splitting a skein into two balls

I am usually not a stickler for many things. I've never been called a neat freak or anal retentive. But when it comes to doing things in pairs, such as gloves, socks, or sleeves, my tiny inner symmetry banshee comes out screaming.

I have joined a few sock clubs and have bought other small skeins of yarn to add to my stash of sock yarn. Often times, it is sold in small skeins, but more often it is sold in one huge 350-500 super skein. Because of my whole symmetry thing, I prefer to knit pairs of things at the same time on two circular needles (good how-tos can be found here and here). It's fine if the yarn is all one color (then you can knit from the outside strand and the inside strand), or if you have two small skeins (like the ones knitpicks sell). However, things get tricky if you are working with a hand-painted single skein. I personally want the colors to match up and go in the same order, which wouldn't happen if you just knit from opposite ends of the yarn.

Here is my method. First, I take the skein and put it onto a swift. I found mine on ebay for about $20-30.

Next, start to wind the skein into one huge ball. I have a cheap ball winder that I got at Joann.com for about $20 or so. It gets the job done, so money well spent. It takes all of 3-6 minutes to wind a whole skein.

Once you have the entire skein in a ball, take it off the ball winder, and put it on a scale. The more accurate, the better. I have one that can weigh in grams, which is a lot more precise than ounces. I think I got mine for about $20 (sense a theme?) from a website that sells soap-making supplies. Always go with what's on the scale rather than what the manufacturer lists. For example, the label lists this as 155g, but in according to my scale it is 172g. Make sure you write it down! It's easy to get distracted and forget.

Once you have the weight, pull the end from the center and put that onto the ball winder to make your second ball. Keep the original ball on the scale. Start winding away, noting the weight as it goes down. I would also recommend holding the yarn loosely between your fingers to not only add a bit of tension, but to help keep the ball on the scale.

Once the scale approaches half of your original weight, you can clip the yarn. Since I have that whole symmetry thing, I compare the color on the center-pull of the new ball to the halfway area between the two balls. This way, the two socks/sleeves/gloves will have approximately similar color changes in the same places.

Ta da! That is pretty much it. Now you should have two balls of about the same length and weight. It's not totally scientific, and I doubt highly that it's 100% accurate. For that reason, I'd say to not use a pattern that is cutting it close in terms of yardage. If you have a pattern that requires 420 yards, and you have 400-410 yards that you just split into two balls, I'd skip it and go with a pattern than requires fewer yards. I'd personally would have a conniption fit if one sock came up a few yards short!

blocking!

I finally got around to blocking my shawl. I finished knitting it a few weeks ago, but kept forgetting to block it.

I rinsed out the finished piece in the sink and let it sit in the water for a few minutes. I squeezed out the excess and pinned it into place. I don't think it's all that much larger than the unblocked piece, but I only had 440 yards of the yarn to work with. I do think it's a bit wider, but not really too much longer, unfortunately. Still, I think it'll be a good size for a fancy (wide) scarf, though I suppose technically it's a bit too small to be a shawl. Maybe.

We'll see how big it it tonight after it's had a chance to dry, and I can photograph it on an actual person (me) instead of flat.

shawl

Still trucking along on the shawl. I am only getting a bit of time on it during my commute to/from work and a tiny bit in the evenings before I pass out.

The pattern has been memorized. After a few repeats, it's really easy to get into the flow of it, and just knit away. It looks a bit on the small side, but I think it'll block out to a good size. I hope.

return of the Arggh Lace Monster

I cast on for the Woodland Shawl. I read the directions too literally, as the first few rows are kind of vague. She says "begin pattern" so I took that to mean "row 1 of pattern" instead of the pattern set-up row. Confusion! I almost threw it out the window and started crying because I couldn't figure out why everyone kept saying "omg this is so easy!" and I was having such a hard time. Duh.

After I realized my mistake, I frogged back a few rows to the edging. Now it's coming along very well. It's pretty fluid since the repeats aren't insane and the stitches are easy. Hopefully I can speed through this!

I am using 2 skeins of discontinued KnitPicks Memories to do this. My yarn is only about 440 yards, while the pattern uses 460. Hopefully this won't make a substantially shorter wrap. I have messaged someone on ravelry who has some extra skeins up for sale, so hopefully I'll hear back about that... just in case. I plan on wet blocking it too, so maybe I can get some stretch out of it when it's all done.

Kool-aided yarn

I went with 5 packs of Cherry, 1 pack of Soarin' Strawberry Lemonade, and 3 packs of Grape. I added them to a nearly-full 4-quart pot on my stove in room temperature water. Meanwhile, I soaked the wool (4 oz hank) in the bathroom sink for about 20 minutes. Then I added it to the fruit-stravaganza mixture. I squished the yarn to help get it integrated into the dye. (My hands smell like candy, and they're a bit stained... should have worn gloves. Oops.)



I put the heat on low for about 20-25 minutes. I could see that the dye was being exhausted before the water even hit 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The water went from very dark and nearly opaque to a translucent/slightly cloudy color at the bottom of the pot. Once it looked almost completely exhausted, I turned up the heat for a few minutes, put the lid on, then turned off the gas. I let it cool on the stove until it was lukewarm, then I rinsed the dye out in the bathroom sink.

The color is similar to a burgundy-blue colorway I bought on ebay. I wasn't 100% of what to expected from the colors I chose. I think I added too much grape which made it a bit dark & muddy. But overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Now that I know how easy this is to do, I have a few skeins of undyed sock and lace yarn I've been thinking of dyeing. But I think I'll need to hit up the grocery store for more Kool-aid (or possibly food coloring) first.

Here's the dried yarn. The color lightened a bit once it wasn't sopping wet. It has a nice burgundy-brown-blue thing with a few purple & mauve sections. I actually like the results much more than I thought I would!


Meanwhile, I'm casting on for the Woodland Shawl. I am making these for a friend's birthday present (I offered her to make something, but she didn't seem to mind if it was knit, jewerly, or whatever else, so I decided to knit). I keep having frustration with lace, but this one seems to be a little less daunting than the others. Fingers crossed!

Experiments with kool-aid

I just received my January yarn from Elliebelly. It is the first time I have gotten a colorway that I don't really like. It's blue-white-yellow-pink-brown. Not very me. Rather than trade it, I am going to try to overdye it using Kool-aid. (There's a good tutorial here, and a good site with color swatches here).

The yarn is a merino wool/seacell blend, so I am not sure how well the color will take (I've never dyed seacell before...), but it should change the color enough for my purposes.

I have a bunch of packets to choose from. I am thinking of just overdying it with a bright red (Cherry), a bright orangey-red (Soarin' Strawberry Lemonade), or a combination of a red & purple to get a red-violet color (Cherry + Grape). I'm leaning toward the latter because I think it'll add a nice tone to the existing colors in the yarn.

Updates to come!

IDIOT

I am almost done with the Stulpen gloves. Except that I just realized I did the increases incorrectly for the thumb gussets, so I'm going to have to rip out the last 2-3 inches of work and start that all over again. HAHAHAHA. I've already redone the cable once already, and now I have to start it all over again!

Well, at least I learned how to read the cable chart without having to refer to the key. And I found out how to do the cable so that they are mirror images. But, I think I will put these on the back burner for a while and knit something else for a while. I will also make sure that I read the directions carefully! Maybe I'll even finish them before winter ends. But then again, my hands are always freezing, so whatever.

I subscribed to a few sock clubs. I did the Blue Moon sock club. I love their raven series, so that was enough to sway me to try a subscription. Some of the designers this year look amazing too. It was expensive, but I used some of my Christmas money for it.

I also (re)joined the Elliebelly sock club. Her colorways are nice, and she's one of the more affordable clubs. This one is only 3 months, though, so that's also a plus for saving money and not ending up with 34098 skeins of unused yarn. I'm also doing the Neighborhood Fiber Co. sock club (a 6-month subscription over one year), but the yarn is now a month delayed—I still haven't gotten December's yarn (woe is me).

Maybe I should be knitting socks...

big hole

I haven't posted in ages. I haven't really done much to warrant posting, I suppose. My hand-knit goods last Christmas did not go over so well I guess--I never saw anyone wearing any of the things I made, so I think that put me off knitting for a while. Looking at my finished projects, I noticed the only things I've made for myself in 2 years included an acrylic-wool blend sweater, and a mop head. Gee, thanks to me!

In addition to that, it has been a really bad year. I won't go into detail, but let's just leave it at "one of the worst years of my life." I tried to keep myself busy: this year I took two figure drawing classes, a painting class, a metalsmithing class, and a bellydancing class. I didn't really do much artistically or creatively outside the classroom, though. I was too down to do much at all.

I am now back to knitting, finally, and I am knitting for myself. Well, mostly. I decided to use up a bunch of yarn someone gave me. Almost all of it was mismatched half-skeins, consisting of scratchy old acrylic. There wasn't a substantial amount of any one color to make anything significant--and it isn't suitable for clothing. I had been promising my cats a project, so I used about 3 of those half-skeins and made this catbed for my two cats. The pattern was super easy, but I do think it was a bit on the small side. If I do it again, I'd either use bigger needles or heavier yarn, and add a few stitches to the diameter.

I suppose if I use anymore of that yarn, it'll end up being transformed in to another cat bed and/or a bunch of cat toys.

Back to me, I'd enrolled into a few sock yarn clubs over the last year, along with purchasing a few skeins of inexpensive wool fingering yarn on ebay last winter, but I never got around to making anything with it. I don't want to be one of those people who stockpile yarn for no purpose. I have enough clutter as it is!

I have started a pair of fingerless gloves. My hands are always cold-to-the-point-of-numbness, since my cublicle at work is always freezing, and my computer at home is next to a drafty window. Figures that once I start knitting these, the temperature skyrockets to 70 degrees F in DECEMBER! Well, no doubt it will get freezing cold again, so these will definitely come in handy.

The pattern is easy, but tiny knitting takes a lot more time than doing it with big, fat needles. I am knitting them both at the same time on two circulars. That is probably why it seems to be taking longer than it should, but it guarantees me that I make them the same length and start everything in the exact same row on each glove. The cables are slowing me down a bit too, but they are not crazy-difficult. I will have to frog back a few rows, unfortunately. I tried to mirror the cable pattern on the left glove, but I don't know enough about cable construction, and messed it up royally. Good thing it's only a few rows. I'd cry if it were more.

For these, I am using some sock-weight yarn that I got on ebay for cheap (800 yards for $9 or so). It's probably not machine-washable, but I don't think gloves would a) get washed all that often, or b) be a pain to hand-wash.

My next project will most likely to be socks--to use up the vast amounts of sock yarn I've accumulated in the last year. But first, I finish these. No more UFOs.

@#%@ing lace

I am working on the Luna Moth shawl right now. It's not a difficult pattern, but not something you can sit & do mindlessly. I have only gotten about 40 rows in. I sit and do about 5 rows, and end up having to frog about 3 back. Somehow there ends up being an extra stitch or one too few every few rows.

This is a great way to make me feel like an idiot. I really want to finish this one, and I really do like the pattern, I'm just not really in the frame of mind to work on something so intricate. Not to mention this isn't exactly commuter-friendly. Having to refer to a chart every few stitches on a crowded subway train is an exercise in frustration.

Grah. F'ing lace. I think I'll save this one for weeknights, and switch to something more stockinette-heavy for to/from work. Now to narrow down the choices... Most of the other projects in my queue involve either a lot of charts and/or cables. I think I might just try out the 1930's sweater. It seems pretty uncomplicated enough for me to get through without crying. ;) I think I even have some stash yarn, so I won't have to order anything special to get it started.

On the less grumbly side, I blocked the entrelac scarf, and was really happy with the finished product. I ended up using pretty much all three skeins of the Silk Garden. If I do this one again, I'll probably skip one of the middle blocks to create a longer & more narrow scarf.

I finally inviested in a swift. I had something like 10 hanks of sock yarn. I tried to wind them into center-pull balls to knit from, but the two I tried to do by hand ended up in horrific tangles that took me three days to undo. I did the other 8-10 balls with the swift in less than a half hour. LOVE. I foresee a few sock patterns in my very near future.

Musings on sewing

I'm trying to resolve to updating more often, and having reasons to update.

I try to do something creative every day, or at least a few times a week. I've really found that knitting works really well for me. I'm moderately good at it, it's a nice use of time at home while watching TV, or riding the subway to & from work. Plus, at the end there's something to wear or give to a friend. I've only been knitting for about a year, and I've seen my skill levels improve over time, probably due to the fact that I tend to knit a lot, or moderately often. Even if stuff ends up getting frogged, it's practice. I wouldn't say my knitting is totally perfect & beautiful, but I'm pretty happy with how it turns out in general.

And then there's sewing.

Since about the age of 9, I wanted to be a fashion designer. I loved flipping through the pages of Vogue and Elle. I watched Style with Elsa Klensch religiously. I loved clothing, and how it fit on people. I applied to Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, and was accepted. However, my parents were not willing to pay for college, nor allow me to move away. I went instead to one of my other college choices, the University of Maryland. I took the introductory textile classes and pattern-making classes. By my second year in the program, I was totally disillusioned. Not only was UM canceling my major & department, but the entire college that included about 10 different majors. To further antagonize the matter, my sewing & pattern classes really were not up to par with my expectations. The teachers didn't really care about fashion—they all seemed like they were straight out of local fabric store home-sewing classes than a college-level design class. I got snide remarks on designs, choices of notions, fabrics, and colors. To me, fashion is an art form—it's objective. You don't have to like everything, but to tell someone that they CAN'T use a sport zipper on evening wear? Who says so? Why not?!

With all these factors, I quit the program and changed my major to an utterly useless degree, but at least it made me appreciate being in college.

However, with the lack of sewing over the years, my skills devolved to about the level of a 6-year-old. Fast forward to now. I do a lot of tiny projects that don't take a lot of skill, but I'm just so frustrated. When I attempt larger projects with more than 3 seams, everything goes to crap. I know I can get better with time, but when I get so angry and upset at a project, it's not exactly encouraging.

To wit: I started working on a western shirt a few weeks ago. I cut the pieces out. No problem. I sewed the side seams, darks, button placket, and yokes together. Fine. The I took the collar band & collar, put interfacing on them, and assembled them. Ok so far. Then I had to sew the collar to the shirt. I attempted this three times, and every attempt was full of fail. The collar was a good inch too short for the neck. WHAT. I know I cut everything out correctly, and my seams were not really so far off that the collar couldn't fit. At this point, I just want to cry, and I feel like a total failure. My choices are to either take everything apart and re-sew all the seams, or burn it. I'm kind of leaning toward the latter.

I have a huge pile of vintage & modern sewing patterns I've been amassing from ebay and online vendor sales. I want to get around to making them without breaking down in tears. I want to make my own clothes, instead of buying cheap, manufactured-in-sweatshop clothing that falls apart after the third washing. I want to have things that are more tailored to my own personal style and tastes. But I just keep hitting this wall because I think I absolutely suck.

Another cause of frustration is my sewing machine. I just wanted a simple, inexpensive machine, since I know I don't sew very much. I got the Kenmore Mini, which I think cost me all of $67. It's cute and functional, but aside from straight stitches, it's kind of crap (especially after using a higher-end Bernina to take some sewing classes at the local fabric store). The presser foot is too heavy and stretches out any knit fabric or elastic I attempt to sew. I can't set the stitch length (it has about 5 pre-set stitches), so even the "basting" stitches are too tiny. And it jams at the drop of a hat. I would really love to get the same sewing machine I got for my mom's birthday last year (the Brother ES2000). The reviews for it are phenomenal, and it's under $200. For comparison, the Bernina I want is almost $1000.

Now the guilt-trip over deciding if I should get another machine. I know I sew better with a nicer machine—the clothing items I made in class came out fairly well, and I had a much easier time of things. The clothes I make at home make me cry. If I had a better machine, it would encourage me to sew more, which would allow me to get better skills. I just have a hard time making that leap. It's absolutely ridiculous the things on which I can drop $150 without batting an eye, but for something that might actually prove to be useful and beneficial to me, I get all wishy-washy. Dumb.

I think I am going to find a way to get an extra $150 in near future, and just get it. Part of my new plan of re-prioritizing expenditures. I'm going to get rid of stuff that is superfluous, and be a lot more frugal with money. I do think I'll wait until after Mercury retrograde to buy any kind of new machinery, though. ;)

Travels with sticks

I just did a long series of flights (DC -> HI) and am happy to report that I had absolutely no issues or problems with knitting needles in my carry on (I had a pair of metal circulars). In fact, on my last leg of my flight from LAX to IAD, there was a person in my seating row knitting, as well as a lady one row back from me. A pair of the flight attendents stopped their drink cart to see what I was making, and one remarked that she too had some knitting in her carry on that she wanted to work on. =) This was on United, for what it's worth.

My brother and I came up with an amusing knitting project. Today is my brother's birthday—I've been joking for ages about making him a sweater with an image of Mr. T with "Mister Jewelry Man" underneath (a joke from a British comedy called the I.T. Crowd). Instead, I'm going to make a sweater for my fat, lazy cat Early. The back is going to say Mister Jewelry Man, and the front is going to have faux gold chains done in intaglio. He'll probably go totally insane if I try to put a sweater on him, but the amusement will overpower any feelings of sympathy. Heh.

I'm still working on the entrlac scarf. It is really getting super dull, and I am really tired of knitting it. I'll probably cut the scarf a bit short just to be done with it. It's supposed to be about 3 full skeins of Noro silk garden, but I think if it's around 2.5, it'll be good enough.

I cast on for the Luna Moth shawl before I left for Hawai'i (thinking that I'd have time to knit... HA!). I'm using the Peru4Less alpaca yarn that ended up being too thin for the McQueen knock-off sweater. It's a very soft and lovely yarn (and super cheap!), so I think it'll make a very nice wrap. I have a feeling I'll be making a variety of wraps and shawls to use up all the thin-gauge yarns that I have. I will more than likely give one or two away, but I'd like to end up with knitting something for myself every once in a while. ;)

December's fury: outcome

I managed to finish the sweaters for my nephews, with a few days to spare. I did a skull pattern on the second one, since allegedly my nephew likes pirates. I don't think either nephew was all that enthused about getting sweaters, though. They don't make noise, or use batteries. I think my sister liked them at the very least.

The only problem I had with the pattern was the last bit: the collar. She has you go down to an odd # of stitches, which wouldn't work with a 1x1 rib. I also bound off super loosely, and it was too small! I know a lot of other people did that without problems. Maybe my idea of loose is different than everyone else. And maybe my nephews have giant heads. If I do this again, I'll skip a few of the decreases and have a bigger neck hole.

I ended up forgoing knitting socks for my neices. I didn't have enough time to make three pairs before Christmas. Instead, I screenprinted some fabric and made them totebags. I was up until 5:30 am the day of Christmas sewing those damned things. And of course, I forgot to photograph them. Oh well.

Right now I'm working on an entrelac scarf using noro silk garden. I am not sure how I feel about this yarn. It seems very popular, but it's odd. The color is lovely. The texture is weird. I thought it would be softer. The yarn also varies from thin-as-dental-floss to knitting-with-cotton-balls. And the color changes seem to be slightly different in each skein, even though they are the same color number and lot. It does work amazingly well with entrelac, so I'm glad I am using it. I don't think I'd use it for a sweater or something, though.

I can't believe I was ever intimidated by this pattern. It's super easy, and I've got it memorized, so I just knit on the subway or in front of the TV without having to pay much attention at all.

I do think I'll need to block it when I'm done. It's looking a bit lumpy along the edges. Overall, though, I like the stiffness of this yarn for the pattern. It's much crisper looking than my previous attempt, using Wool-Ease left over from those two Drive-Thru sweaters.

I am flying out to Hawaii for a vacation (thank the gods), and I am finding myself in need of a small pattern to do on the plane. I've got about 11-13 hours of travel time in each direction, so I'd really like something small that I can do to not go stir-crazy. I"m thinking I can finally restart those Endpaper mitts, or maybe do some socks. I haven't had any problem bringing knitting on a plane so far, and I hope it stays that way. Smaller needles seem perhaps less threatening, no? Though I did bring aluminum size 8 straight & DP needles on an international flight last year... Maybe I'm just too cute to be threatening. Hah. hahahah. ha.

I'm really coveting the Knitpicks Harmony interchangeable knitting needle set. I have a full set of bamboo circulars, but I find myself hating them. Just about every needle I've had under a size 2 or 3 has snapped in half. They aren't very slick, and the points are short & stubby. But thankfully they were cheap. I much prefer pointy & sharp needles. I like the slickness of metal, but often they are too slippery, so these wood ones seem like a good alternative. They've gotten pretty nice reviews from what I've seen. And they're just so pretty. The smallest they have for the interchangeable ones is a 4, but truth be told, I'm pretty skeptical about using anything other than metal for 0-3 needles anyhow.

Progress!

The Clapotis is finished! I am pretty happy with how it turned out, actually. I'd like to make another one at some point, but way, way, way later. The pattern is really easy, though it gets a bit monotonous in the middle section.

I used a lot less yarn than I thought I would. I bought three skeins of 330 yard merino-alpaca yarn (bargain ebay laceweight yarn from yarn treehouse—I really am impressed with it), but only ended up using about 1.5 or 1.66 of them. The yarn is a really pretty color, and it's really soft & warm. It's a bit narrow because I used thinner yarn than the pattern calls for, but it's at least wider than a standard scarf. I'm hoping it won't matter too much because my mom is tiny. I suppose I could try to block it, but I am a bit hesitant to do so because I don't want it to lose any of the bumps and waves. That's kind of the whole point of the Clapotis.

...I just hope my mom likes it.

I'm on Project #2: The Drive-thru pullover for my nephew. I'm making really fast work out of this one. Mostly because it's almost all straight stockinette stitch in the round, and a sweater for a 5-year old isn't going to be an insanely large project. ;) I've already done up to the armholes on the body, and I've just stated the sleeves. I'm trying to knit them both at the same time on two circulars. It's a bit tricky—like trying to wrestle a spider. Hopefully it gets a bit easier after a few rows. If this one goes well, I'll do a second one in a slightly larger size in green for my other nephew. If not well, I guess he'll get a vest. Heh.

I'm making ok overall progress so far, but I have a lot of knitting ahead of me in the next few weeks.

I found a few ebay sellers that sell hand-dyed sock yarn for not-insanely-expensive, so I've also stocked up on sock yarn. My photos look a bit off in color, but it is hard to take accurate pictures in anything but natural daylight.

I am at this point planning on making a pair of socks for each of my three nieces. I don't know which yarn I'm using for which niece yet, nor do I know what pattern I'm using for any of them. I have about 30 sock patterns saved in my ravelry queue, all of which would be fine for any of them. I guess I'll just wing it (i.e. pick the ones rated easiest). I'm hoping that I get the hang of the knitting-two-at-a-time method, and that none of these are a particularly large investment of time.

In addition to the socks, I'm going to give them some screen-printed tote bags. I guess I should burn those screens soon. And buy fabric.

Still no idea about dad, or my eldest nephew (age 21). I'd really like to do an entrelac scarf for my dad, but that seems like it will be tricky & a huge time-suck. I guess I'll troll around ravelry or craftster to see if i can find some inspiration & ideas.

Handmade gift pledge

This year, I'm determined to not buy anything for anyone this holiday season. I'm going to try to make everything. I'm sick of spending huge amounts of money on my family, for impersonal gifts they may not really even want or need. I'm giving them basic things that they are more than likely to need/wear. I hope they understand the time and effort involved (I've read horror stories), and how much more personal it is for me to do for each of them. I'm sort of at a loss for what to give some of them, but I guess I'll figure it out as I go along. Luckily, my siblings and I decided not to exchange gifts. There are 5 of us, plus 3 brothers-in-law. We usually do a secret santa type of gift exchange, but one less gift to worry about is alright by me.

I'm finally started on the Clapotis! I am using an inexpensive no-name brand yarn I found on ebay; it's an alpaca and merino blend. It's fairly soft and seems like it'll be nice & warm this winter, but light enough to wear as a wrap in the spring. It's a very pretty color (though I personally do not like blue so much) that I hope my mom will like. I have no idea what her favorite color is. I'm a horrible daughter.

I've been knitting the Clap for long stretches of time over this Thanksgiving weekend, (since my plans were ruined, I've been knitting whilst watching marathon reruns of America's Next Top Model--the shame--and feeling sorry for myself), and I find that it's fairly easy, and pretty quick too. I've just gotten to the second repeat in the straight section, where the drops start, in about 2 days (I'm not the fastest knitter--I've only been knitting for about a year). I thought those drops were going to be much scarier than they are, but it's really not bad at all.

Depending on how quickly the Clapotis knits up, I may even make one for one of my nieces, though I'd really like to give everyone something different, specifically made for them. I've got three of nieces, ranging in age from 18 to 13. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Handmade socks or maybe mittens in hand-painted sock yarn (I can finally try out koolaid dyeing)? Some sort of silver jewelery using all that damned art clay that I've had for MONTHS and still have not used? Or I can sew some sort of shirt with funky fabrics. Or I can sew tote bags out of hand-screenprinted fabric, with cute designs that all of them would possibly maybe like.

Teenage girls are weird. I should know--I used to be one a very long time ago. :P

On top of that, I owe one of them an extra present: I have a bunch of glitter vinyl to sew into a bag/purse of some sort, which I was supposed to do for her birthday (*cough*inAugust*cough*). I'm scared to cut it. And sew it. I got a special teflon foot for my sewing machine, but it's just so intimidating.

As for the nephews, one is 21. I have no idea what to do for him. Maybe handwarmers or a hat with skulls on it? The other two boys are 5 and 7. They are both tiny, at any rate, so anything I make for them will (gods willing) be relatively fast & easy. One of them allegedly likes hats. That is a good start. I've been looking at all the childrens' patterns on ravelry.com, and I have a few ideas (sweaters, toys, hats, mittens, etc), but I have no idea how long any of that will take to knit. The only frame of reference I had is the BSJ that I knit this fall, but I mostly did it over 2 weeks while riding the subway to & from work.

Oh yeah, here is a picture of the finished BSJ! I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, and I think the recipient (well, the mom) was pretty impressed that it was handmade especially for their new baby, and seemed to genuinely like it. I think she also appreciated that it wasn't boring baby blue or washed out yellow. I told her that I'd do one later for Max with skulls on it, and she seemed super excited about that. There's a cool pirate-y pull-over in an issue of knit.1 from February that would be perfect.

I suppose that Alexander McQueen sweater I wanted to make myself this winter will be on hold for a bit longer. I guess I have time between Christmas & New Years... Fingers crossed that I can finish it before it gets too warm to wear alpaca.

By the way, am I the only one who gets totally grossed out when people refer to yarn as "yummy?" Seriously, all I can think about is when I get cat hair stuck in my mouth or throat, and it just makes me want to gag and choke and puke, and how yarn fiber in the mouth is no picnic either. Yummy? No! Vomit-inducing! Do not eat! JUST SAY PRETTY. Geez.

Surprise! It's a baby (jacket).

I've moved on to multiple projects at the same time. Which really amounts to me concentrating on the one that is easiest and more enjoyable to knit.

Right now, most of my attention is going to Elizabeth Zimmermann's baby surprise jacket. Her directions are not bad, but not really super drawn out, which is kind of important for me. I'm still really a novice knitter, so I need things to be as obvious as possible. It is fantastic because it's all knit, so it goes pretty fast. I can do about 3-4 rows on each leg of the subway ride to/from work, and then I invariably work on it a bit in the evening while watching tv or playing video games. I'm doing it in Knitpicks Merino Style yarn in Tide Pool, Asparagus, and Storm. The plan is to vary the colors throughout. Next time, I'd love to try it with a variegated yarn. The one on the helloyarn.com blog done like that is very cute.

I found a cheat sheet for the jacket, which is helping my progress a lot. I'm also trying to do it to be about 5-6st = 1" range, so the jacket is on the bigger size. He is only a month old now, and it's going to be at least another 2 months before the weather is conducive to wearing wool. I know nothing about baby sizing, but according to this, it will work out to about a 15-18" chest diameter. What that means in size of clothing, I can only guess, but I vaguely recall something around 6-8 months? Even if it's on the big size, it is still better than too small--they grow fast, them baby things. And 6-8 months should be right around the middle of winter.

Hopefully I'll have it finished before I see the recipients again. Well, that's probably not too hard, since they live 250 miles away, and I don't have any plans to go up there any time soon. The nice thing about small projects like that, is they are fairly fast to knit. And the way everyone I know is getting married and knocked up lately, I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to make a few of these before long.

And in the Way Overdue section, I finally got some glitter vinyl to make my neice's birthday (3 weeks ago) present. The pieces are HUGE, which is nice, and it's super shiny & pretty. The price was wonderful too (most people sell it upwards of $17-22/yd), and they shipped it (quickly) on a roll, instead of folded, so it's not got any creases or wrinkles. Yes, they call it Sparkel, which I was quick to correct, but evidently that's how the manufacturer wants it spelled. Go figure. I got a yard each of the hot pink & silver (which is more like white with silver glitter), and a sample of the purple & kiwi (which hopefully are enough to make some cute shapes).

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to make--a tote or bowling-ball bag of some sort I suppose. I ordered some (a bit overpriced) tubular frames from Ghee's to give it a bit of structure, but I didn't think of that until yesterday, so it may be a while until I get started. There are sellers on Etsy called Hippofabulous and also Stitchpixie. They make very amazing stuff out of vinyl. I love the whimsical and cute designs they do, so hopefully some of that talent and inspiration gets to work on my brain, so that I can make some crazy original design for my neice.

I have kind of a low-end sewing machine, and no teflon foot for it, so I'm sure sewing two layers of thick vinyl will be quite the adventure. I hope it doesn't blow up. I guess if it does, it'll be a good excuse to get the same Brother sewing machine my siblings and I got for my mom on her last birthday. Which she hates because it's too newfangled, not understanding that ALL machines are like that now. *sigh* The reviews for it are pretty fantastic. A friend also recommended the Euro-Pro, which also looks like it has good reviews. Really, I'd love a Bernina, but I can't really justify dropping $1000+ on a sewing machine, since I don't sew a tremendous amount.

The frogination

Almost done with the first sock. It seems to have gone slowly, but I was only knitting on the subway ride to and from work. I've turned the heel and everything—which wasn't scary at all, in fact it was pretty easy. Whew.

However, the set of circular bamboo needles I'm working with are giving me huge problems. At size 0, they are a bit *too* flexible. I've broken the same needle on one of the pairs TWICE, so I'm left with a 2-inch stump. The other pair of size 0 circulars now has a split forming in one of the needles. I will say, though, that 2 circular needles are the way to go. 2 is more awesomer than 4.

I'm not very happy with the way it's turning out. It looks ok, but not as good as I'd like it. I think the Magic Stripes yarn is just a tad bit too bulky for this pattern, even on tiny needles. I'm going to redo this pattern later, but with a finer/softer wool. I've got a nice stash of some merino sock wool from Stick Chick, and a few small skeins of sale sock yarn from KnitPicks on their way to me which I think will work a lot more nicely.

...Frogged! (It didn't help that a bunch of stitches fell off the needle at some point as well. D'oh).

This yarn is being rewound into a ball. I think at some point I will use it to make socks, but with a very plain pattern. I just don't think the thickness and stiffness of this particular yarn holds up to delicate and/or lacy designs.

I went a little yarn crazy today. I have some (hopefully real) alpaca yarn coming from eBay to do the Alexander McQueen knock off sweater (which I keep calling STEVE McQueen. heh); some midnight blue fingerling alpaca yarn by Yarn Treehouse to make a Clapotis for my mom's xmas present; some purple, black, and clematis heathered knitpicks Palette yarn to make 2 pairs of Endpaper Mitts for various people; some knitpicks Merino Style yarn in 2 blues and a green to make the Baby Surprise jacket for my boyfriend's ex-landlords who just had a baby; and some new circular knitting needles (IN METAL) to replace the ones I just broke (and the others I will likely break soon).

I took an entrelac knitting class this past weekend—one of the local fabric stores offers knitting classes (yet doesn't sell yarn...). It makes a lot more sense now. It is still really complicated, but at least I understand the underlying construction technique. I'll finally be able to make that Danica scarf after all. After those 59392 things on my "to knit" list. Heh.

Sock-a-go-go

I've made quite a bit of progress on my first sock (considering I've only really been knitting on the subway). However, I really think the Magic Stripes yarn is too thick for this particular pattern and/or the needles are too big. I don't want to have to frog it, but it's looking too big and lumpy. I don't know if going down to size 1 needles will make much difference, but I may give that a try. I just really like this pattern. On the upside, there is a bit of a mistake on the cuff, which is bothering me almost enough to frog it for that reason.

Of course I could just do the pattern that came with the sock. But that's so plain. Heh.

I have also just found some cheap sock yarn on etsy. It's undyed, so I can finally use some of the 2057 packets of koolaid that I have stocked up to make some obnoxious pink-orange socks.

Of socks and soap

Whoa. Socks aren't too bad. Of course I've only done about an inch of ribbing, but the small circumference thing isn't as frustrating as I thought it would be. I'm sure when I get to the heel, it'll be a different story.

The twisted rib was a little awkward at first, but it's fast going now. I cannot wait to start the actual pattern. heh.

The pattern is called Bellatrix. I'm sure the socks will be full of subservient evil.

I tried the silk soap, only using the hot-process method instead of my normal cold-process. While the method itself was not as hard as I thought, it produced a sticky weird soap that is too goopy and sticky to come out of the molds. Maybe I'll try freezing it...

I have made a few bathbombs which came out pretty well. I think the trick is to use almost no water. Even then it's hard to form all the individual bombs before the ingredients dry out, which is difficult to re-wet, as it tends to mess up the texture. I guess I just make smaller batches or bigger bombs. Duh.

Oops

I have neglected to update in months. For shame!

I am doing about 8398 projects right now for a swap, so I'll have some pictures soon. In the mix: a hand-painted wooden box, a clock! with brains!, soap/bath bombs, 2 pairs of earrings, a necklace, and if I get around to it, a small tote-bag, an etched mirror, embroidered pillow cases, candles, and/or wax tarts. And that's just for one person. I have someone else who is totally overdue for one of my care packages.

For my niece's birthday, I need to track down some hot pink glitter vinyl so I can make her another purse or some sort of wallet or tote. I made her this one (on the right) for Christmas, and she uses it constantly. I'm happy to see that it has held up to 7 months of constant use! I think the vinyl will be cute and hold up even better. I'm kind of afraid to see what it will do to my sewing machine—I don't have a Teflon foot to make my life easier, and it's not a really professional machine. Maybe I'll commandeer my mom's nice Brother machine. My brother & sisters and I got it for her birthday in January, and she's too intimidated by it to actually use it. Ho hum.

I haven't knit anything for myself in a long time. I am hoping to FINALLY start the pair of socks that have been on my to-do list for months. I guess it will be easier when I don't have these other things that have to be done in the next two weeks (there is a swap deadline to contend with). Plus, once Harry Potter 7 comes out, I will be out of commission for another day or two. ;)

On the soap front, I'm going to try a new recipe, using raw Tussah Noil fibers. I am really anxious to try this out! I got a new 3-pound wooden soap mold, but wow. 3 pounds. I generally make 1-pound batches, and I have to give it away to everyone I see to get rid of the surplus. I guess once I get a scent I truly love, 3-pounds won't be too bad.

With bath bombs, i'm trying to get the dry-to-wet ratio perfected, which is a lot harder than I ever thought. Just a tiny bit too much water, and they tend to develop cracks or look like they have been deflated. Once I have that down, i am going to try my hand at foaming/bubble bombs.

i've kind of gone off the deep end with ordering scents. i need to make a lot of tarts, candles, soap, bath bombs, hair/body sprays to kind of justify owning that many tiny bottles of stink.

11 am and still no coffee. This must be rectified immediately.

More soap

batch 7 - rosemary mint

Batch 7 unmolded & cut into bars. The swirl effect was really not as good as I thought it would be. I really thought I was overdoing it, and that the colors would just blend together. Clearly, I need a bit more wrist action. I also embedded some rosemary into the top of the bars.

The rosemary mint scent is really nice. i wonder if it will be COLD in the shower.

Batch 8: underway. Blue & purple swirl lavender scent with lavender flowers.