The Great Movies
My new movie adventure is to try to watch all of Roger Ebert’s list of The Great Movies, over 250 movies at this point. I’ve seen over half of them, so I’ve got a good start. But I’m going to revisit the ones I saw before 1997. I’ve got my Netflix queue all ready to go.
I forgot to mention that my Sockapaltwoza pal got her socks and she really likes them. Yippee! They look good on her feet.
I’ve been knitting a Misti Alpaca neck gaiter lately. My first try didn’t come out quite right, so I ripped it all back. But I don’t mind since I love knitting with this yarn so much. Next up will be the Misty Alpaca sweater. Oh yeah, and my homework for my class too. I’m less excited about that.
Hello…Goodbye
Yes, say hello to my new adventures into stranded knitting…and then say goodbye since it’ll be frogged today.
This is my homework for my color knitting class. I’m planning for it to be a felted bag. But I’m really not liking where this is going. Well there’s the obvious puckering. But I could live with that since I hope it would disappear in the felting process. But I’m not loving the way the colors and pattern are working together. I don’t think this bag will be big enough for it to look cohesive with such a big pattern. If I’m in love with the big pattern, I need to come up with some color gradations to work through it. Or I could work out some smaller pattern repeats. At any rate, by the end of the day, I’m ripping it back down to the brown bottom. Fortunately I’ve got a couple of more weeks before my next class to finish my homework.
Our next class with be on intarsia. The Dino Sweater is coming along and will be ready by class time. I’ve finished the back, and the front is almost up to the intarsia part. There’s no way that I’m putting in this much time on the sweater for it to be too small for Liam. So I’m making the size 8. That should fit my big three-year old, right?
Most of the rest of my time this week I’ve been spending on getting my marketing materials together for my new business. It’s tedious since I’m a bit of a perfectionist. But fortunately I’ve got an external deadline for one piece. This will force me to just get it done and stop tweaking it.
Finished Project: Felted Bead Bracelet
Maybe it’s crazy of me to decide to make a birthday gift the day before a party, but Ella and I had fun.
Ella’s going to a birthday party tomorrow and needed a gift for a friend. Ever since my trip to Morehouse Farm yarn store, I can’t stop thinking about little felted balls. I mentioned the idea of trying to make a felted bead bracelet for her friend. She was excited about it so we picked up some colorful wool at A Child’s Garden after school. An hour later Ella, Liam and I were circled around a tub of hot soapy water felting away. After felting, I put the beads in the dryer and then strung them on some stretchy beading cord. That’s it. It was a simple and fun project to do with kids and I’m sure we’ll be making more of these. At Morehouse Farm I also saw some felt bead purse handles which were so cute. Hmm, maybe I could put those on my felted knitting bag I want to make.
Finished Project: Sockapaltwoza Socks
Project Specs:
Pattern: my own creation developed through lots of frogging
Yarn: two skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in color 607 and one skein of Noro Silk Garden in color 224
Needles: two sets of US 7 Addi Turbo Circulars
Size: 9 1/2 inches long with 8 1/2 inch circumference
Pattern Details: These socks were done toe up. The toe was based on Ruth Hiebert’s sock pattern. The foot and leg are 40 stitches around.
I ended up using Claudia’s Shortrow Heels but still had problems with holes. After the socks were finished, I added some stitches to the heels to help close up the holes.
Nine rows after the heel I switched to the Silk Garden until I ran out, knitting a K 4 P1 ribbing. I knit both socks at the same time from the same ball of Silk Garden. Switching back to the Cashmerino, I added eight stitches on the next row. I then did a K 2 P 1 cuff. After trying many stretchy bind offs, I finally decided to use the Elizabeth Zimmerman sewn cast off. It’s super stretchy and really easy. I love it.
I hope my sock pal likes her new socks. They’re soft and cozy; perfect for lounging around the house.
My Blog Links: Don’t Lick the Yarn, Sockapaltwoza Update, Bad Heel, Bad Gauge & Good Heels, Stretchy Bind Off for Socks
Can’t Sleep
Is it the sweaty, footed-pajama boy next to me or the Misti Alpaca keeping me up?
I was up late out seeing Mike Doughty last night, so I know I’m tired. But Liam’s in the big bed, rolling around keeping me awake. And I can’t stop thinking about the super soft Misti Alpaca Chunky yarn and how it would feel against my skin. I was at Webs yesterday with the kids and brought Ella over to this wonderful yarn. “Feel it! It feels like a cloud.” She touched it with one hand and then dove head first into it. She understood too.
When I was at Webs I had the Vogue Knitting Fall 2005 Pattern #11 on my mind (thanks a lot Nona). I’ve been resisting buying any knitting magazines but I ended up walking out of the store with it. I guess I shouldn’t have been reading it when I fell asleep last night. Now I’m up thinking, could I substitute the Rowan Kid Silk Haze with the Cascade Indulgence I still have and swap the Rowan Big Wool with the Misty Alpaca? I know it would be super soft. But could I get the right gauge with this combination? Well there isn’t any Misty in my house right now, so I can’t start a swatch.
So I have two options:
1. I could go back to bed right now and get the rest I know I need.
2. It’s already 4:15 am. I might as well stay up and work on the Sockapaltwoza socks bind off.
Decisions, decisions.
Stretchy Bind Off for Socks
I’m almost done with my Sockapaltwoza socks.
I need to figure out a stretchy enough bind off, weave in the ends, tighten up the stitches around the heels and block them. Woo hoo! Then they’ll be off in the mail by Thursday morning, no problem.
It’th Out!
The tooth is out!
Finally after hanging on by a thread, Ella let me do the final pull of the tooth. She was amazed when the tooth was in my hand and no longer in her mouth. In a very proud voice she yelled, “I lost my very first tooth!” It’s in the pouch all ready for the tooth fairy. I think she’s leaving a little something special behind for the first tooth.
Here’s a picture from Ella & Liam’s first day of school on Wednesday. I think the photo says a lot about their attitudes that morning.
I’ve been busy working on the Sockapaltwoza socks trying to make the September 15th deadline. I’m not going for perfection, but completion. I made a lot of progress yesterday and today so I should make it. I think I’ll go work on them right now.
New Additions to the Blog
I’ve set up a Finished Projects page and moved my movie pages too.
I’ve finally gotten around to creating a finished projects section to my knitting blog. Better now than in three years. Julie is trying to go back to 3+ years of blog entries and add categories! What a daunting task. I’ve got a thumbnails finished project page up, but am still working on individual finished project pages. I’ll do one a day until I’m caught up.
I’ve also moved my movie pages over from our family website. Now you’ll find my current movies listing, my best & worst lists, and a complete index of all the movies I’ve seen since 1997. With the move, I’m sure I’ll keep my movie pages much more up-to-date.
Enjoy!
Bad Gauge & Good Heels
Practice makes perfect, right? I sure hope so.
So after reading and studying Claudia’s Short-Row Heels tips I tried a practice heel. Oh so much better, thank goodness. She went into great detail on how to grab those wraps when knitting and purling them. So now I’m ready to go back to those real socks and give the heels a try again.
Now let’s talk about that Dino Sweater. What’s up with my problems with gauge? I knitted a few inches of the back of the sweater and took a look at it. How was that going to fit half way around my Liam? I took out my ruler and it was true; it was not wide enough. The sweater would be three inches shorter around if I kept up this gauge. Time to do more gauge swatches. I’ll try to keep a positive attitude. I need to remember how well all the gauge obsession turned out for my NBaT.
Other knitting news: I’ll be taking two classes at Webs this fall, Stitches 1: Multi-Color Techniques and Knit Different. I can’t wait!
Bad Heel
This is one ugly heel.
Obviously I’ll be doing this one over. I’ll try one more time. I’ve printed out some information on short-row heels from Sockknitter.com. I think I’m having problems when I’m supposed to knit into the stitch and wrap together. I may be picking up the wrap wrong. All I know it is UGLY, lots of holes. If I can’t figure it out this time, I’ll need to find an actual person to watch what I’m doing and show me what I’m doing wrong. I’m a bit down on socks right now.
