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March 29, 2005

Liar, liar, swatch on fire

I started a sweater the other day with the full knowledge that I had no idea what I was doing and that I would probably have to rip and start over. And that's what I'm going to have to do. Either my gauge swatch lied or I miscounted when I cast on because it's 3 inches too wide. I haven't figured out which it is because at first glance it doesn't seem to be either... but it has to be one of them. Anyway, here's a photo of the fabric that my new yarn makes.

Posted by kate at 09:00 AM | Comments (16)

March 25, 2005

Mountains of FOs

Are you ready to see my tons of FOs? Me too. They're non-existant. I had meant to start a sweater but it didn't work out and now I need to reexamine my yarn selection. I had meant to start a new hat design but that didn't happen either. I had meant to make some Lise booties... nope. Here is what I did do:

Posted by kate at 03:01 PM | Comments (21)

March 21, 2005

ARRRRRRGHHHHHHH!

My internet connection is not working at home so I can't get or send emails. (I'm writing this from my friend's house and it's taking me forever because French keyboards are all wacky and the letters are in the wrong places). Our internet provider gives terrible customer service so there is no end in sight to the lack of connection and even when I started screaming they basically told me they don't give a damn and that it must be my fault. So that means no photos of all the stuff I've been knitting go ahead, imagine it's tons of stuff, it's not, but since you can't see it, we can pretend... and no photos of my visit with Axelle and the lovely cashmeres she brought me. Well, I'll be back one of these days. In the meantime, if you have emailed me or plan on emailing me, I'll try to check my email every other day and I'm sorry for taking a while to respond. I hope to surprise you guys with a bunch of great FOs when I can finally post again.

Posted by kate at 01:57 PM | Comments (3)

March 15, 2005

multiplying like... bunnies

Spring must be in the air because I keep seeing bunnies. Like these and this one (on March 1) and another and a blue one (on Jan. 25) and this cutie and this one in the wild

I figured I would put some bunny hints out there for any of you who happen to be making them. If you aren't making bunnies, stick your tongue out at my blog, roll your eyes and then scroll down to "Did you know"

Black is a hard color to use for the embroidery. Nearly everyone who mentioned mean bunny faces used black to make the mouth and I'm convinced that one has something to do with the other.

Don't understuff!

Go down a needle size or two to get a nice, tight fabric if you have to. You don't want the stuffing to show through, do you? I know I specified a size, but who cares. It's a bunny. You aren't going to wear it.

It's easier to do the embroidery before the head is completely stuffed and sewn up. I stuffed mine a little, sewed on the face and then finished stuffing and sewed up the back.

I apologize for not getting the info up on my site for the backwards loop cast on. I promise I'll do it as soon as I can bribe Frog to take photos for me. In the mean time, there's good info here (Scroll down)

That's all I can think of for now, but I'll add things as I think of them.

Did you know that in France they say that on Easter morning bells fly out of the churches in Rome and come to France to hide eggs and leave candy for children? Yes. Bells. Like the things that go ding dong. What's even better is that they are bells with wings. That's right. Huge, heavy, metal bells with little cartoony wings that fly and somehow gently pick up eggs and hide them in bushes and leave giant Kinder Eggs and Lindt Bunnies (but very sadly no peeps or jelly beans). I mean, a rabbit hiding eggs is a pretty stupid idea, but at least it's a living breathing animal that can move because it wants to. Bells? Really! I don't care if they are magic bells from Vatican City! What do they take us for, ding dongs? Excuse me for the extremely lame joke. It's time for bed. Anyway, the point of this rambling is, Frog keeps saying I should knit a bell. The only cloche I would like to knit is one that could go on my head. And it wouldn't have wings.

PS It was Blossom who wrote the last entry in case you didn't notice. She claims she's going to buy yarn this weekend. We'll see! Since my blog seems pretty devoid of concrete knitting content, maybe I'll let her jump in and show us what she picked out for herself.

Posted by kate at 10:35 PM | Comments (16)

March 14, 2005

Thanks!

Thank you all for your excellent suggestions and advice!
I'm ready to get started.

Posted by blossom at 07:34 PM | Comments (1)

March 13, 2005

Santa came this weekend

This weekend, I also patted a horse's nose, played with a dirty dog, saw a bee rubbing the inside of a crocus, walked in the mud, baked a cheesecake and babbled to Frog about plans for sweaters.

Posted by kate at 09:30 PM | Comments (12)

March 07, 2005

Blossom - about my best pal*

January 1998 - August 2000 She worked with me... or rather, I worked for her, we ate lunch together nearly every day and I often dragged her half across town to go to the Yarn Connection during lunch.

She had no desire to knit.

2000 - 2001 We didn't work together anymore, but I still rambled on about knitting to her.

Still no desire to knit.

Summer 2003: She came along on a two (three?) borough yarn tour on one of the hottest days of the summer. And she claims she had fun.

Still no desire to knit.

More time passes Knitting got cooler, books came out, I got a blog, which she reads but doesn't comment on. I sat and babbled to her about knitting on the phone and emailed her sketches for ideas.

Still no desire to knit.

Now, after a long period of incubation, she has finally caught the knitting bug and I'm not there to hang out with her and teach her. So, what I'd like to know is, how did you learn to knit and how can I help Blossom while I'm 3628 miles/5,838 kilometers away from her? I learned by myself using library books and trial and error and just making stuff up (next time I'm at my parents' house, I'll show you and subject myself to ridicule) but I'd like her to have an easier, less lonely, more enjoyable time of it. And before you even bother to suggest it, the book that everyone has and talks about, you know, the one with the curse word in the title, she told me it's out of the question. She's too damned tired of hearing about it all the time.

*name has been changed to protect the fiber virgin.

Posted by kate at 11:56 AM | Comments (34)

Armed with 3mm straight needles and dangerous

I had a dream last night where this guy was trying to kill me with knitting needles (because I knew about the sect he was in - that part of the dream is just too long to go into) and so I was forced to stab him in the neck with a 3mm straight needle from phildar. I guess that's what I get for watching a violent movie just before going to bed.

But explain this one: I also had a dream a couple weeks ago that one of my friends was mocking my accent when I speak French, so I poked holes in her with a needle. I didn't really stab her and it didn't hurt her at all. It was just like poking holes in paper. And when I did it, this yellow light shone through from her insides. Now what the heck does that mean?!

I don't know if I should be more worried that I'm having violent dreams or that I know exactly which knitting needle I used.

Posted by kate at 09:34 AM | Comments (16)

March 04, 2005

Did I ever tell you I am a knitter?

Someone with a very funny email address was kind enough to point out a little mistake in my shining star pattern so I figured it was easier to knit it to check rather than trusting that I know what I'm talking about. So I made what you see above. The hat's not done yet, but I found the mistake. This is the child's size. I'm trying to figure out who I even know that has children. 99% of my friends with kids have babies or toddlers (that's why there are so many kids things on my site - don't worry, I have adult ideas too. I just have no time to knit them up). And most of the children I know and like enough to give a handknit hat to are girls who wouldn't be caught dead in anything that's not purple or pink, so this bright green thing would just be out of the question. It's knit in morehouse merino. I went a bit berzerk there a few summers ago when I visited their shop. Since I didn't have any particular projects I was buying the yarn for, I walked out with one skein each of twelve different colors. And I've never found a way of getting them to work together so I'm slowly working my way through them by making hats. I do however have a bunch of one colorway of a variegated yarn that I'm terrified to use. I'm afraid it looks better as a ball of yarn than knit up. And I don't know what to do with it. It's supposed to be a sweater for me. Oh well. I've had it since before I had even met my husband (when I bought it I was in the process of knitting a gorgeous scarf for the guy that would soon be my ex). If it's been hanging around for over 5 years, it can probably wait a little longer to become a nice sweater.

Posted by kate at 01:13 PM | Comments (18)

March 01, 2005

Proof and a review

For your pleasure, here is some more proof that I am an idiot and/or in dire need of sleep and/or a vacation.

I knit two left sleeves for the same sweater - yes, the sleeves are actually slightly different, thank god it's just at the top.

The sleeve caps are screwed up so I now have to rip the tops of my right and left sleeves.

I didn't trust myself and now will have to rip the last 5000 stitches of the sweater body.

I came very close to brushing my teeth with face cream.

I don't remember how to spell things in English anymore. And even when I know, I don't pay attention. I keep writing "I'll meat you" instead of "I'll meet you" which is definitely not the same thing.

I'm thinking of baking a cheesecake instead of knitting today. Deadlines and waistlines be damned.

Want something more articulate? The ones on the left can hang off stitches or be put on the needle. They're flexible. They rock. The ones on the right break. You can hang them off stitches, but they'll turn around and maybe fall out depending on the thickness of your yarn. Or they'll magically get caught on both your stitches and your needle making a huge mess. They seem to have no particular advantage over paper clips.

Posted by kate at 09:46 AM | Comments (19)