And because I have no self control over yarn buying when I've had an absolutely miserable couple of days (It's my consolatory, self-pity thing. I have an especially crap time and buy yarn to make myself feel better. Some people eat. Some people buy shoes. Me? I splurge on yarn I wouldn't normally have purchased.)...I've gone and bought 16 skeins of sock yarn (that's 8 pairs of socks!). I was going to buy only one expensive (to me) skein (for one pair of socks), but instead decided to spend a bit more than twice as much and get 8 pairs of socks worth of yarn. It was all on sale. >_>
So, yeah. I basically just negated my plan to use up a large portion of my sock yarn stash this year. The good thing with this recent purchase is I definitely plan on using some of it for gifts and some of it could even be used for things other than socks.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
socks, socks, socks
I have decided that this year I'll be doing my own monthly sock club, so to speak.
I possess sock yarn stash of mountainous quantities. I am one of those "sock yarn is not stash enhancement" folks. That means I buy a lot (too much?) of sock yarn. And I love knitting socks; they are one of my favorite projects to do. They are the reason I wanted to learn to knit. But it seems that socks always get shuffled way back on the queue of Things to Knit. The only reason I can come up with is maybe I think "Oh, pish, I can knit socks anytime" and pass over them when I'm contemplating a new project. I keep a pair of simple socks in my bag, but I don't get many opportunities to knit anywhere but at home anymore. Having to keep track of a very busy two-year-old will do that!
I've been on a real sock kick lately because I got a new book last month - Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn, which is fabulous and inspired me to start knitting up some socks!
So, I decided to help quell the sock yarn "stash", I shall endeavor to knit one pair of socks per month this year. So far I've done these (January), these (February) and am working on these (sorry there's no photos of any of them up yet!).
These socks for my club will all be for me - socks for others (which I don't do a lot of), don't count. My other intention with doing this is to keep me motivated to knit socks so they don't fall by the wayside anymore.
I possess sock yarn stash of mountainous quantities. I am one of those "sock yarn is not stash enhancement" folks. That means I buy a lot (too much?) of sock yarn. And I love knitting socks; they are one of my favorite projects to do. They are the reason I wanted to learn to knit. But it seems that socks always get shuffled way back on the queue of Things to Knit. The only reason I can come up with is maybe I think "Oh, pish, I can knit socks anytime" and pass over them when I'm contemplating a new project. I keep a pair of simple socks in my bag, but I don't get many opportunities to knit anywhere but at home anymore. Having to keep track of a very busy two-year-old will do that!
I've been on a real sock kick lately because I got a new book last month - Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn, which is fabulous and inspired me to start knitting up some socks!
So, I decided to help quell the sock yarn "stash", I shall endeavor to knit one pair of socks per month this year. So far I've done these (January), these (February) and am working on these (sorry there's no photos of any of them up yet!).
These socks for my club will all be for me - socks for others (which I don't do a lot of), don't count. My other intention with doing this is to keep me motivated to knit socks so they don't fall by the wayside anymore.
Friday, March 13, 2009
yarn for sale
I have some hand-dyed sock yarn for sale on Etsy! Lots of different color combinations.
Check out my shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=58093
Check out my shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=58093
Friday, March 6, 2009
dyeing
I bought some bare sock yarn eons ago with the intention of dyeing it. I finally got around to it this week. Ohemgee it was so fun! There was a learning curve with this, but I'm happy with how it turned out for my first foray. In fact, I was so pleased, I bought more bare yarn and will dye it up when it arrives and I'm going to try my hand at selling it on Etsy. I'll post the info here when that's all set up (probably late next week). Worst case is that it doesn't sell and I've got some extra skeins of yarn to knit up and had some fun dyeing it!
But! Here are photos of my dyeing (I meant to photograph the whole process, but sort of forgot).
I keep the amount of chemicals in my house to a minimum, so buying a bunch of acid dyes didn't seem to fit into my philosophy on that. So, I chose to go the Kool Aid route. I also chose to use the microwave, because it seemed easiest.
I had to experiment with containers to find three that would fit in the microwave. Afterward, I remembered some smaller bowls I had and dontcha know they would've done the trick.
Part of the learning curve was the bleeding process. As you can see by the pink color, I actually ended up with a much larger chunk of that than I intended and it ended up nearly two different shades. However, I like the way it looks. There are also some white spots between colors where I anticipated more bleeding than their was.
And here are close-ups of the three colors I used. Strawberry:
Berry Blue:
And Lemon-Lime:
Here is the yarn twisted into a skein.
Finally, here is the yarn after I re-wound and skeined it to make it look prettier.
But! Here are photos of my dyeing (I meant to photograph the whole process, but sort of forgot).
I keep the amount of chemicals in my house to a minimum, so buying a bunch of acid dyes didn't seem to fit into my philosophy on that. So, I chose to go the Kool Aid route. I also chose to use the microwave, because it seemed easiest.
I had to experiment with containers to find three that would fit in the microwave. Afterward, I remembered some smaller bowls I had and dontcha know they would've done the trick.
Part of the learning curve was the bleeding process. As you can see by the pink color, I actually ended up with a much larger chunk of that than I intended and it ended up nearly two different shades. However, I like the way it looks. There are also some white spots between colors where I anticipated more bleeding than their was.
And here are close-ups of the three colors I used. Strawberry:
Berry Blue:
And Lemon-Lime:
Here is the yarn twisted into a skein.
Finally, here is the yarn after I re-wound and skeined it to make it look prettier.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
newfound loves
1. Garter stitch. After knitting two blankets, being on my third and have yarn and planned for a fourth, it is safe to say I cannot get enough of miles upon miles of garter stitch. I get a hell of a lot of knitting done when I really don't have to think about what I'm doing. Those 47 million times during the day when I have a spare 30 seconds I can pick up my knitting and knit 12 stitches and not have to worry about where I'm leaving off. Ah, bliss. And then I can crank through it after the wee one goes to bed and I am watching TV.
2. Mufflers. Of the kind you wrap around your neck, not the car variety. On a whim yesterday because of our so-cold-it-hurts-to-breath temperatures this week, I decided to knit Scoot a wee scarf. I found a muffler pattern, which would be a cozy muffler on an adult, but makes for an even cozier scarf for a tot. (I refuse to take him outdoors in these temperatures unless absolutely necessary, but unfortunately he starts a class on Friday, so alas, we shall have to venture out.) Scarves are not generally the done thing for toddlers since they're likely to strangle themselves with one, but tucked into his jacket for quick jaunts outside, I suspect he'll survive. I finished it up tonight whilst watching Brideshead Revisited (the new one, not the miniseries version) and decided to wrap it around my own neck because I was freezing (despite being wrapped up in layers upon layers) and Lo. I think I need to make a muffler for myself for wearing around the house. Much less get-in-the-way-y than a scarf. I also envision wearing mine to bed at night to keep me toasty (and again, lacking the strangulation factor of wearing a scarf to bed).
2. Mufflers. Of the kind you wrap around your neck, not the car variety. On a whim yesterday because of our so-cold-it-hurts-to-breath temperatures this week, I decided to knit Scoot a wee scarf. I found a muffler pattern, which would be a cozy muffler on an adult, but makes for an even cozier scarf for a tot. (I refuse to take him outdoors in these temperatures unless absolutely necessary, but unfortunately he starts a class on Friday, so alas, we shall have to venture out.) Scarves are not generally the done thing for toddlers since they're likely to strangle themselves with one, but tucked into his jacket for quick jaunts outside, I suspect he'll survive. I finished it up tonight whilst watching Brideshead Revisited (the new one, not the miniseries version) and decided to wrap it around my own neck because I was freezing (despite being wrapped up in layers upon layers) and Lo. I think I need to make a muffler for myself for wearing around the house. Much less get-in-the-way-y than a scarf. I also envision wearing mine to bed at night to keep me toasty (and again, lacking the strangulation factor of wearing a scarf to bed).
Saturday, December 13, 2008
free yarn!
Knit Picks is giving away free yarn! If you go to their Knitting Community section, it's a blog post. You need to choose one of three patterns from the Winter issue of Knitty, add it to your Ravelry queue, and then leave a comment at Knit Picks with your username and why you chose/want to knit that sweater. They'll be judging all the entrants and choosing one, to whom they will give enough Knit Picks yarn in a comparable substitution of the pattern yarn to knit the sweater you chose. Yay!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
a lot of catching up
There's been so much knitting and knitting related activities around here lately that are exciting!
~ Tuesday I had jury duty and I underestimated my knitting speed. I purposefully left the foot of a sock for that day and I finished it before we broke for lunch (I didn't bring any other knitting with me because I knew I'd be going home for lunch - I live about a mile from the courthouse). I was glad I brought a book to finish out the time! I swapped those socks out for another pair to work on after lunch.
As the subject states, yesterday, I blocked. A lot.
1. I had blocked a hat, fingerless mitts, and a pair of socks over the weekend, so I finished those up first (getting them de-furred, care cards printed out and wrapped up!).
2. I blocked a scarf (which thankfully dried very quickly - yay lace!).
3. I made an executive decision to try blocking my February Lady cardigan bigger (it's lace, so I'm fairly confident it will block to the size I want). I'll check on it later today and if it didn't work, I'll have to rip out the bind off and about 12 rows of garter stitch and then add in a few more of the lace repeats. Not a huge deal, but a minor pain.
4. I had started a blanket for William ages ago with some yarn from a scrapped project. Well, I decided quite a while ago that I'd have to axe that because the yarn would cost a small fortune. I took advantage of a sale online and bought (much less expensive) replacement yarn a couple weeks ago. The blanket is comprised of small striped mitered squares. I also happened to have some throw pillows that need recovering (I've been unable to find a fabric that is what I want), so after I bought that yarn I, stupidly, realized I could knit covers for the pillows and better yet - I could use the squares I already knit for some of them! So, yesterday I blocked one of the larger put-together squares (four mitered squares seamed together) to the dimensions I'll need for the pillow. I might have to add a border around the edge. It will take some fiddling, but that's to be dealt with after the hols. I just wanted to get the panel blocked so I knew what I would be dealing with.
5. I got those jury duty socks blocking too.
~ Since I allegedly finished my cardigan, I cast on another cardigan I've wanted to start for awhile (I promised myself I wouldn't cast on for it until I finished February Lady) - a short-sleeved dressier cardigan.
~ Stefanie Japel was selling some hand-dyed bamboo yarn scarf kits through her blog and etsy shop. I missed the first round completely. I missed the second round completely. I caught the third round and jumped on it. The kit arrived in the mail already yesterday and it is FABULOUS. I don't normally buy things like this because I generally can't afford them/can justify the cost, but this couldn't be missed. I'm SO excited to be able to knit these scarves after the hols.
~ The yarn for the last-minute gift idea I had for Jim arrived yesterday too, so I cast that on too. It's a hat, so it will be a quick knit, but then I have to do duplicate stitching, which hopefully won't take that long.
Then I'm done with Christmas knitting (with the exception of a pair of socks I'm working on, which won't have to be done until Jan. 1 and don't actually *have* to be completed - the recipient already has a hat and mitts I'm giving her. I can mail her the socks if needed, but I'm pretty sure I'll get them done (btw, Knit Picks Imagination sock yarn is fabulous! I bought a few skeins a while back, but this is the first time I've knit with it and omg. I love it.)
Phew!
~ Tuesday I had jury duty and I underestimated my knitting speed. I purposefully left the foot of a sock for that day and I finished it before we broke for lunch (I didn't bring any other knitting with me because I knew I'd be going home for lunch - I live about a mile from the courthouse). I was glad I brought a book to finish out the time! I swapped those socks out for another pair to work on after lunch.
As the subject states, yesterday, I blocked. A lot.
1. I had blocked a hat, fingerless mitts, and a pair of socks over the weekend, so I finished those up first (getting them de-furred, care cards printed out and wrapped up!).
2. I blocked a scarf (which thankfully dried very quickly - yay lace!).
3. I made an executive decision to try blocking my February Lady cardigan bigger (it's lace, so I'm fairly confident it will block to the size I want). I'll check on it later today and if it didn't work, I'll have to rip out the bind off and about 12 rows of garter stitch and then add in a few more of the lace repeats. Not a huge deal, but a minor pain.
4. I had started a blanket for William ages ago with some yarn from a scrapped project. Well, I decided quite a while ago that I'd have to axe that because the yarn would cost a small fortune. I took advantage of a sale online and bought (much less expensive) replacement yarn a couple weeks ago. The blanket is comprised of small striped mitered squares. I also happened to have some throw pillows that need recovering (I've been unable to find a fabric that is what I want), so after I bought that yarn I, stupidly, realized I could knit covers for the pillows and better yet - I could use the squares I already knit for some of them! So, yesterday I blocked one of the larger put-together squares (four mitered squares seamed together) to the dimensions I'll need for the pillow. I might have to add a border around the edge. It will take some fiddling, but that's to be dealt with after the hols. I just wanted to get the panel blocked so I knew what I would be dealing with.
5. I got those jury duty socks blocking too.
~ Since I allegedly finished my cardigan, I cast on another cardigan I've wanted to start for awhile (I promised myself I wouldn't cast on for it until I finished February Lady) - a short-sleeved dressier cardigan.
~ Stefanie Japel was selling some hand-dyed bamboo yarn scarf kits through her blog and etsy shop. I missed the first round completely. I missed the second round completely. I caught the third round and jumped on it. The kit arrived in the mail already yesterday and it is FABULOUS. I don't normally buy things like this because I generally can't afford them/can justify the cost, but this couldn't be missed. I'm SO excited to be able to knit these scarves after the hols.
~ The yarn for the last-minute gift idea I had for Jim arrived yesterday too, so I cast that on too. It's a hat, so it will be a quick knit, but then I have to do duplicate stitching, which hopefully won't take that long.
Then I'm done with Christmas knitting (with the exception of a pair of socks I'm working on, which won't have to be done until Jan. 1 and don't actually *have* to be completed - the recipient already has a hat and mitts I'm giving her. I can mail her the socks if needed, but I'm pretty sure I'll get them done (btw, Knit Picks Imagination sock yarn is fabulous! I bought a few skeins a while back, but this is the first time I've knit with it and omg. I love it.)
Phew!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
christmas knitting
I do it to myself every year (or at least every year since I started knitting!). I tell myself to pick just a couple of people to knit gifts for because I KNOW I will not have time/inclination to finish them all (I start early, but I'm sorry - I'm just not the type of person who can start Christmas gift knitting in April...or even August...).
And then the crunch of the holidays gets closer and I start coming up with more gifts to knit because it would be a nice gesture, or I find a pattern and/or yarn that I know a certain recipient would love, or I just am plain insane.
I only planned two knitted gifts this Christmas: one for my MIL (I KNOW) and one for my boss. Then when I found out I'd be seeing my bestie January 1 who I haven't seen in years, I decided to go on a knitting frenzy for her (OK, technically not Christmas knitting, just ZOMGIMSOEXCITEDTOSEEYOUHEREHAVESOMEKNITTING-knitting, but it still falls into that time frame). So that is a few more projects. And then I got to thinking about other folks I could knit stuff for - a co-worker who is awfully nice and other various family members.
Of course add to this the various projects I have going strong for myself (on the needles and those I have planned - a couple of which I'd like to have done before the mini-holiday to see aforementioned BFF, so again, a time crunch).
I'm going to try to make an effort to get stuff done in a prioritized manner. I have a couple gifts done and a couple partially done and then we'll go from there. But it was making me laugh (hysterically - and I mean hysterically...it's that laugh that falls somewhere between maniacal laughing and crying) last night that I do this Every. Single. Year. When will I learn?
And then the crunch of the holidays gets closer and I start coming up with more gifts to knit because it would be a nice gesture, or I find a pattern and/or yarn that I know a certain recipient would love, or I just am plain insane.
I only planned two knitted gifts this Christmas: one for my MIL (I KNOW) and one for my boss. Then when I found out I'd be seeing my bestie January 1 who I haven't seen in years, I decided to go on a knitting frenzy for her (OK, technically not Christmas knitting, just ZOMGIMSOEXCITEDTOSEEYOUHEREHAVESOMEKNITTING-knitting, but it still falls into that time frame). So that is a few more projects. And then I got to thinking about other folks I could knit stuff for - a co-worker who is awfully nice and other various family members.
Of course add to this the various projects I have going strong for myself (on the needles and those I have planned - a couple of which I'd like to have done before the mini-holiday to see aforementioned BFF, so again, a time crunch).
I'm going to try to make an effort to get stuff done in a prioritized manner. I have a couple gifts done and a couple partially done and then we'll go from there. But it was making me laugh (hysterically - and I mean hysterically...it's that laugh that falls somewhere between maniacal laughing and crying) last night that I do this Every. Single. Year. When will I learn?
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
moar yarn!
I was chugging along on my Versatility. Y'know, 'til I ran out of yarn. *eyeroll*
I had this feeling after my first skein that I wasn't going to have enough. I bought four and according to the pattern, the yardage should've had plenty to spare, which is why I didn't buy an extra skein. According to the forums on Ravelry, I am not the only one having this issue. The designer can't make heads or tails of it, so no one has any clue what is going on other than it appears if you substitute yarn, you WILL need much more yardage.
Since I plan on wearing this as a cardigan, I couldn't even remove any repeats because of my height.
Rather than waste the cost of shipping on one skein (Knit Picks yarn, btw), I also ordered yarn for the February Lady sweater, which I've wanted to make for months, but haven't felt like spending the money on the yarn.
The thing that tee'd me the most about needing more yarn for Versatility is I "splurged" for the Cadena over the Wool of the Andes bulky because I only needed four skeins. Now I've had to spend $6 more (plus shipping), so it's ended up being rather costlier than I anticipated. For someone who really has no business buying ANY yarn, this is a big bummer. I hope I can find some really inexpensive buttons and ribbon at the local craft store to make up for it.
On the plus side, in it's nearly finished state, it is very lovely and I cannot wait to wear it out.
I had this feeling after my first skein that I wasn't going to have enough. I bought four and according to the pattern, the yardage should've had plenty to spare, which is why I didn't buy an extra skein. According to the forums on Ravelry, I am not the only one having this issue. The designer can't make heads or tails of it, so no one has any clue what is going on other than it appears if you substitute yarn, you WILL need much more yardage.
Since I plan on wearing this as a cardigan, I couldn't even remove any repeats because of my height.
Rather than waste the cost of shipping on one skein (Knit Picks yarn, btw), I also ordered yarn for the February Lady sweater, which I've wanted to make for months, but haven't felt like spending the money on the yarn.
The thing that tee'd me the most about needing more yarn for Versatility is I "splurged" for the Cadena over the Wool of the Andes bulky because I only needed four skeins. Now I've had to spend $6 more (plus shipping), so it's ended up being rather costlier than I anticipated. For someone who really has no business buying ANY yarn, this is a big bummer. I hope I can find some really inexpensive buttons and ribbon at the local craft store to make up for it.
On the plus side, in it's nearly finished state, it is very lovely and I cannot wait to wear it out.
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