Gold Clutch

Here is a pretty little thing I finished up while in the airport on the way to Las Vegas.  It was made for my best friend out of the skein of Tilli Tomas Rockstar I got from Mom for my birthday (oooh, shiny). It was also my first sewing project in a long, long time (as in, I haven’t done more than hem anything by hand since seventh grade). But I think it turned out quite well, considering, and although it wasn’t quite big enough for all the things the recipient wanted to carry around that night, it fit my camera, my id, and my lip gloss, so that I could go and see Eddie Izzard in style.

About a third of a skein of Tilli Tomas Rockstar

public knitting

I admit it: I’m one of those knitters who just can’t keep my needles in my bag. I knit at work over my lunch break. I knit in the gym while I’m waiting for kickboxing to start. I knit on the sidewalk after the gym while I’m waiting for my ride, which makes me look like some strange purveyor of knitted goods. There I stand, in my long pink raincoat and my bright sweaty gym clothes, all “Hey, baby, need a scarf?” Not that I would give away most of the things that I knit to strangers outside the gym, though I do give away a lot of things. But I can’t say it’s not flattering when someone passes by and says, “You should make me one of those.” I am, after all, more than a little bit of a showoff, plus it keeps my busy hands from making mischief.

Lately I’ve been working on a couple of scarves, both from Knitty: the Wavy Scarf in Tonalita’s Trendsetter (just look at that pretty colorway) and the reversible cable Elbac in some possibly discontinued stuff that Mom gave me, because who doesn’t love reversible cables? The pretty weather has me itching to knit summer things, but then as soon as I think about it, it gets cold again. Besides, that involves buying more yarn than I have the expendable income for right now, and all of the summer things I want to knit are so terribly fitted. I just want something to occupy my hands for now. They’ve both been adventures, though. I ran out of the Trendsetter for the Wavy Scarf, because I’d only bought one skein (40% off!) at my LYS, to try it out, and that was the last one that would coordinate at all. Fortunately, I went to New York City last week, and so I did a little research in advance on the many yarn shops there. The charming Knitty City came through for me.

The Elbac I started in a combination of yarns, some nice fat maroon wool that I bought and a hank of pale pink Brushed Suri. I was trying out some eights, but the fabric was just too stiff and busy, so I ditched the Suri and started over, then went up to tens and started over again. Still not drapy enough, so I switched to what I think is a Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK. This meant I had to trade my lovely cranberry wool away to Mom, but at least the Elbac is now exactly the way I want it, and I’ve got ten and a half repeats done. Sometimes it takes five tries to get something right! This, I think, is the most important thing I have learned about knitting. There are times you just need to close your eyes and frog, rather than ending up spending hours on something you are miserable with. A good thing to consider before I start into my birthday skein of Tilli Tomas Rockstar, which has been sitting there glowing at me for weeks. Choirs of angels sing every time I take it out of the bag. It absolutely wouldn’t do to spoil that.

Christmas knits!

Here are the photos of the Christmas knits I did for my coworkers. Nothing complicated!

Lauren Kent’s Prisoner of Azkaban Scarf, with a star stuck on to hide a snag.

Tudora from knitty.com.

Kind of a Jayne hat for kind of a Jayne.

Just a simple fluffy sparkly scarf!

These were all pretty well received, even the ugly hat, and everyone was so pleased to get something hand knit! I just used yarn out of my stash. Things you can do with tools you have around the house, eh?

Internet fame! Plus a sock.

You guys, you guys. I am so excited. My Ribby Wrist Warmers are now the ones that are up on the pattern page at Ravelry. I’m internet famous! Well, sort of. I’ll take it!

Almost done with the Christmas knits for my coworkers. I won’t post them yet, because I’ve got this page linked from Facebook, and it’s conceivable they might find it. Nothing incredibly difficult, but some new challenges! And some old favorites that turned out nice. I finally found something to do with the large stash of strange and wonderful acrylics that I inherited from my grandmother and my great-grandmother.

Other than holiday gifts, I’ve been working on my first pair of socks. I went for Wendy Johnson’s Toe-Up Socks, figuring I might as well learn something new for a new project (short rows, which turned out to be approximately as easy as pie). I liberated some Regia self-striping cottony stuff from Mom’s stash for this project, given that she’s not prone to knitting socks or anything that involves tiny yarn and tiny needles, so it’s only just that they fit her better than they fit me. They’re *just* too big for me, though the short-row heel is perfect, exactly as narrow as I wanted. Ah, well. Fortunately, she likes short cuffs on her socks, which will probably leave me with a whole skein of Regia to play with (which is great: I love the blue/brown/white/grey colorway). One sock down, one to go! Also, handmade socks impress your coworkers. Who knew?

[mcnultya] feels inadequate…

but she’s checking in anyway…Seriously. Hi. I’m Anna, and I graduated in 2006. I was a Philosophy major and a Russian, Central, and Eastern European Studies concentrator. I now teach high school English and live in a city fortunate enough to have wonderful yarn supplies and gaggles of knitters who collect at my neighborhood coffee shop on a regular basis.Preface: I’m not good. I’m self-taught, not very disciplined, and have too much going on in my life to be terribly dedicated to my craft. But dear lord, I love it. Show me a cozy soft wool and I will twist and writhe until I break down, buy it, and find something to do with it.Here’s what I’ve been up to lately… This is the project I cranked out in a fit of knitting last weekend. Foliage from the current issue of Knitty. I knit it with Malabrigo Chunky in the most delicious colorway I’ve ever ever seen. The lacey detailing doesn’t show up in the above picture because it is both out of focus and not opened up (i.e. on my head). Suffice it to say: this hat is the hotness.Next up…This is Monkey, a fabulous pattern published a few Knittys back. I am not a total Knitty whore, but there are some divine, simple lace patterns in there that I really do enjoy. I’m only this far into my first one of the socks, but they’ll get done someday. Knitting on one of my very favorite yarns, Dream in Color’s Smooshy. The colors are to DIE for. Plus, the yarn is 100% merino wool. Superwash. LOVE IT.My Dream in Color yarn fixation extends to another project that remains on the needles. Reversible cable scarf from Scarf Style. I LOVE THIS PATTERN. The texture is gorgeous. I cannot wait to wear this someday. Amazing. The other big project on the needles is the one that really needs to get done. And, thus, it is the one I can’t bring myself to finish. This is the Cardigan with Moss Stitch Edging from Debbie Bliss’ Baby Cashmerino 2 book. It will soon find itself on my newborn niece, Eulalie. I HATE the finishing. I know it’ll be worth it. I really rationally do. I just… ugh. Can’t explain my aversion to putting in the hour or two needed to wrap this one up. But I need to in order to make sure she gets to wear it once or twice before outgrowing it…All right. So. Otherwise, I’m just cranking out hats for my younger brother. This year’s knitted goods for the little man will be boring. He requested hats. I’m 2/3 of the way through the first one, knitted in my new woolen love, 1824 Wool. SO SOFT. LOVE THE COLORS. Pictures will appear when the hats actually look like hats.Thanks for holding me accountable to knit! I need to get inspired, friends. Thanks for the nudge back toward my needles…!

kazinkas, the knittyfish

Right. So I just moved to California a few months ago, and left my stash in Iowa. My sister will appreciate it! I said. She’s a better knitter than I am! I’ll start my new life all over from scratch, with less clutter.

And yet somehow here I am a few months later raiding Knitpicks all over again, and tempted to call my family to mail me the balls of slubby mystery silk-wool-whatever blend I found for a dollar a ball at a secondhand store in Grinnell, and cursing the Curse that keeps me from knitting an aran in Shamrock Reilly for the person who would appreciate it most. (And a Kelley for me, and … nobody’s going to get that.) I can only sigh and conclude that some things are in the blood, doomed to come back over and over again.

Anyway, I have a few posts planned – I need to pimp out Knitpicks, after all, and contemplate its place in the world of yarn, and there’s always my growing knittercrush on Ireland – but for now, I’m tired, so you get some pictures of the yarn I have now.

Wool of the Andes, for the Rogue sweater (about which I fully intend to wax lyrical). It’s a lot softer than I thought it would be, and it makes a really gorgeous fabric considering how notoriously uneven my stitches are. And cables look gorgeous in it. It’s not quite Merino, but oh how it will do. Plus the heathering is really nice; I don’t like solid yarns for single-colored pieces, I think they look really boring, but twists and spaced-dyed stuff just look funny to me. I wish it was easier to find heathers.

Andean Silk;. I’m still not sure what I think of this. It’s hella soft – every time I touch it, I think “om nom nom” – but it doesn’t seem to be taking the cables I bought it for well, so I don’t know what I’m to do. Luckily the person I bought it for doesn’t seem to be having her wedding anytime soon, so I’m probably safe.

(Pic stolen from a friend of mine, as I can’t find my Blue Beetle issues.) Now this is a neat one. As you may or may not know, I love comic books. Love them to bits. The current Blue Beetle is one of my favorites (I adore John Rogers to a rather terrifying degree). So needless to say when said friend found this, it didn’t take long for us to clear out the reserves. The colors go so well together. Unfortunately, it’s pretty much on the opposite end of the gauge spectrum from where I’m used to working (aran weight all the way, baby!) so I’ve no clue what I’ll do with it. Maybe a really thin Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, it’s been ages since I’ve done one of those and it would look really good with these colors.

Thea (that’s basilido to you) bought me this at the dollar store. I love Thea. I’m not exactly the world’s biggest fan of tape, so I don’t know what I’d do with it, but I’ll treasure it always anyway.

Bonus: the Rogue so far, as it’s the only project I’m really doing much with.

Isn’t this sexy?

Mmmm, cables. I’ll be in my bunk.

Finished Objects? Pssh. (or, Ivybrist checks in.)

So I used to be a one-project woman, never starting something new unless I had properly finished, blocked, and worn the preceding project around. Now? HA. Right now I remember four projects that are going, and there may be more I’ve forgotten. But, of course, tonight I’m going to blatantly ignore those (and my NaNoWriMo novel, currently stuck in a terrible rut) and start another project tonight! But, before I do that, I thought I’d show the world my horrible project infidelity.

My longest languishing project is Eunny Jang’s Anemoi Mittens for my dad, which is a project that, since the fair-isle/colorwork pattern is asymmetrical and irregular, can’t be done with a book, a movie, or a cat. Since I am rarely without any of those, these are off in la-la-land. But they’re pretty!

This is made from a random cone of beige weaving yarn, a ball of a random grey mohair, both from my stash, and about fifty grams of handspun in greys and tans.

The second languishing project is actually for work, so I don’t get to keep them. It’s a pair of thrummed mittens, which is a Scandinavian technique involving using little bits of wool roving to create a layer of fluff inside the mittens. I dyed two things of roving for this; one for me to spin for the yarn to knit them, and one to make the thrums. This is the completed mitten, from a pattern I wrote myself, and I don’t actually know where the hell the other, not finished one is. Hmm. . .

The third project is the first in a pair of socks from Magknit’s Rainbow Socks pattern, with yarn that I dyed myself. I haven’t finished this one, since I want to start the second one and work them both at the same time after the heel, since I don’t know how much yarn I’ll have left. So! I’m taking a break before starting the second one.

The last project I’m in the middle of is a pair of Knitty’s Red Herring Socks. I worked very hard to modify the gauge for a slightly thicker yarn than called for (a yummy baby alpaca and a cashmerino from my stash), and then, when it came time to try it on, it was too small. So they’re getting ripped back and started over with more stitches.

The other stuff on the agenda? A pair of Eunny Jang’s Endpaper Mitts in this hand-dyed sock yarn I bought today:

A pair of Interweave Knits Summer 2007’s Motorcycle Chica Gloves in this yummy stuff:

an undecided lace something-or-other with this and a purply-grey handspun (check out the name of the company):

And of course, dad’s Aran sweater that I have yet to finish either designing or even carding the wool for, a tam that I need to finish tweaking the pattern for (knitting and ripped back three times! Yay! Stupid mitered knitting), and whatever else is in my Ravelry queue. I need me some sweaters of my own!

So now I’m off to cast on for the Motorcycle Gloves. Anyone who’s read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods will understand why I’m going to call these my Mr. Nancy gloves!

Lacy Hug-Me-Tight from Knit 2 Together

I actually knit this a while ago, but hadn’t gotten around to uploading photos of the finished project. I really enjoyed this shrug. I saw it knitted up at my LYS, tried it on, and fell in love. So comfy! So girly! Not too difficult for someone who’d never knitted lace! Shamefully, I was broke, so I copied the pattern out of the book at my LYS (but later bought it! So all is forgiven); no one wants to be stuck with the sad shameful reminder of a pattern they couldn’t handle, in a book full of other things they’re not sure they’ll ever knit (however much I covet that suit, probably not going to happen). Fortunately, it turns out that Knit 2 Together is full of good stuff, both for wearing and for not wearing. Mom’s now doing the raglan hoodie for my little brother.

It went a lot faster than I’d expected, frankly. There were a lot of swear words knitted into my lace, but I did learn how to tink quickly and accurately, and how to feel out the pattern. Altogether, I think I knitted 84 inches of that lace: 60 for the border and 12 at each sleeve. Then the middle’s just two by two rib. The most interesting part was probably the yarn. I’ve inherited a lot of stash from my grandmother and my great-grandmother, via my mother as she fleshed out her stash with softer and better yarns, so I ended up knitting this in some fuzzy pink acrylic weaving yarn that I found on a cone. I was afraid I’d run out, but I finished the last seams with about two feet left on the cone, so all went well (this is my excuse for not swatching). The finished product is rather frothier than the Blue Sky alpaca/cotton version in the book, but it’s still comfortable and cozy, and the sherbet pink delicacy of it compensates for the beautiful drape of the heavier yarn.

Ribby Wrist Warmers from Speed Knitting

So my best friend, a novice knitter, was up this weekend. She had finished the scarf she’s been working on for a while and wanted a new project, so we rummaged through the books Mom had gotten from the library and dragged out Speed Knitting, which advertised twenty-four quick and easy projects. She wanted something a little more interesting than garter stitch, and we both have computer-intensive office jobs that leave us with cold mouse hands, so we settled on some fingerless gauntlets called Ribby Wrist Warmers. Quick! Easy! A delightful introduction to the joys of dpns and circular knitting! Except that it was Sunday, and the LYS was closed, and Wal-Mart turned up nothing in the way of dpns (though they had a billion crochet hooks: I call lame on that one). So we decided that I’d just chug along with some of Mom’s wooden sock-sized dpns, and she’d knit them flat and sew them up the side, or lace them with ribbons.

The pattern was easy, what I think of as the boyfriend stitch: k1 the first row, k1 p1 the second row, and so on. (In one of our other books, a scarf knit in this pattern is called the Boyfriend Scarf.) At this point, I discovered I’d never taught my friend how to purl, so after a few rows of “Why isn’t this coming out like the photo?”, I remedied that situation. It’s a border, not a mistake. Of course, the way Mom and I purl is apparently freaky and twists the stitch, but my ribbing looks just as good as anyone’s, so fie on that. It’s not wrong: it’s Continental. You keep on wrapping. I’ll be done faster.

I did my gauntlets with the tagends of a couple of skeins of Lamb’s Pride, and if I had to bind off a little earlier than the pattern suggested, it still turned out fine. I wanted to put a little more glam than goth into them, so I did a couple of rows of eyelets between the k1 p1 rows, and then ran pink ribbons through the wrist row of eyelets. I think they’re cute! And they only took a couple of hours, and would have probably taken less time had I not been doing fifteen other things at the time. I wore them most of the day at work today. My boss said I looked like Madonna circa 1986, but my other coworker A offered to pay me for a pair (my second commission ever!), and even Biceps tried them on (and stretched them out with his big old man hands). All in all, a nice diversion for a Sunday afternoon. Not v. impressive, but quite useful, and a good project for a beginner. How about that almost-instant gratification, eh? And for more fun, you could knit them in something chunky, or get really lacy with some mohair and run beads down the back.

Grinnellians Cast Off

Otherwise known as Cabling for Cavanagh, Knitting for Neisser, or Alpaca for Andelson. We’re a group of former Grinnell students that like to while away our post-matriculated hours with pointy sticks and balls of yarn, when we’re not working hard in “the real world” in order to buy more pointy sticks and balls of yarn.

Our current members:

Mary (parkerma ‘06, English and French, alias elletricote) and Bristol (ivybrist ‘07, Anthropology and Linguistics). We both enjoy snarky boys, long walks on the beach, Green Wing, Firefly, Bollywood, and being feisty. We also like more Grinnellian knitters, so come join us!