A knitting blog by a girl who breaks things for a living.

PS- We now own GUITAR HERO. NEENER!

Sooo... for a couple reasons, we never made it out to Snoqualmie today (possible coolant trouble plus thunderstorm). So, instead, we went to Fry's (logical choice!) and I got a new desk. Man, this thing is sweet AND functional! I think this is the first desk where I can manage to type AND sew and it doesn't feel squished or crappy.








ANNND! Through a lot of fist shaking, fits, and talking, Jer and I have come to an agreement about how the office should be organized. In the end, it is going to be AWESOME. More pics to come :)

Now that Picovoli is done, I now turn my attention towards making the Knitty Ribbon X-Back. It should be a fast knit, since it uses US11 needles. Just started yesterday...



Yep, going to do this with LionBrand yarn. This is partly because the recommended yarn has been discontinued, but also because Fred Meyer had a "buy 2, get one free" sale on this.


One inch done, wooHoo!

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In other news, the first of the poppies in my container garden bloomed today. I thought that they were going to be white, but I was pleasantly surprised (I prefer red anyhow). :)





Happy Sunday! Jer and I are going to Snoqualmie Falls after a late breakfast. Hope your day is going fabulously too :)

A week ago, roughly, I got some RYC Cashsoft DK from the LYS, and got down with a great summer pattern called Picovoli. As of last night, I cast off and blocked this, and wore it with pride today.



The color used is called Poison. I think it's the prettiest color purple I've ever seen.


Just starting in this pic. The YO rows shown form the picot edges, which are worked on once the main garment is knitted.


This shows off the top yoke as the raglan sleeves are formed. I really love, overall, how stitch definition with this yarn looks. I think I will definitely invest in this yarn again in the future.


Almost done!


This picture better shows what's going on in making the picot edging. Basically, theres a row near the ends of the neckline, arms, and hem which is made up of (YO, K2Tog). To make the picots, this is then folded over and sewn. The pic was shot when I was working on the sewing part, which was quite easy to do, but very time consuming.


Dada! Done!


Wore it all day today, and am quite happy with the result. I think though, when I make this next time, that I will nix the picot edging, lessen the cast on stitches for the underarms (it's a little loose), and work about 2 more inches in length before the increase rows in the torso area.

Overall, I love the idea of top-down shirts. You are able to more easily customize it as you go, and are less prone to having big problems realized (and frogged) after knitting for hours. Through top-down work, if there are any issues with gauge, etc. you notice them almost immediately.

The maker of this pattern, Grumperina, has mentioned that she will probably never get around to making a pattern that includes long sleeves. I think I just might want to tackle this (for my size at least) before autumn is in full swing. If I do this, I'll be sure to keep y'all posted.

Over the weekend, I started making Knitty's Flora with the Noro. Overall, I like the transitions in the yarn, but, when I got to the point of making the flower, it was apparent that the colorway was working against me. I'll post more pics of this later in the day. For now, enjoy a pic of the awesome yummy texture of this WIP!

Eva, Craig, and I went to Knitting Gallery here in Seattle (a LYS), and I got, well, a lot of stuff: some cashmerino for Picovoli, some Koigu to make socks, some Noro Transitions (project undecided, but it sure is purty), and a Sears Boye needle set (used, $30). I have been googling the set (sorry about the organization of the kit in the picture - the stuff doesn't like to stay in the plastic, which is probably part of the reason why it's $30) and have found that a similar Boye set goes for around $90!!! I am very pleased with the purchase, and already have something on the needles.

Hooray! When the blocking dries, I'm going to be finished with my second Soleil. Here's a pic of it before blocking and crocheted edges:



And here's a pic of it, pinned five minutes ago:



Can't wait till it's completely dry!

I recently got an item in the mail which includes all the trimmings for the pink felted bag that I've been working on:




.

Now that the bag is done, I am now going to sew together an assortment of sample white silks together, and paint the silks with a pink fabric pen (all for the lining of the bag). The drawings are going to be of skulls, so I've d=been doodling a couple concept ideas. I think I am going to go with #2, but I thought that I would post for your input on this too! So, which one do you like the best? :)

Hey all - just thought I would post pics of my progress on the second Soleil that I'm making.


(click to see huge size)


(click to see huge size)

I am using Lion Cotton for this. What a nice yarn! I have worked with other cottons before and didn't like them at all because they didn't have much give. Working with this is *almost* like working with merino. Almost. And $4 a skein (spent $12 total on this project) makes my pocketbook happy too. Can't wait till it's done!

The first one is done - now for the second one. :)


Ready for the 3-needle bindoff!


Sideways shot


Top-down!

I am in the process of changing the layout of the blog. While most things work, note that some larger images will break the formatting - I'm in the slow process of sizing everything down right now.

In the meantime, pardon the mess :)

I am currently making a pair of ankle socks out of the yarn I dyed (pic in last post). I am so excited about these, and I love seeing the patterning develop. The colorway turned out better than I thought.

The pattern that I'm using (http://alison.knitsmiths.us/pattern_alisons_ankle_socks.html)
is super easy, and features using short rows for the toe and the heel. This is the first time that I've turned a heel / made a gusset using short rows rather than the decreases/picking up stitches, and I have to say that I'm liking short rows considerably better.

I decided last night to take some fingering weight yarn that's been in my stash for over a year and do something constructive with it - dye it! (Hey, it definitely beats the plain ol' white it was before.) I used food coloring for the first time, and am really happy with the results.


I think I'm either going to call it Red Dawn, Sailor's Warning, or just plain ol' Sunset. I don't think there's enough here for full-sized socks, but ankle socks might work.


wound into a nice lil' center pulled ball

And now for the WIPs!


Soleil #2! Made with Lion Cotton, which I've never tried before since I thought I disliked working with cotton. This yarn sure changed my mind about that, and best of all. it's super cheap!


The start of a sock. I plan on making these knee highs.