Tuesday, August 23, 2005

braaaaaaaains

Dear self,

In the future, please note that Ab Fab is nearly as addictive as animal cracker. Possibly moreso, since there's one of each in progress, and it's not a hat that has you up 20 hours straight.

Go to bed, for chrissakes. Mohair before bed never leads to a happy place.

Braaaaains,
me.

Lauren posted at 1.15 on 08.23.05 comments (0)

Thursday, August 18, 2005

when fandoms collide

Yeah, so Franz Ferdinand fandom ate my brain for a few days there, sorry about that. It was due mostly, though not entirely, to this - the video for their new single, which used several dozen New York-area fan extras in the dance scene at the end.

You know where this is headed. Fourth row back on the right side. Look for shoulders; that's my Cleaves I'm wearing there.

If I've done little knitting this week, I think I preemptively made up for it last weekend. It was absurdly hot in the city so, rather than run my ancient A/C, I grabbed my iPod and my Knitpicks (it came on Saturday) and hid out in a coffeehouse in Park Slope. I also put in a few hours at Knit New York, where I chatted with a couple older Indian ladies, one of whom was teaching the other to knit. I got most of the TWH Hatmione done, and quite a few rows of Jon's socks when I needed a change from cabling.

And can I just say? Cranberry Andean Silk is perfect for the Hermione set. It knit to gauge on the first try (on 7s, per the pattern). I haven't checked it against the DVD just yet but I think the color is spot-on, and the yarn itself... oh my god. It's so posh and lovely. Y'know how I'd been worried about the cables showing? Well the alpaca fuzz does obscure them a bit, but the silk adds enough shine that the contours are still quite visible. It's really subtle, and I loves it. My only beef is that the dye isn't sticking in the yarn - it'll stain fingers and (more seriously, I think) porous needles. Bamboo's been fine, but my birch cable needle is pinkish now. So, prewashing is probably not a bad idea.

I finished the hat as I was walking from the subway to work this morning (can now add gathering stitches to the list of knitting things I can do while walking), and it's so gorgeous. Probably gonna start the mittens this afternoon while I'm waiting for a concert (Death Cab/Decemberists/Stars in Central Park, sweeeet). I'm not sure if the three skeins I ordered will be enough, but I guess I'll find out, won't I?

Animal Cracker is coming along. I finished the full adult hat and it looked great; adult beanie is knit just past the Fair Isle. I'm torn about the earflaps - they certainly seem black, but it looks funny. I'll probably just do them in green.

I'm behind on updating the GoF reference page again. Got my wireless DSL working at home last night, finally, so it'll be easier to update from here on out.

Lauren posted at 12.43 on 08.18.05 comments (0)

Friday, August 12, 2005

this hat will eat your soul

A note to anyone who ever plans to knit an animal cracker hat:
Never work on it before bed. Ever. I know it seems, between the big gauge and the kiddie crayon-sized needles and the simple color chart, like you can just knit a couple rows and then stop.

You can't. You may never be able to stop.

No, instead you'll knit into the wee hours. You'll get a handful of hours of sleep -- and fitful sleep at that, because your mind will be craving another quick fix of super-bulky Fair Isle. You'll wake up feeling hungover and withdrawn*, and as you hurriedly get dressed and run to make your train, you'll contemplate shoving the hat in your bag even though, with 18 balls of yarn joined at once, it's possibly the least portable knitting project ever to grace the earth.

Aside from that, the hat's looking great. :D

I stopped by School Products after work yesterday, where I wanted to kiss the clerk for actually having dark green Lamb's Pride in stock. I left with a skein each of aran, sunburst gold, ruby red, Turkish olive, and onyx, all in worsted. I'd've preferred a slightly darker red, maybe raspberry or spice, but they were out of stock (Lamb's Pride, out of stock? never!) and the bright red looks just fine. I'm knitting a triple strand at the same ~2.5 sts/in that the Shannon knits at, and everything is pretty much ducky so far. A bonus of Lamb's Pride versus Cascade 220 is that the 15% mohair content helps fill in any, shall we say, handknitted charm in your Fair Isle. ;) Once again, if I had a working camera, I'd show you all the frightening 18-ball (6 colors x 3 small balls of each) mess on my sofa.

It also occurred to me last night that the reason no one can ever see the earflaps on the hat... could it be because they're black? There's no stitch detail to be seen in the black zigzag, even when you lighten it, while there's plenty in the green stripe. The shot is dynamic enough, I think, that if any light at all were reflected by the yarn as Ron moves around, we'd be able to see the earflaps themselves, not just a patch of obscured neck with a braid hanging from it. I'm gonna try it and see how it looks, but the more I think about it, the likelier it seems.

While I'm raving about the hat, I figure I might as well explain why I'm still working on the pattern now that djinnj has posted hers. The bottom line is that I want to fill in some of the gaps on the wearability of this beast. The movie-canon hat is a little beanie-like thing that must they must've pinned to Rupert's head to keep it on -- I know a hat won't stay on me unless it comes down over my ears. So I've got two color charts -- the canon one, for anyone who wants to go that route, and a slightly taller one that ought to at least partially cover the ears so that it stays on in regular winter wear.

I'm also gonna play around with using two strands of each yarn and a slightly larger number of stitches to make a child size, since this hat in particular (warm, colorful, and HP-related) is ideal for kids. The color pattern is 8 stitches wide, and the adult size is 48 stitches around, so I'm expecting the child size to be either 56 or 64 stitches at more like 3-3.5 sts/in. The beanie/full hat thing will happen here as well, since kids are crazy and will knock hats off themselves in two seconds.

So when I start talking about frogging and reknitting the hat over and over... that's why. :)

Djinnj also ordered some color cards from Knitpicks to pick HP colors. She got Wool of the Andes, Merino Style, Andean Silk, Andean Treasure, Sierra, Ambrosia, Panache, and Shine. The results are posted here.

For anyone planning a Beauxbatons uniform, there was a quick but helpful conversation on the topic here on hp_costuming. There's also a new picture in this week's Entertainment Weekly, which IMHO is most helpful because of Fleur in the background. Looks like there's a matching cornflower blue blazer with navy edging on the collar that's worn over that dress. I'm a sucker for blazers, so I love it. :)

In Soleil news, I think -- knock on wood -- that I've got a successful start after a week of trying.

First attempt: finished lace and realized it was too small. (The maternal unit and I are basically the same size, so fitting it is easy.) Frogged and increased a size.

Second attempt: that freakin' dyelot problem. Seems, naturally, to have only been the ball that I started with that doesn't match, and four skeins of Cotton-Ease is still way more than a sleeveless shell requires. Frogged and set aside mismatching yarn.

Third attempt: meant to cast on 160 sts but only cast on 150. I counted twice. I have no idea how this happened. Had finished lace and started increasing when I realized it. Frogged.

Fourth attempt: what on earth is left to go wrong?? I finished the second lace repeat on my way to work this morning. And I never thought I'd say it, but I really like knitting with cotton when it's so hot out. I'm already contemplating what I'll do with the leftovers.

Aaaand... I think that's it out of me for the time being.

*It's possible that this feeling may also be related to the 85°-plus-humidity weather that you tried to sleep in. This is the same weather in which you knitted with super-bulky yarn. This is further proof of the hat's evil addictive powers.

Lauren posted at 11.57 on 08.12.05 comments (0)

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

how responsible!

I think I'm the last knitter on the face of the Earth to give them a try, but I just placed my first-ever Knitpicks order. I'm proud of myself, too - I stuck to my yarn diet (which I think I never blogged about, but give me a second) and only got three skeins of Andean Silk in cranberry for the Hogsmeade!Hermione set for the Witching Hour auction.

Originally I was planning to use 1824 Wool or something similarly easy-care and practical, but I think poshness (alpaca/silk/merino guhhh) outranks washability in this case, and the Knitpicks was way cheaper anyway. The only thing I'm worried about is whether the cables will look right in the blend, but for $13 and change, I'm alright just giving it a try. ;)

The yarn diet - I realized while moving just how much yarn I have for a person who doesn't have a real stash. Most of it is odd single balls that I bought on impulse, rarely enough for a good-sized project. There's not a lot that I have plans for, but I'm trying to knit my way through what I can before buying much more. And, considering that I've been two four different shops in the last five days and come out of it with only a ball of Fixation, I'd say I'm doing pretty well. :D

Lauren posted at 14.28 on 08.09.05 comments (0)

Monday, August 08, 2005

best. LYS. evars!

This'll be a quickie as I need to run to the subway, but I am SO EXCITED WHEEEEEEE and I have to share before I explode, which seems disturbingly likely right now.

That superbulky forest-green-and-yellow twist yarn I was wishing for? I fucking found it! I stuck my head into The Point an hour ago -- I've never been there before and I'll definitely be headed back; they have soy silk yarn and Crystal Palace needles, what more could I ask for? -- and I discovered my 92 yards of bliss in the form of Tahki Shannon, shade 003. It's worsted weight (4 sts/in on 7s) but since it's single-ply and just a bit variegated, it looks great tripled.

I'm freaking out here. For serious. There I was, bracing myself to dye yarn in an apartment with no counter space or microwave, preparing for weeks of work and tons of money wasted before I got what I wanted, and poof, here it is! I really need to find a way to post some pictures to show you all why I'm practically dancing a jig around the NYU student center. This was never gonna happen. It couldn't possibly exist. But it does! whee!

My only dilemma - and I've knitted a sample already and decided, despite the cost of more yarn - that I'll need to switch the solids to either tripled Lamb's Pride Worsted or one strand of Bulky, to match the texture. S'alright, it'll be worth it.

omgyay!

Lauren posted at 17.27 on 08.08.05 comments (0)

you get what you friggin' pay for, as they say

Every time I start to think that Lion Brand isn't so bad, something happens that changes my mind. I used Wool-Ease for Adrienne's Gryffindor armwarmers way back in the day, and I didn't hate knitting with it - until it started pilling as soon as she put them on. I was alright working the candy stripe socks with Magic Stripe 'til I started knitting with proper sock yarn again. And Cotton-Ease? I liked the way my swatch came out, and it shows lace nicely enough, but it doesn't match within dyelots! What the fuck!

I started Soleil Friday night. First thing I did was wind a few skeins into separate balls based on where the factory knots are placed, since my joins will show and I'd like some notice (in the form of a dwindling ball) so I can get to a side seam. It wasn't too bad, but I've got a decent number of partial balls. I'm also getting 4 st and 7 rows to the inch, blocked and hung for a few days, so I did my math and figured that to get a ~42" bust with some ease, I can knit the 36-38" size and just keep an eye on my length. No problem, right?

I went out to the North Fork of Long Island this weekend and knitted in the car. Two hours and I was done with the lace, and also had to join a new ball. I knitted another inch or so, got out of the car into daylight, and realized that the new ball was ever so slightly lighter than the one I used on the lace.

arrrrgh! wtf, Lion Brand, wtf? I freaking matched my dyelots so this WOULDN'T happen!!!!

On the bright side, I finished the first of Jon's socks, and it fits me him really well. I'd picspam its variegated prettiness (er, handsomeness?) if I had a working camera. :( Ought to do something about that, huh?

Oh, and I've updated the GoF reference page with older pictures. I'm probably still missing some, so drop me an email if you know of any.

Lauren posted at 13.10 on 08.08.05 comments (0)

Thursday, August 04, 2005

various and sundry

Okay, first off, omg I want one. I'm fairly suspectible to the charm of gadgetry as it is (zoom in on 2 PDAs, sexy cellphone, iPod...), but knitting gadgets? Sign me up, baby.

Secondly - and I'd sworn to myself I wouldn't do it this time around - meet the Goblet of Fire costume reference page. I'd hoped it wouldn't be necessary, but two new, wholly different schools and twelve competition uniforms, not to mention a slew of new adults, mean there's actually so many new costumes that I can't believe no one's beaten me to the punch. As a bonus, my hosting package is now so beefy that I can spare the resources to host the full-sized high-res images that Warner Bros has been so generous with, this time around. I may be a bit slow in updating it, due to my limited internet access, but I'll do my bestest.

Thirdly, I've hit a new impasse with the animal cracker hat - I need to find a superbulky (~2.5 st/inch) forest green and yellow twist or tweed yarn for the top of the hat. Two colors of 220 held together just won't cut it, no matter how many times I try it. Yeah, I know. Good luck.

But! I've made some ridiculous headway on Jon's Koigu socks (nicknamed "Breakup Sox", haha). I've ditched the purl ridges in favor of a mistake rib, which looks really excellent in the brown/olive/burnt orange colorway I'm using. I started on, uh, Monday I think, and I'm already two inches past the heel. kasgofjsadhuio I love Koigu, especially after using Lion Brand for a few weeks.

And for anyone who doesn't knit but is itching for a Hatmione/Hermittens set nonetheless, I'll be knitting a set for the Witching Hour's auction during the Fall Festival. Be there or be, well, a bit chilly all winter. ;)

Lauren posted at 15.52 on 08.04.05 comments (0)

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

it never ends!

Oh man. A crap ton of new GoF pics, most in high-res, came out overnight (you can see them on Leaky or Mugglenet), including a picture of Cho that's so close up and big, you can count the stitches in her Ravenclaw scarf. The consensus on hp_knitting over on LJ seems to be that the PoA/GoF scarves have, all this time, been 1x1 ribbing in sport- or DK-weight yarn. Shoot me now. Seriously. Just shoot me. I'd rather die than betray my friends knit 700 rows of k1p1 ribbing.

Also of interest is this picture of Karkaroff; or rather, of the student standing to his right. The selfsame knitting nerds are theorizing that s/he is wearing, in addition to a house scarf, an all-Hogwarts scarf with narrow stripes of each house's dominant color set about 7" apart on a field of dark grey or black.

(And finally, clear, high-res pictures of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff uniforms. Took long enough!)

Anyway, I guess I know what I'll be doing tonight, and it involves a lot of Photoshopping, squinting, and counting. Oh well. :p

Lauren posted at 14.01 on 08.02.05 comments (0)