How Freakin' Cool.

How cool is this?! Amie, aka RosebyAny (see sidebar for link), knit me a turtle soap holder. Out of the blue! He's so damned cute too! I love him. She said she was willing to write up a pattern for him too, if someone asked. I think I am going to do so. I was a little out of it last night, so I doubt my true appreciation for this little fella came thru when I received, but I love the little bugger.

And here he is stuffed with a peppermint tea-tree soap from my cabinet. He's actually a little darker than he is in these pics, I took Soapy (yeah, I named him Soapy) out on the porch for the light and the flashed kicked in as well. Can you say.. overexposure children? Sure you can.

I finally got around to starting the front of the Batman pullover last night, so hopefully I'll have something to show in another day or two. Happy Knitting!

EDIT: Bonus entry!

And another thing..... I was looking around for some new blogs to add to my list today... when BAM! Oh. My. God. I love this freaking sweater. My shmoo NEEDS this freaking sweater.

So I give him the link; "wow...that's rather nice"!!!!

Hell yes! A sweater we both like. FOR HIM!

It's Pulse by Kim Hargreaves for Rowan's Denim People. I have looked at this book before mind you, and thought...ehhhhh it's ok I guess. And the picture of the sweater in white and blue, it does it no justice. But wow! Loving those blues! And imagining it in greens.

So... anyone got this book they wanna sell cheap?

Yay Pictures.

Because you have been so patient,(and I finally got the camera out of the car) here are your pictures!

The long awaited back-of-the-Batman-sweater. It's going to be a pullover by the way.



The sari silk scarf I started in guilt after starting my socks. This was the yarn I picked up at Celtic Knot.

My toe up socks on two circs in that Dale Stork yarn I bought last Saturday. I did the figure 8 cast on for the first time ever, and I have to say that I like it. I love the way the toe looks. I think these will end up being the MagKnits Happy Socks but I am not quite sure yet. It really depends on how the pattern looks in this yarn once I get to the lace bit. I did make my cast on about twice what it called for however because I don't have pointy feet, I have wide feet, and they are almost the widest at the toes. I am really pleased with how this toe fits however. So even if they aren't fancy, they'll get worn. And there shouldnt' be any SSS with these either!


And finally a picture from today at the Kite Festival in DC. How cool is this kite?

Still no pictures.

Ok so I left the camera in the car again last night. Sue me.

In other news:

The Columbia Knit Night (aka Sucky Knitting Girls) was great! There was laughter and drooling over yarn and projects, and even a little knitting. Check out the link to Lighting Chick Knits in my sidebar for the pictures. Coleen not only brought her camera, she actually got it out and took some snaps! :)

As for the Batman Sweater, it is under revision. I have the back done. But now I am having doubts about the original plan for the sweater and have to rethink it. Do I just want to make a Vest? Do I want to do a sweater with a zipper? Or maybe buttons? Can I find Batman buttons? *sigh.* Should this be read by the intended recipient's Mom, can you please advise what he would be most likely to wear? Should I just say screw it and make a pullover? I have no idea.

So... in light of the delay on Batman, and instead of finishing up a current project or starting on my mom's Clapotis, (yes I know the first one I started isn't finished... hush!) I cast on for toe-up socks on two circs with the Dale Stork I nabbed on Saturday. It's a neat concept. I feel like it's moving very slowly but then I keep reminding myself it's two at once, not just one, so it has to be better. Or something.

Pictures tomorrow if I remember!

No pictures.

My camera is in my car and I don't feel like going down to get it so... yeah.

I went with Coleen (Lighting Chick Knits from Sucky Knitting Girls) to the Baltimore Knitting Group's Field Trip. It was great fun. We met up at All About Yarn, where I purchased two size 1 24 inch addis that are not naturas so hopefully they won't snap like my natura's did, and two balls of Dale Stork in color 105 (it's variegated blues. I know, ME! Variegated yarn! Why! That's so.... not shocking at all.) I plan to use this yarn to try making toe up socks at the same time on two circs.

Then we went to some coffee place and ate and knit and chatted for several hours. It was good stuff.

And then, because I was so close, I went ahead and went up to Celtic Knot Yarn Shop.
They have sari silk for sale there now! They also are now carrying that new yarn, "Meditation" that smells like Lavender when you knit with it. I managed to limit myself to only 3 skeins of the silk, because I can actually use it to make something for the-woman-allergic-to-wool, aka Mom.

I also managed to finish my Batman Motif (after ripping it 3 times) yesterday evening, and I have to say I am pleased with it. The rest of the sweater should progress along nicely.

That's it, pictures later.


OH! Don't forget if you are in the Columbia, MD area, Sucky Knitting Girls meets at the Panera Bread on Dobins at 7pm!!!!! Come join us!

Batman Revised.

Last night I did intarsia for the first time. It took a little bit to get hang of it, and it's possibly still not right, but I am happy with it now. I was not happy with the half-way point of my chart. The emblem was just too small. And to double (quadruple?) it would mean it was a little jumpy and way too big as well.


So I printed out some knitting graph paper and got the colored pencils from my previously unused art kit, and went at it.


I used the chart I had as a base for my sketch and then plugged it into an excel spreadsheet. Then I tweaked it a bit. I tweaked so much I have to drop down and change some of my stitches now.

The result of my labor is available here for you to download should you find yourself needing a batman emblem chart. I did the chart in gray and yellow so that you could still easily count stitches and I made it as big as I could on one page. So if you have need for the caped crusader, have at it.

Batman Begins.

You know that niggling feeling you get? The one that says... "Hrm.... You should really work on this project right now. I know you hadn't planned on it and you have other things to do, but really, work on this."

I got that. I had been toying around with my Batman Intarsia idea for a while. All in my head. I decided that I should actually take a look at the pattern I was basing this off of, and maybe get started on the first piece and plan some color and design placement. I got the 4T shirt I had bought to use as a reference. I cast on and measured as I went. I figured my gauge and my plans. And then I realized, the shirt I bought was short sleeve. I had NO IDEA how long to make the sleeves!

So I got in touch with Batman Junior's mother. Turns out his birthday is at the end of April and not in July like I thought it was. Hello little feeling, I hear you loud and clear! And I know that it's the time of year that is not for receiving sweaters, no matter how cool. So I am making this on the largish side of 4T (possibly it's 5? I don't have kids, I don't know.) and am supplementing it with Batman Armbands, a Batman Hat, and a Batman Ninja-tie Headband. Then perhaps he won't try to wear the sweater when it's 80 degrees out this summer.

Where is Christian Bale when you need him?

Bobbing right along.

Shmoo wore his sweater last week while it was still cool. He refused to let me take his picture in it, but it looks great on him. Something about raglan sleeves on men; it just looks right.

I haven't been knitting very much at all. Honestly, I've been playing warcraft. We have a patch that changes some things soon and I am trying to accomplish certain things while it is easier to do so. (Tier 0 gear anyone?)

I have made some hat progress however minor. Just some basic cables and ribs. I am playing with the rib a bit here and there as a tiny cable, semi random-like. I don't know that it will look good but that's ok, shmoo will wear it anyway. :)

That's it for here. I leave you with a picture that I couldn't resist taking last week. My lumps. :)

In-vest-ment.

Eunny released her larger size Vest pattern yesterday, so I bought it. It's such a lovely vest. It will be a good chance for me to learn colorwork and steeking.

I have even decided on my yarn and colors, KnitPicks Merino Style in Cornflower and Asparagus. (The Asparagus isn't available until April 7th.) But I have a ton of projects to complete before I am allowing myself to make this vest. I want to wrap up all my currents, and make that Aran Rose sweater I have the yarn for..... no, honest I do!

I have also joined the knitalong for the vest. You can find it here. I look forward to learning from the other members as they go along. Perhaps then I won't have any problems.

I haven't done much knitting in the past couple of days. Mostly just played with that cable design. I even checked for good cable books at the library yesterday, but didn't really find anything that sang out to me. I'll try again when I actually get around to designing the aran. Mostly, I am just happy to have gotten the central motif settled so that when I see other stitch patterns I like I can go ahead and decide if they would go well or not.

That's it from here, except:

Hey sucky knitting girls... I am thinking about making lip balm before Monday, what flavor would you most like to have?
peppermint, spearmint, doublemint, hibiscus, sweet orange, or orange cinnamon?

Damnation!

This is the second glass I have broken in just under 3 weeks. It was one of my favorites too! This is why our household has a plethora of plastic cups. Classy eh?

Thanks to Amie (RosebyAny in the Sucky Knitting Girls Links) and her suggestion of Aran Painter, I found my afternoon sucked away clicking my mouse and painting away at my cable pattern. It was great. I'll most likely buy this software once I find employment. (On a side-note, what the hell is wrong with Monster? They send me jobs that have nothing to do with what I entered. Sometimes it's frustrating, to say the least.)

Since it was the free demo copy, I just clicked away like a maniac and did screenshots to share how they looked.

First up, the cable as plotted on the graph paper.



Next, how it looks in a repeat. (Yay for photoshop!)



I like this, but it's just so BIG.

So I did some tweaking, and about the 3rd or 4th tweak through, I came up with this.



And the repeat....

I think I am happiest with the second one, just for ease of doing it and overall appearance. You really need several repeats to appreciate the motif and when it's huge, you just can't have as many. So it looks like I'll be charting again. (Note: If I had purchased the software, after I tinkered with it, it would have printed me a chart, or directions, or set it up in html for easy sharing with the world. Nice.)

And finally, I leave you today with a gratuitous cat shot. Here is Bri, busted playing with one of the dog's stuffies. Ironic when you consider that the only toys she plays with now are his cat toys.

My first time.

At creating my own cable that is.

Remember the picture I took from Ironforge in World of Warcraft?

Well, I finally started tinkering with it.

And then I drew my chart (and cussed).

Now I just need to get it into an electronic format so I am not dependent on this one piece of paper to remember my cable. I am also thinking of tweaking it some more... I have one or two more variations of it I am considering. I am not sure they would work out just right, but you never know until you chart, do you?

Shmom the Fabulous!

Yesterday, the sweater shmom made for shmoo arrived. She decided that it would be cool if she did the knitting and I did the finishing. That way I could have some part in the making of the sweater without actually making it. I thought that was a really cool idea.

Since she has no blog for me to point you towards, She knit "Lucky" from Knitty's men's (August 05) issue. It's a mistake rib stitch pattern. And oh my people, mistake rib is SO STRETCHY! The sweater even fits me, and I am at least 4 inches wider than the chest size stated for the size we used. She used KnitPicks, Wool of the Andes, in Maple Syrup. No idea how much, probably whatever the pattern says.

So she finished it up, did the neckline but left everything unseamed and sent it to me. I have sewed the pieces together, and I love it. Hopefully I can get a picture of the model wearing his sweater sometime soon, so you can see it as well.

As for the pattern, I want to say she said it was easy and went quickly. I can say for sure it wasn't hard to seem at all. I think it will look great on shmoo!

And of course, I have decided he needs a new hat to go with his new sweater. 3 braid cable and rib. And stripes! I am making it up as I go along.

I am using the leftover skeins of Maple Syrup that I have already joined and balled. I am also using leftovers. Brownsheep Prairie Silk, Guilder Green and Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Chocolate Souffle, size 8 needles, 96 stitches.

And now, on to the felted bag! This thing is an albatross. I have washed it 3 times already, and it's not shrinking down enough. It's way to tall. It's more of a flat tall bag than a shorter wide bag like I fell in love with.

Seen here with the strap I am still struggling to finish, this bag is just not what I envisioned. I am already planning and making changes in my head for another one, more like what I wanted. At least if it doesn't turn out right, I won't have been following a pattern of someone else's making. In the meantime, I'll keep washing at this thing, finish the strap, decide whether or not to felt it, and put it on the gift pile until it tells me to whom it should belong.

Yesterday I worked on Danica some more. Entrelac is so... easy and oddly satisfying. The scarf looks mostly the same as the last picture I took, so I won't post another 'til it's done. In the meantime, my shmoo still needs that new matching hat! :)

On a slightly knitting related side note, I have a World of Warcraft toon named Entrelac, it's our banking toon so it's in the main city most of the time. Yesterday someone messaged me and said, "Your name is a knitting term, did you know that?" My response was, "Yes, in fact, I have another toon named 'Intarsia' as well." This person proceeded to ask if I knit, I said yes, then they asked if I was British, not sure why..... *shrug* She(?) asked if I spun as well, I said no, and she said she did, and that she loved spinning and dyeing. That was about the sum of our conversation, but I thought it was funny.