09.27.05
Posted in General at 10:03 am by Rachel
No photos today. As I don’t like to use flash, I’m pretty much restricted to the bright daylight hours for photographing my knitting. The shortening days are really causing problems with this. I leave for work before the sun comes over the trees, and it’s just setting as I get home. So my knitting photography is confined pretty much to the weekends, and I was away last weekend, so long story short, no photos until Saturday.
A quick mid-week update seems appropriate, though, if only because I haven’t posted for over a week. All my projects are coming along fine, but I realized that I’m slighly under-enthusiastic about them because they’re all rectangles. Large rectangles. Interesting rectangles, no question, but even a shawl with the most exciting stitch pattern becomes just a big ol’ repetitive rectangle after a while. So I’m violating my three-WIP maximum and starting a new project this week, a cabled toddler pullover in Knitpicks Shine, color “river.” The yarn arrived yesterday, and I must say it’s a really beautiful color. The pullover is nice and complicated and will provide a much-needed antidote to my rectangle purgatory.
Wow, with nothing to show this is pretty boring. Photos of everything this weekend!
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09.17.05
Posted in General at 5:23 pm by Rachel
I had a brief January thaw in my yarn spending freeze today, justified by two things: 1) I got a promotion (and a raise!) yesterday, and 2) one of the projects is going to be a gift, so I figure I’m spending gift money, not yarn money. The gift is for a non-knitting friend who occasionally drops by this blog, so I’m putting it below under a password. The password is the four-letter word for knitting backwards one stitch at a time (all lowercase). If you don’t know what this is, comment or email me at rachel at licketyknit dot com. If you’re not the friend in question, I’ll give it to you.
The other violation of the yarn diet was an order at Knitpicks. I ordered something like 8 color cards plus 10 balls of Shine in “River,” which is a dark blue. It’s for a cabled toddler pullover — I hope it works okay with the pattern. I needed something machine washable and, well, cheap.
The more I knit, the more I want to knit. You know that part in The Phantom Tollbooth when Milo and his friends are eating soup, and the more they eat, the hungrier they get? And it turns out it’s because they’re eating Subtraction Soup? That’s what I feel like with knitting. I think I’m doing Subtraction Knitting, where the more I do, the more I want to do. Sigh.
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Posted in Yarn and Tools at 5:20 pm by Rachel
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Posted in Finished Objects at 4:33 pm by Rachel
Pattern: Child’s Placket-Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Knitpicks Crayon in green
Notes: I think this came out pretty cute, though for some reason the sleeves have kind of a bell-sleeve thing going on. I think maybe next time I’d do the seed-stitch cuffs and edges with a smaller needle. It’s also a bit misshapen in this picture because I haven’t washed/blocked it yet. In spite of that slight oddness, it’s soft and washable and cute and I’d make it again. Given that I still have some 10,000 ball of Knitpicks Crayon, I have a feeling I’ll be making it again LOTS of times. It’s an easy and fun pattern, though I have to admit I truly hate small-diameter circular knitting. There’s just no good way to do it. Any my LYS didn’t have anything but longish aluminum DPNs in the size I needed, so that was a bit unweildy. Okay, all that aside, good pattern. Important note to all those who might want to make it: the pattern in the book has massive errors in it and is completely republished on the Purl web site, so use that.
I had originally planned on getting little froggy buttons for this sweater. However, when I actually got them (via a friend by special request), the color was not quite right. The green of the frog buttons was a little too yellowish. I’m sure I’ll find a use for them at some point, but for this project I found these bright and cute buttons that I think work better:
I am going to take a short break from Knitpicks Crayon now.
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09.14.05
Posted in Works in Progress at 2:21 pm by Rachel
I have finally cleared my plate of my most recent baby-knitting projects (photo of the placket-neck pullover to come soon — I’m being indecisive about the buttons), which means I was able to get started on Lily Chin’s reversible rib shawl. Isn’t it beautiful?
Hmm, not convinced so far? Well, what about a close-up view?
Okay, so maybe it does not yet resemble the ethereal beauty that it will become upon completion. If it ever gets to completion. Because let me tell you, I kicked this project off with a fairly massive amount of cursing, ripping, and rending of garments (most notably the shawl itself). The yarn, which is like Kidsilk Haze but I can’t remember what it actually is, is not exactly your hearty rugged wool. Not that I was expecting it to be. But it’s very very delicate and finnicky and if you happen to, say, look up at the TV because Big Papi just hit a home run in the top of the 11th, you may find yourself frogging right back to the start because you can’t for the life of you figure out what’s a stitch, what’s a mistake, what’s just haze, and whether you just inhaled a bit of it by accident.
Tonight I intend to get to the first cable and then we’ll see if this baby starts to take shape. Coming up soon, pictures of the placket-neck pullover and stories of a cat bed mystery!
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09.08.05
Posted in Finished Objects at 10:44 am by Rachel
I finished the second sweetheart pullover, and not a moment too soon. The shower is this afternoon, and both sweaters are currently drying in my office (I had to leave for work before the dryer could finish the job). I was supposed to have all last night to finish the second one, but I was offered tickets to the Sox at the last minute and you just don’t turn something like that down, no matter what your knitting obligations. So I did some seaming at stoplights on the way into the ciy and then stayed up until 12:30 finishing it off. I definitely did a less-good job on this second one in every respect, but particularly with the seaming — I stitched the sleeves on too high so I’m worried they’ll be a little contricting for a wee one. The first one is definitely cuter. However, at this point I’m just glad to be done and I’m going to stop caring.
For those wondering about the flower when I promised a star, I was unhappy with how the star came out, and I didn’t have the time or energy to rechart it, so I just used the flower chart since I already had it. I think it’s pretty adorable anyway. In retrospect, what with the time crunch, I would have just kept the squashy star, but retrospect won’t get you very far.
Anyway, overall I am happy with how they came out, but I don’t think I’ll make this pattern again. It was a little boring to knit, especially the second one. And intarsia will be a very, very occasional activity for me.
I hope at some point I’ll have a photo to share of the babies themselves modeling these!
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09.05.05
Posted in General at 12:41 pm by Rachel
One year ago today Matt and I signed our ketubah and then stood on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee and promised to…oh, I don’t really remember what the details were, but in the end we were married.
Not much changed for us after we were married. We’d been living together for three years, so when we came home things went back to normal pretty much instantly. When people have asked us, over the past year, how married life is, we usually answer that it’s just like unmarried life but with nicer silverware.
And without getting all schmoopy, I’ll just say that I wouldn’t have it any other way. Before we got married I was happier with Matt than I ever could have imagined being. That’s why we got married! And when it turned out nothing was going to change post-nuptials…well, with a status quo like that I consider myself the luckiest girl in the world.
Next anniversary: cotton! The possibilities for a knitter are endless. But see Matt’s comment in my post about appreciation for his fear of my ever giving him a knitted gift. Poor guy.
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09.04.05
Posted in General at 8:57 am by Rachel
This is not at all knitting related, but it explains somewhat why I have so little knitting activity to report this weekend. I made curtains!
Okay, now for the truth. I did not make curtains. I hemmed curtains. But I did a good job, considering I’m no whiz with the sewing machine, so I’m posting it on the internet like it’s some kind of accomplishment or something.
The thing is, regular store-bought curtains only come in two lengths: too long and waaaaay too long. Whatever we buy winds up dragging on the floor (we have really low ceilings). Plus they had to be extra short in the study because they hang over wires, printers, paper shredders, etc. After several frustrating months of trying to find curtains that fit the bill, we finally gave up, bought the long ones, and I spent yesterday carefully measuring, cutting, and then sewing a double hem. And while I know this is just about the simplest sewing project a person could do, I never took Home Ec so I’m proud of myself. I must say, though, that I won’t be trading in knitting for sewing anytime soon.
I’m now posting with the harsh glare of the morning sun softened by “General Store Stripe” or some such nonsense. Hooray!
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