One Geek to Craft Them All

It’s been a while.  When we last joined our intrepid heroes  they were dangling above a pool with sharks, with freakin’ laser beams on their heads…or it’s possible I was discussing knitting shawls for a friends wedding.

So the first shawl is done and blocked out on the queen sized futon.  It was a large lacy monster that shawl.   I forgot to take dimensions before I unpinned but yes, Queen Sized futon.

My shawl to wear for  the wedding? (7/30)  Well its bigger after I frogged it all on Friday. Like I had time to spare or something.

Well it’s moving along, I am about 10 rows from the end of the first of 4 repeats that will complete this half.  Yes half,  will still need to graft the two sides together and block this by the 29. I have plenty of time right? Right?

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Knitting 11 shawls 2011, FOs, lace, shawl, wedding, WIP

I’ve finished shawl 6 of 11 for the year. So does that mean I take a shawl breather? Why would I do such a thing?

This was the other mystery shawl that I was working on.

Instead I have 2 shawls I need to finish by 7/30.  They are for a friend’s wedding,  one for myself and another for a friend.

The red one is actually not for me. Shocking I know. I will actually be wearing a purple dress with teal sandals.  Fluevogs, my new crack.  Well those and yarn, I suppose, I went from no pairs to 3 in a very short while. I’m working on the red one Rosa is a quick knit, with short rows until i get to the end and add the edging, so that will be interesting.

My shawl is the ,Gothic Moss Shawl which is down in two pieces then seamed up  middle.

I haven’t been working on this much as Rosa has the double ease of being workable on the Train without balancing a pattern. Will I finish by 7/30?  We’ll keep the fingers crossed.

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Knitting 11 shawls 2011, FOs, lace, shawl, wedding, WIP

I’m working on two different Mystery Shawl KAL. One From Knitting like Crazy and the other from Wendy Knits.  So far at least I am keeping up with both patterns.

Mystery Medallion KAL

That is a shot of the first clue, I am mostly done with the second clue but had to frog a few rows, but am back to about halfway through that just in time for the new clue to come out today.

The other shawl, Summer Mystery Shawlette, does have the pro of being and bottom up pattern while the Medallion is top down, so in theory I will never mix up my clues. In theory.

I’ve also finished the first clue of that and am waiting for the new one to be posted this Sunday.

The colors are different enough that if I’m delirious enough to mix up the two I likely shouldn’t be knitting.

I’m working on a gift, that will be posted once its handed off, and on another shawl. I have frogged Anthemion again but this time it was for want of smaller needles, and I think I  may make it in some teal lace weight I picked up ages ago at a yarn shop in DC. I was there for a day…of course I found the nearest yarn store.

In completely unrelated news look who’s little sister is a new NYU  graduate.

Yes that is a nearly full Yankee’s Stadium. Though they look more blue than purple in the picture the bottom tier is all the graduates, my sister was very proud to point out she was sitting behind home. And look at her speaker.

Oh Bill you were my *first president.   First in the sense I was just sticking my Jr. High toe into looking at this politics thing. And this Bill guy was my president.

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Knitting 11 shawls 2011, lace, mysterykal, shawl

The fifth completed Shawl of 11 was blocked this weekend.  It was the Peacock Shawlette  in Cascade Sock.

In between cleaning out a closet, starting some costume prep, and other things on this weekend I was able to lay it out on my blocking mats. With help as always.

I suppose it wouldn’t be blocking a shawl if she didn’t help.

I had one of those fun moments when blocking when you realize the project is just a little off. I somehow shifted the right side by one stitch so it doesn’t line up as well as the left but I’m sure I’m the only one who will notice.

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Knitting 11 shawls 2011, lace, shawl

So Sunday was Knitty City’s 5th anniversary party. I was happy to make it, there near the end of the event. I hadn’t planned on doing much shopping. Key word in there being planned.

So I ended up having some chocolate cake and picking up 5 Skeins of Eco Wool to make 2 Sweaters or so.  2 in black 2 in red and 1 in  blue. Add this to the 3 I picked up at La Casita and that’s a lot of Eco wool.

This was the last skein of the blue, I’m thinking of combining it with the black and making something striped.  A nice cardi or pullover.

I also picked up a skein of Madelinetosh in  Silver Fox.

And I have already Wound it into  a lovely ball and am knitting a shawl I bought off ravelry yesterday Batik and have already frogged it once. We’ll see how this goes.  The hope is to have at least 1 shawl to wear to the weddings that seem to be cropping up among my friends.  I have 2 standard default colors red and black, and I think silver fox would go with either colored dress; be it one I own or not.

I also joined the ravelry group 11 shawls in 2011 as I have 2 designs in mind, and 2 other shawls I want to knit already with the yarn. Though this likely means I will have to invest in blocking wires. I don’t see anyway else to get the finished shawl right.

Also I have think after the Knitty City sale I have to refrain from buying Yarn for a while. I have refilled my bins and have bags of yarn floating around waiting to be wound and waiting to be knit.  I have yet to crack open Cookie A.’s Knit. Sock. Love. which I have plenty of sock yarn to play with.

Also everyone has seen the new knitty? My next project wants to be Cartouche and I have not 1 or 2 but 4 skeins of yarn I could use in Red, Black, purple, and teal.  Though I may take a lace break and do some worsted work between shawls.

I will allow the exception for buying gift yarn that will be knit immediately.  So for now Christmas knitting can not count.  Not that I have any ideas yet. Well I do have a small idea to go with cards. I knit a bunch of mini stockings near the end of the holiday’s after i had mailed out cards, some to hold jewelry I gave out, and some to put on the tree.  I was thinking of making a bunch of these, and even if they are empty sending them out with cards.

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Knitting lace, sweater, yarn

Haven’t been around for a bit, but I have been knitting away. Most recently I’ve been working on a Captain America Shield Pie Shawl attempt.

It took about two weeks,  I worked on it a lot while at dragon con and on the flights, though I suspect less obviously nerdy then the hero squares I worked on last year.

I used the same pattern that was from the baby blanket then modified on a whim as I worked on it.

There a few changes I’ve decided to make. One thing I realized pretty quickly was that this one would be much too small. Its more like a shawlett at least when I fold it in half.

Its about 33″ in diameter  and I’d likely want to double that the next time around.  I also need to work a different kind of increase or at least switch to a KFB sooner than i did.

As you can see at the end of the blocking which took ages and a few tries to get right, the star wasn’t as sharp as i wanted it and nothing was quite as round as I had been hoping. I’m sure there’s a way to get that star done with the blue. I may go back to the old plan of a provisional cast on.

Though this update will have to wait a while. I’m working on a new Justice League scarf for a friend, and while its going quickly the train was actually so crowded this morning that I wasn’t able to work n it in the morning.

I’ve been writing on the bus so most of my knitting is done on the subway.

The amazing thing about this picture is that its of the first scarf but I am at the same point.  Or possibly a row shorter.  I still wonder if the pattern is as easy to read as I think it is. I had a couple knitters look it over, but I don’t think any of them actually worked on a square.

There is at least 1 person who is working on one but they haven’t uploaded any pictures so I’m still waiting to see what theirs looks like.

Once I finish that which I hope to do by next week I plan, to start Christmas/winter knitting.

I have a plan to make a bunch of stockings and get smaller stocking stuffers and gift that. As I still haven’t made a pair of socks it will be interesting. I also haven’t actually chosen a pattern just yet.  I’m sure they will be in a variety of colors to match my friends, my stash, and even traditional Christmas colors.

But I think if I start in October, I’ll know how doable it is by Nano and will be able to go, and re think gifts and possibly just do ornaments.

Anyone else already thinking about holiday knits? Been thinking about them for month.

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Knitting Captain America, color-work, DC, lace, marvel, scarf

Its been a while since I’ve posted but plenty of knitterly things have been happening. I’ve finished the blue jeans shawl, which was a straight forward easy knit and gives me hope for one day designing my own triangular shawl.

Pre-blocked it wasn’t much to look at but it sure put my blocking mats to the test.

Just starting out with the blocking here and wondering if I will have enough matting to get it done. Its not the first time I’ve thought of ordering a second set of mats, or hunting them down from a child’s toy store.

There it is when it was finally laid out and ready to dry. I’ve worn it a few times in the cubicle and loaned it out which led to a friend requesting one in black. Or at least a similar one. I’ve started on the Spring Thaw shawl for her in some Black Debbie Bliss Bamboo Wool  Blend.

The Dalek is coming along and is actually nearly done. I just have to do the base and attach the arms. Granted it has been in this nearly done state for a couple weeks now.

Its full of stuffing and simply lacks a base and arms to go exterminating the population.

Lastly a picture a friend took at one of the many summer bbqs so far.

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Knitting blocking, dalek, FOs, lace, shawl

I’ve been working on a shawl, pretty much since i finished the wedding shrug. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if I hadn’t kept frogging the shawl again and again.

It started with a pattern that was a LOT of ST and then when I started to feel the never ending hate one can begin to feel for ST. Then I learned I had misread the pattern and the finished shawl would be much shorter than I would want unless willing to knit a few more miles of ST. So that was frogged.

There were a couple of other patterns that I had to abandon when I could not make out the instructions, on how to do the lace repeat.  I had hoped it would make it self clear as I knit but no such luck. Another moment where I was not sure if it was my lack of lace knowledge or too many beers (it was a beer and knitting), or a short hand that I have not come across and am simply missing.

So having given up on that.  I hunted a new pattern down, and started on that. This seems to be going much better its the Blue Jeans Shawl, < ravelry link.  I’ve made it farther than I have before and have memorized the lace repeat. So I’m hoping this continues to go well. Though I’ve picked up a new book that is cutting into my bus knitting time as I devour that instead.

Getting a Kindle and having that read to me may be a really good investment sometime in the near future.

No frogging and plenty of yarn left to keep going to make it a size to keep me warm on the bus of high AC and not take up too much room in the bag.

And I leave you with the sight that started my Memorial day weekend as I exited the building and crossed the parking lot to wait for the bus. Hopefully everyone had a good time this weekend and are ready to get back to the grind tomorrow.

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Knitting lace, shawl

So I’ve started the new job and the lovely epic commute. Its been anywhere from 2 hours one way to 4 hours. Not fun, but the job itself is a good thing and really that’s what matters.

This past weekend an old friend got married. It was on the water so I figured a shrug would be perfect. So of course I had a whole 5 days before the wedding. I had even planned to break the yarn diet except that it was Mother’s Day. Yarn stores closed. But I was able to find two skeins of an off white, wool from the Lion Brand Studio.

It was an adventure, knit flat, as I traveled the wilds of NJ. It didn’t help that I had only been doing the commute a week and hadn’t fully adjusted to my new earlier day. I would drift off,  think i missed my stop, and lots of other wild bus moments. But I kept at it. Even when on Monday there was lots of frogging as I tried to get the right dimensions.

I’m glad I used such a simple and easy to memorize pattern.  It was the Lace Knit Rib Shrug by Crystal Palace Yarns.  I did a simple garter edging, mostly because I did not think I would have enough yarn for full sleeves,  and would instead make  3/4 sleeves.

And I was able to finish it by Friday, with some wild, Thursday into Friday blocking, involving fans, and knitting the band onto a slightly damp project on the bus, I let it dry out in my cubicle and by the end of the night had weaved in ends, and bound off ready to head to the marina come Saturday.

Next up is a shawl or two, I may make one for the office and one for the commute if I can manage it. Both are air-conditioned and I get cold very easily. I’ve had my fingers start to turn blue, in a chilly office. And I tend to be the first to pull out the fingerless gloves and the last to put them away.

I’m tempted to use all that fingering weight yarn I got at the Hotel Sale but, part of me still wants a sweater hold out so we’ll see.

Days without a Yarn Purchase in 2010: 137

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Knitting lace, shrug

I have a problem; it’s the same problem that makes me a picky shopper. I can never find a pattern that is quite right. I have that I’ll know it when I see it feeling at times but most of the time? I scour pages and pages of patterns, in books, and Ravelry and end up with going back to stitch dictionaries and trying to make up what’s in my head.

This works well with the geek things. Though to be honest that is usually how do convert I have a problem; it’s the same problem that makes me a picky shopper. I can never find a pattern that is quite right. I have that I’ll know it when I see it feeling at times but most of the time? I scour pages and pages of patterns, in books, and Ravelry and end up with going back to stitch dictionaries and trying to make up something from one medium to another more.

Figuring out how to convert things is 70% of the fun for me. Working it out in yarn and wearing it is also a great deal of fun.

How did I come to this conclusion? Well there is the Franken-sweater which I gave up on finding a pattern for and have instead just worked out what I want and things I will need to learn to get it done (ie cap sleeves, short rows. So after spending most of my morning looking up stole, and shrug patterns after frogging what I did on the subway.

So I had the idea to make a lace version of one of the 2 scarves of geek via YOs. So which one should it be? Justice League or Lanterns.

It would likely be knit in this:

Or in a gray sock yarn that I have 2 skeins of that are in the other room and won’t be photographed right now.

What should I make a lace version of?

• Justice League
• Lanterns
• Something New - answer in comments

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Knitting lace