Fibery Exhibitionism

I’ve been knitting for almost ten years now, and my skills have developed considerably from the time I started. Like any artist, I’m proud of my accomplishments and try to take advantage of opportunities to showcase my work. Usually this comes in one of two forms, either posting pictures on various social media outlets (primarily Ravelry, Twitter, and Facebook) or dragging the knitted goods around with me and showing them to anyone who looks even remotely interested. This year, I took advantage of another method of showing off my work, I entered several pieces into the county fair.


I come from (and still live in) rural Wisconsin and I can remember while growing up, the county fair was an extremely big deal. It has lost some of its luster now, but still includes a variety of events, including a needle work contest. Every year, I think about entering items into it, but usually not until after the entry deadline has passed.

This year, I managed to be on top of things and got the entry form in on time (and by on time I mean the day before it was due). I decided to enter pieces in five categories (knitters are limited to one item per category). I entered my Invisibility Wrap, my Llama Chullo hat, my Spatterdash fingerless gloves, my Carry-All Tote and my Cubist socks shawl. That seemed to offer a fair cross-section of my knitting abilities.

By the time I dug out the pieces, washed and reblocked the ones that needed it, I was pleased with my entries. I felt there were a couple of pieces that had a chance of winning a ribbon. I dropped off the pieces at the fairgrounds and went back Friday after the judging had been completed.

I was surprised to find that out of five pieces, I had won five ribbons. Yup, every piece had one something. My Llama hat and my Carry-All tote both took firsts, with the Llama hat also winning a Special Merit Award. The socks, Invisibility wrap, and Spatterdash mitts all took seconds.

Entering the pieces in the fair wasn’t about winning ribbons, and with my prizes adding up to a grand total of about $9, it certainly wasn’t about the prize money. However, I would like to think that it wasn’t just about ego, either. For me, a big part of knitting is the tradition. Knitters today are doing basically the same thing that they’ve been doing for generations. We might be doing them for different reasons (because we want to rather than we need to), we might have newer tools, and a wider variety of materials available; but the process is still the same. Generations of knitters have been making socks, mittens, hats, purses, and other things. And generations of knitters have been entering their best work into county fairs and other exhibitions for the feeling of pride that comes from knowing that you have a skill and you are good at the skill.

And, a lot of it is ego.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Adventures in Pattern Writing: Episode 4, Put It All Together

See this?

Do you know what this is?

If you guessed that it was a draft version of the pattern for my Packer socks, you would be correct! After knitting and reknitting, procrastination, deciphering notes and scribbles, charting and recharting, fighting with computers, cutting and pasting, writing and re writing, with some cursing and hair-pulling mixed in for good measure, I was able to hit print on the first draft of this pattern.


I would celebrate, but it is only the first draft. The next step will be to knit another pair of the socks, using the pattern and making note of any changes that need to be made.  I haven't even started the test knitting, and I already have a list of necessary edits. I'm still not totally happy with the instructions for the short-row heel, I'm going to dig through some sources and make notes as I knit and hope to be able to refine the language a bit. I also need to measure the gauge once this pair is completed.  


The graphs might need to be adapted for use by a right handed knitter. Because I am left handed I knit backwards from left to right instead of from right to left, the way a right hander would. This sometimes changes the way graphs are read.

Despite these minor setbacks, I feel I'm making good progress on the pattern over the past few weeks. As soon as I finish the pair of socks on my needles, I will start work on the test pair, and make further notes about what needs to be changed or clarified. I've yet to decide on what player's number will be on the back of the socks and who the recipient will be. I'm not sure if I should keep them, as I already have a pair of lucky Packer socks (though are they still lucky despite now having seen two losses?). However, in my world, few people are actually qualified to own handknit socks. The pattern is designed for a foot wearing a woman's size 8 shoes, which does limit potential wears. I'll have to think about it.

Adventures in Pattern Writing: Episode 3, Perfectionism Rears Its Ugly Head (Again)

I'm what you might call a selective perfectionist. Some things I can just slap together and not care, but when it comes to knitting, I'll redo, redo, redo until I'm happy with the results.

While this tendency can product some particularly excellent results, but it also has been the cause of massive amounts of frustration, and copious amounts of inappropriate, foul, colorful language.

After finally conquering inserting my charts from Microsoft Excel into Word, I started working on importing all of the heel charts (numbers 0 to 9) into the pattern. Then I looked at my Matthews jersey, hanging on the drying rack, I looked at the 52, I looked at the charts for the 5 and 2, I looked back at the 52, back at the charts. They didn't look the same.

Sure, the 5 and 2 I charted looked like a 5 and a 2, but not like the ones on the jersey. The numbers on the jersey were, blockier, had more straight edges. At that point, I already knew what was coming, but I fought it for awhile. Maybe it was the jersey's problem, not mine. I decided to compare the numbers on my Rodgers jersey (yes, mom, MY Rodgers jersey). Again, my charted 1 and 2 looked like a 1 and a 2, but not like the ones on the jersey. Crap.

The Original Five

I wasn't ready to face reality just quite yet, though. Clearly, I must own two faulty jerseys, so I dug out Husband's jersey, and the dog's jersey. Nope, the numbers were consistent from jersey to jersey and not the same as the ones on my socks.

Once again, I fought the inevitable. It wasn't really going to matter, I told myself. No one is going to look at the numbers on the heels of these socks and point out that they are not shaped exactly like the numbers on the players' jerseys. What kind of person notices that sort of thing? Most likely no one would ever know, and if they know, it is even more likely that no one would ever care.

Edited Five

Except for me. I would know. And I cared. And I knew what I had to do.

I printed out ten blank heel charts. Then I went to the Packer's website to find pictures of jerseys, and I recharted all of the numbers. And the process started all over again, hand drawing, charting in Excel, cutting and pasting (using Paste Special, at least I remember that) into Word.

And, I'm glad I did it. Otherwise it would have bothered me, and I would have ended up doing it at some point anyway. We all know I'm crazy like that.

In other news, the knitting on the Spatterdash fingerless gloves is done and I was lucky enough to find buttons for them. I just need to block, weave in ends, and assemble. Yay!

Adventures in Pattern Writing: Episode 2, Cue the Panic

Who'd of guessed that these socks
would cause so much trouble?

If you follow my blog regularly, or if you browse back through some past posts, you know that last July, I designed and made a pair of Green Bay Packer socks for her birthday. Ever since they came off the needles, I have been meaning to transfer the pattern from scribbled notes and crude graphs into an actual pattern, usuable by someone not residing inside my head.


Last November, I finally took the time to convert the graphs from paper and pencil drawings to an Excel spreadsheet. I then converted one of the graphs into jpeg form, to make it easier to insert into my finished pattern. and promptly allowed myself to become distracted by something else (I'm hoping it was at least something shiney).


About a month ago, during a very slow day at the Motor bank, while my co-worker was shopping online, I took my notes and typed them into an almost readable format. And by "almost" I mean, the basic instructions typed into a Word document with notes like "insert instructions for heel  here," "probably should figure out the actual stitches and rows per inch," "Chart A to go here," and "find a better way to word this" scattered throughout the pattern. At least I had all the pattern pieces were saved now.


Or so I thought.


The other day, I sat down to finally try to put all the pieces together, and went to pull up my charts. They weren't on my laptop, or my desktop, or my thumb drive, or my other thumb drive.


Cue the panic. I wasn't even sure if I still had the paper verisions. Was I going to have to start all over on these charts. I mined through my previous posts to see if maybe, just maybe, I had posted all of the charts on my blog.




The one chart I could find.

 Nope. Just the heel chart. Okay, well, at least I had a method to retrieve the heel chart. That was something. Then it occured to me, last fall there was a stretch of time when the screen of my laptop was out of commission, and I used my old laptop. Maybe, possibly, hopefully the charts were saved on there.


So, I dug out the old laptop, and the charger and let the machine charge while I went into work. I got home, booted up the machine, and, thankfully, the Excel file with the charts was safely saved.


Thank you. But the fun wasn't over yet.


I only had the files saved as Excel sheets, and inserted them directly into the Word document using copy and paste was creating all sorts of trouble for me, charts extending over several pages, distortions. And of course, for the life of me, I couldn't remember how I did the last time.


After some research (and cursing), I did figure it out. I think I actually used a different method this time, but seeing as it worked just fine, I'm not going to fret about it. The charts, in both Excel and picture format are now safely stored on my laptop, and my desktop, and both my thumb drives.


And, in case future me ever desperately returns to this post, wondering how I managed to convert the stupid Excel cells into a much more Word (and pattern) friendly image, here's what I did:


From Excel, highlight the cells you need and click copy.


Go into the Word document, select Edit, and choose the "Paste Special..." option. This gives you the choice if you want to paste the chart as an Excel spreadsheet or as an image (or some other ones). So simple, why on Earth did this cause me so much stress?


Now, future self, go buy me a beer for all the stress and time I just saved you. And stay tuned for Episode Three of Adventures in Pattern Writing, where I attempt to put everything together.

Relearning the Weekend



It will be a fingerless glove, someday.

I’m still getting used to the idea of having weekends free. For years, having a weekend day off when I didn’t have anything else to do was pretty much unheard of. Even during my brief teaching career, when I wasn’t working any weekends, it always seemed like we were going somewhere or doing something. Weekends last this last one are still new to me (though I will probably see more of them, I’m trying to arrange my schedule so that I have two weekends per month totally off from both jobs. Normalcy will be somewhat restored this coming weekend as I work at the bank on Saturday morning and at the store Sunday morning, but the following weekend should be free (which, if my calculations are correct, might mean I have to work the Superbowl, but that’s not going to happen, even if nobody I care about is playing)

Anyways, Friday night I closed over at the motor bank, and stopped on my way home for some Chinese food (yippee for working two doors down from the good Chinese restaurant). Husband was gone for the weekend curling with the local Lion’s club (don’t ask…I never do). I started working on my latest pair of socks, but the pattern/yarn combination wasn’t working for me. I browsed around and found a different pattern to try and set those aside. I did manager to get some more of the lacy flap on the Spatterdash fingerless gloves done.

One morning's progress.

Saturday, I slept as late as Pippin would allow, which turned out to be 8:30 (which is funny because he always seems to sleep later for Husband). I proceeded to spend the day doing what most would consider absolutely nothing, but I considered absolutely perfect. I knit, and knit, and knit. By the end of the day, I had completed the cuff and leg of the sock I started just that morning. I also enjoyed having complete tv control. I adore Husband, but we don’t always enjoy the same things. I tend to sit quietly and let him run the remote, and sometimes look forward to having the opportunity to watch what I want. I took advantage of this chance to finally get to check out the AMC series, The Walking Dead, which I had been hearing great things about. It did not disappoint, but then again, I’ve always been a fan of zombie apocalypses. Not really sure why, but something about being part of a heavily armed band of survivors battling the walking undead is appealing to me.*

Saturday evening brought dinner with my mom and stepdad, I’m not one to turn down a free steak when one is offered to me, playoff football on the television and a couple of drinks with a friend. Nothing too exciting, but a good day overall.

Sunday, I overslept and missed mass, and Husband was back from curling much earlier than I expected (but when you only curl once a year, your team doesn’t usually make it to the finals).  We headed over to my parents for the Packers/Giants game, where Husband decided that I wasn’t rooting for the Packers to win, which added to his sullenness and pouting.

Completed sock, three days start to finish!

At this point, I do feel the need to defend myself. I will admit it, I am a Giants fan, (not really sure how that happened, but even good kids from nice families go astray) but my first loyalty is to the Packers. Yes, it is close to a 50/50 split, but the Packers win out. However, I don’t really enjoy watching those two teams play each other, and won’t really cheer for either team, instead I used the opportunity to sit quietly and make additional progress on the sock. Husband interprets this as a sign of disloyalty to the Packers, and if you’ve ever encountered Husband after a Packer’s loss, you know better than to argue.

Husband was sullen for the remainder of the evening, both over the loss and my perceived disloyalty. I figured it wasn’t the best time to point out that if his theory was correct, he really was denying me the opportunity to celebrate that what he felt was “my team” had overcame the odds and is continuing on to the NFC championship, and a quarterback that I’m a fan of who gets a crap load of criticism any time he makes a mistake had an excellent game. And his denying me a chance to celebrate wasn’t really fair because I would have never done that had the Packers won (again, this is all just going along with the faulty logic that I would prefer a Giant’s victory over a Packer’s, which is not the case). Instead, I let husband stomp around the house muttering things about supporting the 49ers (which again, had his theory been true and the game went the other way, I also would not have done). That pretty much made Sunday night a big fail after a fantastic weekend. (I’m guessing some of you might be surprised that I would risk the wrath of husband by posting this on here, but he reads my blog maybe 50% of the time, plus I’m pretty sure he knows that he was being ridiculous.

*I feel the need to offer a bit of a side note hear, if my posts sometimes seem disjointed and rambling, it is usually because I don’t really edit them too much. Posts are usually a bit of a dumping ground for whatever is going on in my head. I tend to get off of the topic.

Project Talk: I'm Going to Go Ahead and Blame the Weather

Cubist Socks-Done!

The weather around here has been absolutely ridiculous, it is early January the temperature is going to be almost 50 today. Global warming, the beginning of the apocalypse, forewarning of the impending zombie uprising, or freak weather abnormality? It is hard to say. Most of the people who come into the bank seem to be enjoying this freakish weather, but I am not most people. I love winter, I want to look out my window and see snow drifts, icicles, and frost; not brown wilted plants and dreary gray skies.

Because of the unusual weather (or not…most likely not, but hey, we all need something to blame), my knitting funk has continued. I’m doing better than I was, but I was focusing almost exclusively on the Cubist Socks. As of Monday, I have these socks completely done and off the needles. Which, of course meant that I had to base my outfit choice for Tuesday solely on the new socks.

I’m learning from past experiences, and decided to frog and reknit the Spatterdash fingerless gloves using a size bigger needle. I've roughly gotten to the point where I was when I decided to frog, so they are moving along well now. And, I finally got a picture that almost accurately represents the colors in the yarn.

Close Up of Spatterdash

I still haven’t even cast on for the second sleeve of the Sheepcote sweater (or taken the first sleeve off of the needles for that matter). I don’t know if there is an actual reason besides my laser like focus on the socks. I have discovered, however, that both Ms. Bode and Ms. Lily are big fans of the yarn I’m using for this sweater (Valley Superwash Merino, I’m a big fan too, it is super soft) and are willing to climb things and dig in baskets to obtain said yarn. That is going to make completing the sweater very interesting.

Today, I also spent some time on Ravelry and decided on the next pattern and yarn combination for socks. I'm going to knit Brainless (rav. link) by Yarnissima, I'm knitting them out of Knit Picks Essential (now called Stroll) in the colorway called Peacock Multi, a combination of purples, blues, and greens. Hopefully the yarn/pattern combination works out.

According to the weather reports, things should be returning to normal (or at least closer to normal) over the next couple of days, so I'm going to run out of excuses for not knitting. That should mean more pictures of finished products up here soon!

In other news, the new job is still going well. I’m feeling more and more comfortable, and have to ask less and less questions about how to do things. I’ve actually engaged co-workers in conversations (or at least attempted to, small talk is nowhere near a strength for me), which is a pretty big step considering my chronic, acute shyness, and have still managed to avoid letting them know that I have the sense of humor the your average fourteen year old boy, or a massive fear of birds. But we all know I can’t keep that one hidden forever, at some point, my true colors always show.

Project Talk: In a Slump

Lately I’ve been feeling rather blah about my knitting. Well, actually to be fair, I’ve been feeling rather blah about a lot of things, which just so happens to include my knitting. Not sure if it’s holiday stress, weather, the fact that I’ve been sick, or something else, but things are just very blah.
Usually for the holiday season, I plan on knitting an impossible combination of gifts and decorations. This year? Zero, zilch, nada. I thought about knitting something for my mom, but never got beyond the idea in my head. (Sorry, mom, maybe for mother’s day, or your birthday, or next year)
There’s nothing wrong with the projects that are on my needles. In fact, I’m pretty happy with the projects. I’m hoping that over the next few days, an increase in family time equals an increase in knitting time, the trip to Lambeau field not only provides several more hours of knitting time, but also serves to inspire me to translate a couple of football related ideas from my head to actual knit goods (or just to paper, before the ideas leave my brain for that matter) and writing about the projects serves to inspire me to pick up the needles and knit more.

So here’s what is on my  needles right now:
  
Socks, of course. Currently, I’m working on Cookie A’s design, Cubist socks. As the name implies, it has a geometric pattern that resembles cubes. I’m knitting them out of Malabrigo sock yarn in the colorway Abril, which is some beautiful shades of purple. The pattern looked a little intimidating at first, but really isn’t too bad. I’ve gotten past the gusset decreases for the first sock.

Spatterdash Fingerless Gloves. I’ll admit it, I’ve become a convert to fingerless gloves. At first, I thought they were useless, but after making a pair, I’m hooked. I had a beautiful pair of End Paper Mitts, but they are now happily on the hands of a friend, so I needed another pair. This pattern, Spatterdash found on knitty.com, combines buttons and ruffles, so I can’t go wrong. I’m using Knit Picks Imagination sock yarn in the colorway Wicked Witch for those. The green in the yarn looks like it will match my winter coat beautifully, so I’m happy so far. I am a little concerned that the gloves might be too small, and I might need to start over with a bigger needle, but I really need to get more done before making that decision (Yes, I know, this is usually a recipe for me griping in a couple of weeks wondering why I didn’t just rip out and start over when I first suspected they might be too small, but this pattern for gloves is different than any I’ve done before, so I’m honestly not sure).

Sheepcote Pullover. This one started out as a love story. I saw it in the Twist Collective and had to buy the pattern, immediately went out to find suitable yarn and couldn’t wait to get started. It immediately jumped ahead of the February Lady Sweater, which has been next up forever (but things seem to keep budging ahead in line…I really need to do something about that). So I casted on, over a month ago, and have completed one sleeve. I still like it, and I’m not sure what the actual problem is. Maybe it is that sleeves just aren’t that fun and things will get better once I get to the actual body of the sweater, either way, progress has been slow.

Of course, there are some perpetual works in progress out there on the needles. The Scrap Sock Yarn blanket, which may very well never be finished, and the Yggdrasil Afghan; which, without a deadline, just gets neglected. I might buckle down and make it my Wednesday night project to work on while husband is away at Lions and basketball.

So that’s what is on my needles, hopefully I will be able to report some actual progress sometime soon!

Adventures in Pattern Writing: Episode 1, Chart It!

Last summer, I tried my hand at designing a pair of socks. They were Green Bay Packer Socks knit for my mother's birthday. While there are several things that I would change about them, overall I considered the whole undertaking to be a success. The socks were such a huge hit with my mom, she has already requested more!


However, despite the socks being such a huge hit, I still haven't gotten around to actually writing down the pattern (though I have gotten several requests for it). My notes and hand drawn charts were placed in a pile and left to sit.


Today, I noticed that the pieces of my pattern notes were getting scattered around the house, and I realized that it would be only a matter of time before either the whole pattern or several key pieces were destroyed or go missing. I came to the decision that I needed to sit down and actually write out the pattern.


Now, because on good days, I have the attention span of a gnat, I know that the best way to take on any large project is to take little baby steps. To decide on where to start, I considered what would be the biggest pain to reverse engineer in the event that pieces of the pattern are lost or destroyed? With that question, the answer was clear, the charts.


On these particular socks, there are several pieces that I charted out, the Go Pack Go band around the top of the leg, the numbers on the heel flaps, and the large G on the top of the foot. 


First, I did a little research on the easiest way to make charts on the computer. After looking at several methods, I decided to use Microsoft Excel for charts. It is easier to add and delete rows using Excel, and the charts can then be cut and pasted into Microsoft Word when I start on the final pattern. The next step will be converting the Word document into a pdf file (there's probably no real need for this, I just prefer my patterns in pdf form), but that can't be too hard, right?


Now, non-knitters may not know this, but knit stitches are slightly wider than they are tall (if you look at the pictures really closely and know what you are looking for, you can see this), so I needed figure out what sizes to use for the cells. I ended up making the cells 15 pixels wide by 10 pixels tall, giving me a 3:2 ratio, which should work pretty well. After re-sizing the cells, I then turned on the border for each cell and was ready to start charting.


I started with the leg band, mainly because that was the one chart I didn't want to make any changes to. It went pretty quickly, so I was able to move onto the chart for the top of the foot. I knew I wanted to make the G look a little less jagged around the edges and a little more symmetrical. I started with the original chart in the spreadsheet, and made changes, square by square until I was happy with the result. 

The original heels needed some more work.

The heel flaps made me a little more nervous, as I was making big changes to that piece of the sock. I wanted to switch from a heel flap to a short row heel, which would change the entire shape of the available stitches from a rectangle to a triangle (upside down triangle, in case you are trying to picture it). Like with the top of the foot, I figured the best thing to do would be to block out my available stitches.


From that point, I decided what size to make the numbers. During this process, I had to consider the triangular shape I was working in, and the fact the the numbers on the original ended up being too low. 

One of the revamped heel charts.

I ended up settling on 8 squares wide by 14 squares high (though I will actually have to knit another pair to be sure that this size will work).  I took these figures and went back to my paper and pencil. It took awhile until I was happy with the way the numbers looked, but it was worth it to get the finished charts saved in Excel.


There is still lots more work to do to get the pattern written. Plus, after writing the entire pattern, I want to make another pair, following the revamped pattern to see how those turn out. But I am really hoping that at some point I will be able to post an entire knitting pattern on this sight for others to use. 

Lucky Socks 13-0 Baby!



A seeminly typical pair of socks

This weekend was the first Packer/Viking game of the season. Because it was in Minnesota, our token Viking fan friend, Terry was allowed to host it. After work, I was changing and noticed that my socks were still wet (after being washed out in the sink the night before, but that's another ball of wax). I certainly wasn't going to wear wet socks, and I never tumble dry hand knit socks, so I did the next logical thing, put them in the oven to dry.


Yup, in the oven, at 350, for about five minutes per side.


Now that may seem like a lot of work just for a pair of socks, but these are no ordinary socks. These are lucky, seemingly magical Green Bay Packers socks. On game days, I get facebook messages from friends and family to ensure that they are on my feet.


I thought some of those friends and family might be unfamiliar with the humble beginnings of the lucky socks.


They weren't intended to be anything special. The yarn wasn't bought with the Packers in mind, it is Knit Picks Stroll, in a colorway called Turtle Multi, which they don't even make anymore and isn't even that good of a representation of Green Bay's team colors. The pattern is Nagini (named after Lord Voldemort's snake companion) by Monkey Toes. A pattern named after a snake seemed appropriate for a variegated green with a little yellow colorway. In short, they were just another pair of socks.


I was working on them during a Packer game last season, and my mom made an offhand comment that they would make good Packer socks. Figuring shades of green and yellow were close enough, I finished them and wore them to the next game. The Packers were playing the Giants and needed to win the next two games to make the playoffs.


They won the game. As a result, I wore the socks for the next game, and the Packers won. I kept wearing the socks on game day and the Packers kept winning, six games in a row, through the playoffs, to the Superbowl. The socks were deemed lucky and safely tucked away until football started up once again.

The non-oven drying method.

I didn't break out the lucky socks until the regular season started up again. But the pattern continued, when the socks were on, the Packers won. Going into the bye week, my socks have seen 13 Packer victories, and 0 Packer losses. I'm not sure how they manage it, but the facts are in.


Skeptics may say that I should not wear the socks one game day and test the theory. However, I cannot imagine that there is a true Packer fan in the world willing to take that chance. My husband certainly isn't, he was the one that insisted I wear wool socks in 70 plus degrees.


Now, if only I could get the socks on the Packer's payroll. League minimum would be just fine, they don't need a fancy contract or a signing bonus. Anyone have the number?

Go Pack!

Project Talk: I Love Deadlines

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
                                                                                                                    (Douglas Adams)

First and foremost, anyone who is unfamiliar with the genius of British writer Douglas Adams, go and pick up a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and read it.

Do it now. I'll wait.

Process vs. Product

I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again (and again), I'm a process knitter, not a project knitter. From what I've observed about knitting, most knitters fall into one of these two camps, though I think most are unaware that you can categorize knitters into these two types.


For me, it all comes down to a basic difference in knitting philosophy, a different reason for why we knit. I do not knit to make stuff, I knit for the enjoyment of knitting. I enjoy the click of the needles, the feel of the yarn, and the action of manipulating the yarn into little loops. The stuff that is created is an added perk, but not a reason to knit. It is all about the journey, not the final destination.


On the other hand, creating stuff is what it is all about for product knitters. After all knitting is a way to make stuff. I'm not saying that they don't enjoy knitting, it wouldn't make sense to knit if you didn't, but they enjoy the creation of a hand-knit item. The goal is to arrive at the destination. And in my experience, project knitters tend to complete more projects faster than process knitters.


Being a process knitter also explains some of my knitting habits to me. I don't mind having projects that sit on the needles for long periods of time, because it's not about getting the projects done. This is also why I have pieces that are almost finished sitting in a basket because they simply need to be assemble, or have ends woven in. I enjoy the process, but I don't necessarily enjoy the finishing work, and since I'm in no hurry to have a completed item, I don't mind letting the pieces sit. I'm pretty sure this is also why I'm not so good at knitting on a deadline.


However, despite of my love of the process, every once in awhile, a project gets in my head. I'll come across a pattern or design or idea, and it will become an obsession. I will toss everything else aside and focus solely on one project until it is done. It happened with my Llama hat, my Owls Pullover, and my Carry-All Tote.


But this is rare for me, up to today, it had only happened three times in years of knitting. But now, it has happened again. I was browsing patterns in the latest issue of the Twist Collective (an online knitting magazine) and came across a pattern that I knew that I had to knit, the Sheepcote Pullover. I can't explain it, it was love at first sight.


I saw the sweater, followed the link to the pattern, and printed it out. Then I spent time digging through my stash to see if I had yarn that would work (I didn't). Then I spent a good portion of the afternoon going back and forth. Logically, I knew that I should first knit with the yarn I have stored upstairs and not by new yarn. But that would mean putting this sweater on hold. I wrestled with myself for a long time, but finally gave in to my impulse. I ordered the yarn for this sweater. I also know that as soon as the yarn arrives, I will cast on and knit on it obsessively until it is complete. That's what happens.


In the end, it's not so bad. I'll have a new sweater to wear by the time sweater weather hits Wisconsin (probably before). And I fully intend to not buy more yarn before the end of the year. I know I have a good sized stash, and I should be able to knit from it for some time after this project. And I don't feel too bad about giving in to this urge, knowing that it most likely will be a long time before the next one hits (I hope, it hasn't been that long since I finished the Carry-All).


Because I know there is some obsessive knitting looming on the horizon, I am going to be working overtime on the Bridges of Roses socks, I've started on the leg of the first sock, so hopefully I can get it finished (especially as they are a birthday present for my mother-in-law, whose birthday was five days ago). I'd also like to get in some progress on the Mythos Cardigan, so here's hoping that shipping is slow!

Adventures in Sock Design: Episode Two- Off the Needles

Completed Socks

Success! I have Mom's birthday Green Bay Packer socks off the needle and presented to her on her birthday! My first pair of self-designed socks have been completed.






For the most part, I'm happy with how they turned out. But, of course, there are things I'd like to change, adjust, and try again. My main disappointment was the how the numbers on the heels turned out. Mom's a huge fan of Clay Matthews, hence the 52 on the heels. However, I assumed that placing the numbers centered on the heel flap would keep them high enough, but the bottom of the numbers wraps around to the bottom of the foot a little bit. That will need to be changed. I'd also like to revisit both the shape of the numbers and the G on the tops of the feet, they turned out okay, but they could look better. There's always room for improvement, right?


Despite the socks being completed, the design challenge isn't yet over. In addition to fine tuning the design features of the socks, I also need to translate the pattern from the pile of scribbled notes and charts into an actual written pattern. Since I was knitting on a deadline, I pretty much just took shorthand notes on what I was doing, which would be readable only to me, and only on a good day.


However, the socks were very well received. Mom immediately put the socks on and posted pictures onto facebook. Then, ignoring the fact that we live in Wisconsin and it was July, she wore the socks for the remainder of the evening (with an unmatching t-shirt and shorts, quite the fashion statement). That reaction is how people stay on the knit for list in my book.

Project Talk: Looming Deadlines

In knitting, I don't find myself facing a lot of deadlines (note the addition of "in knitting" to that statement, in other areas of my life, deadlines are more of an issue). This could be because I allow myself lots of time to finish a project, such as the baby blanket I had completed by May for a baby due in July, or because I mainly knit for myself. Once in a while, I do find myself up against the ticking clock. And that clock is ticking away right now.

These might actually fit!

Deadline # 1: Mom's Birthday, July 27

In a post from yesterday, I mentioned that I was in the process of designing/knitting some Green Bay Packer inspired socks for my mom's birthday. What I think I failed to mention in that post was that my mom's birthday is coming up quick. I had to start over from cast on today, which gives me one week to crank out a pair of sock (not only crank out, but develop and correct the pattern as I go). Despite making pretty decent progress today, I'm thinking mom's birthday gift may be a little bit late this year.

Deadline #2: Karen's Wedding, July 30

Harry Potter & knitting, a perfect combo

Progress so far

Karen is a dear, dear friend from elementary school. She's getting married at an outdoor wedding in Wisconsin Dells the last weekend in July. Since it's outdoors, and will most likely be hot, attire will be pretty casual. I have a navy sundress that I'm planning on wearing, but I felt that it was a little blah. And what better to add some zing to an outfit that a hand knit lace wrap? I cast on for the Invisibility Wrap from Charmed Knits, a collection of Harry Potter inspired patterns. I'm knitting it out of Knit Picks Shimmer Hand Dyed yarn in Cumulus, which is different shades of gray. I'm also adding beads to the design. The wrap is turning out beautiful, in my opinion, but I just don't know that I will be able to get it done in time for the wedding. But, as I have no backup plan for accessorizing my outfit, I am remaining optimistic. It was slow going at first, but the speed is picking up as I memorize the lace repeats in the pattern.  Fingers crossed!

Deadline #3: Bridges of Roses KAL, August 26

This is only my second Knit-A-Long (KAL). I participated in one before when I made my After Hours Shawl . This one is sponsored by the same company, Knitters Brewing Co. This time the KAL project is a pair of socks with embroidered roses. I'd love to show pictures of my progress on these socks, but truthfully, I haven't even cast on for them. I have the yarn sitting on my end table, reminding me, but the other two deadlines are just so much closer.

Thankfully, right now I only have those three knitting deadlines. But those are not the only projects on my needles. I also have another pair of socks, the Devil's Snare socks (Harry Potter inspired), but those are on hold while I work on the two other pairs.

See? It looks nothing like a sweater!

I'm also working on the Mythos Cardigan from knitty. It is a casual cardigan with beautiful drape to it. The process has been interesting, it is constructed sideways, starting with the end of one sleeve and working to the middle from there, so the work in progress looks nothing like a sweater of any kind. It is also knit out of fingering weight yarn, but on size eight needles, which is what gives the sweater it's drape. This yarn/needle combination produces a fabric that grows much bigger upon blocking, so not only does the sweater not look anything like an article of clothing, it also looks like it will be way too small. This does not create the most inspiring knitting conditions. I've finished the first half, and will cast on for the second as soon as I finish the Invisibility Wrap (or at least that's what I'm telling myself).

Adventures in Sock Design: Episode One- A Bad Start

I've been knitting for some time now, eight years, give or take. During that time, I've tried my hand at designing some really simple projects, mainly iPod cozies, and modified some designs, like Sophie's Avatar inspired hoodie. However, I never really have tried to create something of my own design from the ground up.


For my first ground up design attempt, I'm doing something very familiar to me, socks. I've made lots of socks (lots of socks by my standards, not by a professional knitters standards) so I know the basic elements that go into the creation of a sock. I know roughly how many stitches to cast on, how to make a cuff, how to knit a heel flap, how to turn a heel, the amount of gusset stitches to pick up, and how to decrease for a toe. 


I've been wanting to design my own socks for awhile, but lacked that final kick in the pants motivation to actually start designing. My mom frequently requests socks from me, and her birthday is at the end of the month. So, a perfect chance to try my hand at designing.


Anyone who has met my mother knows, she is a huge die-hard fan of the Green Bay Packers. So what better for a birthday gift than a pair of Packer socks. Find some green yarn and some gold yarn, do a little stranded color work or striping, and easy-peasy a pair of socks.


Right?

The colors look better in real life!

Wrong. I should know by now, if something is easy in my head there is no chance that it will actually be easy. 




My first hurdle came in finding the correct color of sock yarn. I flipped through catalog after catalog and poured over websites with no luck. Anything I found in the right shade wasn't the right weight or was way too expensive. Finally I came across the Solid Series by the Loopy Ewe. This sock yarn comes in 90 different colors, including Kelly Green and Sunshine Yellow, which turned out to be the perfect colors that I needed. 

Inspiration Pile

I had my yarn, the next step was to pour over my resources for inspiration and ideas. I had an idea about what I wanted to do, but needed to look around and be sure. Armed with a clipboard and some knitter's graph paper (normal graph paper has squares, but knit stitches are not square), several patterns, and Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks for reference, I began to sketch, erase, doodle, and curse. 


I had my ideas, yarn, needles, and some scribbled notes that would start to serve as my pattern, I was ready to cast on. I cruised along through the first cuff, and a stripe and started on my first chart. That's when the next problem cropped up. When I cast on, I used 64 stitches, but for some reason my chart was based on 65 stitches. Some minor modifications and onward. The I realized that when following the chart, I needed to account for a cuff-down sock essentially coming out upside down. Another rip back and more modifications.


Then I started making real progress. I finished working the first chart and the next stripe underneath it. Then, I tried on the sock to check the fit (my mom and I have about the same sized feet), and couldn't get the sock past my heel. When working the stranded colorwork, I didn't think about stretching the float (the yarn carried behind the work) enough to account for the stretch of the knitted fabric. 


And now we're ripping it out and trying again.

Project Talk: General Updates

Farmer's Market Cardigan

Every winter, I overestimate the amount of knitting that I will be able to accomplish. For some reason, I think I'll be able to whip through large projects and create a mountain of finished goods. Sadly, that is never the case. I'm human, I get distracted, I decided to watch t.v. or read a book, I have to rip out and reknit entire sections of my work, I have less time than I think I will. You know, life happens.

Still trying to get a
decent picture.

Since the beginning of January, I completed a sweater and a pair of socks. The Farmer's Market Cardigan took forever to complete, especially the shawl collar, but was totally worth it. I love, love, love the finished product (though I've been struggling to get a decent picture of it). It is warm and super comfortable.

See, nothing is really
wrong with them.

The socks also felt like they took forever to complete. By the end of the process, I hated the pattern, hated the yarn, and even hated the knitting needles. I have since found other needles, but that is entirely another story. Even though they are finished, I still haven't warmed to them. I still haven't bothered to take them off of the blockers or even try them on. There isn't anything wrong with them, I'm just rather apathetic toward the entire project.

Cat's Paw Lace Socks

Currently on the needles is another pair of socks. These are Cat's Paw Lace socks, knitted in Poems Sock by Wisdom Yarns. The yarn is a cheaper version of Noro's Silk Garden Sock Yarn, and is pretty roughly spun. But the colors and beautiful and the pattern is easy. The socks are done from the toe up, with a short row heel. It just has a simple, single lace repeat on a stockinette background. It goes fast and I'm already past the heel of the first sock, so I will carry on.

Coming Soon!
Super Secret Project

My current non-sock project is a gift, so it is under a media blackout. But it is going well, and I'm pretty happy with the results so far. Pictures and project details will be posted later.

On deck, are a number of projects. I'd like to get another sweater done before abandoning heavy woolen knitting for the summer. I'm torn between making another Wicked Sweater, this time in a nicer yarn or finally taking on the February Lady Sweater. I'm leaning toward the February Lady Sweater, because I have been wanting to knit that one for a long time, but it always seems to get pushed back as other projects shove their way to the front of the queue.

As far as summer knitting goes, I need to make some washcloths for around the house, but I also have a number of summer weight projects I want to work on. And we cannot forget those unexpected last minute projects that always seem to crop up.