December 25, 2008

I'm a knitting machine...


Well I finally finished Katie and Anthony's wedding afghan. They got in married in October, but it simply wasn't done, so they're getting it for Christmas.

Mods: I think the pattern meant you to pick up and knit stitches, and I just picked them up. It meant that each side has lines of color joining, but it gives an interesting effect where there's no right or wrong side.

For the border, it also wanted to you basically carry stitches along while do the decreasing squares. I didn't want to do this, so I bound of squares as I finished rows. I think went back and picked up stitches along each side, each side a different color. Then did a round of single crochet in the tan. Gave a nice unifying effect I thought. I do still need to deal with some ends, but other than that I am really happy with it. It's a nice couch throw size, which I what I was going for. I think I might eventually make one for our bed, but that's another day!

I also finally finished my Noni Carpet bag and got it felted, and am waiting for it to dry. Charles scarf is about half done, and I have finished the back piece of Sean's vest. I still need to take some pictures, but I think in a day or so I am going to do a picture heavy post.

Now I am off to knit some more!

December 13, 2008

Christmas

There's really not much to post about when I haven't accomplished much. I am mostly done with Katie and Anthony's afghan, its just the same finishing issues I always have. The idea of picking up stitches all along the edges don't have me very motivated either, alas.

The more pressing list right now is:
a dishcloth by Wednesday
a dishcloth by Friday
a scarf by Saturday

The scarf is the least pressing, because I can technically work on it after I leave to go home, but it would be harder to do, since its for my brother, who will be home. But it might happen. I'm hoping to make the Mason Dixon dishcloth, but its sort of dependent upon the book getting here on time, which I don't think is going to happen, so this: http://www.geocities.com/love2knit_dishcloths/Dishcloth022 is my backup. I think they will like it.

Eventually I am going to start on hats for Sean's nieces, and a sweater for my friends toddler. I have done the back of Sean's vest, and need to start the front. That and the wedding afghan I think are going to be the projects I take home to finish up. Ten days should equal plenty of knitting. Theoretically. When I get around to it, I will post a bunch of pictures of schtuff.

September 6, 2008

Pillow




There is a new first in the life of the Yarn Hussy. I made something all the way through based upon my original design. Very minimal, if any, froggin. Holy shit. I have made one pillow cover, and here it is in all its glory! My color work needs some help (I think I have wrapping/tension issues), but for the most part it looks good. I'm seriously considering typing up a pattern and posting it on Ravelry, in the hopes that someone else will make it. Easy as hell to make. Course now I have to figure out what I want to do for the second pillow. I might just not bother, we have about four pillows as it is, which I think is more than sufficient atm.

Now I might work on knitting a mate for my sock. I'm so flipping excited about my recent bursts of creativity. Now that I'm not in school, I haven't been doing much to make me feel accomplished, and this is filling the void nicely!

August 31, 2008

Progress

Well, I have made some inroads into the pirate afghan. The current plan, which I think I like, is to make a shit load of squares in black and white, with one skull and crossbones square in each corner. This thing is going to be massive, but the Yeti wanted snuggling/blanket burrito-ing room, which when you're 6'2" means a LOT of squares. Each one is 48 x 56 sts on size 7's. I'm using cheapo One Pound acrylic. When its going to be this big, and its just for us, I can be cheap. I'm debating putting pink skulls on on half, but I don't know yet. I'm about one and a half strips in, and I'm guessing I'm going to need about 10 across, as I want it to cover our queen bed.

In other news, I KNIT A SOCK. Despite the plethora of sock patterns on Ravelry, I have resisted, for the large part because I hate dpn's. Well, I have discovered what I honestly believe to be a gift from a higher being/God/Zeus/Great Mother, whatever. The Magic Loop method. I know, its old, not new, whatever. But it's freaking awesome. And here, in all its glory, is my sock.
I used some KnitPicks wool of the andes I had lying around, and its nice and soft. I should have used stitch markers, and the beginning of my round changed about 3 times as a result of my refusal to use them, but it is still a perfectly wearable sock, and I am quite proud of myself. I don't know if I am going to become addicted to sock making or not, but it was enjoyable to learn a new thing.

Next up: 1. pillow covers for my couch throw pillows. Of my own design.
2. Cunt clutch for Katie.
3. Finish my flipping Noni bag already!

August 8, 2008

New start (and yes, this is a loaded title)

So the move is completed. The yarn is unpacked. Which means...

You guessed it, a new project. Or rather the umpteenth incarnation of an old one. New variation of the pirate-ghan. Pictures will be posted if this one sticks for more than 52 hours. Promise.

July 21, 2008

Moving sucks

So I've declared myself on a new project hiatus. Which hurts. It hurts bad. BUT I am moving in 10 days, and I can't unpack the yarn. So I have been working on my brothers afghan (mainly because it's half done already, and it's T & Q, which means bulky as all hell. That and the Noni bag are all I am allowed to work on right now. Mainly because I want that bag done. I'm okay with not felting it until after we move, but I would like to get the knitting done. I would felt now, but unless I can get it done tomorrow, I doubt this thing is going to have time, it being so dadgum thick.

Moving is not fun. It makes me put away my knitting needles.

July 13, 2008

Ugly Bath Mat




In an effort to use the massive amounts of ugly cotton yarn I had laying around, I made a bath mat, one which I find hideous. But it's a bathmat, and the Boy liked it, and he hates it when I frog things, so I left it alone. Besides, the cats just going to pee on it soon anyway. I might type up the pattern soon, for posterity sake, I might try it again, but knit it, and use prettier colors. But here are pictures anyway.

July 10, 2008

IMG_0454

IMG_0454
IMG_0454,
originally uploaded by Yarn Misadventures.
So I finally finished the crayon blankie for Wendy/Noah. For the most part I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Made a note of all the changes on Ravelry (for which my name is YarnHussy, btw). Embroidering on those letters was a bitch I must say. But the recipient at least pretended to like it, so it was worth it. Now I want to play around with the idea. I am thinking about making a felted version as a bag, maybe a laptop case. But I am forbidding myself to buy yarn until after we've moved. We'll see how my resolve holds up.

June 29, 2008

Grumble

So I'm sitting in bed on a Sunday watching bad bridal WeTV (never a good idea, makes Sean nervous to see me around weddings. Its going to be a long fall) and decided that I wanted to whip up some quickie afternoon project. I do what any logical knitter (and no I see no contradiction in that statement) would do and head to my Ravelry queue. I start knitting whipping this little beauty up http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/swiffer-re-usable-cloth, and about 10 rows in, I realize that my Swiffer is the velcro time. Not the bobble kind. Crappity crap crap. Now I have to find a new project. Hmph.

June 15, 2008

Updates on the Noni Bag

Oh this Noni bag. I am making the rather huge version, because despite what Stacy and Clinton say, I am a small-ish girl who carries monstrously large bags, and dammit, I like it! That being said, I made some modifications to the pattern.

1. Pattern says use size 11 24" circs. Um, I'm using size 9 with a 60" cable. God knows how they think you are going to squeeze this monster onto 24" of cable.
2. For bottom, I cast on 86, not 70, which meant my round had...a lot.
3. I stuck with the four row stripes, but I am thinking I should have added a couple, but at this point I am about halfway done, and no way am I frogging that much.
4. I wasn't going to double strand it, but I did after all. I want to make this a sturdy overnight kind of bag, so it seemed like a good idea.

For more general notes, I am only about halfway done, so the actual felting is still in front of me, but based on my previous felting experiences and what I have read, I think I am going to add a few more sets of stripes than the pattern called for, in anticipation for it shrinking more vertically than horizontally. Also, I am probably not going to make the flower, because A) I have to buy another pattern to do it apparently, and B) my boyfriend hates it so much he threatened to not be seen in public with me/it. Heh.

Lining. Oh lining. What I have always liked about felting bags is that they don't require a lining. It remains to be seen if this one will need it. I also need handles. This MIGHT be done by the end of the summer.

The pattern is well written, and does have some tricks about making corners crisp and picking up stitches, which were nice, BUT... I don't know if I really needed a pattern. I could have made this bag without spending the $8. But, the guidelines for figuring out size for the different bags might come in handy.

May 22, 2008

Bad blogger, bad!

Well, not only have I been forgetting to update about my latest knitting adventures, I left my knitting at home while I have been on vacation for 2 weeks. Grumble.

BUT the exciting news is that I am now a college graduate. Woohoo! Suppose I should change my about me section accordingly. As a graduation present to myself I bought some yummy yummy yarn to make myself the Noni Very Huge Carpet bag. Spent far too much money and have to accompanying buyers remorse, but c'est la vie. This project, which my greedy little hands were so excited about is the one which remains sitting on my desk in Asheville.

Right now the to do list is as follows:
crayon blankie (goal: mid June)
Noni Bag (who knows, by mid June would be nice, but we shall see)

I have a ton of black Patons Grace laying around, and no idea what to do with it, right now I am thinking curtains. But black curtains? I dunno...

April 25, 2008

Whoops.

Okay, so I'm a bad knitting blogger. I've been caught up with school and all that jazz lately, so here's the update.

I gave up on the double knit/entrelac afghan. Too ambitious, I was never going to get the damn thing done.

I have decided that the yo-yo's are a friggen hassle, so I am going with fishies instead. Should look like an aquarium on acid. Always fun.

I am using up some random cotton yarn I had laying around to make a bathmat. My dyelots don't match, and its a funny shape. But frankly, the cats probably just going to pee on it anyway, so who really cares if my colors are slightly off.

The big news is, I have organized my stash. I don't have nearly as much yarn as I thought I did. It was just REALLY spread out. I will take/post some pictures when I have the energy and batteries for the camera.

Hopefully now that school is over (permanently! or at least until grad school...) I will have more time for stitching, which is good, my Ravelry queue is getting out of control.

February 24, 2008

Continental Knitting

I was just wading through Ravelry as I am wont to do at every spare moment, and some which aren't, and ran across a forum regarding Continental v. English style knitting. Apparently, the difference is how you hold your yarn, and I knit Continental. Interesting.

In other news, despite my personal moratorium on new projects, I am about to cast on....
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=160711.0 , which I am extremely excited about. Its going to be my first garment, and my first attempt at sleeves. Might be overly ambitious, but dammit, I am going to try.

February 16, 2008

Windmill Woes

Well I have my first 7 squares of the windmills made. The issue now is that I can't figure out how to arrange them. I didn't really think through size before I made them. They're about 8.5" each, which means one in each color would make it 68"x68", which presents several problems. First, I hate square afghans. Second, the BoyfriendYeti is 6'4", which means it will not cover him, especially after factoring in my burritoing habits.

My initial (and what I thought was brilliant solution) was to make smaller rectangles that were 3x2, thus when assembled could make an afghan which was 9x6, but then, long enough but too narrow, and the odd numbers means that a row won't have full windmills, but instead look like Don Quixote got ahold of them.

I think what I might do instead is use 6 colors (there were two I didn't like much anyway) and make it 12x12. This means it will be 102x102, plus 2" or so of border. Massive, but I like em big (dirty joke intended) and that way if I end up with a huge bed in the fall, it won't look dwarfed.

February 13, 2008

New Afghans

I have begun a new afghan, one which I have dubbed 'The Acid Trip Windmills Afghan', due to the bright ass colors which I am using. I think its going to come out looking pretty cool, and will likely get done pretty quick, since I am taking the squares to class and knitting them there and at work, so I'm averaging about 2 a day, and I think I figured out that I need about 64 squares. Yikes.

Haven't done much one the scrapghan, I got bored with it. Go figure.

Began the crayon afghan for Sean's sister, of which two crayons are done. Need to keep working on that.

The latest on the Lily Chin dress is that I got most of the way through the pattern and decided that it was feasible and now am on the hunt for yarn. Right now I am thinking Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks. Seems close to gauge, and given that it is an outdoor wedding in October, I am anticipation being a little chilly. Even if it is warm, I would rather be too warm than cold any day, so I figure wool isn't unreasonable.

January 22, 2008

Hokay, so things are progressing. Sort of. Finally cleaned out my stash yesterday, it was beyond out of control, but now is nicely organized. I have a ton of scraps, so soon it is going to be time to make some sort of ugly as sin scrapghan. I could always donate it to the dog or something.

I have also taken on the most important project of my fibre arts career. The Lily Chin lace dress. A large project in itself, but what makes it worse is that it is going to be my bridesmaid dress for one of my best friends wedding. In October. I have started a mock up that is going to be large enough to fit an elephant, but should serve to prove whether or not I can follow the pattern and make it look good. If not, I will buy something. But we both love the dress, so I am trying. I might be in over my head.

January 12, 2008

Furthur Explanations

Well, I promised an explanation of several things in my last post.

First, the T&Q afghan. I made this afghan for my brother a couple of years ago. It was a little narrower than I would have liked, but he liked it, and I was out of yarn, so I was SOL. Last Christmas, he asked if I could make it wider. So I frogged. The WHOLE THING. However, I had the brilliant flash of inspiration to make the center stripe separately and slip stich it in on both sides. Then, in the future if more stripes are needed, then I requires no frogging. I doubt I am the first to think of this, but I was still pretty proud of myself.

And the entrelac/double knitted afghan. You know how sometimes you have a vision of this perfect creation in your head, and you start knitting and hope it goes the way you want? Yeah thats this project. In theory I am making a reversible afghan. One side has a red and off white entrelac border, with a white center, and the reverse side has a red center and a white border. I figured the easiest way to do it is to make one side of the border, stitch it into a tube, then knit the ceenter panel, then make the other 3 sides of the border and sew them on. In other words, I MIGHT have this done by the time I graduate in May.

I also bought the yarn to make myself a felted entrelac tote. I wonder if they have yarn rehab...