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)

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)

Monday, August 08, 2005

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)

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

T minus 3.41 days

You'd think that after spending the weekend knitting and listening to the OotP audiobook, I'd have more to show for it. And yet!

I made a film Ravenclaw bookscarf, a clever little bookmark that looks like a PoA scarf. I untwisted the plies in my leftover Naturespun Worsted (colors: blue knight and silver sage) and knit with one ply on US1 dpns. It's the cutest thing ever - I duplicate-stitched my initials at one end and everything. Sooooo woobie. I'm a bit worried it'll be too thick to work well as a bookmark, but it's fine for this weekend - not like I'll be pausing my reading if I can help it!

I (mostly) swatched the twinhat colorwork using some spare Rowanspun DK on US4s, which actually achieved the fabric I want quite well. At first I was annoyed because I realized the colorwork works best as duplicate stitch, which makes for boring tube knitting with a couple color changes thrown in (sound familiar?). It turned out really nice, though. After HBP is out and I've recovered, I'll start looking for a sportweight yarn that's a good color match.

I did my stockinette swatch for Momma's Soleil, and I'm definitely gonna have to refigure the pattern a bit for worsted gauge instead of DK. It happens. :p

Last night I threaded black elastic in the ribbing of my Quidsleeves. Works like a charm, and I can barely see the elastic from the right side. There's Quidditch padding and a beater bat waiting for me on Long Island, and Payless has sneakers (eta: I'm back from Payless and I got a pair that's similar - not quite so close, they've got olive green on them too, but I can't complain about $18) that'll work for now. I daresay there will be many pictures taken on Friday, so I'll finally post some after that.

I may not get a chance to post again before Friday night, so if I don't, I hope everyone enjoys their release-night plans and manages not to get too traumatized in the aftermath of HBP. I've, um, heard some stuff ;) and it sounds as though it'll be worth the wait and the excitement and the anticipation. And if anybody's gonna be at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York, keep an eye out for a flock of Quidditch players! I'm the Ravenclaw, natch. :)

Lauren posted at 14.16 on 07.12.05 comments (0)

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

lauren: 1. quidsocks: 0.

I'm up at my mom's house outside of Syracuse, have been since Sunday. Before that, I was in Philadelphia with my mom and the aptly named Philly Dave of the SW Line for Live 8, which I won't bother soapboxing about because you've all heard it by now. Besides playing host to the Kaiser Chiefs, an excellent million-person concert, and also to the first live performance by Linkin Park and Jay-Z (normally I wouldn't care, but it's a first, and brilliant marketing to boot), Philly saw another momentous occasion last Saturday:

I.
Finished.
My.
Quidditch Socks.
!!!!!!!!!

I knitted all through the concert (much to the amusement of the many people who could not identify the sock hanging from my needles despite its obvious sock-like shape), a good five inches or so, and finished it off at Dave's house that night. I am pleased beyond words to have finally conquered these f*$%ing socks after 14 months of blood, sweat, and tears. I haven't yet worn both socks together because I think I might just die from the joy of it. What a freaking relief!

I also finished my first Quidsweater sleeve and am about halfway done with what was left on the second one. I'm not even sure I'll get to wear these on the 15th - not if Barnes & Noble make us line up outside, god forbid - so they're not so crucial. Still, it would be awesome to have a fully finished costume. whooooo, go me!

Gotten quite a bit of knitting done on non-blue things, too, owing to the fact that I got a particuarly stubborn sunburn at Live 8 and haven't done much besides wear as little clothing as possible and knit. Byron's PoA Gryff scarf is 3 stripe sets from being done, and I washed two scarves (though they've been refusing to dry on the carpeted floor, the bastards). I panicked at my lack of sock yarn on Monday and, since it was a national holiday and the LYS (a lovely little place called Elegant Needles, definitely stop by if you're ever in the Fingerlakes region) was closed, wound up with a skein of candy-colored LB Magic Stripes from Hancock Fabrics. It's certainly not what I'm used to </snob>, but I was in withdrawal and it's tiding me over nicely 'til I'm back in the city communing with my already-wound balls of Koigu.

Also got some cornflower blue Cotton-Ease at 25% off to make a tank top, probably a slightly modified Soleil, for the maternal unit. So much for not knitting in blue yarn.

And, to top things off, I've officially gone down another pants size. Go me indeed!

Lauren posted at 2.59 on 07.06.05 comments (0)