knit what? purl who?

There was an attempted robbery at my house this weekend. Thankfully nothing was stolen, but some of the yarn I'm using to for the Kenobi Jacket was found unraveled on the floor. Security cameras managed to get these photos:

Experts were able to create this compostite of one the suspects:

Turns out this little puppy already has a record. Police believe that he was working with an accomplice who fled the scene, notice the brown butt in the security photo.

In knitting news, I've been working on a pair of convertible mittens for a friend's birthday (which was, ahem, on Feb 26th- I've been really busy, ok). If I hadn't ripped the damn things out three times already...
Problem: I hate the pattern. HATE! But, she emailed me this specific pattern ("you know I wish I had some of those mittens with the flap thing...") and there aren't very many patterns for convertible mittens. And I had some stash Frog Tree Alpaca that I thought would be pretty. So I followed the pattern. The stupid cable didn't show up, the flap cable didn't line up with the back of the hand, there's a three inch cuff, etc. (rip, rip, rip) Hmmm... maybe the yarn was a bad choice. Well, lemme try a diffrent cable down the back. Ugly. (rip, rip, ) In the end I attempted a little fair isle, which I still hate, but hate the least.

This is not my first fair isle, but my tension is really shitty, and I don't like all the orange. Is it possible that these mittens hate me as much as I hate them? I think I'm just bitter because I really wanted to make her a pair of endpaper mitts...

I surrender!

Looks like one of the yarn thieves has been apprehended. He's in the hot seat for sure.

What's new in knitting? (aka: have I actually finished anything and reduced the piles of crap that are all over the house?) Well...

Convertible mittens, I shall not speak of you. You continue to mock me. Will I ever love a project again? Perhaps a trip to the LYS to do some thinking...

Ahhh... j'adore. In person, the yarn on the left is brick red, but up close it has blues, purples, greens, and oranges in it. The one on the right is brighter than it appears. It is so delicious and soft. Looks like I might get to make some more endpaper mitts after all. (By the way, Eunny has finally updated her site. That fair isle sweater is amazing.)

Should I bother to show you my (humble) sweater?

This Kenobi sweater is patiently waiting for someone to make it some sleeves. Alas, meet the competition:

That's right, it's finals week. My nocturnal significant other will be sleeping all weekend, so I suppose I should take advantage of the quiet house and do some studying. Will I be able to resist the knitting? The Kenobi jacket? The Brea bag? The endpaper mitts? The project-we-shall-not-speak-of?

or not to dye?

I ordered a kit from Pick up Sticks around Christmas time for these felted Snugs for moi. I've always thought that the outer color (sand) is a little bit boring, but I figured if I liked them I would just make myself another pair in something brighter. (This should have been the point at which the voice in my head screamed: "with who's time, money, and attention span, YOU FOOL?") The color for the lining is a robin's egg blue alpaca, which I like.

Then, it hit me. I could just get myself some kool-aid and dye that yarn! (The voice cried: "BRILLIANT! Wait a second, do you even know how to do that?")

Uh, I don't know how to do it. But I'm pretty sure I would like them a lot better if they were a brighter color, and the chances of my actually finding the time/money/interest to make another pair are, like, jack shit. One annoying setback- I've already finished one.

And it shouldn't matter, but the yarn came in those nice center pull balls and I have neither ball winder nor swift (ahem, boyfriend if you are reading this). It makes my stomach hurt to think about unwinding them, I don't have nice center pull balls very often. (And spending 45 minutes with the dyed skeins around my neck rewinding them, I do not look forward to.) So the question: Dare I dye? Question two (whichI hate almost as much as "what do you want for dinner?"): What color? Purple? Green?

Oh, and the study avoiders, I mean, endpaper mitts have somehow cast on and begun knitting themselves.

Weird.

Well, finals week is over, and I'm on spring break (which just means I get to work a whole lot). Miss Emily came to visit, and she left with some knitted gifts for herself:

pattern: endpaper mitts, free pattern from Eunny Jang
yarn: Drops Alpaca in colors 5565 and 7300
needles: size 0 and 2 bamboo dpns

pattern: adjusted poncho vest pattern from the Spring 2007 knitscene
yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in, I think, Misty Blue
needles: size 15

I took this picture the night before she left, that's why it's really crappy. Neither of us had any interest at the time to actually put it on and pose for a picture. This pattern is not only the first actual garment I have made, but also the first pattern I have ever modified. I left off the fringe obviously, and instead of making two rectangles, I decreased and made 'armholes' so it was alittle more flattering. I also seamed the sides together and used the buttons as decoration instead of for closure.

Pre and post felting.

pattern: this was a pattern that I had read in a book a while ago, something like Knitting for Baby, and attempted to reproduce
yarn: Frog tree Aplaca reclaimed from a certain convertible mitten disaster.
needles: size 10 bamboo needles

This was the first time I tried hand felting. I hate wasting all that water running it through the washing machine. I put the thing in a pot of boiling water for a while, rubbed it between my hands, and it turned out pretty darn ball-shaped. I put a big jingle bell in the center. Not bad for about two hours of work, start to finish.

Today is my birthday, but I've been celebrating for the past week. My wonderful friends and significant other provided me with gift certificates, books, and a yarn allowance. I'm now the proud owner of a ball winder and swift. One of my LYS's recently changed locations and had a re-opening event this weekend. I met Bev Galeskas from Fiber Trends and she was giving lessons on how to needle felt. Just in time, too. One of my friends just had a baby and methinks this new skill will turn into a pretty darn cute baby gift.

I was also gifted this:

which I have been drooling over for quite some time. My friend (who looks suspiciously like the model in the book) read about it in a magazine. Here are pictures of some of the projects. A brief (and uneducated) review of Twinkle's Big City Knits:

1. All of the patterns are done using her own line of yarn, which in the online stores I've looked at, are "coming soon". The Soft Chunky used in most of her patterns is like $17.95 for 83 yards. Ouch. She does have a small part at the end of the book in which she describes yarn you can substitute. However, she tells you that instead of holding four strands of Cruise (which is supposedly a DK weight) you can hold one strand of Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece or Cotton Fine. That doesn't sound right.

2. Which brings me to my second point. I am by no means a pattern expert, but I am reading things that don't sound right to me, like pattern yardage. There is a link to errata. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets longer. (Like I said though, these opinions come from the uneducated reader.)

3. Buyer beware: if you are larger than a 36 inch bust, the patterns in this book have not been written for you. That doesn't make any difference to the people who are comfortable making modifications, but this book claims to be for beginner knitters.

Enough complaining, the patterns are adorable, and the pictures are very well done. I find myself leafing through it over and over like a magazine. After some searching I found this:

It's Brown Sheep Burly Spun in Lemon Drop. I found it on eBay for a really good price. I'll be using it to make the Karate Sweater. I have enough for the small size. Normally, I would make the medium size, but since this is a bulky knit with a huge gauge, I'm going to go down a size. It'll either stretch or I'll block it bigger. I'd like to avoid looking enormous.

I have to run out the door to dinner, so I don't have time to proofread. Forgive the misspells!

I've realized that I pass through three stages with every knitting project.

Stage 1: Preparation (aka: infatuation)
I become infatuated with a new project. I obsess about what pattern to use with a certain new yarn or vice versa. I frantically collect all the items I need to begin. I imagine all of the compliments people will give me, they'll stop me in the street and tell me how beautiful my whatever is, and I'll say "Thanks. I made it." in a really casual way, and then they'll call all their friends over and say "Look at this, she MADE this!" And I'll be late to work because of posing for pictures and signing autographs...

Stage 2: Production (aka: neck cramps)

The relaxation/rabid knitting begins. The house must be quiet. I must not be asked too many questions. The dogs must not sit on the yarn.

Stage 3: Presentation (aka: this is ugly)
Once the whatever is almost done, and I realize that people are actually going to see it, I start having second thoughts. I get broody (if that's a real word). Was this the right color/yarn/size? Am I going to look ridiculous/fat/insane? Maybe I should rip this out and try something else. Did I actually think about what I was making or was I blinded by the thought of a new project and a trip (or two or three) to the yarn store? Any why did I make something I have to SEW together?

The Karate sweater has entered Stage 3. The upside is that it took me two days to mostly finish the thing. About three qusrters of the way thorough I started wondering if a sweater with all those holes in it is something I'll actually wear. Originally I was thinking it would be a good spring weather sweater. Now it just looks like something with a bunch of holes in it. I'm debating ripping it out and using the yarn to make the Rockefeller sweater, or the Shopping Tunic, or the Skating Sweater instead. But can I confess something? I'm secretly afraid that I'm not going to like anything I make out of this book. I've been spying on some FO's on other sites and it seems to me that the general feeling is very "meh" about their completed projects. And mind you, these women are clones of the model in the book. Are the chunky knits not very flattering? It doesn't matter whether or not these women look adorable (which they do), because if you don't like it, you won't wear it. Another problem that I'm having is the way the thing is put together. It has this weird shoulder seam thing that is not very comfortable. I am not patient when it comes to finishing things, so it could just be my cobble job. Here are some crappy pictures of the finished thing sans button that I took last night:

There is another category of knittied thing that does not really fall into the three stages. The Gift. There are two sub-categories: Satisfaction (liking and being proud of the gift) and Misery (you'll see what I mean.) Knit and Tonic Wendy has a post about how she will never again make a pattern for someone that she doesn't like. ( the pattern, not the person.) I wish I would have taken that advice before I started the convertible mittens for my friend Elizabeth. She doesn't know that I have a website, so I may speak freely. I should start by saying that Elizabeth is a good friend, and I wanted to make her somehting nice for her birthday that she wuld actually use. I knew that she wanted a pair of convertible mittens, but I was planning on making her a pair of endpaper mitts. Why? I think they're adorable, I wear mine all the time, I think the pattern is fun, and I actually want to make the second when I'm done with the first. I picked out some red and orange alpaca to match her vest. I was ready to cast on. And then I got the email. A pattern forwarded to me with a not so subtle hint that she likes these convertible mittens. And I take one look at the pattern and hate it. Okaaaaaaaay...
I made a mitten out of the alpaca. Awful. Too thin, the cable looked stupid, whatever. Lets try a little fair isle. It doesn't change the fact that that this isn't the right yarn for the things. Trip to LYS. For some reason I get talked into this self striping soy/wool yarn. I don't know why. I don't like self striping yarn. I don't really like stripes, except on socks, and I don't knit socks. And I agonized over the color of the ugly striping yarn. I got it home. I made another mitten. I hate it. Another trip to the LYS. I buy a skein of undyed wool thinking that I would put off the color decision a little while longer. I dye it green. The green is nice. But not for these mittens. Maybe a dog sweater. BACK TO THE YARN STORE. WHAT COLOR THIS TIME?

So, here we are. Not done. I had finals and a friend in town, but they should be done this weekend (only a month after her actual birthday). In case you're wondering, I hate these, too. Maybe I'll take a picture when it's over. I need to get these mittens out of my life and move on. And consider it a lesson learned to never make a pattern I hate again, not matter how much I like the person it's for. And to stop obsessing over color. It wastes a lot of time.

I'll admit it. I read a lot of knitting blogs. There seems to be a common theme. If you're thinking 'cats', you're right, but that's not what I'm talking about.

Socks.

I'll admit it. I never wanted to knit socks. I skip most blog entries about socks. Why does everyone want to knit socks?

The other day, I went to my LYS. "Do you want to join our sock club?" Me? Join a club? You bet! (I live in a smallish town, so there aren't any real knitting groups to join.) I immediately begin to rethink my opinion about socks.

And then it hits me. I wear socks- all the time! I even wear ugly socks. Say... socks might be the answer to my I-hate-everything-as-soon-as-it's-done problem. Even if they're ugly, I'll still wear 'em.

I get a new color of TOFUtsies yarn every month? I should buy a 'sample' ball now, you know, for research. You think I'll probably use size 1's for most of the projects. Hmmm... maybe you should throw a set of Lantern Moon dpn's in my bag, too, beacuse rosewood needles will definitely keep me excited about socks. I should sit down and have a cookie and knit a little right now? Okay!

I'm now a proud member of the sock club, which starts in June. So I figure I need to make a practice pair before June, and I should probably make a swatch right away to see if I like the yarn.

So the, uh, swatch looks pretty good. I think it'll be pretty good. Actually, the color is a little more Easter-egg than I would prefer (here I go again...), but I took a poll at the yarn store and this was the winner (it was between color 718 and 728).

Then there was this little issue about whether or not I should wind it. This one customer thought it was terrible that I would even THINK about winding it and don't even get her started about pulling form the center. You know, she's probably a lot smarter than me, and she's probably right.

Oh well...

People who know me well (and let's face it, they're the only ones who read this) won't be suprised at my total disregard for her 'advice'. I know I shouldn't be so stubborn, but she was kind of obnoxious about it, so I didn't bother to ask her why she thinks it's better to do it her way. I like to wind them. They're pretty that way. I like to know if I'm going to get ten yards into it and there's a big knot and it turn's out there's two pieces (which, by the way, there was). I like to know if there's a really ugly color right at the almost very beginning of some self striping mitten yarn that's going to end up as the cuff and look awful (again, from experience). Plus I like how they look like beehives when you're partly through.

So anyway, I said I would take pictures of the convertible mittens. I'm partially keeping my word.

Here is a picture of the convertible mitten. As in there's still only one. I surrender- I'm a bad gift giver. Hopefully they'll be done this weekend.