Mittens!

It's been way too long. Knitting has been kind of slow since I've been back up at school, but at least once a week during Gossip Girl Mariel and I get some knitting in. At the beginning of the year I was trying to do that argyle hat, but it was such a mess. I noticed when I searched online, most people do argyle knit flat and then seam up the socks or hat or whatever. But I wanted to be brave and do it in the round. (Actually, I'm just scared of seams.) But sure enough, it was just an absolute mess and I kept messing up each time I started the hat -- probably four or five times. So I've set that aside for a while. I'm determined to someday do it, but it takes much more planning and patience than I realized before.

So what HAVE I been knitting then? Mittens! As promised! I finally picked up that fun green yarn that I bought at the Knit Nook last winter and decided to learn how to make mittens. I guess I had put off making mittens because I thought they were going to be hard. So I searched for a very simple pattern, one without any increases for the thumb. They went really quickly and they were pretty fun to knit. And the best part -- they were easy!

Pattern: Instant Mittens
Needles: US size 8
Yarn: Tessin, 43% super wash wool, 35% acrylic, 22% cotton; color 65806; (not quite) 1 skein (110 yds)


I'm pretty pleased with the way they turned out, at least as a first pair of mittens. But I only knitted from one ball of yarn, so I didn't get the double warmth thing the pattern talks about. And I think I would increase for the thumb after all because there are a few holes near the thumb. We'll see how they actually hold up when winter hits in a few weeks.... Eek!


So one pair down. Then two weeks ago, a few of us girls from the dorm went to this knitting shop, the Red Purl, which I had found online when I was craving yarn. It's in Niles, MI, just about 15 minutes away, in the most adorable little neighborhood! The store was so cute too! Funky red woodwork with stuffed sheep in the window decked out in cowboy hats and boots. And they had a dog! And CAKE. Because we just picked the best day possible to go - their one year anniversary. So there were a bunch of women hanging out and knitting and there was cake and, best of all... ALL THE YARN WAS ON SALE! I was pretty ecstatic. Yarn shopping just puts me in the best mood. So I got some Malabrigo yarn for 25% off and some pretty maroon yarn for 10% off.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with the purple yarn. I bought it because I was just enamored with the color and, again, the gorgeous subtleties from the kettle dying. I should try that... Anyway, I do have something to show for the maroon yarn.


More mittens, of course. ;) Notice how well it matches my bag! I'm convinced my knitting bag must have subconsciously inspired my color choices. Here is the pattern I'm using. This one has thumb increases, but I think I'd tweak the pattern if I used it again. I still am getting this mitten thing down.

It's midterm week so I haven't gotten to work on them much lately, but Fall Break is coming, and we all know what that means -- knitting time!

Till then,
Teresa

Not Socks!

So I haven't posted in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been knitting! Though, as promised, there have been no more socks! (I just offered to make my sister a pair yesterday, though...)

Here's what I HAVE been up to. I made two hats, one for each of the kids I've been babysitting this summer. Hat number one: navy blue regular old beanie, knitted for a boy.


The first go was too small, so I redid half of it and made it bigger so that it could cover his ears and give him some room to grow into. And then he said he wanted me to add some red ears to it, skinnier than bunny ears. I thought it'd be fun to put some wire in them so that you could bend them and so they'd stay up more. So I bent up some paperclips, wrapped them in red fabric, and stuffed them inside.


Then I closed up the bottom, and attached them to the hat. I tried it on and bent the ears so that they flopped down, but then I was SO SAD because they looked like either devil horns or bull horns. I thought his mom would not approve. But I unbent them and just let them flop and thought I'd see what they thought. They loved it!

I don't remember the yarn I used because I got it so long ago and threw away the label. It was knitted on US size 6 needles, I think I did 88 stitches around.

One down...


The second hat, I went out and bought some pretty, girly yarn. Hand-dyed yarn with subtle variations of pink, orange, and fuchsia. It was so soft and pretty and such a fabulous texture (Araucania: Patagonia Nature Cotton, hand-dyed 100% cotton yarn, color 223)

I'm disappointed that this hat went so quickly. I used size 8 needles, so I guess that made it zoom by. I started while watching Jerry Maguire (why isn't real life like that movie?) and knitted the ear flaps. I started with a 3-stitch I-cord and then to make the earflap, I increased to 17 (I think?) stitches and then did a few plain rows to add length. Repeated this for the other ear flap. Then I adapted this recipe, which I've used before, and I really like for earflap hats. I had 13 stitches in the back of the hat and I think 23 (accidentally) in the front. A little ribbing. Anyway, what I was saying is how this hat went too fast. I finished the rest of it in like 2 hours. Well then I added the pom-pom and tassels, but that didn't take any time either.


Isn't it cute? I love it. It looks way cute on her, too. Oh, haha, funny story, though. I totally messed up the decreases. I accidentally stopped decreasing one seam, and then just started back up like 5 rows later. I thought it was going to look bad, but you can't tell at all unless you look really closely. Phew! I guess that story wasn't really funny...

Anyway, I knitted hats like I promised. On my queue of hats to knit is an argyle hat for a friend. A couple weeks ago, I had my wonderful, knitting, wise grandmother give me a lesson in intarsia. She used to knit argyle socks in her college days! How fun! I'll try that sometime, I'm sure... But before I jumped into this argyle hat business, I had to practice. Coincidentally, Elizabeth sent me a package a day or two later, and in it was a perfectly appropriate (and ADORABLE) sticker.



Haha, how cute, right? Thanks, E! But yeah. Argyle is a mess. But I think I've got it down. And now that I have my kiddos' hats finished, I'll get started on the argyle hat!

I also finished this scarf that I had halfway finished since June, and finally picked up more of the yarn that I needed to finish it. I'll post that later though because I forgot to take pictures. I still have some yarn left so I'm thinking I might try and make a hat out of it. Maybe I'll do like two more hats, and then start on a mitten kick. I started one pair of mittens a long time ago, but I wasn't following a pattern so I had to stop after the cuff. Enough, Teresa! Shut up, already!! Okay. Goodnight, knitters and friends.

Knitted Organs... Weird.

Look what crazy knitted stuff my infallible friend Tina found!!

Since I'm assuming these photos are copyrighted, and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post them myself, I'll just give you a link.

Socks for a Lady

Haha, ridiculous title, I know, but don't these socks look like they should be worn by a lady? Aren't they graceful? The lace and all? PRETTY! And I love purple. It might be my favorite color again.

So... Berlin Muster socks: Finished!! Took me about 2 weeks. Actually it was more like 3 weeks, but there were a number of days in there where I didn't work on them at all, so I'm calling it two weeks.

Anyway, I bought the yarn at the Knit Nook. It is TOFUtsies: 50% superwash wool, 25% soysilk fibers, 22.5% cotton, and 2.5% chitin ("Chitin is fiber from shrimp and crab shells! It's naturally antibacterial!"). There were 425 m of yarn, but I probably used 2/3 - 3/4 of the ball of yarn. So I've got EXTRA! Which makes me excited because I had fun with this yarn.

Pattern for free here. The only adjustment I made to the pattern was that I purled 4 on each round so that I'd have 64 stitches around instead of just 60. Oh also I did a 2x2 ribbing at the top, knit 2, purl 2, instead of the 1x1 that the pattern says. But that was mainly an accident.

This pattern was really hard for me the first few repeats, but by the end, I had gotten the hang of it. It has 16 different rows that you have to do for one repeat, so you really have to pay attention. But it was a nice challenge for me, and I think it is such a pretty pattern.

So, then the Knit Nook had a SALE yesterday too. It rocked. I went in there and spent like an hour and a half trying to pick out what yarn I wanted. Jeez, it was way overwhelming. Like, I should have thought it through a little more beforehand, picked out a project so that I knew how much yarn I needed, and had an idea of colors. But instead I just wandered in clueless and hoped to be inspired. I bought this expen$ive yarn that was marked down 15%, but still was a lot for just about 400 yds, which probably isn't enough for a whole project. So I don't know what I'm going to make out of it. I love the colors and I love them together.

The blue yarn is soooo pretty, and it has all these subtle color variations in it that were hard to photograph. I am thinking about making a sweater, bolero, something like that, but I still need to find a pattern. I might go and buy some cheap-o yarn to do for the bulk of the sweater and then do stripes or something fun with the blue. I have no idea really. I'll probably save it for a while, because I don't want to knit impulsively with such pretty and pricey yarn. My God, I can ramble. Stopping now.

I think I am going to start knitting hats after all. And maybe a sweater. AH that scares me. We'll see.

Summer of Socks

So here are my green socks. I like 'em. 60 stitches around, though, a little small. So I had to make them shorter than I would have hoped because I couldn't pull them up any higher. Sad!


Pattern: Rib & Cable Socks - Nancy Bush. Well I didn't exactly use the pattern, I just copied off a picture.

Needle: US size 2

Yarn: Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn, Deco Lime; 75% washable wool, 25% nylon


Yay! These were another pretty quick knit. About a week. Oh, and I did the toe like this, and it looked better than the yarn over method.


This is really fun, knitting so many socks. I am trying to get this whole sock thing down. I think I'm getting there. I'm working on this pair of socks now, the pattern is called Berlin Muster. I linked to it at the bottom of my last post. It is such a pretty pattern. And so frustrating. At least it was at first. I've kind of gotten into a groove now, and it does take me forever but it's going faster now.

Look! I finished the first one :) This might be a cheesy shot, but I looove the yarn.

Summer's fun. My knitting companion has been my laptop these days. I'm catching up on all the old Gossip Girl episodes that I never saw. They are SO GOOD. I think I have fun watching them because they are so opposite of my life. Here I sit, staying in and knitting socks, and admiring the glamorous, drama-filled life of rich beautiful kids in New York City.

Yay, I really like how these socks are coming along. Except this one is a little tight. I should have done another row or two before starting the toe. But it's good enough. It was kind of weird, because with the lace pattern the number of stitches change every row, and the row I ended on was the closest number of stitches to the number of stitches used for the toe part. This is getting too confusing. Maybe I'll think up a creative solution next sock around.

Time for another episode of GG. Signing off.

You know you love me. XOXO.

Sheep Farm Visit! (finally)

OK, so this has been a little ridiculous. I went to the sheep farm, what, almost 2 weeks ago? And I'm just now blogging about it?? I am normally so much more internet-savvy than this. Time to cross this one off the list. But that isn't my attitude towards this blog at all! Not just some obligation to fulfill. I LOVE it. So why has it taken me so long? I have no idea. Regardless, here goes.

My mom, my aunt, and I all went out to Springfield, Kentucky to visit Norma Jean Campbell and her sheep. It was just awesome. This woman was so interesting and hilarious. She gave us a tour of her entire house, and told a story about almost everything in it. Great storyteller.

The sheep for her and her husband are, from what I gathered, basically a hobby. I don't think they really make any money off of them. She makes some crafts and sells those, but I don't think she makes enough money to make a living off of. Sad to hear, because that means it is less likely that we will get a sheep farm. They have cows too, probably how they make ends meet. Aaaannyway, they have 36 sheep that they shear themselves. She keeps all the wool, yarn to use herself. After shearing, she puts the wool in these machines that I have no idea really what they do. Comb it out or something. Make it smooth enough to spin.

Then sometimes she dyes it as wool. Or she'll spin it and then dye the yarn. She uses all natural dyes. She has a little garden with some of the stuff she likes to dye with. What she said she does is boil the plant, or root, or bugs (yes, bugs) in water till the color comes out for like an hour. Then she uses the dyed water and simmers the wool or yarn in it. Oh but you have to get something to set the dye too. Some chemical. There are a few different ones you can use.

I want to try dying my own yarn so badly. With BUGS. My favorite dye she had made these really gorgeous red, pink shades. It turned out it was cochineal (the picture to the right), which is this insect that comes from Chile. She said it only takes a couple cochineal(s?) to get a good color. So maybe I'll order some. Maybe next summer. It's so cool, though, she said she went down to Chile to try go collect some cochineal herself. But apparently they didn't find them when she went. But STILL. This woman rocks. I totally want to just go live with her for two weeks or something and learn her ways of yarn, dying, spinning, etc. More pictures now.

Here is Norma Jean spinning wool. I so wanted to try, but she was talking about how new spinners always spin unevenly and it takes a while to learn. So I didn't want to mess up her yarn. But it was sweet. Christmas gift, Mom?

This is her loom room. Norma Jean said she didn't really knit or crochet. Her specialty is weaving. She had all of these homemade projects all OVER the house. Table runners, rugs, bedspreads, clothes, and then she also was selling several things. I got a cute purse.

She also makes a lot of these dolls and other felted things out of wool and a felting needle. She showed me how, you basically wrap the wool around a wire or something to give it shape and then just poke it with this needle till it starts to take the shape that you want. Lots of poking. And it makes the most adorable dolls.

There were just so many cool things she had there. She also had a bunch of these dolls she had made from clay that she had dug up herself. And some of her wool she didn't run it through those machines, but just kept it curly and then hand-painted it with dye and then put it in the oven. COOL. She doesn't have a website, which she really should have, and my mom suggested that I go live with her for a week or two and just soak up her knowledge and, in exchange, I could make her some simple website. Maybe I'll do it.

In knitting news, I finished a pair of green (my new favorite color) cable-knit socks. I'll blog about those soon. I still need to wash them and take pictures. And I just started some purple socks yesterday. The pattern I'm trying to do is this lace thing, and it looks so pretty, but it is such a monster and it is taking me so long, so I'm not sure that I'm going to go through with it.

Completely unrelated is this cake I made the other night. The woman I babysit for told me she had bought a bunch of chocolate chips and they had melted in the car and she wasn't going to be able to use all of them before they hardened into one block. So I took them and called up a few friends and we made this Death by Chocolate cake. It is so horrible for you but soooo delicious. I highly recommend indulging in this recipe.

That's all from me, now. More to come soon.

-T

PS- I went into the Knit Nook yesterday, found out they're having a SALE July 12. Cannot wait.

Summer of Knitting at ND

So I'm almost half way through a summer of orgo at ND.  blah.  Pretty much the only thing keeping me sane are the projects I'm working on.   I'm actually trying my hand at crocheting right now so I'm working on some pretty basic shtuff.  But the cool thing is, you can do a lot more at the beginner crochet level than you can at the beginner knitting level.  Plus I think crocheting is definitely easier than knitting, although it did take me a while to get used to holding one hook instead of two needles.  It just felt so wrong at first.  

I've been working on a granny square blanket for a while as a present for my little sister (who is going to be a freshman at ND next year!!!)  I got the pattern for free from the lion brand 

website.  You do have to be a member to get the free patterns.  Basically I have to make a ton of little granny squares, connect them, and then make a border.  It's taking a lot longer than I expected because I didn't notice at first that the pattern is for a baby blanket, so I'm having to quadruple the pattern.  I'm using lion brand microspun yarn, the same kind Teresa used for her purple and orange socks.  =)  It's really soft and comes in tons of bright colors.  

I'm also working on a fishnet shrug right now.  I got the pattern from "Stitch n' Bitch Crochet:  The Happy Hooker," the book that I learned how to crochet from.   I actually already finished the shrug, but realized too late that it was totally the wrong size, so I had to take the whole thing apart and start all over again.  =(  Serves me right for never making a swatch to check the gauge I guess. 

That's all I'm working on right now.  I also just got an invite to ravelry.  I'm quite excited.  Is anyone else on ravelry?

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

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