Tuesday, May 31, 2011

June, the month of the KAL

So new am I to online knitting that I have never before participated in a KAL, or knitalong for any non-knitter reading this. (What's wrong with you? Why are you here, other than to mock... oh. Nevermind.) So when a Ravelry group I'm in, Pen Fetish Crafters, decided to knit a shawl that was already in my "OMG, I need one of those" list, I jumped onboard.

The shawl in question is the Fountain Pen Shawl, available at the entirely reasonable price of 5.50$US. Given my rather limited funds, being a full-time student who likes to eat and stuff, I opted to use some Knit Picks gloss lace yarn in Sterling that I had in the stash. I'd link Knit Picks, but seriously, if you can't find them on your own there's something seriously wrong. Since I somehow magically already owned a size 6 (4.0 mm for you metric peeps) addi lace circular and a little packet of silver colored jump rings, I was in business.

I am nothing if not OCD, though, so even though I didn't have a project on the needles as of the 29th of May, I could not start this until the suggested date on the group. I helped suggest it, it would be rude not to follow my own suggestions, wouldn't it?

Ironically, I'm also planning to take part in a Pride KAL for LSG (I'll warn anyone who doesn't know this already, no LSG link will ever be work/innocence/anything else safe. If you're easily offended, very right-wing, religious, or under 18, DO NOT CLICK!) I'd write something about that KAL, but while I know the yarn I'm going to use, I have no idea what I'm going to make yet.

So anyway, for anyone who's had the patience to stay this long, here it is, the beginnings of my Fountain Pen Shawl KAL:

Given how terrible I usually am on a deadline, I suppose we'll see how much of it I have finished at the end of June, particularly considering the fact that I'm taking full time classes +50% during the summer term. I did get win NaNoWriMo while doing school full time, but writing is easier.

Monday, May 30, 2011

And the moment of truth:

Looks like I'll be buying yarn this week. Yay! (This is presuming that I have money to do so, but still, it's a nice thought!)

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Test knitting, not for the faint of heart... or weak of reading skills.

So right after my Spring term of school ended, I was wandering in the testing pool group on Ravelry and found a call for sock test-knitters. Now I've never done test knitting for anyone before, but I had the next week off and I've been looking for a nice meaty pattern to try my hand at.

In this, I found it.

The pattern isn't incredibly complicated, but it does take a bit of attention, and some time. Also, I chose the tangliest yarn I've ever knitted with to make them. I ended up cutting about 30 yards off in order to get an untangled ball of yarn. Incredibly, this worked just fine. The 30 yards went into my swatch, and the rest made both socks with exactly 13 yards to spare. I am never this lucky.


For anyone who is unaware of this, Alice Yu, aka Socktpus has a book of her sock patterns coming out this fall, including this lovely. The patterns run toward the intermediate level knitter, and are beautifully designed, down to the heel and gussets. Even the toe on this baby isn't from your average sock pattern.

It took me three days to finish the first, and after sending her information on my final product I set the second one aside for a few weeks. Finally, tonight, I finished it. This finishing taught me a few lessons.

1. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! I struggled more with the second than the first because my eyes kept skipping one critical piece of information.

2. Don't leave more than a week between knitting a first and second sock, unless you want to have to relearn a pattern. This may not qualify for any younguns out there who have amazing memories, but I had completely forgotten the heel setup round and how it worked to flow into the rest of the pattern.

3. I love orange. Not useful information for anyone other than me, but there it is.

and finally,

4. I will put up with any kind of bad behavior, if the finished product is worthy. I made these socks with Ella Rae laceweight (which is more like a light fingering, for anyone who hasn't used it) and it had the aforementioned tangling issue. It took me almost two hours to get it into the ball that I ended up using. It knit up so soft and squishy, though, and the socks are just so perfect... I'll definitely be knitting with it again. Maybe next time I'll ask my LYS to ball it up for me, though. See, I'm not just a masochist, I'm a sadist too.

I strongly suggest anyone interested in sock knitting keep an eye out for Alice's book this fall; I know I will be.

Okay folks, it's finally bedtime for me. It's my birthday today, I am officially old-ish, and am also not supposed to eat cake, thanks to my diet.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

My self-control is incredible.

So after giving it no thought whatsoever, and mostly because I was up really late one night and I'm the most curious being ever born, who can also write run-on sentences like nobody's business, I found myself stalking for the Wollmeise update. So many knitters couldn't possibly be wrong, right?

So, the update happened, and before I knew what I had done, I was checking out with a skein of twin in my cart, colorway Aquarius. Then, I went to bed. For a few weeks, other than the momentary, "what the heck did I spend Euros on through paypal?", I completely forgot about this late-night yarn binge.

Then, I got a notice in the mail. I had a piece of registered mail at the post office, and I could pick it up the next day. Registered mail for me? What the heck could that be?

Oh yeah....

So naturally, upon seeing that the package was from Germany, I ripped it open the second I got back to my car, where the nosey people at the post office couldn't watch me have a seizure over yarn.

Okay, maybe not a seizure, but... well, it is confirmed. There is a reason that knitters stay up to ridiculous hours of the night and stare blankly at a grey screen hitting the refresh button over and over again. And believe it or not, it isn't drugs or alcohol.

It's this.




And for good measure, the ridiculously close-up shot that my camera can't really handle...

It's a tight little skein, but full of saturated goodness, and I already have visions of what it needs to be dancing through my brain. Socks make the most sense, both because I like to knit socks, and because it's an 80/20 blend that would be perfect for socks. On the other hand, I'm open to ideas, if anyone is willing to share. (I am not, however, open to sharing, regardless of any ideas about that...)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

It's die, with yarn at the end.

Okay, so I keep reading about knitters going on what they call a yarn diet. This basically appears to mean that they have more yarn than any person could ever knit up in a complete lifetime, so they've decided to stop buying more to throw on the pile. Or you know, slow down a little. For me, this could not be further from the case. Let me count my meager stash:
Sock yarn - 1800 grams
Laceweight - 200 grams
Dk - 500 grams
worsted - 450 grams

I confess, there's more on the way, but as of now, that's it. Not too impressive, right?

On the other hand, in the "me" department, well, let's just say that my cup runneth over. So I have opted instead to go on a Yarn! diet. Which for me, will mean that every week I succeed in losing one or more pounds, I will buy myself more yarn, preferably in an amount commensurate with the poundage lost. The day of truth will be Sunday, because as anyone unfortunate enough to find this blog will quickly realize, it is my unholy day day off.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Once again, it's official.

I'm crazy.

That wouldn't surprise anyone who knows me, but I honestly don't intend this for them. They hear me whine about anything and everything often enough in real life.

I know what I intend to post here, but since things rarely turn out as I intend them to I think I'll shut up and wait to see if I ever even show up here again before I go making promises.