Does anyone know of a good tool or simple way to figure out about how much fabric you'll get from a ball of yarn?
Month: May 2007
finishing and starting
I finished the knitting of Niels' teachers' gifts yesterday. These washcloths are so darn cute. I cast on another one for my mom and I should finish it tonight so I can give it to her tomorrow. We'll see if that happens. I think the southwesty colors one is my favorite. They appear to each take a half a ball of the supersize balls of Sugar and Cream so I might be able to make another of that one for myself.
I also hit the yarn sale at Purlescence today. I got some more Panda Cotton (I now have enough for at least four pairs of socks. Oops.) and Bamboozle to give the Bombshell Tee from Big Girl Knits another try. I think this yarn is much more suited to the project. I'm going to frog the old one and try to overdye the yarn so that at least the two hanks are the same color. That should solve one of the problems with that project!
Right as I was trying to leave Kristi and Cookie showed up. Cookie immediately started picking out colors of the Rowan Bamboo Soft and Calmer that were on sale and telling me how good those colors were for me. She may have been right but I was smart enough to hightail it out of the store before she could work her evil enabling magic on me. Crisis averted!
teacher gifts in progress
I decided go with the Mason-Dixon Washcloth from (unsurprisingly) Mason-Dixon Knitting. I'm going to steal their idea and thread a ribbon through the eyelets and put a small bar of soap inside each one. This will be a good excuse to browse the fancy hippie soaps at either Whole Foods or Elephant Pharm. Mmmm, hippie soap.
Last night at BobaKnit, I was debating whether or not I needed to actually point out what these are. I decided to put a tag on it saying something like, "How to Care for Your Handknit Washcloth:.." or, as Margit suggested, "This handknit washcloth should be machine washed in cool and tumble dried on low." I don't want them to look it and wonder what the heck it is. Erik thought I was knitting sea stars. Silly Erik.
sock cruise
I want to go on the sock cruise. Really really really really badly. Stefan will be two years old and change. Niels will be in school. I wonder what the chances are that Erik wouldn't mind if I went off on a cruise to Alaska without him.
Oh, and that he wouldn't mind me spending $1000 plus airfare! Maybe I can get my mom to go with me. She's always wanted to cruise to Alaska. Maybe the other knitters won't mind if she's quilting instead.
Ah, day dreams!
finished socks! finally!
My dad's Christmas socks are finally done. Yes, you read that correctly, Christmas. 2006. They turned out very cool looking but I'm not sure I'll do mosaic knitting again any time soon, at least not with fixation. I am blaming my problems knitting these on its ultra-stretchiness. That could be misplaced, though.
I also finished my Hokie Healing square and dropped it off at Purlescence for Emy to send off. Thanks for arranging that Emy!
When I dropped off the square I was talking to Chloe about ways to use bicolor brioche, or perhaps brioche stitch in general. I really like the way the knitted fabric looks with the two colors but I don't think I could ever wear it on my body. She asked about the brioche project that I started a while back I told her that I had to abandon it because I realized that even if I had enough yarn (that was looking uncertain) I could tell that the tank would look awful on me. "It would look good if you were a size 0," she said. I concur. So I think if I want to use this stitch again it will have to be more blanket squares or perhaps a scarf.
The yarn I used was Rowan Luxury Cotton DK which I definitely want to use to make something for myself! It was soft and lovely to knit with. I just need to work through some of my stash first.
what have you knit meme
I saw this on the Full Thread Ahead Blog and it seemed like a fun idea.
Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.
Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL (I'm assuming it counts even if I didn't finish it)
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths,tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns (but I don't like it)
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
LongTail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves (fingerless, but still gloves.)
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerlessmitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public
Tag, you're it!
ideas for teacher gifts
I want to knit some small teacher gifts for Niels' teachers at the end of the school year. I would really like to use some stash for this. I have many colors of sugar and creme, so I could do wash cloths, but I'm wondering if that is cheesy. I was considering doing the star shaped cloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting and then tucking a pretty soap in there and tying it up like they show you in the book.
Any other suggestions? Other stash yarns I have are some Euroflax Linen and Cascade Fixation.
ravelry
I could very easily be addicted to Ravelry. Kristi sent me an invite and I didn't do much with it at first. I started to add my stash after hearing Jenny and Nicole rave about it on Stash and Burn. Adding stash lead to adding projects. Then I heard Brenda Dayne rave about it on Cast On so I added her as a friend and she added me back! Be still my heart!
In any case, I can see myself getting really into Ravelry. I've added all of my All Seasons Cotton and a few of my projects, including my current works in progress. I have this urge to get out my entire stash and photograph it ball by ball to catalog it all. That is either really unhealthy obsessive behavior, or a good way to keep better tabs on what I have. I really should do that with needles. I feel like I'm constantly losing track of needles and then buying something similar, only to discover the old one. I shoudl probably start with the needle card instead of photographing yarn.
all about the two color knitting
I spent all of last week working on a secret project (that will be explained eventually, just not right now) and I've been trying to finish up started and promised projects. Somehow that has landed me squarely in the land of two color knitting. First there is the gift knitting that is waiting for the ends to be woven in, and has been waiting for that for 9 days. Oops.
Then there is the second mosaic sock for my dad. Yes, that was supposed to be a Christmas gift. Yes, I am ashamed of myself.
Last up is a bicolor brioche square to give to Emy to send to the Hokie Healing project. I'm hoping to finish all three of these within the next week so I can go back to my sadly abandoned sweater and finish that so I can start a tank for myself. It's getting hot around here!
happy flower knitting
A bunch of the BobaKnitters got together on Saturday to knit felted Cala Lilies for Hannah's wedding bouquet. I didn't knit the feltable yarn, obviously, because of the wooly factor. I am working on something for her though, have no fear. Anabel even brought Boba!
Margit hosted and weighed out the lily yarn to the gram. Cindy took many photos with Margit's camera (picured below with her blogless daughter, Ari).
Lisa knit and knit on her i-cord stem, wondering what she had gotten herself into. Kristi reminded us regularly that all mistakes will be forgiven once it is felted. Freecia may have finished finished first (or was it Jeni?). And Anabel brought the Boba and was the only one knitting hers on circular needles instead of double points.
Hannah enjoyed the Boba and knit on a lily herself.
Jeni finished first (or was it Freecia?) and, more importantly, brought champagne!
The lilies looked very limp before felting, as pre-felted items usually do. Kristi modelled them anyway, with her very own version of the Cookie Crazy Face ™.
It was quite a fun day! And you can check out the gorgeous finished product drying on Margit's post.
the sheep free knitter 