Episode 92 In the Mail

I guess it is coming, but has not yet arrived.

Finished Object:

Windschief Hat



Knitting: 

Short Row Shuffle Socks

Andean Earflap Hat

Union Jack Argyle Socks



Spinning:

Chamomile Connection Polwarth



Random and All Over the Place:

Spin the Bin

SSK Charity KAL

Stash Dash, up to 3300m

Stuff in the mail

Recording again June 28th



That's all for now,

take care guys



Molly : )

Because Jordyn is a Sweetheart

Jordyn of Only Living for Today tagged me, and since she is a sweetheart I figured I could answer her questions.

1.) Do you knit or crochet? Or do you do both?

I only knit, because if I was faced with a situation where either I crocheted something, or I was smitted, I would be dead. I am so bad at crochet. I'd have a chance at life it was knitting something or die haha.

2.) How long have you been crafting? How did you learn?

I have been knitting since 2003. I learned how around Christmas time my sophomore year of high school. My mom taught me how to knit and purl, and then I hopped on a bus to Florida, and knit in the dark all the way there, and all the way back, and whenever we were on the bus. Let's just say the scarf was horrific, I was knitting into split stitches, and then I awkwardly decreased them away. Let's just say that I got home, ripped it all and started over again. Yes, the yarn was blue, and so were my needles.

3.) Do you have to have anything specific around you, or going on while you're crafting for you to have complete concentration?

I like to be distracted while knitting, if that makes any sense. I love knitting in groups, and knitting while watching podcasts, and I always have music playing. Silence is really unsettling for me, so I really prefer to have noise surrounding me. What was the worst was knitting on a plane with no music, I get so bored. Even with the most complicated project, I want to be talking or listening. There is no project too complicated for knit night or pints and purls. Well, starting the Evenstar swatch after a glass of wine was frustrating haha.

4.) What has been your absolute favorite thing that you have crafted throughout your crafting lifetime?

Hmmm favorite is a hard thing. As my husband teases everything is my favorite for at least a little while. Does favorite mean the hardest thing I have done, or the longest project I have worked on, or the one I did the most to make perfect, or the one where I learned the most?

I'll just say Bohus and call it a day.

5.) What is your favorite thing to craft? Why?

I have been getting sucked into spinning for knitting projects. I like having a plan for what the fiber is going to become, it is more motivating than spinning for no particular reason. There is something really satisfying about starting from fluff and ending up with something I can wear. There are so many directions the fiber can go initially, and I find it amazing to transform one thing into another.

6.) Do you do any other crafts besides knitting or crocheting?

I spin, write, draw, and design fractals.

That's all for now, take care guys!

Molly : )

Achievement Unlocked!

Studying for a test . . .

Not very exciting. . .

I've been knitting the hat while I read the class notes. This means I am really cooking on the hat.



Little Elephants! Adorable explosion. The logo is coming along nicely too. just not as adorable as little white elephants.
 
Of course I ran out of yarn, so I need to pick up some more black to finish this.

Maybe it won't be done this week. I also need to get some more time in on beatnik. I did 2 rows yesterday after I ran out of yarn. I'll have to get some more done tonight and tomorrow. It is swap night tomorrow at the LYS, so I will be able to pick up the yarn, and more . . .

The cables probably photograph better in natural light, which is sorely lacking in December.

Big News!

I learned how to spin Thursday night. I made my own freaking yarn, with my hands. I spun half of the top I got. I am not sure if I want to try new things with the other half.

It is very thick, and the singles are very energetic. I am still trying to figure out how drafting works. Occasionally it worked and oftentimes it did not. YouTube here I come! These videos made sense.

I do get letting twist enter. I am still working on spinning continuously. I did most of my first skein as park and draft.

And, by the magic of writing a blog post across a couple of days I had much more success with the second half.

I took the second half, and ripped it into fourths.

From there, I predrafted it by gently holding the yarn and pulling feeling the fibers slide past one another. I was trying to figure out what drafting felt like. I held the yarn more than a stable width apart and went one direction, until I got to the end, and then went back. I got more confident as I went.

I then spun the singles, grafting each quarter on to the last.

So at the end this meant I had one long single. I rewrapped it onto the spindle so I could let it rest over night.

 This morning I wound the singles into a single pull ball.

And then I plied from both ends.

The beginning end was pretty rough, the ending end was quite neat.

All in all I got 28.5 yards out of my 4 ounces of fiber. 14 of the 2 ply and 14.5 of the crazypants thick and thin. I am probably going to combine it with the biggo to make an infinity cowl. It is super bulky, so maybe I will use the biggo doubled.


I figured out how much yarn I had by using my brand new niddy noddy. I followed the instructions here, How to build your own Niddy Noddy because, well, the math was wrong for the other versions I found via google. The length of the skein is the square root of (shaft squared plus arm squared plus arm squared) times 4. That is not the same as the length of the shaft times 2.

I made 2 shafts, one for 1 yard skeins and one for 2 yard  skeins. It would be super duper easy to make a 1 and a 1/2 yard one. It is just a matter of switching out the shaft. I just counted how many times I went around, and then tied off the yarn and slipped it off.

It should be helpful for other things too, like figuring out how much yarn I have left, and frogging things. If I continue to spin, then I can wind skeins.

On the fractal front I made a really cool one.

This was for the 1-2-3-4 . . . challenge. It is easier to write the pattern than explain the rules.

1 Spherical,
1 Spherical, 2 Linear,
1 Spherical, 2 Linear, 3 Disk

For every transform you add it need to have all of the variations of the last one, plus one more, that is a value of one more than the previous. I tried another one, which wasn't that good, so I am happy this one worked. I bright gradient, a fusion of fractal styles, and a little wild to go around.

That's all for now, take care guys!

Molly : )

Work in Progress Wednesday: Post Overflow

I had more to talk about last week, but in light of my already tardy WIPW post, I decided I did not need to also include fractals and stashquisitions in an already long post. I am not good about pacing. It is all or nothing, unless it is a FO post for a project I am really proud of.

Or, the FO that was long forgotten. I knit this last Christmas, it is a wham bam thank you lamb. I knit one for my MIL, then bought more yarn to make one for me. I didn't get to use it last winter, since I forgot it at her house.

Whoops, better late than never. I love wearing it. Go go malabrigo!
 
So, what is the story? I have no real FO's this week but I do have more WIPs! Perfect timing for work in progress Wednesday.

Longest going first:

Evenstar is to an exciting stage!

I finished the 6 repeats of 4 rows.

I also discovered the plain row takes approximately 30 minutes to knit, at 560 stitches a row.

And since I am taking it to Hawaii, well, I am just going to pack it away until that day comes.

I'll explain more later.

In order to show off the lace, I put a card underneath. You can see the 24 rows of twisted ribbing and mesh, and also the old school lace mesh.

This project is starting to get awkward to carry around, so it is probably for the best that I am retiring it from my knitting bag. Epic, but now that the mindless  section is over, I should have something less crazy to bring with me everywhere.

I was dissatisfied with the hat again. Don't get me wrong, I was largely pleased. But there was an unforeseen design flaw.

The corrugated ribbing, and basically all of the colorwork was too tight. So, I could not reverse the hat.

Solution: knit the ribbing in black, without the colorwork.

The plaid pattern is totally awesome, but the DSLO did not like the ribbing, and so it had to go. The ribbing was pretty neat, but I suspect anything that looks like old school fair isle isn't going to fly with him.

This is replacing the evenstar as the carry around project. I would like to finish this hat soon, since it seems like I keep on taking one step forward and two steps back on the stupid thing.

Frogging the yarn was dreadful. There is enough mohair to make it awkwardly sticky. Good thing I set aside Tuesday night for some serious knitting time. What ended up working was pulling all three strands, then winding it around the floor, then standing on a two foot wide section, and rolling one ball at a time, in two foot chunks until I made it back to the hat. That way everything stayed decently untangled, and I could only worry about a color at a time.

I made good progress on the improved brim. Once I get going on the color work, things should go quickly.

Of course I cast on something new. December 1st was the start of the The Knit Girllls deep stash dive December KAL, and Thanksgiving was the start of the Whatcha Swatching Beatnik KAL. So, I am using my first dyed yarn! Double dip for the win!

I also got a new toy, which is why all this yarn is in neat little cakes.

More on that in stashqusitions.

I cast on Sunday night, because Ooofancypants of Whatcha Swatching was hosting a virtual nit night (VKN). It was a lot of fun. If I do it again, I should get a webcam, because, well, the other participants did not appreciate that a still photo of me and the DSLO showed up every time I talked. I thought it was so cool.

I swatched, and got that far during the VKN. And on my Tuesday night of all I want to do is knit, I got into the cable section.

I decided to make the 40 inch size. My swatch came in at 19 stitches across 4 inches on 5's, and it called for 18 on 6's. I still haven't decided if I am going to do a cardigan, or a pullover. I am knitting it in pieces, because that was drilled into my head a Vogue Knitting Live, and at how expensive those classes were, I should at least try to take their advice. I am still in my first skein. If I change my mind, it won't be the end of the world.

I made an executive decision. I don't want to carry a sweater's quantity of yarn to Hawaii, so this project is going to live at home. I don't want to knit on a sweater their anyways. Evenstar, and unknown, yet to be cast on sock will be much better Honeymoon knitting. Holy freaking cow, I am so excited about this trip.

That is all for the WIP section of this post. Check out the other people blogging this week here.

Department of Stashqusitions:

I have more yarn. I guess the first is the ball winder. A friend told me about a special offer from Knit Picks. If you bought at least 5 bucks of stuff, then you could get a skein of Biggo for free. Well, I looked at a ball winder, and I was sold. Basically my free skein covered the shipping cost of the ball winder. I can't believe  I waited this long to get one. It is super duper affordable at 20 or so bucks. As soon as it arrived, I assembled the ball winder, and wound the free skein.

I am not sure what it will become. It is 50-50 merino nylon. It is slick as can be. I'm thinking cowl . . . because hey, it is going to knit up really fast. My friend ended up getting 3 skeins of biggo to make an infinity cowl.

My MIL Joni gave me Christmas yarn. Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! and Vesper Self Striping.

Both are gorgeous. I have heard so many good things about Bugga!, I am really excited to have it in my hot little hands.

She also gave me Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. I haven't had time to look though it and figure out what I would like to knit. Funnily it is a signed copy for Sue. I guess she didn't like it that much.

I also managed to snag a lace color bag, from Wollmeise.

I got this on the first update. I got set 7, which is a stretch colorwise for me, in greens and grey. My first choice was set 6. It also came with a pattern, walk on the moon, and a nifty clear bag. I have no clue when I will get around to knitting with this. There are some other shawls calling my name more loudly.

And in big news, I am going to learn how to spin soon.

I am really curious how it will go. The friend that offered to teach me is letting me borrow a spindle. We haven't worked out when. I suspect it will be soon. I loved the blues in this top, and it will be fun to see what sort of yarn it will become. From all of the descriptions I have heard about spinning, it sounds like it is completely up my alley. No, I do not have time for another hobby, but, I still think this will be fun.

I have a couple of cool fractals.

They are all variations on julians. I learned a cool trick, which really fills out the fractal. I duplicate the shape tranform, and switch the sign on one of the variables, which creates this mirrored, inside/outside look.

This week the challenge is very hard. I don't hold high hopes on it turning out pretty. I might not even bother sharing it.

That's all for now, take care guys,

Molly : )

Socks? I like socks!

You know what I also like? Pie! I like pie!

Ok, back to socks.

Magic Mirror is completely hopelessly charming. Nazar Boncugu is so gorgeous. Here is a close up

Imagine that the subtle color variations were slightly less subtle, and that would be this yarn.

I actually ripped this out and restarted, because I tried a new toe, and did not like it.

I went back to my old standby, which is increases along the edge.

I have been knitting so furiously on these, that it is hard to stop, take a picture, and blog/share about it.

I was working on the FO post for the bohus, because I cast on these the moment I was done. Or rather, I cast off, went to the yarn room, picked out a lonely skein of wollmeise, and then launched into these.

I love the eyelets. I love the garter detail. I love the swoop of the twisted ribbing. This sock it exactly what I want to knit.

I decided to switch out the heel. I am following the pattern for a deep gusset flap heel since I know I like the flap the best.

I realized a little late that I could have done these socks cuff down, like normal. I am treating this as a learning exercise. A lot of people come to Sock Knitters looking for help on toe up heels, and my advice is less helpful, because I have not knit many true toe up heels.

Earlier this year I did a short row, and now I have a flap and gusset, and a few years ago I did an afterthought. I still need to try fleegle, and the sweet tomato. That isn't too bad eh? Nevertheless even though I tend to choose cuff down, I can choose toe up and still make a nice sock.

I hope this isn't too big. I need to try it again once I finish the flap.

Above is the ugliest side, which is quite pretty, all things considered. It was much harder to get holes when you don't have the wrap and turn plus shortrows on the other side.

Below is my first pair of socks. I made them about 3 years ago, when I took the plunge and learned how to read knitting patterns, and knit socks, and use needles smaller than size 6, and fingering weight yarn.

I have talked about them before. The dye wasn't set right, so they bled like mad, and what used to be blue and natural and brown, turned to grey. So, last night I dyed them red.

 

That wasn't the only thing that got thrown in the dye pot.

I dyed the yarn for the dear sweet lovable one's hat. I might need to darken it, because it is less a true red, and more a coral. I was really excited because it seemed like I got the dye to set first try. At first I used all red, then I switched to adding red and yellow 2:1. At the end we added just a touch of blue. Perhaps a touch was too little. I think I used a glazing technique. I would set the dye before adding more drops of food coloring. I was worried about flooding the pot and not being able to set the dye. When it seemed like it didn't want to clear any more, a couple of glugs of vinegar did the trick.

I guess I will need to decide soon if I do need to throw it back into the dye pot. I am so glad to have a win on this.

The fractal challenge was a sneaky one. I needed to make my favorite emoticon. The thing with fractals is that it is way easier to make abstract stuff than, well, what you intend.

I didn't try really hard. If I was trying hard the smiles would not have gone outside the head. These smilies are rocking the cheshire cat look.

That's all for now, take care guys

Molly : )

Bohus for the Win

I finished the Dean Yoked Pullover.

I had been day dreaming about this sweater months ago. The goal was to make a colorwork sweater out of Wollmeise. There were not too many contenders, because maybe it is a little insane to knit a fair isle sweater in fingering weight yarn. I even bought blue yarn in the middle of the night, when I could not sleep and caught a German update. I couldn't just be happy with a simple pattern. I needed something complicated, and colorful, and ridiculous.

I found all of these qualities in the Bohus designs. Nine colors! Four color rows! Small intricate motifs! Purl texture in color work!

I had to learn a lot to be ready for this sweater. Color theory, because my digital swatch let me down, and the combo that did work was amazing. Fair Isle, because my real swatch was pretty sloppy, and that wouldn't do. Making sweaters that fit, because this was a project that spanned months, and that was a big investment.

A lot of people helped me out. Bonnie gave me her color book, Teri gave me small ball of yarn, Joni sent me a security skein, Sally consulted on how much waist shaping is appropriate. I am really grateful.

Thanks everyone.

Honestly I enjoyed the experience enough to buy another set of main color yarn to make another one. I have so many small balls it should be no trouble to throw together another combo. Especially one with reds and blues.

I am so happy with the finished result, and the entire project was a fantastic challenge. It was the perfect intersection of want to knit, and want to wear.

I just love how this glows. This is a sweater that can brighten any winter day, but I can wear it so much more often than that, because it isn't overly warm.

I bet this is going to be the last to be put away in the spring, and the first to be brought out every fall.


Yay for the Bohus!

That's all for now, take care guys.

Molly : )

It's a Nearly a Sweater!

I have made good progress on my sweater and my shawl.

This comes in 2 parts. Monogamous knitting in a serial fashion.

Evenstar got a lot of love this weekend. I finished the 2nd chart, and did all of the setup for the 3rd. The stitches are seriously crowded on my needles so it looks like I might need to just buy the longer size 2 needle. Doing all 560 stitches on a 16 inch needle is silly.

I am planning on picking it up again after I finish the sweater.

I switched to the sweater because it is so close to being done. And now is the perfect time to wear it. 

I am 18 inches into my 23 I want in this photo. Sorry about the awkward brown spot. Apparently my coffee mug wasn't empty when I threw it into the bag with the sweater.

The waist is currently exactly where I want it to be.

Election night turned out to be a great time to knit. Since we don't have cable, or bunny ears, or a desire to watch TV, we went to a coworker of DSLO's house. Pro tip, if you are going to watch election results, it is so much better if everyone agrees on who should win. Happily everyone agreed, and most present were engineers.

I am currently employing the knit faster method of yarn usage. My ball is so very very small. But I did make it to the ribbing.

The paranoid part of me wants to weigh the ball, knit a round, and then weigh again. I need 3 inches of ribbing.

This might also be the rational part of me too. I want my sweater to be as long as my t shirt. I started the ribbing 2 inches past the full body shot. The end is so very close. It does not help that being a thower, there is nothing more obnoxious that 1x1 anything. Not enough to drive me to learn continental. Just enough to make the knitting less pleasant. 

I switched to my 1's for the ribbing, and since my 1's are 12 inches long, I am doing 2 circulars since all of the stitches won't fit on one needle.

Maybe I will have a FO post tomorrow! Fingers crossed.

On the fractal front, there has not been too much activity. I got a late start on the challenge, because I decided to re-render a flame another challenger made. It was a sweet design, it just had a lot of grain, which I knew a high quality render could fix (where by high quality I mean the new term density)

The apo challenge this week is to make a fractal using the number 2. For example, the number of transforms is divisible by 2, the variation is 2, .2, .222, 2.22, along with the variables, and the weights are also bound by the same rules for 2. It is pretty hard to make a pretty fractal with those sorts of rules.

I'll keep trying, this one was a surprise because I wasn't expecting so many details in the final render. The next one will be much more minimalistic.

That's all for now, take care guys!

Molly : )