So much yarn, so VERY much wrong...

Okay, how many things can you find wrong with this picture (from the recent Harriet Carter catalog)??



Whoever finds the most things wrong gets a Genuine No-Prize!

New project, starting Thursday.

The Resolutions 2009 Group on Ravelry is throwing a Socktoberfest (!!), and I have this lovely orange yarn I got from Fibre Space, so I'm designing some Pumpkin Vine socks for them. Not sure if I'm actually going to have any green over-stitching with it - probably not. But I may do a multicolor version later!!




Have I mentioned I love the fact that my ancient (in computer years) DigiStitch program actually works really well for graphing out knitting patterns? If I sketch something out on knitting graph paper (to make sure the proportions are right), I can then draw it in the program so I can actually see which many stitches what takes. This is a screen shot of Take I of the Pumpkin Vine Socks. I'm looking forward to Thursday, so I can start knitting them (assuming I finish another project from The List in the next two days, that is)!

We interrupt this blog for this important announcement...

Okay, so I have been finishing things, yay!

Here is the Thursday Night version of my lovely phoenix:


... and here it is, FINISHED!! (This is exciting. I started this in 2006.)

Yaaaay!!! I think I got the bird placed just perfectly on the hand-dyed cloth - it really looks luminous (more so in person; my phone camera really isn't made for this sort of thing). The eye and beak are clear iridescent beads attached with the same yellow thread as the rest of the bird. Also, must note that this was a September finish, which is why my UFO count for September seemed to go down more that you otherwise might have thought. But hey - it's DONE!

My favoritest kitty.

This is my favorite simple canvas I've ever done, because of the subject matter. She looks just like the kitty that raised me. (Seriously. My mom & dad were there, too, but I always felt like I was disappointing the cat when I got in trouble. Mostly because she was the one who ratted me out to my parents. She had That Look down pat. Her name was Co Kim Wat ("Miss Blue Eyes"), and even though it's two decades since she crossed the Rainbow Bridge, I still miss her.)





Started the 9th; finished the 11th. Couldn't put the little darling down. No specialty stitches in this one, but I changed her eyes to metallic filament (they really pop!), changed her fur to Seal-Point Siamese (as opposed to Rag Doll), changed the colors of the blanket and the background so I liked them better, and left off the "ties" on the "quilt". But hey, no specialty stitches!!

I got a pretty little needs-a-5"x5"-needlework-insert wooden box years ago. Haven't put anything in it, because I didn't like anything I'd done enough, until now. Kitty is my new box top!

Soft Fuzzy Wallpaper

This week, some wallpaper for you.

Want a soft fuzzy knitted background? I have some close-ups of my Knotty or Knice socks! Right click and choose "set as background"/Stretch on whichever you'd like. I'm going to try to get some ultra-high resolution pics as well; I'll link those when I get them, but I like the slightly blurry of the smaller, less detailed photo. It looks soft, and is very soothing. I like the darker one better, but your choice will probably depend on what sort of icons (dark or light) you tend to have on your desktop.



Ta!

Shiny leaves and other things

I celebrate fall by putting shiny holographic leaf stickers on my netbook:


... and by taking photos of leafprints on the car.


I love Fall. It means the Season of No Allergies is just around the corner!

Field Trip!!

So, a few weeks back, I discovered Fibre Space. Rather, someone tweeted something about it, I happened to read it and realized it was Not That Far Away. By the end of that day, I had a map, and had promised my husband 5 Guys hamburgers for dinner if he'd go on a field trip with me. Turns out, the store is REALLY easy to get to from the King Street Metro - either walk, or take the Free Trolley that conveniently drops you at the corner the shop is on. See?


We found it pretty quickly...


The Storefront


Closeup. Cool mannequins, eh?
Needless to say, I ran amok inside. I'll be coming back with one of the better cameras (if not The Good Camera) to get better photos of the interior. Let me say: I LOVE the way this store is laid out. Bulky yarn is all Here; then you move in a clockwise manner, finally reaching the laceweight, which is over There. And it's arranged by color, to boot. I've never had such an easy time finding what I wanted in a yarn store!! Some had to follow me home. Hm, I need better pictures of this too. Anyway, three skeins of laceweight and two skeins of sock yarn came home with me.


The yarn looks out, sadly, from the 5 Guys window at its former home.
Relocation after relocation: such is the cross that yarn must bear.
I really do have to get back there to get better pics. Really. I know there are fine photos on the Fibre Space website and all, but, um, I need to get some of my own? I'm not going back just because of the yarn.

And if you believe that, I've got a lovely bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale, cheap...

Must rethink my strategy.

Okay, so I'm going to have to give up on actually getting anything done for Level I during the weekends. I just moved up to Defcon 2 on my Allergy Shots on Saturday morning, and that took the rest of the weekend away. So, really, I'm going to try to go home and do SOMETHING tonight, since the weekend thing is clearly not working for me.

I really, really want something positive to report next week!

Finished Item: Knotty or Knice Knee Socks

So, in order to stay on track with an average of three started projects off the list per month, I needed to finish six in August, since July had none. By the start of the final week of August, I'd finished the Comfy Bedsocks, the Dream Swatch Head Scarf for the Lovely L, The Simple Bedsocks (pattern forthcoming, I swear), and my Rainbow Mist wimple/smoke ring. So, by Tuesday morning, I needed to finish up two more things. Any two things would do, as long as they got a number Off The List. At that time, I had two socks at this stage:


Because I am delusional, I thought I'd have those socks finished by Monday, the 31st. That, as you can guess (if you don't already know), didn't happen. By the start of the month, they were here:




It's a bit of a trick to take a picture of one's own leg from the toe, but I managed. Hand shook, though, so it's blurry... but hey, my calves don't look massive like they tend to in knee-down shots!! Anyway, the socks went on, and I did finally finish them on Monday night, whilst watching the new Leno show. Or possibly I was going to stay awake until they were done, so I might as well watch Leno... Anyway, here they are!






It's three balls of Patons Kroy sock yarn, plus four or so rows of Sanguine Gryphon "Theseus & the Minotaur" kit leftovers, since I ran out of grey. But I wanted knee socks that actually stayed up, and these actually do! Yay for decreasing! Yay for that cool "knit six rows, knit a purl row, knit six rows, cast off whilst attaching to inside sock at bottom of first row" way to end a toe-up sock! Yay for finished, nice-looking Knotty or Knice knee socks!!

I also managed to at least draw the marks-to-follow on my little quilted chessboard (I hope you can tell from these grainy photos). The top one just shows the quilting; in the bottom one, I've started to wrap the stitches on the non-chessboard side, so the outline of the Christmas Tree (and planter, and three stars) will really show up on that side, and not really be visible on the chessboard side. Whee! That's the plan, anyway; we'll see if it works.




And I learned to iron shirts, since I had the iron out anyway on Wednesday night. Not really a "craft", but definitely a skill, and one that I don't really have just yet. Also fixed a buttonhole, another new thing.

I've started lugging Clapotis around with me everywhere again. If I could just finish the second ball of yarn, I'd feel like I was actually making progress, but even if I dig into the ball as far as I can (without hurting the yarn), the third ball still isn't visible. How the heck long is "400 yds", anyway??

I've also pulled my Phoenix cross-stitch off its Q-Snaps; now that I'm on the final color (but for the eye and the beak), it's way the heck faster to stitch in-hand. I've started the Mystery Project for my mother, and it's almost time to dig into the rampaging pile of UFOs to find things I can finish quickly. I need three more finishes this month to stay on track. Yikes!! This shot is with all the orange finished, as of Wednesday night several weeks ago.


Hopefully, I'll have another finish to show you soon!

One of Those Days

Ever have one of those days? I think I'm having one. You see, I like harness boots. A lot. Enough so that I have several pairs (half a dozen, probably, if I could track them all down). Two of them are square-heel, broad-toe black ankle boots. Here is one boot of each pair:


As you may have guessed, everything was fine this morning until I tried to put on the second boot. Which worked (I have a really high arch), but wasn't really comfortable. Yep, I was wearing two right-foot boots.


I gave up and put on my trainers instead. Which wound up being a good thing, because it gave me incentive to walk in to work the long way, and then down to the water, where I sat and knitted for a much-needed twenty-minute break. Yay!

Stay tuned for tomorrow - there will be LOTS of pictures of a really lovely project, with versions knitted by folks all over the world!

Practical Skills Application

So, on my honeymoon in Fargo, North Dakota (yeah, you read that right), I was able to talk my shiny new husband into dropping by Nordic Needle, an amazingly wonderful cross-stitch/hardanger store. (Yeah. He actually went WITH ME needlework shopping ON OUR HONEYMOON. I totally had to marry him.) I got a lovely little hardanger kit, a photograph of which continues to elude me. However, during the learning-of-hardanger, I also got really good at buttonhole stitch for the edging of things. Until last night, however, I had never used this skill on an ACTUAL BUTTONHOLE. But now, I have:


And, whilst trying to find a photo of the elusive First Hardanger Project, I went to my other craft blog (craftygryphon.livejournal) and looked at some of my lovely cross stitch finishes from the last few years. I really do finish stuff, and it really does turn out well. The thing that amazed me? Of the 12 things pictured on the first page, 5 were for other people. I don't think of myself as ever making things for other people, but I guess I do. Huh. (Anyway, there's more than just the first page there; hit "go earlier" at the bottom for more. Many pretties!)

My favorite is a thread doodle I did in 2004 - as in no chart, just sorta winging it as I went... it came out great, and if I find it again, I'm totally putting it in Woodlawn. It's in my house, somewhere...!


Also rediscovered, to my amusement, a 2003 post from a knitblog I was doing "for practice." (Of writing regularly? Of HTML? No clue.) I didn't actually get a blog for two more years, but I'd been practicing my code in advance, it seems. So, April-ish, 2003, is when I started becoming a Knitter. Neat! And in May, getting Kelly Clarkson's first album was, evidently, key. Man, that really doesn't scream "six years ago" to me - time is really flying!

Coolest find that I'd forgotten I had, though, was a pic of me and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot, when she was on tour a few years back. She's holding Cup-o-Shawl, which eventually became the Lilly of the Valley shawl from Lace Style. Yay!


Actual knitting content will return shortly. Probably tomorrow. Thank you for your patience!!

Um... where are my knitting needles again?

WEEK 14: I got nothin'.

Since I have no actual TKGA knitting content to share with you (that hasn't already been shared), I declare the first half of September "completely useless for knitting what I'm supposed to knit" and give you this Wednesday's things-that-aren't-craft-related post, instead, just so you'll have SOME pictures after last week...

There I was, minding my own business, when I saw this - the wanton destruction of a perfectly healthy tree near the hospital.


The next day, not one, but TWO tree stumps were left:


... and the day after that, it was as if they'd never been there at all.


Poor little trees.

Today, I am the UFO...

Home sick today with what I'm hoping turns out to be a really, really mild flu. I've got the NyQuil list of symptoms right now, so as long as nothing from the Pepto commercial adds on, I should be fine by Monday. Hopefully, next week's blogging will be much more exciting reading for all y'all.

I'm actually too tired to knit. How sad is THAT?!?

YoT - minus the yarn

Wow, early September is busier than I thought it would be. I haven't actually touched yarn since last Friday... but, important info:

September is National Sewing Month!

Craft Snark

CraftyCrafty's guide to Craft Snark Sites. As someone who owns the Stitchy McYarnpants book, I appreciate good-humored craft snark. Heaven knows, some of the stuff I adore making is quite snarkable, but I love it anyway.

Art Gallery - Go See!

Very hectic here; may be a few days before I post anything that isn't really fast. Must, however, direct you to my friend A's online Gallery Show of some of her truly AMAZING embroidery. (Also viewable at Meet Me in the Day Room, along with more.)

Not the usual embroidery subjects, which make it even cooler!

Mark your calendars!

DC-area folk, mark your calendars, this could be fun!

Art on the Avenue - Saturday, October 3, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. "Art on the Avenue is a multi-cultural arts festival celebrating our community's diversity through the arts in the Potomac West area in Alexandria, Virginia. Over 300 vendors and 40,000 visitors attend."

Also: The Original Sewing and Quilt Expo, Chantilly,Virginia at the Dulles Expo Center October 1-3, 2009. Hours are 10:00am-6:00pm Thursday & Friday. 10:00am-5:30pm Saturday.

(Um. I guess I need to play hooky from work on the 2nd, because I MUST be at Art on the Avenue on the 3rd. GW Middle School thespians are doing selected scenes from "Myth Adventures" in the afternoon...)

Oh, and on the UFO front... I think I have another one about to go on The List. Darn you, A. C. Moore, for getting a new shipment of mini-canvas kits in!

Yarn on Thursday: Why Not Iron?

So, after drooling over the lovely Westinghouse ThermoColor Iron, I realized that I don't really iron. Even when I quilt, I tend to finger-press my seams. The only things that I ever really need to worry about laying flat are the things I knit. But you don't iron knitting. Then I paused: Why shouldn't I iron my knitting? I only know that I shouldn't, because Everyone Says So, but why? There are a lot of different opinions on the subject, for certain. Lots of people feel that iron + knitting = HORRIBLE BAD DON'T EVER EVER EVER, but without solid backup as to "why not?"


Sarah Peasley steam blocks some knits. About.com has the following to say:

Different knitters use different techniques when it comes to steam blocking. Some people stretch and pin their work to the desired shape before steaming, using the steam to help set the new shape. Others steam first and then pin, allowing the steam to relax the fibers and make it more pliable.

The method you use may depend largely on the flexibility of the knitting. If you can get it into shape without the steam, pin first. If not, steam and then pin.

The steaming method involves slightly dampening a clean sheet or other piece of fabric and placing it over the knitting. Use a hot iron to press very lightly on the sheet. Don't press like you are actually ironing, you're just pushing the steam through the sheet and into the knitting. Continue this process until the sheet is dry.

You can also steam block without a protective layer of fabric. Just set your iron on steam and wave the iron slowly over the knitting, being careful not to touch the work with the iron. Then pin if necessary and leave to dry.

So, it's all got something to do with the flexibility of the knitting? And an iron should never actually touch knitting? So, no one ever does, that's it?

Clearly, some people do, and it's a good way to lose a sweater sleeve. (As an aside on that little tiny post, you should check out the AMAZING yarn-needed plug-in-the-numbers table that you can use. I've bookmarked it, myself!)

And some people really shouldn't. Did you know corn melts? I didn't. But it does, so don't iron it. Wash it; dry it; don't iron it. (The important note there is "if you're going to do it to the finished article, do it to your gauge swatch." Wash it. Dry it. Iron it. Run it over with a herd of angry daschunds. But find out what's going to happen to the completed item BEFORE you start.

A comment on a KnittingHelp thread said: "This article says that you should iron everything, but if you iron acrylic, even at a low temperature, you'll ruin the texture, so that however soft it was when you started, it will come out from under the iron feeling like a dish scrubbie. Acrylic doesn't benefit much from blocking, anyway, but if you do block it, you have to wash it (Unlike wool, acrylic can go through the machine) and then lay it (mostly) flat to dry.(A couple of folds to make it fit on the towel aren't going to hurt anything.) Don't iron it, and don't ever stick it in the dryer. If something is uncomfortably hot, then it's hot enough to ruin acrylic." Since I have the cheapest dryer Sears sold 10 years ago, with just "on" and "off", and I've been washing & drying my acrylic sweaters the whole time without any noticeable difference in softness, I dispute this. (Actually, I checked my poncho. It's softer.) Pilling happens like mad, but, thus far, I will state from personal experience that Red Hart Craft Yarn, Hokey-Pokey, and Caron Super-Soft will wash & dry if you don't think about it. Your results may vary.

So, you'd think you can't block acrylic, right? Wrong. Pat Stevens's method of blocking acrylic, shown over on sheeptoshawl.com, works just fine. The author notes that blocking acrylic is forever - unlike wool, which needs to be reblocked after washing, acrylic, once heated into its new shape, it's going to stay there, so you'd better get it right the first time.

Over on one of the many forums (at this point, I can't recall which), a comment about the sheer hell ironing a lace tablecloth would be in the following comment from OfTroy: "You don't iron them, you block them. Stretch them out (using blocking wires if you have them) or pin them them out if you don't.. and let them dry stretched. It used to be, hand laundries used to have huge frames for blocking curtains (knit or crocheted) and coverlets (again knit or crocheted) - I remember them from when i was a kid. The frame were adjustable, (thing of something like a canvas stretcher) and they had pins all round --think of frame made from something like carpet tack strips (the kind for wall to wall carpeting); the lace got mounted on the frame, and then stretched taunt to dry (in the sun light sometimes! out on the street, or up on the roof top) (things have changed so much in the past 50 years!--its amazing what my childhood memories contain!)" Wow. Big adjustable blocking frames - doesn't that sound cool??

Anyway, we now know that corn melts, and acrylic heat-sets permanently, based on personal testimony. What about wool? Well, come to find out, a lot of non-knitters take it to the dry cleaner, and they iron it, just carefully: "WOOL: Most should be dry-cleaned unless care label indicates otherwise. Wool scorches with too hot of an iron. Wool should be iron on the wrong side. To protect wool from moth larvae, be sure wool garments are clean when you store them." The expert opinions at Fashion-Lifestyle.net indicates that for wool, heat, and little agitation is the important thing. (We-all know this is because we don't want things to felt and/or shrink). AHA! FELTING!!

No, wait, there's a video of someone ironing felted stuff here. Hm. e-how.com - searching "iron + knit" gets this list. From there, we get... a nice little warning: "Always check the tag of the garment to ensure you know what you are planning to iron. Items made out of cashmere or silk should never be steam blocked since it can damage the sweater. Garments made out of wool can be accidentally felted if you're not careful." The bit about blocking knits gives some of the same warnings that have been disproven above; this one appears to be more comprehensive, and correct. Microwaving - well I hadn't thought about cooking my knitting.

So, I'm not getting the answers I want. After all, my iron has a WOOL setting. I have a bunch of "not good enough" swatches of Patons Classic Wool to play with. So, much to the amazement of my husband, I got out the iron and ironing board and played with some of the swatches. (When I ironed some of his shirts afterwards, he demanded to know who I was and what I'd done with his wife.)


Here are the results of Ironing My Knitting. I used my trusty little Sunbeam iron, first on a set of swatches without steam ("dry"), then with steam on the second set. (I did all the dry swatches first, of course.) The iron, on the "WOOL" setting, was applied DIRECTLY to the knitting - it wouldn't be "ironing" otherwise, and that's the whole point of this experiment. Care was used to smooth out the edges of each piece as well as the center (whether or not it worked), and there was no evidence of smoldering or burning.


You be the judge as to whether or not it's a good idea. Note: these swatches were ironed only, NOT blocked. Nary a pin has touched these little darlings!

Swatch	Before	After
stockinette, dry
stockinette, steam
garter stitch, dry
garter stitch, steam
cables, dry
cables, steam
lace, dry
lace, steam

Some side-by-side comparisons, so you can get a feel for just how much difference the steam made on the second set of swatches:


You can really see how steam flattens out the stitches. I think I've discovered why I can always tell store-bought mass-produced/machine-made cables from handknit - the big ol' manufacturing process irons their stuff before distribution. Store-bought cables are always flat looking; I'm gonna bet it's because they're actually pressed, and probably steam-pressed at that (although steam as you see, isn't necessary).


My vote? It's going to depend on the way you want your finished item to look. I think while I may *steam* things in the future, I will NOT be ironing; I want my handknit stuff to be fluffy-looking. Buy what the hey, try ironing a test swatch, and if you like the look (and it doesn't melt or catch fire), go for it.

Okay, now I know.
I can sleep tonight.