The right tools

It's extremely important to have the right tools when knitting.  I don't mean that you have to go out and buy the fanciest of everything.  A paper clip makes a great cable needle, stitch mater, or stitch holder if you're being thrifty (or if you're like me and have purchased about 1,000 of each but can't seem to find one when you need it.)  However, there are some tools that you really need to invest in.  My must have tools are: A good tape measure (cheap ones stretch out over time and suddenly the 10 inches for the armhole of your sweater is much deeper than it should be); bent-tipped darning needles (they make seaming SO MUCH EASIER, seriously you will wonder how you ever survived before); and good needles.

My Pear Drop Shawl with my Size 4 32"Signature needles.  Having good needles is making this project so much more enjoyable.

Good needles are probably the most importnat. The needles you use can make a project the most miserable experience ever if you get the wrong ones.  For example, if you're knitting with a fiber that is really "grabby" like mohair and you are using bamboo needles you are probably going to want to stab your eyes out.  The fiber, by its nature wants to stick to things and bamboo needles are "rougher" than others meaning there will be a lot of friction between you yarn and needles and you will be pulling against this friction with every stitch.  Conversely, if you're using 100% silk or bamboo or some other very "slippery" fiber you will probably love bamboo needles because the bamboo will "grab" the slippery fiber and keep it from slipping right off your needles.  (I have a silk-rayon shawl that I started on metal needles but it kept sliding right off the needles if I picked them up vertically.  After loosing all my stitches twice because of this, I wised up and switched to wooden needles and haven't had the problem since.)

Aside from choosing the right type of needle for your fiber, you should think about the type of project you will be working on.  For example, cables put a lot of tension on your wrists to make because you have to leverage the stitches around one another.  Also, because they are twisted, cable stitches are tighter and harder to get your knitting needles into than "normal" stitches.  If you are a tight knitter to begin with, you might find that you break wooden needles when knitting cables.  On the other hand, if you aren't too tight of a knitter, you might prefer wooden needles because they have a bit more give (the needle is literally more flexible) than metal needles and therefore the needle absorbes some of the tension from the twisted stitches and keeps it from transferring to you wrists.  I prefer acrylic tip needles for cables because the acrylic is flexible like wood, but the needle point is often sharper than wooden-pointed needles making it easier to "dig" the needle into the tight cale stitches.

The last thing that is very important to consider is the sharpness of the needle tip.  Sharp tips are absolutely essential for lace knitting.  When you knit lace, you are manipulating tiny tiny yarn in lots of ways.  Often there are many increases and decreases every round.  It can be nearly impossible to get a blunt needle to "k5tog tbl"  With a sharp needle you have half a chance of actually enjoying the nupp-making experience.  Blunt needles also have their place.  If you are having problems because you a knitting with a yarn that is "splitty"--i.e. you keep knitting through the plies of the yarn rather than around the yarn strand--try working with a blunter needle.  A sharp needle can slice right through the plies and actually makes it more likely you will split your stitches if you are knitting fast.  A blunt needle can't penetrate the plies and is more likely to slip around the yarn strand like it is supposed to.

Some people think it's a bit excessive when I mention that I have 4 complete interchangeable needle sets, (as well as many other non-interchangeable needles) but I like to think that I just have the right tools to execute my craft in the best way possible.  I don't just need "a size 6 needle."  I need a size six needle that is: wood, metal, acrylic, sharp, blunt, long, short, etc.

Do you have a huge knitting needle collection?  Only a few?  An interchangeable set?  Two?  Four?  Do you only buy needles when you decide to do a project that calls for them?  Are there sizes you don't own?  Sizes you own more than 6 of?  I'm curious.

Things that are done:

1. ALL the laundry.  This is a very good thing.  If I hadn't done laundry today my clothing options for tomorrow would have been a bathing suit or a cocktail dress.  I hate using public laundry machines.  You have to carry a heavy basket far, you have to scrounge quarters or make a special trip to the bank, and worst of all, you have to deal with jerky other people who leave their wet clothes in the washer for 3 hours before coming back for them... Gross dude.

2. The bathroom.  It sparkles now.  I scrubbed it.  There was Commet and PineSol and Windex involved. My toilet needs maintenance (the tank won't stop running unless you jiggle the handle just right) but I felt like the bathroom needed a serious clean before allowing it to been seen by a stranger.  No more tub ring. No more sink ring.  No more little toothpaste specks on the mirror.  It's almost like a adult lives here and not a 17-year-old girl.

3. Cumulonimbus.  The last installment of the Stephen West Westknits Shawl Club came in April and it came off the blocking board this afternoon.    This means I completed all five shawls, each within one month.

The pattern is basically vertical intarsia stripes.  The shape comes from simple increases and decreases.  It's was by far the easiest of the 5 shawls to make.  The most difficult part was stopping ever few rounds to be sure the four strands weren't tangled.  

The yarn from this installment was Hedgehog Fibers Sock yarn.  It's a basic merino nylon sock yarn blend.  The colors were April Showers (light blue) and Fool's Day (dark blue).  I find that it's wound a little loose to be good for actually making socks.  In fact, I was really disappointed with the way this yarn was milled.  One of my skeins was fine, but the other was plied so badly at the mill that there were many places where the plies had twisted back on themselves making thick rough spots in the yarn.  Now that it's knit up, you can't really see the flaw, but you can feel it when you run you hand over the project.  I wouldn't choose to use it again.

It was too warm to wear scarves/shawls today, but I managed to hang in there long enough to get this modeled shot.  Luckily May in Portland is pretty fickle and I would bet the temps take another dive before it gets warm for good.  Here's hoping I get to wear it at least once before next winter.

Knit-a-long

May marks the beginning of the second year of the monthly knit-a-longs at my LYS For Yarn's Sake.  Each month the shop picks a project and hosts some time once a week to work on it, get help, trade advice and modifications--it's lovely.  I haven't participated in all of them but have done quite a few.

Last May it was Jared Flood's Rock Island.  It's extremely intricate double-sided lace.  I got about 12 repeats into the border--you need 71... I'm planning to go back to it now that school is over and I can focus on things like double sided lace.  Here's what I have:

Pathetic, I know.

June was not a month I participated.  The project was the Radian Yoke sweater by Wendy Barnard.  I love this cute summer tee and plan to make it eventually, I just didn't have the time or (if you can believe it) the right yarn.

July and August were devoted to the same project.  The Lissajous Socks by Cookie A.   I'm still actively working on these.  Actually, "actively" might be a bit strong.  "Reluctantly" is more accurate.  Now that the knit-a-long is well over I've only been working on them for an hour a week at sock hour at the yarn shop.  I have one complete and I'm almost through the big chart for the second one.

Turns out, slow and steady does NOT win the race.

September was also a month I participated.  And also a project I have yet to finish.  I'm also still working on my Dahlia Cardigan by Heather Zoppetti.  This one is so close to being done I can taste it.  All I have left is the left front of the cardigan.  I don't have a photo since finishing the right front, but I did snap one after I had finished the back and sleeves.  Hopefully I will be showing this off as an FO soon.

October was another intense lace project--the True Love Stole by Wendy Johnson.  This was a project that a lot of the knitters had a hard time getting into (the chart is a 45-row repeat!) and I doubt I'll ever really sit down to make this one.  I do think it's lovely though--just too fiddly for me currently.  Maybe someday I'll want something really fiddly and I'll come back to this one.

November and December were devoted to the Larch Cardigan by Amy Christoffers.  I didn't get in on this project either because finals were just heating up for fall term and I didn't have the time.

January was scheduled as a "catch-up" month and I spent some extra quality time with Dahlia--after you finish the lace back it's a never ending sea of stockinette.  

February was the first project that I actually finished (don't judge!) and only because it was a hat.  The Rustling Leaves Beret by Alana Dakos was a nice quick knit and allowed me to use up some silk-alpaca handspun I was itching to find a project for.  

Yeah for small victories!

March and April was another two-month project with a twist.  We got to choose to either make the Gnarled Oak Cardigan or the Wildflower Cardigan both also by Alana Dakos.  Some crazy women decided to knit both since we had two months.  In two months I didn't even manage to finish the back piece of the Wildflower.  I don't have a picture of my progress yet since right now it's just a big slab of stockinette.  All of the fun is on the front of this one.  When I get something more interesting than a rectangle of stockinette I'll show it off.

Now, year two is kicking off with a beautiful little shawlette from Ysolda Teague--the Pear Drop.  Do you think I will be able to finish within the month?

So close

I'm so close to being done with law school folks!  I can taste it.  Only one final exam stands between me and a JD.  I just finished a hellish exam in partnership taxation today and I'm rewarding myself with an evening of knitting before I hit the books again tomorrow.  This is what's currently grabbing my attention at home:

This is the last installment from the Stephen West Westknits Shawl Club.  The pattern is called Cumulonimbus.  I've been making nice progress on it because it's pure and simple garter stitch and that is all my brain can handle during finals season.  

I'm going to hunker back down with my garter stitch for the rest of the night and revel in the fact that I can now forget everything I know about Subchapter K.  Only 4 more days until I'm no longer a student.  I will not miss taking finals one bit.

Vulpix

Over the past few months I've been showing you the fruits of my participation in Stephen West's Westknits Shawl Club.  First there was Sharktooth.  Then there was Arroway.  Then Oeste.  Now Vulpix.

It's definitely my favorite so far.  First, the colors are amazing.  The yarn choice for this installment was Skein Top Draw Sock.  The blend is 85% merino, 15% nylon and, while this is a very common fiber blend for sock yarn, it is some of the softest yarn I've ever worked with.  It is a little splitty and loosely spun for sock knitting but for a shawl it was perfect.

I love how long and shallow the shape of this shawl is.  It's really more like a scarf that gets a little wide in the middle.  It's over seven feet long.  The middle pannel is done with intarsia and the stripes are done with short rows so it's a very fun project technique-wise.  The blok of garter stitch in the middle was pretty boring, but once you finish it you are rewarded with more short-row fun.

The package for the final installment of the shawl club arrived in the mail on Monday and it's already cast on.  It should be fun, but I can already tell that it won't be knocking Vulpix out of the special place in my heart.  More on that later.      

Lost and Found Girl

Are you a fan of Seinfeld? You should be.  It's funny.  Trust me.  There is an episode where Elaine becomes obsessed with the idea that Jerry is "Even Steven."  Whenever something bad happens to him, something good happens to balance it out and vice-versa.  Elaine tosses one of Jerry's $20 bills out the window, 5 minutes later Jerry finds a $20 in the pocket of an old coat.  I have a similar sort of super power--I am Lost and Found girl.

I am constantly losing misplacing my stuff, but it always comes back to me.  My purse has been left in innumerable dressing rooms, or draped over the back of restaurant chairs.  Traveling there's 50/50 chance that something will be left in a hotel room.  Every time I've called and either been able to get the item shipped to me, or I was close enough that I could swing back and get it.  One time, I even lost misplaced my iPod for 3 weeks before it turned up in a bar.  I walked in (after having not been there for three weeks) and the bartender, who I didn't know, looked at me and said "I have your iPod here."  It helped that there was a photo of me set as the wallpaper.

I think that there are people in the world with certain types of luck.  My grandma wins things in her church raffel all. the. time.  Way, way, way more than probability should allow for.  My father can always always find a good parking spot.  Even if the lot is completely full, someone in the front row will back out just as he's driving by.  And, for whatever reason, I misplace things, but they're never lost for good.

Such was the case recently with my Lissajous Socks.  I have one sock finished and am doggedly working on the second.  After knit-night several of the knitters get together for dinner.  One week, we went to Red Robbin.  The next week as I'm putting my knitting bag together to get ready for knit-night my socks are nowhere to be found.  I check at the knitting shop that night and they're not there.  I call Red Robbin and the man who answers the phone tells me that there is absolutely nothing matching my description in the lost and found at all.  Liar.  I drive over to the Red Robbin and low and behold, my socks are sitting at the bottom of the lost and found where they have probably been all week.

They were wet (I think they were probably found when the floor was being mopped) and dirty but they were certainly there.  If they had really been lost I would have been out about $27 in yarn as well more than 30 hours of work.  I'm a bit steamed that the lying-liar-McJerk who answered the phone straight up told me that my socks weren't there when they clearly were.  If I were a more trusting sort of person, I'd be screwed and my socks likely would have been tossed out after laying lonely an unclaimed for weeks.

These socks are too awesome for that.

Now what?

I've been working on my Dahlia Cardigan every week at Knit Chat for quite a while (Since September) and now I'm not sure where to go.  I've known all along that I don't care for front of the cardigan as written so the plan has always been to change it.

The cardigan is constructed in a strange way.  First, you knit a lace medallion in the round.

Then you knit two long strips that border the top and bottom of the medallion.  The strips are knit out from the center, so that you have live stitches on the left and right sides.

As written, after knitting the strips, you take the left and right side stitches all onto one needle and knit flat for a long time creating the draped rectangular fronts.  The sleeves are done as afterthought sleeves.  Meaning that as you knit, you put waste yarn in where the sleeve opening will be and later pull the waste yarn out and knit the sleeves from the live stitches.

Because I wanted to be able to try it on as a worked the fronts, I put the sides on waste yarn and knit the sleeves on first.  That way I would know how the fronts hang.

Now I've got both sleeves done (and the seams across the back have been sewn since the picture was taken) so it's time to get serious and decide what to do about the fronts.  Since it's knit sideways I can't just steal the front of another cardigan that I like.  I'm thinking some combination of strategic short rows and decreases can get me to a more traditional cardigan look.  I think I'm just going to "try stuff" and see what happens.