purple sock update

sock #1 is finished!
feel free to skip all my rambling - i'm discussing how i would change my methods next time...

i am mostly happy with it - it fits quite well and the worsted/fingering weight combo haven't spontaneously combusted (yet!). one weird issue is that the lace pattern takes up more space lengthwise than plain stockinette stitch, so the top part of the foot is longer than the bottom. this isn't a huge problem, but i could probably fix it with some occasional short rows on the bottom. i'm not sure if it's worth it.
also, the cast-on is messy and on the heel the transition from thinner to thicker is smoother than going from thicker to thinner (you can't see it very much in the picture but i'll take another one when i finish the second sock). i'm thinking that on the second sock i'll use an "afterthought" type heel, which is worked from pulling out scrap yarn and making a heel-shaped thing. if i do that then i'll only have to transition from thinner to thicker and i won't have holes and chunky spots from my shorts rows (which i need to learn how to do better at some point).

here's a closeup of the toe:

i'm also making process on the mohair shawl, but it's difficult to see anything until it's finished...

its been awhile...

ok, i just gave on on putting the pictures in the order that i want. how am i supposed to move stuff around when the pictures are as big as the window???

here is a WIP made from pink yarn i found at a thrift shop and dyed and some leftover lambs pride. the heel and toe will be worsted weight while the rest is sock weight - the idea is the my toes will stay warm and the heel will wear well - its an experiment. i'm not crazy about this short-row heel in worsted weight. i might try a different kind in the other sock.

my finished embossed leaves socks. the yarn is knitpicks which i dyed. i like them a lot, but next time i would make the cuff much shorter and perhaps a bit tighter.






this is a shawl i'm making from the mohair chloe gave me from paris. i dyed it in the ball because i thought skeining and dying might make it stick together too much and/or be really really annoying to ball afterwards. the third ball is somewhere at the bottom of my sack of yarn.ps: that's the view from my dorm window. the snow is gross and wet and melty

first, chloe and karen modeling the scarves i gave them:
right now i'm in florida, but before i left i dyed the lovely mohair yarn chloe gave me. its purple and blue and the three skeins don't match exactly because i dyed it by putting a skein halfway in a cup of dye and putting it in the microwave. i started to make a lace shawl out of it but i was only increasing 2 sts every other row so it was making a weird diamond shape and the pattern was too complicated for the colors. so i ripped it out and i'm going to make one like chloe's blue and white alpaca cloud shawl.
i also finished one embossed leaves sock but i left my camera cord at school so i have to wait until i get back to bklyn to upload using more clever/annoying methods. chloe i promise i'm not trying to copy all your projects, you just have such great knitting.

gifts (mostly)

1. mittens for a friend who likes silly purple things:

2. headband for me:

3. hat for mom (same braided cable as my headband):

the theme is green and stripey

Surprisingly, the fish isn't one of the green and stripey things.

A sock and a fishtale:I learned how to do a jogless join between stripes!

mitten!

gosh its been awhile...here's what i was doing while laughing at the silly old men in my family on thanksgiving. a mitten i made from knitpicks yarn (dark green) and some kool-aid dyed wool in pretty kool-aid colors. check out the self-diagonal-striping effect on the cuff :)i promise after this i'll stop showing pictures of this spinning uptil i finish whatever i'm making with it, but...

purple spinning

So, I'm sitting in the library not working on my lab report and I thought it would be a good time for a post. I finished my red sweater, but I don't have a picture yet. It fits really well and turned out pretty much how I wanted. The sleeves are longer than they need to be, but they keep my hands warm.
I've also been spinning this gorgeous merino/silk blend. There's 8 oz of fiber total, and so far I've spun about 80 yds laceweight and 117 yds heavy worsted. I couldn't decide how heavy I wanted to spin it, and I might want to ply the two together for an interesting texture. Here are some closeups of the heavier one:

blue, red, green and purple

ok, i've got a bunch of stuff (and pictures!) since i haven't posted in awhile...i guess i'll go in chronological order.
1. i made these gloves last may because a woman at the brooklyn children's museum development office (where i was interning) doesn't like alpaca and doesn't like bubblegum pink. so, she gave me her two skeins of knitpicks baby alpaca which i dyed cobolt blue with bits of pale purple peeking out (the yarn was heathered to start with, which helped, but i also let the dye absorb quickly, so that's why it's uneven). i was actually intending to dye it purple (since i have too many blue clothes already), but i like the effect i ended up with. anyway, i'm happy it's cold enough for me to wear them now! the pattern is based on http://www.wiseneedle.com/patternpage.asp?pattern=knitpatlily
2. i'm almost done with my red sweater! it my first sweater (though i made a tank top over the summer). i just have to finish the second sleeve and make the yoke.


3. if you hadn't noticed from my first posts, i love entrelac. i'm going to made some green entrelac socks. the little skein is some yarn that i wanted to use, but is way too thick to use with sz 0 needles. i dyed it to be brighter and it's sitting on a sock which is it's original color.


4. here is some merino/silk fiber i ordered on ebay. its soo soft and shiny and easy to spin (and less white than the picture shows).



ps: click on the pictures to see a bigger version

friday dyeing

I think dyeing has become my regular friday afternoon activity. its really perfect...at 4 on a friday i really don't want to do any work, or go to the gym, or clean my room, or do anything that involves thinking...but i don't want to just go to sleep, so it's really just what i need. this is some bulky knitpicks wool ("sierra") that was light blue and now is variegated blue and green. it's a little more green than i expected, but that's ok.

done!

yay! i'm done and i'm quite happy with it! it's about 5 1/2 ft long

scarf progress

my entrelac scarf is almost done! right now it's about 4 1/4 ft and should stretch a bit with blocking. i only have four more rows of squares left!

more pretty colors...

i started my entrelac scarf! i also got my knitpicks order today so i can make a dark red sweater, some blue and purple mittens and a hat (http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/
PATThallowig.html) in brown for jane in australia (jungledread.com). in exchange she's making me a felted ipod cover.

welcome to my knitting blog! i'll be posting pictures of my projects and anything else i feel like (dyeing, spinning, whatever...)

I dyed some of knitpicks dye-your-own lace weight merino last night. There are little skeins of a bunch of different colors to make a obnoxious candy colored entrelac scarf (for an explanation of entrelac go to http://www.io.com/~cjwyche/
Entrelac/Entrelac.html )
the colors are brighter than they appear here!