Posted on

Heating Up

It’s kind of hot today so I’m hiding in my dark house with only the glow of the computer monitor lighting the room. I don’t want to turn the A/C on yet!! I plugged in the big fan in the den where it was helping me enjoy the latest episode of “What Would Brian Boitano Make?” (lots of cheese related items, apparently.)

This has been a nice relaxing weekend except for the moment of “OH CRAP” when I was at Walmart buying cake pans and paper goods when my debit card was not in my wallet… but then I remembered where I put it and whipped out the abused USAA card to complete my purchase. Didn’t want to charge it, but whatever. Best that I was prepared! 😛

Incidentally, the cake pans I got, which I needed to replace the old ones that are suspiciously rusty, worked out really great, and I say this about Walmart brand cake pans. I’ve actually been pretty pleased with that cheap-tastic brand. I wound up making a Devil’s Food cake with them that turned out pretty much perfect in terms of getting out of the pans all right.  I think I may have over mixed the batter because the cake was more light and fluffy than I care for. However it was eaten up by Malvina and Sam and I brought over a big piece for my dad today.

I’m getting geared up for the Milwaukee trip that is happening in like ten days. It snuck up on me! I first posted about Milwaukee back in February, and since then 2010 has been one big awful blur. So it’s nice that there is an inevitable-already-paid-for trip on my horizon! The only thing that is going to be tough is that I will be on Jason duty while my parents are gone (being that I am not retired or a business owner I am not participating in the road-trip portion of this trip and instead am flying out with Abby to rendezvous with the rest the fam in Chicago). This will entail me going there before work and making sure he has taken his pills and is fairly lucid. Sigh.

I also have another dentist appointment this week, a continuation of the Epic Dental Saga In Which I Have Yet Another Cavity Drilled Upon. I would have rescheduled it but decided to suck it up and go because I’m going to have to go at some point, so.

I definitely feel whiney about it, though.

SO WHAT I HAVE BEEN KNITTING ON? I’m glad you asked.

I finished one of the Laeticia socks and it totes doesn’t fit.

Laeticia

I hope it fits Abby because I liked making it and I still owe her a couple pairs of socks so it would be a nice addition to her collection, plus it looks like falling leaves which I know she wanted. As I was making it I was kind of thinking of this pair being one of hers anyway (seriously, it’s not an “oh it doesn’t fit me so I’ll just give it to Abby” sort of situation).

It has a handsome gusset:

Laeticia

So, with that sock finished I ADD’d over to a sock from the new Wendy Knits book, Toe-up Socks for Every Body and cast on with some Knit Picks Essential in a long discontinued color (which is why I’m saying Essential and not Stroll). This pattern is the Cables and Diamonds pattern for an obvious reason:

Diamonds & Cables Sock

Considering I taught myself how to do toe-up socks long before I learned cuff down, I find it humorous that I’m not sold on them anymore. I just love a top down gusset!! But I decided that I should learn how to do a gusset from the toe-up (rather than a short row heel) and so far it’s pretty interesting. I’m curious about how it will look (supposedly identical to a top-down gusset) once I’m done. It’s a new technique for me, so I hope it works!

Diamonds & Cables Sock - gusset

It’ll be nice to have some socks out of the Essential for myself finally. It’s my go-to yarn for Malvina’s socks because it’s hard wearing and she likes it because it’s soft. I like it because it’s nice to knit with and also dirt dirt cheap, hah. Abby also likes it and the Monkey socks I made for her forever ago still look really good, she says.

Anyway, so that’s what I’m working on right this second in my ADD knitting life.

Posted on

SOCK IT TO ME

Papaver

So I finished a pair of socks. I like them. They are Papaver socks from Anne Hanson at Knitspot. The pattern is great and they pretty much knit themselves. I recommend all the patterns I’ve knit from Knitspot. The only thing I modded was that I didn’t do a short row heel because those don’t really fit me too great so I did a stockinette heel with the gusset decreases on the bottom of the foot to maintain the integrity of the pattern edge (blah blah blah, haha).

Yarn is Rio de la Plata merino sock in raspberry. I got it for myself for my birthday about 2 years ago. It was always destined to be Papavers! I’m glad I finally made them.

Papaver

ANYWAY now I’m still working on the yellow socks I talked about last time and also these ones:

Laeticia

These are Laeticia from Twist Collective. It’s a fabulously written pattern, totally charted. Anytime a pattern isn’t charted it makes me want to smack it.

And I am actually pretty much following it exactly except for (haha) the cast-on – instructions call for a rolled edge which makes me want to screech so I did a turned cuff. Doesn’t look too much different. OTHER THAN THAT THOUGH it is by the book.

This yarn is also Rio de la Plata that has been marinating in the stash for awhile. It was briefly part of a shawl before I ripped it out. I don’t recall the colorway as the ball band has long been lost in the sands of time.

At any rate, Ravelry has informed me that Rio de la Plata is out of business, so good luck finding any! 😛

It is too bad because their base yarn is great, almost cottony and strong, but all wool.

Posted on

VAILA

I used to hate to purl. It just isn’t my favorite thing ever.  Especially great swaths of purling like that which is practically the entire body of Vaila.

Vaila

Vaila is knit from the bottom up, both the sleeves and body. I, of course, couldn’t be hacked to actually follow the directions. So, I knit it top down.

My aunt has accused me of not being very specific when it comes to talking about the mods I make on my knits, which are plentiful and varied. So here are the mods that I made, just for you, AUNTIE M.

  1. Knit from the top down. I use the 35/15 method: that is, the front and back use 35% of the stitches each and the sleeves use 15% of the stitches each. This means that if you cast on 100 stitches the front will have 35 stitches, the back 35 stitches, the right sleeve 15 stitches, the left sleeve 15 stitches.  Place markers at each of these stitches. I can’t quite explain the math because math (especially percentages) breaks my brain, but I can assure you that using this method works. At least for me. I also used the number of stitches at the CAST OFF part of the pattern as a starting point, then knit K2P3 ribbing for an inch. (Should have gone a little longer – and I may carefully rip out the neck ribbing and redo.)
  2. The top-down knit raglans: To get the same look as the raglans in the pattern, the increases you  will need to use are:  knit to 3 stitches before the marker, “purl front and back in the stitch” (similar to kfb), knit 1, kfb.  With these increases you will get the same look as the pattern, which is knit stitches on a sea of purl.
  3. I didn’t convert the lace insert at all.  I knit it as is, and it looks pretty much the same no matter which direction it’s pointed.
  4. I knit the sleeves inside out.  I couldn’t stomach the thought of all the purl in the round, even though I don’t hate purling anymore.  So  I knit the sleeves in the round and then turned it right side out and knit the cuffs. If you do this, you should be careful that you make sure to  pick up the underarm stitches in the right way so the seem is on the inside of the sweater.

I think that is it in terms of modifications.

Vaila

Anyway, here are the stats:

Pattern: Vaila from Twist Collective
Yarn: Berroco Vintage (An acrylic/wool blend.  I like it.)
Gauge: I dunno
Needles: US 9 29″ circular

 Happy Monday (and MARCH, wow), dudes. 

So, now I am totally working on another sweater. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I haven’t knit on a sock in three months!