Vivian, and spring-ish patterns.

I’m still slogging away on my Vivian sweater. This thing is going to be the death of me, I swear. I’ve caught back up with where I was before I had to do all that ripping out. But…then I had to do some more ripping out. As I started doing the decreases for the yoke, something went all crazy, and I realized that I had different stitch counts for each side of each sleeve.”Something went all crazy” translates to “I didn’t understand the pattern here so I did my own thing”. Hee.

Some of the decreases worked out to be snuggled right next to the cable, came out looking neat and tidy, and they faded nicely into the seed stitch around it.

Some of the decreases, though, ended up being 2 or 3 stitches away from the cable, and looked ugly and random and just plain not right.

Cute arrows, huh? I know in these photos it doesn’t look like a huge difference, and honestly in person it wasn’t a glaring mistake. I knew that I would know it was wrong, though. Every time I wore this sweater, I would see the fugly decreases and hate them.

So I ripped back. Again. I re-knit it. Again.I disregarded the stitch count given in the pattern and just started doing the decreases one stitch before or after that cable. So far, so good.

To take my mind off this interminable sweater knitting, I’ve been looking at the pre-spring round of patterns that usually come out in February. It’s not quite time for warm weather knitting, but people’s minds are turning that-a-way. My favorites so far are from the Knitscene Winter/Spring 2010 issue. So cute! Especially the Geodesic Cardigan by (who else?) Connie Chang Chinchio.

{ image from knitscene.com }

There are some very nice triangular shawl patterns, as well. My favorite of the three they offer in this issue is the Conifer Shawl by Kate Gagnon Osborn.

{ image from knitscene.com }

And this sweet cardigan from Kate Himmelberg! I’m not sure I will ever knit it, but I think it’s too, too cute. And sock-monkey-ish.

{ image from knitscene.com }

There are also some truly bizarre  late 80’s looking knits and styling straight from the what-the-hell files, but I’ll leave you to explore that on your own. Click here for the rest of the pattern previews. Overall, I really like this issue! Not many articles that caught my attention, but the patterns are worth the price for me.

My feed reader has been throwing up some very nice patterns published by indie designers, too.

• Andrea’s Shawl by Kristin Kapur is just lovely – a really nice combo of old-fashioned pretty with modern stripes. I would love this in gray and yellow!
• The Carter Cardigan from Cosmicpluto is pretty darn awesome. I like that it’s a basic button-up cardigan with a little something different in the cables, which look to me like a ribbon flowing down the sweater, and the garter detail on the back. Plus, pockets!!
• Snowbird by PipiBird makes me want to go live in Sweden and be blond and tall and snuggled up in this cardigan. I love long sleeves that reach over my hands when I’m in a cozy mood, and the tweedy yarn she used is pitch perfect for this design. The website is in Swedish, but go look at the picture! You can buy the pattern in English from Rav.

All of these lovely patterns! If only I could switch careers and become a full-time knitter. Surely someone out there will pay me to read and knit all day??? : )

Snow! And a sweater setback.

Snow is a pretty rare event in this part of the Southeast US, so when we get any significant amount it’s a Big Deal. We got around 6 inches where I live overnight on Friday. WHOA NELLY. School’s been out for the past 2 days, people stocked up like a zombie invasion was imminent, and the news stations are reporting every gory (and boring) detail. To be honest, I kind of like the whole winter weather crisis excitement, when it’s not really a crisis and no one’s really in danger. I’ve been through ice storms, and they suck. Snow, now? Snow is fun!

We were snowed in the house Friday night through Sunday. As someone who gets all my running around done on the weekends (not to mention someone who has control freakish tendencies and who suffers from constant frustration at the way the universe stubbornly refuses to bend to my will) staying inside all weekend was…a challenge.

Deciding to look on the bright side, I tried to think of it as a long stretch of knitting time! Great idea. I pulled out my Vivian sweater, which I’ve been working on a lot. Spread it out nicely to take a work-in-progress photo, and discovered this. I can barely even look at this photo without grinding my teeth:

Hmm, what’s wrong with this picture? Since I don’t have one normal arm and one shriveled tiny dwarf arm, I don’t think this is going to fit. I had already attached the sleeves and knit half the yoke before I took this photo and realized my mistake. What the hell, Dayna? I was very, very close to a full-out conniption fit.

Sigh. So, what happened was, there are supposed to be five rows between each cable, and I knit four rows between each cable on that one dwarf sleeve up there. Add all those missing rows together, and it makes quite a difference, huh?

I ripped back 40 rows of the yoke and one entire sleeve, and so I’ve spent my days off trying to get back to where I was. I’m just about done with the sleeve; it’s probably going to take me another couple weeks at least to finish this. I’m pretty bummed about being so far behind already on my Knit 12 Sweaters in 2010 resolution, but I do have 2 sweaters in progress that I can finish pretty quickly and those will help me get back on track.

I hope you’re all enjoying the wintertime and having better luck than me at whatever you’re creating lately! : )

IKEA Project: Craft Cabinet!

I may or may not have mentioned, but back on New Year’s Day, my husband and I made a massive trip to IKEA. I’d been once before, to the Virginia store almost four years ago, and had been dreaming of returning ever since. Last February, a store finally opened within two hours of us, and we spent eleven months saving and planning for a big furniture haul. Big. Like…big. We rented a truck.

We’re actually planning on going back to IKEA next month when my in-laws visit for a small trip, and I’m going to document that visit, then write a “How to Survive IKEA” post. Until then, I wanted to show some of our purchases. Before I do, I want to note that I was (and still am) slightly filled with consumerist middle-class guilt about the whole purchase. In light of news stations streaming 24 hours of terrible things happening all over, and knowing what I know about the world and how lucky I am to be where I am, I feel kind of like a douche celebrating the purchase and owning of things.  On the other hand, I don’t think it’s intrinsically evil to like having pretty items in my house. I work a lot and spend a lot of my emotional and physical energy on helping other people. It feels nice to be a little selfish once in a while. It’s still a mental struggle though. I think I would not make a good Buddhist. I like things too much.

This is what my puny “craft area” has looked like for the past five years:

That’s actually a cheapo storage chest that I got on my first IKEA trip for $29. It was really flimsy. The drawers sagged and you had to tug really hard to get anything out of there. So I knew I wanted to get something else, something both pleasing to look at and easy to access, to store my crafty goodness. I thought about getting this lovely red bookcase with glass doors or maybe an Expedit workstation with a desk that would be perfect for my sewing machine.  When we looked at these in-store, I saw that both options were going to be way too big for our little townhouse.

Then, browsing the bookcase area, I saw this. And fell in love.

I almost didn’t buy it, but my husband wisely talked me into it. I’m not a very greedy person, but when I get that feeling about an item, I will not be happy until I own it. It happens very rarely, but when it does I will become fixated on it with laser precision until it’s mine, all mine. He knew if it didn’t come home with us, I would regret it and he would have to hear about it for weeks.

{For any IKEA shoppers who happen upon this, that’s the Edland linen cabinet. And do yourself a favor and use a carpentry square to line up the frame, because it’s totally wonky when you’re trying to put it together. It still didn’t come out totally lined up, but good enough.}

I spent last weekend dragging out all my crafting stuff and staring in horror at what I had accumulated…

…then whittling it down to things I actually want to own. I ended up throwing out or donating a couple garbage bags worth of stuff I’d collected over the years. Then I organized what was left into piles: sewing stuff, embroidery stuff, knitting stuff, paperwork stuff and random things I labeled “bits and bobs”. I organized the paper into boxes like these and everything else into CD boxes and DVD boxes in the Kassett line (I bought the white, instead of black or green.) I cut out little pieces of pink cardstock for the box labels.

Then, the fun part! Organizing and putting it all into the cabinet. I am aware that “organizing” and “fun” do not go together for most people, but what can I say? I am a born librarian.

This is the bottom drawer, where I put small leftover balls of yarn, projects that are waiting to be frogged, and works in progress. These Komplement drawer organizers are AWESOME. I used half of the set for my sock drawer, and the rest are used here. Highly recommended.

Other craft supplies got boxed; buttons went in a glass jar; magazines went into magazine holders; knitting needles went into a glass on the top shelf; books and yarn stash were arranged on a middle shelf.

I just love it. It took a lot of work, but it was worth it a hundred times over. Every time I walk by my new craft cabinet, it puts a huge smile on my face. It’s so lovely to have my yarn stash out where I can see it, and everything is vastly more accessible and just so much prettier. Happiness!

Finished: Multnomah Shawl.

Pattern: Multnomah Shawl by HelloKnitty

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Archangel (ohhh, simply to die for. Loved this yarn)

Needles: Umm…US 3? I think? Sorry, didn’t take good notes on this.

Notes and Mods: No modifications! This is the perfect little shawlette to show off a variegated sock yarn that’s just too, too nice to wear in your shoes. All that garter stitch displays the color changes so nicely.

Sweater # One: Vivian

I publicly stated that I will knit 12 sweaters this year, and I really think I will. I might be insane, but it’s do-able. Just having that goal sitting there in my head is motivating me already. It’s not even halfway through January, and I have a lot of progress made on my first sweater, Vivian.

This is a cabled sweater. A very cabled sweater.  Like, lots of cables everywhere. I had a lot of trouble knitting the first few rows because it requires laser-sharp focus and that’s hard for me to come by lately. I did make a big fat mistake with the first few rows and had to rip out and re-start. If you’re about to cast on for this sweater, here’s how you avoid it:

In the middle of the LFC and RFC sections, there are 8 stitches that look on the chart like seed stitch. And what do you know? They are seed stitch! Don’t be like me and read the chart wrong. Being used to lace charts that have a purl-back row, I read the chart right-to-left, right-to-left, right-to-left. Nope! This is charted every row, so you read it right-to-left, left-to-right, right-to-left, left-to-right, and so on. If you don’t get that (and I still kinda don’t) just know that you’re supposed to do seed stitch in that section. I had ribbing in the middle of my LFC and RFC and I KNEW it was wrong but I kept at it anyway. The eternal delusion that if you just keep knitting, somehow, someway, it will turn out right.

Apologies to any non-knitters who read this blog. That was probably really boring.

I am still without my main camera lens, so there’s not much else to share. There’s a lot going on knitting-wise and house-wise, and hopefully I’ll be able to share that soon when I break down and buy a new lens! Hope your January is off to a good start. : )

2009 in knitting!

In a fit of wine-induced nostalgia, I went and read through my blog posts from the past year. Leaving aside the sublime stuff (trip to the Outer Banks!) and the awful stuff (a tree fell on our house!), I wanted to look back just at my year in knitting. I know it’s technically the end of the decade as well, but my overly-emotional self can’t handle thinking that far back right now. Let’s stick to the past 365 days.

I’m pretty proud of what I finished: 3 sweaters, 3 pairs of socks, 3 lace shawls, 3 hats, fingerless mitts, a felted purse, a baby blanket, and who knows how many dishcloths.

Not too shabby, eh? I’m hoping I will finish even more projects in 2010, including my 12 sweaters.

I also thought back on the year in knitting patterns, and I’d like to hand out a few entirely fabricated awards.The winners can thank me later. : )

My Favorite Shawl Pattern of 2009:

• Damson by Ysolda Teague
• Runners up: Multnomah and Cold Mountain. Oh, and Citron.

My Favorite Kids Pattern of 2009:

• Roo by Kate Gilbert (eep! I almost want to make a baby just to knit that, and then make the kid wear it. Almost.)

My Favorite Sweater Pattern of 2009 (and this is SO hard to narrow down)

• Vine Yoke Cardigan by Ysolda

My Favorite Accessories Pattern of 2009

• Cayuga Set hat and mittens by Connie Chang Chinchio

Most “Interesting” Pattern of 2009

• Champagne Fizz hat (aka, the fugly pompom nutso hat)

My Favorite Knitting Book of 2009

• Knitters Book of Wool by Clara Parkes (Amazon link)
• Runner-up: French Girl Knits by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes (Amazon link)

Another happy knitting-related thing for me this year is that I discovered my great yarn love, Malabrigo Sock yarn. Ahhh, love at first site.

What were your knitting/crafty highlights of the year? : )

Plans.

(This will be a photo-less post…I’ve finished a couple things, but in the course of unpacking from our holiday trip, my camera accidentally got dropped on the asphalt and the delicate innards of my lens were shattered. Horrifying. It doesn’t matter who did the dropping. It may have been me. It may have been my husband. Let’s just say, one of us felt very, very sorry and is buying the other one a replacement lens. [And it wasn't me.] So no photos for a bit. It’s not a happy topic. Let’s move on.) 

I always feel so odd during this post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s time. It’s a weird feeling: I’m done with 2009 and holiday madness and all that, but technically it’s not quite time for the fresh, new-start feeling of January 1st. Typically, I mark these few days by doing a fairly massive house clean, then turn my thoughts to plans for the brand new year. 

Knitting-wise, I have some exciting (to me) plans. I’m joining up with the NaKniSweMoDo group on Ravelry – that stands for National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathon. I think. Essentially, these brave/crazy people are committing to knit or crochet 12 sweaters in a year. I discovered their group about halfway through 2009, so too late to join up, but I’m signed on for 2010! 

 If you want some awe-inspiring sweater viewing, just take a look at all the great sweaters group members knit in the past 12 months. That’s some truly great stuff! 

I decided that I’m not going to pick out my 12 sweater patterns in advance, but instead, choose them as they come. For me, a good chunk of the fun of knitting is planning and choosing a yarn to perfectly match the project, and shockingly, I don’t stash sweater yarn. I buy it as I’m ready to use it. I do have a short list of contenders for the first few sweaters though:  (the links lead to where you can get the pattern)

• Vivian by Ysolda Teague – I think I’ll knit this in heathered Cascade 220, in a gray-green shade
• Vaila by Gunrun Johnston
• Kingscot by Norah Gaughan
• Vine Yoke Cardigan by Ysolda Teague

Huh. Those are all Twist Collective patterns. I also want to knit some Kim Hargreaves patterns from her Precious collection that came out back in the late summer. Plus, I know there will be more patterns coming out this year that I’ll love. This is exactly why I’m trying to get 12 sweaters knit this year – there are about 87 patterns I love and want to wear! 

Hopefully there will be some images in my next post to break up all the knitting blather. Enjoy the last days of 2009!

Finished: Koolhaas Hat

I’m having quite a cranky day. By now, I should be barreling happily down Interstate 75, heading northward toward my hometown for a week-long Christmas visit. Because of some really awful weather and road conditions in the eastern part of the US, I’m stuck. Here. In North Carolina. Where I have been for the last eight months, and where my family is not, and where I am pouting because, dammit, I want to see my mom and dad and sister and nieces and everyone.

Imagine me huffing out a long-suffering sigh. Hrumph.

Trying to make lemonade, look on the bright side, etc. etc., I’ve been using this rotten day to finish a hat. See:

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jarod Flood (rav link here)

Yarn: Malabrigo worsted, Violetas color, about 75% of one skein

Needles: size 6 circulars. I Magic Looped as the hat got smaller at the crown, instead of using DPNs.

Notes and Mods: I knit 4 repeats for the smaller size, as the pattern directed, then realized it was going to be WAY too tall for my head. I have a small to medium size head. I ripped back to 3 repeats, and it fits nicely.

I have to say, I hated knitting this hat, although I like the finished product. There are a million fiddly little cables and I kind of hate cables. I view them as neccesary evil interruptions to the flow of my knitting. I hear tell that learning how to cable without a cable needle is a revelation; I’ll try it one of these days.

Anyway, it turned out cute enough to make the effort worth it, I think. It’s also really warm. I’m about to plot my next knitting project, which I will hopefully be knitting in the car tomorrow! Crossing my fingers for clear roads…

Food, knitting, etc etc.

I think I promised a  new recipe that I tried at Thanksgiving. The problem with making blog promises is that I have to actually follow through on them. Dammit! haha.

For Thanksgiving, my husband and I usually cook pretty traditionally. Any other day of the year, I’m up for culinary experimentation. On Thanksgiving, you’d better give me my plain old mashed potatoes, super-crazy-sweet sweet potato casserole, Kentucky Wonder green beans, corn pudding made with Jiffy corn muffin mix and canned corn, stuffing made exactly how my mom makes it (thyme only! no sage or crazy add-ins like chestnuts, please!), and pumpkin pie made with evaporated milk. Plus, when there are that many dishes going on in the kitchen, I like most of them to be things I’ve made a dozen times and can make from memory. It’s a comfortable holiday and I like comfortable food.

However, I usually try one new recipe each year. Two years ago, it was this amazing Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake. Dear lord, was that good. This year, I took in a slightly healthier direction, with a new salad adapted from a Cooking Light recipe.

Baby Spinach Salad with Candied Walnuts

• 1/4  cup  chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  light brown sugar
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  egg white
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• Cooking spray
• 2  teaspoons  fresh orange juice
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2  teaspoon  Dijon mustard
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  (7-ounce) package fresh baby spinach (about 8 cups)
• 1  cup  orange sections (I used one Clementine, for 2 salads)

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the first 4 ingredients, tossing well to coat. Place walnut mixture on a nonstick baking sheet coated with cooking spray; bake at 350° for 6 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; cool.

Combine juice and next 4 ingredients (juice through pepper), stirring well with a whisk. Place the spinach in a large bowl; drizzle with juice mixture. Toss gently to coat. Place about 1 3/4 cups salad mixture on each of 4 plates; top with 1/4 cup orange sections and 1 tablespoon walnut mixture.

It was pretty good. The candied walnuts were obviously the best part.

Also, that gorgeous yarn I showed you? Is turning into a gorgeous little shawl. Here’s a tiny preview! More soon.

(Gah! For some reason WordPress is compressing my lovely clear photos and making them blurry and small. Am too tired to mess with it now. I just have to note that, to ease my perfectionist mind.)

Finished: Interlocking Leaves Socks

Pattern: Interlocking Leaves Socks from Knitty Fall 08

Yarn: Araucania Ranco, 1 skein (100% wool)

Needles: size 0 bamboo circulars

Notes/Mods: None! I liked the lace pattern quite a bit. These are going to be a Christmas gift for my granny, who loves handknit socks.

Next up on the knitting front is a million dishcloths for Christmas gifts. I’ve already knit four this week! I think I’m going to take a brief dishcloth break and work on something for me, using this lovely, lovely yarn:

More on that soon, plus some new recipes I tried for Thanksgiving! : ) Now I’m off to wind some sock yarn…