Malabrigio Heaven

August 23rd, 2006

Apparently this week is Pick-Up-Abandoned-Projects Week. I decided that I wanted to work some more on the Malabrigio Afghan, so I started with the orange that I bought for it. So far I’ve only got blue, orange, and purple (please don’t ask the color names), although eventually I plan to accrue quite a collection to create this colorful afghan.

This stuff is still as soft and heavenly as I remembered it.

I hate staring at that picture, because it emphasizes the uneven Vs that I detest in my knitting. I don’t think I can get rid of them without knitting looser(?). I’ve tried to read up and figure out how to get rid of them in your knitting, but it seems everywhere I read people say it usually is due to the yarn. Ha! No matter what yarn I use I get those stupid |/ shaped Vs.

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A Sea of Blue!

August 21st, 2006

I decided to pick up the No-Longer-Birthday-But-Now-Christmas-Shawl again, after a long period of not touching it at all. I was frustrated because I had messed up in the border pattern that I was doing, and wanted to avoid having to rip back. I’m glad I picked it up again, because I have a feeling this will be nice and comfy when I’m done.

I find myself really worried about whether or not my mom will like it. I don’t worry that she won’t appreciate the gift, because I know she will. She enjoys hand-made gifts, and has an appreciation for the time and effort involved. What I am worried about is that she’ll actually use it. The thought of someone just putting away to never touch a knitted gift I give them really makes me worried. I would even be happier if they gave the gift to someone for whom it would be more useful! That wouldn’t insult or upset me at all.

The pattern I’m doing for the edges is really simple, and I think it will add a nice touch to this very simple shawl. The image I’m showing is basically all there is to it, with just knit and purl stitches. The white squares are K on right side, P on wrong side, and the green squares are just the opposite. It’s a nice little basketweave, and I really like how it looks at the increases in the center that make the point. Unfortunately I don’t think my camera would do it justice to show a close-up of the stitching with such dark yarn.

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In Search of the Right Toe

August 18th, 2006

I completed on of the purple socks that I mentioned before, with the new toe idea I also mentioned. I must say that I’m not entirely happy with it. The only problem is that it creates a straight diagonal across my toes, and my toes curve. I don’t think it’s bad enough to rip out and do again, but they won’t be the most comfortable socks in the world.

It may take some time, but I’m determined to find the perfect toe for socks. I may need to attempt short row toes on my next socks. Until then, I need to suck it up and finish the second sock of these not-so-bad purple socks.

But hey, I must say that I loved working with this yarn. It’s quite soft, bright and nicely pliable. The only problem I had was one knot in each skein I’ve used so far. That’s a pain, but something I can deal with. I’m excited as well, because I’ll have a bit left when I’m done with both socks for this pair, and my scarf. I may be able to knit a small something for myself. Perhaps a nicely striped change purse! Hmm…

Oh yeah, and the stupid point in the big toe is because I fudged up grafting at the very end. It took me forever to fix it, but it still isn’t quite right. I couldn’t remember if it was K,P,P,K, or P,K,K,P. My stupid little Knitter’s Handbook didn’t explain grafting very well either.

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Color of the Day: Purple

August 16th, 2006

I finally decided to do both projects with the Sassy Stripes yarn. One pair of ankle socks, and my chevron scarf which was the reason I bought the yarn.

I had to knit the scarf with two strands so it was thick enough, and fit the width. It’s coming along nicely though, and I like how the two strands have created the stripes. As you can see, there’s a solid dark stripe, then a mottled dark stripe, then a solid one. The mottled stripe is when the two strands aren’t the same color at the same time. It’s coming along nicely!

I’ve noticed, one problem with this scarf is that it’s one sided. This isn’t really a problem, but just a drawback I suppose. I was considering putting a tassle, or sewing some sort of embroidery or pattern on the bottom and top edge of this scarf. It might make it look more straight and uniform.

Ahhh, and the new pair of socks. When this is finished, it will make three complete pairs of socks. I must say I love this really thin sock yarn. If I had made it earlier, I could have worn it this summer without too much problem (on those days when socks are even possible that is). I still have a problem with a big hole on each side of the heel from when I started the gusset. I need to find a way to get rid of that hole while I’m knitting, instead of trying to fix it later.

I have a feeling that since I didn’t do very much of a cuff, I might be able to fit a whole pair of socks on one skein. At the very least I’ll have enough left on the first skein to fit a good portion of the second sock.

I decided to attempt my idea for an uneven sock on this pair. It’s coming along alright so far, and seems to fit nicely to my foot. However, I’ve had to rip back to right before the toe because I need to add a few more rows to the foot. I didn’t make the foot long enough, so my toes feel a wee bit squished!

Basically what I’m doing for the toe is doing the decreases every row on one side, and on the other side only decreasing every four rows. I calculated that I had to decrease 52 stitches on 18 rows, so that seemed to work out right. We’ll see if it fits alright when I do the last toe row, and try it on before grafting. I can’t wait!! Oh, and the only problem that I can forseewith this idea, is that I may forget to make sure that I make one left and one right foot sock. It would be quite a silly thing to end up with two left or right feet!

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Not Actual Content

August 13th, 2006

So much knitting to write about, and so little time this weekend! So many pictures I could take, and new things I could write about…

Instead, I’ll divert your attention here: LibriVox 1 Year Anniversary Special 

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Fun With Printers

August 5th, 2006

I had a cool idea for storing small tips, or patterns. Well, I also wanted to play with my printer. I decided to print the instructions for a small knit flower (with two illustrative pictures) onto a 3×5 notecard. This I can easily insert into my notebook with the printouts of my completed projects.

Hmm, what else to print…

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