Brain-Cramp

I've been working on my plans for the NIN bag since I've now got the swatch shaved and I can figure out my gauge. I did a ton of math last night. I was tired but it still worked. Now, my head is filled with a million equations and some of them don't quite match up. Part of the issue is that my computer refuses to print off a picture in the correct size. I'm not yet sure what I'll do. I'll figure it out eventually, right now I've got other projects to concentrate on.

I'm really trying to finish some stuff up, I really need to narrow down the amout of WIPs I've got going. Especially as I need to get started on christmas projects soon.

Here's what I have to finish:

1. Plum Razor Cami
2. Neon Pom-Squad
3. Pirate Mittens
4. Dad's Blue Socks
5. VooDoo ArmWarmers
6. Knucks (these might get frogged)
7. Branching Out Scarf
8. Green Angora Spiral Scarf

I'm pretty sure thats it... God, I hope it is. Does that seem like a lot?

Carmen is trying very hard to get on my lap at the moment, but I don't feel like being a lap right now.

Hey! What's that? Yarn?Why yes, it is yarn! Orange yarn!

Yes indeedy, folks. This is the first in a series of Christmas Yarns. No, I can't tell you what it's for, what weight it is or what brand it is. Not until christmas is over at least. All I can tell you for now is that it's yarn and it's orange. Oooo, Ahhh. Pretty.

I somehow managed to do absolutely no knitting yesterday, this is not an easy feat for me. I guess I just didn't feel very motivated. I was also busy yesterday, writing yesterdays post and bike-riding to an appointment and back from it in the rain. Gosh that was fun, I love going through puddles, I noticed that I talked to myself alot.

Some day I want to make this:

I think it would be wonderful in SouthWest Trading Company's Oasis.

Being 100% Soysilk (sooo cooool) I've been wanting to try it for a while. I've seen how it drapes and I think it would work beautifully with this pattern. Click the pattern link please, then you can see all the ways it can be worn. The trouble is, there are no interesting variegated colorways in Oasis. The only remotely colorful one is Purplexed but I still think it's too monotone. I'd like to get as close to the color that they use in the pattern as possible. I like that one a lot.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sit back and enjoy my orange juice... Or not, I'm kind of in yarn mode right now. Maybe I'll try working on something.

C is for Cookie

Well I'm dissapointed, I had a really good post done yesterday and I was really happy with it but, apparently, Picasa or Blogger was hungry... I don't know what the heck happened but the post just never showed up. Damn, I'm just not digging Picasa at the moment. So here we go again. I switched over to Blogger Beta yesterday, and I have to say that, so far, it's pretty cool. I like that it's easier to edit the layout now. (Which is why I switched in the first place) I've been looking for ways to make blogging easier lately. If anyone else has any ideas, drop me a line after the beep. (That's what I've named my comments now. Neat, huh?)

I'll start with what I did on Sunday, I was staying at my dad's and I decided that we should go to Make One Yarn Studio to see if they needed any part-time help this year, even though I'd been there just the day before with my mom, I just had the idea on sunday morning. I spoke with Amy, she said that I could email her my resume and a little about my life as a knitter. I don't think I've ever wanted a job so much, this would be my dream. To work in a yarn store, gosh, it wouldn't even be work! If your reading this, Amy, I'd love to work with you ladies! (I gave her a link to my blog) Now I just have to get the mean little voice in my head to shut-up and I'm good to go.

How does one tame the wiry, stiff-as-a-board mess that is hemp yarn? Well, you wind your yarn on your ball winder as usual but you stop every once in a while to spritz it with water. When your done, position your fan (or aim a hair dryer) at the yarn whilst it is still on the winder. When it's half-way dry, take it off and leave it to dry overnight and whatnot. Works for me!

I've made some decent progress on my neon pom-squad, I have a little less than one stripe to go until I can turn the heel. Wee... I want these socks to be done... they're boring. Thank god they're ankle socks. I don't think I'll ever be able to live through a pair of knee-highs, at least not plain ones.

This is branching out in pink crochet cotton. I've got two pattern repeats done so far. Is anyone else out there having trouble reading the chart? I understand it and all, it's just so teeny!
I'm trying really hard to stashbust my yarns because I'm starting to get overwhelmed. I think that, from time to time, I'll be posting pictures and stats about some yarns in my stash and asking for ideas on projects for them. But seriously, does anyone other than my family read this thing?!

Look! It's the Leaning Tower of Yarnza! Hahaha, I crack me up.Bottom's up: White Buffalo Lama rusty dark orange 100% Wool 2 x 50g/yardage not given. Pingouin Spring 100% Egyptian Mercerized Cotton in seafoam 2 x 50g/134m-146yds. Sunbeam Shantung 65% Natural Silk 35% Pure Wool natural color 4 x 25g/yardage not given but they do tell me that it was spun by Richard Ingham... Uh, thanks for the yarn, Richard? Any suggestions for these yarns are more than welcome, I'm thinking something socks for the cotton, but thats just because I don't know what else to use it for.

I'm starting to make some Christmas presents. Or at least I'm buying yarn for them, I'm not doing anything big this year (ie: no sweaters or blankets) after all, I am a beginner... technically. I wouldn't want to subject my relatives to the ever-so-crappy 'first-time sweater.' I do have some great ideas though. I'm looking forward to making this stuff.

Here's my dad's blue sock. I've finally gotten to a point where.... Well where it actually counts as a point. I've never made this much progress before and I'm really proud.He doesn't seem to believe that I will finish this sock and I will make a second. Come on, obviously me making this much progress means something, does it not? Jeeze...

I decided to knit up a swatch (my first swatch ever) with the Peruvian Highland Wool, I've decided that I want to do the NIN bag in fair isle. I just didn't have the patience to try and figure out my backwards double knitting. This way, I can line it with some nice fabric. I want to get something really nice to line it, like some exspensive silk or something. It's only half a yard. It would have to be a jewel tone purple though, I love jewel tones.
I don't know what the heck happened. It's so bloody furry! I desperately need a lint-shaver. I can't check my gauge until I can see the damn stitches!

This is razor cami, she's past four inches now and I've finished the first ball of yarn. I'm not sure I've got enough for the whole thing, hopefully I have.
Here's hoping my post doesn't get eaten again! So long!

Note to Self

Just a few notes to leave myself before I forget. These are dad's socks in Skacel Kokon, turquoise. This yarn is 35% Silk/35% Cotton/30% Acrylic, 50g/175m. I cast on 26 stitches provisionally and made a short-row toe, then I started 2x2 ribbing on the top half of the foot. I'm using the magic loop method on 3.25 mm circulars.

Lets get organized?

Currently Listening To: Everything I've Got, Tool especially.
Currently Knitting: Ruffle Scarf, Razor Cami, Neon Socks, Pirate Mittens

I need your help readers. That is, if any knitters reads this blog yet. I read something (I don't know when) on some blog about not using Eucalan to wash wool. This person uses a commercial (I think) product that is usually used to wash fleece before processing. I think the name started with an 'S'. I thought I read it on Grumperina's blog, but I couldn't find it again, so it may have been Whispering Pines, Craftoholic or Knitting Escapism. (these are all blogs I have been reading in the past couple of days) Keep in mind, when I discover a new blog, I often read as many entries as possible, usually until I hit the very first entry. Yeah I get bored sometimes and I like to read. I still have a big hunch that the info is from Grumperina but I've searched for 'Eucalan' in her search bar (she mentions not liking to use Eucalan) and I've come up blank. I've also been going backwards through her entries and trying to find it again, I'm not quite finished doing that yet so I may have some luck yet. Thanks for your help if your able to give it.

Edited to add: (before I've even finished the entry) IT'S SYNTHRAPOL!!! And it was on Grumperina's blog. But I still can't find the exact entry...

This will probably be another photo-intensive entry. Does anyone out there know if entry-cuts are possible on Blogger? Like they have on LiveJournal? I think that people might appreciate it a lot if I could do that.

I got a surge of organizational energy today, I decided to photo-document all of my WIPs (works in progress for the family) and all of my projects that I will be doing in the future and already have yarn for. Look!

These are my neon socks, modelled below. They're a real challenge to get on at the moment, I think my feet are extra bony or something. These are knit in Regia 4 Ply Neon following the Pom-Squad Pattern.

This is a Spiral Scarf in the angora that I hand-dyed a long time ago, I plan to knit until I run out of yarn and I'm thinknig of trying to felt it a bit, maybe it'll shed less that way?

This is one VooDoo armwarmer, I have yet to make the second one. It's made of some hand-dyed worsted weight wool that I found at Goodwill.

There's alot more but I'm using these new photo uploading programs called Hello and Picasa, (google it) the programs work with each other but I haven't figured out how to add more pictures to an entry, I might have to try again later. I got these programs because I was having alot of trouble with the Blogger uploader, it kept stalling out and taking way forever. I find that this works better but I still haven't fully figured it out.

All done for now.

I am the master untangler!!!

Currently Listening To: Imogen Heap
Currently Knitting: Neon Socks

Look! From this: (fyi, it was way way way more of a tangled mess before this picture was taken)
I surprised my cat with an exclamation of 'HA!'And look at the magic I worked!
Stuff On My Cat!!!And I'll leave you with a picture of Mittens shortly after he buried his head in that bright pink bag you see there. He likes to chew on plastic, see.


Bye

Warning, picture heavy really lots-like

Currently Listening To: Dixie Chicks songs
Currently Knitting: Neon Rainbow Socks! ... and pirate mittens and razor cami and a bazillion other things...

So mom and I just got back from Kelowna yesterday. It was really fun and I got alot of yarn. She spent alot of money on me but I think I deserved it... For certain reasons...

This would be Carmen, wearing the, finsihed, second Maze. It looks like a rasta hat on her, Rasta Kitty!

This is the yarn that I thrifted and am making VooDoo wristwarmers out of. Click on the pic to see the super-huge version of it and you can see the ever-so-subtle variegation of the yarn. I actually have one wristwarmer finished now... the thumb-hole is a little tight but i think I'm going to block it to death to fix that. The white and black yarn you see there is for my Pirate Mittens, which now have about an inch of cuff.On the trip to Kelowna, it rained most of the way, we drove through alot of clouds, it was kinda neat.

We stop in Golden (?) for lunch at a palce that puts brown paper on their tables and gives you crayons to draw with, I drew this. Yeah, I ripped it off from someone else, but whatever...This is me at D Dutchman's Dairy, with my chocolate peanut butter moose ice cream (in a waffle cone, of course) and saying hi to the cows. This one licked me, cows tongues are twice as rough as cat tongues! It felt funny.
These are birds that I can only describe as over-fed pigeons, they look like pigeons, but they're huge!

This is a horse that my family has visited all the time, we named him Patch. This is where he bit me... I guess he was hungry, I have a ping-pong ball sized bruise to prove it!
This is Patch getting it right the next time, grass, not Katie's arm, kay?
This is a tunnel we went through, you can see the reflection of our starbucks coffees in the windshield.The day of my mom's reunion, I sat in the hotel room, watching a Jerry Springer musical (it was weird...) and knitting a sunglasses case (below) that is now finished.
This is the bag in which my new bathing-suit came in. It's cute.

See?
This is the art of yarn, in Pandosy... It's an awesome shop, they have NORO!!!!
This is the stuff I bought from The Art Of Yarn. I have a ball of regia self-striping sock yarn that is already being turned into socks, I'm doing pom-squad. I also got three balls of Crystal Palace Kid Merino, I plan to make this into something lacey... I don't know what yet though... The ball band just says 'verious gauges'... great, real helpful guys. So I don't know what the hell weight it is, so I can't look for patterns that I can sub it for.
We also stopped in Vernon to go to The Never Ending Yarn. I got this sock yarn that come in really pretty, muted, heathery colors, I got green/brown. This is the coolest sock yarn ever folks! It has aloe vera and jojoba oil right in the yarn! You make moisurizing socks with this stuff!!! It felt so nice on my fingers, which are still suffering from that reaction to the Phentex.Thats it for now, just pictures... anyways, bye

Like the flash...

Currently Listening To: Deeper Underground - Jamiroquai
Currently Knitting: Hemp hat (almost done!) and I'm going to start the pirate mittens soon

I just got my Elann.com order today! Squee! It was totally speedy, kudos for elann.com and Canada Post! The Brittany Birch DPNs are soooo beautiful. I can't wait to get started with them. They have the size stamped right on them, which I think should be required by law or something... Just my opinion, haha. I just hate it when I have know clue what size my needles are. The only thing I don't like about these needles is that, once you open the package that they come in, you can't really re-use it, it's big and bulky... I like to keep my dpns together because I tend to lose things... Oh well I guess, I could always make something.

I also got my Devon wool for the mittens, very excited about that. Highland Wool too, for my felted NIN bag. I'm excited about that but I still have a lot of planning to do. I have worked out a (highly disproportionate) schematic for it but I still need to work out a few things, like needles size, how big it needs to be before felting, and I need to see if I have to make a whole new Reznor face chart because I don't think it's going to be big enough.

I also got a back-issue of the Holiday 2005 Vogue Knitting, I rather like it. I want to make my first sweater some time soon. I'm going to be sporting knit-wear like whoa in the winter. Interweave Knits Summer issue also came today, a little late, but I subscribed pretty late too. I like it, though I'm more excited for the winter issue to see what Eunny made! It just looks so pretty! The weird thing is, the label on the envelope said Winter 06 so I thought that was what I was getting, and now I'm thinking maybe I'll be getting all the issues late? Like that TV show about the guy who got the next day's newspaper and saved the people's lives and stuff, except my situation is backwards. What was that show called.... Was that guy who plays Ecklund on Mysterious Ways in it? Or am I thinking of someone else, did he have red hair? Hmmm...

My massage therapist told me today that I sit too much (too much knitting and computer!) and that I need to do some exercises to stretch my hip flexors... I also think she hit something funny in my middle/lower back, because it really hurts now. I didn't feel it until a little while ago... Owie. Next time I'm gonna have to get her to do middle back instead of shoulders and lower back. Blah.

Am I done? I'm done... yep. Bye.
Kate

I'm impressed.

Currently Listening To: Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap (This song gives me a headache for some reason, but I really like it so I grin and bear it. Masochist music?)
Currently Knitting: Everything... sigh

I placed another Elann.com order yesterday, and it was shipped today! I must say, I am thoroughly impressed. I believe I already mentioned what I ordered in a previous post.

I just returned from a trip to Saskatoon with the dad-guy to visit sister and kiddo. (my nephew) It was fun... But I've lost the urge to blog about it so maybe I will later...

All done

The self-validation was indeed unneeded

Mmkay, so I've started the second hemp hat and I got impatient and had to start the razor cami last night. Ohmigosh, this yarn is soooo crazy soft. I want to make an alpaca blanket for winter, cus I live in my basement and it gets super-freezing down here. I want to spin alpaca.. I want a pet alpaca.... Maybe that'll be the first animal I get on my dream-farm... an alpaca. Don't worry Aunty Wendy, I'll get the fainting goat too. Alpacas first though! Sooo soft and pretty....

By the way, I figured out that I'm not that much bigger than Katie, I just cast on waaaaay too tight. So I used a stretchier cast on (cable) this time and were all good! I did cast on an extra twelve stitches so that they could fit all the way around the circular needle, I need a shorter one, methinks.

So I found these LiveJournal communities. (For the fam-damily: LJ Communities are like big group 'blogs' [thats what this is] where a bunch of people can join the community and
post all their stuff to each other) Clothes Surgery and T-shirt Surgery. Now, I'm going totally nutters without my sewing machine because I have soo much flippin inspiration from these places now. Grarr! I managed to convince my mother to keep the old old sewing machine. The only thing I've ever encouraged her to keep. (ha!) It will be my sewing machine when I get my own place, because I can't live without one. It weighs an absolute tonne and I was exausted just carrying it down the stairs to my room... I accidentally made a huge gauge in my coffee table from sliding it instead of lifting the damn thing... I'll have to see what I can do to fix that. It was from a peice of the case that was sticking out of the bottom. I also need an extension cord for it because the cord is mucho-short and the machine has to be in the middle of the room and, you know, there's no plug-ins in the middle of the room. (durr...)

I can't find any of my concert tees... Grarr, there's three baskets of laundry on my couchy-thing that I need to go through... They're probably in there. That and some other stuff I can destroy/rebuild. I have a Taste of Chaos and Nine Inch Nails tee to re-size. I also want to make some stencils and... well, do some stencilling. (no really?) I would like to make a t-shirt with all my favourite bands all over it and stuff.

By the way, I don't think I mentioned this in my last post, but in was soooo nice to be able to talk to people last weekend about knitting who actually understood what the heck I was saying! Thanks Grandma and Wendy!

What else, what else... Um, I'll be at my sister's place in Saskatoon this weekend, dad and I leave tomorrow. I'm excited to see everyone! Especially the Loganator! Beck (my sister) is coming out later in the month and I keep forgetting to ask her if she's bringing the cats... Yeh, that's totally relevant to this blog... Ha! I like to go off-topic, don't I?

I already have another elann.com order all lined up and ready to go. I just need some money first. That's kinda important for the whole thing to work out ain't it? I've got stuff lined up to make these awesome mittens (and maybe this hat) , and stuff for my NIN bag. That bag is finally going to happen. After, what, half a year of planning? Sheesh, I'm super-excited. What else do I have lined up... Um birch DPNS for those mittens and a back issue of Vogue Knitting.

So I'm done? I guess... I thought I had one more thing... Oh well.
Love Kate