Remember the illusive ball of yarn from my last post?
THEY ATE IT!!!!
Probably while I was writing that entry.
I am not happy. Quelle Surprise.
Off to see if I can salvage enough to finish the boots.
Bloody Dogs.
Friday, 30 November 2007
Can you say Panic?
After this week, I can. I'm knitting along on my lovely to be felted indoor boots for my Grandmother when I realize that there are only 4 balls of yarn. I need 5. I know this because I used 2 and a bit for the first boot. Thing was, I could have sworn there were 5. I bought 5 expressly because I bollocksed up the project last year and I used 5 per boot then too. So where was the 5th? I looked everywhere. I search the stash, under the table, in my knitting back, under the couch, by my desk, everywhere. No Where To Be Found. Bugger. Oh wait, I did find it one place - in my Ravelry Stash. It's in the there. I don't know about you, but I prefer real yarn to the virtual stuff. Knits up much better. So where was it in reality??? What really worried me was that I'm fairly certain they no longer have this yarn. It was a bargain thing at $1 per 50g ball and I don't remember seeing it the last time I was there. I was sweating bullets. I mean seriously, what do you do with 1 and 3/4 felted indoor boots? This isn't a colour you can match really. Besides, ONE boot tip a different colour? Two and you could call it quirky, but One? That just looks like a disaster.
Found it last night. It was in the bag with the yarn for the second pair of felted boots I'll be doing, of which there are 5 balls. Why look where the yarn should be when you can panic yourself and search the whole house for it? Wouldn't want to make life too easy.
Add my usual pre-trip panic and your picture of my life will be complete.
Ah well, I console myself with the impending visit to the LYS tomorrow morning where I actually have a budget for yarn buying. Spewers are plz2b ignoring my questions about Knit Picks yarn. That's a different budget. Really. I swear. That's the hope Dad is generous at Christmas budget. :D (spoiled? yes. I am. and lovin' every minute of it. Hey, I'm not buying drugs with it you know. Um, yarn isn't a drug, is it?)
I'm seriously enjoying knitting the Rogue. It is just sooooo much fun. But let me give you all some good advice here: when you read something in a knitting book and think to yourself, "oh, what a good idea!", always remember that it is an even better idea to put the good idea into practice. I'm knitting in the round with two circulars. Firstly because I don't like knitting in the round on one and secondly because this has the added benefit of me having to stop and change needles before I begin the side cable panels. This seriously reduces the risk of me blissfully and unknowingly knitting stockinette stitch right through the cables. I am a very tight knitter. I've had people comment that they thought they knit tightly until they saw my knitting. This makes for problems moving stitches around. After spending last night desperately trying to get the stitches off the cable and back onto the needle circulars whilst reminding my fingers that they should never get arthritis, I suddenly remembered that I read somewhere that tight knitters could replace the needle you knit off of with a smaller diameter so that it's easier to get the stitches back on. *headdesks* It took me 42 rounds of 200 stitches to remember that. Well, at least I did remember, and at least it was before I finished the sweater.
Now let us stop and take a moment to extol the virtues of Knit Picks Options. I would not be able to do this with normal needles, but with the Options, I just popped the left hand needles off and put a size smaller on. There was a vast improvement in speed. My fingers decided that they might be able to knit a few more rounds after all. I no longer felt like cutting the stitches open so I could get them on the needle (counter productive, I know, but I was getting desperate). Life in general, was much improved. Seriously. I love my Options and often wonder how knitters of long ago got by without them. I know they did, but their lives were the more difficult for it.
The moral of the whole story being, it's not a good idea to forget a good idea.
As far as finishing in time for Christmas goes, I'm on schedule. I'll finish the second boot this evening and start the second pair this weekend. I'm saving one of the second pair to do in the airplane. Should have that finished by the time I get home. That and a sock too. The sweater doesn't matter, so yay for that. Wonder how many more last min. projects there will be?
Found it last night. It was in the bag with the yarn for the second pair of felted boots I'll be doing, of which there are 5 balls. Why look where the yarn should be when you can panic yourself and search the whole house for it? Wouldn't want to make life too easy.
Add my usual pre-trip panic and your picture of my life will be complete.
Ah well, I console myself with the impending visit to the LYS tomorrow morning where I actually have a budget for yarn buying. Spewers are plz2b ignoring my questions about Knit Picks yarn. That's a different budget. Really. I swear. That's the hope Dad is generous at Christmas budget. :D (spoiled? yes. I am. and lovin' every minute of it. Hey, I'm not buying drugs with it you know. Um, yarn isn't a drug, is it?)
I'm seriously enjoying knitting the Rogue. It is just sooooo much fun. But let me give you all some good advice here: when you read something in a knitting book and think to yourself, "oh, what a good idea!", always remember that it is an even better idea to put the good idea into practice. I'm knitting in the round with two circulars. Firstly because I don't like knitting in the round on one and secondly because this has the added benefit of me having to stop and change needles before I begin the side cable panels. This seriously reduces the risk of me blissfully and unknowingly knitting stockinette stitch right through the cables. I am a very tight knitter. I've had people comment that they thought they knit tightly until they saw my knitting. This makes for problems moving stitches around. After spending last night desperately trying to get the stitches off the cable and back onto the needle circulars whilst reminding my fingers that they should never get arthritis, I suddenly remembered that I read somewhere that tight knitters could replace the needle you knit off of with a smaller diameter so that it's easier to get the stitches back on. *headdesks* It took me 42 rounds of 200 stitches to remember that. Well, at least I did remember, and at least it was before I finished the sweater.
Now let us stop and take a moment to extol the virtues of Knit Picks Options. I would not be able to do this with normal needles, but with the Options, I just popped the left hand needles off and put a size smaller on. There was a vast improvement in speed. My fingers decided that they might be able to knit a few more rounds after all. I no longer felt like cutting the stitches open so I could get them on the needle (counter productive, I know, but I was getting desperate). Life in general, was much improved. Seriously. I love my Options and often wonder how knitters of long ago got by without them. I know they did, but their lives were the more difficult for it.
The moral of the whole story being, it's not a good idea to forget a good idea.
As far as finishing in time for Christmas goes, I'm on schedule. I'll finish the second boot this evening and start the second pair this weekend. I'm saving one of the second pair to do in the airplane. Should have that finished by the time I get home. That and a sock too. The sweater doesn't matter, so yay for that. Wonder how many more last min. projects there will be?
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
Stash Sale for a Good Cause
Itty Bitty needs help paying off her vet bill so her owner is having a stash sale for her. Since I greatly sympathize, especially due to recent events, I'm pimping for her. She's got some lovely stuff, so go check it out!
Monday, 26 November 2007
Christmas is coming faster than you can say Reindeer on Amphetamines
Did I say I’d finished my Christmas knitting?
Well, I haven’t. Rather I’ve decided I can do some more. What can I say. I’m a glutton for punishment. I was digging through my stash at the weekend and found some wool I’d purchased for felted boots. They were meant to be replacements for the felted boots I made last year and failed at. I still swear that wasn’t my fault. Under the foot portion of the pattern it says to make the foot 10 inches. I had never felted before so I didn’t know how much it would shrink and couldn’t guess if she meant from the heel or just the foot portion of the boot, so I make the foot 10 inches and they were too long by far. So. Now I’m redoing them. My grandmother will be pleased with them I know and I’m making a pair for my “cousin” who I think will like them. At least they are a quick knit – I knit one boot on Sun. in just about 3 hours – and I can felt them at my dads, so there’s plenty of time, especially since they don’t have to be done until Christmas.
I’m also working on my Rogue and really enjoying it! It’s got just the right combo of cable and stockinet. The cabling makes it interesting and the stockinet means it knits fairly quickly. I haven’t spent that much time on it and already have 5 inches of the sweater (back and front knit in the round) and the kangaroo pocket knit. However, knitting this now is teaching me a valuable lesson – Never choose the wool for a sweater in summer. Last summer I thought the sweater I was knitting for my dad would be too warm in wool. Now I’m realizing that the cotton blend I chose instead is a little on the cool side. Granted, his has more cabling than the rogue and that makes it a little chunkier, but still, it’s not as warm as it seemed last summer. I’m still going ahead with knitting it in this yarn. It just means that I might have to knit it again in a wool yarn too :0) Can you tell I’m liking this sweater?
I also have the usual phone sock on the needles, but it’s pretty much going nowhere fast.
All in all, the knitting gods are being nice to me at the moment. Things are going almost a little too well. I feel like I’m tempting fate. It’s also a lot easier to make fun of yourself when things go wrong. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
I will, however, most certainly have blog fodder after I pack though. Do you have any idea how much knitted wear I’m taking with me? I swear I’m running the risk of being arrested at customs for illegal import of mass knitted goods. Wonder if there’s a limit of any kind, like no more than 3 pair of socks, 1 sweater and a hat. If so, I’ve got problems. Rather large ones. And what if they ask me to value the goods? Seriously. If I told them what I would have to charge just to recoup the yarn I’d have to pay a fortune in customs, heaven forbid they decide to include the knitting hours in the price! *goes off to practice innocent look for zooming through customs purposes*
Good thing I’m blond. They’ll just assume I’m too stupid to knit.
Oh, and my next socks will be these: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cable-net
Well, I haven’t. Rather I’ve decided I can do some more. What can I say. I’m a glutton for punishment. I was digging through my stash at the weekend and found some wool I’d purchased for felted boots. They were meant to be replacements for the felted boots I made last year and failed at. I still swear that wasn’t my fault. Under the foot portion of the pattern it says to make the foot 10 inches. I had never felted before so I didn’t know how much it would shrink and couldn’t guess if she meant from the heel or just the foot portion of the boot, so I make the foot 10 inches and they were too long by far. So. Now I’m redoing them. My grandmother will be pleased with them I know and I’m making a pair for my “cousin” who I think will like them. At least they are a quick knit – I knit one boot on Sun. in just about 3 hours – and I can felt them at my dads, so there’s plenty of time, especially since they don’t have to be done until Christmas.
I’m also working on my Rogue and really enjoying it! It’s got just the right combo of cable and stockinet. The cabling makes it interesting and the stockinet means it knits fairly quickly. I haven’t spent that much time on it and already have 5 inches of the sweater (back and front knit in the round) and the kangaroo pocket knit. However, knitting this now is teaching me a valuable lesson – Never choose the wool for a sweater in summer. Last summer I thought the sweater I was knitting for my dad would be too warm in wool. Now I’m realizing that the cotton blend I chose instead is a little on the cool side. Granted, his has more cabling than the rogue and that makes it a little chunkier, but still, it’s not as warm as it seemed last summer. I’m still going ahead with knitting it in this yarn. It just means that I might have to knit it again in a wool yarn too :0) Can you tell I’m liking this sweater?
I also have the usual phone sock on the needles, but it’s pretty much going nowhere fast.
All in all, the knitting gods are being nice to me at the moment. Things are going almost a little too well. I feel like I’m tempting fate. It’s also a lot easier to make fun of yourself when things go wrong. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
I will, however, most certainly have blog fodder after I pack though. Do you have any idea how much knitted wear I’m taking with me? I swear I’m running the risk of being arrested at customs for illegal import of mass knitted goods. Wonder if there’s a limit of any kind, like no more than 3 pair of socks, 1 sweater and a hat. If so, I’ve got problems. Rather large ones. And what if they ask me to value the goods? Seriously. If I told them what I would have to charge just to recoup the yarn I’d have to pay a fortune in customs, heaven forbid they decide to include the knitting hours in the price! *goes off to practice innocent look for zooming through customs purposes*
Good thing I’m blond. They’ll just assume I’m too stupid to knit.
Oh, and my next socks will be these: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cable-net
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
On Being Ill
I’m baaaaaack! Scary, isn’t it?
Well, I’ve had a cold/flu that was sent by express mail from Satan himself to punish me for, well, probably just for fun. I do believe he must have enjoyed himself quite a bit while watching me suffer. Even my doctor told me I really was a poor thing and then wrote me off sick for 2 weeks. She’s not prone to doing that. Still, it’s all gone now, except for the cough, but I’m sure that will go away in a few days.
Since then I’ve been told it would be a good idea to have my tonsils out, but I can’t at the moment due to organizational problems. It will just have to wait.
I'm afraid this means that I am woefully behind on blog reading since I really didn't feel like sitting at the computer. The cord to the heating pad is thread behind the couch and I couldn't be bothered to move it. I'll be catching up over the next two weeks or so.
So, what have I been up to? Not much. Literally vegetating on the couch. There were several days when I couldn’t even be bothered to turn on the telly let alone knit. It took a few days, but I did eventually reach the point where I could manage to knit for a while and took full advantage of it. I finished off the Snickets, the commission socks for my aunt, another pair of phone socks, knit up a couple of ornaments, a Leaves scarf with matching hat for my aunt's birthday and have now started plain phone socks and the Rogue Sweater for myself. Oh, those links sort of assume everyone can get on Ravelry, but I'll add pics of the scarf later for those who can't - mostly because I have to show the scarf off since I love it. I didn't like knitting it, but I love the finished project. I think she will too, but then, it's no skin off my nose if she doesn't because hey, then I can keep them for myself, yes? :0)
Oh yes, that brings me back to The Pink Gods. They are good for something. I learned from all of that, which is a good thing since I used the same yarn for the Leaves hat and scarf combo. I made both of them a little too small and they turned out perfect! Go me! Just because you're blond doesn't mean you can't learn.
Now I'm sort of gearing up for my trip home (again, potential buglers, there really is NOTHING in my apartment that you'd want to steal. Really. Just trust me on this one. You'll be disappointed if you make the trip for nothing.) I can't wait to go on the one hand, and am sad to be leaving the poochies on the other. I worry that they will be cold out in the barn where they will be staying. No, they won't freeze and they certainly won't be bored. T is partial to Rabbit TV, but you have to make sure he can't get to the door handles. T has one talent in life, he can open just about any door. He has been know to open all of the cages and then stand there watching the rabbits while they cower in the corner. Didn't touch a single one, but they could have all gotten out. Biscuit will have other dogs to play with, so she won't be bored, but it's still cold out and I feel sorry for them.
Other than that, I am looking forward to going. I just need to make sure that I balance my time better and do a few more things on my own this year. I love my family, but too much of a good thing...
I could drone on, but I'm not feeling particularly creative today so I'd probably just bore everyone to death. Hope everyone else is having a good run up to the Christmas Season!
10.5 working days and counting.
Oh yes, the scarf:
Well, I’ve had a cold/flu that was sent by express mail from Satan himself to punish me for, well, probably just for fun. I do believe he must have enjoyed himself quite a bit while watching me suffer. Even my doctor told me I really was a poor thing and then wrote me off sick for 2 weeks. She’s not prone to doing that. Still, it’s all gone now, except for the cough, but I’m sure that will go away in a few days.
Since then I’ve been told it would be a good idea to have my tonsils out, but I can’t at the moment due to organizational problems. It will just have to wait.
I'm afraid this means that I am woefully behind on blog reading since I really didn't feel like sitting at the computer. The cord to the heating pad is thread behind the couch and I couldn't be bothered to move it. I'll be catching up over the next two weeks or so.
So, what have I been up to? Not much. Literally vegetating on the couch. There were several days when I couldn’t even be bothered to turn on the telly let alone knit. It took a few days, but I did eventually reach the point where I could manage to knit for a while and took full advantage of it. I finished off the Snickets, the commission socks for my aunt, another pair of phone socks, knit up a couple of ornaments, a Leaves scarf with matching hat for my aunt's birthday and have now started plain phone socks and the Rogue Sweater for myself. Oh, those links sort of assume everyone can get on Ravelry, but I'll add pics of the scarf later for those who can't - mostly because I have to show the scarf off since I love it. I didn't like knitting it, but I love the finished project. I think she will too, but then, it's no skin off my nose if she doesn't because hey, then I can keep them for myself, yes? :0)
Oh yes, that brings me back to The Pink Gods. They are good for something. I learned from all of that, which is a good thing since I used the same yarn for the Leaves hat and scarf combo. I made both of them a little too small and they turned out perfect! Go me! Just because you're blond doesn't mean you can't learn.
Now I'm sort of gearing up for my trip home (again, potential buglers, there really is NOTHING in my apartment that you'd want to steal. Really. Just trust me on this one. You'll be disappointed if you make the trip for nothing.) I can't wait to go on the one hand, and am sad to be leaving the poochies on the other. I worry that they will be cold out in the barn where they will be staying. No, they won't freeze and they certainly won't be bored. T is partial to Rabbit TV, but you have to make sure he can't get to the door handles. T has one talent in life, he can open just about any door. He has been know to open all of the cages and then stand there watching the rabbits while they cower in the corner. Didn't touch a single one, but they could have all gotten out. Biscuit will have other dogs to play with, so she won't be bored, but it's still cold out and I feel sorry for them.
Other than that, I am looking forward to going. I just need to make sure that I balance my time better and do a few more things on my own this year. I love my family, but too much of a good thing...
I could drone on, but I'm not feeling particularly creative today so I'd probably just bore everyone to death. Hope everyone else is having a good run up to the Christmas Season!
10.5 working days and counting.
Oh yes, the scarf:
Monday, 12 November 2007
Oh Woe is Me
This blog is rather on hiatus at the moment due to a very, very nasty cold that doesn't want to go away. Even drugs haven't helped enough to make me want to spend a lot of time sitting in front of the comp staring into a screen. Frankly, any time I do have when I'm not asleep I'd rather be knitting. Must be knitting as a matter of fact. Still working on the Christmas knitting and I keep coming up with more to do all the time. Should be back sometime around the end of this week.
Hope all is well with all of you.
Hope all is well with all of you.
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Blog Contest
Like contests? Like to meet new people and learn a lot about them? Go see Tangled Up in Knots and have fun!
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