Saturday, April 26, 2008
StitchDown-LetDown
I was so pumped for the stitchdown today. I had all these plans for taking in my sweater and letting everyone just touch it and congratulate me. Now, I am stranded at Ritter's on a windy and miserable day. I thought for sure that I had to work yesterday, but no. I have to work 4 to close today and now all my plans are ruined. I am beyond pissed.
In good news, my sweater is coming along simply swimmingly and the more I finish, the more I just love it. Each stitch is painstakingly counted and passed oh-so-carefully from the left to the right. I have three rows left until I begin the shaping on the neck and shoulders. Then, I have to make the sleeves and sew it all together. It looked small when I began the back, but now I can see that it will be big enough to get over my weird ass hips. It's slightly longer than I thought it was supposed to be, but that just thrills me more. The picture makes it look like it ends right at the waistband. I see now that it will be a little longer than that, which I am happy for. I hate short shirts. I like knowing that I can pull it down when I'm sitting so that you can't see my underwear like the stupid slutty girls at school.
I thought it was strange that the pattern uses short row shaping over the chest. My sweater has boobs now. It's just weird. I've never seen a sweater with boobs before. I do like the idea, however. It's like the sweater gives the same support a bra would give, only it's built right in. Like, a little shelf for them to sit on. Kinda cool if you ask me.
In good news, my sweater is coming along simply swimmingly and the more I finish, the more I just love it. Each stitch is painstakingly counted and passed oh-so-carefully from the left to the right. I have three rows left until I begin the shaping on the neck and shoulders. Then, I have to make the sleeves and sew it all together. It looked small when I began the back, but now I can see that it will be big enough to get over my weird ass hips. It's slightly longer than I thought it was supposed to be, but that just thrills me more. The picture makes it look like it ends right at the waistband. I see now that it will be a little longer than that, which I am happy for. I hate short shirts. I like knowing that I can pull it down when I'm sitting so that you can't see my underwear like the stupid slutty girls at school.
I thought it was strange that the pattern uses short row shaping over the chest. My sweater has boobs now. It's just weird. I've never seen a sweater with boobs before. I do like the idea, however. It's like the sweater gives the same support a bra would give, only it's built right in. Like, a little shelf for them to sit on. Kinda cool if you ask me.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Current Completeion...10%
I have been knitting like mad. I've clocked in at about 7 hours so far and have finished just over 4 inches. I keep thinking to myself, "Why did my last sweater take me so damn long to finish? This seems so easy!" I have come up with two answers. The first is that my first sweater (the ugly, adult elephant-sized Microspun disaster) was huge! It started with several hundred cast on stitches and ended with an equally sucky number of bind off stitches. The second reason I could think of is that it wasn't fitted, therefore had very few decreases and many, many increases. I am much happier with the look and feel of this sweater already.
Right now I'm just working on the skirt of the sweater (this one is bottom-up as opposed to the first sweater which was top-down) so I am working many rounds even at a time, so I have lots of time to think. I love this yarn very much because it is incredibly soft and warm (not bastardly hot like you would believe wool to be) and stitches up beautifully. Also, the um, "variegation" in the yarn is turning out way prettier than I could have ever hoped for. It is subtle and beautiful and I can't wait to wear this masterpiece. I think that if I could come up with a name for my new "colorway," it would have to be Obviously Subtle. It fits the yarn to a perfect match.
When someone learns to knit, my favorite advice to give them is to go to a yarn store and buy something they absolutely love. Whether they buy some ridiculously expensive silk just to tuck away and touch when they are feeling blue, or if they buy something sturdy and practical to make a scarf for themselves out of, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to work with a yarn you just love touching. I think that could have been another problem with my Microspun fiasco. The yarn is soft and slippery and shiny. I like to touch it, only my cuticles are dry and cracked in some places. My nails sometimes get a little rough at work. The yarn is great to touch, only if you have any imperfections on you hands, they will catch on the super thin fibers. It makes the yarn somewhat difficult to handle when it's December and your hands are chapped from the cold air. This yarn is wool, and although soft, is much hardier than Microspun, and I enjoy that. I couldn't have chosen a better yarn for this project, and it was such a steal! This whole sweater is only costing me $30 to make! $20 for the yarn, $4 for the dye, and $6 for the shipping! I will definitely be buying from KnitPicks again. They were great and I had an amazing delivery time. I thought I would have to wait 5-14 days, and in the end, I ended up waiting just 3!
This dying my own yarn option has opened up a world of doors to me. I want to start again immediately but I need to get rent paid before I can start ordering more yarn. I think I want to save a bit back so that I can order over $50 and get free shipping. I ordered 500g for $20, so I was thinking about looking at my other options. I could buy silk, superwash, alpaca...All sorts of different fibers and try out this Kool-Aid dye method and make lots of yarn to sell or knit or give away to people I like. I'm pretty excited.
I should be working. I was waiting for Ross to get on ICQ, but he hasn't yet. Maybe I'll just log some time for fixing my excel surveys. That sounds like a plan.
Or...
I could knit!
Right now I'm just working on the skirt of the sweater (this one is bottom-up as opposed to the first sweater which was top-down) so I am working many rounds even at a time, so I have lots of time to think. I love this yarn very much because it is incredibly soft and warm (not bastardly hot like you would believe wool to be) and stitches up beautifully. Also, the um, "variegation" in the yarn is turning out way prettier than I could have ever hoped for. It is subtle and beautiful and I can't wait to wear this masterpiece. I think that if I could come up with a name for my new "colorway," it would have to be Obviously Subtle. It fits the yarn to a perfect match.
When someone learns to knit, my favorite advice to give them is to go to a yarn store and buy something they absolutely love. Whether they buy some ridiculously expensive silk just to tuck away and touch when they are feeling blue, or if they buy something sturdy and practical to make a scarf for themselves out of, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to work with a yarn you just love touching. I think that could have been another problem with my Microspun fiasco. The yarn is soft and slippery and shiny. I like to touch it, only my cuticles are dry and cracked in some places. My nails sometimes get a little rough at work. The yarn is great to touch, only if you have any imperfections on you hands, they will catch on the super thin fibers. It makes the yarn somewhat difficult to handle when it's December and your hands are chapped from the cold air. This yarn is wool, and although soft, is much hardier than Microspun, and I enjoy that. I couldn't have chosen a better yarn for this project, and it was such a steal! This whole sweater is only costing me $30 to make! $20 for the yarn, $4 for the dye, and $6 for the shipping! I will definitely be buying from KnitPicks again. They were great and I had an amazing delivery time. I thought I would have to wait 5-14 days, and in the end, I ended up waiting just 3!
This dying my own yarn option has opened up a world of doors to me. I want to start again immediately but I need to get rent paid before I can start ordering more yarn. I think I want to save a bit back so that I can order over $50 and get free shipping. I ordered 500g for $20, so I was thinking about looking at my other options. I could buy silk, superwash, alpaca...All sorts of different fibers and try out this Kool-Aid dye method and make lots of yarn to sell or knit or give away to people I like. I'm pretty excited.
I should be working. I was waiting for Ross to get on ICQ, but he hasn't yet. Maybe I'll just log some time for fixing my excel surveys. That sounds like a plan.
Or...
I could knit!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Adventures in Sweaters
My yarn is finally here! Actually, it was here yesterday and I was so caught up in the dying process, I didn't get a chance to post. I had started, but I was running back and forth from my sink to my stove to my bathroom (where the shower is currently off limits because 500g of yarn hanging from the shower curtain bar) and then to bed to 1. wake Chris up and 2. fall asleep because I am coming down with some type of bug that is making me miserable. I am swollen, puffy, runny, sneezy, coughy, and all-around gross right now and I felt terrible last night for poor Chris who had to sleep next to me.
Back to my yarn adventures. I have all the yarn dyed, but unfortunately, I didn't do a really great job by any means, so I'm going back today and redying it to hopefully achieve a better shade of black. I started thinking that maybe 500g of yarn and a black color probably wasn't the best idea for someone who has never tried this before. But I'm totally cool. It's going to be a beautiful sweater. I just know it. I'm still trying to decide if I want to do the intarsia design yet because my squares looked ok, but the back looked terrible. I'm thinking.
My yarn is almost dry, therefore I can begin knitting soon with the one hank I did manage to dye correctly. I'm so excited. I need desperately to wind this yarn, because I don't feel like knitting a sweater with 1300 yards of yarn that are just laying randomly in a pile.
I should be working right now, but I think I'm going to start a pot of water simmering first and begin work on the first hank I dyed.
Notes for future reference:
1. Buy a larger pot to dye in
2. Buy two jars of dye instead of one, just in case you screw up again.
3. Dye either all at a time in one large enough pot, or one at a time in a smaller pot. Do not dye in separate batches. You're sweater is going to be striped and you are going to look like a retard.
4. Yarn is hot when it's been sitting a half hour in boiling water. Don't touch it until you've either poured all the water out or let it sit and cool for a few minutes.
5. Get a mask. Vinegar smells and tastes terrible when you breathe it in.
Back to my yarn adventures. I have all the yarn dyed, but unfortunately, I didn't do a really great job by any means, so I'm going back today and redying it to hopefully achieve a better shade of black. I started thinking that maybe 500g of yarn and a black color probably wasn't the best idea for someone who has never tried this before. But I'm totally cool. It's going to be a beautiful sweater. I just know it. I'm still trying to decide if I want to do the intarsia design yet because my squares looked ok, but the back looked terrible. I'm thinking.
My yarn is almost dry, therefore I can begin knitting soon with the one hank I did manage to dye correctly. I'm so excited. I need desperately to wind this yarn, because I don't feel like knitting a sweater with 1300 yards of yarn that are just laying randomly in a pile.
I should be working right now, but I think I'm going to start a pot of water simmering first and begin work on the first hank I dyed.
Notes for future reference:
1. Buy a larger pot to dye in
2. Buy two jars of dye instead of one, just in case you screw up again.
3. Dye either all at a time in one large enough pot, or one at a time in a smaller pot. Do not dye in separate batches. You're sweater is going to be striped and you are going to look like a retard.
4. Yarn is hot when it's been sitting a half hour in boiling water. Don't touch it until you've either poured all the water out or let it sit and cool for a few minutes.
5. Get a mask. Vinegar smells and tastes terrible when you breathe it in.
Monday, April 21, 2008
So Little Time Left with So Much Left to Do
I am sick. If I had tonsils, I would probably have tonsilitis. Instead, I'm just sneezy, achy, stuffy, runny and sore. It sucks. To top it all off, Chris still has his tonsils, therefore is off limits to me right now because he has the possibility of getting what I have. And the best part? It's two weeks before finals.
I'm really anxious about getting my yarn. I want so badly to start my sweater. Lucky for me, I've always been on the short end of shipping times, so my yarn will hopefully be here by the end of the week! Hooray!
I need to get off here because I'm going to get the entire school sick by touching this computer. Ew.
I'm really anxious about getting my yarn. I want so badly to start my sweater. Lucky for me, I've always been on the short end of shipping times, so my yarn will hopefully be here by the end of the week! Hooray!
I need to get off here because I'm going to get the entire school sick by touching this computer. Ew.
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