Uli's Creative Corner

Saturday Finished Object

It's Saturday afternoon.  Evan is watching a movie.  Erika is snoozing.  And I.......... well, I went upstairs to do a bit of stuff in my sewing room but first of all, I wanted to show off my latest finished object.    My Crystal Palace Whisper scarf.  However, the web publishing Gods aren't cooperating with me this afternoon and for some reason I can't get my picture uploaded to my server.  So a quick description will have to suffice until my computer cooperates.  I posted the start of it yesterday.  It's a great shade of blue.  It's a very narrow scarf.  Very, very soft.  I'm envisioning wearing it with a white blouse or turtleneck and some nice jeans.

I've been knitting but haven't been able to stay very long with any one project except for finishing the scarf.  So last night, I worked a bit on the socks.  I'm now working on the foot and questioning whether there will be enough yarn for the second sock.  I also worked a bit on the Tiny Top Down and I'm 5 rounds away from finishing the body.  I wound a hank for Earnshaw but didn't touch the actual knitting of it.  And I worked another triangle of the multidirectional scarf.  So bits of progress on a few things but nothing major to report.  I'm feeling pressure to finish all the little things.  Don't know why. 

I had some unexpected knitting hours yesterday afternoon.  Daycare called with concerns about Erika.  She was having a tough time coping and was complaining and crying in what appeared to be pain.  We suspected the start of the flu that's going around.  When I got her, she was quite happy to see me and she was not a sick kid in the afternoon.  We played and had fun.  Is she playing a game to make me come and get her and take her home?  I hope not.  Over night she was showing signs of the beginning of a cold though............. runny nose mostly.  Today we were out and at Future Shope where she would usually be H _ _ _ on wheels she just clung to me and was looking rather sickly and tired but that didn't show at home.  Whatever is going on....... I guess she's not 100%.

We bought a new microwave today.  It was long overdue and we had some Christmas money left over.

Time to hang out in my sewing room and at least clear off the table to be able to sew some log cabin blocks tomorrow.  We're invited out for dessert at some relatives' tonight.  I'm contemplating what knitting to take.  They'll laugh at me - as usual - when I walk in with my little knitting bag.  I get bored just sitting and talking though.  I like to keep my hands occupied.

Have a good one.

TGIF.................

Boy, did I ever have a good sleep last night.  Apparently it was stormy and we even had thunder.  I had no clue.  Took me a while to go to sleep but then I heard nothing else until this morning.  So I feel much, much better today.  Thanks for everyone's well wishes.

I've got some pictures to show you today:

I want to make my Mom a shawl for her birthday so I went to the LYS in search of a pattern and ended up coming home with this:

It's a hank of fleece artist "stuff" (forgive me, the hank is at home and I can't remember the yarn composition).  It's beautifully coloured, very soft stuff and the shawl pattern on the label is as simple as can be.  It should work up quickly.  One day I'll make Mom something fancier but I've got lots to do this year so I needed a fairly quick project.  The colours range from dusty roses to plums to light blues and golds and browns.  Very lovely.

Here are some progress shots:

The first 10" of Earnshaw:

The start of my Crystal Palace Whisper scarf:

Tiny Top Down Progress (the body is almost finished):

Tilting Blocks Socks: (now that I worked the heel flap, I'm starting to be much happier with them)

Nice projects?  I like them.  This pretty shows of my progress this week.  I didn't take another picture of the multi-directional scarf because it's just snaking along.  I still have quite a bit to go to finish.  I just had a thought......... I wonder what it would look like felted?  Hmmmmm.

Have a great weekend.  I need to get into my quilting project a bit this weekend.  Maybe cut back on the knitting just a wee bit.  I'm feeling my wrists a bit.

What a night..............  After work, Evan came home and suggested we go out and grab a bite to eat.  With Erika our bites to eat aren't fancy and we just went to a family type restaurant where kids eat free on Wednesday night.  I tried to make healthy choices but Evan also ordered a greasy appetizer.  So much for my healthy choices.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach so I ate a bunch of the appetizer.  My meal then turned out "just okay" - actually, it wasn't all that great.  I knew as soon as we left the restaurant that I was going to pay with an upset stomach (I don't handle fried things very well unless in small quantities).  Unfortunately, the worst of my upset tummy always hits at 2 am when I'm trying to sleep.  Last night was no different so I really didn't have a good sleep and today I'm tired, still a little queasy and kind of grumpy.

Ah well...... we'll get through the day.

I finished the first ball of yarn for Earnshaw.  Stil no pictures as I didn't get a chance to pull the camera out last night.  Now I have to first wind another skein before I keep going.  I never had any hanks of yarn until recently and now I've got hanks coming out of my ears.  So, will my life be a lot easier if my birthday wish for a ball winder and a swift come true?  Do you think it's a worthwhile purchase or should I just go invest in some more yarn instead and continue using the backs of two of my dining room chairs as a make shift swift and my own hands be the ball winder?  Just looking for some opinions and advice.

After we came home for dinner, I worked on the Tilting Blocks Socks a bit.  Now that I switched to my good old sharp metal needles, the patterning goes so much better.  I slipped the sock on and it seems like it's a good fit for my not so tiny ankles and legs but they seem big and wide and so it looks like the heel flap will be huge when I get there.  One more pattern repeat so I'm not giving up.  I'm going to see when I get there and the heel is turned whether I can achieve a reasonable fit or not.  I really am ready to just start another pair of basic socks with some of my nice Opal or other nice patterning sock yarns.

I think the time is coming near where I need to make good on my promise to knit a cardigan for my MIL.  It's in my sidebar as the chunky knit cardigan.  I think I need to give it a more clever name.  There had been a bit of confusion about who was going to pay for the yarn.  Well, not really confusion but a bit of "game playing" maybe.  I gave it as a gift and it was to include the yarn and knitting.  Then I half heartedly looked for some yarn and was trying to go really cheap - like Bernat Softee Chunky or a similar cheap yarn - I certainly couldn't find the Lion Brand Chunky locally that the pattern suggests.  Then my MIL was heading to CA and was going to scout out the Lion Brand yarn down there and said to me that she didn't expect me to bear the cost of the yarn.  Just knitting it would be present enough and if she found the right yarn, she'd buy it and bring it back.  She couldn't find it down there either but brought back the link to the Lion Brand web site.  Well, I know that's there, too.  She suggested that I could order the yarn and have it shipped to CA to avoid all the border stuff and she could bring it back during her next visit.  So that startled me a bit because now it sounds like I'm going to be buying the yarn again.  So I told her I wouldn't buy it through Lion Brand and that I'd find my own source for yarn.  So, I'm a little disappointed.  I don't think I want to knit with the really cheap yarn because it will frustrate me as the knitter and I want to hand over a nice product that will be well worn and enjoyed.  At the same time, I don't want to shell out huge amounts of money either.  But as I said, the time has come to face the music.  I gave it as a present not this past Christmas but the previous Christmas so the present is now over a year in the "thinking stages".  So yesterday I was looking at this yarn.  Anyone used it before?  I figured out the cardigan will still be $90Cdn but I figure I'm on the hook for anywhere between $80 if I use Patons Shetland Chunky up to anywhere well over $100.  So this is in the middle and seems like a nice yarn.  I figure if I do get this or any yarn, I'll add it into my WIPs and work on it a bit at a time so I finish it in a few months.  I was a bit overzealous in my gift giving.  But, it is a nice simple pattern and the yarn is fairly bulky so it should go fairly quickly.  I just wish, for once, I could knit for a skinny person.

The only other thing I did last night was pick up my multidirectional scarf.  I like the Noro.  Love the colours.  But the knots are so frustrating.  I hate have to start and stop because of breaks and knots in the yarn.  I didn't get very far.  I'm just into the second ball and I'm going to make it using 3 balls of yarn.

I need to finish some of the small things on my list and this weekend I need to make some progress on my quilting class project so that the next class doesn't come up with me having nothing accomplished again.

Fortunately, it's Thursday already.

Christmas all over again...............

Last night was like Christmas all over again.  My box from ThreadBear arrived.  It was on the door step when I came home.  It contained my burgundy cotton chenille for the Oat Couture Bijoux Blouse (there's a link to the pattern in my side bar).  It's lovely stuff and the colour is great.  I'll have to get some pictures later.  I was too excited to think about including the camera in the opening of box mission.  That was the real reason for ordering as that was my Christmas present.  But it also contained a ball of blue Crystal Palace Whisper, a fuzzy eyelash yarn.  I started my scarf with it right away.  The colours are great but don't drop any stitches.......  And I got my pink ball of Opal........... yummy.  As I dig deeper through the layers of lovely coloured tissue paper, I find a lovely skein of Koigu KPPM and an even more lovely skein of Koigu Rumba.  The two knitted together will make some Cozy Toes (fuzzy little socks).  And then I dig my way down to some hanks of brightly coloured Cascade 220 to make the Tote of Many Colours (Amy's design over at Indigirl).  I'm looking forward to playing with that pattern.  Then there was also Julie's Lily bag design - just the pattern.  I think I'll get myself some Kureyon for that one soon.  That was one great way to come home from a tiring day of work.  Rob..... the box made my day.

And then I walked up to the mailbox and what was there???  A key to open one of the bigger mail boxes.  My package from Jackie over at Karpstyles arrived.  Jackie had packed me a nice envelope containing Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks, Warm Feet book as well as some Cabin Fever patterns.  Thanks Jackie for your quick and friendly service.

I like the ideas in the Lucy Neatby book but I'm still trying to decide whether I'm really into patterned sock or whether I really just like the simple, basic sock.  Knitting a simple sock can be so relaxing, almost meditative and they are great take along projects for car rides etc.  I'm working on a more complex patterened sock right now and even though the pattern isn't that challenging, it's frustrating me.  So, the jury is out on whether I'll be a basic sock girl or whether I'll start knitting more creative socks.  I've got oodles of sock yarn at home now so I guess playing around with some of it is the key.  The other day I heard that a local Knitter's guild (which I never knew existed before) is hosting Lucy Neatby in March.  I'm not sure whether Lucy will give a workshop or seminar or what it's all about but it sounds interesting.  I might get myself a ticket to it and check it out.  Maybe there are some other local knitters who would like to join in?  I can find out the details.

I worked some more on Earnshaw last night.  I've got about 9" done - of the 18" needed to get me to the back armhole shaping.  It's looking good.  Pictures soon.  Really, so far it's just a bunch of stocking stitch in a very, very lovely yarn.  I was knitting in black sweats last night..... were they ever fuzzy after I was done with them.

I think Evan thinks I'm going a bit crazy and maybe a bit overly obsessed these days.  We were talking about our potential summer plans and any place we talked about I was thinking - any good yarn stores there???  But I've always been like that.  When we get to a hotel, I usually peruse the yellow pages to see if there are any yarn stores or quilt shops or cross stitch shops listed and if we have the time I like exploring them.

Time to dig into some numbers.

A new Knitter is born........

Well, I just found out that my sister-in-law has been learning how to knit.  She had some help from my mother-in-law and now she's on her own with it.  Can you hear my voice quiver - a new knitter........... welcome to the circle of knitters!!!!  I'm loving it because we will have something else to share.  I wish she didn't live so far away or I would be over there in a flash helping her out.

Now, I'd like your help my knitterly friends......... can you come up with some great gift suggestions for a new knitter.  Her birthday is coming up and all of a sudden, my dilemma of gift giving has been resolved.  It has to do with knitting.  What are some good beginner books out there?  I know she has one beginner book but I don't know what it is.  I understand she's done a few scarves at this point in time.  Evan suggested I dig into my stash but hold on............. that's my stash darling.

So, give me your ideas please.  I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on what would make the perfect beginner's knitting gift/care package. 

Tuesday...................

I ended up picking up Erika from daycare a little early yesterday and she did feel warm when I picked her up but for some reason, everything disappeared and she ended being just normal.  I don't want to claim that at 2 years old she was faking a tummy ache but ...... they are smart little kids.  She's back at daycare today and walked me to the door saying "Mommy, you have to go to work now".  How's that for a swift kick in the butt.  Oh, but I'm so proud of my little girl.

Coming home early gave me a bit extra knitting time and I worked on Earnshaw.  It's knitting up beautifully and to perfect width now.  I love how the colours are developing.  I have about 5" done.

I did go grocery shopping after dinner so knitting bliss was interrupted by the mundane job of getting groceries, putting them away etc.  But, it had to be done and it's way less busy on a Monday night then on Sunday afternoon.

Come to think of it, I only worked on Earnshaw last night.  But I did work on Tiny Top Down at lunch time and the body is growing quickly.

And that's it for today.  I'm not in a "writey" mood today.  I just heard the coffee finish perculating and I'm desperate for a cup.

Have a good one.

Is this how you sometimes feel on Monday mornings?  I most certainly do!!!!

I sometimes wish I could just hug my bottle and curl back up on Monday mornings, too.

Well, thanks for everyone's comments on my ill fated vest.  You know, I'm going to take this as an opportunity to change some things about the pattern.  I'm thinking that it was turning out just a little short for my body anyways.  So I will rip, rip, rip (but not quite yet - give me some more time to heal).  I will add an inch to the length and I will increase the length of the ribbing.  It's a twisted rib and I think the 1 1/4" that I knitted as per instructions will perpetually flip up even after some serious blocking.  I think a few more extra rows will help it lie a bit more nicely.  So that's my decision on the vest.  Bigger is better - even if I get skinnier.  And if I don't, I'd never wear it if it was too small.

I got some mindless knitting done on my multi-directional scarf.  Here is a progress short.  It's colour #95 and this length is with basically one ball knit up (it's about 20" right now.  Funky colours, eh?

And then I started Earnshaw and I knitted quite a bit more than in this picture:

The colours are great in this yarn and it's very luxurious to knit with.  I'm enjoying it imensely.  But, from my lesson learned, I checked the size much sooner and this time my knitted width was turning out way bigger.  And yes, I had swatched but I admit.......... a half assed swatch.  So I've really learned my lesson now.  I decided that the width was going to be way too big.  Making an oversized sweater even more oversized was not going to work.  So, I ripped, ripped, ripped and re-did a proper swatch with a smaller needle size and re-cast back on.  I managed to get one row knitted - that's it. 

So, my knitting weekend consisted of mostly rip-rip-rip.  I can't say that it was my most productive knitting weekend but I will take swatch knitting much more seriously now and take my lesson learned to heart.  I find sizing tough enough with my body shape so there's nothing worse than an ill fitting sweater when it's all done.

Just got a call from daycare.  Erika might be coming down with the flu.  She's been complaining about her tummy twice already and has a bit of a temperature.  For now they are continuing to watch her and will call me if she gets worse.  Yikes............. poor kid.

Have a good Monday.

Knitting Overconfidence............ can lead to major knitting frustration

Be warned, this is a frustrated post......

I swatch.  I know swatching is utterly important.  I hate swatching.  I do it............ most of the time.  I did it for my Oregon vest, especially since I wasn't sure of the needle size to use.  The yarn label gave an indication of size 6 to 7 mm needles at 14 stitches to 10 cm.  So, I started on 6.5 mm needles.  Knitted up a swatch.  Took my stitch count and determined I was right on.  Then I ripped out the swatch to start my project.  So I guess I was doing a "half assed" swatch.  I started and I knitted.  The back is done, one front is done and almost 1/2 of the second front is done when I thought, maybe I should measure to see if I'm on.  Well, I'm not even close.  One of my fronts is supposed to measure 13 1/4" in width and it's barely 11 1/2".  Arrrgh.  The back is equally as off.  I don't know what to do. 

Option 1:

Finish and hope that I'll kee dropping more pounds (which is the goal and I'm working on it but it's going slowly) so that in a few months it will fit. 

Option 2:

Or join Alison and rip, rip, rip and start over with probably 7 mm needles and another real swatch. 

Opinions, please as dear husband isn't really offering any advice ont he situation.  Lessons of this story and there are many.  Measure your swatch and measure again and one more time just to be sure that you're actually counting stitches correctly.  I think I counted once and went "great, it works" and that was it.  I have a feeling I miscounted.  Can't go back because I ripped it.  Secondly, measure the actual garment much sooner.  I'm sure these are all things everyone is following religiously but in my confidence and need to "get to the end" of the project, I just kept plodding along.  How could I be wrong???  Yeah right..... it's easy to count wrong, even for a Math Major.

For the moment, I relegate the vest to the back of the pile until I come to my senses and figure out what it is that I really want to do with it.  I'm going to put some basting stitches into the one front I already have, join it to the back and give it a try to see how small it really will be on me and then decide.

Nothing much else is new.  I was so pissed off last night that I put the needles aside for a while and then I picked up my multi-directional scarf and kept doing some mindless work.  For a scarf, it really doesn't matter.  A bit wider, a bit narrower - ah, whatever - just knit until it's long enough.  I didn't get much of that done either because Erika wanted to sit with me.  We went to the video store and we rented 3 weekly rentals for us and Erika picked 3 DVDs for herself and we watched 2 of her picks and none of ours.  So it wasn't the most exciting of Saturday nights.

I got up early this morning to do some knitting or some sewing but then I saw the pile of ironing (all Evan's dress shirts) and I figured I'd get a good start on that and watch one of the Americal Idol auditions shows I taped last week.  Oh my.... is all I can say about some of those auditions.

I'd better get my crew up now though.  We're meeting my Mom and Dad for brunch in 2 hours.  I look forward to the brunch buffett - it's a nice one.  I hope Erika behaves fairly well as this is a fairly nice restaurant - not necessarily geared towards tons of little toddlers.  I'm sure she'll be just fine with her Oma.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Tomorrow it's back to work, work, work.

Help, Please............ Major Startitis

Someone please slow me down before I go nuts.  I don't know what it is this weekend, but all I want to do is start, start, start.  I cast on for Earnshaw last night and I haven't even knit a round yet (I did swatch though and it's beautfiul, beautiful yarn and my gauge was perfect).

This afternoon I started a multi-directional scarf with some Kureyon I picked up at the LYS this morning.

Now, my temptation is to continue starting and casting on for the "Take it from the Top" since I got the right needle at the LYS this morning to start the neck and to putter around with the knitting of the Magical Mitered Vest.  But no............ I will not sucumb.  I will just work on what's started at this point in time.  I still want to finish that vest soon so that I'll feel like I can sink my teeth into Earnshaw.

I should go......... busy day today.  Maybe some pictures tomorrow. 

TGIF................ can I yell it any louder.

Today I'm truly glad it's Friday. This hasn't been a bad week but it has been a tiring week. I've been having recurring headaches that start at night (probably because I haven't been sleeping well) and then go into the day.

After all my whining about my quilting class, I was surprised that nobody else (except for one lady) had made progress over the 2 month break we had. The one woman with the "BAD" attitude was still there and she hadn't even brought a sewing machine. She's just so frustrating. You're not supposed to come to class with a big scowl on your face.... come on, it is supposed to be fun after all. So, I'm no more behind than anyone else. We did foundation piecing from the top where your paper foundation is actually underneath the fabric (usual foundation piecing technique is that you sew through the paper and fabric layer with the paper on top. This was kind of cool. I did manage to get some really perfect blocks - even though I didn't really like my colour selections. My first block was not so great in terms of its colour balance. My second block seemed to work out much better. And in the end, even though I was very tired, I had a fun evening. And even better..... when I came home, Erika was asleep and by the time I came to bed, Evan had moved her to her bed and she slept there all night.

So there's really no knitting to talk about except that I did a couple of inches on Candace, the cardigan at lunch yesterday and I'm almost finished one front now. Now that I picked it up again, it's really quite a nice little project. It was also fun to see some of Brenda's (my quilting teacher) projects that she is working on for her little granddaughter.  She does really nice knitting as well and she just loves spoiling her 6 month old granddaughter with hand knits.

This weekend, I'd like to make some progress on my vest. I'd like to get it close to the finishing point. I've started the second front and I think with some knitting time tonight and tomorrow and Sunday, I'll make good progress.  And then I'll maybe dabble in starting my next big project.  Earnshaw or Take it from the Top.  I've swatched a bit for Take it from the Top and I just need to pick up a needle for it tomorrow at the LYS. They've already put it on hold for me.  I have decided to knit Earnshaw in the round to the arms and then knit the rest flat.  Since the patterning changes from stockinet stitch to garter stitch basically at the arm decreases, will make it work out nicely constructed in that manner.  At least I'll wind my first hank into a ball and then swatch for Earnshaw.  And........... I should try and keep working on some of my blocks I started in quilting class last night.  Full weekend or what?  That's not even taking into consideration that tomorrow morning is music class and on Sunday we're meeting my Mom and Dad for brunch at a really nice place that serves up a great brunch buffet.  Plus the normal housecleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, ironing etc.  Fortunately, I have a great guy (I don't say that often enough) who helps out a whole lot around the house so I don't have to do it all myself.

Have a great Friday and a nice weekend.