Beginnings

Tubular! I tried out the tubular cast-on for ribbing, but it wasn't quite elastic enough for the design I thought up Saturday night, so I'm going with my staple, the cable cast-on. Here's a swatch:



Doesn't it TOTALLY remind you of teenage mutant ninja turtles? It totally reminds me of that. The eye-mask things. This is some of the Shine Worsted I bought when I got my yarn for Mesilla. I had planned for another, similar t-shirt with a different color scheme and different embellishments, but sort of abandoned that idea in favor of designing something else. I won't divulge much about this until it's done, but I will say that this will have some ARMHOLE SHAPING!

Be one with the armhole shaping.



Remember I had said I'd have the eye pillow instructions up sometime last week? Well, I'm glad I procrastinated because the one I made for my boyfriend lasted a week and a half in its original configuration, then crapped out. Like, lentils. all. over. the bed. I had had an inner case and an outer case; the inner one closed with snaps, then slid inside the outer case with its snapped-shut end hidden in the...er...cul-de-sac (I've always wanted to mean that literally! Sweet!) I left the inner case open-able in case the lavender lost its fragrance, so the filling could be replaced.

Bag of lentils: $0.80
Bag of dried lavender: $2.71
Preventing Lentils. all. over. the bed. by sewing the thing shut: priceless.

I'll rework my instructions and post them...sometime. But honestly, you could probably just figure something out. Just remember: fabric lining, fully closed.

My senior year of college started two days ago, and all but my most important class are wonderful. My most important class sent me home in tears today. Literally. Why did I choose this major? Am I some kind of idiot? Why don't people get what I'm trying to do academically? Why did my professor have to be a sarcastic jerk today? For a moment, I felt like I'd wasted the last three years in a department that was only important to itself. But I know that what I'm doing is significant, even if the people handing me my degree can't see that. It's tough to have to defend what you're passionate about to people who could give a fly on a lime about it, but isn't that how new cool stuff gets started? Maybe my thing is a new cool thing. We'll see.

P.S.: jeez, have I been a downer lately or what? Sorry about that! I'm really not that upset. I was yesterday, but as with my botched cardigan project, I just need to pick myself up and figure it out. I've been doing armhole shaping galore to figure out that problem, now I just have to do honors thesis research galore to convince my department that I'm not a raving loon.

A Penny Saved

I've been knitting. This is what my notes look like when I am working on my own design. I'm trying to get over my fight with armhole shaping, which is essentially what messed up the sweater I was so upset about a few posts ago. I decided, oh, I'll just do a really simple sweater, so all I have to think about is the armhole shaping, and I can just do some research and some math and figure it all out. I swatched,



washed it, blocked it, took measurements, and was exceedingly happy with what I got. Then I started the sweater back,



and had to deal with the waist shaping, which wasn't too big a deal but did take some calculating and executive decision-making, and with the fact that the gauge changes as you go from stockinette to cables. Ever so slightly (when blocked), but ever so importantly. So, I really like what's going on so far, but it turns out that what I really have a problem with is knowing what width I want things to be at what point on my body. I haven't done enough to know how a 14" shoulder width will translate into fit. I guess practice makes perfect! I'm working on the sweater front but wondering if I need to rip out some of the back and make it wider. I haven't blocked it yet, so we'll see.

Besides that project, I've been baking



and dyeing.



The former resulted in the following:



And, before you think that you're seeing a perfect tray of madeleines, let me tell you that I got one (ONE) edible cookie from this first batch. I was making them for some other friends who sponsored me for the AIDS Walk, and the first tray was goopy inside. I did figure out the cooking time for subsequent trays, and these turned out nicely. They're the Earl Gray Tea Madeleines with Honey from Bon Appétit.

The yarn I was dyeing was from the camel-colored sweater from my last post, which I have now unravelled. Assuming this looks good knit up, I might dye part of the yarn for a 2-color project, though not red. This was the only flavor of kool-aid I had around last night, and I just wanted to see how the fiber would take the dye.



The yarn took it pretty well,



as did my stirring finger.

I hope the yarn looks nice knitted up. I'm thinking some sort of blue in the end, which I think might go nicely with the tan. The tan is so full of nice brown and orange and white bits, though, and I wonder if dyeing it might wash over all of that detail. I'll try it soon!

School begins Monday. I'm not feeling much about it. When my alarm goes off Monday morning, that may change.



I got this pendant in the mail today from LingGlass on Etsy. It's so beautiful.



And I found a Euro cent on the ground. My brother and I pondered its origin, and I correctly guessed that the reverse side design was that of France. See the "R F"?



When we were younger, my mother would take us to this coin shop. They had collector stuff, but there was this big bin with small-value coinage where you could pick out a dozen for a dollar. My brother and I would spend a lot of time picking out our dozen coins. I liked the square ones, and the ones with scalloped edges. Euros did not yet exist. I'd like to find my old coin box and see what now-replaced currency I picked up as a kid. Maybe someday they'll be worth more than 8 cents! Maybe not.

My mom sure knew how to keep us entertained.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Snakes on a Plane, I won the contest at Knitters Anonymous! How lucky that it took me a while to get rid of my fruit fly problem... Thanks so much Kristi, and thanks to everyone else who entered - your photos were so much fun to check out!

****

Well, after another cuppa at People's cafe yesterday, I decided on a whim to hit the local Goodwill and look for some sweaters to unravel. I've never "recycled" a sweater before, but a few of the women at my Stitch n Bitch do it often, and they always come in with the most fantastic finds! Inspired, I sifted through many a rack and went on a little cotton spree.




Luckily, due to the guidance of my SnB pals, I knew the difference between a Good Seam and a Bad Seam. I had to stop myself from buying 10 sweaters because I thought, jeez, what if I hate doing this, and also I had to schlep them all home by bus and foot. When I got to the register the cashier told me that long-sleeved items were on sale, buy 2 get one free, but I knew if I went back and got two more it would be a hell of a time getting home, so I only got one free sweater. Boo hoo, right? At $4 per, who cares if one of them's free? (well, I do, $4 = a cup of tea and a biscotti.)

The three on the right are 100% cotton, the top one is green and the bottom one is grey - the photos don't show the color too well. The one on the left is like 50% cotton, 35% merino, and 15% nylon, in kind of a tweedy tan color (I think Ann would like it).

I've already unravelled the grey and green sweaters, experimenting with different skein-making techniques.



I soon realized I would need a better method.

This morning I washed the skeins from the grey sweater in my bathtub. Good idea! The water was a little brown afterwards. Not that bad, but still, I wouldn't want to knit it without washing it. The washing also helped de-kinkify the yarn. The skeins dried in the sun today and are lookin' good.



Today, on the way home from my campus job (energy conservation!) I stopped at Ace Hardware. I had seen instructions for a PVC niddy-noddy earlier, and I realized that that would be a much better skeining tool than my knees. I'm sort of morally and enviromentally opposed to PVC, so I was hoping I'd find some sort of Berkeley hippie alterna-piping, made of soybeans or something, but Ace Hardware isn't yet down with the treehugger thing. I caved and had a few lengths of pipe cut for me, and for $3.35 I made this:


(click for details)

It's ugly, but it does the trick. I can get into a pretty good rhythm, winding yarn around this baby, but it's very heavy because I didn't think to ask if they had thinner pipe, so my arm gets really tired after a while. Of course, for $3 I could always go get another one in a smaller diameter.

I'm excited to start knitting with this yarn, but it will have to wait because I have some big projects in the queue (to be revealed soon!) that I need to do first! Right now I'm thinking about a sweater vest with the purple.

CHEAP YARN IS SO EXCITING!

All-Request Sunday

A few of you have asked about stuff, so, here:



Kate asked for the cookie recipe, and I'm so happy to share it because these cookies are beyond delicious. Be-yond.

Cornmeal Guava Thumbprint Cookies
from Bon Appétit, plus my commentary

1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
guava jelly

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, cornmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat unsalted butter and brown sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Mix in egg yolk and vanilla extract. Mix in dry ingredients. Mixture will seem very dry at first, you may have to mix with your hands if you are doing this without an electric mixer. The first time I made this I added a tsp. of the egg white, and regretted it.

Form dough into 1-inch balls. Arrange on ungreased baking sheet (I use parchment paper), spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Make depression in center of each using thumb or handle of wooden spoon. Fill depressions with jelly. Bake until bottoms of cookies are brown, about 10-12 minutes. Cool on rack or by sliding parchment paper off hot baking sheet. Makes about 2 dozen.

A note on the guava jelly: Smucker's does make it, but I've only found that once, at a grocery store in Southern California. Now I use Crosse & Blackwell, which is the only brand I can find at my local (somewhat upscale) grocery store. If you're having trouble finding it, look online. It's really worth it.



Bobbi and Keri asked about the eye pillow, and while I still don't have a photo of it, let me say I was a bit surprised to read "what yarn did you use?" in the comments. I forgot to mention that it was not knitted at all, I actually sewed that baby. Which is weird, since I rarely sew and don't have a sewing machine. Hand-sewing it took me about 3 hours. Now, because I was inspired by the idea of actually knitting one, I'm giving it a shot. I should have the pattern/tutorial up sometime next week. It will still need a fabric lining to keep in all that crumbly lavender goodness.

Lynn in Tucson (sorry, no link, do you have one?) asked about the Super Sponges from a few posts back. I got them at the grocery store (same one I get my guava jelly from - Andronico's for you Bay Area folk) for $5/2 sponges. They don't scratch, in fact they don't have any scratching/scrubbing element at all, just soft viscose cloth. They do hold soap (and let go of it) well, though, dry quickly, and don't smell. A lot of my pots and pans are teflon right now, so I like the feeling of these sponges not scrubbing too hard because I don't really want to be eating teflon if I can help it. For the hard scrubbing jobs I'm looking into something better than my standard O-Cel-Os.

Now can I make a request of you guys? How does my blog look on your computer screen? Is text stacked next to photos, or are there many lines in between a photo and the following text? Does anything wrap weird? I only ever see it on my monitor, and if there are formatting problems for others I'd like to try to fix that. Thanks!

Me Time

Thanks for the comments about my big knitting snafu. Blogging helps me sort out all this stuff and put it all in perspective. I haven't touched the offending sweater but I am getting myself ready, mentally, to really fix it up. The last two days have been sunny and nice. I haven't done a ton of knitting, but I did bring Adamas with me when I went to check out the newest cafe in town. It's called People's, and the instant I walked in I fell madly in love with it. The inside is very cool and cozy, but sophisticated with dark wood and benches all along the wall. It's got built-in bookcases, and the one near my seat was filled with scruffy sci-fi paperbacks (my favorite!)

I brought the shawl with me to Stitch n Bitch, but didn't work on it at all because a more pressing projet came up yesterday and I had to get it done. My boyfriend was stressed out and I decided he needed an eye pillow, you know, the beanbag-like ones with nice-smelling stuff in them. I grabbed some dried lavender at the pharmacy on my way home from People's and got to work. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo, but I'll post about that project later because it turned out awesome.

Today I was all by myself in my apartment so I spent my time running a few quick errands, which included getting a new set of windchimes:



The notes of the chimes are kind of eerie together, but I like them. Double clapper! Score! This was the ONLY set at Long's Drugs that didn't have some sort of metallic dolphin or smiling sun on it. Why are so many windchimes totally cheesy?

I then proceeded to do a bunch of laundry,



After which I got down to business in the kitchen.



No, that is not some sort of fluid donation, it's a makeshift piping bag full of guava jelly. I'm having dinner with a friend tonight, and she has sponsored me for my upcoming AIDS Walk, so I baked her a batch of my favorite cookies,



cornmeal-guava thumbprint cookies.



I made extra.

Also, I decided to enter the contest over at Knitters Anonymous. Here goes nothin'.

A photo, snapped while baking (don't worry I totally threw this away afterward!)



And some publicity.



Apologies for the profanity...I just had to do it.

Wish me luck!

UPDATE: Snakes on a Plane! Get your SOAP participation script, a la Rocky Horror Picture Show, here.

Taking Stock

You know why I like dishrags? They're fast. And successful. Unlike other things I'm working on right now.

It was kind of a gloomy day in Berkeley.



I mostly stayed inside and worked on this:



Which is something I've been working on for a while, of my own design. I blogged about it briefly here. Yeah, that one.

See, I have this idea of what this is supposed to look like. It's really hard for me to tell if it's living up to that as I go. Today I finished the knitting, and it just doesn't achieve what I had meant it to. I had known it wasn't going to be perfect, but I didn't get just how imperfect. It's so far from what I wanted, and it is SO frustrating because I have been working on this for what seems like FOREVER, pumping money and time into it (I kept running out of yarn...argh!) only to get something that is just...not. what. I wanted.

Now, let me just tell you that I had high hopes for this sucker. Starting out, I didn't see how anything could go wrong. Like seriously, how could anything go wrong? But my shaping went wrong, my armholes were pretty bad, my sleeve caps were worse, and now the 10⁶ stitches that I picked up and friggin ribbed for a dozen rows along the cardigan fronts and neck are just the totally incorrect shape. I did devise a pretty well-behaved bind-off for the damn thing, so that's a plus.

I had already resigned myself to knitting this again, in another color scheme for my sanity's sake, in order to make it a viable pattern. I hadn't, however, anticipated that my beta version would be so...unwearable. OK, it's not that bad. But to go from a feeling of I Can Do Anything! to I can't do ANYthing! is making this sweater look worse to me than it probably is. I'm ok with having to knit a second one, with all the kinks worked out, but I'm so not ok with having spent almost $50 and a few months on something I basically have to reknit half of as well.

So. I need to first take a chill pill, then take stock of my knitting so I can figure out what to do now. Knitting is not supposed to be a stressful hobby for me, but somehow all my hobbies are too product-based (I should really just go buy a PlayStation).



Sorry for the crappy photo, it's late and dark and the color of my carpet is just...surreal(ly ugly). As a backdrop we have my log cabin, still in progress though slow lately, probably because I've been so rabid about finishing the above-lamented sweater. Dammit. Anyway. On the left you'll see Adamas, six repeats finished, eight and a border to go. Still like it. On the right, another failed project, though not very heartbreaking. It's just a very simply raglan t-shirt in a cheap-o cotton/acrylic blend, and my plan was to knit it superfast and then use it to screenprint on (more on that some other day). Too small. Luckily I tried it on just below the arm separation so ripping it isn't all bad.

I've got a week and a half of almost nothing to do before Fall semester begins, and I need to use it wisely. Adamas is pleasant enough, so I can let that crawl along for a while. The log cabin is pretty good TV knitting, but I'd still like to get it done, mostly to see how it will look. The t-shirt, well, that's really no biggie. The black and purple sweater...

I need some ice cream.

w00t dishr4gs!!

YES!

Today is all about the dishrags. I have probably led you to believe that I have made about 70 by now, what with the teasers and all. Nope, just nine. But oh, do I love them.

Love them love them love them. (Click photos to enlarge.) These are my first two; the blue and green one is a slightly different dimension because I cast on 45, went "oh noes! too small!" and added another inch or two. Silly of me, of course, because the MDK pattern is perfect and yields the most perfect result ever. I learned my lesson for the rest.



The red/green one is taken directly from the MDK photo in the book (well, possibly a different distribution of bands)



The one on the left is one of my favorites, inspired by Mesilla, what else?! I actually had a dream about making this color combo the night before my Yarn Swap, but I didn't have any of the yellow in my stash. At the swap, one of my fellow SnB'ers had a TON, including that color. I basically took it as a sign from above and bought it from her. The one on the right is my least favorite. It's too scrappy. Maybe after a few washes I'll like it better.



Of course, I had to make some baby genius dishrags. I don't have anyone to burp at the moment, so I scaled back the length to match my ballbands. These don't go nearly as fast but they have incredible drape. Who knew Sugar 'n' Cream could have drape?



The latest one, OTN as of last night during SNL. Possibly inspired by a Dreamsicle? I don't know, I hate orange desserts.



I love to cook. All the time. Honestly, when I'm done saving the world and I move on to my second career, it won't be in the yarn biz. It will be as a chef. There, I said it, I'm more of a cook than a knitter (but why put so much stock in labels, right?) Descriptions of my dishcloth stash at Flickr.



I do use my handknit dishrags. I actually find I prefer them after they've gone through the wash. The fibers settle into each other and form a more continuous surface, which makes the dishrag absorb better. These are so pretty I'm considering installing a towel bar above my sink to hang them on while in use. Plus, they fit perfectly in the pocket of my apron, and make a great hand-wiping towel for cooking! YAY!

In conclusion, I freaking love these, and as I still have a giant stash of SnC left, I am sure there are many more on the way. New color combos occur to me faster than I can knit them up, and I'm not at all bored of the pattern. I haven't used any ombres yet, though I do have a rather muted white/blue/green one that I'm not sure what to do with. Maybe it will come to me in another dream.

In The Mood

For some kitchen knitting...



Veggies; I'm slicing the heirloom tomatoes for a salad with fresh mozzarella and grilling the zucchini, bell peppers, artichoke hearts and brussels sprouts (not pictured) with olive oil.



My sponges are like, chronically icky. We need a window in front of our sink to dry/bleach them. Since we can't have that, I bought these new Super Sponges (covered with viscose fabric) that are supposed to last for years (says the package). I do like these viscose towels I'm seeing around, so hopefully my sponges will live up to their promise. You can machine wash and dry them, which is exciting for me because I like reuseable stuff. Even my most heavy-duty grocery store sponges fall apart after washing dishes and being run through the dishwasher for a month or so.

Ok...are you ready for a dishrag post? Cuz I'm ready for a dishrag post! Stay tuned.

Warm Glowing Warming Glow

Adamas, by the light of my banker's lamp.

I started the Adamas Shawl (Miriam Felton for Knitpicks) on Thursday afternoon and am now on the fifth repeat. So far so good, though I wish I had used US4 instead of US5, it's a bit loose for my taste. My hope is that the yarn (Knitpicks Shadow) will bloom a little when I wash it. Also I probably won't stretch it to its limit during blocking. update: I am using my new Options needles on this. They are...really sharp. Way sharper than, I think, you need for working lace at this gauge, but I guess they would be nice when working lace with a thicker yarn. I wouldn't leave these on the floor or your couch if you have an unsuspecting housemate.

Today was my Stitch n Bitch's annual Yarn Swap. I'm not a huge stasher (I swear it all has a purpose!) so all I brought to swap were some US17 clover straights that I got at Stitch n Pitch. Those I traded for a couple odd balls of yarn that I didn't really want but can probably use or re-swap at some point. I also bought a couple 4oz balls of Peaches & Creme in colors I wanted but hadn't found yet (look, this stuff is incredibly hard to get in Berkeley when you have no car). One woman brought kitties! (unfortunately not to swap)



I am avowedly not a cat person but...cute...tiny...cute...tiny...must...cuddle...

Yes, I did wear my Mesilla sweater, and got beaucoup compliments. I was happy. For me today was mostly a nice extra SnB at the park and a chance to ogle other people's unwanted stash, if not to take any home. I did get sunburned in a few places - should have jumped at the offer of sunscreen. Oh well.

Worked on another ballband during the stinky, stinky Giants game tonight. I haven't forgotten my promise to post photos in a Big Dramatic Stack, I'm just waiting to get through all the color combinations in my head before I do. Trust me, there will be a Dishrag Post, oh yes. Meanwhile, here:



Micro-lensiliscious.

And last but not least, merry christmas bro! Isn't he cute?

Mesilla

Ok...I just couldn't wait.


I had to crop out my face; the flash on my old camera at 11:50pm is not flattering.

Pattern: Mesilla from Knitty, by Stefanie Japel (Glampyre).

Yarn: Knitpicks Shine Worsted (cotton/modal). Bachelor Button, 6 balls; Watermelon, 2 balls; Natural, 1 ball; Sunflower, 1 ball.

Needles: US7, forget the brand...Aero? Something kind of sticky, this yarn is slippery.

Notes: I LOVE this sweater. Love it. I want to wear it everywhere. It's so flattering. The embroidery (my first on a handknit) leaves a little to be desired, I couldn't really get nice looking circles, but it was fun to do and makes the finished product really playful and eye-catching. I was working on it at my Stitch n Bitch and got a few funny comments, but I think once they see it on me they'll get it. If not, well...they're not who I'm dressing for. I made a few changes, but not many. Besides the yarn swap-out, I lowered the neck for ze sex appeal, and scrapped the picot hem because I couldn't get it to lie flat, and wanted to see if I could get by with one ball of the red yarn. I couldn't. Instead I did a 4-row garter stitch border, and I think it looks fine. All the better to wear a bitchin' necklace or something.

My ever-helpful roommate, tart-eating, fiber-researching, termite-studying Lynette, helped with the photography. For the from-above shot, which isn't easy to get because I'm at least 5'7", she had to stand on the couch:



She did not have to make that face. It was voluntary. Thanks roomie!

For all you curious about these things, the WS:



Weeeeeeeeeeee! This concludes my week (or three) of F.O.s. Thank you, thank you very much.

Knitpicks, How I Love Thee

I missed my mail carrier by about 5 minutes today, but luckily my block is mostly multi-unit apartments so the mail truck was still in sight. I retrieved my package and rejoiced in the arrival of 2 hanks of Shadow in Redwood Forest, the pattern for the Adamas shawl, size 4 and 5 Options needle tips and two 24" cords, and 12 balls of Main Line in Blueberry, which I picked up on sale for $1.97 per.

I also received the last ball of Shine Worsted in Watermelon, and promptly finished all the knitting for Mesilla:



I love it! I guess I'll do the embroidery at Stitch n Bitch tonight. You can see that a couple areas are a bit wonky; the reverse stockinette ridge at the waistline sort of acts like a purled hem-turning row, and pulls the stockinette around it like it wants to fold along that line. That may stop a little when I wash this. The neckline is smooth on the right side, but does a little stair-step on the left, because of the way the decreases act, but I think that's OK. Anyway, more notes when I finish it. Yeah! This was such a fun pattern, despite running out of yarn and having to stop for a long time! The Knitpicks Shine Worsted is soooo soft, too. I thought Modal was a synthetic fiber, mostly because it had a little ® next to it, but as my roommate informed me, it's actually "reconstituted cellulose from beech trees" (source). I like cellulose.

I have one little bone to pick with Knitpicks: they do not adequately represent their patterns on their website. For the Adamas Shawl, this is ALL you get. I would never have thought to order the pattern based on that photo. I only ordered it because the Yarn Harlot is making one and had a better photo on her blog. I can't wait to get started in that yummy brown yarn.