at lunch, and there was one from my builging manager saying that there has been a flood that may have entered my unit. Naturally, I went home. It wasn’t terrible, someone’s fridge exploded on the 4th floor, and we’re on the 1st, so we just got the last few dribbles. So since lunch I’ve been pottering; doing dishes, garbage, etc.

I’ve been working uber-lots, and starting Monday I work retail 9-5, then stage manage 6:30-10:30 until the end of October. Pretty crazy, but theatre doesn’t pay the bills for me. Yet.

Speaking of working, I am also on a call list for a security company that does lots at the Saddledome. Sadly, I don’t get to work Elton John tonight (I don’t care how busy I am, I would’ve taken it!), but I saw Mariah Carey (feat. Busta Rhymes) on Monday, and San Jose whipping the Flames on Wednesday. Me telling you I’m a security guard is much funnier when you know what size person I am. I’m little.

I needed to mention the hockey game, because I need to do a shoutout. To the girl who was waaaaay up in the east nosebleeds (where I was working) who was carrying the Weekend Getaway Bag from the Fall 05 IK I say: hi fellow knitter!

Now that I look at the picture, it was a slightly modified version; it was smaller.
I wish I had talked to her, I mean, I did have the perfect excuse. I was searching bags after all.

But now to make a grocery list, then possibly knit.

Winter Sweater Project

Posted on September 17, 2006 by rycrafty

Every good knitter needs a winter sweater project. Lots have more than one! So far, I’m just aiming for one and hoping I can finish that.

I bought the chocolate brown Waterspun in the summer of 2004. I was going to make the skirt from IK’s Heathered Duo. Then I realied that a knit skirt was the baddest of bad Ideas, so the bag of deliciously soft Waterspun has languished in the stash for just over two years now.
I made my Rogue in a camely-tan shade of Waterspun, but sadly I’ve hardly worn it, as it was just a little bit too small, and much, much too warm. I’ve been wanting to make something out of the chocolate shade (cocoa is its actual name) for a while, but haven’t been able to find the right pattern.
The yarn is super-warm. This cannot be a pullover-type garment, it needs to be able to be opened to cool off. Or, zipped up to keep you toasty warm. My Rogue is all right as long I only wear it outside, on cold, cold days. Although, I will be getting many many more cold days here than I did in BC.
As you can tell from the picture above, I was thinking of making IK’s Sunrise Circle Jacket. The gauge? Completely 100% WRONG. And on something as crazily constructed as that jacket, that is a bad idea. So I decided to do something crazy. I measured the guage swatch I made for the SCJ, wrote it down, and then went through all the patterns I’ve printed off the net, and all the knitting magazines I have (well, winter and fall issues anyway, have I mentioned this is damn warm yarn?) looking for cardigan/jacket patterns with a certain gauge.
I go through all my magazines some time after I’ve had my first few looks through them and put stickies on the pages of things I like. I actually found two patterns that fit the bill, and had stickies!
One from Interweave:

And one from Vogue:

The Interweave one is from Fall 2004, the Vogue one is from Winter 2003.

I looked. I hummed. I hawwed. Then I did something crazy. I swatched the bubble stitch pattern. And you know? It’s really fun! And fast too. The linen stitch bits of it will more than make up for that fastness, but I think I’ll like it.
I have three skeins of a nice denim blue, and two leftover of the camel, I think I will use one or the other colour to do the pocket linings. I like the idea of little hidden bits of colour. I was going to do the facings for the SCJ in a contrast colour too. It just adds a little something. The question will be though, blue or tan?

I still want to make the Slanted cable one, but I think it needs a silkier yarn.

Would you have made this one, or the Slanted Cable, or something different out of this yarn?

So remember yesterday, when I said I’d bought a ba…

Posted on May 11, 2006 by rycrafty

So remember yesterday, when I said I’d bought a ballwinder? It arrived today. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because (a) The lovely ladies at Make One are both lovely and efficient, and (b) it’s not like it’s that far. Too far to pick up after work, yes. But nice and short for good ol’ Canada Post.

I think I will sell some of the stash. There’s a bag of chocolate-brown Waterspun sitting there that I’m pretty certain I won’t use. I bought it for the skirt from the Heathery Duo in an old IK (Fall 05 possibly?) and I’m not going to knit a skirt. At least, not that skirt. Waterspun is much too hot for a sweater. I knit Rogue out of it and have never worn it. Although…. I say that now, but I lived on the coast before. I bet you can wear sweaters that heavy here. And as I’m moving here in August and planning on staying… I think I need to re-think my thinking.

And, if this cold place means I can wear a Waterspun Rogue, I’m going to have to rip and re-do. Yes. The body and arms are a tad too short. The short that looks stupid. Although I could just undo and rip carefully, or add a band on the bottom of each. Hmm. Will look into that when I go home.

First post!

Posted on September 10, 2004 by rycrafty

What better way to open my knitting blog than with a whole slew of pictures?

Trumpets sound! Rogue is done at last! The sweater I started in April! I love it so much. I did the seaming while watching the Olympics. The Canadian men not winning their 4 race is forever in the right shoulder. Classic Elite Waterspun. The gauge for Waterspun was off for the pattern, so I did some math, and figured out that making the 37″ would make a sweater that fits my almost-34″ self perfectly.

This is from the winter 2003/2004 Vogue knitting. They knit it in orange, I had this wool from the first scarf I made, Berrocco’s Hip Hop (thick/thin variagated wool). That was plain garter and ended up being over 8 feet long. As I’m 5’3″, I eventually decided to frog it, and find a different pattern, preferably wider. This one is about 6′ long, I think (actually haven’t measured). It was 2/3rds done when I brought it to Banff as my backup project. I really didn’t think I’d finish Rogue.
I was working in Banff for the summer, when I finished these two, and I wanted to go for a hike, and I wanted to take pictures of my FOs, so I decided to combine the two. I tried to do it when no one was around, but I chose a high-traffic path, so I got a few weird looks. And it was so cold at the top, I needed the scarf!

I came home to find this waiting for me from Elann.com:

The brown Waterspun is for the skirt from the ‘Heathery Duo’ in the Fall 04 Interweave Knits.
The White Buffalo is for the Cape Mod poncho from Stitch n’ Bitch, or as I am calling it, the Cape Cowichan poncho. It is the stuff they make Cowichan sweaters out of, after all. And living so close to Cowichan, I should remember that.
The day after I got home, I went to my LYS and bought:

I’m using one strand of the Shine (right) and one strand of the Pompon (middle) for the stripes in the poncho. The stuff on the left I couldn’t resist for some reason. I decided against using it in the poncho because the tufty bits are similar in colour and texture to the White Buffalo, and I thought it would look more like I’d snagged the wool, and less like trim.
This is the fabric I’m getting so far for the poncho:

Perfect for me, I didn’t want the stripes too bold and furry.
The poncho is an adventure, because with the White Buffalo, you’re knitting with 6 strands. Add in the trim, and you’re knitting with 8. I love the way it is knitting up though, good and warm, less scratchy than I remember my dad’s old Cowichan sweater being (although I was about 6 at the time I would hide behind it in the coat closet). It is a bit weird using such big needles after knitting Rogue.

In sadder news, the Michaels I worked at last Christmas did most of their seasonal hiring while I was being a housekeeper in Banff, so I’ll have to find employment elsewhere. No nice discount on all things crafty.

Rycrafty

I knit, I stamp, I colour, I craft. I bake. I make.

Category Archives: Sweaters