One Geek to Craft Them All

I have finished the hat! After spinning the yarn, just in time for Nemo. Well okay then. Snow? I have a hat for that. I weaved in the end on the subway this morning and now may wear this on my way home. Just because I can.

I made the ribbing twice the length that the pattern called for. Trying it on, shows I did indeed get it right.   One nice and cozy Koolhaas to show for my time.

No more cold ears. Or so I hope.  I have another 50 or so yards left of this yarn, no idea what I will be doing with it. But we shall put it aside for now.  Also I am quite tempted to make another one of these.  One can never have too many hats.

Also this does mean that my first Nerd Wars Project is done. 1/6 for Feb.

Tweet

Share

Knitting, Spinning alpaca, FOs, handspun, hat, yarn

I have worked on the Gin & Tonic Hat, I am decreasing even. Sadly I got to the point where I really should switch to DPN’s but I didn’t bring them today so I will power out for a few more rounds and hope.

Granted I only have two rounds left before the crown decreases so there is not much more I will be able to do before switching. I suppose I can work on my Honey Cowl, because that has not changed since last week. I’m sure I will run out books shortly, I mean there is only one more Iron Druid book left and I’m 47% thorough book 4, book six alas is not out.  And I have Ever After on my Kindle, ready to go. With Nerd Wars starting Friday I will need the knitting time.  I have a sweater dress to make in three months after all.

Tweet

Share

Knitting 31posts, hat, WIPW

When one decides that they need a  new warmer hat as the weather is getting colder the obvious decision is to spin the fiber and then make said spun fiber into a hat.  Of course. It is not as if you decided to do this in November or anything.

Today I spun up the last of the blue fiber for said mystery hat. A teal/blue/sparkle/alpaca fiber that I picked up at Rhinebeck. And of course since it’s January I decided that the best thing that I could do would be to ply the fiber, with the un-dyed alpaca/mohair/Shetland blend I picked up at the Kings Fiber Festival, the weekend before Rhinebeck.

I spun up a small sample and tried it, and I think the two look great together. And also the name of the yarn has clearly been decided.  Allons-y!  I wasn’t even trying, and it still happens. So I start spinning away, planning to make a lace weight yarn to ply with the about dk/worsted I mostly created when I notice there are an excessive amount of bits in the yarn.  Then I see my hands.

Well, it is a natural fiber straight from the farm, it seems it just has more nature than I initially expected. The idea of trying to wash the fiber and not ending up with felt does not seem quite likely to me, I will just have to remember when spinning this fiber its not the best for doing any other tasks, and not to be done in any light colored clothing.

And who knows I may have yarn by February, and a hat by spring. Though I think I will spin up the fiber rather quickly even with the bits and dirt, then just need to decide on a hat pattern. Something simple, maybe in the family of cables and ribbing. Perhaps it’s time to design a hat.

Tweet

Share

Knitting, Spinning 31posts, alpaca, hat, spinning

There’s been a lot of  Spinning. But I have been knitting things, that I can share. First up is my first project with my hand spun.  My first loop batt that became about 132 yards of a mostly worsted single ply.

It is going to be a cowl designed using a stitch I think looks a bit like flames. Because the stitch is out of a giant dictionary the cowl is only worked on in my living room while watching Teen Wolf.

I also finished my Habitat in Midnight in Manhattan yesterday.

I haven’t decided if I shall keep the hat or give it away so I shall be sticking it in the  gift bag. Which is a giant tote in the craft room.

But having made one before I know that I have enough leftover yarn for something small. I have cast on for a pair of fingerless gloves, using the larger cable from the hat.

Our office if moving so I will be home the next couple days as one office is disassembled and reassembled. It will mean a longer subway ride but a much shorter bus ride, less than half an hour so I will see how that hits the knit time.

Tweet

Share

Knitting cowl, FOs, handspun, hat

So I finally got a chance to block out my Batik shawl and I’m really happy with the way it came out and looking forward to doing another of Kitman Figueroa’s designs . Possibly Damask but we’ll see.

First time using blocking wires and i think I got a much better pin down though I think I will need to order another set of blocking mats as I plan to make some shawls that will be much bigger than the Batik.

What this picture doesn’t show, because she’s too quick, is Molly adding her own touch to the blocking process. I actually found her rolling around on the slightly damp shawl one afternoon.

Here she is napping on the box that holds my blocking mats. The little trouble maker.

I also finished my second hat for myself. The Snapdragon Tam which I wanted to finish by 2/26 which was done with a week and some to spare.

I did have the fun realization that I had no plates wide enough for the blocking and decided to wing it with my largest plate. It worked for the most part. As before the had was pretty beanie shaped.

Quite a difference.

I have a couple projects going away on the needles.  Damson, which is a fun simple knit, now if only I could juggle my kindle, and knit  standing on the subway.  Though I can do it on the bus!

And I’m having a bit of indecisiveness trying to decide what to make with My Madeline Tosh in CityLights, which I hadn’t realized was the special VKL colorway for Knitty City. Even more reason to do it justice and I’m not sure I could get more.  I should have grabbed it in DK too! Oh so tempting.

I have about 420 yards and had settled on a scarf. But I have frogged the first two, and will frog the couple inches I have on a waffle  stitch scarf once I get to it. Perhaps a worsted shawl is the way to go instead of scarf. Decisions.

Still doing pretty well with the yarn diet.  Haven’t bought any yarn since the Batik purchase and I really did need that to finish the project.  And I’m using the remainder on Damson.

Days Without a yarn purchase: 14

Tweet

Share

Knitting 11 shawls 2011, blocking, hat, shawl

So I took a break from the Shawl this past week to make myself a hat.  Mostly because after winding all that yarn I wanted something with a bit more instant gratification.  So I picked up the pattern for Habitat and made it in a Skein of Madeline Tosh in Malachite.

It was a pretty fast knit for something with cable crossings every other row. I was highly tempted to give this off to my dad as this is his favorite shade of green, but really I would not give him something that wasn’t super wash.

I’ve been wearing since it was done, and been pondering knitting a second in another color.  I might even be able to make something  from the left over skein but that might be wishful thinking as i have 1.4oz remaining which if my math is correct is about 84 yards.

So I picked up Batik again,  I have not been knitting half as much this week.  What with the snow day, working on the bus, and things , but I have gotten it a bit longer.

Tweet

Share

Knitting batik, cables, FOs, hat, shawl, WIP

So the first sock became a hat, its a very Christmas-y hat what with the with the ribbed brim and the bright red body. And did you notice the bobble on top? funnily enough the hat fits just fine though i have no idea what I will do with it.  Wear it? Gift it? who knows.

Despite what I thought was the small size it fits me just fine if not a tad bit short.

Yes that is a bobble on top. The hat is wool/mohair – brim/bobble Lamb’s Pride Bulky and the main hat is actually a really shiny skein of Mondial red cotton I had lying around.

And there was barely any pattern, but I know if I don’t write it down I will forget.

CO60 K2P2 rib for about an inch. Switch to red, K in ST for 3 inches or so.SSK every eight stitches  knit next round
SSK every seven stitches knit next round
Continue in this way until you are at SSK  every 1 stitch.

Next round SSK all around Repeat until there is only one  stitch left. Switch to white create bobble.  I did a pretty large bobble of Kfb 8 times into single stitch,   turn sl 1 P7,  turn sl1 k7, turn P2tog, turn  K2tog, K2tog bind off, pull through top of hat and use excess yarn to help stiffen the bobble.

But after my little adventure in hat land I have returned to the original plan.  Stockings, it doesn’t help that I also suddenly want to knit dozens of other gifts.  But I’m making progress.

This morning I added a couple more inches on the subway and bus despite falling asleep on the bus for a little while.  I think I will be turning my first heel on the ride into the city or, at Beer and Knitting tonight.

I do seem to be getting extra shed on the red Lamb’s Pride, I have no idea why, but i may avoid it for further socks, but we shall see after blocking.

I’m free handing this first stocking pattern but we’ll see how it goes. Since this is the most traditional sock.  I mean some of my other color schemes include:

1. Purples
2. Slytherin + Celtic cables
3. R2D2
4. Tardis
5.  Guinness
6. Batman

Did I mention the plan is to make 13/14 of these? Technically that’s only 7 pairs of socks in  2 1/2 months. Doable right? *fingers crossed* Its not like I have any large time consuming things in November like National Novel Writing Month or anything.

Maybe I should invest in some super bulky yarn at Geek Knitting on Thursday.

Here is the stitch pattern on the sock:

CO40

1.  K3, p1, *k4 p1* *repeat til  last stitch k1
2. k2, p1, *k4 p1* *repeat til  last 2  stitches  k2
3.  K1, p1, *k4 p1* *repeat til  last 3  stitches k3
4.  p1, *k4 p1* *repeat til  last 4  stitches k4
5.  Purl entire round

Repeat rows 1-5

Current Mood:  amused

Tweet

Share

Knitting 31posts, christmas, hat, pattern, plan, socktober, stockings

So Christmas came and went. You would think my holiday knitting was done right?

Not quite.

Let’s not even discuss the fact that the camera died again a couple days before Christmas. I must be some kind of camera curse. So how did the Christmas knitting go you are wondering? I’m sure someone out there did better than I did.

Dalek - Purple and black fingering weight yarn about 1″ or for those who know the lovely EXTERMIKNIT pattern the first row of bobbles.

Dad’s Hat- Frogged and cast on again Christmas Day….

Mom’s Hat – Yarn was chosen that’s progress right?

Cowl – One more repeat of the pattern (12 rows) and its done. That’s not too bad.

Glove and arm-warmer set - its been cast on there’s some ribbing…

How is it that last year I made, 4 hats, 3 scarves, 5 pairs of Mittens and this year 4 projects have foiled me. Alas. I’m sure my like of Subway riding has something to do with it. That is in fact where i get most of my knitting done.

And instead of this fact doing something like deterring me I am plugging along with my knitting and wondering if I can in fact do a stash bust in 2010 against one of my geek knitting friends. She has mostly lace-weight including a 3000 yard skein I helped her wind one day (helped as in provided swift and winder). I know most of my stash is worsted followed by sock lasty about 6-10 skeins of lace weight.

Though if I do the stash bust I can A) Sell any items from patterns I design on Etsy, and B) get a whole year to plot the Christmas Knitting.

I’m on a purchase diet until employment but oh is it tempting especially when one of my weekly knitting groups meets in a different yarn store every week. Though this helps with the discovery of old and new yarn stores. The latest new discovery being a really new store Gotham Fine Yarns down on Orchard St. Its a lovely addicting little shop where I’ve been to Wine and Knitting which the owner hosts every 1st and 3rd Friday and where Geek Knitting has met a couple times. Great owner open til 8 daily which once the wallet allows will make my heart swell with joy.

And I leave you with a lovely picture of Molly surfing the web.

You turn your back one second…

Tweet

Share

Knitting cat, christmas, Doctor Who, hat

Finished Dad’s hat its SuperHUGE not quite sure why gonna run it through the dryer and making more hats to figure it out. Why not frog it? Because I’m stubborn and its been bound off.

Face Hat

Because it fits over my face…and his…

Also finshed the Carnage scarf

Braided Scarf with a red and black twist. And the extra joy? the red/black section goes right around the neck and is extra warm just in time for the latest snow storm.

The Pattern can be found here Chunky Braided Scarf I did not do the ribbing to start and actually did a Cable crossing at row 1 NOT FUN. but had the wanted effect.

Read more…

Tweet

Share

Knitting carnage, dad, FOs, hat, marvel

Every once in a while I do knit normal things .  Like this hat. Simple black flip top with cables.  For dad. Let’s hope he likes it, cables might be too fancy for him.

Dad's Hat

The Pattern is South End Knitter’s Hat By Amy McElwain which is available on Ravelry.

Tweet

Share

Knitting cables, dad, hat, Knitting