Phew! Time for a break!

I hope everyone had a great holiday!  It was nice to spend some time with my family and I tacked on a vacation from work this week to make a sort of extended holiday for myself.  To say I'm taking a "break" might be a stretch, but it certainly feels like one after last month!  My husband's birthday was the weekend after Thanksgifing so we took a trip to NYC to celebrate his still being older than me!  ;-)  We're both self-declared foodies and I had wanted to catch The Hunger Games Exhibition at the Discovery museum before it leaves in early January, so off we went!

Now, we had a FANTASTIC TRIP.  Seriously, but this blog is supposed to be about knitting, so I'll try to keep that in mind as I write.  We started out at Saturday by hitting the Natural History Museum to see the re-opened planetarium and the butterfly conservatory, then on to an early dinner at Guantanamera.  The food and cocktails were amazing and we literally stuffed ourselves silly before heading off to Times Square.

My anticipation was building for weeks to see the Hunger Games Exhibition.  I'm a HUGE fan of the books and movies, I usually binge watch the movies while knitting at least twice a week (and sadly, I'm not kidding- I'm actually watching the first film again as I write).  There was such great knitwear in all of the movies and so I was psyched at the opportunity to see some of the fantastic knits close up.  By the time we got into the exhibition, I was practically salivating and ready to cry like a pre-teen at a One Direction concert.

The exhibition itself was fantastic.  It was interactive, informative, reflected both the movies and the books, but not a single stitch of knitwear.  To be fair, I did see the famed Katniss Cowl, but it was actually woven, not knit (though you can find a really great knit interpretation HERE on Ravelry for free).  Exciting, and I was happy to be able to inspect it up close, but the cowl actually got so much attention after the movie release I couldn't find any information (or even still frames/pics) of the other knitwear in the movies, so I had been really jazzed to see some of the other pieces.   :-/

I do also want to take the time to point out that the staff working at the Discovery Museum are really friendly, approachable, and helpful.  I saw the Harry Potter Exhibition there a few years ago and had the same experience.  If you get the chance to stop by and see something that catches your fancy, don't hesitate!  If I could have afforded to, I would have bought out half their gift shop as well!  There was a whole line of kitchen/baking products marketed for "Peeta's Bakery" that I absolutely fell in love with!

Before the end of the night, we also got to stop into the Nintendo store where there were displays for their new game, Yoshi's Wooly World!  I'm also something of a Nintendo fan and it was fun to see all the knit and crocheted characters and landscapes.

Now that November is over, I can FINALLY I show you pictures of what I've been working on and my post is so late because I was trying to get pictures.  The lighting in my apartment is pretty dim though, and the weather hasn't really been cooperating- it's been warm, but rainy mostly.

I finished the last clue for the Supernatural MKAL pretty quickly but it took me a while to get around to washing and blocking it.  Anyone who watches the show will recognize the design as the anti-possession symbol the guys have tattooed to keep the demons out. I still have about a ball and a half of that yarn left and I think it's going to go great with a couple others I have in the stash.  I'm kind of toying around with ideas and think maybe I'll be designing my first shawl with them.

Yes, this is a bathroom pic I snapped as I was leaving work.
The lighting in there is AMAZING.

I also managed to finish the Snowflake sweater for NoKniSweMo before the end of November- though how I'm still not sure.  I had three days left with one sleeve to go, but I was working on it while in NYC so I was distracted and kept having to pull the cuff out.  I was actually sewing the final button onto the sweater at 11:57 on 11/30!  Now that it's done, I've got a great sweater to put into the rotation as the weather starts to cool- if it ever cools.  It's been in the 50's here in New England, which is practically tropical for this time of year.

At the start of the month, I also spent the day at WEBS yarn store completing my opt out tests for Knitting II and Crochet I and I'm happy to say I passed both!  Now that I've got a pre-requisite under my belt, it's just a matter of figuring out which classes I'd like to take this semester.  I wish I had the time and money to do all of them, but I'll have to be patient.

So, what's coming up?  Well, I'm STILL desperately trying to finish last minute Christmas gifts.  I'll be busy with some homework from the knitting classes I've signed up for, but I really hope to start a sweater that's been in my queue for some time, Norah Gaughan's "Chainlink," with the hope that I can finish it in time to actually wear it this year.   Soon, it'll be time for New Year's resolutions!  How did we hit the end of the year already?

Knovember Knitting

This is the second time I skipped a week.  I really didn't mean to, but the weeks have been getting away from me.  I can't believe Thanksgiving is on our door already!  I would like to be busy knitting Christmas gifts, but I'm still working diligently on my November "alongs."

I posted earlier on Facebook, I'm finished with clue 7 of 8 for my Supernatural MKAL.  I simultaneously am really excited and really sad that I'm so close to the end, but at least I'll be able to show it off soon!

The NoKniSweMo sweater is not doing so well.  In order to catch up on the MKAL, I sacrificed the sweater figuring it will go really quickly now that I'm down to stockinette stitch.  It is going quickly, but I'm going to have to do something desperate between now and the end of the month in order to finish on time.  It's possible, but it's getting pretty intense.

I have so many pairs of socks planned and I'm not the fastest knitter so I'm sure I won't get as many as I'd like done for the holidays.  I've been thinking about maybe making up some Hug Me Mug Cozies as gifts instead.  They always bring a smile to my face and I've got plenty of scrap yarn I could use!

I'll also soon be making progress on the WEBS Expert Knitter Program. I'm scheduled to complete the opt-out tests for Knitting II and Crochet I the first week of December.  While I'm really exciting to be making the progress, I do feel like I need to bone-up a little.  The course catalog outlines the skills covered by each class and I've realized I almost never use a long tail cast-on or half double crochet stitch.  Clearly I've got some practicing to do over the next week on top of all the other things I'm doing!  I heard the catalog for winter classes would be coming out around Thanksgiving, so I've been waiting impatiently by the mailbox for it to arrive!

I also need to give a shout out to Target for selling these fabulous two person sweaters!  Tell me this isn't amazing!  I'm seriously considering picking one up before our company "festive sweater" contest.  And what's up with the pepperoni pizza on there?  Is that meant to be something else and I'm just not seeing it?

Fiber Festival of New England 2015

Clockwise from Top: Mad Color Fiber Arts (look at those colors),
hats from Bethany Homecrafts, goldfish soap.

This weekend is the 6th annual Fiber Festival of New England.  I come to this festival every year and always have a great time!  This year I was especially pleased to see an increase in upcycled products, like the beautiful hats pcitured here by Bethany Homecrafts.  They had some beautiful clothing made of up-cycled materials- the "twirly skirts" especially caught my attention.  I didn't have a very large budget this year and I've got the next several months worth of projects queued with yarn bought, so I didn't make a lot of purchases (yes, I realize this is very un-knitter-like)- just a new drop spindle and batt of roving.  Both were very reasonably priced and from Winterberry Farm in Colrain, MA.  That's my favorite part of these festivals, having the opportunity to buy from local farms and companies, goods being produced right in my back yard.  I did manage to collect a monsterous number of business cards and there are definitely some vendors that I will be following a bit more closely in the next year as I knock some more projects off of my list.  One that stuck in my head in particular was Holiday Yarns Dye Studio with their superhero inspired sock kits and some drool-worthy colorways.  I also have to give a shout out to June Pryce Fiber Arts.  I spent so much time "ooh"ing and "ahh"-ing in their booth!  They had beautiful colorways, amazing kits, and their "shawl pin without a pin" is genius!  

Let's talk about that WIP list!  I've dropped my Christmas knitting for now in an attempt to keep up with my NaKniSweMo KAL and Supernatural MKAL.  I suspect I had too much fun with my last KAL and in a moment of FO ecstacy I went a little insane and joined a handful more, now I'm stretching myself a little too thin.  I'm rightly worried I won't be able to knit all the socks I planned to gift for Christmas.  I suppose there's birthdays or next Christmas but that just feels like a defeatist attitude.  :-(  I've got a week of "stay-cation" lined up the first week of December, so maybe I can crank a few pairs out then.  I've also been trying to consciously knit a bit faster.  I've never been too impressed by speed because I'm a process knitter, I like to savor every last stitch as opposed to cranking out projects in record time, but desperate times call for desperate measures!

I've been working on Tin Can Knits' "Snowflake" for NaKniSweMo 2015.  The challenge requires an entire sweater composed of 50,000 stitches or more be completed in the month of November, that's about 2k per day.  My estimated stitch count for the finished project was over 58k stitches at a size Large with 3/4 sleeves (OMG what have I gotten myself into?!) so I'm confident it will qualify even if I was a bit off in my estimates.  I'm doing this with a friend who is participating in the original writing challenge that the knit challenge is based on, NaNoWriMo and I think we've both already fallen behind by a couple days.  I've had a seriously hectic work week requiring more overtime than I've needed to work for some time, so I really didn't have much time for anything else but eating and sleeping.  I managed to pick up about 1/2 of my missed progress after the festival yesterday and hope to catch up completely by tonight- only a couple thousand more stitches to go!

My NaKniSweMo and Supernatural MKAL projects, nestled together in my project bag.

As for the Supernatural MKAL, I'm falling way behind.  In order to catch up with NaKniSweMo, I sacrificed the shawl for a while and now I'm about a full clue behind when I should be past the half way mark.  I have been keeping up with the progress of others through the forum on Ravelry.  I'm still really jazzed about the project- still in love with the color and I'm enjoying the pattern immensely.  I tend to pick really difficult patterns to keep my mind fully engaged which might also be why I tend to knit so monogamously, so it's been a nice change to do something a little simpler for a change.

I wanted to take the time this week to share a technique I finally had the opportunity to use!  I'm sure I read about it somewhere- and I'll be damned if I can't find where.  I promise that if I find my original source, I'll come back and link it here.  Basically, it's a tip for making stripe/color changes that are clean and smooth when working in the round.  The problem is that if you just pick up and knit the next color, you have a very obvious spot where you stop using one color and pick up the other.  When you're working in rows this really isn't a problem, but when you're working in the round it's more obvious because your round never really stops- it's one giant spiral.  If you were to just drop one color and pick up another, it might not be so noticeable in a project where you were striping similar colors, but with the colors I've selected and making a change on the shoulder/bust area- that would be a pretty obvious change!

I've found the best and simplest way to deal with the color change is as follows:

1. Knit normal/in pattern until you reach the point where you need to change colors.
2. As your first stitch made with the new color (below, that's black)- make one extra stitch using the bar between your last stitch and the next stitch (known as a "M1" in most patterns).
3. Slip your last stitch in the previous color (in my example, the magenta) over the new stitch (black).  This way, you maintain your stitch count and the slipped stitch looks to be on the same level as your previous color.  

I've included two shots below of my end result- the first au naturale so you can see what a clean line is made using this technique, and in the second image I circled the slipped stitch just so it's clear where I made the change.  It really disappears- especially on this pattern where the end of the round is in the middle of a raglan.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again next week!

Ryan

The Road So Far...

I had to share this because it made me giggle when I read it on Tumblr the other day:

That's only sort of true for me.  I'm starting to realize I'm not going to get nearly as much Xmas kitting done as I would prefer, but that's really because I'm doing so much selfish kitting this year and I think my work in progress (WIP) pile is about to get bigger.   (What am I thinking?!)  It's been a while since I've made a true status report, so let's talk current WIPs before I move on to the projects in my queue.

I finished my first Drakar sock (yay) and I'm finally on to the second.  The foot may look a bit short, but these babies stretch pretty good- probably thanks to the squishy yarn, Tess' Designer Yarns: Super Socks and Baby Yarn (in Metallurgy) and the fantastic toe in this pattern!

You'll also see the socks modeling my new stitch protector. I've been seeing a lot of these from other bloggers/podcasters and thought it would be a worthy investment, so I bought one on Etsy- made to order by Pokdej.  This is the larger size.  I thought it was worth investing in the larger one now, even if I don't have any extra long double-pointed needles (DPNs) at the moment.  I'm really enjoying it!  There are great options for patterned cloth and lining and it's roomy without being too loose to hold the project.

I've also got a circular shawl on the needles, but it's part of the Supernatural MKAL by Shannon Sanchez.  Because of the mystery bit, I cant very well post pictures of it- then it wouldn't be a secret!  I'm running a bit behind on this one though.  :-/


Now, I bought the above stitch holder before the end of the Knitting Expat Rainbow KAL, not at all expecting I would win a prize or anything but that's exactly what happened!  If you've not yet watched the Knitting Expat podcast, I highly suggest it! I'm a big fan of Mina and her two feline co-stars.  Mina also makes really wonderful project bags and she can be found on Etsy as Mina Makes.  I knew the prize included the stitch holder, that BEAUTIFUL skein of Ewe Who Knits: Irish Fairy Tree base in the colorway Rainbow Dash, and some really adorable rainbow stitch markers.  What I did not expect was for her to generously include some flavored teas, absolutely scrumptious toffee candies, and a postcard of her boys, Derek and Hugo.  Those adorable felines are accumulating quite the following of their own!  Thank you, Mina, for your generosity!

So what's coming up?  I'm so tempted to use that beautiful skein of Rainbow Dash to cast on a pair of  Mystik Spiral Socks, but I think that will have to wait.  I had hoped to make at least two more pairs of socks for Xmas gifts.  There are a few Xmas knitting KALs I'm already participating in, so that's helping keep me (kind of) focused.  I've also stumbled on this idea of NaKniSweMo: knit a 50,000-stitch sweater in a month- specifically November. CRAZY you say! Yeah, I said that too, but I did hope to have a new holiday sweater for this year and I bought some beautiful yarn with this very intention back at the WEBS test sale in May.  You've actually seen it already in a previous post- that b-e-a-utiful magenta gauge swatch that I made for the Tin Can Knits Snowflake sweater.  I've even counted the stitches in anticipation!  I had to guess-timate a bit on row counts (you know, knit till you have 16.5 inches, etc), but I came up with roughly 58k+ stitches knitting up a XL size with three quarters sleeves.  I figure if I make it by the November 30 deadline that's great, but if I don't I'll still have a really great start on a Christmas sweater.

Well, now that I've gone on and on, it's time to get some of this knitting done as opposed to just talking about it! I'm going to cuddle up with some Mexican hot chocolate and see what I can do about that.  Till next week!

Gauge Swatch: A New Sweater

I was playing with one of those ridiculous Facebook surveys that's supposed to analyze your profile and list your three best attributes and one of your worst.  The positives didn't seem so bad, "goal oriented,"  "unbelievably charismatic," and "quick perception," but then came the negative: "Slacker." 

My first reaction was to get offended. "Hey!" I thought.  "Who are you calling a slacker?"  Then I thought about it... and the pile of clothes next to my bed that have been there for over a week, the pile of dishes in the kitchen that I totally plan to do right away... or after the next episode of the show I'm currently binge watching.  Remember my ratio of sweaters that fit to those that don't?  I thought about all the wasted effort I put into those full-body sweaters just because I couldn't be bothered to do an adequate gauge swatch.   They are my secret shame and I've been hiding them from my knitter mother for quite some time now.  Like I promised previously though, I'll be sharing ALL OF THE THINGS with you- so here are some of my more embarrassing sweater debacles, for your viewing enjoyment.

Perhaps my 2016 New Year's Resolution will be to reclaim all of the beautiful yarn I've mishandled.  I usually knit a few rows, eyeball the stitch to inch ratio, and decide if the fabric looks obviously flawed before disregarding what little information I've collected to just dig right into my projet du jour.  I like to pretend to be surprised when I pull the sweater on and find that I can fit a small elephant in there with me.  Keeps things interesting that way.  So what can I do to kick this bad habit of mine?  I can take my time and make a true, honest to goodness gauge swatch.  Not just any gauge swatch, a fantastic swatch.  A swatch that my mother could be proud of.  I'm not naïve enough to promise I'll keep this up for all of my future knits but I'm starting a new sweater soon and I vow that I will not knit this sweater twice!

Seems like there are HUNDREDS of articles on the internet for creating a swatch and I've read quite a few. Some people get really zen about swatching, like the little squares are a way for calming the mind and centering one's Chi before starting the main event. Some people just want get it over with as soon as possible and race through tiny samples.  I know it's hard to believe, but there are even some people out there who enjoy knitting swatches almost as much as the intended project.  I have also heard whispers of a magical people who knit so consistently that they no longer have to swatch, but can accurately predict the effects their static gauge will have on a pattern.  I am not one of their number, no matter how many times I brazenly declare that I am and dive head first into another woolen disaster of my own making. 

Now, of all the articles and demos and tutorials I've absorbed, I do particularly appreciate the Amy Herzog Design team's method, and I love that they took the time to provide the rationale behind it.  In case you haven't heard of them before, they've developed a system called CustomFit for knitting a sweater with  any weight yarn and your gauge instead of trying to match someone else's.  I haven't really delved into it yet to be honest, but I'm thinking it's something I could really benefit from eventually and I do follow the blog regularly because they've always doing something new and interesting!

I love that sultry raspberry color and it really pops against black!

So here it is.  Queue the fanfare.  This is my first honest effort at a useful swatch in Filatura Di Crosa Sportwool.  Not only did I knit it up, but I washed it as I would the sweater and I'm glad I did.  It's superwash wool and it felt kind of scratchy like acrylic when I was knitting it up, but the yarn softened up so much upon washing that I think it will be comfortable with direct contact to skin.  I bought a quantity in this luscious magenta and in black back in May with the expressed intent to use them for Tin Can Knits' Snowflake.  The crisp New England mornings we've had this week have reminded me that my sweater pile could be bigger and I love how simple and classy this design is.  I could wear it to Thanksgiving dinner, to the office, or out on the town afterwards.

So what about you?  Do you have a preferred swatch method or do you like live dangerously?   I've just about finished up what I expect to be my first Rheinbeck sweater, and a few Christmas gifts are off the needles now.  I'd also love to hear what other people are casting on!  Are you working on something for you, or getting a head start on seasonal gift knitting?