Saltwater Purls

Neruda, on Socks

2009-10-12T22:06:00.002-04:00

Sorry about the long hiatus. Working 60 hours a week will do that to you ;)

Surface is finished. Pictures sometime when the light is good, it's been flooding for days now.

In the meantime, "Ode to My Socks" by Pablo Neruda.

Mara Mori brought me

a pair
of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder’s hands,
two socks as soft
as rabbits.
I slipped my feet
into them
as though into
two
cases
knitted
with threads of
twilight
and goatskin.
Violent socks,
my feet were
two fish made
of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot
through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons:
my feet
were honored
in this way
by
these
heavenly
socks.
They were
so handsome
for the first time
my feet seemed to me
unacceptable
like two decrepit
firemen, firemen
unworthy
of that woven
fire,
of those glowing
socks.

Nevertheless
I resisted
the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere
as schoolboys
keep
fireflies,
as learned men
collect
sacred texts,
I resisted
the mad impulse
to put them
in a golden
cage
and each day give them
birdseed
and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers
in the jungle who hand
over the very rare
green deer
to the spit
and eat it
with remorse,
I stretched out
my feet
and pulled on
the magnificent
socks
and then my shoes.

The moral
of my ode is this:
beauty is twice
beauty
and what is good is doubly
good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool
in winter.

Blogedanken: Urban Living

2009-08-17T00:22:00.005-04:00

I've been living in Atlanta for slightly less than two months now. It is the largest city I've lived in, at about one and a half times the size of Tampa and eighteen times larger than the city where I grew up. It's very much a car-driven (no pun intended) city, despite the presence of a perfectly workable transit system, or, as a friend of mine called it, “Perfectly Usable Public Transit System that is Largely Dismissed by its City’s Traffic-Jam-Sitting Inhabitants.”

When you live somewhere for a long time, you tend to accept its faults as The Way Things Are. It's been like that for years, obviously if something could be done, it would have been done already, right? Moving somewhere new doesn't give you that illusion--if you don't know the parameters, they might as well be anything.

Today I found an old post on Where (which is a decent city blog with actual content and not just a "cool aggregator" with the same photos and 100-word blurbs as every other "urban design" blog) called Blogedanken. It was intended as a thought experiment to get people interested in real solutions for our cities' problems. Obviously I am too late to enter the contest portion (ended in March last year), but I thought it would be interesting to play along anyway.

My raw list of ideas is as follows:

Incentive to use public transit
Integration of economic/social classes
(Safe, inexpensive) recreation/fitness opportunities
Promotion of local arts and music
Affordable fresh food in the city center
Connection between city and suburbs
Bike lanes on major roadways
Connection between colleges/universities and community
Street food
Incentives for small local businesses, higher taxes for "Everywhere America" chains
City-wide wireless internet (tax-funded or subscription)
Railroad connection to other cities, integrated w. city transit
Housing developments connected to public spaces
Trees between sidewalks and streets
Everyday businesses (basic groceries, pharmacies, pubs, delis, general stores) in walking distance of homes
Public play fountains for kids in summer
Accessible libraries
Free local festivals and events
Roof gardens

I'll be thinking it over and selecting my Top 15 over the next few days. Feel free to comment on mine, or come up with your own in the comments.

WIP Wednesday: Surface

2009-07-08T19:22:00.000-04:00

I'm finally getting this one to a point where it's nearly wearable. As in, might be done by winter.

A few days ago I finished the button bands and wove in the ends. I decided to add more buttons because I didn't want it pulling at the chest, not a flattering look. Seven down the front, plus the one on the shoulder for a total of eight.

I got lucky and a friend had exactly eight of these fabulous silver flowers in her button bin. I promise modeled photos when I sew them on.

Fiber Friday: Singles

2009-06-26T01:01:00.000-04:00

I finally finished my first spindle full of Sheep Shed Studio roving. It's the stuff I Kool-Aid dyed forever ago and never got around to spinning because I broke the hook off my spindle. Only took a little Super Glue to fix, but sometimes I get stubborn. And lazy.

That only used up half the roving, and I'd planned to make it a two-ply, but it's pretty balanced as is and might work well as a single. I like that it's thick/thin and rustic and think plying would even it out too much.

I have 238 yards so far, out of about 4 oz.

Next up is this fabulous green/yellow/black stuff that I got in a RAK. I don't know what the fiber or brand is, but it's some kind of wool. It's combed, so the resulting yarn is super-smooth. It's also really dense and needs a LOT of pre-drafting to get it spinnable. It's not felted, the fibers just seem like they're packed really close together and need a little encouragement to seperate. Maybe it sat in a tight braid for too long.

My cousins are in town from South Florida, and were really impressed that I can actually MAKE YARN. Dan goes to antique shows all the time (he's a military history nut) and promised to be on the lookout for an affordable wheel for me.

Packing

2009-06-23T22:54:00.003-04:00

I'm moving to Georgia for a few months.

Here is my bag of clothing.

Here is my bag of yarn.

Guess which is bigger?

(It's the clothing, but just barely, and if I took the handknits out of the "clothing" bag it would be in trouble.)

Technique Tuesday: On Creativity

2009-06-16T11:06:00.002-04:00

I've heard so many people say that they "aren't creative enough" to design things, or that they "don't have ideas".

Bullshit.

-Dictionary.com

If you've ever had a thought, if you're aware of your surroundings, and if your brain works even in the slightest you have ideas. They might not be good ideas, but they're ideas.

How do you come up with good ideas? You practice by coming up with bad ones! When I was a kid I read that we all have a million bad ideas inside of us, and the sooner we can get them all out the better. So even if something seems stupid, go for it. We learn by doing, and you'll soon find that working with one idea will cause you to come up with another.

For some reason, knitters suffer from the delusion that you have to be a capital-D Designer to come up with an idea or make an original garment.

Again, bullshit.

Designers (even the famous ones) are human just like the rest of us. They sketch, they write, they knit, and I'm sure they occasionally forget to put in a lifeline and have to rip back a lot farther than they should have. What seperates a designer from a garden-variety knitter is a willingness to try new things, to experiment, and even to fail. A designer looks at a simple idea and sees potential.

I'm going to help you learn to see potentail, starting with a simple concept.

This is my sketch, just a series of rectangles I doodled. As they get bigger, the space between them gets smaller.

You could have come up with that, right? Exactly! Ideas are everywhere, and sometimes the simple ones are the most effective.

When you look at your concept, think about what it could be. I could take this as it is and make a Modernist painting. I could line up appropriately-sized objects and create a still life composition to draw, paint, or photograph.

I started out with a simple, literal interpretation: I made it into a three-dimensional form, it could be an entranceway into a building. The empty spaces gradually get smaller, transitioning a person from "outside" to "inside".

As I was drawing that, the angles made me wonder what it would look like if I took two of my concept sketch and rotated one 90 degrees. I sketched it out quickly and got a pattern that reminded me of tartan.

To refine it a little more, I made a more finalized drawing in Photoshop. I could print this out as digital art, paint it (which might be interesting with some really texturized paint), turn it into a woven or knitted fabric, or use it as a layout grid for a graphic design.

As I was thinking about how I could knit that (I know nothing near enough about colorwork to puzzle that one out, but maybe something reminiscent of the Ball Band Dishcloth), I had another brainstorm: Lace!

This is just a quick, sketched chart I drew that alternates solid stockinette rectangles with rectangles of yarn-overs, the simplest type of lace. The rectangles change in size and frequency, just like the original concept sketch. The next step here would be to swatch this and see if the proportions work out, and to alter it if they don't.

Ideas are everywhere. And design is just a methodical approach to "playing" with ideas, moving them around and changing the color and seeing what concrete things you can make of an abstract concept.

A great way to get visual ideas into a workable format is to take a photo of something (a line of trees, spokes in a wheel, the shape of a building) and trace the important lines and forms. Then you can work with that and see what comes of it. It takes practice, but you'll find that the more you do, the easier things get.

Zzzzzzzzzz

2009-06-07T22:48:00.003-04:00

I have been incredibly bad about blogging lately, and I know it.

I worked multiple gigs every weekend in May (thank God that's over), had Y in town for a week, and graduated from college. Not much time left for knitting, and to top it off I'm in the middle of mostly long-term projects that haven't been good for photographing or writing about. I'm sure you don't care that I completed another inch on the damn sweater.

Soon I'm going to have the button band placed on Surface, and there will be photos of that. I'm so glad I did the shaping because it fits perfectly. Now I just have to make sure I don't change sizes between now and winter.

Now back to my regularly scheduled not-posting-unless-there's-something-interesting-to-say.

Fiber Friday: The Stash

2009-05-15T11:30:00.000-04:00

That's all of it. Yup, all of it. Except the balls that are currently attached to projects.

Technically "Flash Your Stash Day" is April 1, but have you ever seen me do anything like the rest of the world? I like to think of myself as 11 months early, not one month late.

My Day Job

2009-05-11T21:27:00.001-04:00

Just thought it seemed like a good time to talk a little bit about what it is I "do".

I'm currently working as a portrait photographer. I won't name the company, but suffices to say that it's a national chain that specializes in school events. Basically, I go to graduation or award ceremonies and take 200-500 pictures 2 seconds apart with the constant knowledge that if I miss someone, the boss and the people who have to match photos to names will have my head. Sounds glamorous, huh?

It's funny that when most people think of a photographer, they think of either National Geographic or fashion. And sure, there are people who get to travel to exotic places, meet African tribesmen, or do conceptual shoots with beautiful women and 50 pounds of fake hair and makeup. But for every Nigel Barker there's probably a thousand people like me who travel to the middle of Cow Country, Florida, meet biology teachers, and shoot 17-year-old boys in khaikis against an American flag backdrop.

That may sound like I'm complaining, but I'm definitely not. I love my job, it's just not "as seen on TV". I love that my team changes every event, so I get to meet and work with new people all the time. And sometimes the happy is infectuous.

I went to a ceremony today at a primarily-Black, Christian university. They had fantastic music. I'm a jazz lover, and was really impressed by the jazz combo. As they were playing, I happened to catch a glimpse of the monitor, and when I saw the saxophonist playing his heart out with a background of gospel singers dancing and waving their arms? I'm a complete sap, and I lost it. I was grinning like a maniac and tearing up at the same time. Something about gospel music just does it to me (but that's a story for another time). You've heard of "making a joyful noise"? Well they made it.

Things like that make it impossible for me to not love my job. Although there are definitely things that try. Next time I'll tell you about being eight deep in the weeds.

Don't be scared!

2009-05-07T15:55:00.003-04:00

Yes, you're in the right place. I just did a total redesign!

Basically, I made it more organized (grid-based!) and easier to navigate. The navigation links at the top go to posts with that label, making it easy to filter and read only the posts you are interested in. The tag cloud in the right sidebar shows off what I talk about the most and gives you the opportunity to check out some of the post categories that aren't in the top menu.

In the footer, you can check out my profile, add me as a friend on your favorite social site, or see my Flickr photostream.

As always, Saltwater Purls is a WIP! If you have any suggestions or comments on the new layout, leave them in the comment section or blast me an e-mail.

Hope you enjoy.

Review: HP Marketsplash

2009-05-07T13:55:00.002-04:00

HP Marketsplash offers 100 free business cards, no shipping or processing fees! You can choose from one of their customizable templates or upload your own image.

Being a dork, I wanted to create my own. I fired up Scribus, created a 9x9 grid, and punched out this:

And a few weeks later, I had this in my hot little hand:

Generally, good stuff. I'm very happy with the print quality. The paper's a tad flimsier than I would have liked, but you can pay a little extra for heavyweight cardstock if you want.

Apparently the first batch of cards came out with some color issues, but they sent them to me anyway in addition to the corrected set. Not sure what I'll do with them yet, but I'll find something.

The free cards are supposed to come with a little advertising line on the back, but mine came with the "premium" plain backs. Maybe it was a mistake in my favor, or maybe an apology for taking longer than promised?

Speaking of the taking longer...

The website says you should receive your order in 7 business days. On March 26, about a week after I placed mine, I got an email from one of their customer service reps saying that my image wasn't the correct size, which was confusing to me because the design page would only accept 1050x600px images. I emailed Ashlee with the original image, she was very nice and promised to fix it for me.

On April 11, I hadn't heard from them lately so I emailed Ashlee again, she responded on the 15th and said my package had been shipped. Yay! I got the package on the 17th.

The delay wasn't a big deal to me, I was in no hurry. If you need your cards by a certain date it may be a good idea to order a little bit ahead of time just in case.

Overall, I'm satisfied and will probably buy some more when the free ones run out.

Mitress of Knitting: April Results

2009-05-04T12:09:00.004-04:00

I finished Month 1: April and got a Level 3.

The cast-ons I learned were:

Tubular cast-on: very stretchy, makes a nice "hem" at the start of your piece. Looks great with ribbing. Doesn't look as weird as some other cast-ons if you're using oversized needles.

Garter stitch tab cast on: invisible if you're going to be working in garter stitch. You get to knit from three directions on the tab, so it's great for starting a shawl in the middle.

The bind-offs were:

Tubular bind-off. Matches the tubular cast-on, has pretty much the same properties.

Elastic bind-off. As it says in the title, elastic. Duh. As stretchy as the sewn bind-off but doesn't use as much yarn. Good for lace or the top of socks.

Stay tuned for the May edition: Increasing and Decreasing!

Want to be a Mistress of Knitting? Go to http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/lsg-mistress-of-knitting/

Wordle

2009-05-02T23:25:00.002-04:00

Wordle is a fun tool that lets you make your own word-art using any text (a story, a website, a letter, whatever you imagine).

Go to http://www.wordle.com to make your own.

WIP Wednesday: Entrelac

2009-04-29T13:31:00.004-04:00

I finally got started working on Market Squares from Bags: A Knitter's Dozen. I've had the pattern and yarn forever and just now got round to it.

Observation 1: Entrelac is boring. You are really just makine endless small sections of stockinette.

Observation 2: These colors do not go together nearly as well as I'd planned

Observation 3: I am going to have to weave in a hell of a lot of ends on this one.

Observation 4: It's going to require an awful amount of masochism to finish this by Mother's Day.

FO: Swallowtail

2009-04-25T15:42:00.000-04:00

This is my completed Swallowtail Shawl. Made of Malabrigo Lace in Purple Mystery. Pattern here (opens as PDF) ,yarn here.

I am crazy about the Malabrigo. It is mad soft. I did have a slight issue with the colors; I worked from two different balls and even though they're from the same dye lot there is a noticeable difference between the two. The first skein is pretty much solid, and the second is lighter and has more variegation. The dark part is pretty solid and rests up against my neck when I wear it, so it's not hugely noticeable.

As for the pattern, I wish it was just a hair wider along the top edge. It tends to slip off my shoulders when I wear it unless I put a pin in. Otherwise, the lace is pretty, and has enough variety to it that I don't feel like I'm doing the same thing over and over for ages.

If I never knit another nupp again it'll be too soon. Little buggers completely throw off my groove on the purl side.

Overall, pretty, soft, warm, fun to wear.

Mistress of Knitting Challenge 1

2009-04-02T00:58:00.000-04:00

Challenge 1 is Cast On/Cast Off.

Here are the levels:

Level 1 - Learn any 2 new cast ons and 2 new cast offs

Level 2 - Learn 2 new cast ons and 2 new cast offs, including binding off in pattern if you don’t already know it. Learn them well enough to do without referencing books/intarwebs/knitting peeps

Level 3 - Learn 2 new cast ons and cast offs and write up a short description of the uses of each

Level 4 - Create a small chart of at least 4 methods of casting on and 4 methods of casting off indicating when to use each one

I think I'm going to go for Level 3. As it so happens, I'm starting a lacy stole that needs a loose, elastic cast-on. After doing some research I decided I want to try the Italian Tubular Cast-on, following this tutorial.

After about 45 tries, I think I've got it. It looked crazy and janky before I pulled out the tail, but I think that after a few rows it'll look better. Pulling the tail is kind of like magic!

One tip for those following along at home: it's best to practice with a frog-friendly yarn for your first few goes. Silk Garden is NOT a frog-friendly yarn.

FO: Puff Daddy!

2009-03-26T22:29:00.000-04:00

Puff Daddy is the cutest damn thing I have ever seen.

I am never taking it off, ever. Except maybe to wear my Noro scarf.

I made my puff huge-a-mungous by accident, but I love it that way.

Yarn is KP Wool of the Andes Bulky in Spumoni.

Ravelry is, again, awesome.

2009-03-23T10:20:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know, there's a program out there called Master Knitting. It's supposed to teach you many different techniques, and your work is evaluated by a committee to see if you "pass" each level.

I like the idea of the program, but have a few issues with it.

One, it's expensive. There's a program fee ($285 for all three levels, and you must be a member of TKGA, which costs $29/year), you have to pay to mail in your sample swatches and homework notebook, and there are yarn requirements for the swatches, so you may not be able to use leftover yarn you have on hand.

Two, the requirements are rigid. I know how to do stockinette stitch/ribbing/etc and don't really want to waste my time and money proving it. I also don't have much of a desire to design and make an Aran or Fair Isle sweater... it's HOT where I live and neither would be worn much.

I put it out of my mind for a long time and decided I'd just play on my own.

A lovely bitch by the name of Nellum came up with the idea for a "Mistress of Knitting" group. It's free to join (though you do have to buy your own yarn... not that any of you probably need an excuse to do that). You're allowed to demonstrate a technique in a project you're working on instead of making zillions of individual swatches. And since the challenges are more vague ("Knit a felted project" rather than "knit argyle socks"), you get more creative liberty to make things that you'll actually use.

Here's the list of challenges. There's a suggested timetable of one challenge per month, but the deadlines aren't absolute, it's OK to finish late. If you do 10 out of the 12 challenges, you'll get a certificate at the end.

Gridding my Life

2009-03-23T03:09:00.004-04:00

Damn grid-based design is taking over.

I love organizational systems. I could geek out about designing hierarchies, making labels, and sorting for hours. And I love that a well-designed system doesn't have to be maintained... once you set it up, just make sure things are going in the right places, and you don't have to "clean" ever again.

Grids are a godsend. If you're designing a page (poster, book page, knitting pattern, whatever), you could spend hours fiddling with it and nudging things around to try to get something you like. With a grid, it's a lot more simple. Given some parameters, and placing elements becomes a lot more easy. Especially when looking at a lot of information, grids make it simpler to find what you want and "make sense" out of everything.

And so, combining the two ideas, I quite like the idea of a gridded desktop. Most desktops you see are a mess, some photo or artwork that you can't make out for all the icons and bookmarks scattered across it. I've been a "desktop minimalist" for a long time, I'll put up a photo and a shortcut for my browswer/documents. That's it. Recently I expanded to having a couple of shortcuts to projects that I've currently got in the works, but only one or two.

I was inspired by Sarah France's Six Grid Desktop. I like to have a photo to look at, I didn't really need a logo (duh, I know it's a grid desktop), and I wanted fewer categories. So I made my design with that in mind. Thirds-based, the left section for an image frame, the center third for shortcuts, and the right third for my files.

Here's mine currently. The yarn photo is just a crop of a high-res image I had saved from somewhere. I plan on changing it out periodically.

And here's one with a blank frame. Use your favorite image editor to put in your own photo and change the category names. Enjoy!

Full-size downloadable version here.

Fiber Friday: Stashpile!

2009-03-20T22:07:00.003-04:00

This is all the yarn I've recently acquired from swaps, RAKs, and buying things.

It includes LOTS of things I've never tried before. Tons of indie-dyed things (omg I are indie yarn virgin, and I think I just became an indie yarn nympho), and my first ever Tencel and silk yarns! Yes, before now I've only used wool and acrylic. Also two Noro sock yarns (Kureyon and Silk Garden).

In the top left you can sort of see the natural yarns I skeined up and am going to dye as soon as I track down a local store that sells acid dyes. Two laceweights and two worsted, all 100% wool. One of the worsteds is a gift for my sister's birthday.

And yep, I did roll in it!

Inventory:

Noro silk Garden

Noro Kureyon

Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel

Yarn Pirate Merino Superwash

Lovesticks Superwash Falkland Sport

Knitpicks BARE merino lace

Lotus Yarns Buddha

Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool

Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool

Unknown brand wool roving (maybe superwash? will have to test)

FO: Ruba'iyat mittens

2009-03-10T17:16:00.005-04:00

Yes, yes, I know it's Tuesday. Excuse me for being naughty this once, I am in love with these and had to post them right away.

These are based on the Ruba'iyat, a Persian poem by Omar Khayyam (read it here). You can download the pattern (it's free!) through Ravelry here.

I think Persian aesthetics are gorgeous, and these are no exception. The designer mentions she was inspired by a book of rug patterns.

My colors were inspired by eggplants. Something warm, colorful, and tasty for cold winter days.

(Also, in the background of the photos you can see my current obsession: grid-based book design.

Fiber Friday: Gaspereau Valley Fibers

2009-03-06T22:07:00.001-05:00

As nutty as I am for color, sometimes there is just something awesome about undyed wool. Sheep come in tons of different colors (sometimes even multiple colors on the same sheep!). You could knit without touching a drop of dye and still have enough different shades to make a complex Fair Isle sweater.

I participate in a "Random Acts of Kindness" group on Ravelry. People post wishlists, and if you have something on their list, you can send them a gift. I love sending out surprises, and it makes opening the mailbox a lot like Christmas morning: I either get an itchy "novelty" sweater from Aunt Sara (bills and junk mail) or Lego and comic books (Yarn! Or postcards! Or candy!).

Today I got a fabulous package from one of the ladies in the group, and it included this natural yarn from Gaspereau Valley Fibers. I opened the website and paraded around the house telling everyone "THIS yarn came from THOSE sheep!" Okay, probably not those exact sheep in the photograph, but at least some of their relatives and friends.

The yarn itself is lovely. It's a nice, soft creamy color. Feels nice and wooly (little bit of lanolin, but not much). It doesn't smell of sheep like wool does sometimes, even when wet.

I'm planning on splashing some dye on it, but leaving parts natural to let the wonderful sheepy color show through. Color scheme to be decided when I plan on what to make with it! Laceweight doesn't come my way so often, so it's a special treat when it does.

Yarn Stats:

2 ply wool

25 micron count (Being a geek, I love that they include this on the label! I've never seen that done before!)

100 grams per skein

800yds/100g

3200 yards per pound

I measured it myself with my handy WPI calculator, and it looks like it's about 18.

Thanks again, Karen. Definitely a gift to be treasured.

Update

2009-02-27T15:54:00.002-05:00

For the next day or so, I'm going to be messing with the code for the progress bars. They'll be back soon.

Technique Tuesday: Adding Bust Darts to a Sweater

2009-02-17T13:37:00.002-05:00

This is Part 2 of Surface Bust Shaping. Missed the first bit? Here!

So, we've already established that I need to make an XS sweater with some more room in the bust. How much room? Let's see.

Part A: How Much to Increase?

Measure yourself around the fullest part of your bust, wearing whatever clothes you'll probably wear under the sweater. This is your bust measurement (duh), and we're going to call it YB.

Next, take the finished bust of the sweater size that fits you in the waist and hips. We're going to call it SB.

The last thing you need is the amount of positive or negative ease (E) you're making the sweater with. If you're making it with 2" ease, E is 2. If you're making it with 1" negative ease, E is -1.

Now, what you do is subtract SB from YB, and add or subtract your ease. In other words:

YB-SB +/- E

Here's how my math works out. My YB is 34, SB is 30, and E is 0. So 34-30+0= 4. That means I have to add four inches to the bust.

Because I have two boobs (and assuming you do too), divide your number by two. I get 2" per boob.

Now we have to play with gauge to figure out how many stitches that makes out to be. My gauge is 23 sts = 4". That means to get 2 extra inches, I have to increase 11.5 stitches. Since I haven't figured out how to knit half a stitch yet, I'll just fudge it to get 12.

Part B: Where do I increase?

Here we need a couple more measurements. Again, we want to measure on top of your bra or clothes.

If you're knitting bottom-up:

First off, you want to measure from the hem of the sweater to right where your boob starts.

If you're knitting top-down:

Measure from your shoulder (the top of it, where a sweater seam would fall) to the top of your breast. Mine is about level with my armpit seam, yours may be higher or lower.

For both mehods:

The number you just got is how far you'll knit before starting your shaping.

Measure from your underbust (where the bottom of your bra is) straight up to the fullest part of your bust. It's probably at the nipple, but all boobs are different, so don't worry if yours isn't. This is your bust height (H).

Now, just a teeny bit more math. You need to translate H into rows by multiplying it by your row gauge (RG).

H x RG

Again, here's my math as an example. My H is 3" and my RG is 7 rows/inch. So I get an answer of 21 rows.

Part C: Putting it All Together

All the numbers are great, but what do you do with them? Here's where we combine our answers from Parts A and B.

To make your bust dart you need to incease A stitches over B rows. We're going to do our increases in pairs, so we divide A by two to get A2. Then, to figure out how many rows between increases, we divide B by A2 to get C.

A/2 = A2

B/A2 = C

If C isn't an even number, just fudge it a bit. If it's 3.5, just increase every 3 rows sometimes and every 4 rows sometimes. Don't sweat it, you're making a sweater, not a nuclear reactor.

My math:

A is 12, so A2 is 6.

B is 21, and B/A2 is 3.5. So I'll increase every 3 or 4 rows.

Part D: Writing Your Pattern

And this is the very last step, I promise!

I decided I want my dart to be about 1" wide, so it will be 7 stitches. You can make yours wider or narrower as you please, though those with larger breasts are advised to make wider darts and vice versa.

That means I will have 7 stitches between my paired increases. You can use whatever type of increase you like, I'm a big fan of M1 because it blends in to my knitting and doesn't leave gaps. Your results may vary.

When you start your bust increases, how many stitches do you have across (S)? Subtract the number of dart stitches (D) from that to get S2, and then divide by two to get how many stitches are before and after the dart.

S-D= S2

S2/2 =

I've got 37 stitches across. My first increase row is going to look like this: knit 15, increase, knit 7, increase, knit 15.

Then knit the in-between rows. If you're increasing every 3 rows, that means you increase, knit 2 rows, increase, knit 2 rows, etc.

Remember to add in the stitches you increased when you write the second row! So my second increase row is: Knit 16, increase, knit 7, increase, knit 16.

Once you've increased the desired number of times, knit a few rows plain to avoid pointy boob syndrome. Then just do the increases in reverse to decrease back down to size, and continue on with the pattern.

Hope you learned something new! There are a LOT of different ways to make bust shaping, this is merely one that I pulled out of the air and happened to work for me. If this doesn't fit you correctly or you don't like the way it looks, feel free to make changes or toss it out and try something different. We are all shaped differently, and one of the most fulfilling parts of knitting is being able to make things that fit and flatter your individual shape.

In case you want to see what my increase pattern looks like, here it is as an example.

R1: K 15, inc, K7, inc, K15

R2-3: Stockinette stitch

R4: P 16, inc, P7, inc, P16

R5-7: Stockinette stitch

R8: P 17, inc, P7, inc, P17

R9-11: St. st

R12: P 18, inc, P7, inc, P18

R13-15: St. st

R16: P 19, inc, P7, inc, P19

R17-19: St. st

Here my pattern says to start the side increases, so I do that (italicised here). Notice that it affects my numbers on the decreases!

R1: K20, K2tog, K5, SSP, K19

R2-4: St. st

R5: K3, M1, K16, K2tog, K5, SSK, K18

R6-8: ST. st

R9: K19, K2tog, K5, SSK, K17

R10-12: St. st

R13: K3, M1, K15, K2tog, K5, SSK, K16

R14-16: St. st

R17: K18, K2tog, K5, SSK, K15

R18-20 St. st

WIP Wednesday: Surface bust shaping

2009-02-11T12:42:00.001-05:00

Human proportions are pretty cool. Basically, the way that they work is by averages. If you make a sweater with A bust and B waist, it will fit X% of people pretty decently. Of course, there will be some people who have A bust but a waist significantly bigger (or smaller) than B, but on average if you stick to certain proportional measurements you'll get a good number of them. People who have exactly A bust, B waist, C hip, and D inseam can work as "fitting models". They get paid large sums of money to try on clothes. Nope, I'm not kidding, if you happen to have the right measurements you can make six figures a year doing what the rest of us do every time we go to the mall.

I have a not-normal body. My waist and hips are roughly in proportion, but my bust is larger. Bit of a pain when buying fitted shirts, but the nice thing about knitting is that this isn't too hard to fix.

I'm currently knitting Surface by Norah Gaughan. Looking at the bust sizes, with my 34" bust, if I knit a Small I'll have a nice fitted sweater, right?

Not so fast, homes! Always look at the schematic. Why the pattern publishers always put it on the very last page when you really should be looking at it first is beyond me. Maybe they hate us and want us to suffer, I don't know.

So looking at our nice little schematic, we see that the size S has a 36" hip. The waist measurement isn't included on the drawing, but we can do a tad bit of math to figure it out:

The back of the sweater has 90 stitches across at the waist. At a gauge of 23sts/4", that gives us back that is about 15 and a half inches across. Multiply that by two (our sweater has a front and a back since humans are generally double-sided) and you get about 31 inches.

So the Small size sweater's measurements are 34-31-36. Hey wait, those aren't my measurements. While this sweater will fit me in the bust, the waist and hips will be too large for me.

I move down to the XS size, which has a bust of 30". Too small for me, but maybe the waist/hips will be better. The pattern says the hip on this one is 32", which is much closer to my actual hip measurement. When I do the math to get the waist, I come up with 27", which is also close to my size.

So I should be making a sweater with a Small bust but an Extra-Small waist and hips? Doesn't make much sense. And when you factor in my skinny monkey-length arms, it throws another wrench in the mix. So what am I to do?

Stay tuned to the next post for a lesson in darts. And not the kind you throw at a photo of the designer.

Go on to Part 2.

Fiber Friday: Whole Lotta Love

2009-02-06T14:08:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I knit for people and they suck and never wear/use said item. However, sometimes they are AWESOME and order me a huge box of cool stuff as a thank-you gift.

New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi. I flipped through the book looking at the patterns, and it is fabulous. I love that it's more of an educational book than a pattern book, and gives you "master patterns" so that you can substitute yarns or stitch patterns, change sizes, or whatever and make your own custom socks using the techniques.

Size 0 32" circular needle, for Magic Looping socks.

Swish DK yarn in Mist. I can't stop touching this, it's so soft. Way softer than most merino yarns.

Palette in Eggplant and Clover. This is in the process of becoming gorgeous Fair Isle mittens.

Wool of the Andes Bulky in hand-dyed Spumoni. Superawesome colors, going to be a hat-and-scarf set.

And not pictured: these totally fucking cute yarn ball earrings.

And you can't have him, he's mine. Getcher own sexy yarn patron.

Fiber Friday: Sacreligious Knitting

2009-01-30T17:16:00.000-05:00

This is the story of the most expensive skein of yarn I ever bought. This is the story of 2400 yards of Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace that I lusted over and hemm-hawwed about justifying the expense and finally snatched for half off when the LYS was going out of business. This is the story of dropped stitches, of frogging, of woe and scissors and triumph.
That said, it's going to be a long fucking story so get comfy.

The skein sat in my stash. It called to me, "Jillie, make me something pretty. I am soft and fuzzy and wonderful and you will love me. I am like that cheesy-ass *Giving Tree* book, only better."

And I finally said "OK, Yarn! I will!" Being a brokeass from spending $30 on a skein of yarn, I dug out my free pattern stash and stumbled upon Jeanie. "Oh hey, with my laceweight, this will make a nice scarf instead of a full-sized shawl. Which will be good for my first time knitting lace."

And I started knitting, and it was good. So I kept knitting, and knitting, and knitting. After a millionzillion hours, it was maybe 18" long. I decided to block it and see what it would look like.
So I took it off the needles and threaded it onto some scrap yarn. I looked up "How To Block Lace" on Google and decided to do it just perfectly right, being my First Special Project and all. So I did. I got some wires, some pins, and a towel, and I blocked that shit.

When it was dry, I gazed upon my masterpiece. "What the ever fucking fuck?" I thought. "Surely I did not put that giant fucking hole about an inch above the cast-on edge." And lo, there were 8 or 10 rows that looked like they'd been cut, making the aforementioned giant fucking hole. I cried, and shoved that shit in the closet for 6 months.

Enter today. I'm trying to clean out my giant stack of unfinished crap, and this was next on the list. "Hey," I said to myself, "I can string a lifeline right above the hole, cut off the knitting from the hole down, and only lose about 2 inches." So I dutifully started to insert my lifeline.
One problem. Did I mention the yarn is fuzzy? Well, it's fucking fuzzy, and all of the teeny-tiny skinny strands have gotten cozy and snug together, and it's impossible to get the needle in between this mess, or even to tell which stitches are where. This is not helped by the fact that the pattern is fucking ribbing and cables and dropped stitches. I gave that up pretty quickly.
"OK," I thought. "I'll just frog it and start over. It's a little wider than I would like anyway, so no harm done."

Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Did I mention the yarn is fuzzy. Yeah. In about half an hour, I'd managed to frog maybe an inch. At this point I realized the stupidity of spending days frogging to get kinky, pilly yarn when I had more than 2000 yards of the stuff in pristine condition in the other room.

But what to do with the stuff I already knit?
I took my trusty scissors and I CUT THAT BITCH UP.

I cut it all up into 3/4" wide strips. I grabbed both ends and yanked on them and stretched them out. I made crazy-ass yarny stuff with knitted chunks in it:

"OMG!" you say. "Jillie, you destroyed teh speshul handpainted espensive yurns!"
And I say, "Yes, bitches, I did. And I fucking liked it."

Couple of new FOs

2009-01-17T11:59:00.000-05:00

The legwarmers are complete!

They are just about perfect. I have ridiculously long legs and probably should have made them a little longer, but I just have to wear them with sneakers or flats instead of heels. The pompoms are extremely fun and bop all over the place when I walk.

I wore them to the town balloon festival last weekend:

Also finished the fillet crochet doily I've been working on for the past year. The edges are sort of wobbly, I don't have the best eyesight and probably mis-hooked some of those teeny-tiny little stitches. Sent it to my grandmother, who likes to put doilies on her couch and tables.

Finally, some socks for Grandma. Not completely happy with them because the gauge is a tad too loose, but they are still nice and soft and warm. Had a bit of an issue with the yarn pooling on me (it's the Kaffe Fasset line from Regia), but I got it to work out.

Next, I'm going to tackle Jeanette. It's been hiding in my closet since it developed a massive rip due to some of the yarn strands breaking. I need to put in some lifelines, cut, and graft. It's going to be a massive pain in the ass.

Technique Tuesday: A Healthy Disrespect for Patterns

2009-01-13T15:34:00.000-05:00

I got the yarn to make Surface for Christmas. This is the most yarn I've ever owned at one time!

17 balls of Knitpicks Merino Style in Storm.

I am a very thorough swatcher and thus made a BIG one.

As I was swatching, I realized I wasn't crazy for the bobble pattern as written. It has purl bumps on the bobbles, with elongated dropped stitches in between. This looks silly to me, like I accidentally knit messed-up uneven garter stitch. So instead, I decided to make stockinette bobbles.

Bobbles as written in pattern:

My "new" modified bobbles:

How to Do It

The stitch pattern originally says:

Row 1 [RS]: P2, [kfbfb, p2, k1, p2] to end.
Row 2 [WS]: K2, [p1, k2, (k1, yo) 4 times, k2] to end.
Row 3 [RS]: P2, [(k1, drop yo from needle) 4 times, p2, k1, p2] to end.
Rows 4-5: Work as for Rows 2-3.
Row 6 [WS]: K2, [p1, k2, p4tog, k2] to end.
Row 7 [RS]: P2, [k1, p2, kfbfb, p2] to end.
Row 8 [WS]: K2, [(k1, yo) 4 times, k2, p1, k2] to end.
Row 9 [RS]: P2, [k1, p2, (k1, drop yo from needle) 4 times, p2] to end.
Rows 10-11: Work as for Rows 8-9.
Row 12 [WS]: K2, [p4tog, k2, p1, k2] to end.
Repeat Rows 1-12 for Blister Pattern.

In order to make the bobbles "stockinette", you need to purl stitches on even-numbered rows. So what you will get when the pattern is re-written is:

Row 1 [RS]: P2, [kfbfb, p2, k1, p2] to end.
Row 2 [WS]: K2, [p1, k2, (p1, yo) 4 times, k2] to end.
Row 3 [RS]: P2, [(drop yo from needle, k1) 4 times, p2, k1, p2] to end.
Rows 4-5: Work as for Rows 2-3.
Row 6 [WS]: K2, [p1, k2, p4tog, k2] to end.
Row 7 [RS]: P2, [k1, p2, kfbfb, p2] to end.
Row 8 [WS]: K2, [(p1, yo) 4 times, k2, p1, k2] to end.
Row 9 [RS]: P2, [k1, p2, (drop yo from needle, k1) 4 times, p2] to end.
Rows 10-11: Work as for Rows 8-9.
Row 12 [WS]: K2, [p4tog, k2, p1, k2] to end.
Repeat Rows 1-12 for Blister Pattern.

I highlighted the changes stitches in purple. It's an easy modification that makes a BIG difference in the final product.

See? This is one reason why we swatch. In addition to making sure our garments come out the right size, we can identify parts of the pattern that we don't like and experiment with ways to change them.

Legwarmers are not ironic.

2009-01-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

Yes, they look like they're from the 80s. Yes, they're sort of silly (why not just wear pants?). Yes, they'll probably fall down when I try to wear them. But so the hell what?

Slouchy and gray for maximum Flashdance effect.

Pattern: Mosey
Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool Merino in Dark Gray Mix.

I've finished the first warmer (minus the i-cord and pompoms), waiting to get more yarn to start on the left one. It used two partial balls which may or may not add up to more than one full ball, I didn't weigh them before knitting.

Holiday knitting in review

2009-01-03T16:16:00.006-05:00

Everything I actually finished. Not including the things I intended to finish but didn't, or abandoned.

There are also a few more beer sweaters I need to photograph.

Attention Advertisers

2008-12-11T07:43:00.001-05:00

I'm going to have to ask you to stop placing ads for such pretty things here and on Ravelry. You make me want to buy them all.

kthanksbai.

Sometimes you just have to do it.

2008-12-07T22:00:00.003-05:00

My knitting life was a mess. There were way too many ancient projects, too many horribly ugly gift yarns, too many things I'd never conceivably do anything with. So I started frogging and tossing.

Disgusting scratchy yarn that smelled like it sat in my grandmother's basement for 10 years? Tossed.

Scraps of Fun Fur in 10 different colors? Donated.

Scarf I started knitting five years ago and haven't worked on since? Tossed.

And sometimes there are the projects that started out perfectly well-intentioned but just didn't get finished. Such as my Posey. I got three rows done and just sort of gave up on them. The yarn's pretty, but I got incredibly sick of making all those fiddly little squares, and I could feel the purl bumps when I walked on them. I also hate picking up stitches. So, frogged. The yarn's going to become a pair of "fraternal twin" socks instead.

And now I have plenty of extra space in my yarn storage box for the inevitable new acquisitions. I don't have to stress about having too much "stuff" every time I get something out, and there are fewer rogue balls to get tangled round each other whenever I turn my back (how the hell do the even do that?).

So the moral of the story is, don't be afraid of frogging. Don't be afraid to give things away or toss them. It will all be OK.

Turkey Day!

2008-11-27T00:16:00.002-05:00

To my American readers, happy Thanksgiving!

And for everyone, here are some adorable alpacas I saw yesterday. The rest of the photos can be found here.

Fiber Friday: Knitch in Atlanta, GA

2008-11-21T13:28:00.001-05:00

Last week I was spending some time in Atlanta and decided to get together with some of my Ravelry friends for knitting night. We went to Knitch in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood for their Friday night get-together. The shop does free knitting nights at 6:30PM every Thursday and Friday.

Parking was a bit of an issue. There's a small lot behind the shop, but it and the nearby on-street parking were totally full. My ride ended up dropping me off and leaving, as he didn't really want to hang out in a yarn shop anyway. Quick note: Don't park across St. Charles (in front of the bar) if you plan on staying later than 8PM: you will get towed, as we found out.

The shop is HUGE. The downstairs area has yarn everywhere, plus some seating. Up a spiral staircase is more yarn, spinning supplies, a big table, and couches. Most people at knit night were hanging out upstairs. There were a lot of us, and I was made to feel more than welcome.

The yarn selection is awesome. They had everything you would expect to find (Noro, Cascade, Rowan), plus some more exotic stuff (Artyarns, Habu), and even a few locally-made yarns and original patterns. I didn't buy anything (right now, money is short and yarn is long), but was sorely tempted to skip going back to college and buy the place out.

In short:
Go to Knitch. It is awesome.

Fiber Friday: Knitpicks Essential Sock Yarn Review

2008-10-24T20:02:00.000-04:00

First off: KNITPICKS! SCOTLAND! TWATWEASEL! Now that that's out of the way....

I finally succumbed to the call of cheap internet yarn.

When I moved a few months ago, I lost my LYS (Knit 'N' Knibble in Tampa, if you're in the area stop in, pet the yarn, and tell Caroline I said hello!). And then the local Jo Ann moved farther away, so my only source of yarn is Wal-Mart. Now, I've used my fair share of Red Heart and Simply Soft, and they definitely have their place in the world (I'm the ultimate Lazy Laundress... no way am I handwashing a wool afghan), but sometimes a body has to knit socks. Or lace. Or felt something.

And that's where Knitpicks comes in. For only marginally cheaper than Wally World, you can get fibers that come from an actual animal. Apparently they also sell some ballin' circular needles, but I haven't fallen for those yet.

In case you missed the Shopping Spree post, here's the picture of my Knitpicks loot:

4 skeins of Essential, two kettle-dyed in Jay and two regular-dyed in black. Total wallet damage: $19.15 with shipping ($10 of which came out of my Project Wonderful ad money, thanks adverteisers for contributing to the yarn fund!).

So far, I've knit up all of the Jay and just cast on with the black.

The yarn has a little bit of fuzz to it. The Jay was knit into a lacy pattern, and you can still see the stitches clearly, even though they're not extremely well-defined. The finished fabric has nice stretch to it and springs back into place easily. It's some of the softest sock yarn I've ever touched.

No wear report as the socks are for a Christmas gift, but I'll update later after they've been washed a few times. I expect some pilling because of the fuzziness, but hopefully not too bad.

Follow the Leader: New Feature!

2008-10-20T15:55:00.003-04:00

Blogger gave us a new toy to play with!

See that box over there under the ads? -------------->

It gives you a list of who "follows" (is subscribed to) Saltwater Purls. You can click the "Follow This Blog" link if you want to be notified when I add new posts.

Do it for me... I'm nosy.

WIP Wednesday: The Neverending Holiday Knitting

2008-10-15T11:21:00.000-04:00

2008 is The Winter of Knitting.

Last year, I did a few handmade Christmas gifts, Y's Skywalkers and my sister's Fat Fuzzy Scarf.
This year, I got ambitious.

For Sister: Jaywalkers
For Mum: Evening Stockings for a Young Lady
For Grandma: Gentleman's Shooting Stockings
For Y: Noro Striped Scarf
For the neighbor's grandbaby: Better than Booties Baby Socks
And for Dad's birthday: Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock

I finished Dad's about three weeks ago, as his birthday is the 21st. My sister's are finished as well. Mum's first sock is done, and I'm doing the ribbing on the second. The baby socks I started but had to rip back as they were coming out too big. I have the yarn for the Shooting Stockings, and still have to shop for some good scarf colors.

Progress photos:
(top to bottom, Jaywalkers, Plain Winter Socks, Evening Stockings)

Three more months of this? I may go insane.

WIP Wednesday: Jaywalking

2008-10-08T01:02:00.000-04:00

I love variegated yarns.

That said, I'm not too fond of how they look in a lot of stitch patterns. And there's no consistency at all, some look great in basketweave but terrible as a cable. Some make pretty good cables but disgusting lace. And there's no way to tell what yarn goes with what pattern without swatching (and swearing) a million and one times. Yeeargh.

The one pattern I've found that looks great in just about every yarn is the zigzag stitch, made famous by Grumperina's Jaywalkers. You get interesting skinny stripes without knitting miles and miles of stockinette.

One of my first socks was the Jaywalker-inspired Skywalkers. Because they had to fit Y's massive clodhoppers and because I wanted to do them "my way", I pretty much took the idea of Jaywalkers and ran with it, ending up with a completely different sock.

This time, I decided to do them the "right" way. I started with Knit One Crochet Too's Soxx Appeal in Raspberry Sundae. I've heard Jaywalkers tend to not stretch much, so I was hoping the elastic in the yarn would help me get a well-fitting sock without having to make it big and saggy.

I have the first sock done, and it fits great! The heel is snug but not too snug. The colors are awesome, they really pop when I go out in the sun.

Overall, a lovely pattern and fun to knit.

Shopping spree!

2008-10-06T11:14:00.003-04:00

I've been acquiring things recently.

For the holiday knitting, some Knitpicks Essential sock yarn. In black, and the new kettle-dyed stuff in Jay. I LOVE the kettle-dyed, the little stripes you get are gorgeous.

Neighbor's nosy dog sold separately.

And something I couldn't resist: KNITTING BOOTS. Well, rain boots with a photo of knitting printed on them anyway.

I've been trying not to buy any more clothing, but damn, it's like they were made just for me. And I don't have any rain boots. (OK, enough rationalizing.)

Book Review: The Joy of Spinning

2008-08-18T16:15:00.000-04:00

What wonders are to be found at the local library!

I was wandering through in search of a book on Microsoft Office for my mother (try as I might to teach her, she just needs to have instructions open in front of her), when I stumbled across this title. A book on spinning, written by someone who started out with no knowledge at all and got to be an expert? Sounds like a good read to me!

Before you pick the book up, realize that it was published in 1971. This may make it seem a bit "dated" if you're expecting glossy pages, artistic photographs, and modern prose. You're not going to get any of that. My copy smells a bit musty, there are no photographs, and the writing style isn't like the knitting books I'm used to. What you do get is well-drawn (and sometimes funny!) black-and-white illustrations, and an interesting approach to the subject matter.

Rather than writing as an instruction guide, Marilyn Kluger tells you a story. She starts with her first exposure to spinning at her grandmother's house, gives you tips on finding a wheel based on her own experience, and explains what she found was the best way to detangle and clean a raw fleece. Reading her book, you feel like you're learning right along with her, not being lectured.

The book does focus mainly on wheel spinning, but even as a spindler I found things to appreciate. There is one chapter on using a hand spindle, and the sections on finding, preparing, and dyeing fiber are useful to spinners of all tool preferences.

Maybe someday I will pick up a wheel and put more of the book to use, but for now I'm happy to appreciate what I can. After all, we're all just making string out of sheep.

FO: The Kureyon Scarf

2008-08-10T09:59:00.001-04:00

This turned out even more gorgeous than I thought it was going to be. The colors came out almost perfect. There's one spot (about 2" long) where they sort of muddle together, but the rest of the scarf looks great, and the little mistake isn't noticeable when I'm wearing it.

I think the secret to getting a good result is to choose two skeins that CONTRAST rather than COORDINATE. That way you can always tell them apart.I used one in very bright colors, and one that was more cool/muted. Even though the skeins didn't "go" at all held next to one another, the finished product looks faaabulous.

If I did it over again, I'd choose a slip-stitch edge instead of knitting straight ribbing. The side where the stripes were carried up looks a little different than the other one.

And I probably will do it again, since both the boyfriend and various family members have fallen in love with it and now want their own.

For now, though, I just want to snuggle.

Fiber Friday: Something Old, Something New

2008-08-08T10:00:00.003-04:00

"Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue"
-Old Wedding Proverb

I think I've got all my bases covered.

In November, I went to a needlework festival and bought a few ounces of Colonial wool top:

Some of it I spun right away:

But the rest languished in my stash until recently.

A few days ago, I had a spinning kick. Since my usual spindle was still packed up (I just finished moving), I borrowed a dowel rod and a couple of CDs from my dad and got going. I ended up with a beautiful new single, in a lovely shade of navy blue.

After tracking down my own spindle, I plied the newly-spun blue single with the old grey one to get a very-full spindle of bulky 2ply yarn.

Once I got the yarn washed and skeined, I noticed how much my spinning has improved in such a short amount of time. My finished yarn has hardly any excess twist, and doesn't worm at all when two strands are held together. I've learned to be more intuitive as I spin, making the yarn the thickness and amount of twist it wants to be rather than trying to force it to be something it's not. I'm still not very good at getting a consistent thickness unless I do a lot of predrafting, but that will come with time.

The finished yarn is called "Heidi", because I plied it while watching "Project Runway". There are 46 yards, weight of 2 oz, and it's bulky (7 wpi). Outdoor photos taken with a crepe myrtle bush.

I don't know what to make with it yet. It's very fuzzy, so nothing that needs to be durable. I was thinking of perhaps a hat or a neckwarmer (like a Pidge).

Raw

2008-08-07T01:11:00.004-04:00

Just dropping in to post a few better pictures of the kool-aid dyed yarn from Tuesday, now dried and skeined.

Runway Yarns "Raw", 4 oz of 100% wool roving.

Tecnique Tuesday: Drinkable Dyeing

2008-08-05T00:20:00.000-04:00

We all know hand-dyed yarn is gorgeous and to be coveted. and something you dyed yourself is even more so, since it's completely one-of-a-kind and custom-made to your own tastes.

But sometimes we don't want to jump in to dyeing our own fiber. Maybe you have small children and don't want them accidentally playing with potentially-toxic chemicals. Maybe you don't want the hassle of keeping your dye pots and utensils separate from your cooking pots and utensils. Or maybe you're on a budget and don't want to spend a lot of money on dyes, mordants, and all the other supplies you'd need to get started.

Well, no more excuses for you! There is a way to home-dye that's cheap, non-toxic, and easy. All the necessary supplies are available at your grocery store, and you probably already have most of them at home. What would you say to that?

Personally, I say....

Yes, that's right, Kool-Aid. It comes in tons of colors, and you can mix them to make even more. It's acidic, so it will dye protein fibers (wool, silk, alpaca, soy... I even used it to dye my hair as a teenager).

You can use any microwave-safe plastic or glass bowls you have on hand. Some people use metal, but personally I shy away from them because they could potentially react with the acidic dye. Since everything you're using is non-toxic, you can go back to using them for food after a wash. They may stain a little, but the residue isn't harmful.

You need:

1. Your protein-based yarn or fiber. You can use a blend if you like, but the colors won't come out as vibrant and may fade more quickly. For this batch, I used a 100% wool roving.

2. Lots of Kool-Aid. For bright colors, a good rule of thumb is one packet of Kool-Aid per ounce of yarn. For less saturated colors, use less. Since I wanted a semi-solid with some fiber left white, I used one packet per two ounces. The color is called "Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade".

3. Water.

4. A few large bowls, plus cups and spoons for mixing.

5. A turkey baster, paintbrush, or other method of applying dye (for painting). I love to use my basting bottle.

6. Your microwave

7. A plastic sheet (such as a tarp or garbage bag) to protect your workspace.

Step 1: Wash Up

Fill your sink with water, and swish in a little bit of wool wash or detergent. Wash your yarn and rinse well. Then drain and re-fill the sink with clean water. Let the yarn soak until you're ready for it.

Step 2: Mix Up

Do you want your yarn to be solid or painted? Solid yarn will be the same color all the way through. Painted yarn will look mottled, variegated, or striped depending on how you apply it.

For a solid yarn, add some water to a large microwave-safe bowl (make sure to leave room to submerge the yarn!). Then dump in the Kool-Aid packets and mix well. The ratio of water to dye doesn't matter, just the ratio of dye to yarn.

For a painted yarn, mix your packets with water in a cup (coffee cups work well for this). Again, the ratio of dye to water doesn't matter. I use about 1/2 cup water per packet of KA.

Step 3: Time to Dye

If you're making a solid yarn, this next step is simple! Just dunk the soaked yarn into the dye bath, making sure it's all covered up.

If you're making a painted yarn, this is the fun part. Lay the wet yarn out on your plastic, and start painting. You can drip, pour, squirt, brush, or splatter the dye on. As mentioned before, I use a basting bottle, which lets me do a little of each. Get creative, and have fun. When you're satisfied with your results, transfer the dye-covered yarn to a microwave-safe bowl.

Step 4: Cook It

Heating the yarn/dye/water mix will help the fiber absorb all the dye and make it permanent. Just stick the whole thing in the microwave, covering it loosely with plastic wrap to avoid splattering.

I heat mine in 2 minute cycles: cook for 2 minutes, let cool for 2 minutes. Repeat until the water looks mostly clear (which meand the yarn is absorbing most of the dye). My batch today took 4 cycles to get clear, depending on how powerful your microwave is and how much dye you used, yours may be more or less. Just keep going until it looks right!

Step 5: Cool It

When the water is clear, drain it off (leaving the yarn in the bowl), and let the fiber cool to room temperature. In the meantime, grab some sock knitting you've been procrastinating on.

Step 6: Rinse Clean

Once your yarn is cooled off, it's time for the final wash. Get a stream of running water close to the same temperature as the yarn, as sudden changes in temperature can cause it to felt. You may see a little dye coming out in the water, or you may not. Either way is no cause for concern.

Step 7: Oh, Hang It All

Your dyeing experience is done! Now all you need to do is hang up your yarn to dry.

To make it dry faster, I like to lay out the yarn and gently squeeze it between two towels. Be sure not to wring or twist, as this can break fibers. Just press it gently. This step is optional, but if you do it, you'll have much faster drying.

Now hang the yarn someplace well-ventilated. I do it in my bathroom, or outside on a sunny day.

Once it's dry, you're ready to enjoy your results! Isn't custom yarn a beautiful thing?

Psst!

2008-08-03T16:22:00.001-04:00

Have you seen Twist Collective yet? It's an awesome new online magazine. I haven't read through the entire thing yet, but a quick skim reveals technical articles and patterns. Looks like a great resource!

Step 1: Admitting that I am powerless over knitting.

2008-07-23T09:00:00.001-04:00

Eisaku Noro, you are an evil, evil man. How dare you make such beautiful things possible, knowing we lowly knitters will be unable to resist them.

I am completely and hopelessly addicted to my Stripy Kureyon Scarf. I started knitting it at about 11 PM last night, and as of 4 PM today, it's already 28" long. I can't put the damn thing down, I keep wanting to see what colors come out of the skein next (the element of surprise being heightened by using a center-pull ball).

Kureyon is kind of notorious for being scratchy, but I soaked it for a bit (how-to here) and it's now quite a bit better. It's also softening noticeably as I knit it, and hopefully it will continue to improve with wear.

I'm using one ball each of #213 and #207. Pre-knitting shot:

#213 is the purple/green/orange skein and #207 is the blue/green one.

FO! Josef's Socks!

2008-07-20T16:45:00.003-04:00

Finally finished these drat things last night. This is the last time I make socks for a guy with a size 11 foot in a light fingering (really closer to laceweight) yarn.

Stats:
Pattern- Gentleman's Sock with Lozenge Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks (Interweave Press, by Nancy Bush)
Yarn- Southwest Trading Company TOFUtsies, in color #720 (Sweep You Off Your Feet)
Needle-set of 4 US 1 DPNs
Size- leg is 7" long, foot is 10.5" long, 9" circumference

I love the sock. I love the pattern and yarn. The one thing I don't love is how long they took to finish, even though I shortened the leg. Hopefully they'll last him forever.

The grapes in the sock picture are Muscadines from my arbor. They're native to Florida and were used by the Spaniards to make the first wines in the US.

Muscadines are sweet-tasting when ripe and have a hard skin that cracks audibly when you bite into it. You don't eat the skin or seeds, just the flesh. Birds and raccoons LOVE them and it's usually a battle for us to pick them after they turn sweet but before the critters do.

The two shown in the picture are sort of smallish for my vine, they're usually a bit larger. I've seen grapes the size of ping-pong balls, though mine don't get that big.

Here's another shot:

Technique Tuesday: Softening Scratchy Wool

2008-07-08T14:02:00.002-04:00

I wasn't planning on writing a post until later, but I'm stuck home until it stops storming (I am NOT walking two miles to the library with lightning less than a mile away), so here I am.

Sometimes we fall in love with a yarn, eyes meet from across a crowded LYS. It's beautiful, the colors are so vibrant, the thick/thin texture is so pretty, I want to rub it on my face... OH MY GOD IT FEELS LIKE SANDPAPER. And then it's all you can do to not drop it on the floor and run away screaming.

Ever had that happen to you? Yeah, me too.

Well, all hope is not lost for you and your beautiful stranger. With the right care and a few tricks, you can get her scrubbed up and presentable. It won't turn the roughest of yarns into soft silk, but it will be a huge improvement.

Loop me, Skein Me
How is your yarn put up? If it's already in hanks, you're all set! Skip this step and move on to the next one. If it's in a skein or ball, you've got a little bit of work ahead.

Grab two chairs out of the dining room and place them back to back, about a foot apart. Or use a swift, if you're lucky enough to have one. Wrap the yarn around the chairs in a big loop (not too tight) until you reach the end of the ball. Cut a few pieces of scrap yarn and tie them around the yarn, so it doesn't get tangled and stays in a nice loop shape.

I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Out of my... Yarn
Now it's time to wash.

There are lots of commercial washing products out there. Soak is one popular example. However, I've found the cheapest and easiest method is conditioner. Yes, the same stuff you use on your hair.

Run a sink (or bathtub if you have a lot of wool) full of cool water. Mix in a few drops of conditioner (I use about two drops per gallon) and swish around to get it all mixed together. Drop in your big yarn loop, and push it under the surface of the water for a moment to get all the air bubbles out.

Pina Colada time!
Take a break and let the wool soak for about half an hour.

When time's up, come back and get your yarn. You may see some of the dye bled into the water, but that's normal and not something to worry about (unless there's so much left that you could dye another 10 skeins). Wrap your yarn up in a towel and gently squeeze out the excess moisture. Don't twist or wring it, as this could break the fibers.

Now hang your loop up to dry. The towel bar works well, as does the shower head. Anywhere that it's not going to drip on your rug. It might take some time to dry out completely, but resist the urge to take it down until it's completely dry, or you risk mold. And that's gross, homes.

Final Step
All done! Doesn't it feel much better? Yeah, probably going to be much more pleasant to knit with after this.

Now you can twist it up to make a hank, or just wind into a ball and start knitting straight away. Enjoy!

What ho? FO!

2008-07-06T22:12:00.002-04:00

I am very, very proud of myself today. I completed my first start-to-finish project, from roving to knitted item.

Photo progression, from roving to yarn to headband:

The roving is a black-and-white striped mill end from The Sheep Shed Studio. It came as a "free gift" when I ordered two pounds of white roving. I'd guess it weighed about 4 ounces, give or take a few.

The yarn I've decided to call Moki, after one of the white tigers at Busch Gardens Tampa. I met him last week :3

Yarn stats:

Woolen-spun (meaning the fibers go every which way instead of being combed to go in the same direction, resulting in a loftier, fuzzier yarn)
2 Ply
Thick-and-thin and slubby (the thinnest parts are laceweight, thickest are super bulky. I'd say it's a bulky on average)
100% wool
Spun on a drop spindle
38 yards per 4 oz
Knits to 11 sts/4 inches on size 10 needles
Ravelry page

I was so excited about the yarn (my first plied yarn so far) I couldn't wait to make something. There wasn't enough for a hat, which is what I really wanted, so I decided to settle on a nice wide ski headband (Yes, I know, a ski headband in July, I'm addicted to fresh powder).

Headband stats:

3" wide
20" long (stretches to fit my 24" head)
Size 10 needles (OK, one 9 and one 10, I couldn't find a pair of either... you caught me.)
Uses 27 yards
Knit as a rectangle with two ends grafted together
Slipped stitch edge
Makes me lust for the mountains.
Ravelry page

I am in love with this thing. It's warm, it's pretty, and it came out exactly how I wanted it to.

How many months until winter?

Knitting Vid

2008-05-31T19:15:00.001-04:00

Here's the video of me knitting socks, as promised on the last entry. The pattern is actually a "lozenge pattern", not "wowwenge pattern". I can't seem to speak coherently on camera... :)

Long time, no see!

2008-05-31T17:56:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the extreme delay between entries. I've been having technical difficulties, including a bricked laptop (now replaced), a missing camera battery (not yet replaced), and a broken camera phone (in the process of being replaced).

The boyfriend is in China (Shanghai) for the summer, and I'm going to try to finish his next pair of socks before he gets back. I bought needles and a book last night, and cast on with the SWTC Tofutsies he picked out (in TOEquoise). The pattern is Gentlemen's Sock in Lozenge Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks.

I took a short video of myself knitting on the first sock last night to post in this thread on Ravelry (note: link only works if you have a Rav account. If not, sign up, it's free and fun!). Annoyingly, I can't get it to upload on Youtube. I'm trying again with Google Video, but my problems are probably because the video file is massive, and I don't have any editing software that will cut it down. If I figure it out, video will be posted here.

For now, here's a picture of me holding the top of the cuff:

Errata: Skywalker Socks

2008-04-14T08:09:00.001-04:00

Merely911 on Ravelry pointed out a mistake in my Skywalker pattern.

There was an error just after the toe of the sock. What originally read "R1" in the pattern should have read "R1-R2". The pattern was corrected as of 8 AM today, but if you printed or saved the pattern before this time, you should make a new copy.

WIP Wednesday... and a lot of new fiber.

2008-03-26T16:32:00.006-04:00

My order from the Sheep Shed Studio came in today! (First of all, WOW is that ever fast shipping, I ordered it on Thursday and it came all the way from Wyoming... thanks Priority Mail!)

The first thing when I opened the box was this roving. It's a little "sample", about 1 oz of fibre. I've heard that Carol always includes a little "gift" with orders. Looking at the website, it looks like a mill end from the "Blacks" category.

I love the texture of it. It's a little coarse, and the fibers have a slight crimp to them. They tend to stick together rather than pulling apart easily. It will probably need a little pre-drafting before I spin it.

Now for the real treat...

That's two whole pounds of white roving, exploding out of that teeny little box. It came sealed up in a bag, so I didn't have to worry about damaging the fiber as I cut the box open. It must have been vacuum-packed, because it sprung to life immediately when I opened the box. Luckily I'm working with this right away and won't have to worry about packing it back in!

The roving is soft, cloudlike, and luxurious. I've read that sometimes the Sheep Shed rovings have a little bit of pink-tinted mohair in them, but this lot doesn't appear to have any. Whether you get some or not is all luck of the draw, a nice surprise in my opinion. I picked a few fibers out and they appear to be mostly uncrimped, with an average staple length between 1 and 3 inches.

So what's all this for?

A scarf. I nidding one.

Fiber Friday

2008-03-21T16:42:00.003-04:00

Today I'm talking about The Sheep Shed Studio, a company located in Wyoming.

The Sheep Shed team buys unspun fiber from Brown Sheep and processes it to re-sell. They offer mill ends (imperfect rowing requiring a little more work by the spinner) and "grab bags" of fiber (smaller pieces of roving, batts, etc), as well as regular high-quality rovings.

The mill ends come sorted by color, "brown tones", "black tones", "blue tones", or "Whites". You order by the pound.

The rovings come in a wide assortment of colors, and Carol also hand-dyes some of the rovings into beautiful variegated colorways. These cost a little more, but are worth it if you don't know how to dye yourself and still want a gorgeous, hand-painted yarn.

I placed an order for two pounds of white mill ends (only $25 including postage/handling!) yesterday morning, and received a confirmation by 8 PM, saying that my order is going to be packaged and shipped by Monday. So far I'm very impressed by the professionalism and quality of service.

I'll give you another update when I get my order!

Errata: Elephant Tea Cozy

2008-03-18T02:43:00.003-04:00

One of my readers pointed out a problem in my Elephant Tea Cozy pattern. I have fixed the pattern, but if you downloaded it before today (March 18, 2008), please make the following changes:

Row 8: K 20, K f+b, K 20, K f+b, K 20, turn

Row 9: P 20, P f+b, P 22, P f+b, P 20, turn

Thank you to Stiney for correcting my mistake!

The Day the Blogger Cried

2008-02-23T19:23:00.005-05:00

Today shall be forever known as the Day of the Dropped Stitches, for Better or for Worse.

For Better

I am obsessed with Jeanie, from the Winter 2007/2008 issue of Knitty. So pretty, so fun to knit. And it's lace (fun!) without being too "girly", and not floral at all. I think the cables help with the androgyny of it. Well, not that a lacy shawl could ever be truly androgynous, but as I said, at least it's not floral. I'm working mine in laceweight (Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace), and with fewer repeats of Chart C, so it will be more like a scarf than a shawl (hence Jeanette).

Even smaller than the original pattern, it's still the slowest knit I've ever encountered. It's all ribbing (even the cables), so you never get a good rhythm going. I also never seem to be able to put it down. It's addictive!

In the early hours of this morning, I got to the first row where I got to drop stitches. The yarn has a halo to it (being merino and all), and some of the stitches wanted to adhere together and not drop easily, but with a little persuasion and the help of my crochet hook, I got them to obey. It was terrifying (I couldn't help but worry I miswrapped ONE stitch somewhere along the line and the entire thing was going to fall to pieces in my hands), but oh god was it worth it.

So here, ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, are three beautiful cables surrounded by dropped-stitch ladders:

(And yes, I am aware that however beautiful Jeanette is, my carpet is ugly of equal magnitude.)

I also LOVE knitting directly from the skein (no pesky ball-winding). I just drape it over my lap, revel in its softness, and try not to move too much. When it's time to put it away, I just twist it, and pull one end through the other. Easy as pie.

For Worse

Remember the Double-Knit Socks I posted about a few days ago? I was socking along, and decided to do a test-pull and make sure one wasn't attached to the other.

Well, it was.

There were two possible solutions: frog back two inches (really four, since it's two per sock!), or try to drop a few stitches down and fix it back up with a crochet hook. Needless to say, I chose the latter.

I got three stitches dropped down (and grabbed on a stitch holder to prevent further unraveling), and realized that somehow I had a 3" tail connecting the two socks that didn't want to let go. So I dropped a stitch on the other side.

Wait, no, there were TWO tails connecting the socks. What the hell was going on here? It looked like I did something really, really odd with one of the wrap and turns in the short-row toe.

My mind sufficiently boggled, I decided to set the socks down and finish fixing them in the morning when I have better light. Whatever the solution, it will probably include scissors and knots. Lots of knots.

Here's what my poor crazy socks look like right now:

Needless to say, tonight I'm drinking and working on Jeanette. At least she loves me.

Update!

2008-02-21T20:58:00.003-05:00

Same blog, new look!

I decided things should be better-looking around here (Not that I don't like brown, brown is nice, but this is more knittery!), so I changed my page layout, colors, and ad style.

You'll also notice my new WIP progress bars! Aren't they great? They're powered by Ravelry, so any time I update things over there (i.e. every 5 minutes) they'll automatically change here. If you're a Ravelry member, you can click on the links to navigate to their respective project page over there.

I'm still making minor tweaks (especially to the progress bars!), so things will change a bit more, but overall I'm happy with my level of prettyness.

Oh, and aren't you just drooling over the yarn in the title banner? It's Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace, in Indian Summer (my photo).

WIP Wednesday (AKA Oh Dear, I'm Late)

2008-02-21T16:04:00.004-05:00

Today I'm working on a pair of my Perpetual Socks (I try to always have at least one pair of socks going, as an easy/portable project), using my Personal Favorite Sock Pattern.

I'm working with Regia sock yarn (4 fädig color).

I normally don't knit plain-stockinette socks, but these have something really fun and interesting about them: I'm knitting both at once, using double-knitting.

Over the holidays, I wanted to knit a pair of fingerless mitts, but didn't have DPNS in a size big enough for the yarn I wanted to use. I'd thought a long time ago that double-knitting (redistributing the stitches after casting-on so they didn't seal off the end) could be used to make a tube, and decided to try it. I ended up with my Either Genius or Crazy mitts (viewable on Ravelry):

The cables were a hell and a half to do, but the double-knitting was not hard at all. So I decided to do the same technique again on my socks.

Full tutorial coming Tuesday!

Random Interlude

2008-02-13T06:15:00.005-05:00

No new knitting recently because I've been too busy with arch stuff this week, but here's a photo from my recent night of mischief.

I bet you a pair of tip jar heels (worksafe) everyone would stop at intersections if they all had pole dancers on em.

I'm a size 8, just so ya know.

And yes, that is a giant motherfucking stop sign.

Technique Tuesday

2008-02-05T13:36:00.000-05:00

Socks are my absolute favorite things to knit. They're small and portable (if you're knitting on the bus you're not going to be poking the guy next to you with the ends of your 14" straights), they use small balls of yarn, so even if you buy two colors you won't end up with tons of leftovers, and you can make them in virtually any stitch pattern.

If you know me, you know I can't handle following a written pattern. I want to change everything. So after attempting my first pair of socks with a written pattern (and failing miserably), I graduated to a sock calculator, and then just started tinkering until I came up with my own pattern that worked best for me. Today I'll be sharing my Personal Favorite Sock-Knitting Pattern.

Gauge: Serious Business
Gauge swatches knitted flat do not work when the actual object is to be knitted in the round. Now, you could cast on for a swatch and knit it circularly, then measure, then start knitting your sock, but a sock is about the size of a swatch anyway. What I prefer to do is make an educated guess on what my gauge is going to be, then start knitting. If you guessed right, you'll already have the toe of your sock done. If not, well, it's no more work than a swatch would have been.

First, figure out what you'd like your gauge to be, When I'm using fingering-weight yarn (most yarns you see advertised as "sock yarns" are fingering-weight), I like to have about 9 or 10 stitches per inch. At this point, you'll need to look at the yarn label. Look at the recommended needle size and gauge. If you normally knit tightly, go up a needle size or two. If you normally knit loosely, go down.

Now it's time to do a little math. Nothing scary, I promise. This will be painless.

Measure around the ball of your foot (that fat part North of your toes but South of your arch). Write this down. Mine is 8.5 inches, so we'll use that.

You want your socks to fit nice and tightly, and knitting stretches, so make your sock a little smaller than your foot measurement. Multiply your measurement by 0.9. Presto, no more floppy socks. (I get a finished measurement of 7.65 inches, which we'll fudge to 7.7.)

Now use your gauge to figure out how many stitches you'll need in your sock. 7.7 inches at 10 stitches per inch comes out to 77 stitches. We want an even number here, so I'll round it to 76.

This is my short-row toe. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Now we know that we need 78 stitches around our sock. Well, a short-row toe is worked flat, so we'll only need half that, leaving us to cast on 38 stitches. For your toe, you'll only be using 2 of your 5 DPNs.

Use the provisional cast-on you like best. Two simple ones are to crochet a chain and pick up and knit stitches from the chain, or to use a regular cast-on in a waste yarn, then knit the second row in your "real yarn". Either way, your provisional cast-on should always be in a different yarn than your project yarn, so it will be easy to find and pull out later.

You'll now be working short rows to make your toe into a nice pocket. I like to use the wrap and turn method, but you might be more comfortable with a different one. If so, that's fine too!

Starting with Row 1, knit until there is one stitch left on your left needle. Wrap and turn.
On Row 2, purl until 1 stitch left. Wrap and turn.
Row 3: Knit until there are two stitches left. Wrap the first stitch and turn.

Repeat these rows, wrapping a new stitch every time, until half the stitches are left unwrapped in the middle of the row (for me, 19). Now we'll be picking the wrapped stitches back up and working them to make our toe.

Row 1: Knit until you get to the first wrapped stitch. Slip it to your left needle. Use the right needle to pick up the wrap, and slip both the wrap and the stitch back to the right needle. Knit the stitch and wrap together. Wrap the next stitch (it is now double-wrapped) and turn.
Row 2: Slip 1, purl until you get to the first wrapped stitch. Pick up the wrap and purl it together with the stitch, just like before. Double-wrap the next stitch and turn.
Row 3: Slip 1, K to the first double-wrapped stitch. Slip it to your left needle. Pick up both wraps with your right needle, and slip the stitch back to your right needle. Knit both wraps together with the stitch. Double-wrap and turn.
Row 4: Slip 1, P to the first double-wrapped stitch. Pick up both wraps and purl them together with the stitch, as in Row 3. Double-wrap and turn.

Repeat Rows 3-4 until there is one double-wrapped stitch left on each end. You'll work these after joining in the round.

To join, unravel your provisional cast-on. Pick up the new "live" stitches, and divide all your stitches so there is an equal number on each of your 4 DPNs.

Now just start knitting in the round. When you get to the double-wrapped stitches in the first round, pick up the wraps and knit them together with the stitch. After this round, you don't have to worry about them anymore.

This is important: Measure the length of your toe! You'll need this later to figure out how long your sock should be before you turn the heel. Mine usually come to about 1.5 inches.

Does it fit?
After knitting an inch or so, stop and try on your toe. Does it fit? Great, keep going! If not, you just made a swatch. Unravel it, and start back at the beginning with a smaller or larger needle.

The Foot
Now it's time to figure out how long the foot of your sock should be. Measure your foot from the tip of your longest toe to the back of your heel. Now subtract the measurement of your short-row toe. This is how long you need to knit before turning the heel. My foot is 8.5 inches long, minus 1.5 gives me 7 inches.

When you get to the right length, you'll start knitting your short-row heel. Decide which side of the sock you want to be the top, and which side will be the bottom. Knit across the top of the foot, but not the bottom. Your heel will be worked only on the bottom stitches, ignore the top for now.

Better than Achilles
Your heel will be worked exactly like your toe was! Repeat those instructions, doing short-rows down to half the number of stitches, and back up to the full number.

When you finish your heel, resume knitting in the round. The hard part is over, now all you have to do is finish the leg.

She's Got Legs
The leg of your sock can be worked however you like: all stockinette, a ribbing pattern, or stockinette with ribbing at the top. Having at least some ribbing will help your sock stay up instead of bunching at your ankle.

Finish the leg of your sock however you like, and bind off. You'll need a stretchy bind-off, or you won't be able to get it over your foot! I like the sewn bind-off explained at the bottom of this page.

Voila! You're done. Now all you need is a second sock.

This pattern definitely isn't the end-all be-all sock pattern. It's merely what works best for me. To get your perfect socks, I recommend trying it a few times with different modifications until you come up with your own "Sock Style".

Happy knitting!

Black Magic?

2008-02-02T01:38:00.000-05:00

These damn socks have been cursed from the get-go.

Seriously, I think the LYS that the yarn and needles were purchased at is built on an ancient Native American burial ground, or something similarly spooky. I honestly would not be surprised at all.

The first sock went off without a hitch. I can't even remember having to rip back once. I should have known right then that something was too good to be true. I bound off, and went on to the second sock.

First, a DPN broke for no apparent reason, as I was just knitting along in the middle of the row. Whatever, these things happen, maybe the wood just had a weak spot in it. I asked for a replacement from Brittany, which turned into all sorts of waiting around.

Finally, I got the replacement needle and started knitting again. The sock traveled with me a lot for a few weeks, to class and even on vacation to ski in New York with my family. All seemed well.

Then, on the return flight, I started to notice something was wrong. I was running out of yarn way too quickly. My ball seemed to go from a nicely-sized mass to something the size of a tangerine way too quickly. As you've probably guessed, I ran out of yarn. Two inches from the top of the sock. Yeah, it sucks.

I've been trying to track down the yarn (Online Supersocke 100, from the Afrika collection, colorway 996), and it seems impossible. None of my local stores have it, and anyway, it seems to be a bit wasteful to buy an entirely new skein to use less than 100 yards.

So right now, I'm staring at these, and wishing I had the magical ability to stretch my yarn.

Damn Indian burial grounds.

FO! FO! FO! FO!

2008-01-31T02:51:00.002-05:00

Last week for my Design and Graphics class, I was given an assignment to create a three-dimensional collage/model out of the following materials:

Chipboard
Corrugated cardboard
Balsa wood
Bass wood
Styrofoam
Polymer Clay
Fabric I
Fabric II
Sheet Metal
Wire

Fabric? That means fiber, right? Yes!

My concept for the project was to integrate the materials by weaving them together. Here's a snippet from the text I put in my portfolio:

Ten distinct materials, melded into one cohesive whole through weaving techniques. Each element either penetrates or is penetrated by another material, so that the finished model holds together with very little use of glue.

Intersecting planes, lines, and forms work together to create distinct spaces that are at the same time open to one another. From almost any viewing angle, each material is visible.

Dimensions: 8" x 8" x 2"

The solid-looking panel on top is woven.

The lacy-looking panel on the bottom is filet crochet, worked into a chipboard frame.

My professor and TAs were impressed. They found it interesting that I managed to "weave" a seemingly-unrelated part of myself into my architectural work. Sadly, I broke the sheet metal off during my presentation, but it's easily fixed.

There are more pictures on Flickr.

Happy Knitting :)
--
J, who is working on her second all-nighter in a row.

Technique Tuesday

2008-01-29T23:57:00.001-05:00

Here's The Key Part II. Go here to see it as a knitted swatch, and here to see Part I (and an explanation).

It repeats, so you can adapt it to fit any size knitted object.

Enjoy!

Another One Bites the Dust

2008-01-26T02:56:00.000-05:00

Another FO down: my months-old Sidewinders. Some of you might remember when I started these and knit the first sock-- way back in August! The half-finished second sock sat in my WIP box for ages, and tonight I decided I wasn't going to stand for it anymore.

These socks look and feel great. I messed up the grafting on the second sock, so it looks a bit bunchy on the back and is slightly shorter than the other one, but I was planning on wearing these with jeans most of the time, so it won't show. They fit my feet just about perfectly!

I can't remember what the yarn is. Some cheap knitted-tube sport weight from Wal-Mart. It was one of those times when I saw the pattern and needed to knit it NOW, you know? I actually couldn't be happier with the yarn. It has a nice smooth texture, and feels cool to the touch--perfect for hot Florida weather.

Fiber Friday

2008-01-25T16:52:00.000-05:00

Things have been insane in SP-land lately, and I've had almost no time to post!

Finally I've slowed down enough for an update to post some fibery goodness.

I'm drowning in yarn!

A semi-local yarn store (The Yarn Gallery in Dunedin, FL) is closing down at the end of the month, and I got a chance to hit up the closing sale. I ended up with some Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace and some Regia sock yarn.

The Regia is in the Mirage Fog colorway, and will be turning into a pair of socks for my dad. I haven't decided on a pattern yet (suggestions welcome!), but probably an interesting rib pattern.

The laceweight is an interesting story. I bought it because there is a ton of it (2400 yards!), it was a good deal, and it's beautiful. No idea what to make with it yet, there's enough for 2 shawls or sweaters! I'm not much of a shawl person, but I may make some of it into a lacy shrug or scarf. I've been eyeing Jeanie from Knitty, or maybe I'll modify Arbor. If all else fails, I'll sell or trade it on Ravelry.

Bye-bye, Yarn Gallery. I'll miss you!

Later today I'm heading out to meet a lady from Freecycle about even more yarn. She has a few old sweaters she's giving me for unraveling purposes. Personally, I love recycling things. Why throw away an old sweater when you can make it into a new one? But a lot of recycled yarns have the disadvantage of being faded, stained, or just not exciting.

Well, with a little work and creativity, we can change this! My plan is to handpaint the yarns, re-skein them, and wash them so they're like new again. And since I've got more of this than I can (or want to) knit, I'm planning on setting up an Etsy shop to destash a bit and spread the love of beautiful, environmentally-friendly fiber. More information, and a link to my Etsy shop, will be posted when I get everything set up.

Headache

2008-01-17T01:19:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to work out a few things in my life right now (homowork, my architecture school application, personal relationships, planning for my trip this weekend, a Ravelry swap I screwed up and am trying to fix), and don't have the stamina to write a post for WIP Wednesday.

I'm going to go wind some yarn into balls as therapy, and I'll talk to you all soon.

Love,
J

Technique Tuesday

2008-01-15T01:06:00.000-05:00

Update: 01/24/2007: Added better-quality chart.

I realized I have a scanned graph of the color chart in my computer already! Since this is hand-done and a little sloppy, I'll probably replace this with a better-quality computer image later.

The Key (Part 1 of 2) is based on the ancient Greek Key motif. This chart is a rather literal interpretation of the key, Part 2 (to be published next week) will be a more figurative, abstract approach.

This pattern is worked in Fair Isle. I envision it as three different shades of grey on a white background, you're obviously free to knit it in whatever colors you like. It might be pretty using a long-repeat self-striping yarn (such as Noro Kureyon or Debbie Mumm Traditions) against a solid background.

To view the image larger or save a copy to your computer, click on it.

Oops!

2008-01-15T00:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry, but Technique Tuesday's post will probably be a little late, I've got 75 sketches to do of a bell pepper, and haven't had time to finish making the downloadable chart. I'll post the chart as soon as I get a chance, promised!

FO Show Off

2008-01-14T01:33:00.001-05:00

Here's a swatch I've just finished, of a color chart I've been working on. It's knit in Patons Classic Merino, in two shades of grey, using the Fair Isle colorwork technique. Size: 6 inches by 7 inches, after blocking.

The color chart is Part 2 of a two-part series called "The Key". Both designs are based on the Greek key motif, with Part One being a more literal interpretation, and this being the more abstract.

The chart for "The Key-- Part One" will be posted tomorrow as part of Technique Tuesdays.

Review-Brittany Needles

2008-01-13T00:31:00.000-05:00

Some of you might know that Brittany offers a warranty on their needles and hooks. If you break one in "normal use" within 5 years of buying it, you can contact them for a free replacement.

On the website, it says it normally takes about two weeks to process a return. You'll see why this is important later.

I originally emailed them over six weeks ago because of a snapped DPN. I got a reply right away, and was hoping my new needle would be coming soon. Three weeks after that, I got another reply saying "Will send ASAP", when I'd assumed they had already sent the first time they emailed me. I tried calling a few times in between emails, left a message once, and never got any reply.

A week ago, I finally got the replacement. It was about six weeks from the original email to the time when I received the package.

They were very generous in sending me two new needles instead of one, and the product itself is great. These are some of my favorite sock needles to knit with. It's very nice of Brittany to offer a warranty at all, when many needle producers don't, but I was very unhappy with the customer service policy. Promising two-week return service that actually takes over a month is just unacceptable.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-05T19:56:00.001-05:00

Hello, 2008. I hope everyone's year is going knittingly (or crochetingly, depending on the craft of choice)!

Since we've got a new calendar on the wall, I decided to toy with some new things here at Saltwater Purls. To get things a bit more organized, and maybe get me posting more, I'm going to have a few "categories" for my posts, based on when they're posted.

Technique Tuesdays: Color charts, stitch patterns, tutorials and instructions.

WIP Wednesdays: I get you up to date with something I've been working on.

Fiber Fridays: All things yarn-- spinning, dying, and reviews of commercial yarns.

Free patterns, random updates, and other stuff will continue to be posted on other days.

Hope this year is awesome for you all :)

Skywalker Socks

2007-12-23T19:57:00.002-05:00

These socks are inspired by Grumperina's Jaywalker. The overall design comes out similar, but the construction is very different.

They're worked toe-up using short-row heels and toes, with a modified stitch pattern. They have ribbed instep shaping for a good fit and arch support.

They have finished measurements of 10.5" in length with a 9" circumference, and will stretch to fit up to 11" circ and 11.5" length. They'll fit a shoe size of 10-12 men's.

These particular socks are a gift, so no pictures of them on a foot until the recipient gets them. I'll try to have them up by the end of the week.

Skywalker Socks

Needles

Set of 5 US 2.5 DPNs

Yarn

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, 2 skeins, or other fingering wt yarn

Zigzag Stitch Pattern 1

Rounds 1-4: K2, *Kfb, K8, DD, K8, Kfb* K2 across top of foot, K across sole

Round 5: K around

Zigzag Stitch Pattern 2

Rounds 1-2: *Kfb, K8, DD, K8, Kfb* around

Round 3: K around

Gauge

38 sts per 4 inches of Zigzag Stitch 1 (row gauge not important)

TOE

Using a provisional cast-on (I used the crochet cast on), CO 46 stitches.

Work a short-row toe:

R1: K until one stitch is left on needle, wrap and turn.

R2: P until one stitch left, w&t

R3: K until 2 sts left, w&t

Continue wrapping & turning until 20m unwrapped stitches remain.

R1: K to first wrapped stitch. Slip stitch to R needle, pick up wrap with L needle and slip to R needle. K stitch and wrap together. w&t.

R2: Slip 1, P to first wrapped stitch, P wrap together with stitch, w&t.

R3: Slip 1, K to double-wrapped stitch (created in last row), PU wraps and work together with stitch, w&t.

Continue working until you have double-wrapped the stitches on the ends of the needles.

Unravel the crochet cast-on and pick up the live stitches. You now have 96 sts total.

Distribute over 4 DPNs as follows:

Needle 1 and Needle 2: stitches from top of foot, 23 on each needle

Needle 3 and Needle 4: stitches for bottom of foot, 23 on each

BALL

K one round, working remaining double-wraps as you come to them.

You will now transition from the stockinette toe to the zigzagged foot.

R1-R2: K2, *Kfb, K8, DD, K8, Kfb* twice, K2, K across bottom

R3: K

R4-R6: K2, *Kfb, K8, DD, K8, Kfb* twice, K2, K across bottom

R7: K across Needles 1 and 2, for N3 and N4: K 21, K2tog, K2tog, K21

R8-R11: K2, *Kfb, K8, DD, K8, Kfb* twice, K2, K across bottom

R12: K across N1 and N2, for N3 and N4: K2, K2tog, K10, k2tog, K12, k2tog, K10,

K2tog, K2

For all remaining rows, work in Zigzag Sitch Pattern 1.

Work until sock measures 4”

INSTEP SHAPING

Continue in zigzag on N1 and N2.

N3 and N4: work in *K2, P2* rib for 3”, then go back to stockinette bottom.

Work in zigzag on foot top and stockinette sole until sock measures 9” (heel will add 1.5” to sock length).

HEEL

Slip the first two stitches of Needle 1 to Needle 4, and the last 2 stitches of Needle 2 to Needle 3.

You will now have 21 stitches each on N1 and N2, and 22 stitches each on N3 and N4

Work N1 and N2 in stitch pattern.

The heel will be worked over the sole stitches only.

Follow the same short-row instructions for the heel as you did for the toe (short-row down to 20 stitches, and back up to 44).

Re-join, and work rest of sock in round.

CUFF

Work in Zigzag Stitch Pattern 2 for about 1” or until cuff is desired length.

Work in *K2, P2* ribbing for 1”

Bind off using sewn bind-off or other stretch bind off. Weave in ends.

Update 04/14/2009:

There were errors in the ball of the sock:

What originally read "R1" in the pattern should have read "R1-R2".

R8-11 should have read "K2, *Kfb, K8, DD, K8, Kfb* K2"

The pattern was corrected as of 8 AM today, but if you printed or saved the pattern before this time, you should make a new copy.

Thank you to merely911 of Ravelry for pointing out my mistake!

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-21T13:12:00.000-05:00

I've been scrambling to finish my holiday knitting, and BAD THINGS have been happening.

Even with the support of the Ravelry group Procraftination, I'm still managing to avoid getting things done.

I've cut back my gift projects to two (Skywalker socks for Y and a Fun Fur scarf for my sister), rather than worry about two more pairs of socks for my parents. The Skywalkers are almost done, with only an inch of ribbing to go on the second sock, and I haven't started the scarf yet, since it will hopefully only take a few hours.

A few more things going on...

Nutmeg made a pair of my Ribbed Cable socks as a Christmas gift, in a beautiful dark blue merino. Photos by Nutmeg and used with permission. Click here to see her project on Ravelry.

For Sale or Trade

I'd like to destash this yarn, it's been sitting around for ages and I can't think of anything I'd like to do with it.

Yarn brand/name: Needful Yarns Kabir
Weight: Bulky
How much? 1 skein, 70 yds.
Fiber content: 50% wool/50% acrylic
Colors: Shades of green, khaiki

Made in Italy, an interesting thick-and-thin yarn to play with.

Retail value: $7-$9, I'm asking $8 including shipping within the continental US. Ask about prices for international shipping.

I'd also like to trade it for something of similar value. I've been meaning to try the KnitPicks Essentials sock yarns, and I always need hooks and needles. Make an offer!

Socking and Spinning

2007-11-27T15:19:00.001-05:00

See that? It's a broken DPN, and the reason I haven't made any progress on my basketweave socks in weeks. I thought I'd have to buy a new set of needles, but someone on the Ravelry forums told me Brittany will generally replace broken needles for free! I sent an email a couple of days ago. I haven't gotten a response yet, but hopefully I will soon so I can get on with the knitting!

In the meantime, I've been working on a new pair of socks. It's a total re-write of Grumperina's Jaywalker pattern, applying a similar stitch pattern to a different sock. I'm calling them Skywalkers. There's a lot more info about them on their Ravelry project page (Socks for Great Justice), but I'm holding off on posting the actual pattern until I have both finished.

Here's a technical preview:
They're big! They should fit a men's size 10-12, or a women's 12-14.
They're toe-up! It's easy to make sure if you have enough yarn left over for the second sock.
They're more zig-zaggy! I modified the stitch pattern so the zigzags are more pronounced.
They have shaping! Ribbing on the instep keeps them fitting well, especially if you have a high arch.
They're crew-height! Great for people who don't wear dress socks.
They have short-row toes and heels! Nice-looking, sturdy, and easy to do.

Two weeks ago, I went to the Orlando Needlework Convention at the Orange County Convention Center. It was held along with a scrapbooking show and a beading show, three in one. All of them were pretty impressive, though I was a little disappointed that there were so few vendors selling yarn.

I did pick up some spinning goodies from one of the quilting booths (Boutique 4 Quilters Inc)...

Top to bottom: 30 silk cocoons (0.5 oz), 1 oz Colonial Top roving in Koala, 1 oz Colonial Top roving in Slate

I spun up a little of the Koala, it's so soft, pretty, and easy to work with. Nice long staple length too, without being too long. It's only one spindle-full so far, about 23 yards. Mostly DK to worsted-weight, with a few thinner spots. I'm thinking of plying it together with the Slate.

Silk-processing has been an adventure so far. I managed to degum the cocoons with some help from Worm Spit, and ended up with this fine mess of a thing:

I don't have any carders yet, but I did pick it apart a bit to untangle the fibers and see what the fiber comes out like. Nice! I think I'll like spinning this, once I get it out of "poofy tangled cloud" stage.

Of course, all of this spinning has a purpose! It's going into a portfolio project I'm working on. More on that to come later, or get a sneak preview photo in Ravelry.

My first "fan"!

2007-11-21T04:12:00.000-05:00

I normally don't post twice in one day, but I thought this was deserving of its own entry.

Purseho on Ravelry knitted an awesome rendition of my Elephant Tea Cozy. You can see the project page here, or go to her flickr page to see pictures if you don't have Ravelry yet (which, by the way, you should go put your name on the list for- it's worth the wait!).

Hers is knit in pink and white Wool-Ease, has crocheted eyes instead of buttons, and an adorable little pom-pom on top.

I would normally post pictures, but don't want to steal them without Purseho's permission, so you'll have to go to her flickr to see them.

New pattern!

2007-11-21T04:02:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to writing up a full pattern for my Ribbed Cable Socks (before I had only posted the stitch pattern).

You can see it here, please ask if you have any questions, and let me know if I made a mistake!
http://saltwaterpurls.blogspot.com/2007/06/socks-are-finished.html

More Tetris Pics, and second skein of yarn.

2007-10-11T20:16:00.001-04:00

I realized I haven't shared any photos of my Tetris Afghan-in-progress lately, so here are two.

It's not really that wobbly, just laid out crooked. And look at all those damn ends I'm going to have to weave in.

I also finished my second full spindle of yarn, 21 yards, so that makes 33 total! I still have roving left to spin, I don't know how much yarn I'll end up with.

I can make yarn!

2007-09-17T02:03:00.001-04:00

Laugh at me if you will.

My attempts to spin "properly" failed like crazy a few months back. I threw away the spindle I was trying to learn with, and basically left the roving sitting all alone in a storage box.

Until yesterday... when I found my wool, a screwdriver, and a dream.

Here's my spindle:

And my yarn! About 12 yards (half an ounce) of wool. It's different thicknesses in different parts, ranging from laceweight to worsted, but the majority of it is about fingering-weight.

Next item on the agenda: spin up the rest of the roving (about 1/2 ounce more) and knit it up into a scarf or something similar.

Creative Freedom and Ravelry

2007-09-13T18:26:00.000-04:00

First of all, I posted some of my work and my original designs on Ravelry!

Here's my Profile Page
And here's my Designer Page.

Most of the patterns link back here for the actual instructions, but it's nice to have one portfolio page instead of the patterns all scattered through random blog posts. It's sort of like having a Table of Contents!

Secondly, I've decided to license my original designs thorough Creative Commons, under the Attribution license. That means you're free to use them for whatever you like-- modify them, sell the items you make, print them out and give them to all your friends/knitting circle/art class/fourth-cousins-twice-removed.

Under one simple condition: you have to give me credit. Here's an easy guide to giving credit:

If you re-publish my pattern on your website, provide my name and a link back to http://www.saltwaterpurls.blogspot.com.

If you print the pattern out, please include my name and my URL on the paper.

If you post an item you made using my patterns on another website/forum/Ravelry, provide a link (Ravelry will do this for you if you type in "Saltwater Purls" and the name of the pattern when you post!).

If you sell items you've made using my patterns on Etsy or another website, say the item was "designed by" me and link!

Creative Commons isn't a free pass to do whatever you want- it's definitely not as restrictive as copyrighting, but you do have to follow the credit rules. If I find out that you abuse the privileges of free patterns and try to pass my work off as your own, I can send you a cease and desist letter, and if you do not remove the offending items I can pursue legal action.

I believe these terms are very generous and fair, and hope more knitwear designers will start using Creative Commons instead of copyrighting their work. Did you know that if you purchase a copyrighted pattern, you're only allowed to make one copy to write notes on, and when you finish knitting you legally have to throw it away? Some designers even demand that you not make a copy at all, you must write on the original and buy a new one if you want to knit it a second time. How crazy is that?

Saltwater Purls... bringing you sane knitting since 1894 (OK, not really).

Knotty Stitch Mini-Pattern

2007-09-13T17:52:00.002-04:00

I just realized that I charted out this stitch a really long time ago and posted it on Craftster, but never here.

This is a great pattern you can use for just about anything. My grandmother taught me how to do something like it, she uses it for afghans. It makes them super soft and cozy, even if you use slightly stiff yarn.

My technique is a little different from hers, it's a modification I designed that I've found makes things a lot better-looking.

This is what a swatch looks like un-blocked. Once it's blocked, the edges look more even. If I'm using it for a washcloth, I leave it unblocked and single crochet around the edges.

Here is what it looks like with the stitches stretched out a little:

OK, now for the instructions!

Make sure you knit more loosely than normal. You need the stitches to be nice and big so you can make the knots!

Cast on a multiple of 3 stitches, plus 1 extra, plus 2 for your edge stitches.

Row One Do whatever you do for your edge stitch. I slip the first one in each row.
**Make one knot: K into the back of the next 3 stitches but don't slip them off the left needle. Yarn over once. Knit into the front of the 3 stitches and slip them off the needle.**
Repeat ** until you have 2 stitches on your left needle. K2.

Row 2 Do the edge stitch, then P all stitches.

Row 3 Edge stitch, K2, make knots(repeat **) until you have 3 stitches on left needle. K3.

Row 4 Do the edge stitch, then P all stitches.

Row 5 Edge stitch, K1, make knots until you have 1 stitch on left needle, K1.

Row 6 Do the edge stitch, then P all stitches.

Repeat rows 1-6 until you are done!

J Says:
This post is pretty old, so I may not check comments very often. If you have a comment or question, I'd still love to answer you! Send me an e-mail (address is in my profile) or a message on Ravelry (username: Jillie).

Beautiful Basketweave Socks

2007-09-11T21:44:00.000-04:00

Pattern for these socks will be available as soon as I finish one! They're going to be knee-high with ribbing at the top. Stockinette on the soles and basketweave on the top of the foot and the leg.

They are my first project post on Ravelry, which I was just invited to today. It is so cool so far!

My username is Jillie, please add me as your friend. I will start posting projects on there soon!

A Yarn Contest!

2007-07-24T22:08:00.000-04:00

My online knitting buddy Knitting Up A Storm needs some help naming a yarn she just dyed, and is sponsoring a contest for the best name! The winner gets a free skein!

Here are the contest rules, please head on over to her blog post to suggest your colorway name! My suggestion was "Sugar Rush"--What can YOU come up with?

"I just dyed another skein, because....well, just because I'm crazy enough to do another one soo soon.
However, I was having the hardest time trying to come up with a name for this one.
Then it hit me.

I thought that it would be fun to have a colorway naming contest, since the colors are pretty funky together.
It's up to you, oh faithful commenter-friends & lurkers, to come up with the perfect (and jazzy) name for this one.
It's a hard one... what goes with lilac, sky blue, periwinkle, silver, salmon, pink & white?
The winner gets fame & glory on the winner's post....and this skein! Freebies are always good, right? Yeah, I should probably get some crackers to go with all this cheesyness.

"NAME THAT COLORWAY" RULES:
1. First, come up with the perfect colorway name. Jokesters might gain extra merit, as long as it's to good humor. Post on THIS post's comment page ONLY!! Thanks. :)
2. Post these rules on your blog & your colorway idea. That way, no one will use something like it, by mere freak accident. Who ever finds out about this contest on your blog must refer you on this comment page below, before participating in the contest. (This is kind of like Lotus' Knits contest idea. But we will use a poll too...)
-->If you see your name (or blog address) on my comment page, you can add another colorway name idea! The more referals for you, the better! Good luck to you all!
3. The top 3 best names will be put on a poll, so you all can vote!
4. Contest ends: Sunday, July 29th @ midnight!

So, the sooner you comment, the better chance you have of getting another go. lol.
Feel free to copy & paste the rules. No use in typing it all over again."

Halfway there!

2007-07-17T17:49:00.000-04:00

I just finished my first of two Sidewinders, created for the Sockatility knit-a-long! This is definitely the best-fitting and most fun sock I've knitted yet.

I'm casting on for the second sock tonight, then taking it with me on a weekend trip to Atlanta. A seven-hour car ride each way definitely makes plenty of knitting time!

This was the first time I'd ever tried grafting. I thought it was going to be some scary, difficult thing only the pros could do, but it turned out to be ridiculously easy. Just keep chanting "In and off, Out and on"! I'm planning my own grafted sock pattern, look for it sometime after I finish these!

Frustration!

2007-07-07T22:16:00.000-04:00

I just finished Act II of my Sidewinders -- and realized they're going to be too big, even though I'm making them in the smallest size!!

And I don't have any circular needles smaller than a size 4... so I'm going to try doing them over on straight 2's. Has anyone ever tried it on straights before? I know the pattern says you NEED circulars, but my needle didn't seem to be bending much as I was knitting anyway.

Elephant Tea Cozy Pattern

2007-06-30T22:02:00.002-04:00

I got lots of pattern requests, so here it is!

If you run into any problems, please don't hesitate to leave a comment and ask questions!

This pattern is licensed under Creative Commons. This means that you are allowed to use the pattern for whatever you like, as long as you give me credit. For example, if you like the pattern and want to post it on your website, feel free to do so as long as you include my name and a link to http://www.saltwaterpurls.blogspot.com , and notify me via e-mail (link on my "Profile" page).
You may also print out and make copies to give to friends, use in a class, or swap/trade.
Items you make using this pattern are YOUR property, meaning you can do whatever you like with them, even sell them if you want (which is not the case with most knitting patterns).

For more information, click the button below:

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Elephant Tea Cozy Pattern

by Jill Mongato, 2007

Licensed under Creative Commons

This pattern fits a teapot with a 19” circumference at the widest point. If your teapot is larger or smaller, adjust your gauge or change the number of stitches/rows. It might take a little bit of adjustment to get it right.

Yarn

MC: Caron’s Simply Soft in #9717 Orchid. You’ll use less than half a skein.

CC: Red Heart Super Saver #0382 Country Blue. You only need a few yards for trim.

Needles

Sz. 8 DPNs (4)

Misc. Supplies

Size 8/H crochet hook

Yarn needle

Stitch holder/spare needle

Spare circular needle (any size)

2 small buttons

Sewing needle and thread

Gauge

15 stitches/20 rows = 4” in Stockinette stitch (CC gauge will be slightly larger.)

Pattern Notes

READ BEFORE STARTING!

The finished cozy has a slit in the back for the handle to fit through. The pattern starts in the round. After a few rows, you’ll split for the opening by turning your work and purling the next row. Continue in Stockinette until the slit is the length of the handle, then re-join and finish the cozy in the round. The pattern will refer to “Rounds” or “Rows” when appropriate.

Body

CO 56 stitches, using long-tail cast on, or substitute any cast-on that is easy to pick up and crochet into.

Divide stitches onto DPNs, being careful not to twist, and join.

Round 1: K all sts

Round 2: K to last stitch. K into front and back of st.

Round 3: K into front and back of st, K around (58 sts)

Round 4: K1, K f+b, K 27, turn work to divide for handle (You will now be working flat. See Pattern Notes).

Row 5: Purl 31, P front and back, P 27, turn work (60 sts)

Row 6: K 32, K f+b, K 27, turn

Row 7: P 33, P f+b, P 27, turn (62 sts)

Row 8: K 20, K f+b, K 20, K f+b, K 20, turn

Row 9: P 20, P f+b, P 22, P f+b, P 20, turn (66 sts)

Note: This pattern was corrected for errors on 18 March 2008. If you downloaded or printed the pattern before this date, please check Rows 8 and 9 and make corrections.

Row 10: K 14, K f+b, K 22, K f+b, K 13, K f+b, K 8, K f+b, turn

Row 11: P 39, P f+b, P 29, turn (70 sts)

Row 12: K 20, K f+b, K 19, K f+b, K 8, K f+b, turn

Row 13-15 (or number of rows required to reach correct handle slit length):

Work in Stockinette across

Row 16: K to end of row, re-join across slit

Round 17: Knit around

Round 18: K 10, K 2 together, K4, K 2 tog, K 4, K 2 tog, K5

Divide for Spout: Slip the 14 spout stitches onto a spare needle or stitch holder to pick up and knit later.

Continue knitting next stitch after spout sts:

K 5, K 2 tog, K 4, K 2 tog, K 4, K 2 tog, K 10

Rounds 19 and up:

*K 2, K 2 tog* across each round until 10 stitches remain.

Break yarn. Draw yarn through remaining stitches, pull tight and secure.

FOR THE NEXT PART OF THE PATTERN, YOU WILL BE WORKING WITH THE COZY WHILE IT IS ON THE TEAPOT.

Transfer the spout stitches from the stitch holder onto a circular needle, so they can wrap around the spout.

Fit the cozy over the teapot.

Note adjustments you need to make and correct them before proceeding!

Work bottom of teapot

You will probably have a gap between the bottom of the cozy and the bottom of the teapot. You will now crochet a band to cover this gap.

Using crochet hook, Single crochet into each cast-on stitch.

Continue in SC until you reach the bottom of the teapot, decreasing as necessary to follow the shape of the pot.

Work Spout

Measure the length of the spout that is sticking out of the cozy. You’ll want to leave a little space (about ½ to ¾ inch) uncovered; subtract this from the measurement.

Multiply the length you need to knit by your number of rows per inch to determine the number of rounds you need to knit. Write this down!

NOW, TAKE THE COZY BACK OFF THE TEAPOT.

Transfer the stitches onto DPNs.

Pick up 6 sts from above the spout stitches (where you re-joined the body after transferring the spout sts to the holder).

Join and knit stitches in the round until you reach the correct number of rounds. Bind off loosely and break yarn.

Ears

Make 2 MC and 2 CC:

Cast on 10 sts

Row 1: P all sts

Row 2: K f+b into all sts (20 sts)

Row 3-7: Work in Stockinette

Row 8 and up: Work in stockinette, decreasing 1 stitch at the beginning of each row until

12 stitches remain.

Next Row: *K 2 together* to end. (6 sts)

Break yarn and pull through remaining stitches; secure end.

Sew MC ears to CC ears right-side out.

Finishing

Handle: Crochet with CC around slit.

Tail: Sew or twist a few strands of yarn together. Thread through yarn needle and

secure to back of body below handle.

Ears: Sew flat sides of ears onto body using scraps and yarn needle.

Eyes: Using sewing needle and thread, sew buttons to face.

Hair: Make a pompom from yarn scraps and sew to top of head.

Weave in all ends and you’re done!

J Says:
This post is pretty old, so I may not check comments very often. If you have a comment or question, I'd still love to answer you! Send me an e-mail (address is in my profile) or a message on Ravelry (username: Jillie).

Finished Elephant Tea Cozy

2007-06-30T14:13:00.001-04:00

I made this for my sister's teapot. Pattern coming soon!!

Socks are finished!!

2007-06-27T22:49:00.002-04:00

I stopped working on them for a few days, so they took longer than anticipated. They look and feel so nice on my feet! I'm super-proud of my first wearable socks.

The Stitch Pattern
Work RS rows (odd numbers) R to L and WS rows (even numbers) L to R

Knit Stitch

Purl Stitch

Sl 1 to cable needle held in back. K 1, K 1 from cable needle.

Sl 1 to cable needle held in front, K 1, K 1 from cable needle

Please Note: The pattern is written for cables worked FLAT. If you are knitting socks in the round, even-numbered rounds will be (P 1, K 4, P 1) across rather than (K 1, P 4, K 1).

PATTERN:
Fits a women's size M (stretches to fit most sizes!)
Foot circ: 8" Foot length: 9". Circumference stretches up to 11", and length can be adjusted in pattern.
Gauge: 6 stitches/inch in ribbed cable pattern
Suggested yarn weight: DK
Suggested needle: US 2 DPNS (set of 5) or circular for Magic Loop

Toe
Using a provisional cast-on (I use the Crochet Cast On), CO 24 stitches.
Short-row down to 12 stitches, and back up to 24. (Knitty has great instructions for a short-row toe)
Unravel crochet chain to free stitches and pick up. You should now have 48 stitches total, distribute them over your DPNs.

Foot
Decide which side you want to be the top of the sock and which side you want to be the bottom.
On top of foot (first 2 needles), start knitting in stitch pattern. On bottom of foot, knit all stitches.
Work for 2 inches.

Instep Shaping
(optional, provides shaping and arch support)
Continue to work top of foot in stitch pattern. For sole of foot: P2, K4, P2, K4, P2, K4, P2, K4
Work instep shaping for 2", continuing in stitch pattern on top of foot.

Foot
Work top of foot in cabled rib pattern, and sole of foot in plain stockinette for 2 inches, or until sock is desired length.

Heel
Knit top of foot in stitch pattern. You will only be working on the two sole needles.
Short-row down to 12 stitches and back up to 24 (exactly as you did the toe!)

Cuff
Start working all needles (top of foot and the ones you just did the heel on) in cabled rib pattern.
Work until cuff is desired length.
Bind off loosely and weave in all ends.

Happy Knitting, everyone!

J Says:
This post is pretty old, so I may not check comments very often. If you have a comment or question, I'd still love to answer you! Send me an e-mail (address is in my profile) or a message on Ravelry (username: Jillie).

Socks Update!

2007-06-22T19:13:00.001-04:00

The first sock is now finished, and the second one is on the needles! The fit turned out GREAT, I'd definitely recommend the pattern to anyone.

On to pictures:
I love the color and the stitch pattern.
I'll make a chart for the rib and post it once the other one is finished.

Josef's Brown Hat, and a Sock Crisis.

2007-06-20T13:08:00.000-04:00

I've been working on this simple wool ribbed hat for AGES. I started it when it was actually cold enough to wear hats, and it got thrown by the wayside when I had a million other things to do.

So maybe if I post a picture as a reminder, I"ll actually get around to it!

And on to the socks:

I tried making the Straightlaced Socks
from Knitty, but they turned into a disaster. My gauge was spot-on, but somehow they turned out WAY too big for my feet. So I frogged and started over.

Right now I'm working on a pattern I adapted from the Universal Toe-Up Sock (also from Knitty) with a great cabled rib pattern I dreamed up, and some nice extra ribbing in the arches for support.

Here they are so far, with the foot about half done:Yes, it's a funny shape, but it will fit great on a foot (because those are funny-shaped too!)

I started a sock pattern discussion on Craftster, please pop on over and recommend your favorite, or just drop a link here!

Elephant!

2007-05-26T00:10:00.000-04:00

I made this little guy following terpsichore's excellent tutorial!
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=1669 93.0

Only... he's a a boyfriend-toy instead of a cat-toy.

Yarn: Some cheap Red Heart I had lying around.

I made mine a little shorter than the tutorial said, I wanted him to be a little smaller.
I also changed the decreasing on the back because I wasn't happy with how it was turning out.

Oh, and I added a wire in his trunk so it's poseable!

(last photo taken before I added the eyes)

Isn't he a cutie?

Josef's going to be thrilled!

I have competition!

2007-04-30T03:00:00.000-04:00

I found out that someone else has made a Tetris blanket before!

Craftster member Zeropixie has a crocheted afghan, posted only a few weeks ago.

Go here to see more.

Hers looks awesome, mine is going to be very different but I hope it turns out just as lovely!

The Tetris Afghan, Part 1

2007-04-27T18:55:00.000-04:00

As far as I know, I'm the first person to knit Tetris. I got the idea one day when looking through a knitting book and one of the patterns reminded me of Tetris blocks. I'm making up my own pattern instead of using that one (it was a one-color piece of fabric with some raised stitches, not like mine at all).

Each small square is knitted using a stitch I call the "knotty stitch"; I've never heard a real name for it. I posted a tutorial on Craftster.org if you're interested, go here to see it.

I then crocheted (my first crochet experience, woot!) a single-crochet border around each square, and joined the squares into Tetris blocks with slip stitches.

Here's two of the finished blocks:

Here's the first 3 slip-stitched together:

(my feet shown for scale, hehe)

It's not blocked at all, hence the general wigglyness.

More pictures to come as I work!