One Geek to Craft Them All

I’ve been a busy knitter. I have made progress on the sweater dress, and am nearing the separation for the sleeves, though it has been put down as I started another pair of gloves.  It is the Podster Glove  pattern the Fingering/Sock weight version of the high speed weekend gloves aka Chilly Podster. It’s made on my Gnome Acres yarn in the Joker colorway

I’m at the separation for the fingers, and you can already see the thumb stitches being held with some red yarn. I’m torn on of I should make them another pair of flip top gloves or a pair of gloves with flip top fingers. I don’t plan on working on them until the weekend so I have some time to decide. 

There is a bit  of a cable finally happening on the sweater, and the Aquaman stitch markers are a bit of bright fun.

And the Hero Honey Cowl continues to grow. New plan is to finish it by the 28th. We’ll see if I can do that. So lots of things are in progress. Fingers crossed. Not to shabby.  Also I’m still spinning the blue fiber. Just a couple things.

Tweet

Share

Knitting cowl, gloves, sweater dress, WIPW

I had a plan for this weekend and it was a simple plan. Knit myself a pair of gloves. I had a weekend, I was using worsted weight yarn. I had a pattern, Chilly Podsters  I had yarn options. I was ready. I cast on Friday night and by the end of the night I had hope.

That was quite a lot of progress while sitting in front of the television after work. Saturday I spent most of the day moving items, and reorganizing some rooms in the apartment. So when I settled on the couch to work on the mitts some more most of the day was gone but there was still progress.

Not bad, not bad. But this did mean that quite a lot more knitting had to be done on Sunday than the other two days.  I got off to a good, start. Knitting before noon, and within the first hour I had a finished glove and a second cuff to show for my work. I had even weaved in all the ends on the first glove!

By the time Iron Chef started, it was a matter of stubborn pride that I finish these gloves. I mean, I had just a flap left and it wasn’t even 11. Knit Knit Knit.

And I was done, every end weaved in, and new warm glove/mitten things. And I had a whopping half hour to spare. If I had to guess, I would say these gloves took somewhere around 8-10 hours total. I will still be making the fingering weight version, but not in as nearly much of a rush.  Oh and lens flare! I should take another picture of these I suppose. But…space, the final frontier….

Tweet

Share

Knitting 31posts, gloves

I am very happy to share with you my first pattern for 2013, and my first Doctor Who inspired work. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Bowties are Cool
$4.00

Bowties are cool. So are Stetsons. Fezzes? Fezzes will be shot on sight. Bowties in a tweed red yarn, clearly these gloves are for 11. He just doesn’t know it yet. Spoilers Sweetie.

These mitts are knit, in the round with a worked in thumb gusset.  The bowties are a quite easy to create and these gloves can easily be whipped up rather quickly.

Supplies

Size 5 (3.5 mm) dpns or circular needles
Tapestry Needle
Stitch Markers

Yarn

Fingering Weight – Roman Hills -Dr. Who #3 – I’m a Sagittarius. Probably.
~120- 140 yards

Gauge

5 stitches and 8 rows per inch

Tweet

Share

Knitting 31posts, bowties, Doctor Who, gloves, pattern

I’m nearly done with the shawl collar/button band four more rows  so I should finish on the train home tonight if I stop getting distracted by my Kindle.  Then those DPNs will be put to use on the sleeves.

There are button holes and a weird shading thing as I started working with the smaller of the two balls of this giant skein and apparently the color is lighter on the outside of the skein. I’m thinking about attempting to over dye the sweater if I feel its a problem once the sleeves are done and I’m wearing it.  But the collar seems to be tying it together well, and the shoulders are the same shade as the bottom, we’ll see.  Perhaps it shall be an artistic take on shades…

Also you may notice in the corner of the first picture  some red tweed yarn. Those are the ‘Bow-ties are Cool gloves. My test knitters are nearly done and after some revisions maybe we can have a pre-Christmas special release.  Here’s a peek at a Bow-tie.

I’m a bit in love with these gloves and looking forward to sharing them with you all.

Tweet

Share

Knitting bowties, dark and stormy, Doctor Who, gloves, sweater, WIP

So I’ve started to dive into the Rhinebeck fiber pile and I started with the silk hankies.

And decided to make a pair of gloves, using the design for a soon to be released pattern, which is currently in test knitting. I’m looking forward to sharing it, with you all. It makes me grin just from the name ‘Bowties are Cool‘, fingerless gloves.

Back to the silk, unfolding the packaging we a stack of hankies.

Pulling one free:

Don’t let the wispy nature fool you. This is silk and it is strong. The reason it can just be knit up without first being spun without causing tons of headaches.

Pulling it apart first into a ring, then breaking at an end to form a first strip. I haven’t been breaking in any predetermined spot, as the silk just has the one spot of purple/blue in the sea of green, so far it has been working out. I pulled out my size 6 (4mm) DPNS and cast on.

I have been knitting along, and getting a lovely  fabric, though I do wonder what would happen if I needed to frog, but so far things seem to be going well.

I’ve finished the thumb gusset, and just have to knit my way to the fingers, I didn’t count how many layers I’ve used so far but may try to going forward. One thing is that I don’t seem to be running out of layers at least.

Also,  I’m the week’s curator for @twkNYC. I’ve been talking about these gloves, and sewing in fact. I’m sure I’ll get into life as a New Yorker a little more. Come say hi.

Tweet

Share

Knitting fiber, gloves, silk, silk hankies

So I’ve crossed the Atlantic and been back in the last week.  I flew Delta, and realized on my way back that I have flown Delta exclusively for the last few years, though this was my first time using them internationally.

My flight out left at 7:30pm  NY time and landed at 7am UK time. I can’t really sleep on planes, I don’t know why but I did attempt to give it my best try.  In between tossing an lying in my row of empty seats? I have an entire 3 seat row to myself I knit.  Veyla which had been on of the patterns I threw into my traveling pile just in case, which actually became very handy.

Granted I only finished one glove per flight, but had I forgone my sad attempt at sleep I may have gotten farther. I did pick up the buttons at Loop  along with some other things that will get their own post in a bit.  I also got farther on my mystery KAL where I am somewhere still on clue 1. but less than ten rows from the end as opposed to the original 40.

We landed early but there was just long enough for me to get through customs, and be a whopping 10 minutes early to my meeting in Ascot.  I have to say the grounds were really lovely, even as I kept running into ground’s keepers getting ready for spring.

The path to the spa of all things.

Nature had clearly gotten a jump on the staff in some corners.

And the owls with eyes on my welcome letter at check-in. I met friends for dinner and drinks and had a great start to my Weds, in England.

Tweet

Share

Knitting FOs, gloves, london, planes, travel

I finished a couple more items for my team. One being the second cowl.  Submitted in the Technical category under What’s your specialty?

So it’s done. Again. With some yarn to spare.

But it does mean I can add details to the pattern like length and width, and can say you can make two with two skeins of Eco-Wool. Which was something I wasn’t sure about.

I also finished a pair of  fingerless gloves.

I still have to make the inner gloves for these but there is one more project down with another day to go.  So there are four projects done and the start to my dissertation.  I think February went well, much more knitting then I tend to get done and spinning. Looking forward to seeing what the March Challenges bring.

Tweet

Share

Knitting FOs, gloves, Mythology, nerdwars

Submitted my first item for NerdWars. Bifrost gloves, for the technical challenge on mnemonic devices. I settled on Roy G. Biv.

It was a very simple pattern I cam up with and knit during a meeting on Sunday on size 3 DPN’s.

With  red CO 32, K3 p1 for 8 rows
Change to Orange Knit 8 rows in ST
Change to Yellow Knit 8 rows in ST
Change to Green Knit 8 rows in ST
Change to Blue Knit 1 rows in ST
Knit 12 cast off eight stitches knit to end of the round
Knit 12 Cast on eight stitches and continue knitting in ST for 5 rows
Change to Indigo Knit 8 rows in ST
Change to Purple  Knit 8 rows in ST

Bind off

And I created the swatch for what I hope to be my dissertation.  The soon to be knit Apollo shawl.

And I have once again cast on for the Greek Key Cowl.  I will find out if you can make two  with two skeins of eco wool, or if there will be screaming near the end of the project.

Tweet

Share

Knitting gloves, nerdwars, pattern, rainbow

I have a lot of projects in progress. And keep casting on new ones. I don’t usually have this problem but I am enjoying it, except for the weight of my purse with so much yarn in it. 1 and 1/4 gloves. Started these during the Superbowl and am plowing through the pattern.

Welig once again, I’m always surprised at how fast a knit this pattern is.  I have another set of these to work on. And a pair of gloves to go with these in gray.

Here are the Octopus mittens once again this time two at a time on circular needles. I have just gotten to the cuff work and haven’t had any time to work on it in a few days but yay progress.

The start of rock Island, I have to repeat the same 8 rows over seventy times, I think I am at repeat 14, I am sure once that is done I will move along on this shawl much more quickly. And if you know I do more than one repeat every time I picked it up.  Speaking of not picking something up.

Lothlorien. I think I did one repeat in the last two weeks. Sigh.  And poor Vivian looks like this, still. This picture is from October.  Fail.

I need to finish things, not start new ones but its hard to tell myself that, especially when I want to knit things, to wear in March. What is happening in March?

I am going to LONDON Weee! I still have no idea what I will be doing during the time but I will be there for about a week, with some work commitments when I land then free time the rest of the week.  More awesome my trip falls the same weekend as the Doctor Who convention.  Not sure if I will actually go, unless magic happens with the conversion rate or I have a surprise cash windfall but that is amazing timing. Sadly the Doctor Who Experience will be closed before I arrive.

So I need to find things to do, I went to London in 2008 so I did a lot of things then, London Eye, The Tower, Tate Modern, The National Gallery, Imperial War Museum, Platform 9 3/4,  that I likely won’t repeat. Though somehow I didn’t get to The British Museum which will be rectified. Any ideas? I’ll be poking my native friends, so I won’t totally be at loose ends but I’d like to have a list of sorts. Case in point I had a list of 20 or so attractions, grouped by location, on my first trip and would see how many I could get to on any given day.  Then repeat the next day.  It meant that I was free to as much or as little on a day and not feel crushing guilt.  And you know any secret Yarn and Fiber havens are things I would like to know.

Tweet

Share

Knitting, WIP gloves, london, shawl, travel, WIPW

Mittens, gloves, fingerless gloves/arm Warmers, so many options, so much winter.

I have cold hands I’m the best of weather and I’m a commuter. So I tend to need fingers and dexterity as well as having warmth. Trying to pull out a metro cad with half frozen fingers or gloves on are not a way to endear you to everyone else trying to get through the turnstile.

I need a balance.   And with everything else my balance comes in layers. I tended this year to wear fingerless gloves under full gloves. Actual mittens have never quite worked for me, granted I have never knit myself a pair. I have made flip top mittens, but I tended to keep the top in the flipped position and it wasn’t the best for actually keeping me warm.

Right now I have a set of arm warmers in Madeline tosh worsted tart. I have a pair of fingerless gloves, made of Zealana the merino possum mix and a pair of gloves knit of what I believe is Art Yarns. My usual combination are the art yarn gloves with the Zelana beneath that. One blistering day 11 degrees or some such horror  threw in the worsted and wished I could stay home with the cat instead. Sadly not all of us get to stay home all day and find comfort sitting on blocking shaws and hopping in boxes.

So maybe this will be the year I try mittens or flip tops again.  I do have all that sock yarn I will never be making socks with at this rate.

Tweet

Share

Knitting 31post, gloves, mittens