tailcatcher

I meant to talk more about the tailcatcher I got at Stitches. I bought it from Mary Snyder Design. I was hoping her website would have pictures of the things I really wanted to buy from her. My descriptions will have to do. First on the list was the sterling cable needle ring. The needle sits in a holder in the ring so you don't have to find a place to stick it when you're not cabling. Genius. Next on the list would be the bracelet to which you could attach a beautiful silver creation that would hold your yarn while you're knitting on the go. Also genius. The most amazing and beautiful item was a pendant that was magnetic and could hold your scissors and a metal darning needle. Totally gorgeous!

Maybe next year…

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stitches west and rogue drama

I went to Stitches West yesterday. I had orginally thought of taking a market session or two but instead I just walked around the market, bought a few things and hung out with my knitting friends. Oh, and knitted, of course. I had to go back to my car after about an hour of being there and get my magic homeopathic allergy medicine. Being around all that wool was making my throat hurt. I don't remember having that problem last year which seems like a bad sign to me. My allergy is getting worse! Feh.

In any case, here's what I got:

Stitches Purchases

I didn't get Rogue finished to wear at Stitches. It's probably fine because I wore my cotton clapotis and ended up leaving it in my car when I picked up the medicine because I was so warm. I am very close to being finished with Rogue… but… there has been a mistake. Can you spot it?

mistakes were made

I have been thinking about how I am going ot fix it. I remembered the Yarn Harlot's post about mis-crossed cables and went right there today. Unfortunately there is far too much complexity going on above the cable to drop back the stitches and fix it. I considered her duplicate stitch fix but I feel fairly certain that if I do that, I'll never be happy with it. I'm going to rip back. The mistake was on row 53 43 and I'm currently on row 74 so it's only 20 30 rows. (Yes, only, don't tell me that's a lot, I'm trying to be positive! On second thought, that's a lot of rows. I bit the bullet and ripped back though.) At least this didn't happen two days ago when I still thought I was going to meet my deadline.

There is one more fix that I need to do before I sew the sleeves on. When I knit the first sleeve I left the provisionally cast-on stitches at the bottom and sewed them down. I also didn't really pay attention to how many rows there were when I started the second one. For the second one I knit the provisionally cast-on stitches together with one of the rows and I did fewer because I wanted a less bulky seam. When I posted the picture of the two sleeves one of my eagle-eyed readers asked me if I did the hems differently so I went back and looked at them and now it's really obvious to me that one is bigger than the other. See:

the rogue sleeves are taking over!

The one on the right has the smaller hem. So I need to pick out the sewn down hem on the first one. Of course, I was trying to be clever and also wove the end back in. That's what I get for being clever, eh? 

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rogue home stretch

I love that at this point I can actually put Rogue on. The sleeves are still not attached and I just picked up for the hood (after I took the pictures) but I can put it on easily and see that it's going to fit. This may be a turning point in my sweater knitting: the first sweater I've knit for myself that I've completed because it actually fit in progress!

The only bad news is that I'm fairly certain it won't be wearable in public by this weekend for Stitches. I had given up on having the zipper in but at this point it seems unlikely that I will even get the hood knitted and the sleeves sewn in. I certainly won't if I sit here and write about it rather than knitting!

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wick

I think that Wick will be my next non-wool sock yarn to try. Next after I knit up my Panda Cotton, Blue Moon Tube Sock Kit and the hank of cotton sock yarn that Kristi got me from Etsy. I should ask her for the seller's name one of these days.

Has anyone used Wick? I'm intrigued by the Polypropelene content.

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stitch markers ready to go!

My stitch marker sets are all ready to be sold at the Bay Area Knit Co-op Booth that Cookie and Lynn have arranged at Stitches West. Aren't they pretty? I'm very pleased with the crystal ones in particular. I think that if I decide to set up an Etsy shop I'm going to mostly make them with crystals. I like the green glass beads in the back row also but I can't remember now where I got them and would not be able to get more without a great deal of searching.

So if you're going to be at Stitches come by booth 732. There will be patterns, gorgeous hand-dyed yarn and roving, and kits for sale by other Bay Area knitters.

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rogue progress

I have completed the cable section on the side of the body, added short rows to the bust and am currently working up the back to the shoulders. I hope to finish that section tonight so I can start working on the fronts and hood. I am getting there but I doubt I will be done by Stitches at this point. Fooey.

Rogue Progress

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making stitch markers

I'm making some stitch markers to hopefully sell and I could use some feedback from knitters. How many markers would you want in a set? And do you need one to be different from the others for the beginning of the row, or whatever?

Here are pictures of the kind of thing I've been doing. The pictures aren't great. They are hard to photograph!

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no sheep for you

No Sheep for You: Knit Happy with Cotton, Silk, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo & Other Delights

Amy R. Singer

I went ahead and ordered No Sheep for You from Amazon a couple of days ago. Then I read on the Purlescence blog that they had it in stock. I cancelled my Amazon order and stopped by on Saturday to pick up a copy. I think I am in love. This book starts off with descriptions of many types of nonwool fiber. Amy gives a full description of which part of the plant (or other object) the fiber comes from, how it is extracted, and what type of yarn you get from it. There are many helpful charts on the properties of the different fibers and which fibers work well for which types of projects.

Then there is a whole chapter on swatches that actually makes me want to knit them. It actually  makes me wish I had kept all of my swatches. I may even start a swatch journal like she suggests. Will wonders never cease?

Last, but certainly not least, the patterns. Not only do I finally not have to worry about yarn substitutions but they are also all generously sized (the largest chest size on most seems to be 56"). Heaven! There are a couple of patterns that tempt me, including a short sleeved sweater knit with Blue Sky Cotton that might have my name on it.

If you can't knit with wool, you definitely want this book in your collection. If you can, you would probably still get something out of it!

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vegan twinkies

vegan twinkies

I finally acquired all (well, most) of the ingredients for vegan twinkies. I couldn't find barley malt powder for the inside so I bought marshmallow creme and figured they'd be semi-vegan. It turns out I bought ricemellow creme, so they're completely vegan after all.

I don't think they taste very much like real twinkies, but it's been ages since I had one. They got a thumbs up from Niels and Erik so I suppose it doesn't matter, neither of them have ever had a Twinkie.

The real test will be a friend of mine who was appalled that Erik hadn't ever had a Twinkie. I'm sure he remembers what they are supposed to taste like. I'm going to drop one off to him tomorrow.

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IK’s new look

I got the spring issue of Interweave Knits today and noticed that they have redesigned it a bit. I'm not too enthusiastic about the way the patterns are laid out now. I liked having the pictures next to the patterns rather than photo spreads of the items with the patterns grouped together later. I guess it does make for easier photocopying because there aren't as many big photos mixed in with the patterns.

I also like a few of the sweaters but none enough to knit, I think.

Anyone else have opinions about Interweave Knits' new look?

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