I have a lot of green yarn

I received my Knitter's Tea Swap package yesterday! My partner Suzie got her box at the same time. Swaps are so much fun. ^_^ I'll definitely have to find more to join. Here's what I got:





On the left is a card, there are two cans of loose tea, one green and one white, a pack of tea bags, a box of almond biscotti, two skeins of Noro Kochoran, a bag of Haribo Gold Bears (my absolute favorite gummy bear!), and a bar of Rutger's Chocolate with hazelnuts. There's actually more to come!

I've never tried Kochoran so I'm excited to see it knitted up. It's a blend of Wool, Silk, and Angora--SO soft! I had to keep fighting the urge to eat the chocolate and the bears before the photoshoot. The teas weren't so lucky. I had to bust them open and take a whiff mere seconds after I opened the package.

---

I've been suffering from a bout of Startitis. After finishing so many objects over the past few weeks I realized that I needed more fun on the needles. Here's what I've been working on:





Exchequered is from Knitty. It's a double knit scarf and it's really awesome to work. I think I blogged about this earlier. But, basically you're knitting two pieces of fabric at the same time, back to back, with some color work going on--each side is a negative of the other. I've been knitting the scarf with one color in my right hand (English style) and the other color in my left hand (Continental style). I feel so capital K.

I've been using Cascade 220 for it. I only purchased one skein in each color... I hope I have enough to make a decent length.





This is Danica from Knitty. Yet another scarf. ^_^ It's an Entrelac pattern in Malabrigo. I'm surprised at how cool the resulting fabric looks but how "easy" it is to make it. Easy, however, doesn't include the insane amount of ends I'll have to be weaving in. o_O

I think blocking will definitely help the scarf look its best... hopefully it'll help out the wrong side as well. The back just looks like a mess. =( I'm considering possibly knitting another one and then seaming them together... but, it's been growing a bit slowly, so, ... I think I'll have to rely on a good block.





These are leftover green-ish yarns that I'll be using for Grass from Mochimochi Land. These will be the first... "useless" items I'll be making, but, they're so cute ... and I have a lot of left over green, feltable yarn.

There are 4 balls of Malabrigo Worsted, some RYC Cashsoft, Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Tweed, this Licorice yarn from Joann's (I'm not sure if this is feltable), and Catalina Alpaca. It'll be a whole family of grass.

That's how it's looking so far.
Knit hard(er)!

If only yarn grew on trees

Kevin came over today and helped me out with a yarny photo shoot. He acted as the Art Director. We ended up shooting outside and came up with this 'yarn-grows-on-trees' deal. More on this later.

I finished my Hemlock Ring Blanket last night. The BO edging was pretty complicated at first and moved slowly. I ended up only adding one more pattern repeat than brooklyntweed's version. I might have been able to finish one more, but, I wasn't gonna push it. I ended up with a diameter of a good 54 inches. Blocking this project made me realize that 1) I need a pin cushion and 2) I need to work on my blocking skills 3) Regular measuring is a good thing.





I'll probably end up taking another set of pictures of the blanket because the grass really made the blanket all lumpy. It's really quite a work of art when the Hemlock Ring is at its flattest.
I tried throwing it on the couches throughout the house... sadly it didn't really go with any of the decor. It works well in the color scheme of my bedroom, so, there it will stay.





Blocked the Branching Out scarf the other day. Maybe I mentioned this? I brought it along so it could have its time in front of the lens. I think I may actually have to re-block this. I didn't stretch it out wide enough. The leaves that are connected to the center column are somewhat smooshed against it. I'd like them to separate more.





The texture of the scarf completely changed after I blocked it. It felt like thin, fragile paper. A really cool transformation. I hope the recipient enjoys the scarf as much as I enjoyed creating it.





I e-mailed briarrosefibers.net last week asking about their Buff Beauty yarn. I had used it previously and did not do the yarn justice so I wanted to get my hands on more. The yarn was never restocked on their website so I asked about it and luckily they had a handful of hanks they were about to sell at a fair. I managed to save two of them:










Delicious stuff. This batch doesn't seem as plump as the last hank I had, but, it's still super thick and in beautiful colors.
You may have noticed a few more balls of yarn hanging in the tree.





The turquoise is Cascade 220. It's a replacement for the darker blue I plan to use on my Exchequered scarf.
The grey yarn is Catalina Super Chunky. A soft alpaca (that hopefully doesn't shed) which will soon be transformed into a scarf for a friend.
Ahh, I love that I technically only have 1 real WIP now. Can't wait to start more.

Let's grow some yarn
and knit hard. =)

On collecting

I love visiting LYS's. It's my goal to visit each one in Illinois. Or, all of them North of 80 and as far West as Dekalb. Here is my current list:

• The Gifted Purl - West Dundee
  
• I'd Rather Be Knitting - Long Grove
  
• Knitche - Downer's Grove
  
• Wool & Co. - Geneva
  
• Needle Things - St. Charles
  
• Village Yarn Shop (Closed) - Geneva
  
• Loopy Yarns - Chicago
  
• Three Bags Full - Northbrook
  
• Village Knit Whiz - Glenview
  
• Fringe - Aurora
  
• Close Knit - Evanston
  
• Chicago Fabric, Yarn and Button - Chicago
  
• Nina - Chicago
  
• Lizzie's - Wheaton
  
• Never Enough Knitting - Wheaton
  

The last two were added today. Never Enough is a fairly small store with a relatively small selection, but, a huge amount of patterns, and they also seemed to carry many quilting supplies. Lizzie's is just two blocks down the street and it's a significantly larger store with a really huge, well organized, selection. They're all put into black shelves, the smaller ones in perfect little cubby holes. At first the black shelves were a bit daunting and depressing, but, they REALLY make the yarn jump out at you, and it all looks so clean.

From Lizzie's I bought this:


It was a brand I hadn't seen before and the colors really jumped out at me. Currently, no plans for this pretty yarn.

From Never Enough I bought these:



and:




Two hanks of my usual go-to yarn: Cascade 220. There were others that were calling out to me, but, sadly they didn't come in colors I wanted. Cascade comes in pretty much EVERY color so I was able to find a match. With these I plan to knit Exchequered which brings me to my next subject.

I think I'm a "collector" of knitting. Not only do I want to collect the experiences of visiting every yarn store in Northern Illinois but I also want to have every knitting skill and technique under my belt. I also have fleeting fantasies of using every brand of yarn... but, that's a bit of an enormous and rather daunting task.
I've purchased the yarn to knit Eunny's End Paper Mitts in order to get color work down, or at least Stranding/Fair Isle. Exchequered will conquer Double Knitting.
I made a list the other day of skills I still need to attempt and master. There were a lot. Some of the techniques I'd like to try sooner (rather than later) include Magic Loop, Entrelac, and Beaded Knitting. Two socks at the same time calls out to me, but, I hate knitting socks. Bobbles and Intarsia, on the other hand, are skills that I'd need to learn but seriously have no desire to--they are at the bottom of my list.

I've been working on writing out the pattern for my DS Lite case, more details on that in my next blog.

I want to be a Master Knitter!
Knit hard!

sweater, why must you be so difficult? play nice!

Oh, sweater. I finished the shoulders and the neck back on Saturday. I tried it on and it fit pretty well. Since then I've been working on all of the finishing. So far I've put in EZ's phony seams on the arms and grafted the under arms to the body. I added a hem on one wrist and started on the other.


^{orange hems!}

I decided I'd just go with st st and a hem for the neck, I basted it down last night when I realized I didn't decrease after the turn. o_O Now it flares out so I'm definitely going to have to rip back a few rows and re-knit.


^{neck! fix yourself!}

I hope to be done in a few more days.

On Saturday I went to the Renegade street fair with Danielle and Moy. Right when we got in I saw two huge knitting needles in the window of a store. It was Nina. I've read a few reviews from local knitters about Nina and they turned out to be pretty accurate. The store is definitely not your grandmother's knitting shop. It's very clean and modern. They yarn is well laid out and organized. It's small, but, uses its space well. A few reviews mentioned that staff was a bit snobby but I had fine service. As a guy, when I'm in a new yarn store I usually hear, "Are you purchasing a gift?" or "Who are you buying yarn for?" But, here at Nina I was asked, "What will you be knitting?" Good stuff.
I ended up buying two balls of Rowan's Little Big Wool. It was on sale. =)





I think I'll be knitting a better Anthropologie-inspired Capelet.
The fair was cool, not really what I expected. I was thinking the crowd would be similar to the crowd at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Fair... or even Stitches Midwest, but, the shoppers here were younger, more diverse, and in equal amounts of men and women. Very cool. Sadly, my only purchases were a few pins/buttons made of cloth.

The rest of Saturday consisted of hours upon hours of knitting with Danielle and Moy. I was finishing up my shoulders and neck, Danielle was working on a test mitten, and Moy was working on an adult-sized baby booty for herself. ^_^ I love yarn.

So, last week I mentioned my hunt for Hand Maiden Sea Silk. I brought Kevin along with me to Knitche, the yarn store/coffee shop, and I found it... sadly, this beautiful, unique sea silk was almost $40! Definitely out of my budget at the moment. I did end up getting my hands on some Malabrigo.




That color is Shocking Pink, soon to be a DS Lite case for Anne and Lora.





This one is actually Malabrigo Gruesa. A thick and thin yarn. I have mixed feelings towards thick and thin yarn but for some reason this one called out to me. It said, "We can make cables look really funky!" Because it actually spoke words I decided to buy it. Soon it will be a DS Lite case for Sunmi. ^_^ Hmm, I think I'll have to publish my pattern somewhere.




Mmm, this was an impulse buy. I can't resist the colors! This one is Mariposa. It's mainly spring and sea greens mixed with yellow-ish greens and dashes of light blue, purples and browns. I think Mariposa will be sitting in my stash for now until I come up with something awesome to knit her into.

Now it's back to my sweater.
Knit hard!

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!

make it clap?

It started snowing here last night. It made me a little angry, but, at the same time I realized my knitted scarves, hats, and hand warmers will get another week of use. We received about 3 inches out where I live. Three very slushy inches. And it's April.
If this pattern continues then Vanessa Williams will be right--sometimes the snow does come down in June. o_O Too cheesy? Sorry.
I remember a 4^th of July as a kid. My cousins and I were running through the sprinkler in her front yard. It's hot and sunny, and, all of a sudden we get some cloud coverage and we hear thunder. It drizzles a little and we stay out only to be hit by hail 5 minutes later. They were about the size of throat lozenges. Good stuff.

Here are a few pictures of my Clapotis from last week. At this point in the pictures I think I dropped 5 stitches already; purposely of course. I think I'm finally happy with the choice of a solid color. The beautiful Clapoti (plural?) I've seen have been in really great variegated color ways and at first I felt like I might have made a bad choice, but, things are definitely looking better. Cascade 220 is some pretty good yarn.
I took the pictures while I was working on it at a local coffee place: Ravensheart.


^{nice and sunny. but freezing}

It was one of those days where it looked beautiful outside but the temperature was actually like 20 degrees.
When I was working Section 2 of Clapotis I had to break out all my larger sized stitch markers (the project calls for 18 in total). I had my original set from Zero made from beautiful olive green and light turquoise freshwater pearls. They went perfectly with the Clapotis. Sadly, I only had 7. However, I also had my glass bead set from Charles, but I only had 6 of them. I had to bust out with the cheap, thick, plastic Boye set. I used to think they were perfect for knitting since they were large and fit many needle sizes, but, once you start using them for smaller yarn and needles they leave gaps in your work because they're so thick. Of course, I decided to order another set from Zero. I ended up getting markers made of iolite stone and freshwater pearls. On a whim I bought a set of turquoise markers in a smaller size. =)


^{charles' and zero's markers}

Zero ships them out FAST. I received them in 3 days. ^_^
When I'm not working on Clapotis (which is rarely now 'cause I REALLY need to finish) I work on small quick projects. After making my original DS Lite case I decided I need a fancier one.Since the first was just plain stockinette I figured cables would be nice. I bought the Vogue Stitchionary Volume 1 (I LOVE IT) and I used the bamboo pattern from it to make the case. It was a really easy pattern to follow and I started changing it up a little to make the segments less uniform and brick like.



I knit it using Malabrigo in the Lettuce color. Cute? I like it, sadly, it's way too large. I was thinking of felting it just a little to shrink it down a little, but, I'm scared. I might just have to make another one in a smaller, tighter size.



Knit hard!

calorimetry and a sock

Clapotis has taken over my knitting life. The pattern is fairly simple and is made easier with the use of stitch markers, but, it's taking FOREVER. I think I'm almost halfway through. I'm on the 6th repeat of section 3. o_O I've already dropped a few stitches and it looks awesome. Knowing that I'll be dropping stitches in the near future is the only thing keeping me going. Sadly, though, I don't think my stitches are that even.
Did I mention what I'm using to make Clapotis? Well, it's Cascade 220 in this purple heather color. It's not too bad of a yarn and it's not expensive either. Although, WEBS is having a sale and their Cascade is going for $4.98/skein... I paid $7.50/skein. x_X Hopefully I'll have pictures soon.


In other news, I have a picture of the Calorimetry I knitted 2 weeks ago.


^{purple goodness}

This was knit with Malabrigo in the "faulty" Tortuga colorway.


^{hugging some starbucks}

I cast on 88 stitches instead of the recommended 120. People had been saying the finished object was huge and that the pattern stretches a lot... now, it's actually too small. Go figure. I have a feeling I'm a tight knitter because FO's always seem to end up smaller than what I expect. I'll probably make another one with the leftover yarn.

Hope you enjoyed this quick taste of my knitting. ^_^ More to come!

knit hard