Hemlock Ring

CRW_3197
Originally uploaded by davejenbarnes

So far, it makes a good cap.

I'm In!

Ravelry is rocking my socks off -- and I don't even knit socks!

So Close Yet So Far

Ravelry seems to have slowed, then stalled, on the invites. I've been watching them slow from 1200 a week to only 500 in the last week. I have only 110 people to go before I expect my email invitation.

On July 17th, I was 3833rd in line. 3833 divided 1200 (inviting 1200 per week) equals approximately 3. Three weeks from July 17th would have been August 7th. On August 9th, I was 1395 back in line, which was 2 weeks ago. Therefore, I stand by my 500-600 per week invites going out, or being redeemed, or whatever it is that the antsy checker basis the "how many in front of you" part of their update.

Hopefully I will be able to check out Ravelry sometime this weekend.

A finished bib!

bib 2
Originally uploaded by davejenbarnes

I love that button for some reason. This turned out so nice, I think I'll knit some for Lowell.

Bonsai Tunic - lace

Bonsai Tunic - lace
Originally uploaded by davejenbarnes

Bonsai Tunic - back

Bonsai Tunic - back
Originally uploaded by davejenbarnes

Peek-a-boo

Here's a peek at the secret knitting. Just a peek. Colors have been changed to protect the innocent. I'm glad to say, it's blocked and finished.

an update of sorts

I'm up to the second set of decreases for the arm holes on the back of the bonsai tunic. I've put this on pause while I work on some secret knitting and crochet projects (short, small ones, so I feel a sense of accomplishment in finally having some FO's lying around!) I'm still around and contemplating moving to a wordpress powered blog as that's what I'm used to and I could get the web address I wanted over there.

Anyhow...

I'm still around.

Since I don't feel like I can share this on our family blog and I have to get it out.. One of our cats ran away this morning. Well, both of them got out but David was able to catch the big gentle one while the small wirey one ran off. I'm secretly delighted to finally be rid of her but I know for his sake I need to be a little low-key about it. I mean, it's almost like she died or something since she's no longer in here with us. I'm secretly delighted because this cat hated me. Man, and I didn't care for her either after she bit me.

I do hope she's not, like, in shock outside with the heat and all.

In other news, I have 1839 1736 1564 people to go before I can peek into the coolness of Ravelry. I think that translates to about 2 weeks' wait.

Bonsai Tunic is on the needles!

I started it on July 25, 2007 at 11 pm after I put the boys down for bed. I decided to loosen up my left hand hold on the yarn and let it slip more and, ta-da!, gauge was spot-on with size 9's.

Lets see how many months it takes to finish!

Got Gauge?

Nope. In fact, I'm having a helluva time getting gauge. Not only can I knit only 1 or 2 rows at any given time, but the yarn is freaking slippery! I've modified my left-hand hold on the yarn by wrapping it twice around my pinkie then threading it through the 3 remaining fingers just to keep from dropping it. I'm using my Denise needles and started off with size 8, per recommendation of the pattern. Well.



On my size 8's I've gotten 22 stitches per 4 inches (pattern calls for 20) and 30-something rows per 4 inches (pattern calls for 26.5) SO... all this knitting is TOO TIGHT on size 8's and I'm starting over with a fresh ball on size 10's. However, I'm wondering since I've made it this far (one row at a time) if I shouldn't just finish the swatch then handwash and block it to see if it THEN makes it any closer to gauge. Something tells me even all that isn't going to help very much... any ideas, internet? Does washing and blocking help this yarn stretch out or shrink?

I chose 10's instead of 9's because I need quite a bit more height to my stitches. I don't know how going up 2 sizes will end up affecting my gauge, but I'm willing to take the time to find out. 10's are giving me 19 stitches per 4 inches so I'm going to try the 9's afterall. I can always frog it and start over, though I've discovered that the bonsai yarn is not the most durable of yarns as far as holding up well after a couple of frogged starts on the 8's gauge swatch.

Yes. Yes, I know. Yes, I am a tight knitter. I know this. Yes, I need to relax and loosen up. Yes, I agree. But in the meantime, give me another 2 weeks to finish my new gauge swatching.

My problem with loosening up my tension is that it's not consistent. I've only been knitting since October of 2006, so I don't have massive experience needed to be able to maintain the same looseness all the various 2-5 minute time-windows I get to work on this. Granted, I probably don't have the same tightness of tension, either. *le sigh* Anyhow, I am, and remain, a tight knitter. On to bigger needles I knit...

My place in line

Here's my place in line over at Ravelry.com as of Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 12:45 pm...

Found you!

* You signed up on June 17, 2007
* You are #9753 on the list.
* 3833 people are ahead of you in line.
* 8026 people are behind you in line.
* 32% of the list has been invited so far

Makeshift Swift

Ok, so it ain't purty but it works.



After tangling the second hank to oblivion in trying to wind it into a neat little center-pull ball, I searched online for swifts. I found a great deal on Joann's website with a 50% off code (just google Joanns coupons) but after shipping and tax, it was still $40. I looked around and decided that I could probably come up with something out of what I already own to do the job without spending the money and having to wait for its arrival. I don't plan on needing a swift very frequently, but I wanted to get at least one or two hanks wound to start with.



We have a lazy susan (thank you, Walkers) on our kitchen table. That's the base and it provides the spin. On top of that, I placed an old lamp (thank you, Magees) since I'd read online somewhere of using an old lamp with lampshade as a swift. This lampshade is too small (they've got to be some huge lampshades that can act as a swift!) and resting on top of that is a laundry basket (thank you, neighbors who moved away and gave it to us). The laundry basket was too wobbly on the lamp with the lampshade on right, so I unscrewed the lightbulb and flipped it over for more stability. I need the lamp because the laundry basket is too big to sit upside down on the lazy susan and spin.



Yes, I wound another ball just to take these pictures. At least the little balls will stay dust-free in their little plastic baggy homes until I get around to using them.



Props to my man, Dave, for his patience in helping me untangle the mess of the first two hanks and for his assistance in getting the spinning laundry basket picture.

Jen vs. yarn

I decided yesterday to take a hank of the Berroco Bonsai and untwist it and wind it into a center-pull ball. It took me over 2 hours to do that because I accidentally dropped the unwound hank and it morphed into the biggest tangled mess you have ever seen. That is the tangliest, slipperiest, most infuriating yarn I have ever touched and I was so mad I didn't even stop to take a picture of the mess. It is now sitting in a center-pull ball in a plastic baggy with a twist-tie top on my kitchen table, though, so at least I won that battle. for now.

fluffy mail

I received the bonsai today. One hank short. I don't know whether to start working a swatch or not because of the missing hank. The seller is on vacation until July 15th. I'm just hoping I can get the last hank out of the same dye lot as the first nine.

The yarn is heavenly. It is soft, shimmery, and looks like ribbon. I can't wait to see what it knits up like.

waiting, knit-along, and yet another new project

Waiting for my new yarn! David graciously approved a $55 purchase of Berroco Bonsai off ebay for my knit-along with Amy. I bought ten hanks of grey/silver (Shibui Clay). I found it for $4.50/hank and I feel pretty good about that. I'm thankful that the Yarn Shop vendor had 10 hanks from the same dye lot. score!



Here's what we're going to knit at the same time (called a knit-along)... fun, though I will probably need to find some shirts that I can wear this over. This will be my first lace attempt and also first garment for me... I bet gauge is going to kill me.

Yet another new project. Why are we always casting on before we finish stuff? I have more things on the needles than I can keep track of. I guess I love my Denise needles for that. So easy to off-and-on-again with my knitting projects. Yes, Amy, I decided to make that tote with the Caron Simply Soft $2/skein yarn but I'm changing the pattern a bit! I'm only planning on knitting the pattern 1.5 times instead of 2 times so it won't be as deep. I also altered the chart ... more on that later.



Pics of my Petunia Tote WIP (work in progress) to come below... just gotta eat dinner before I take out the camera and snap some.

some pics!

Although I am not loving the yarn, I am still plugging away on the patternless log cabinesque "blanket" which may or may not end up being big enough to actually call a blanket. At least the yarn is cheap-o and readily available at any Wal*Mart nationwide so I could always add to it even after I use up my stash and decide it's "done."

Here is the bad intarsia followed by a picture of the corrected intarsia.





I know it's the "wrong" side but I still think it's pretty cool overall how the colors join up on the back:



Needles - Denise 8's

I'm running lowest on the bright red color and have the most orange left. I am thinking I will need to buy more of this yarn for it to be any decent size of a blanket which is kind of depressing.

***

In other news, I've picked up some Caron Simply Soft to do a test-knit of a tank top pattern I just bought and I'm looking for prices on Berroco Bonsai to do a knit-along pullover with Amy. So many things on the needles right now!! I will be pulling some of them off the needles and re-wrapping the yarn for another time when I have the love for the frou-frou yarn again... poor blue periwinkle fluff...

back to swatching. I think I'm actually going to run this swatch through the washer and dryer to see how it fares. If it works to gauge on size 6's then I need to go buy some size 3's since that's what the pattern calls for to start with. Sounds like some Addis Turbos may be in my future since my Denise set doesn't go that small! :-) Can you tell I'm excited? WEll, off to bed for me; it's already tomorrow!

Garter Intarsia

On our drive up to Dallas this weekend (a 4 hour drive with 2 kids) I knit quite a bit. I'm plugging away on that patternless log cabin blanket. I've got 3 skeins of scratchy Red Heart acrylic that I'm randomly alternating to form the blanket. I don't want it to look like a traditional log cabin though, so I'm adding a little intarsia here and there to mix things up. BUT - I had never knit intarsia before and got my instructions off knittinghelp.com wherein the instructions are given on stockinette stitch, not garter. I proceeded to knit in garter and do the intarsia switch for stockinette and ended up with a messy join. I left it though, because sometimes you need a mistake in your FO to keep yourself grounded. Plus, I had already bound it off and am too lazy to frog something already "finished."

Needless to say, I was thinking there had to be a better way to do what I wanted to do and sure enough there is! I'm now happy with the results of my garter intarsia thanks to this tutorial.

If I get around to taking pictures, I'll edit this to add them in...

in keeping up with the trend

here is my knitting blog. totally separate from my family blog, but I'll probably have the same posts there as here as far as the yarn is concerned.

currently on the needles:
a navy blue curly purly soaker in size M on my denise needles in wool-ease and a new make-it-up-as-you-go patternless log cabin blanket on some cheap boye metal straights with cheap-o Red Heart acrylic. Maybe pictures later. The baby is crying.

Okay, Daddy got him asleep. Sheesh. I used to just lay James down and he'd be out for the night. This is a whole different creature we've got this time around.

Today I picked up a copy (thank you dave for spending your hard-earned teacher gift cards on me) of Itty Bitty Hats and Mason*Dixon Knitting. Woot!

Now, I'm going to try to copy the handmade category posts from my family blog over here. They're added now, so all the posts prior to this one are from the other blog.

Here's that wool cover...

yummy wool covers

I'm still cloth diapering. Yes. Both boys. I end up needing to do a load of diapers about every 1.5 days, which means sometimes I wash 2 days in a row and other times I wash every other day. It just depends on how active their little systems are in any given 24 hour period. I will admit that it really isn't as bad as people make it out to be having two in diapers. Then again, we're not really buying many paper sposies at the store every week; the cloth is already paid for.

Our stash is not all that large, but what we have is holding up. I was able to score 8 one-size bum genius pocket diapers which will work on both boys (one size, really, it's amazing) though at home they only go on Lowell. James has a bunch of size L happy heinys pockets that he's in most of the time, though I am leaning more and more toward putting him in prefolds again to give the potty training a bit of a boost since he doesn't feel wet in the pockets.

I'm also using up prefolds on Lowell now that I have enough wool covers (two to be exact) so that I am able to rotate them throughout the day. He is a mighty pee'er and the prefolds seem to be more absorbent than the microfiber inserts in the pockets. Maybe cuz they're a bit bigger? Everybody online seems to rave about the microfiber but I haven't been blown away or anything by its absorbency. Same with hemp. Yes, it is absorbent, but a downside is how darn heavy it gets when it's wet. Call me old fashioned, but I like the prefolds.

The wool covers do a much better job at keeping his clothes and blankets dry than the prowraps I've got. I think I'm going to offer up my bummis covers on diaperswappers.com since I only used them on both boys once to try the fit. They're all practically brand new. I'll probably end up offering them FFS (free for shipping, meaning that whoever just pays for shipping and I mail 'em out) since they're not a high-demand cloth diapering item. I won't be able to sell the wool covers for anything once we're done with them since I'm not licensed by the pattern-makers. I do know of some great places to donate them, though, where they'll get lots of love and go to a good cause. I might just hang onto them, though, really, because we don't feel like our family is complete and I will definitely be cloth diapering any other kids we end up having.

The only downside I've thought of with the wool covers and cloth diapering is that I'm short on knitting time and meanwhile, Lowell is growing! I need to start knitting some size M covers to keep up with him, plus it would be nice to have more than a measly two covers to choose from and rotate in my stash!

I took pictures of Lowell in the latest cover - black - so I'll be posting that after the next download and photoshop session in getting the pics off the memory card.

remember those wool pants?

They fit! Of course, some of the measurements should be fine tuned if I make another pair for him before, like, tomorrow, but I can get them up over a prefold. Hurray!

teeny little pants

I hadn't even blogged about starting this project and it's already done. A playgroup mommy friend of mine gave me three 50g skeins of Bio-Natur wool in Donkey a week and a half ago. I started knitting a swatch (always, always knit a swatch first - or two or three if you need to change needle sizes) and found the wool to be quite scratchy, though it feels durable, yet very light-worsted weight. Knowing nothing about wool, really, as I'm new to knitting, I did some research online and couldn't find out much about this particular wool. I had read, though, that Nature Wool (which is in my stash) knits up quite nicely when doubled. Since the Bio-Natur and Nature Wool felt the same thickness, I decided to pair them up and knit a teeny pair of pants for the baby who will be born in need of some pants.

The Nature Wool is the same I used for the size S Curly Purly soaker. The Bio-Natur wool is the grey. At first I didn't really like the color combo but since working on it a little at a time for about a week, it's grown on me. The aqua makes the grey seem metallic. I knit the entire pants with the magic loop method using some loooong cables with the Denise needles.

I've also got a baby cardigan on the cables but I'm losing momentum with it because the yarn is seven-or-eight year old Red Heart and that yarn just feels like straw after working with wool. Maybe I'll finish it just to get my cables back. Right now, they're holding stitches in the sleeves... Or I might use scrap yarn to get those cables back.

My mom took me to my local (well, semi local, it's a drive) yarn shop and beefed up my beginner stash. What to knit next?

shorties, done

Washed, lanolized, blocked, and drying.

for my boys

It's the first day of 2007 and here's what I have started knitting but not yet finished. On the left are some soakers for Lowell and the right are some shorts for James. So the shorts are only my 4th project ever, but I knit a gauge swatch and was spot on, so I decided to go ahead and try it, even though the fit matters and the gauge affects the fit and I'm still a noob.

Here's the downlow: LTK's Picky Pants Pattern, size Toddler (or XL)

Schaefer Esperanza in colorway Snoopy's Crayons

At first, I wasn't digging the top few inches with the blue and red lining up but the legs are turning out the same way so it doesn't bother me as much anymore. They look like they're gonna be huge on James, but when I hold all his pants against them, they're the same measurements. I'm predicting that I won't have enough yarn to make pants, so I'm going to settle on shorts, but I won't bind off until I know for sure, which is making me thankful for having an interchangeable set of needles where I can just connect a cable end-to-end and use the cable as a stitch holder. Besides, wool pants in Texas? Yeah, not the best combination, I agree. This has been a pretty easy project so far, though I am new to all of it. I'm glad to finally have knit short rows without huge holes at each end.

And the size small curly purly soakers I knit up over Christmas are still waiting for leg finishing. I haven't decided whether to do a roll cuff or a ribbed cuff. These are knit with Nature Wool Araucania, color aqua, doubled up (knit 2 strands from 2 skeins at the same time). I am thinking I will be using much more of the Nature Wool because it's both soft and affordable. The one skein of Schaefer was over $35!

Here's one more pic... James in his soakers. They fit amazingly well, though I wish I had used a better quality yarn. Yes, that's the dinosaur I crocheted for him. Yes, still missing eyes and a ferocious mouth. (And draped over the back of the recliner is the crocheted lap blanket I finally gave up on finishing after six years of procrastinating.)