I'm a bachelor!

It's not quite as cool as saying you're a master, but I'll take it. What with the studying, commuting (oh! the commuting), and the general mayhem that ensues whenever I take classes, I haven't had much time to knit, much less blog, but now, what with the being unemployed and all, I'll finally have time for this thing again. So, without further adieu, a finished object!


These are the socks I made for Mother's Day, out of Schaefer Anne. Now, everyone I've talked to, or whose blog I've read, or whose review I've seen, has raved about this yarn, and it is beautiful. That I can't deny. It's colorful without being loud, the variation knit up is gorgeous, and the yarn itself is smooth and soft, belying the nylon content even in the skein. But it wasn't the greatest yarn since sliced bread. It is, in fact, only yarn. Oh, the dissappointment of reality. I think the mohair isn't really my thing. For socks, it makes them a little less springy and stretchy and led to a protacted, at times rather snitty, fight with a just-barely-too-tight cast-on that I had to re-do. That being said, my mom loved them and put them on top of the pile of socks I've knit her that sits on her dresser. For more photos and details, go here.

The only other things I knit while in school were the navy blue towels, perfectly mindless for my preoccupied brain, but not all that exciting to photograph, or blog. Soon, unemployment knitting!

Thermal Sweater Report

It's done! And I love it!

Well, truth is, it's not *quite* done--no buttons for the placket yet, but I've already worn it a couple times, and hopefully once the June gloom hits I'll get a few more chances before all wool is banished for summer. I love the look of the celtic buttons at The Button Drawer, but I worry that the metal edges will be sharp and cut the yarn, or the buttons will be too heavy and pull the knitting out of shape, and no one likes returning something they bought on the web, if only because of the waiting in line at the post office.

But honestly, I don't know if it even needs the buttons--no one else has noticed they're missing. The sweater is so beautiful and soft and fits so well. The waffle stitch doesn't cling but drapes nicely where there's ease, and doesn't strain at all where it stretches. It's definitely a stitch pattern that works well for garments, and I'm still considering making the sweater again in teal, maybe, when I need a mindless knit.

I have nothing but good things to say about the pattern. It's detailed without being wordy, and the number of sizes is astounding. I didn't find any mistakes, either. Also, this is the best-fitting sleeve and sleeve cap I've had the privilege to make, and not just because the waffle stitch is so stretchy. The cap itself is shallow so it doesn't do that wing thing when you lift your arm, but it's wide enough that you can easily move around. I'm totally stealing the measurements next time I have to adjust the sizing of a sweater. :)

Here are the details:

Pattern: Thermal from Knitty by Laura
Yarn: 7.25 skeins Knitpicks Gloss in Cocoa
Needles: 3 mm Addi Turbos
Size: A, but with mods
More pictures here
Modifications: I knit the straight portion of the body about 2" longer than specified. I'm pretty short (5'2") and I don't have that long a body, but I usually find myself adding length because I like my sweaters to sit on my hips, if only to keep my belly from getting cold. If I had stuck to the pattern, I easily could've used only 6.5 or 7 skeins, as it says. Also, I used a Channel Islands cast-on and loved it. It's a bit tricky to do and seems a little fidly knitting the first row, but it creates this lovely subtle picot edge with the twisted rib. In the name of spreading the Channel Islands gospel I've taken some pictures for a tutorial, and now I just have to type it out.

And that's that. Hopefully I'll be able to post a little more regularly, especially with the massive amount of knitting I did this weekend. I also need to catch up on other blogs and commenting, and sometimes that's more fun. Come June 15th or so, I'll be done with school, and then I'll have more time. I can't wait.

Lost: Time

School started at the beginning of April--can you tell? I got a bit behind that first week, but I'm just about caught up now. My first round of midterms and papers went well, and I took the weekend off from studying to knit and play and relax, for the first time in a month, really. Knitting content coming soon to a blog near you!

A Sneak Peek

Now I just need some good light, a photographer, and a few pesky buttons. I'm so happy it's almost, almost done.
Those sleeve seams took forever in fingering weight yarn. Thank goodness the body was knit in the round.

Thermal Trial #1: Passed

I finished the body! Actually, I finished it a couple weeks ago, but I'm still happy about it, so, yay! Not that I look particularly excited, but I swear I am. That's 3 skeins of sock yarn there, and part of it I ripped and re-knitted when I decided to make the body longer. I wonder if the number of stitches in the body alone would have made a whole sweater out of worsted-weight yarn. With matching pants. Not that I would ever wear them (together).

I like working on smaller needles, even if it takes twice as long to knit something. It's easier for my fingers to tension the yarn, and you get into a good rhythm. The finished product is less-bulky, too, which is a plus in Southern California. It means I can wear my sweater in the daytime, too.

So, onto the sleeves, and then seaming. Oh, and an aside: I found the perfect cast-on for 1x1 twisted rib. I know many people use the tubular cast-on, but I've found that looks a little sloppy with a twisted rib since the top edge pulls the halves of the knit stitches apart when stretched, but the rest of the knit stitches tighten when stretched because they're twisted. I hope that makes sense. So the solution is (drumroll, please) the Channel Islands cast-on from Montse Stanley's A Knitter's Handbook. There's only one drawing of it in the book, and almost no info on the web (believe me, I looked) so I was thinking about writing up a tutorial. Hopefully I can find my socks so you can compare the difference between the two cast-ons.

Hello world!

It all started a year ago. While watching Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-rabbit, I was overcome with a sudden desire to knit. It must have been Gromit's needles clicking away while he and Wallace were waiting for the were-rabbit to appear. If even a dog with no opposable thumbs can knit, I thought, so can I! So I asked my mom if I could "borrow" some knitting equipment and she showed me the knit stitch, and off I went. Here is my very first swatch:



Charmingly misshapen, or so I like to think.

So, a year after learning, I figured it was time to take the next step and start a blog. I hope it can be as useful to others as everyone else's blogs have been to me.

from Thoughts on a Person from Porlock, by Stevie Smith

I long for the Person from Porlock
To bring my thoughts to an end,
I am becoming impatient to see him
I think of him as a friend,

Often I look out of the window
Often I run to the gate
I think, He will come this evening,
I think it is rather late.

I am hungry to be interrupted
Forever and ever amen
O Person from Porlock come quickly
And bring my thoughts to an end.