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Monday, September 25, 2006

finally getting somewhere

I woke up with a start at 8am on Saturday, after four measly hours' sleep, and said to myself, "Self, I'm gonna write the animal cracker pattern this weekend." I rolled back over, snoozed for a half-hour, then went on a six-shop yarn crawl (similar to a pub crawl in just about every way -- and certainly just as expensive -- but the sense of temporary euphoria doesn't destroy brain cells). To wit:

And then, I wrote a pattern. Just like that.

Of course, my real goal was not just to write the pattern, but also to test-knit the sizes (there's four, 'member?), do my photo shoot, and be writing my unveiling post right now. I was actually on track, too, and then a deadliney project popped back up (no, I can't say what it is; yes, you'll certainly find out eventually; and of course I'm evil, that's not news), so I switched over to that.

Oh, and I also shot more yarn porn! At this juncture, I'm fairly certain that yarn falls into the same category as baby animals, sunsets, and British rockstars: It just doesn't photograph badly.


animal cracker makings...


...and the resulting hat! this is actually the one I knit last summer, but the final pattern is the same. see how the Shannon yarn makes the top all variegated and jawesome?


yesterday's Koigu. the gold's not nearly so bright in person, and looked even less bright in the store. not complainin' -- I like bright!


Frog Tree alpaca in the foreground, DB Alpaca Silk in the background. I hadn't planned it, but what an alpaca-y picture.


this isn't new, but it is sexy. Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4ply, which had been earmarked for cabled socks for Jon. I don't think his new girlfriend would take too kindly to an ex knitting for him, so I have no idea what it'll be now.


Kaalund Classic Two, laceweight wool. would you be shocked to hear that I bought it in late winter? :) I think it might become the IK Icarus shawl, if it's not too busy to hide the border.


Vee! I'm a bit further now, and I'm getting a bit terrified of running out of yarn, even though the math says I should be fine.


see how smushy and wrinkly it is right off the needles...


...and how smooth and drapey it is after it's blocked? that's silk for you, I guess. we loves it!


haven't posted about this before, I don't think. this is most of my hipster hat, 2 skeins of Classic Elite Intrigue -- metallic cashmere! the yarn was a congrats-on-permanent-employment present to myself in March.


you can't actually tell, but it's a couple inches short of being done. I was mid-decrease, too, so it'll be a bitch to get back into. I love the way the waffliness shows off the metallic thread. actually I love it in general, I'll be picking my winter coat around it.


a heavily tweaked one skein wonder -- half-length sleeves, allover butterfly lace, and an attempt at a short-rowed shawl collar. I got bored before the collar was actually big enough to fold over, but I still like the fit. (a couple skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, which had been bouncing around my stash for ages.)

and finally...


new shoes! I was actually looking for shoes suited to knitted socks, and wound up with so-ugly-they're-cute hipster shoes. (they'll still make a nice foil for anklewarmers, so I didn't absolutely fail my mission, riiiight?) my love knows no bounds.

okay, that's it. :)

(Aaaand commenting should be working here, now, so no need to link LJ! You'll need to be register for a Typekey account, if you don't already have one -- sorry for the fuss, but this is the only way I can find to stop myself from getting comment-spammed to death again.)

Lauren posted at 0.11 on 09.25.06 comments (5)

Sunday, September 17, 2006

why, hello there.

The LJ feed tells me it's been 42 weeks since I updated this thing.

Um, oops?

I haven't got a really good excuse for that. Closest I have is work; I went permanent (I was temp-to-perm, remember?) in March, and just as I'd expected, as soon as I stopped having to fill out a timesheet, I started working crazy hours. 50 hour weeks have become the norm for me, and I've gone as high as 70. It's downright silly. But I still really like what I'm doing, and I'm working on a couple interesting long-term projects, and they trust me enough to send me on trips to other offices (my department supports 7 of them -- so far I've been to Bethesda, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley (Cupertino, if we're being precise)), so really I can't complain.

I've done some typically crazy things on my off time. In April, I took a week off and followed Franz Ferdinand on tour around the northeast, which was time-of-my-life amazing. (I took piles of pictures; they're here, and they'll also be in the Franz fan club magazine, which will be my first photo credit!) I also took shorter trips to Boston and Philly to see the Futureheads, and I took a day off to see San Francisco when I was there for work. I went to New Orleans on Memorial Day weekend for a site visit with the ladies of Phoenix Rising.

Umm... what else. I got my wisdom teeth out last month, which wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected. (I'd set aside the recuperation time for finally putting the fringe on my Charlotte, and I forced myself to do it anyway even though I was well enough to go out.) I'm probably moving again in the not-too-distant future, hopefully within a stone's throw of where I am now, hopefully with the lovely Marilyn. I'm still (nearly) as single as can be. And concerts, I've got concerts.

And I've got much too little knitting to show for the past ten months. For weeks at a time, my only knitting opportunity was during my commute. I worked exclusively on my Peacock Feather shawl (I scrapped the blue alpaca, went for hot pink Zephyr instead :)) from June 'til September, working a half-row by rote every morning. I made a pair of springy, crocus-colored Badcaul socks, which now reside with my mother. I finished a red bulky "green" cabled cardigan just after the transit strike in December. My Kiri is finally blocking (and it's a good thing I stopped when I did, because it's exactly the size of my full-size bed). My new favoritest project is the Vee pullover I'm making in gorgeous green tussah silk -- Artfibers Golden Chai that I got as my San Fran souvenir. ;) I've got an eye for the short-sleeved Honorine from the new Magknits, too.

I'm finally excited about knitting again. It's a great feeling.

(One other note -- comments are essentially turned off right now. I'm gonna use an authentication service to prevent myself from getting spammed with thousands of junk comments like before, but it's not working yet. If anybody's got any tips on getting Typekey working, please shoot me an email!)

Lauren posted at 19.39 on 09.17.06 comments (0)

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

making the best of what you have

It's been a while again, hasn't it? Last week was crazy for me, between having a social life and knitting frantically and trying not to stress out over those bits of real life that happen between stitches.

For starters: my financial aid fell through/never happened for the fall semester, so I'm now 11 credits short of finally earning my degree, with no foreseeable way of paying for those credits (~$11,000) out of pocket. Since I'm not in class this semester, I lost my job, so now I'm trying to resolve that as well. (Psst -- if anyone in the New York area needs a receptionist/admin assistant/photographer/IT geek, or knows someone who does, my resume's here. Yarn awaits anyone who gets me a job. ;)) My last day was on Friday, and all the explanations and goodbyes had me choked up all day.

On the topic of Katrina, I don't know what to say that hasn't already been said. My heart goes out to anyone who's been affected. I'm planning to destash by knitting for kids being taken in by a friend of a friend of my mom's in Jersey -- I've never really had the opportunity to knit for kids before, so I'm looking forward to it -- and I ordered another four balls of Andean Silk to do a Hermione hat/mittens set to auction either through MissionFish or Katrina's Keepers, in the same vein as the R2D2 hat that's currently at $360. I haven't got much to donate besides time and blood, both of which I intend to do, and knitting for a cause is such a warm, fuzzy feeling.

I, um, might've deviated from my yarn diet to order 4 skeins of Alpaca Cloud in Stream while I was making a Knitpicks order. I feel no remorse, or at least not much, because I'm itching to do a proper lace project, and I've been really good with finishing things this week. I've averaged 1 finished project every night for the past week, as follows:

Tuesday - Jon's mistake rib socks, since I thought I'd see him that night
Wednesday - String's Ab Fab poncho, which was an absolute delight aside from the degree to which it ate my brain
Thursday - the left TWH Hermione mitten on my morning commute, and the film Ravenclaw PoA scarf I cast on at the book release at night
Friday - worked on Soleil all day and would've finished had I brought an extra ball
Saturday - Soleil (it's just about done blocking now), and weaved all the Ab Fab ends (which is a project unto itself)

So, I think I deserve a bit of a treat, don't I? Aside from the fact that I'm about to dive into piles of cashmere (for String) and alpaca (for my roommate's mom) for my next several projects -- the blue laceweight can just sit and be petted for a while. Not that it'll actually happen, but let's pretend that it will.

eta: Might I just say? Sesame from the new MagKnits would make the perfect house sweater. Substitute your favorite house-colored DK yarn with the darker shade for A and the lighter for B, and it'd be all sorts of cool. I guess it's a blessing in disguise that I'd need a 44" to have decent wearing ease. ;)

Lauren posted at 1.53 on 09.06.05 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)

Thursday, July 28, 2005

but hey, at least dumbledore likes knitting!

Hey, so I hear some book came out a few weeks ago? With, like, magic and snogging in it?

I can't say I was blown away by Half-Blood Prince. (I'll keep this spoiler-free, since there's no way to hide spoilers in an RSS feed.) I can say, though, that I read it so quickly (roughly 14 hours start to finish) and when I was so tired (I'd been up 21 hours when I started reading, do that math for yourself), that I don't really trust my first reaction to it. I got bored toward the middle; I was strangely underwhelmed by the ending. But we're well set up for book 7, and I can't wait.

But who cares about the book when there are costumes to talk about! I'm afraid that I dropped the ball (as always) on getting nice dignified costume pictures, but fortunately my friends and I wound up in the freaking NY Times (zoomed version here), so you can see our costumes decently there. I took some bad pictures of my Quidsocks, and in this one you can see my Quidditch sweater pretty well. I wound up not wearing my sweater sleeves at all - it was stiflingly humid, as July in NYC is apt to be, and I was sweating enough in just the sweater-vest. In case anyone's interested in more pictures from Union Square, all my pictures from the day are hosted here. Most of them are vaguely embarassing, but such is life.

As soon I'd recovered from HBP, I was knee-deep in preparations for moving to my new apartment in Brooklyn, which I did last Wednesday and Thursday. I'm fairly settled in, though not completely unpacked, and I still don't have internet access at home. Nor have I been at work, because on Saturday, in a show of spectacular klutziness, I slipped on wet tile and pulled a muscle in my back. So, instead of being productive, I've spent the last four days holed up in my room, propped up in a loveseat with little mobility from my waist, reading (I finished Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume and am most of the way through The Hobbit; I can only deal with Tolkien when it's my only course of amusement). I only just picked up my knitting yesterday, to turn the heel of the second candy sock (I finished the first one while waiting for HBP and am wearing it here). I'm still waddling around with a grimace on my face, but between my PT (yes, I need physical therapy 'cause I fell three feet; how lame am I?) and the excellent care provided by my mom, I'm at least back in the office today, and much less grouchy to boot.

The one bit of good news I can report is that in the few days that I was internetless and uninjured, I finally got the Quidditch sock pictures off my camera (which, you might recall, broke in a most untimely fashion). They're now color-balanced and set into the pattern, which will officially be finished once I confirm my gauge. Once I have internet at home, I'll fiiiiinally be able to get the pattern online. About freaking time. :p

It's also cooling down a bit in the city, so I'm hoping that this weekend I can pop in my PoA DVD and take a couple last notes to get started in earnest on the animal cracker hat. I think I can deal with bulky-weight wool when the high is 76°, at least.

Lauren posted at 13.02 on 07.28.05 comments (0)

Thursday, June 23, 2005

a little good, a little bad

Okay, so. For once, I actually made good on my promise of FO pictures and dutifully brought the Quidditch sock and camera with me when I went to Long Island last week for the Pixies/Interpol show at Jones Beach. (The concert was amazing, for anyone who's interested.) Took plenty of pictures in Adrienne's yard, got back into the city... and my camera LCD had uncermoniously ceased to function. So, as it stands, I have an unfinalized mini-CD of socks pictures just waiting to be processed and inserted into an otherwise finished pattern, and now that I've upgraded my computer to XP it can't read unfinalized discs.

In short? Until I get the LCD fixed, I'm SOL. And given that I'm moving in the not-so-distant future, I have no clue when I'll have more disposable cash to throw at this camera. I love it to pieces, but it sure can be a pain in the arse.

In the meantime, I'm about a third of the way up the leg of the second sock. Thank you, too-hot-for-scarfknitting weather! I've been toting the sock with me everywhere I go, knitting on the bus, on the train, while walking, while my boss is gone. (Naturally the moment I typed that, my boss walks in. La dee da...) I'm very proud of myself, for a multitude of reasons:

1) I've mastered the fine art of working 4x2 ribbing without looking. Maybe this is easy for you, but until recently I had to glance down occasionally while purling. This is a huge step forward in my quest to knit 24-7.

2) I've never successfully met a costume deadline before, and it really seems like I might this time. (Actually, that's a bit of a lie. I finished my SS/CoS Ravenclaw sweater in time for the OotP release, except that I meant to go back and fix a *cough* slight dyelot problem across the yoke, so I didn't consider the sweater completed at the time. Needless to say, it's been two years and I haven't touched the sweater except to wear it.)

3) Quidditch socks are really damn cool, and I'm psyched beyond words to finally have a pair. I 100% intend to wear them during the HP off-season, especially in the winter. I live for kneesocks in the winter.

I washed the first of those many scarves this week. Naturally it was the only machine washable one, but I think I made up for the lack of effort there by spending three hours duplicate-stitching a rampant lion at one end. I refused to realize it at the time, but the lion looks much more like a rampaging monkey. The scarf is for my coworker's sister and he's going home this weekend. Oops.

I have to clean the bathroom sink before I can wash any more scarves. I predict that this (simple, you would assume) task will hold me up for at least a week. I'm not lazy, I'm busy. Honest.

I was at P&S yesterday buying more scarf yarn and made the fatal mistake of wandering through the fancy fabric section. What did I find, you ask? The perfect white silk for Padmé's lavender dress from Episode 3. Sonofabitch. It was exactly the right weight and texture on both sides (since both sides show), just gorgeous stuff. I died right there in the store. It wouldn't come cheap, though - it was $15/yd and I can't imagine I'd need less than 10 yards since all the pieces are on the bias. Plus the thought of dyeing $150 worth of fabric myself is scary enough to give me palpitations just thinking about it. I'm such a spazz.

Lauren posted at 11.52 on 06.23.05 comments (0)

Sunday, June 12, 2005

while staying in and knitting

I have the absolute worst knitting ADD right now. I'm trying to be responsible and finish the sleeves for my Ravenclaw Quidditch sweater. I didn't have a chance to finish the sleeves for last Halloween, so I added armbands at the armholes to make a vest, and wore what I'd done of the sleeves - just shy of my elbows - separately. It was actually quite comfortable, since a full ribbed sweater in Encore Worsted is way too much for almost any season in New York, so I'm gonna leave the sleeves separate like that. I want to finish the sleeves for the HBP book release, though - knit them up past the elbow, then switch to 1x1 rib with some elastic for a while so they stay up. Should be snazzy.

Anyway, my ADD. I'm trying to work on the sleeves, and it's just not happening. I feel like knitting something complicated and summery, or at least something in a nice yarn - definitely not 3x1 ribbing in a wool blend. ugh! There's a skein of gorgeous green and pink handpainted DK cotton (and a matching solid cotton of the same gauge) calling my name from the closet, and it is killlllling me. I keep telling myself that a mini-Clapotis would be 1) ill-fated in cotton, and 2) not much more exciting than the ribbing. Or I have a half-dozen socks' worth of Koigu, or or or...

Figures that I lost temporarily misplaced my notes for the animal cracker hat. Then at least I could feel responsible in starting another project.

Lauren posted at 0.55 on 06.12.05 comments (0)

Friday, June 03, 2005

unlimited... knitting!

Busy? No, I haven't been busy at all. Why would I be busy? It's not as though I lived on the sidewalk outside the Ziegfeld Theatre for nineteen days, or spent entirely too much money seeing Revenge of the Sith (which, for the record, I adore), or have since been engrossed in a myriad of real-life issues. No, not in the slightest.

The good thing about the Star Wars line, at least, is that it means lots of knitting time. I finished Cleaves by the third day, five days after I cast on, and I love it. I need to rip out the bind-off and extend the collar a few inches - I bound off early because I was cold and wanted to wear it - but the color is great, the sleeves are nice and long, and it's so cool. The weather hasn't quite been right for it, either too warm or too cold, but I'm looking forward to bringing it to summer concerts to combat venue air conditioning.

Scarves... since I last posted, I've knitted, uh, five or six, I think? I've lost count. Of course, I haven't washed or fringed any of them, so there's a rather intimidating stripey pile on the sofa. Most of them are wool, too, which means handwashing. ughers! I really need to update my scarf pages so people stop emailing me. From here on out, I'm only scarfing for people I know, when I feel like scarfing, and using yarn (namely, Patons Classic Wool - cheapish and the colors are decent) that I can get locally. I'm done with the overachieving.

I also made quite a bit of progress on my Quidditch socks - finally! The first sock is up past the first of two stripes (which I started too early, but whatever) around my calf, so it shouldn't be too much longer now. Once it's finished, I'll do a photo shoot with my sock and Adrienne's and maybe, finally, get the pattern up. Who knows, maybe I'll even show some initiative and finish the second sock for the book release, since a whole new costume is out of the question.

Okay, maybe not.

Cute pictures (1, 2) of Amit and me modeling my Hurry Up Spring wristwarmers during the line. I don't think I ever took proper FO shots of them, so there ya go. I had to re-knit the thumb on the right warmer because it's worn through already (I guess this is a SW line tradition, because in '02 the thumb castoff on my right fingerless glove came undone), and the thumb crotch on both warmers looks to be the next to go. Suck.

Lauren posted at 9.03 on 06.03.05 comments (0)