Oops, I did it again.

I bought more yarn today. I know I shouldn't have... but... I had a purpose! I was buying yarn for my swap partner. I don't think she reads my blog... and if she does she won't technically know that I'm her partner... so I can tell you that I got some luscious Malabrigo and some bamboo yarn. =) Pictures will be coming soon.

In other news, my pretty babies will be all gone soon:



They're waiting, all lined up, for their owners to choose them. I can't believe how successful Malabrigo Cast On Week was... and, I think I'll be living off this high for a while. I actually bought some Malaboo-boo (as Danielle refers to it) for myself today for a pair of mittens I have plans for. It'll be my 2nd attempt at designing a pattern.

I officially have way too many projects on the needles. According to my Ravelry notebook I have 10 WIPs. That's definitely too many. And I REALLY want to get to work on these mittens... I should really finish up a project. I forgot how much time goes into making a scarf. It's simple, but, it's long and time consuming and VERY repetitive. Possibly more time than a pair of socks?

=)

Speaking of socks... I'd like to make a trade with someone... a sock knitter, to be exact. I was walking around the house a few days ago and my feet were cold. Of course the first thing that came to my mind were wool socks, but alas, I do not own any. All my previous attempts have provided dysfunctional pairs so I'd like to trade someone a scarf for a pair of socks. Anyone willing to take me up on this offer? The scarf will be out of Malabrigo (unless you'd like something else), 2 skeins even! You can choose the pattern and color if you desire, or, I could surprise you with something. I'm excellent and knitting flat things!
I'm also a men's US size 9-9.5. ^_^
I'd love to trade soon, before Christmas even. I guess this is not really the time to be asking since knitters' needles are generally booked until after Christmas... but, I want some socks! I might just cave in and make another sad, sad attempt. Or, God forbid, I'll buy a pair from Walmart. o_O ... you don't want me to buy socks from Walmart, right?
I could try to knit 2 at the same time.. and that would ensure that 1) I don't suffer from SSS and 2) They end up the same size... but, me and magic loop have not yet been acquainted. And wouldn't a little gift exchange be fun?

If anyone would like to take me up on my offer let me know. =)

For now, knit hard!

branching out

I've been trying to find something 'nice' to knit for my old boss--the one who taught me the ways of knitting. I was considering another Clapotis... but, I don't really remember enjoying the process very much. o_O I've been eye-ing the Branching Out scarf for a while and on Ravelry.com it's one of the most knitted projects, so, I decided to go for it. I ended up going with the recommended Silky Wool.





It's such a complex pattern. I've even learned 3 new decreases. Branching Out is also my first lace pattern. I think I remember reading something from the Yarn Harlot about a lace project she as knitting... and how it started off as something really messy and how she regretted knitting it... but then once she blocked it then the magic started. That's sort of how my project is looking right now. I can definitely see the leafy pattern, but, blocking will DEFINITELY make this look better. I can't wait to finish. ^_^





This lace knitting takes up 100% of my concentration... so I can't knit while "watching my stories" like I can with most of my other projects. I decided that I needed a mindless WIP to have while traveling and sitting in front of some DVDs. That project ended up being a second Noro striped scarf.





It's still so magical to me... all the colors and the transitioning. Hahahaha. I was working on it yesterday and I ran into a few rows where both of the balls turned into brown-ish colors. o_O I didn't know what to do... I was considering cutting out the brown section on one ball, but, I really have difficulties ripping or frogging.. so, I just let it go. Hopefully the beauty of the rest of the scarf will drown out this one muddy patch.

I also wanted to share one of my only purchases from the Fiber Arts Fair thing from a few weeks ago. I ended up getting a skein of Briar Rose - Buff Beauty. It's a THICK single ply yarn. I seriously have to force myself not to try to take a bite out of it. o_O it's so springy and delicious.



I decided to knit a length-wise scarf with it. The recommended needles are a 13... but, after my first row I found it to be too tight. The resulting fabric was quite stiff, so, I switched to a 15. Of course, I didn't restart.. I just kinda switched right in the middle of my 2nd row. o_O But, you know me. I'm a bit afraid that my scarf won't be thick enough now... but, we'll see.

I'll be going to Stitches Midwest on Sunday. Just for the market... no classes for me. I'm gonna take a guess and say I'll be the only shaved-bald Asian/Filipino boy there, if you see me say hi! =) I'm not sure which project I'll be bringing to work on... I'm leaning towards the Noro scarf though.

done! =)

I finally finished! I'm having the hardest time remembering when I started... I know I purchased the yarn on a Monday and started the same night... I just can't remember when that was. Maybe 3 weeks ago? Not too long I suppose. I probably could've made it in less time, but, I didn't really put huge amounts of effort into finishing it.
About finishing--I still need to weave in the ends and block it, so I guess technically I have about 10% left. ^_^


^clapotis!

I've read that some people prefer the unblocked Clapotis. I was going to lean that way but my dropped stitch columns are all creased from originally being knitted. I'd rather have them completely straight. So, I will attempt my first blocking.
I bought a pack of glow in the dark straight pins yesterday. The Joann near my house is having a huge closing sale and these glow in the dark pins were the only pins they had left (aside from the safety variety). Their knitting section is pretty cleaned out. They're just left with really odd sized needles. They have many US 13 and 15 29inch circulars. o_O And a few US 35 and 50. All of the remaining yarn is fun fur and other novelty yarns.
Hmm, back to the pins. I decided to use them for the pictures and I found it surprisingly easy to pin the Clapotis to the carpet. I was always afraid that I'd have to buy one of those expensive blocking boards, but, the carpet works perfectly.



I'm considering knitting one for my mom for mother's day. I'm a little scared that I won't finish in time and I'm also afraid of Clapotis itself. Those straight rows really drive you insane. I originally loved dropping the stitches and unraveling them all the way down. But, it soon became very tedious. They didn't just drop, I had to separate them on each row. I guess I have a tendency to catch a few strands of a ply and knit into them. o_O There was a lot of breaking to be done to simply drop a stitch.



On the subject of Joann's closing. My cousins and I have been working on this scrapbook for our grandma. It's going to be her 80th birthday in 2 weeks. It's more of a family tree in scrapbook form. It's looking pretty good. We meet at Archiver's on Sundays to work on it and whenever I'm there I have a look around and I get so inspired to make a scrapbook of my own.
I bought a ton of supplies from Joann's. I've been there twice and I've easily spent $80 on close out sale items. Good deals. I spent another $25 on papers and things. So, I laid them all out yesterday (I had made a deal with myself: once I finish Clapotis then I can start scrap booking) and I realized that I have no pictures. I don't print any of the pictures I take. So, I ordered $50 worth through flickr.com and, now I'm waiting for them to arrive so I can finally start. ^_^

That's all for now. I'll hopefully find someone to model my completely blocked and finished Clapotis so that it doesn't look so throw-blanket-ish.
Knit hard!

smoooth

i wish i could knit faster. i have so much yarn and so many patterns i want to try out, but, i knit too slow. the scrunchable scarf has been a WIP for more than a week now.
i think i need to dedicated time solely to knitting. for some reason i can't just sit and knit... i have to be watching TV or a movie, or maybe reading, or at the very least drinking coffee. hmm. we'll sort this out so i can move on to more projects.


^{scrunchable! almost done.}


my current largest project is My So Called Scarf. i originally bought two skeins of Manos Del Uruguay colorway 118: mulled wine. it was my first encounter with manos at a yarn store and they didn't have a large selection.
when i got home i realized that the two skeins were distinctly different. same colorway but, one was more saturated and the other was lighter and less saturated. so, i figured i'd need to knit from both and alternate skeins every other row.
i ended up pulling the "swapping side" too tight and my scarf started curving and puckering. so, i quit. it wasn't really a color that i would wear... and My So Called Scarf is REALLY hard to frog for some reason. i decided i would get 2 new balls of manos in another colorway.


^{manos, oh, manos}

i visited a new yarn store recently and found a HUGE selection of the varigated manos. i took my time and found 3 colorways i really liked. and then i spent another good 10 minutes comparing skeins to see which colorway had 2 almost identical skeins. i ended up with #110: stellar.
since they were so similar i figured i could knit from one and then attach the second at the end. it's been going pretty good so far, but, just to be safe, i've decided to start knitting from both (the first ball is about half way done).


^stellar!

i've had major difficulties with MSCS. i've probably frogged stellar 4 times already. the edges always turn out wonky for me, nothing smooth and straight. i tried altering the pattern for a selvage edge. basically i added one stitch to each side so i could always slip the first stitch and knit the last. that actually stood out a lot from the pattern so i frogged that. i wanted something that wouldn't be too noticable.

what i FINALLY ended with was slipping the first and last stitch of the knit row. it's working out really well.

i bought stitchionary volume one the other day. i love it. i've been testing out different patterns on my amber gold malabrigo. it's definitly going to be a scarf, but, i havn't really settled on a pattern just yet. i'll keep testing though!
here's the malabrigo in its current condition: a slip stitch pattern (strangely the slip stitch pattern wasn't from stitchionary).


^{i love gold}

so, that's what things are looking like for me right now. i think i'll be able to finish the scrunchable scarf by tonight and i've casted on for another odessa but i promised myself i wouldn't work on it until i finished a project.

moss rib stitch pattern for malabrigo!

People have been asking for the moss rib stitch pattern for the scarf I made in mmMalabrigo. The scarf was actually shown to me by the not-so-LYS salesperson after I had asked her for recommendations for a pattern in the very varigated charrua colorway. It was actually knit in a darker color of Malabrigo but it still looked very cool. A tag was attached to the scarf so she went to the back and made a copy of the pattern.





I don't really know who the pattern belongs to (although the tag has the name "Kathy" scribbled on the side), but, since it was shared with me for free I'll share it with you! =)

The original pattern called for 2 skeins, but, since I only purchased one I changed the CO number as follows:

moss rib stitch scarf in malabrigo worsted

#10 needles

CO 24 stitches

Row 1: sl1k, k2, *p1, k3* across row to last stich, p1
Row 2: sl1k, k1, *p1, k3* across row to last 2 stitches, p1, k1
Repeat rows 1 & 2 to desired length.

To Bind Off:
With right side facing (Row 1):
BO in pattern but in each "K3" section k2tog once to prevent ruffling of the edge.

So what I did was:
sl1k, k1, ppso (pass previous stitch over), k1, ppso, *p1, ppso, k2tog, ppso, k1, ppso* p1, ppso

If you decide to use 2 skeins the pattern says to CO 32 stitches.

Happy Knitting!