subletting

Sorry I haven't posted much lately... I haven't had much time for knitting. I'm trying to sublet my room for the summer and it has become a full time job. I wouldn't worry about it, except that it's going to save me so much money and, being that I'm a poor grad student, I can definitely use the extra $$...

So, hopefully some knitting will get done over the weekend... I'm helping out at the LYS 'cause she's moving and she needs someone to man the old shop while she paints and replaces the floors in the new one. Of course, the whole time I'm there, knitting away, I'll probably be freaking out about the apartment. Hopefully the girl who's coming to see it on Friday will take it and I can relax about it a bit...

2 packages in 1 week!

MMMM! I've been spoiled! I got home late last night to find my SP10 package waiting for me outside the door! And what a great little package it was! Let's check out the contents...


2 skeins of PINK! I <3 me some pink. On the left we have a pink cotton (I'm guessing... the tags seem to have gone missing but my pal says in her letter that it is from a shop called la droguerie) (I think the link is right) and the other is a thick and thin variegated pinks and oranges and I think that it is wool. About this one she only said that it is from a shop in Paris.


The black is 100% wool, quite thick, so I'll have to think of something to do with that... hmmm... ideas are forming!


And the "goodies": 2 shower gels, one vanilla and one raspberry (yum!), as well as a vanilla body lotion, a lindt bunny (double yum!), some incense and a pretty blue bag, perfect for carrying a couple of skeins or some travel bath stuff!

And, since I seem to be improving at my picture taking skills, here are some close ups on the pink skeins:

Ooooooh! A prize!

I got an honourable mention over at Kniterations in her contest regarding how many movies she's seen... I guessed low and I guess that endeared me to her! So yesterday in the mail I found this:


A skein of Knitpicks Memories (100% Merino) in Redwood Forest and a little Winnie the Pooh in a bumblebee outfit! I've never actually ordered any Knit Picks Yarn before (I like to feel it and see the *true* colours ahead of time... I'm picky like that) but this is so soft and the colours are really pretty. The skein is 220 yards, more than enough for a small pair of socks or perhaps these? Or maybe these<? I got really sick of making fingerless gloves after Christmas when I made a total of 9 (or was it 10??) pairs... but not in either of these patterns. Plus I find them really useful here. We'll see... I'm going to search a bit for the perfect pattern to use for this... it could be totally different tomorrow!

And now, for the extreme close-ups! (Apologies in advance, the weather here today is ick and my camera doesn't seem to like taking yarn pr0n pics... but these were the best I got.)



As you can see, it has all the colours of an autumn forest... my fav season, btw. Red, Green, Orange and a bit of brown... I think I'm in yarn lust!

Thanks again Knitty K8!

new post and a new technique!

Well, I survived a weekend with my parents... but barely! (I kid, it was great, even if I still didn't get to D.C.) I've decided to post the pictures of my notions bag, plus the no-seams technique that I used to make it. Most of you have probably done it before, but hey, I took pictures of it, so I'll post them and perhaps, someday it will be useful to someone... or not...

So, here are the before and after photos of the notions bag (remember, this was my first try at felting and it was totally by hand... I don't think there's any difference...)

So, without further ado: Before:



And after:



I stupidly forgot to put in a quarter for sizing purposes, I now realize why people do that (not that I didn't really get it before, but now I will forever remember to do so...). In any case, it looks exactly the same to me, except that the dye ran a little and the colours are now softer... and possibly the edges and the triangle lie down more smoothly from having been semi-blocked during the drying process. Any suggestions on how to re-felt???

OK, and now for technique. I believe that it's called double knitting, and what you do is cast on double the amount of stitches that you would want for one side of your bag (thus it must be an even amount of stitches). Every row is the same: *K1, Sl1 pwise*. Once you have worked this row enough that your bag is the depth that you want (leaving room for shrinkage if you are going to felt) take 2 dpns and hold them together opposite the needle with all the stitches on it. Slip (pwise) the first stitch onto the front needle and the 2nd stitch to the back needle. Continue to alternate stitches from front to back needle like this: (apologies ahead of time for the blurriness of the picture)



I lucked out - because this was a variegated yarn the red stitches were all going to the back of the bag and the purple to the front in this row. when you have all the stitches on the two dpns your bag will magically open up and you can flip it inside out so that you see the right side of a stockinette stitch (up until now you would have only seen the inside of the bag, which would look like reverse stockinette or garter stitch). Now you can cast off the front of your bag and continue to make a flap on the back!

As I always ask at the end of class: Any questions??

2 bits of sp good news

I got two emails today with SP news. The first, that my secret pal spoiler has sent my package and expects it to get here in a week... I can't wait to see what goodies I'll get from France! The second, that my spoilee received her package today and that she really likes her stuff and already has project plans for it. She also said she would post soon about it... I can't wait to see what she's going to do with it! I wish I could give more details but this is supposed to remain as secret as possible, right?!

In non-knitting related news, my family is coming to visit and should be landing within the next hour or so... they'll be here until Monday afternoon, so I'm doubting that I'll find a whole lot of time for knitting between now and then. So, if I don't post for a few days, don't worry, I'll be back!

P.S. I just realized that I've probably been boring you all with picture-less posts since flash your stash on Monday so I promise some knitting related pictures when I get back into things next week!

hmmmm....

Well, I just tried my first foray into felting, but I don't think it really worked. First of all, we live in an apt. complex so I don't have access to a machine that would be very good for felting. So I tried boiling the wool on my stove (which, by the way, makes your house smell lovely... I'd totally try it if you like the sent of wet dog but can't find the right scented candle!) and I don't think I was agitating hard enough... of course, I didn't really want to splash boiling water all over myself either. I took a before picture... we'll see what it it looks like after it dries, hopefully by tomorrow... but seriously, it looks the same size to me as it did beforehand.

sp package

No, I haven't received one yet, but I did send one today! I can't wait to see if my pal enjoys her goodies... the only thing I'm worried about is that I didn't put a return address... I'm paranoid, you know? And the woman at the counter told me I had to and I was resigned to it, but then she put the postage on and threw it in the outgoing bin anyway... I was a bit confused but since I don't want to give too much info away about myself, I figure, what the heck?! If I don't see my pal post about it in a few days I'll start to worry though... I did pay for 2 day priority post.

In my own knitting news, I cast on the mystery present in the pink berroco touché for my friend. I'm really excited to see how it turns out... I might just want one for myself! (Geez I'm a greedy knitter...)

Flash Your Stash

OK, here it is... I'm going to flash like it's mardi gras!

First up, the "serious potential" stash:


Four balls of Lily Chin superwash merino. Destined to become the Space Invader Socks from Knitty Spring '07 for my little bro. (Whom I'm like 99% sure doesn't read this but if you do, try to act surprised....)


Schafer Yarns "Anne", wound with a single strand of bamboo in the same teal colour I made my lace capin. I've had this since just before christmas (I bought it with a gift certificate my lovely roommate got me) and I really want to make it into the Last Minute Knitted Gifts Tank top. (the only picture I could find is here) I'm worried about the weight of the yarn though, I think it might still be too thin, so I may have to double strand the bamboo. I should really get around to at least trying a gauge swatch on this someday! Also, the picture really doesn't do justice to the variegations in the schafer anne yarn.


Finally in the "serious potential" category is 5 skeins of pink Berroco Touché. This project will probably be on the needles soon, because it is a gift for a friend that needs to be done before mid-May. But the potential that she reads this blog is proportionally higher than my brother, so I can't say too much about it right now!

In the "full (or practically full) skeins with little to no current potential" category we have:


Oh dear... 1400 yards of Rayon. Yep, you read that right. Bought at stitches, I had plans to make Viveka from knitty fall 06... but it just sort of never happened and I've lost interest. I'm sure at some point I'll figure out what to do with 1400 yards of hot pink rayon...


2 skeins of bamboo... the pink is triple stranded (also from my roomie for christmas) and the left overs of the teal from the lace cap... at least 3/4 of a single stranded 50g skein. I might have to use the teal to gauge swatch for the LMKG tank, just to see... but other than that I have no plans for these right now... but I'm thinking, 'cause I did like working with the bamboo a lot.


3 skeins of christmas-y coloured cascade 220. I used these to make a stocking for the OSCBF for Christmas... sadly I don't have a picture of any of the things I made him this year. I keep bugging him, maybe I'll finally get some when I go home for the summer! (Same with my family, actually... I forgot my camera at Christmas time, so I didn't get any pictures of people wearing their knitted gifts...)

Now for the "leftovers":


I pictured all the little bits of leftovers from projects past together, so I'll do my best to explain what is what.
Top row (left to right): Some icky acrylic something (I can't even decide what pukey colour it is...) that I've had for ages and somehow moved across the ocean and then again down the coast with me; Sprinkles left over from the blue baby booties; Some variegated wool/metallic I found at home at Xmas time; blue Berroco Touché left over from my mom's Xmas present; black acrylic; Malabrigo Aquarella left over from the ribbed scarf; a 1/4 skein of brown sport weight superwash merino and a tiny bit of brown wool/sari silk used in the OSCBF's Xmas gifts; a tiny bit of purple Berroco Pure Merino left over from the sample scarf for Lovelyarns; about 1/2 a skein of Trendsetter's Dune, used for the skinny scarf

Bottom Row: 2 tiny bits of Cascade Fixation left over from socks made for christmas (1 black, 1 variegated blues); a bit of berroco touché in black; some handpainted ribbon yarn purchased at stitches and made into the drop stitch scarf from SnB 2 for my Nana; Berroco Ultra Alpaca wound with Blue Heron's Metallic Rayon in Blueberry, used for the cindy lou who mittens; the rest of the blue heron metallic; Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Grey wound with Crystal Palace Kid Merino (note to self: do NOT wind together anything with a mohair again... use two separate balls held together while knitting) used for leg warmers; Berroco Ultra Alpaca use for the brim/top of the birthday hat for my dad as well as some wrist warmers; a teeny tiny bit of Ice Yarn leftover from another pair of baby booties.

And finally(!) the "stash on needles" category:


2 skeins of Red Heart + a bit of some fun fur, donated to the owner of the LYS, who then gave it to me to participate in the Graknitti experience(last time touched: approx 1.5 weeks ago); a skein of Irish Aran Wool, being used for the LMKG Hourglass sweater (last time touched: approx. 1 month ago... I don't think my gauge is right :S); 3 skeins of Cascade pima silk being used for a toe-up sock (last time touched: couple months ago, maybe? I don't think I'll have enough and I'm not sure I really like the colours); grey Lett Lopi for the OSCBF's vest (last time touched: technically yesterday, but it was only one row and I don't think I'm going to have enough to finish... I'll need another skein but it can wait until May); 1 skein Classic Elite Inca Print being used to make a felted notions purse (so I stop losing tapestry needles and measuring tapes) (last time touched: about 2 minutes ago while waiting for the pictures to load... it's 100% Alpaca and I can't stop touching it... yum!) I wish I could afford enough of this to wrap myself in... it's so soft and the colours are gorgeous!


WHEW! That was a lot of work. Now, I've shown you mine... it's only fair that you show me yours!

I've got a secret...

First off, thanks for all the nice comments on the graknitti... sadly both times that cozies were put up they had been removed by the next morning... so I've been putting off working on mine. We're going to save them for when she moves the LYS into the new space down the street in a month.

Next... there's a reason I haven't posted in a week and it isn't because I haven't been knitting... in fact, I've been knitting feverishly. And I've been hiding something:

Green Bonzai Tunic, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

I started working on this last Friday and could not put it down. I cast on Friday evening and finished it up this morning. So this picture is was taken inside Lovelyarns by the lovelyowner, Sue, during Saturday SnB. (Note the lovely skeins of Malabrigo behind me? I have plans for those... oh yes, many many plans...) Anyways, back to the tunic... I loved making this, so it was about process, but I also really REALLY wanted it... so it was at least partially a product knit too. (I haven't yet decided if I'm a "process" or "product" knitter... I love to knit, I love the process, but I also generally pick projects that I can't wait to wear/use either.

Anyways, here are the details:

Pattern: Interweave Knits Spring 2007
Yarn: Berroco Bonzai in Sage (9 skeins - the pattern in my size called for 10, which I bought, but I never touched the 10th one, so I traded it in for something else delicious!)
Needles: Bamboo straights, sizes 6 & 8, Inox DPNs size 6

I've also decided that I need to focus on some serious stash reduction before I can buy anything else for myself! I'm going to participate in Flash your Stash tomorrow (although I didn't see anywhere to officially sign up) and that will help me sort through a bit and see what exactly I have and remind myself what I had planned for it!

Graknitti

Tonight I took part in my first ever graffiti experience, as only a knitter could. Some local knitters made parking meter cosies and we put them up near a local yarn store. It was so hilarious and fun... especially when a cop walked by, wondered what all us women were giggling about and didn't even notice the fact that the parking meters were now covered in knitted stockings. He probably figured that we were drinking or something. I'm designing another one tonight and hopefully it will be up in a day or two.

Below are some pictures... one of the "anonymous" knitters sewing up a meter cosy and one of the other cosy. More to come in the following weeks, we hope!

FO: lace cap

lace hat, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

I finished the lace cap from knitty summer '03. I love it! I chose a single strand of teal bamboo and I have enough left over for another hat, at least. And it's warm enough here that I could wear it today with a new dress I bought a few weeks ago. Yay Spring!

And I got an email today from my secret pal! Exciting! She's in France, which means that maybe I'll get to see some interesting yarns and things that we don't always get on this side of the ocean! Maybe I'll even get to practice my (very rusty) French, too!

And I went to my fav LYS today and got the rest of the bonsai that I'll need to make bonsai tunic in the new interweaves, and I picked up some things for the first package for my secret pal! Unfortunately, there was a bit of a snafu with the vest for the oscbf, so I had to frog the hood and start over. My plan is to finish that up sometime soon, hopefully, and then cast on some summer projects! :D

Edit: here's a picture from the top... do you know how incredibly hard it is to take a picture of the top of your own head?!

surprise hat

surprise hat, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

I almost forgot that I can now blog the hat I made for my dad's birthday. It was finished quite a while ago, but I didn't give it to him until his birthday last Saturday. The brim and top are Berroco Ultra Alpaca, and the rest is Trendsetters Tonalita. Sorry about the lumpy look the hat has in the picture, I stuffed it with plastic bags and it didn't make for the most attractive shape... Someday perhaps I'll actually be able to get pictures of my family members wearing their FOs...

Oh, and the pattern is, as almost always, from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

back to baltimore and a brand-new bag!

Whew, that was a lot of "b" words! I was home all week for spring break, and I am now back in Baltimore. I didn't get a whole lot of knitting done, or reading for that matter (whoops!) but I did find a new knitting bag at happysq's etsy shop. Here it is:


And the back - which I think is super awesome:


The back has instructions for casting on and the knit stitch. I think it's super cool anyways!

As for actual knitting this week, like I said, I didn't get a whole lot done. I've got a few inches on the lace cap now, and I "finished" the hood for the bf's vest. I say "finished" because now that it is done I think I might have to frog the whole hood. When I pull it over my head it doesn't even cover my ears. Oops. I have two options: 1. Pull the hood apart and start over, cast on closer to the centre of the neck, or, 2. Add a ribbed collar to the hood and sew it to the neckline afterwards. I'm leaning more towards option 1 now because it will look closer to what I was originally aiming for... but it means ripping out all that hard work and starting over on a bigger garter stitch hood. Oh well, that's the price you pay for love... and man is he lucky I love him after an entire garter stitched vest!

secret pal 10

Secret pal 10 matches are being made soon, and even though it's in my title bar, I though I'd post another link to my Secret Pal 10 Questionaire. I got a little gung-ho about it when I first signed up so it's now buried in my february archives. I'm really excited to start spoiling... and getting spoiled!

A new ssk, or, is it wrong to take shortcuts while knitting?

I'm still knitting the lace cap from knitty, but I traded in the berroco cotton twist for a single strand of bamboo. The cotton twist was not the right weight for the project, nor was it very fun to work with... the strands would split and fray really easily. Anyways, the pattern calls for a lot of ssk's and I'm not really a fan. Plus, with the tiny needles and bamboo yarn (it's sort of like working with toothpicks and floss...) it's really easy to drop a stitch and then it's pretty much gone forever, making you rip out and start all over again. So instead of ssk's I'm knitting 2 together through the back loops. Is this wrong? I mean, the final product looks the same to me. I haven't found anywhere else where someone mentions exchanging an ssk for k2togtbl...

In any case, while researching it I realized that I wasn't slipping my stitches correctly in the first place. I tend to slip as if to purl and all the blogs, instructions, etc that I found said to slip as if to knit. So far I'm happy with my method so I think I'll stick with it and we'll see how the final product turns out.

In other news, I went to this crafting warehouse in my parents town (I'm home in the land of snow for "spring" break) yesterday and picked up another skein of the Lett Lopi to finish off the vest for the OSCBF, and I got some superwash merino for the Space Invader socks. I can't wait to start working on them, 'cause there are some interesting colourway techniques that I want to try out. And if they turn out ok then I'll probably make a second pair for myself!

I take it back

The more I look at them, the cooler the space invader socks, featured on the cover page of the new knitty, become. I'm think I'll make them for my little bro, perhaps. And then maybe a pair for myself... but in shades of pink, of course!

In other news, the second pair of Cindy Lou Who mittens are now completed. With any luck, pictures will be taken in full daylight tomorrow to be posted. And I've started the lace cap from knitty's summer '03 issue, although it's hard to tell right now how it's going to turn out... I think the yarn I'm using may be too stiff...

just in case you didn't already know...

The new Knitty issue is out for Spring. Check it out here.

I gotta be honest, I didn't see anything that I was really thrilled with except a cute skirt, made for little girls but with the idea that you could (if you check gauge and all that) size it out to any size you want.

In other news, the sample mitts for Lovelyarns are almost done... And I'll be teaching beginner lefties in April!

The underground world of crocheting...

weekend recap

I spent a lot of time on public transport and things this weekend (I was helping out at a conference downtown) and I went to my LYS's sit n' knit on Saturday. So I got a lot of knitting done, is what I'm trying to say. On Saturday I got these both started and finished:


For a friend back home in Canada who is having a baby boy in a couple of months. I used a yarn called Sprinkles by King Cole which is impossible to use on small needles, so they turned out a bit large. Oh well, maybe he can use them around 6months.

And for myself I finished up the legwarmers:




Both patterns are from Last Minute Knitted Gifts... if anyone's interested I post more specs later. (Must run to school and teach now...)

bad blogger

I've been a bad knitting blogger. But to be honest there hasn't been a whole lot of time for knitting lately... I finished one of the leg warmers and am about 3/4 of the way through the second. I hope to go to my fav LYS's Sit n' knit on Saturday and finish it up. I'll post pictures when it's done. Then I'm going to use the leftovers to make another pair of my mittens.

It's sad 'cause the weather is warming up significantly here in Bmore (whoever would have thought that I would lament the coming of warmer weather?!) but I am going back to Canada for March Break and I'm sure I'll have to show off my winter gear again!

Edit: Check it out: Protesting as only a knitter can!