rae

rae, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Things have been a little crazy around here, between trying to finish up this chapter and apply for jobs, not much knitting has been going on. I did, however, finally finish up rae earlier this week. I hadn't even gotten a chance to take pictures, in part because the weather has been so bad that there's barely been any natural light.

It's also getting cold, so I've been wearing some fingerless gloves while working and put this on this afternoon... so I figured I should get a shot of it while I had the chance!

I used almost the entire ball of my space cadet yarn and ended up ripping back after the last post's fiasco to a total of 68 sts before decreasing.

Raveled here.

denial

so close yet so far, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Looks good, right? I thought so, as I was knitting along last night during the hockey game. I was also ignoring the tiny voice in my head that was saying "you don't have enough yarn", even though I was occasionally showing off the tiny ball of what was left to the family members around me and saying "I don't know if I'm going to make it..."

And lo:



I was right. Why I didn't listen to myself, well, we may never know. But now I'm going to have to rip back to before the turning point and try and figure out just how much I'll have to pull out before I'll have enough to finish a full scarf. Sigh.

decisions

Shannon's NaKniSweMo KAL, a photo by LollyKnit on Flickr.

Yes, I know that October just started. But know this: the NaKniSweMo group already has people discussing what sweater they want to knit, so I'm not the only "prepared" one.

I have a few choices and I sort of like them all, but can only knit one (especially since they all involve at least 2 skeins of the same yarn...) so I'm going to ask you all to help me out here.

First up:

Paulie. I have two potential colour combos for this sweater:


Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Sock in Gray and Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets Fine Merino in Aquatide.

OR:


The same gray yarn and madeline tosh sock in logwood.

I have one more sweater that I was considering making out of the second colour combo, which is Dahlia. In that case I would work the back panel in the Madeline Tosh and the rest in the Neighborhood Studio Sock.

So, dear readers, if you would be so kind as to vote, I would love your input. I have no idea which one I'd like best and I'm sure I'd be happy with any of these sweaters/yarn combos.

Which sweater/yarn combo do you like best?
	Paulie in Gray/Aquatide
	Paulie in Gray/Logwood
	Dahlia in Gray/Logwood
pollcode.com free polls

so much garter!

garter stitch swingy minus sleeves, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

I loves me some garter stitch, let's face it. The only problem now: garter stitch sleeves in the round. Which means purling. Which means paying attention. Hmmm. We'll see how this goes. Not that I don't like more complex patterns too, 'cause I do... but the point of an entire sweater in garter stitch is not to challenge oneself, right? I was right about the weather though... we're down to 47 now!

Perhaps I'll pull rae back out of hibernation...

A post without pictures? Preposterous!

But that doesn't mean that I don't have lots to show you... Blogger has completely revamped their interface and I have set my blog to mosaic mode. If you're joining us via a reader, you probably won't notice any difference. But if you go to the main page you'll see that my blog is laid out like a mosaic of pictures (except, of course, for entries like this one that are photo free...). You can click on any picture that suits your fancy and the entry will pop up. Click on another one and that one will take it's place. (Or hit esc to go back to just pretty pretty pictures). Also available in a variety of different formats... hit one of the other options (classic, photo, etc) in the bar along the top and play around with it.

Also new around here, I'm on craftsy! It's taking some time to figure out, but if you want to find me I'm gradschoolknita. (Had I known when I started this blog that such a long name would often get cut short (also the reason that I'm 'gradskoolknitter' with an extra k on ravelry), I might have rethought it. In fact, since I'll (hopefully) be graduating soon, I may have to rethink it anyway. In any case, I'm warming up to craftsy, slowly, although I find it to be a lot less intuitive than ravelry... but since it has all kinds of other crafts and I really want to start giving things like sewing a shot, I'm sticking it out for the time being. I finally figured out where to go to re-find all the crafters I've saved as following, just this morning!

Sock Swap Sign-ups Close Tonight!

sock swap goodies, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Just a reminder that the sock swaps close tonight! If you are on the fence, go check out the group. It is such an amazing group of women, and I'm more than a little sad to be sitting this swap out... but thesis-duty calls! I'm leaving it in more than capable hands, and I know they would love to have you along for the ride.

Details: Sign-ups end tonight. Partners will be assigned in the next day or two. Socks will be knit out of worsted weight yarn for this round. Packages must be mailed by Dec 31, 2011.

somehow I always miss Wednesdays

glorious garter, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Wednesday tends to be the day I go in to the library and so I also tend to forget to post about WIPs. So, even though it's Thursday, and some might consider that sacrilegious, here's what I've got on the needles right now.

Above is the garter stitch swingy sweater I posted about a few days ago.

Also on the needles, of course, is the other garter project I'm currently loving, my rae scarf. (It hasn't grown notably since you last saw it, though, so I won't bother with new pictures.)

And finally:



Yellow socks for DH. I actually have a full one done, but I think I might be off socks for a while, or maybe it's just that I don't really love cotton yarns (yarn here is Cascade Fixation), but I haven't brought myself to cast on for the second one yet.

So that's pretty much it for me, what's on your needles right now?

if you knit it, fall will come

fall sweater, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

It's practically inevitable that once I cast on one garter stitch project, more are to follow.

In defiance of the 85 degree (that's almost 30 celsius for my canuck friends) weather yesterday, I cast on for a fall sweater in the warmest, wooliest yarn I have. Because it has to be fall soon, right? I mean it will be October by the end of the week, for pete's sake!

The sweater will eventually be a garter stitch swingy sweater in a combo of this Noro that was handed down to me (sans tags, but my best guess is that it is Kueryon, and, having dug through some stash pictures on ravelry, colourway 233) and some Berroco Ultra Alpaca in a charcoal colour that was picked up earlier this summer for this exact purpose. The MadridKnits girls were having a KAL over July and August for this sweater, but I just couldn't get in gear to do it... moving + heat will make you want to do fewer things... who knew?

Anyway, I know my plan is already working as the temp has dropped to 69 (aka 20) today. By the time I finish it should be perfect weather for such a cosy sweater.

FOs all over the place

handsome husband, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Also finished up Friday night, my Oh, handsome boyfriend sweater (except, for a husband!).

I like that they offer the first size free, especially since it was the right size for me to cast on! I did do some major modifications, however, including cutting the length of the sleeves and body (they must have some really tall, skinny dudes wearing size S in Norway...).

Other Mods: worsted weight instead of doubled fingering, cut out portion of the colourwork chart due to body length issues and, perhaps most notably, garter stitch cuffs and hem, as opposed to ribbing, to match the collar.
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish Worsted in Cobblestone Heather (8+ balls... bought 10, used a few yards of the 9th to finish up collar and sew together sleeves, etc), and Black (approx. .75 of a skein).
Needles: US 8 for sleeves and most of body, US 10 for colourwork section and bind-off.

I can understand now why they call it the sweater curse. We've already had a few issues with seams coming loose, and... disagreements about how to treat/use handknits. Not that he's like, throwing it on the ground and stomping on it... boys just aren't as delicate with how they put on/take off clothing sometimes. Also, I had issues with the armholes and sleeves matching up perfectly, so I think part of the problem stems from there. I'm sure once those glitches are worked out this sweater will live a long and happy life!

FO and MSF

after blocking, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

I still don't love the look of the knit up Flat Feet, even after blocking, but I must admit that it wasn't as aggressive a block as it could have been...

I finished up the mittens for my SMIL (that would be step-mother-in-law) and blocked them (a bit) last night. As you can see on the stockinette side, they're still a little wonky, but since I made these to get a jump start on my christmas knitting, I might block them a little more aggressively right before I gift them.

I wrote up the pattern and decided to offer it on ravelry as a donation, from now until the end of October, to MSF/Doctors Without Borders. You can click here to go to the pattern page, good for queuing and favoriting, or buy now for only $2.99!!

just what the doctor[ate] ordered

pretty pretty pirates, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

I always need a simple-ish project on hand for when I'm reading (and oh boy, it's crunch time for reading for this final chapter), and I've been looking for something that will show-off some of my newly acquired, too pretty for sticking into shoes, sock yarns... so when I saw wool durham's latest project the other day and that there was a KAL for the pattern going on, I knew I had to cast on, asap.

The pattern is Rae by Jane Richmond (whom I have admired a long time, in spite of not having had the chance to cast on any of her designs before). If you join the kal group on ravelry and go sign up on Jane's blog here, she'll send you a coupon for a dollar off the pattern!

I contacted her via ravelry to find out how long the deal is going on for, and she said she thought people could join in at any time up to the end of the KAL, which is Oct 31, aka Hallowe'en. It's a simple pattern (seriously, even the most beginner of beginners could figure it out) but it makes a beautifully simple scarf (it being well documented how much I loves me some garter stitch) and a great way to show off some of your more precious sock yarns.

charlie brown-ish

charlie brown-ish, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

ok, so it's not the ubiquitous yellow and black zigzag stripe, but it's probably as close as we're getting.

DH has been waiting for this sweater for some time (I believe the yarn was purchased about a year ago) and the sleeves are already done...

The pattern is oh, handsome boyfriend (rav link) and the yarn is knitpicks swish worsted (100% superwash merino, 'cause I'm smart like that... I figure it's just easier to make DH a washable sweater, at least for the first one).

Mods are many... some you can probably tell just by glancing at the above picture and then at the pattern. I'll list 'em all when I'm done.

the truth, and a mitt

the truth, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

So, as anyone who looked at my blog yesterday might have ascertained, this weekend was a bit of a stash-enhancer. So I decided to rearrange things a bit and ended up on my couch, surrounded by yarn. In fact, the above photo doesn't even do my stash justice, but that's probably for the best...

I also finished one of the mitts I was working on from the "flat feet" yarn:



They aren't kidding when they say you have to block 'em... that's unblocked, and you probably can't tell from the picture but the underside, which is stockinette, looks awful, and I think the rest of it would be greatly improved by a good blocking, as well.

The idea behind flat feet—machine knitting the yarn flat so that one could hand-paint it in an interesting design and then knit it while frogging at the same time—is intriguing, but, as one would know if one has ever decided to frog a long knit (or unfinished) piece and re-use the yarn, already knit yarn has a lot of kinks in it. Many people re-skein their yarn and then attempt to wash it/steam it/whatever to get the kinks out. In this case, however, this will be achieved by blocking the final product... we'll see. I'll keep you updated once that happens.

PLY: Peace, Love, Yarn... oh, the yarn

ply goodies, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

warning: photo heavy post!

This past weekend I went to the PLY party at Lovelyarns.. A good time was had by all... and I brought home a super stash!

Not only did I pick and choose my faves from the amazing local artists, but I also won a door prize! Everything is sort of mashed together up top, so let's look at some of the goodies one at a time:


Neighborhood fiber co's Studio Sock in color "Thomas Circle" (a subtly changing grey). I got two skeins because I plan to combo it with the madeline tosh from my swap buddy for either a Paulie Cardi or dahila cardigan.


Threeravens.net's "kitchen sink" yarn, colourway "into the groove". I have been coveting this stuff FOREVER. I saw it at a craft show and told her to talk to the owner of Lovelyarns immediately and take her stuff over to the shop. She did and this skein made it into the shop. I cannot believe it was still there for the ply party and I had to have it. It was meant to be. And no, I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, other than love it and pet it and call it George.


SpaceCadet Creations' "Pirate" colourway. Unfortunately my tag fell off and I know it's sock weight but I cannot remember which of her base yarns it is. If I find out, I'll let you know... but they're all awesome.


Abstract Fiber's Mighty Sock in "Birch". This will become a very special pair of socks with a very special destination. TBA.

OK, those were MY picks... now check out my awesome door prize!:


Yarn Chef's Minestrone Sock in "Straw Hat". I think I might just make a straw coloured hat for myself...


Flat Feet Sock yarn. Unironically being made into gloves...


Two colours of "Wrapunzel" from Knit One Crochet Too... would make great baby stuff, as it is superwash.


Cherub Aran by Cascade... not sure what to do with this although it would mix well with the wrapunzel...

As well, (as can be seen in the first picture) there were other bits and bobs in the door prize: a needle felting kit, a copy of Interweave Knits Summer 2011 (Fall 2011, also pictured, was purchased by myself), an adorable project bag and a set of size US2 dpns (always useful!).

It was a whirlwind week of seeing friends, gorging on yarn and meeting with advisors. Today I'm going to do some laundry (pesky thing can't seem to figure it out for itself...) and go to a yoga class and then get back to the grind tomorrow...

monkeys and cupcakes

monkeys and cupcakes, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

The title pretty much sums up my weekend. I finished my pair of monkeys and ate a lot of cupcakes. This weekend was the annual ply (Peace, Love, Yarn) party and I flew back just for the party. Ok, and to meet with advisors about my dissertation... but guess which one I was more excited about?!

The owner's daughter made over 200 cupcakes for the party and there was So. Much. Yarn. Where's my goodies? Oh, don't worry, I will show them off soon... I even won a door prize!

ode to a monkey

monkey, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Oh, Monkey how do I love thee? Let me count the pairs...

This is pair four. I've had monkeys on my mind for a while and decided when I pulled a skein of Knitpicks Gloss Sock Yarn dyed for me by evilmichelle during one of the earlier sock swaps for September's SIAC that it was time for another pair.

It's only Sept 6 and I'm already half way through...

holy spoiled rotten, batman!

sock swap goodies, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Yesterday the postman dropped off my package from my amazing swap buddy, sockalicious. She really went overboard and spoiled me rotten!!

Above is all my goodies: an adorable project bag (I think possibly made by her... ), socks, several skeins of yarn (will get to those shortly) a chibi, euclan wash, a mitten form key chain, a sheep key fob, hiya hiya stitch markers and case, rosewood cable needles, and a circular needle case (which I could really use... my circs are in bad need of organizing)!

Let's get some closeups, shall we?



The socks: gorgeous! Love the colour and the fit is PERFECT. The pattern is called "central air".


Knitpicks Stroll in Princess Multi. I'm a recent convert to the greatness that is knitpicks sock yarns so I'm sure I'll find something fun for this yarn!


Madelintosh Tosh Sock in Logwood. The colour is not done justice by photographs. It's a gorgeous lavender colour with subtle variegations. I have wanted to get my hands on some for so long and now I finally get to try it out! Squee!!


Double Squee!! SOCKS THAT ROCK! It's the lightweight and the colourway is My Wild Irish Girlie. I LOVE IT. This is another yarn that has been on my WANT list for a long time and I might have to put down everything to find the perfect pattern for this.

I feel totally spoilt, not just by this AMAZING, above and beyond package, but by my wonderful swappers in general. They're really a great group and everyone seems to get really into the spirit of it. I decided to sit the next swap out for professional (read: must finish dissertation and apply for jobs) reasons but there will be a new swap starting next month with sign-ups going on right now. If you want to join in, just click here to check out the group. Sign ups will be open until the end of Sept, so you have plenty of time!

pom poms are more difficult than they appear

slouchy, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

as is the taking pictures of things perched on your own head

Last winter I saw a hat, on a girl, on the bus to school. I liked the hat, and filed the pattern away in my brain. I've finally had a chance to sit down and work it up, as my August edition of the SIAC. [Self-Imposed Accessory Club]

I knit the brim extra long so that it could be worn slouchy, as above, or with the brim folded at various lengths:


just a little bit


or a whole lot...

I like it just a little folded, myself.

Yarn is Manos Maxima and I used a size 7 needle.

500

slinky socks, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

These socks were originally based on Kebnekaise but I ended up working them in an entirely different way (toe-up instead of top-down, completely different heel construction, and a very different yarn resulted in totally different socks).

This is my 500th post here, and while in the past I have offered up contests and prizes for the big posts (300 and 400), it's the long hard days of summer for a grad student and so instead I decided to offer up my notes on these socks for everyone.

They're available on ravelry, for queuing or, direct download!

Happy knitting!

sock swap complete!

owlies, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

My socks for the sock swap are complete! Shortly I will be packaging them up with a few goodies and they will be winging around the world.

This picture really doesn't do them justice... my partner has slightly bigger feet than I do, and so don't fit my sock blockers as well as one might like. I do hope that she enjoys them and they fit her feet a bit better!

Pattern: Owlie Socks
Yarn: Shalimar Breathless (less than 1 skein) in Oyster. This yarn is ah-maz-ing... a blend of merino, silk and cashmere. Could it get any better than that?
Needles: US 1.5 dpns
Mods: None, except the lack of beading for the owl eyes... I thought about adding some eyes later with duplicate stitch, but I kind of just like them the way they are.

Well, that's it for complex, deadline knitting... for now.