Why Yes, I am Rather Exacting
I explained last time how I deeply truly love flared cuffs. They fit beautifully, make my hands look all pretty and girly, and are ridiculously convenient. The only thing they have against them is that they can be tricky to block. But no more, I have found the solution. Graph paper and shampoo bottles. No really. Hear me out. The problem with blocking cuffs like this is getting the flare nice and distinct and even. To do that, you need a way to make it bigger than the part on your wrist, and you need keep the points uniformly spaced. [...]
Shamelessly Girly
Of course, I did manage to squeeze in a bit of knitting while I was away. I made good progress on the blue, leafy socks. I'm about 3/4 done with the second one and should have a finished pair to show you soon. But I wanted to see if I could squeeze a whole project into the trip, cast on to bind off. That meant it would need to be a small project, but I managed it. I wanted to take pictures there (seemed only appropriate, since I knit it all there), but that meant it was unblocked. So I'll [...]
Success
We had the photo shoot. I remembered to bring both the camera and all the knitting. No one died of heat stroke. We did not get arrested (opinions vary on whether we were, strictly speaking, allowed to be in that building at that time). All in all, the day was a rousing success. Oh, and we got good pictures too! These are just a few of the favorites of the moment. There are lots more to be seen later. Tumult cowl: Clamor hat: Uproar cuff:
Stacks
I feel a tiny bit bad that it's been so long since I've put out a pattern. The last one was Chamfer in what, February? Now to be fair, the e version of The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet did go live in March, so it's not like you've not got something to keep your needles busy. But still, I'm used to putting out an individual pattern every month or so, and the longer time frame is making me a bit twitchy. But never fear, it's all in the service of a bigger project! After seeing how much fun Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet [...]
Really Truly
Once in a while, I get a message from someone saying their hat or sock or mitt ended up a surprising size. I know how disappointing this can be, and I always feel bad for folks when this happens. I usually write back and ask if they got gauge when they swatched. Nine times out of ten, they didn't swatch. Now I know swatching can feel like a waste of time. I totally understand the urge to just start knitting. But all I can say is that the more I knit, the more I realize just how much time is [...]
Continue the Tradition
The yard work wasn't nearly as disturbing as the painting (nor did it go on for weeks and weeks). But I'd set a precedent with the cuffs and the painters last time, so I wanted to continue it. I started this little cuff on Monday (since that's when I thought the yard folks were coming) and worked on it on and off while they were here on Tuesday. I finished it up Wednesday. Yesterday was blocking and button hunting (I'm not sure this is the right button, but it works for now). Today, I show it off. It's cute and [...]
After the Rip
The rip fest mentioned the other day has been accomplished and the yarn put to much better use. See? It's ever so much happier now. Of course there is the small issue of Rosamund's wrist being slimmer than mine (freaky man hands, that's me). When it's on me, it opens up a bit more and shows off the fancy stitch work. I've got the second one on the needles and should have it banged out with a few more hours of knitting. The yarn is Nichole by Schaefer in Dian Fossey. There's a lovely gray bit hidden in among all [...]
Getting Old
I'm apparently reaching the stage of crotchety-old-man-hood characterized by the liberal use of the phrase 'when I was a kid...' I'm actually fairly comfortable with this, but I do find it amusing. Trick or treat was...anti-climactic. We had somewhere around two dozen kids or groups of kids over the course of two hours. I feel like we've had more in previous years and that they were more polite in the past. I get cranky when the kids don't participate in the ritual...I want to see a costume, I want to hear 'trick or treat' (super duper bonus points if they're [...]
Testing?
In a testing sort of mood? Go volunteer over on ravelry. All three of the mitts inspired by the house painting blues are ready for someone else to beat them up. Each of the three patterns is super quick (maybe 4 hours per mitt) and takes less than 100 yards of fingering weight yarn per pair. They're perfect for your leftover sock yarn bits. And, on the off chance you're a Christmas knitter and have started to panic, these will totally knock some names off your list. At the moment I'm most entertained by the yellow ones, but I'm fickle [...]
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