No more gift knitting till next year

The Red Sox Socks I'm giving to my friend are finito.I'm over my sock anxiety. This is a good thing since I have some sock stash yarn waiting for me. But that will have to wait. I'm off and running on the Tilted Duster from IK's Fall 07 issue. I'm using Berroco Peruvia in Sea Turtle. I swatched it up last night and got the correct gauge on the first try on Size 10 needles.
I casted on this morning and mid-way through finishing the upper back. A pretty quick knit so far and it's looking good.
If I didn't knit up my last cardigan in gray I probably would've chosen a gray shade for this one. I love green, but not sure about this green. There's a bit of gold in it that I didn't catch before and not sure if this will suit me. On the other hand, how can I go wrong with Oakland Athletics colors?

Second time around

Back in August or September I started one sock. It's twin never saw the light of day. It came out wonky and huge. I felt defeated, gave up, and moved on to other projects. Since this is a Christmas gift I'm on a knitting deadline now. I frogged the unfortunate sock last weekend and made myself knit it over. I am halfway done with the second sock. I notice myself slowing down with the 2nd sock and dragging it out. I would love to learn how to knit 2 socks on circular needles at the same time. It wouldn't take me 5 months to finish a pair of socks.

I HAVE to stay away from yarn shops

Purchase overload!!!I walked into the Yarn Boutique in Lafayette intending to only buy 2 skeins of Shibui sock yarn and check out the Berocco Peruvia colors for Interweave Knits' Tilted Duster. That's all. I couldn't help myself. They had just got in a huge stock of Peruvia in every color. I fell for the Sea Turtle colorway and purchased it...and the sock yarn...and more sock yarn. Wow. I guess I'm making socks.

The blue Handmaiden Sea Silk yarn on the bottom I received via UPS today also. It's for the Montego Bay scarf from the IK Summer 2007 issue.

Gosh I love green. I can't seem to steer myself away from it.

Anyone have a clue on how I can sprout 2 more sets of arms and hands so I can start all these projects at the same time?! I can't decide on what to start next! These are all selfish purchases BTW. It's all for me me me! Well, except one pair of socks if all goes well.

I thought it was done

Juliet has become a work in progress again.

It's been sitting in my closet for over a month, unworn because I wasn't happy with the results. The armholes were ginormous. I seamed them up and it looks much better now. It finally has the cap sleeve effect that I've seen in other Juliets.

I'm not loving the buttons either. When I find buttons I like better I'll change them out.

Foliage Version 2.0

I made a few modifications inspired by a cute slouchy hat I found at Old Navy the other day. It was chunky with a soft brim. I think it was crocheted, but I had to figure out how to make a knit version.

Modifications:

• Knitted double stranded for chunky Foliage version.
• Added brim. After looking at knitted hat patterns with a brim I settled on using knitty.com's Topi brim.
• Repeated leaf pattern 2.5 times (instead of 2 for chunky version) to make a bit slouchy.

I'd like it to be a bit slouchier and maybe blocking it will do the trick. The brim is a bit thick and should have knit it single stranded. It's not exactly how I wanted it to turn out but close enough. As much as I love Malabrigo, this colorway isn't the best for the lace pattern.

I suppose I have no excuse now to not work on gift knitting. Back to working the socks. Maybe after I make more fingerless mitts with the extra Malabrigo left over.

Selfish Knitteritis

I couldn't resist. I have to make one for my own noggin before I start Christmas gift knitting. I've been thinking about not knitting as many gifts this year because I had a flash back of this time last year. I was literally knitting during every free minute I had and my head was spinning. To my knowledge I know that everyone I made gifts for loved what I made them but mannnn...it became too much. I know it's poor planning on my part knitting last minute but that's just how I work, dammit. I don't think about knitting for other people until the end of the year because I'm too busy making stuff for myself. =)

Alrighty...gonna get a move on and work on my Foliage. I'd like to make one modification to it. I don't want to mention what it is to avoiding jinxing and botching my idea.

Quick Mitts

I can't believe I got a pair of fingerless mittens out of 92 yards of Malabrigo left over from Foliage and there's still a yard or two left. It fits snug on my hands because I should've used size 7 needles instead of size 6, but I think for the recipient it should fit perfectly.

One Christmas gift done...more to go.

Like a Plum Tree

Except on my head!I can't say enough good things about Knitty's Foliage hat pattern and mmmmMalabrigo yarn. The combination makes me happy.=) It reminds me of my big plum tree in my backyard. Unfortunately I have to part with this. I decided I'd get some Xmas knitting out of the way early. The lucky recipient better love Foliage as much as I do.

Loops and Buttons

Woo. Finished.

Love love love Artfibers

Last weekend I took a continental style knitting class at Artfibers in San Francisco. Their 3-hr workshops are very reasonably priced. Amy was the instructor for the 4 person class and she was super patient and very helpful with any questions we could come up with. She kept encouraging us to ask more. The 3 hours went by so fast! I got the hang of continental knitting but still a bit slow at it. Getting the right tension will take some practice. I'll eventually get my rhythm.

Of course I bought some yarn to practice what I learned. No way I was leaving Artfibers empty handed. I purchased a cone of Ming (half silk/half merino wool) in a bright teal color and a ball of Bambusa (97% bamboo/3% silk) in a mossy green. Bambusa is soooooo soft that I'm considering making another Juliet Cardigan out of it. They were out of the color I wanted so I'm waiting for them to notify me when their next shipment comes in.

I'm do plan on taking some more classes at Artfibers again and learning more techniques.

Juliet is almost finished

Sorry for the crap photo...gray on gray blue doesn't work well.

All it needs are buttons. I'm headed to SF this weekend for a knitting class at Artfibers and afterwards I want to go to Imagiknit to find buttons. Last I saw they had a cute collection of them. Can't wait to start wearing this by next week. I'll have better photos to post by then.

In the meantime, I'm going to get going on the next project.

Juliet: 2nd time around

Sheesh. I don't have very much luck with picking out the correct size. Not sure if it's the patterns, the raglan style, or me. Probably all three...the latter more than anything.

I didn't think starting the lace pattern right after binding off the sleeves would've looked flattering for my chest size. Instead, I started the lace pattern right under my chest. I'm hoping I made the correct choice.

I'm 3 lace repeats in. I'll decide what to do after 3 more repeats...stop or move on. We'll see how it goes. I'm so anxioius to get done. I'm taking longer than I wanted to work on this. I have some other little projects I want to get my hands on. I'm really tired of the feel of cotton fleece.

Sizing raglans are a bitch!

Juliet was coming along nicely until I tried it on 10 minutes ago. Hmmm....I'm seriously thinking about ripping it back. The sleeves are gigantic and I feel that it's knitting up too big for me. You think after knitting 2 raglan patterns from the same designer that I'd know this already. So frustrating. I'm scared that it may come out smaller than I want if I do go one size down and I'll have a fit (knitting and PMS...not a good combo). I'll sleep on this. I'll decide tomorrow.

I Couldn't Wait

This is the first few rows of my Juliet cardigan. I had to start it last night. I now have 3 WIPs on the needles. I'm usually not this bad. I like to finish a project before I start another. I'm still working on the Filigree scarf and I need to partially rip out the Red Sox Sock and figure out what went wrong at the heel. I got bored with the scarf. I haven't made a scarf since the beginning of the year. I did get the hang of the lace pattern after repeating it tons of times. It's very pretty but it was killing me. It's one of those projects I can keep in my purse and pull it out to work on every once in awhile when I have nothing else to do.

I waited a week before I casted on Juliet. That's as long as I could handle. I received the pattern for my birthday from Bubba's aunt last weekend. I squealed inside so as not to let his other family members feel bad since I didn't want to be overly excited about showing how much I LOOOOVED the knitting stuff she gave me (not that I didn't like what others gave me because I did and I'm very appreciative...but ya know..it's knitting stuff!!). =)

I REALLY want to love this cardigan when I'm done. I'm way too excited about making it and I don't want to be disappointed. The only thing that concerns me is the size I chose. I've done 2 other Zephyr Style top patterns and I've always had to go down a size or two. I did the same with Juliet and *crossing my fingers* I hope it comes out fine. Fortunately I'll be able to try this on as I knit it. This will be an incredibly fast knit since it's a chunky yarn pattern. If I like it I may have time to make a second in a different yarn and color.

How Dashing!

I forgot to mention I finished Bubba's Dashing fingerless gloves last week.

They are much longer and snug than the Fetching gloves I made for myself. I don't know if the snugness is due to the yarn not being as stretchy or the small gauge. I'd like to make another one of these gloves for myself but I have too many future projects in mind that I'd like to start. I'll get another Dashing on the needles eventually. OHHHH but wait, I wanted to make the Mermaid Fingerless gloves too. SEE? Too many projects. Moving on...

It's Official

I fucking hate knitting lace patterns. Absolutely hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. For real.


I'm working on my filigree scarf with the yarn I purchased from Artfibers in SF. I was doing just fine until I lost concentration about 3 inches in. Bah! I'm the only one who'll care or notice the mistakes but it's still annoys me to no end trying to figure out how I screwed up. I know I'm not that far into the scarf but I'm not the kind of knitter that will frog and start over unless I've really messed things up.

I got a surprise thank you gift from my brother and his girlfriend for dog sitting for them back in July. =) A tote bag from knitty.com!!!


It was very thoughtful of them. Do they know me or what?!

I also found myself at Imagiknit yesterday. Fortunately I found parking a block away uphill. I can never walk away empty handed! I purchased enough yarn to make the Juliet cardigan. I chose Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Slate Charcoal.

I nearly had a heart attack getting back to my car but this store is worth it. I totally forgot to look at the button section there before I left. Then again, it'll be an excuse to go back to pick out yarn for the Trapeze cardi. I'm always thinking ahead when it comes to the next project. =)

New month*New season*New knitwear!

Happy September! I don't know what it is but I keep finding new patterns that I love. The gals at Zephyrstyle.com sent me an email about their new Juliet cardigan pattern. I think I'm in love with it. It's tooooo cute. I must knit it. NOW!
Well, not now but it moved up to the top of my knitting queue. It doesn't look like a difficult pattern and it can be modified to your liking - long or short.
As soon as I finish my mermaid gloves (after knitting Bubba's Dashing gloves) I'm going to knit this baby up so I can get good use out of it in the fall. They suggest using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and knit it double stranded. I may substitute different bulky yarn so I don't have to knit it double stranded. I'm not very good at substituting yarn though.

*Progress Report*

Fingerless gloves for Bubba:I used Knitty's "Dashing" pattern for the large size. It looks like a blue tree trunk. Looks better worn because it shows off the cable pattern.

Red Socks for a friend:

Only got through my first ever sock. I don't like the heel. There seems to be too much material there and I don't know what happened. The foot seems gigantic too. Hmph. I'll have to figure it out with the second sock and make some modifications if I can.

Erin and I left today's A's game early and she took me to an amazing yarn store in the SF financial district of all places. It's called Artfibers. There's a lot of yarn in that small shop, but you couldn't tell by how well organized the place is. The yarn is beautiful and high quality. The pricing is quite reasonable too. I walked away with only one cone of lovely 100% tussah silk and will transform it into a Kira K (store manager at Artfibers) lace scarf design.

That's all for now. After I get all my instant gratification projects out of the way I'll get started on Juliet. I keep forgetting I want to learn to crochet though. I'll fit that in sometime.

Start of Something Red

My first sock...

...and hopefully I will make it to the second sock.

LotW: Finished

This is the most exquisite thing I've made to date. I kinda love it. Here's the finished product unblocked: I decided on some shell buttons over plastic. It works.
It's a simple feather and fan pattern but it turned out wonderful.

Yummy Bowl of Yarn

I've got some work to do!

Lake of the Woods: So close!

It's slow at work (finally!). I whipped out my LotW capelet to secretly knit the last few rows. Turns out I can't knit the last 6 rows until I get home because it calls for a smaller needle size. ARGH!

I also need to find pretty buttons to sew on. I'm so picky it will probably take me forever to decide on something I like.

1/2way there?

I just got my second batch of yarn from kpixie.com in the mail today...

...and I totally lucked out! The skeins are from the same lot number as my first two skeins!!

I was so worried that the there would be a big color difference with skeins from a different lot. This would result in me not liking the finished product and never wearing it. I prefer to knit things that I'd get a lot of wear out of.

Lake of the Woods Progress

It's coming along nicely. I'm not sure if I got gauge but it seems to be working fine.
Closer look:
Problem: I have to purchase 2 more skeins to finish. I only need 1/4 of one of those skeins. You know how much each skein of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb costs?! This is my most pricey project yet. =/ Holy crap.

Is gauge really THAT important?

I'm dragging my feet starting my next project...this capelet:Yes, a capelet. Not a poncho. You tell me otherwise or I'll...I'll cry? I refused to buy, wear, or knit myself a poncho when they were the "in" thing a year or two ago. Why? I don't know...it got to be too trendy that I started to not like them.

But anyway...I'm using beautiful yarn, Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb in Mineshaft.

It has been in my stash since I bought it at Stitches West earlier in the year. It was intended for a 2nd Clapotis but decided I'll never knit another one again. My problem is that it's a slightly different weight than what the pattern calls for. I'm not getting the correct gauge or anywhere close to it. BAH! It's so frustrating. So here I go...off to make my 3rd swatch.

Stitch N' Pitch: IN OAKLAND!!!

Oakland A's finally got a clue that knitters love baseball too. It just got added to the promotion schedule! I found out about it through Ravelry (best site ever!!!). What's even more awesome is that Stitch N' Pitch in Oakland will be on my birthday! YAY! You don't have to guess where I'll be that day.

Save the Planet Market Tote

I found this pattern through Ravelry.com which led me to The Purl Bee website. It's was a great way of using up an almost full skein of Cotton Fleece that was used for Rusted Root. This is my first bag. It was also my first time making an i-cord in a project.The pattern introduced me to the kitchener's stitch which is used to seam the i-cord together to make the handles of the tote. I royally screwed up the seaming. I looked up tutorials but didn't have the patience to figure it out correctly. I just wanted to finish knitting. As you can see, it stretches a lot so you can fit a good amount of groceries (or whatever) in there. The only problem I see using this is that I can only fit things that are as wide as the top of the tote. In other words, I don't think I'd be able to squeeze a full sized box of cereal through the top. I rushed through attaching the i-cord to the top of the bag and didn't space each stitch enough (does that even make sense?). Ugh. I'll know what not to do next time.

Rusted Root Completed

Started Re-knitting: April 28, 2007
Finished: July 14, 2007
Materials: A little over 4 skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, Size 6 ciruclars for body, Size 4 circulars for finishing

I actually finished it weeks ago in June, but didn't weave in the ends until today. It's a bit fitted for my "curvy" body. When I block it I hope I can stretch out some parts where I need it. I've never worked with cotton before so I'm not sure if it will work.

I'm trying to figure out what to make to use up that last skein. I looked up some projects in Ravelry.com and I think I'm going to make a grocery tote bag...doing my part to help the environment.

Speaking of Ravelry.com, check it out. I was invited to the community a month ago and you can see other knitter's projects and get ideas on one site. Pretty neat.

Knitting Hiatus

I really don't have a good excuse for not updating lately but I do have a lot of excuses. :) The weather has been getting warm and last thing I want to do is knit. I lost the knitting bug when I left for Vegas last month. I've been working on my Rusted Root sweater on and off. More off than on though. I try to bring it wherever I go in case I have some time to work on it. It didn't really work. Last week I spent so much time on BART going to the ballgames and I brought it to 3 of the 4 games. I didn't touch it at all except when I pulled it out of my bag and threw it in the back seat of my car when I realized I was carrying too much in my bag. 2/3 of a sweater and a skein of yarn takes up a lot of room! My goal is to finish before July. That's not too bad, right?

I f*cked up!

I f*cked up!
Originally uploaded by Filipina Sakura.

This morning I woke up thinking about the progress I'm making and that this sweater hasn't given me any trouble. I wanted to do some more rounds before I have to get ready to go out.

A few minutes ago I came to the sad realization 45 rounds into the pattern that I missed the M1 stitch before the lace pattern. I frickin' effing f*cking messed up sooooooo bad. It's not so bad just looking at it but knowing me it'll bug me forever if I keep going.

I'm trying to not go running through the house screaming. Instead I want to cry.

Back to the start...

*Update*

I DID go run through the house screaming. Then I flopped on my bed and had a temper tantrum like a teenaged girl who had her cell phone taken away. The cotton fleece is all ripped out. Bah.

*Update No. 2*

After reading the SKC blog, I found out I was wrong about where that M1 stitch is supposed to go. It actually goes somewhere else. I'm such a knitting rookie and so thankful for the tips I've found in KALs.