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.