WittyKnits

Monday, March 28, 2005

An older FO

I made my grandma this for this past Christmas:



She just mailed me photos of it on her, so I thought I'd post these here.

I think I did a bang-up job on those cables, if I do say so myself--that was only my second cable project. I'm not as thrilled with the finishing, but I need more practice at that.

Can anyone explain to me why the middle stitch languishes on a holder until you're done when you're doing a v-neck, only to be tacked down? I assume this is to avoid a flat piece in the V, but it seems to half-assed to me. Not that I have an alternative. Thoughts?

Non-knitting, but knitting related

I turned into a stitch-marker factory last week. I'd been to Byzantium, and stocked up on random findings and stringing supplies to make counter bracelets and stitch markers. The counter bracelets I still don't have down engineering-wise, but I made stitch markers galore:



These two sets are spoken for, as a gift and for me:



but these others aren't yet.



I think I'll use them a random gifts later in the year perhaps, or maybe I'll open a little side business. If I want to be serious about selling them though, I definitely need to find a new, cheaper source of eye-pins. Some of these ended up costing about $2.00 each in materials, and the buddha ones that I'm keeping were even more than that. Yikes!

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Another little FO pic

My mom's birthday is tomorrow, but I sent her gift early, so she could wear it before the weather turned too warm. I, of course, forgot to photograph it before putting it in the package, but she sent me a photo yesterday, and here it is now:

mom's hat

Pattern: Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, with random stripes a la me.
Yarn: Lamb's Pride, Mission Falls 1824 Wool, Highland Wool
Needles: Size 8 Circular

Friday, March 18, 2005

Famous!

I just got interviewed by a writer from Business First for an article about the growing popularity of knitting. As there are several shops opening/closing/expanding/etc. here in Columbus right now, this is particularly relevant. I don't feel like I imparted any great wisdom really, but we'll see what makes the cut. I'll post the link when the article comes out.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Let's get Physical!

The legwarmers are done!



Needles: Size 8
Pattern: Loosely based on the legwarmers in Weekend Knitting
Yarn: Cascade 220 (Fuschia) and Ironstone New Wool (varigated jewel tones)

These are so very very 80s. Except that in the 80s, they would have been mass-produced out of some polyester crap, and these are snuggly warm and wooly.

I felt very old the other day because I was knitting at lunch, and the guy at the coffee shop asked what I was working on, so I told him legwarmers and made some dorky joke about the 80s being back. He made a reply about the weather that didn't make much sense to me. Then I realized he was too young to remember legwarmers, Jane Fonda and Get in Shape Girl, as he was probably not yet born in this original heydey of legwarmers. Sigh.

I am swearing off K1, P1 rib for a while. Those were really wearing on me toward the end.

I'm going to be making some template changes here in the new future. I'm not a fan of the generic template I'm using right now, and it seems to have some cross browser style issues over there in the sidebar, so I'm going to clean things up and build myself a real website, complete with WittyKnits theme. For now, I've cleaned up my projects lists a bit, and added [pic] links to the completed ones.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Thanks to my secret Pal again!

On Saturday, I had a package from my secret pal. Inside was a container of Burt's Bees Lemon cuticle cream (mmmmm....) a copy of KnitLit (yay!) and a lovely handknit cowl (or funnel--I understand the email from Friday now!)

As it is hard to take a good photo of oneself, we shall make do with this mediocre one:



It's pink! And fuzzy! My two favorites! :-)
What you can't tell from this photo is that there is a lovely little bit of green every so often in the yarn which is very cool.

Secret Pal--can you enlighten me on what this yarn is? I love it!

Overdue photos

The second afghan square, which I finished last week. Here is a picture:

Once again, if you're my sister, you're not going to want to click this link.

Also, since it's officially been rejected, my capelet photo. I plan on making this pattern available for sale in the first batch of patterns I offer, so let me know if you are interested. It's knit on size 8 needles in Mission Falls Cotton.

Here she is. Her name is Cricket.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Well, poo.

I got rejected by knitty this morning, for my capelet pattern which I submitted for the spring issue. The editor did at least call it "really sweet."

Somehow it consoles me a little that it took so long this time--maybe I was really close this time?

I guess I have one more pattern for when Witty Knits goes live now. :-)

I'll post the photos later. Now that they are no longer top secret I can put them up on my photo hosting space.

I also will have photos soon of my mom's birthday gift (which I mailed off last night having forgot to photograph first!) and the second Great American Afghan square. I have been busy lately and haven't had a chance to take the photos as I finish.

I also wrote a whole big long post yesterday, only to have blogger eat it. So that too will be reconstructed soon.

Edit: Now the post is suddenly back. Blogger isn't playing nice with me today!

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Miscellany...photos soon.

Lots of stuff done, but no photos yet, for a variety of reasons.

Got the second square of the Great American Aran Afghan done this weekend, and will post a picture tonight hopefully. Also finished my mom's birthday gift, and then promptly wrapped it and packaged it up to mail off, forgetting entirely to take a photo first (though I did at least remember to sew a tag in). Will have to have her send me a photo when she gets it.

On the orange cardigan, I have still not tried washing the yarn, though I appreciate the responses I got. It does seem to have relaxed a bit just due to normal handling, but if it doesn't look normal when I'm done, I think I'll sew a bit of trim on over it. I'm not scared of putting Cotton Ease through my sewing machine, and if I can find the right trim, it will look good with the eyelet detailing at the top of the pattern too. I've got my 14" of body done on this, and will start the sleeves just as soon as I finish my second legwarmer, thereby freeing up my size 8 bamboo dpns.

Yes, yes, I realize I should have washed that up, but I'm terrible when it comes to avoiding frogging. I hate ripping anything out, and have been doing quite a bit on the afghan, so I can't bear to do it on just straight stockinette!

Have heard rumors that there are actually two shops opening in Columbus in the wake of Wolfe's demise. The Knitter's Mercantile is rumored to be opening in Pickerington as a bricks & mortar store, and then I've heard a second rumor that someone is reopening a shop in Wolfe's building. And I've heard The Yarn Shop on Kenny is expanding, so perhaps they'll start carrying more yarns that I actually love (like Rowan! and Silk Garden!) and I won't have to order online.

Still have the yarnmarket gift certificate. I need to spend that before it wears a hole in my pocket. I'd like to get something to coordinate with the Noro Shinano I bought in Massachusetts since I am likely one ball short for a shell, but it's hard to match those colors without being right in front of the yarn while you're doing it.

Still waiting on two more balls of kidsilk haze for Carlotta. That will get swatched up soon, but I don't plan on working on it too much until fall, just because it will kill me if I finish it and can't wear it right away! I also forgot to get size 3 dpns for the sleeves, and I *must* have Brittanies for that.