Sunday, October 21, 2012

Sock Head

It occurred to me after my last post that I never actually mentioned the hat I was knitting for my best friend. I bought the Fishknits Opulence in colorway Zombie Stomper at Lambtown earlier in the month with the intention of knitting her some comfortable socks as a get well present. I realized at the last moment, however, that the Opulence is 10% cashmere and it would probably be better to knit something that gets less wear and tear. So I decided to knit Sock Head instead.
Zombie green yarn to nestle my best buddy's brains.
I mean... head.
I don't think I've ever made a hat out of sock yarn before, and the never ending knit knit knit is making me reconsider every time I have ever thought about knitting a sweater in fingering weight. Seriously, it's a pretty lengthy project considering how small it is. I'm about 9" along so I've got another 4" or so before I can start the decreases.



It may look incredibly long and skinny but I tried it on and it fits nicely. Not to mention the brim will be rolled up and it's meant to be a bit slouchy at the top.
It's a great project to keep with me in my bag- a few rows here and there on my lunch breaks- but it's really no fun at all when sitting around watching the ball game. Just a whole lotta stockinette stitch.

Still got a ways to go, but I'm trying to work on it exclusively for now to make me feel better about casting on something new. We'll see how that goes ;)

Happy knitting!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Totally.

Yesterday when I got home from work I logged onto Facebook and saw an update from Tiny Owl Knits. She's released a new (adorable!) pattern called The Woodsy Association. And, yes, I immediately went to Knit Picks and bought the pattern as well as a cartload of yarn to go with it...

And I realized that since I rarely update anymore it probably looks like I don't ever knit anything. But, even though I'm not talking about it, I could be churning out tons and tons of knitwear over here. In fact I could have finished all those projects I ever mentioned, and they could in fact NOT be sitting in WIP bags all over my bedroom. And if that were true then the fact that I've cast on for yet another sweater wouldn't be at all disheartening.

I'm this far along.
Cassidy
And the shawl, the totoro, the ugly sweater, my scarf, my niece's cardigan, my mom's socks, my brother's socks, my socks, my dad's socks, and my best friend's hat are all tucked away elsewhere while I convince myself thoroughly that in the time it takes for my new Knit Picks yarn to arrive I will totally finish my sweater in spite of the fact that I work 40 hours a week and have basically no time to knit at all.

Totally.

Monday, October 15, 2012

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!


Totally just bought a ukulele!!!



...
I bought yarn, too, and I realize you probably care about that more but it is right before work and so I have no lighting. Next time, knittens. (P.S. Some of it may have been acquired for Blogiversary purposes!)

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

WIP Wednesday

I don't know about where you guys live, but around here? Some kind of icky cold is going around, and I've caught it. So I feel really sickly and gross, and like all I'd like to do is lay on the couch with a blanket and watch bad Dracula movies.

But hey, at least I'm warm!

Using the wool I got at Lambtown
I whipped up the hat to this set the night I got back from Lambtown. I decided to do a ruched top, worked the entire thing and weaved in the ends before realizing I hate ruched tops and going back and having a redo. Then I woke up the next morning and decided I hated the ribbed brim, snipped a stitch and worked downward for a rolled stockinettte brim.

The mitts were done the next day while I watched really bad Piranha movies. (Ps. In case you are wondering, Mega Piranha is SO MUCH WORSE than Piranha.) They're convertible mitts with a peasant thumb. For the top I did something different than I usually do: instead of integrating them with the mitt I worked them afterwards like a sock toe and then sewed them on. I did this out of laziness and getting-sickiveness and I-wanna-do-this-without-thinking-ness. It worked, technically, but I'm not the biggest fan of the result and might have a redo on the mittens after the scarf is done.

The scarf, I started the same day as the mittens, worked 38" while watching Dracula Dead and Loving It and Castaway on the Moon. Then I couldn't knit any longer and went to bed. The next day I ran out of the first ball of yarn. I had thought a bit about the fact that they were hand-dyed and had done a bit of the every other row transition, so without thinking I continued with the new ball while I watched Aah! Zombies!! and Albatross (Aah! Zombies!! being the better of the two.) Every once in a while I'd head to the mirror and look at the scarf and see how long I needed to make it. I knit 20" before someone turned on a light. So, yeah, the new ball of yarn was like burgundy red and the old ball of yarn was like reddish pink and I almost decided to cut the red ball and continue knitting with the third ball of yarn and pretend it was deliberate until.... I realized that the second ball of yarn was... ITCHY. It had an entirely different consistency than the other two balls (Dur! Could it be that the one ball had 5% less silk in it???) It wouldn't have mattered except that those 20" were probably the ones that would cozy around my neck the most. So, long story short? Frogged the 20" and now we're up to date.

But now I'm sick and don't feel like knitting. Boo.

Linking up with Tamis Amis because I love to.
Happy knitting!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Lambtown

Today was the day I've been awaiting with fervor: Lambtown in Dixon, CA. It took a little over an hour to drive there, but it was well worth it for the food, the music, the animals and especially the yarn! The only thing I regret is that I went by myself as my only knitting friends were either busy or too far out of town.

First off, I had a lovely chat with Colleen (and her daughter Carla) of Fiber Confections. I learned a little bit about CVM sheep. Their farm had 2 sets of twin lambs born in March. The first set? Thelma & Louise. The second set? Lucy & Ethyl. I couldn't resist and bought a skein of each. (That's 2 skeins of yarn, because the twins' fleece was mixed) Because it was the lambs' first shearing, the yarn is sooooo soft.

The top two skeins are from Fiber Confections.
Thelma & Louise on the right, with Lucy & Ethyl the darker of the two.
I'll get to the alpaca at the bottom later.
Right next door to Fiber Confections was the Fishknits booth- a family business type operation in which all family members seemed to have a pair of socks on the go (2 at a time, no less). I was in awe of all of their yarn but resisted the temptation... until I saw their "Zombiefyed yarn." It seemed providential, because my best friend is having oral surgery that involves inserting a bit of jaw from a cadaver into her own mouth. We've all been joking around that she's going to be zombiefied, but I know it's a scary thought for her to be going into surgery at all and have been planning a care package for a while now. What would make it better than if I knit her a pair of cashmere blend socks in zombie colors? I managed to talk myself out of buying the yarn, thanked the family for their business card and walked back out into the sun.
And turned right back around and bought a skein.
Fishknits Opulence in "Zombie Stomper"(Etsy here)

It was just meant to be.
Anyways perhaps you remember that what I've been wanting was some soft, chunky, red wool yarn. And I've been saving money and waiting for Lambtown hoping I would find JUST what I was looking for. Well it turns out that most of the vendors at Lambtown seemed to be banking on the fact that sock yarn is a quick, easy impulse buy and there was little to no chunky yarn to be had. And definitely none in red.

I decided instead to turn my attention to exceptionally squishy and soft white yarn because I can always dye it red. This combined with a sale led to the purchase of the three skeins of white alpaca shown previously. I have no idea what it's going to be because I ended up finding something suitable for my mitten/hat/scarf set afterwards.

I actually bought three skeins (a total of about 21 oz) but the first one had already been balled up and so it was impossible to photograph. Ok ok if you want to laugh I'll show you what it looked like.
Hee hee. I love big balls of yarn.
Anyways this stuff came from Nebo Rock Textiles located in Covelo, CA. It's decently soft and chunky, and the color (hand dyed by Janet Heppler) is wonderful. It's not red, exactly, and the three skeins are not actually the same dye lot- in fact one of them has a slightly different fiber content- but by blending the skeins I think the set will come out wonderfully. Fiber content is 20% silk, 80% merino, except the one that has only 15% silk.
I can't wait to cast on!

But before I go and do just that, I'll share a few more pictures of the festival.
Sheep Shearing Contest
Shetland 
Good Ol' Suffolk
Cutie little Corriedale
Rainbow sheep
"Mobility"
The coolest band ever because they're all decked out in their Air Force uniforms as they walk like Egyptians.
All 80's, in black sunglasses.
Eating the fence!
This sheep was the nicest one at the whole event. He rubbed up on me like a kitty and everyone gave him a nice big head rub.
Well that's it, you guys. I went to Lambtown and had a blast. I'm sure I'll go again next year, too. Now that red yarn is calling to me...

Happy knitting!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Hat and Mitten Set


Back in July I knit a ton of hats
(so many hats it drove me kind of crazy)
and this was one of them. Lately as I've been arriving at work early in the morning it has been cold enough that I've been thinking about a hat and mitten set.
Not this one, though, this one is going to make a nice Christmas present for someone on my list... I want a red hat and mitten set, and the whole time I was knitting these mittens I was quite woeful about the fact that they are not, indeed, red. (Lesson learned: purple is not red, and knitting purple mittens will not make that "must knit red mittens" feeling go away.)

I also want an incredibly soft next-to-the-skin wool to use with it. I'm thinking about Malabrigo Worsted but am not opposed to picking a chunkier weight to make them quicker. I might add a scarf to the set as well and speed would be of essence with a scarf... Preferably so that I never realize I am knitting a scarf. (I think scarves are the most boring knit ever.)

Anyway, that's coming up: a bright red scarf/hat/mitten set to cheerfully peak out of my black coat while I sit in front of Hobby Lobby inwardly begging that Dirk would leave the damn coffee alone for once and let us in on time. The reason I haven't gone shopping for this yet is because LAMBTOWN is coming up. (All caps because I'm so excited!)

If I don't find something good at Lambtown (for the mittens; I'm sure I'll find something good.) then I'll pop in to Knitique at Elk Grove, or perhaps Anna's Yarn Shoppe which recently changed location. If that fails me I know good ol' Rumpelstilkskin has lots of Malabrigo for sale.

Oh by the way the mittens are my go-to pattern, Warmest Mittens and the set was knit with plain Paton's Classic Wool as I've acquired quite a stash of it. I'm thinking of knitting a whole ton of mittens in all different colors and selling them at a craft fair. They really only take a few movie's worth of time and I've memorized the pattern already. I bet once they've been worn a good amount they will felt wonderfully.

Anyways, sorry to neglect you dear blog and dear knitting.
I've been so busy with work, and then since I'm working in the art department I've been trying to paint and draw on my free time as well. Seriously? It's hilarious.
This one's going in my son's room:

The best picture is probably the one I did of my hands. I drew my left hand first and then decided to label the jobs all my fingers do while I knit and realized my right hand is a lot more interesting. However, in order to draw my right hand I needed to use my Left hand. (I realized afterward I could totally have taken a picture instead.) And so the first hand looks moderately deformed and the second one looks like a freakin' werewolf! It's both disgusting and hilarious at the same time.

I've been playing with watercolors too ;)
Cuz I'm cool like that.