I'm IN!!!

Woo hoo!!! I got my invitation to Ravelry today!! It truly is a cool website. If you haven't signed up for an invite yet, do so NOW!

Winter Wonderfuland Swap 2007

AstonH is hosting the Winter Wonderland Swap for 2007 at
Knitting Help forums. I signed up because it is just so fun. It's a surprise color theme. We each had to say what our favorite color was (and least) and we will send our swap partners items in their color! I chose blues as my color. Yes; I know blue is vague, but I love just about every blue there is!

Well, should we be surprised?

You appear to be a Knitting Purist. You are an accomplished Knitter producing beautiful pieces with a classic feel. You sometimes lament losing half of your local yarn shop to garish novelty yarns. Perhaps you consider fun fur scarves the bane of knitting socieity and prefer to steer new knitters towards the wool andcotton blends. Some might call you a bit of an elitiest but you know that you 've been doing this craft long enough to respect the history behind it and honor it with a beautiful piece that can last a lifetime.

Take the quiz!

Answering Suna with a post

Because I can't do links as nicely in a comment.

Well, considering that this book was originally written in Scandinavian (of some sort) I figured I'd run into something weird. Now that I've got a few good repeats going I don't even look at the pattern anymore (I love cables for that) I just look down and go, "Oh this line has to cross over this one now." And I remember that *generally* with basic cables all knits are always knit on the front and all purls are always purled on the front (and likewise for the back). I'm planning on getting more of her books as I really like the styles. Many of theme seem like they would be flattering to my odd-shaped body, especially the sweaters that have little gores set into them for a bit of a flare (over my flaring hips!) I'm especially taken with the sweater on this page It's so full of texture and wouldn't make my hips feel too snug. However, I can't seem to find the pattern in any of her books. It seems currently only available through her Scandinavian kit for the sweater. But she does have other sweaters similar.

October Magknits review

Magknits' October issue is up. While I never like things on here quite as well as Knitty I do find things from time to time that I do like.

The Horshoe Cardigan is really cute and would be lovely in any dark color. It just has a few flaws for my body type (note that my body isn't flawed just the patter :D ) The neckline is far too low and the waistline is way too high. On the right body type it would be cute though.

I really think the Lasa Shawl Headband is really cute and may become a Yule gift for one of my girls. It's a simple enough lace pattern for a new knitter to bite her (or his) teeth on. I'm not sure I like the variegated yarn that is used on the edges, but I love the soft colors.

Bitty Boo is just SOOOO adorable. I have a feeling I will be making a few of these for my own Boo! I don't have any good "ghost white" wool though, so may have to go see what is cheap at JoAnn.

Burridge Lake Aran Afghan is, well, just another Aran afghan and I just hae no patience for afghan's. I get absolutely no joy out of making large projects like that. I'd get bored before I was finished even though I adore cables and bobbles. I can definitely see me using parts of this for other things though. Never turn down a good colleciton of Aran braids!

The Rainbow Socks have definitely made the "Must make list" only because 2 days ago I swore I would never knit with self patterning or self striped socks again because they are so boring and you just seem to knit round and round and round. Well, these socks need self-striping sock yarn or else the short rows don't make any sense at all. They are very cool indeed. Knitpicks may just be getting an order from me soon for some of their Felici yarn in Hummingbird or maybe Aurora. Although Firefighter is also pretty cute. Oh decisions decisions!

OK, so that was my review. Check it out.

Now for something totally different: I just got in the book Viking Patterns for Knitting by Elsebeth Lavold. Being a Viking means I had to have this cable-filled book. I'm having some problems with the chart and directions. They aren't your standard American knitting charts or instructions. So if you can tell me what the following mean, I'd appreciate it. My cables are just plain wonky!

Cross 2 knit stitches over 2 knit stitches, to right
Cross 2 knit stitches over 2 knit stitches, to left
Cross 2 knit stitches over 2 purl stitches, to right
Cross 2 knit stitches over 2 purl stitches, to left

Now I THINK that they mean:
Slip 2 st to cn hold to front, K2, K2 from cn
Slip 2 st to cn hold to back, k2, k2 from cn
Slip 2 st to cn hold to font, p2, k2 from cn
Slip 2 st to cn hold to back, k2, p2 from cn

But I think I've messed it up somewhere.

Ooooo, new yarn!!

My Swap partner from Knitting Help Forums package finally arrived today! Oh it is so yummy inside!! She sent some yummy Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere in brilliant pink, some lovely bright orange Berroco Cotton Twist and a ton of "little things" to help with keeping track of things. She also sent a pair of skull socks to the girls (who are now fighting over them) as well as some memory wire bracelets and a bookmark for The Boy. Here are the pics! Thanks Debbie aka doodknitwit!!

Well, obviously I DO need stitch markers

So I was working on a pair of socks last night. The instructions read, "pattern is done twice on each needle or 6 times total" OK, simple enough. I don't need no stinkin' stitch markers to remind me that I need to do it twice. The first part of the pattern went off splendidly. Looked just like the picture. Weee! This is going SO well. So then I start the second part of the pattern. It just wasn't looking right. Hmmm? OK, don't fuss with it. Trust the pattern. It will probably take a few rows before the pattern immerges. No sweat. Keep on knitting. I finish the second part of the pattern. It does NOT look right. It doesn't look bad, just not right. Then the V-8 hand comes and slaps me upside the forehead! I forgot to repeat the pattern twice on each needle. I was incorporating it into one needle (which actualy worked and I may look into doing something like it in the future, but it wasn't THIS pattern.) And of course it is lace. And of course I left no life lines and really suck at inserting life lines despite watching the video at Knitting Help. So I frogged yet another thing. But now I have it all cast on, the first section restarted and there are stitch markers to remind me that I have to do the repeat twice.

So use stitch markers and life lines. One would think after knitting as long as I have that I would know better. Bwahahahahaha!

Pay it Forward Exchange

Becka at Knitting Help posted about the Pay it Forward Exchange for knitters. It's truly a cool concept. It feels a bit like a chain letter, but I'm hoping that people really do "pay it forward." This seems to be the verbiage that is being posted on the other knitting blogs:

It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. You all know I’m already a PIF type of person. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

So post a reply if you want in and then go post a similar message on your blog! PAY IT FORWARD!

Frog Frog Frog Frog Frog

(No not reptilians. Any knitter who has knit more than 1 item should know that to frog something means to "rippit" out. I bought this very pretty Lion Brand wool a while back in the clearance bin at Michael's. Bought all they had as it is feltable and was $2 a ball. So I started knitting a bag to felt with it, but decided that it wasn't the right colors for a bag. FROG Out it came. Bleh! So then I found Silver's Palindrome Scarf which is very lovely and I've seen it done in both solid colors and in a wide variety of colorways. FROG Out that came too. TWICE! I didn't like the way the color was pooling, so pulled it out and added another set of cables to the width hoping it would A) make it a tad wider and B) get rid of the icky pooling. Nope. Didn't help. Actually made it worse.



I keep buying all this pretty yarn that I can't find the right patterns for. So it is going back in the stash for another day. I wish I could store my yarn like my friend Suna does, but because of this:

Uh, that would be Jack the demon possessed devil kitty, not Boo, the cute kid) My stash must be securely sequestered away in cat-proof plastic containers. I keep looking for extra opposable thumbs on this cat, but he is not a polydactyl cat despite his ability to even get yarn out of my knitting tote with the cinch closed top! Although that picture was taken over a year ago when Jack was still little and cute and adorable and forgivable because he was a kitten. He's no longer, well, he's no longer little, but he is still cute and adorable and I do forgive him.

Yarntard!

This is a link to a cartoon that one of the KHer's dh's did. It's priceless. This is his first knitting cartoon. I hope he does more. I like his wit!

Yarntard!

Hmmm, I'm thinking about this

Cia from Knitting Help suggested this sock for the blue and green one:
It's from Knitty. It does look a lot like waves and the colors are very similar to what my yarn looks like. Although I'd still like something that is sort of "wavy" at the top rather than the typical ribbing.

In other knitting news, I was too anxious to get the blue/green yarn balled last night. I was going to go to my mother's house and use her spiffy ball winder, but it is still in her attic and it is still too hot to go into the attic to retrieve anything. I've been looking lately at Nostepinnes which look like:


I've been looking at increasing my medieval collection of "women's tools" and have (well had, it got sat on and broke) a drop spindle. And then found out about both niddy noddies and nostepinnes. However, despite seeing them online and knowing the theory I still didn't have one! BUT I did notice that the end of my plastic recorder had the same shape as the nostepinnes if I took the bell section off the bottom! So I thought I'd give it a try.

This is where having children comes in handy. Forced labor. I made Boo hold my yarn for me (lacking also a swift) and started wrapping the yarn. To use a nostepinnes you secure one end at the base and then wrap towards the middle (this will allow you to have a center pull ball, if that isn't important you can just start wrapping in the middle). You wrap in a diagonal direction towards you all the while turning the nostepinnes (or in this case the recorder) away from you. It took a bit of coordination to get it right, but I finally got the hang of it. It took around 40 minutes to wrap a 440 yard skein, but I think I could get faster as time goes on as there is a fair amount of coordination that needs to be learned as with any new task. After the yarn is wrapped you simply slide the ball off the end of the nostepinnes/recorder and use it. The center where the nostepinnes was sort of closes up a bit, but loose enough to be able to get your center pull going well.

New Yarn

I just got in this LOVELY yarn from an etsy shop ( Handspun and Dyed Too). It is scrumptuously soft and squishy!! I'm having a hard time coming up with a pattern (socks) for each of them. I'm thinking something nautical or ocean-y for the blue/green and something lacy maybe for the pink/orange.

Doesn't it just scream cotton candy, sunset, fluffy clouds in front of the sun? It really needs something girly and sweet and lacy, right?

See why I'm thinking something oceany? My son thinks that it looks like seaweed in the ocean. It was the first thing he said when he saw it. I like that thought.

Leave a comment if you can think of a nice pattern. If I use one of your patterns I send you a set of row markers.

Close to home

IN case you don't get the paper like I don't, I present for you today's Close to Home cartoon. How many of us can relate to this?

Knitting Cartoon.

One mitten down

And one more to go. Since I want to fall into the SSS (single sock syndrome) with socks (but I'm good and haven't done that except on the first sock I ever knit which was way too large and has become my "I don't feel good sock" since I can't wear two socks to bed even in the winter even when I'm sick) I'm persevering in casting on the second mitten. I'll post pics when I get both done. Most likely will have E either pose with them or pose M in the mittens. She is so photogenic and has a wonderful eye for photography.

Besides hanging out at Knitting Help's forums probably more than I should today, nothing new is happening in the knitting world for me. (And yes; for those of you who popped over from my SCA blog, I do have things ready for the event - well, mostly.)