knitting

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back to the beginning

Well, I washed the swatch.

I was in the process of determining gauge (It was hard to see the stitches clearly after it had been washed), when I heard from my LYS – the color I wanted in that yarn was discontinued. However, there was only a brief moment of disappointment. I liked the yarn I’d chosen, but I didn’t love it. So it’s ok. And I’m back to the drawing board, in search of the yarn to make my first sweater – yarn that I love. I have an idea or two. I’ll keep you posted.

Also, I finally finished my yarn from Ravelympics – that’s coming up next! :)

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a first step

I swatched!

It’s not washed or anything, but it’s the first step to making my first sweater. (Snowbird-ravelry link) I’ve chosen Rowan Felted Tweed. I rather liked the tweedy look of the designer’s sweater and this yarn is said to be machine washable. I’ll probably handwash but it’s nice to see the chances of felting my first sweater are lower. ;) It’s dk and I rather like the idea better than making a sweater in worsted. Finding a pattern I love so much definitely helps with being intimidated by the prospects of knitting a sweater.

And as for being able to afford the yarn for this project, I’m going to return a couple of skeins in my stash to get store credit and that should help defray the cost.

Now keep a good thought that once I’ve washed the swatch, I’ve got gauge. I have my doubts … but I also have hope. :)

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buying patterns

I’ve been buying patterns. Normally, I don’t buy a pattern until I’m ready to knit it. But there are are lots of designers who are donating some or all of the proceeds toward helping Haiti.

So I’ve purchased patterns that I was going to buy anyway and discovered other patterns that I might not otherwise have considered. I was amazed to see that Cosmicplutoknits has already donated $1,000 from these sales.

One of the pattern designers I discovered in my search was Heidi Kirrmaier – specifically, the pattern ‘Snowbird‘ – a gorgeous cardigan sweater that was released last week. I want to knit this. I want to knit this more than any sweater I’ve seen to date. It’s got positive ease, it’s long – going below the hips, it’s got pockets and it has long sleeves, which is hard to find when you have long arms like me.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you might have noticed that I have never knit a sweater. There are two major reasons for that:

  1. Intimidation
  2. Cost

One of the things I’m working on this year is to ‘Be Brave’ – To try those things I’ve been afraid to try; fight that fear of failure. I mean, in the end, it’s just knitting. Besides, it’s not really the knitting that intimidates me, it’s the figuring out what size to make so it will fit the way I want it to. That’s hurdle I need to overcome.

I suppose I could try to spin the yarn for this, making it a little cheaper to make, but I love this pattern so much, I do NOT wish it to be the first sweater I spin for. Therefore, I am researching yarns to see how in world I can find a nice tweedy wool blend yarn that won’t break the bank.

Another note about this designer, if ‘Snowbird’ is not your cup of tea, as it were, she has several more very lovely sweater patterns, some of which are free.

Happy Knitting!

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it’s all about shawls, y’all

I’ve been fighting it. Casting on for more shawls, I mean. It’s not that I’ve been taken over by all the wonderful shawl patterns that have been published recently, it’s that my yarn is being noisy again. It all seems to want to be shawls. I generally try not to cast on TOO many things, but now I think it’s beyond my control.

I have at least four shawls that I want to knit next – all from my stash. So … if I listen to my noisy stash and cast on for these shawls, I will have a total of about six shawls on the needles. I think juggling that many projects would make my head explode. … but all the potential projects that I want to knit are already driving me crazy(er) …

Ok … let’s see…

  1. Simple Yet Effective Shawl – on the needles – stalled again because I need the spin more yarn for it. It’s still not big enough.
  2. Ulmus – on the needles – almost to the lace edge
  3. Show Your Colors Shawl – in that pink Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton. ‘Tis a gift, just took a while to settle on a pattern.
  4. Attabi Wrap – Some handspun yarn I just bought cried out to be part of this shawl. I will have to buy some yarn to be a contrasting color.
  5. Daybreak – Use the ‘Doesn’t Want To Be Socks‘ Handspun and maybe the purpley ‘Yummy‘ yarn I have.
  6. Impatience – A beautiful pattern, perfect for the Dream In Color ‘Starry’ I just bought. … What? It was Romeo Blue. I couldn’t resist.

*looks at list* Omigosh!

Do you see my dilemma? *thinks for a moment* Maybe I will cast on for the ‘Show Your Colors Shawl’ and that will drown out the noise from the other three. But alas, I know that in the end, Resistance Is Futile.

And finally… you didn’t think I’d mention stash in the list above without showing it to you, did ya?

‘Spectrum’ – spun by DebbieB. I’ve admired her spinning for awhile and I finally had to buy a skein.

Dream in Color ‘Starry’ in the colorway ‘Romeo Blue’. Oooo… Sparkles!

Ta ta for now!

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happiness is being warm

I take my handspun shawl with me everywhere. Any moment I can steal to add a few stitches, I do. I’m not sure how many stitches there are per row but recently, in about an hour, I managed about three rows – but I don’t mind. It’s not about completing it, it’s about the knitting and I really like knitting on it – truly mindless, joyful knitting. And because I have it with me at all times, it’s big enough that I can put it on my lap while I’m driving and it keeps my legs nice and warm. :)

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Spinning is going nice but slow. I think the honeymoon with my wheel is over but what I’m left with is the love of spinning but not the overwhelming desire to stay up until 1:00 am finishing a yarn. I finished plying the pink yarn but haven’t skeined it up yet.

Currently I am spinning some superwash Merino – in the colorway ‘Kaleidoscope’ dyed by Spincerely.

You can see better pictures on her Etsy shop. It spins like buttah. I split the top vertically in half and will spin a 2-ply, starting at opposite ends for each bobbin. I went down on the ratio and I can tell that I’ve improved. Drafting at this ratio has become easier.

Spinning every day this month? So far so good.

Until next time. :)

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do i have enough yarn?

As I work on my Ulmus, one of my biggest concerns is if I have enough yarn. Luckily, someone has done the calculations to help me (and you) figure out if I have enough yarn (if you are knitting a rectangular or triangular shawl). With it, I’ve determined that I’ve knit about 35 percent of the shawl but have used only 25 percent of my yarn. I have enough yarn… I think. (I hate math – I will re-evaluate as I knit more rows.)

So check out this blog post from ‘I’m knitting as fast as I can‘. Maybe it will help you too.

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t.g.i.f.

I am so glad that it is Friday. It’s been a rough week.

Since my handspun shawl is kinda stalled until I can spin more fiber :( , I pull out the Ulmus and started working on it. I try to have about three projects on the needles for this very reason. The Ulmus still an enjoyable knit even though I haven’t worked on it for a while. My favorite part is the color sections, seeing where the colors will land.

I will say that my stash has been calling to me again. I never realized how noisy fiber can be. Which fiber to be exact, you ask? (I know you didn’t ask, but humor me, please. ;) )

Alpaca with a Twist’s Big Baby – two skeins of luscious alpaca yarn – bulky. It’s telling me that it wants to be a scarf. A Christmas present scarf. But… that would be silly, right? Starting a scarf, destined to be a present, one month before Christmas…

…wouldn’t it?

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shawlus interruptus

Ok. I realized, as I have been knitting my handspun shawl that with the yarn I have, it’s not going to be a big as I want it to be. So I’m going to have to buy and spin some more fiber. Plus, Christmas knitting it calling to me and I want to get some things done in that regard. Knit more ornaments, plus, I just bought a simple crochet dishcloth pattern yesterday.

It’s called JustRight and BigTime Dishcloths by Neatly Tangled Designs. I bought some cotton, thinking I would knit them, but now I think I wanna get out my crochet hooks and try this pattern. The pattern looks very basic, although I’ll have to learn how to do a half double crochet again.

Oh! I just realized that never showed you the cotton I bought!

I know, I know – more blue & purples. :D

Oh, and even though I can’t remotely start a new project, when I bought the crochet pattern, I also bought the Attabi set – both the Cowl and the wrap. The woven stitch is very easy and basic. I think a beginner would have no problem with this pattern and would end up with a very impressive looking garment. :)

ttfn!

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bigger than a shawlette

Have you see the latest pattern from Laura Chau (cosmicpluto knits)? Oh. My. Goodness! It’s gorgeous! It’s called ‘Attabi Wrap ‘. It’s knit with US size 8 (5.0 mm) needles with DK weight yarn. It’s knit in garter stitch and an intriguing woven stitch. Why, oh why, can I not knit on three projects at the same time?!? There is a cowl that is knit in the same pattern as the wrap and if you buy both patterns, there’s a reduction in price from the individual patterns. It might be cool to knit the cowl first to see if you actually like the pattern before staring the larger wrap.

I love all the shawlette’s that people are creating but I’m finding that they are too small for my liking. It’s nice to have a project that uses only one skein of sock yarn, but it just doesn’t seem big enough for me. And since I don’t like a lot of lace, it’s hard to find patterns I like that fit these specifications but it looks like this might fit the bill.

Another pattern that I like is the Ulmus Rectangle by Kirsten Kapur (Through The Loops). I love working on the smaller version but as soon as I saw the larger wrap, yarn ideas have been running through my head.

But alas, I shall continue to be monogamous to my handspun shawl…

…while visions of many, many other projects dance in my head. *sigh*

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knitting everyday

Do you knit everyday? I do. It’s very rare that I’ve missed a day since the beginning of the year. I never expected a ‘hobby’ to become so much more than that – Therapy – Solace – just something to do while waiting in line for 30 minutes a the bureau of motor vehicles or to quiet the mind when there’s just too much goin’ on in there. Therefore, it’s been kinda scary the last couple of days when I was almost too tired to knit. … I said ‘almost’. ;-) Even if I only have time to knit a couple of stitches, I make sure to make time for my knitting. It’s that important.

I shall end this post with pictures the two small skeins of sock yarn I got at the yarn store yesterday to expand the color palette of this years ornaments.
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I love this one – It’s ShibuiKnits Sock in the colorway, Peony.

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and I wanted a purple so I got this – Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet in a pretty periwinkle.

My handspun shawl is still growing. I still love knitting it. I got a longer needle and it make knitting much each easier w/out my knitting being so scrunched up.

One more thing – go visit The Kniterella View – She has instructions to make a yarn ball wreath. Who needs the Starbucks version when you can make and customize your own! (And if you Google ‘starbucks wreath’, you see other people who have made one as well.)

ta ta for now!

- saffronknits

“knit on, with confidence and hope…”

One thing that I love about knitting is that it interjects some sanity when the insanity gets too much.

In the midst the knitting and knitting ideas & inspiration, I’ve decided on knitting monogamy – only work on my handspun shawl until it’s finished. I need to move it to a longer needle because the 24″ circular is no longer long enough to hold all the stitches. So, hopefully, on Wednesday, I can take a trip to my yarn store to pick up some needles and couple of skeins for the ornaments. Maybe I’ll stay and knit for a bit as well. When I go into the yarn store, the world and it’s troubles seem to stay outside.

Sorry, no pictures today but tomorrow, I will have some pictures of my handspun shawl to share with you. Wanna hint?

Think S T R I P E S! :)

Stay tuned.

p.s. Credit where credit is due: The quote in the subject is by Elizabeth Zimmermann. :)

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my yarn stash is calling

Oh My Goodness! Just like I couldn’t stay away from my spinning wheel this summer, now it’s the knitting. Yarn I didn’t know what to do with is now screaming at me, telling me what it wants to be. I’m not complaining, mind you, because I know what it’s like to have a creative block, but it’s frustrating that I can’t start every project idea that seems to come to me almost every day.

The most recent one is a possible blanket. Remember that 100% organic cotton yarn I bought back in April?

sprout

My original idea did not work and I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out what to make with it.

Recently, I remembered some yarn I bought at a fiber fest this past Spring.

sunset

sunset

It’s ‘Island Cotton’ in the colorway ‘Sunset’ from The Weaver’s Loft. (yeah, I know…again with the rainbow… ;) )

Both yarns are very similar in texture and weight. I thought maybe if I knit squares and have a mostly natural colored blanket with a few splashes of color, it would be pretty. On US size 10 needles, that would knit up pretty quickly, I’d think. I’ve been wanting to make something for an aunt who is allergic to wool. This might fit the bill. (Even if a blanket doesn’t work out, I think the two yarns would work well together.)

If push comes to shove, I could use the other skein I got from The Weaver’s Loft in a similar fashion and make something for me. (It’s also Island Cotton and the colorway is ‘Twilight’)

twilight

twilight

Free Smiley Courtesy of www.millan.net So much knitting, so little time. BUT… it gives me something to work toward, right? :)

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time to make the ornaments

I like making ornaments. I feel like I’ve come full circle about ’cause my mom used to have me make ornaments every year, but I stopped doing that a long time ago. But last year, I bought ‘Deck The Balls‘ pattern from my LYS and made several. I had fun making them! (My LYS even had kits this year).

I decided to make some ornaments again this year and I chose a free pattern this time – Alpaca Sox Mini-Socks. It was featured in a Classic Elite Yarns newsletter. I still have the yarn from the ornaments I made last year and will buy a couple more skeins. I’m using the pattern more as a guideline since I am doing a short row heel instead of a heel flap and a different decrease for the toe.

:)

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all you need is yarn

I forgot to show you the yarns I have in my stash to make the log cabin blanket. Some are leftover from projects and others are full skeins that I never ended up using. It annoys me to have all this yarn sitting around so I happy to have a project to put it all (or most of it) to good use.

I couldn’t have planned this project better. Blue, purple & red are my favorite colors! :)

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day 28: setting goals

I’m terrible at goal setting. I always say I’m gonna do this or I’m gonna do that. But I never write them down. A couple of weeks ago, I finally did – all because of a knitting podcast.

I was listening to the ‘Gives Good Knit‘ podcast, hosted by Tikabelle – and she mentioned ’101 Things in 1001 Days’ – about how she did on her previous list of goals and what she wanted to achieve on the next go round. That got me thinking about all the things I say I want to do. So I did a little research and found Day Zero – Home of the 101 in 1001 days project. After perusing the site and looking at several people’s lists, I decided to make my own. My start date was on Sunday. I probably won’t share me whole list here, but I’m sure you can guess that some of those goals involve knitting and/or spinning. I’ve already started one of them.

98. Knit an afghan

Since I started knitting, large projects have always intimidated me. I never felt I had the attention span to finish what I start. I was afraid to even try. But as I’m about to start my 4th year as a knitter, I realize I’ve learned a lot in these past three years. I guess it’s time to put all that learnin’ to good use.

Here’s a peek at my Scrappy Log Cabin Blanket as it looked on Sunday, November 1st.

It’s such a comforting knit.

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day 30: building a log cabin

(NaBloPoMo – And so it begins. I’ll be counting down from 30 to 1… )

Several weeks ago, a woman came into the LYS with her Log Cabin blanket, looking for a color to match her final section and it caught my attention. I’d never considered making a Log Cabin Blanket but ever since seeing hers, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

So yesterday, I took a peek at the Mason-Dixon Knitting book to get an idea on the construction and when I got home, found THIS PAGE at the January One blog and used both help me figure out how to make a log cabin garter stitch blanket.

I gathered all the worsted weight, non superwash wool I had in my stash, most of it remnants from other projects. Despite different brands & dye lots, I had a lot of blues, purples & reds plus a small amount of white, gray & black.

So I sat down and played a little bit with Photoshop and came up with a general plan:

Of course it all depends on the yardage of the yarn I have, but it’s good to have a basic plan. :)

My knitting obsession continues…

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can’t… stop… knitting…

There has been a major shift here at saffronknits. But, before I get to that, I want to you show the last yarn I finished.

I had 4 ounces of ‘Cotton Candy’ mini batts from Spincerely Yours

I chain-plied this yarn, being very conscious about the amount of twist I was putting into it and I am very pleased with the results. I’d say this is a pretty woolen yarn as I spun this with a supported long draw. I call it ‘Pink Parasol’. (Inspired by line in The Sound of Music).


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But back to that ‘major shift’. After finishing that last yarn, my spinning mojo went on vacation but an obsession with knitting has taken it’s place. Want proof?

I bought that Dream in Color Smooshy – Visual Purple and made the ‘Simple Yet Effective Shawl‘.

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I saw someone knitting an Ulmus shawl (designed by Through The Loops) at my LYS and went home and started one of my own. I’m using Claudia Handpainted Yarn fingering in the colorway ‘Carousel’ and Koigu Premium Merino in Black, both from my stash. I’m so glad to finally be using this yarn.

My issues with reading patterns reared it ugly head and I misread the chart so my Ulmus is more of a stockinette version. I really like it!

I’ve had to rip out about 16 rows to fix a mistake, but that hasn’t really slowed me down. I still love knitting this shawl.

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And finally, a shawl made out of my own handspun. The very first time I’m knitting with my own handspun. I’m so in love with knitting this, I almost can’t stand it!

Once again, it’s the Simple Yet Effective Shawl. It’s completely in stockinette and I completely love it! (The picture shows the shawl upside down – The navy is the top of the shawl.)

I’m going to knit all of color blocks then add black at the bottom. I’m still deciding if I want the garter stitch edging to be in color or in black.

Ok … enough blogging … gotta get back to my knitting.

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a party on my wheel

While I have seemed to lost my blogging mojo lately, my spinning mojo has been in full force. Wanna see what I’ve been up to?

I have been practicing long draw with some fiber I got from my LYS:

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I spun up that black merino that I bought:

I’m going to knit this with Rayn-bo Brite.

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I took the Spunky Club offering ‘Soul Windows’ (4 oz)…

… and took out most of the non-blue sections and got this:

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Currently I am spinning fiber from The Painted Tiger – 8 oz corriedale in the colorway ‘CMY Party’.

I switched from the delta flyer (Star Trek: Voyager, anyone? ;) ) to the fine fibre flyer and I like it. My spinning seems more even. But I’ll have to try some merino with the flyer to see if that’s actually true. I got nearly 6 ounces on the first bobbin.

I have about 2 ounces left. I will be chain-plying this. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

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And yes… I have been knitting. Currently I’m working on the Simple Yet Effective Shawl using Dream In Color Smooshy in the colorway ‘Visual Purple’. (My LYS got a bunch of Dream In Color in stock and I couldn’t resist.)

I wanted to do something that was minimal lace and minimal thinking and this fit the bill.

Hope you enjoy your week!!

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I do still knit… and I can prove it

I finally finished my socks! I present to you my Monkey-ish socks! :D

These socks were definitely about the process than the finished product. I’m really not a big fan of wearing lacy socks but I really wanted to knit these socks but I didn’t want to knit them from the cuff down as in the pattern. I re-charted it in my 2nd year of knitting – it took three tries at reworking and reknitting to get the results I wanted. In doing so, I came to really appreciate Cookie A’s skill in designing socks because recharting this to be a toe-up sock was not an easy task. But it was challenging and fun. But that first sock I tried in this revamped pattern did not work. I was using lovely yarn by Claudia Hand Painted Yarns in the Carousel colorway. It pooled horribly and the stitch pattern was lost in the colors. So I eventually ripped it out. I never posted a picture then ’cause it looked so horrible to me, but here is one, so you can see what I’m talking about:

The color repeats were just too short for the socks to look the way I wanted. Cut to almost two years later, where I had one more year of knitting experience and some lovely dream in color smooshy in my stash that hadn’t worked for another project. (Colorway: Some Summer Sky)

Inspired by chrissythegreat talking on her podcast about knitting her Monkey socks, I started to think about that chart I’d did previously and I couldn’t resist casting on. This was an enjoyable knit. And they fit!

Now I have three pairs of handknit socks, two made by me and one I received during sockapalooza 4. Yay! :) Now … what else am I knitting?

I’m finishing up the hemlock ring blanket. I’m doing the edging and it is slow going but I’m over half way done so I know it won’t be long now. I can’t wait to see how it’s going to look. As soon as it’s done, I’m going to start work on the Voyager Stole with the Skinny Dyed Cotton yarn I got from my LYS. It’s such a pretty pink! :)

Also, I’ve been asked to participate in a project and have just finished a square for a blanket. I can’t show it to you yet ‘cause that’ll give away the recipient, but I will share when it’s possible to do so.

Talk to you later! :) Happy Fiber Fun! :D

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lot’s o’ knitting goin’ on

I finally finished this hat. It was sitting on the needles for way too long and last month, I finally sat down and finished it in one sitting.

Pattern: Gretel by Ysolda
Size: Regular (I did the slouchy last time)
Yarn: Kraemer Yarns Summit Hill in colorway Aquamarine, not a whole skein
Needles: US 7
Started: December 15 2008
Completed: May 17 2009

I love this pattern. Well worth knitting again. This will make a nice gift for a dear friend. It’s nice to have a Christmas gift done so early. :)

…aaand… this past weekend, I was knitting like a fiend and finished the heels on my Monkey-ish socks so I just need to do the legs and the cuffs. I don’t have a lot of knitting time during the week ’cause I usually only have enough mental power for spinning at the end of the day so this part might take a while, but I love knitting these socks – a combo of my creativity with that of the Cookie A. Lots ‘o fun, in my opinion. :) (The yarn is Dream in Color: Some Summer Sky … perfect for this time of year, wouldn’t you say? :D )

This is the Sherman short row heel, great for someone who doesn’t like to deal with wrapping stitches.

I decided not the carry the pattern all the way around the leg. I really like how it looks.

and I got a new knitting book!

and I know what I’m going to knit next … Oh… the anticipation. ;)