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

tree sweater
Originally uploaded by Dabbler.

This never ceases to amaze me.

I wonder if the people from http://www.knittaplease.com are responsible.

IMG_2205
Originally uploaded by brennx0r.

Fun fabrics! I think I am going to make a needle case with the two on the bottom. Not sure what to do about the Hawaiian fabric, but am open to suggestions!

IMG_2204
Originally uploaded by brennx0r.

This is still a work in progress, but I'm very happy with the progress - now I'm in the home stretch! One more arm to do, and the crocheted edging, (and blocking) and voila! Stick a fork in it.

I decided, in the end, not to go with the K2P2 rib at the bottom. Turns out that the alpaca yarn is a little but too unstretchy for me to be able to pull it off without looking like a large blue sausage. So, I decided instead that for the last 20 rows that I would have it be knit, with every fifth row having M1 at the beginning and middle of the row such that there's a little flaring out. I then did a crocheted edging (3 rows) along the bottom. To make the sleeves, I just did this:

Take the live stitches off the stitch holders, using a US4 circular needle. Though I'm using a circular needle, the first couple rows are going to be knit flat. I then did:

Row 1: Pick up one stitch of raglan edging (main body), K till end of row.
Row 2: Pick up one stitch of raglan edging, P till end of row.

Repeat these two rows until the raglan edging is all done, and the only other stitches to pick up are the stitches for the underarms. The picking up stitches part should end on a knit row; instead of making a P row, pick up the underarm stitches (pick up one for every underarm stitch there is - this way there isn't bunching or pulling in this area). Once all the stitches are picked up, PM and continue knitting in the round (using the magic loop method, but you could also do DPNs).

For my case, there wasn't a need to add increase rows, but I ended up starting decrease rows after knitting about 6-8 inches of length:

Row 1: Once at beginning of row (slip marker to other needle), K1, K2Tog, K till last three sts, SSK, K1.
Rows 2 - 11: K one round.

You might want to adjust this depending on how slim or burly your arms are. Throughout this whole process I was trying on the sleeve in order to make sure the fit was right.

I ended this at 1/2 sleeves, and CO. At this point, I crocheted 3 rows of edging to stabilize the sockinette, but you could adjust this to your fancy - LACE! Ribbing! The possibilities are endless :)

Ahh well. Off to finish the other sleeve! Happy knitting!

IMG_2198
Originally uploaded by brennx0r.

I tried my hand at spinning again tonight, and I really like the result. Much more even this time. I really think I'm getting the hang of this!

IMG_2193
Originally uploaded by brennx0r.

So the trip to the UPS station south of downtown was a success - I now have the English goodies, the drop spindle, and the roving. The first thing I did when Jer and I got home was pry open the roving / spindle box and start futzing around.

I haven't spun anything in a looooong time, and the couple times I did do it was when I was a lil one. So picking up the roving (merino) and spindle and making yarn was a little bit weird and nostalgic.

I consider this to be my first real ball of yarn. I'd say it's about 30-40 feet or so, and between DK and bulky weight (though most of it is worsted). Not too shabby!

I don't think that UPS has successfully delivered a package to my building since Jer an d I moved in. Each time I find out that a website uses UPS, I have learned to cry and cry and cry. I wish more websites out there told users that they use the wretched service. They probably fail to disclose that because they will no doubt lose all their customers. Hell, I even had an experience lately where, when ordering the English viddles, they claimed they used USPS. LIES! A couple days later I get a Quantum View email, exclaiming that the 5 pounder is, in fact, being shipped through UPS. A typo perhaps. But a harshly saddening one.

Every time it's the same. I click "Track my package" and I have a glimmer of hope. I think, Perhaps they will get it right this time. How could they fail so many times? Only TO BE CRUSHED to see the same message, over and over.

SEATTLE,
WA, US Today DIAD MISSORT

Blasted wretched MISSORT. You did not missort! You saw the "Main Office" address on the door (in neat small Times New Roman) and in your cromagnon stupor decided that I was wrong when I typed my address. "We are doing you a service by delivering to this address instead, DUR." The only problem with this arrangement is that by scrawling the office address on the package, and putting it on a different truck, your simian associate will FAIL TO READ YOUR WRITING. Enter the MISSORT loop. Where's my break when I need it? (And for the record, fuck Times New Roman. Shittiest of the fonts in the world.)

Anyhow, let me set you straight right now, once and for all. And I will use small words so that you will not misunderstand me:

YOU ARE NOT DOING ME ANY FAVORS. STOP "TRYING TO LOOK OUT FOR MY BEST INTEREST". JUST LEAVE THE PACKAGE AT THE DOOR AND FUCKING WALK AWAY.

Time to call them, ask them to leave the packages at their base, and take the car out to their shipping center tomorrow night.

I suppose it will be worth the headache (just this once) though. My motivation to remain cheery in spite of this are visions of Ribena and yearnings for my new drop spindle and roving. Hmmm merino top. *drool*

Hey all! This week has been really productive on the knitting front. I am virtually finished making the Ribwarmer featured in Vogue Knitting Fall 2006 issue. The only thing to do left before I wear this is to add a few rows to the collar and armbands.




I have seen progress of this from a couple blogs, and mostly all of them say that when it came to the sewing of the pieces, that it was a bitch to do. I didn't run into this at all, but I think part of my ease in this was straying from the pattern a little bit.

1. Around the point where the double cable meets the "bottom" of the work (when you add the stitch markers) I picked up a stitch from the "bottom" and knit that and the first stitch of the RS row together. I did this right before casting off too - I picked up a stitch from the area of double cable between the stitch markers, then knit that together with the stitch on the needle. I repeated this, and then cast off (this was done on the WS of the work).

2. Before the sewing began, I steam blocked the crap out of the pieces, trying to avoid the cabling and focusing on the edging that was going to be sewn together.

There was quite a bit of sewing to be had, but it was very easy to do.

Now that this is almost done, I've been turning my attention to my Tivoli #2, using this awesome alpaca/silk DK yarn that my mom got me for my birthday. I am in the home stretch for the main piece:



As you can see, I have nixed out the body shaping. I have just been using straight rows, with no increases or decreases. I hope that this works out well for me (who is curvy enough as is thankyouverymuch). I am going to stray even more before I cast off the bottom by adding about 1" of K2P2 ribbing. I am also going to make this a little bit longer than I made the last one.

After that's done I am going to work out sleeves for this (and post what I did for my size) :) Keep your eyes peeled for this!

Finally, today is the day that I got my mission for Sock Wars. I hope to be the winner! Muhahaha.

... and with that in mind, I decided to go bonkers getting "British Comfort Food" online. We have a lot of tea, but were lacking in biscuits and things. I was also craving some Ribena something fierce. This was the end of the shopping list:

1 1026 McVities Chocolate Digestives 200g
1 1067 McVities Fruit Shortcake 250g
1 1513 Aero Peppermint Chocolate Bar - 46g
1 1499 Smarties New Hexa Tube
1 1223 Maltesers Bag 37g
1 1217 Cadbury Crunchie 40g
1 1058 Mars Bar 62.5g
1 1031 Ribena Original Blackcurrant Juice Drink - 1 Litre bottle
1 1295 OXO Cubes for Beef
1 1082 OXO Cubes Chicken

If only I was this smart when sober :P

7/9 Intellect You are 56% knowledgable and 88% intellectual.

Excellent! You have a powerful mind backed by a good amount of knowledge. Keep cracking books and nothing can stop you.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on knowledge You scored higher than 99% on intellect

-----------------------------------------

Sober Edit: Dude, how is it that I scored a 7/9, but did 99% better than other gals my age? Are we all that lame and uneducated? It makes me fear the future.

IMG_2173
Originally uploaded by brennx0r.

...this is going to be a bolero when it's done! I'm about halfway done.

Man, today was really rough. And the only takeaways I have, currently, are a huge headache and an empty chocolate bar wrapper.

IMG_2170
Originally uploaded by brennx0r.

Today when I got home, I discovered that there was an accident just outside my building. Apparently, this truck jumped onto the sidewalk and knocked an entire tree (think at least 15 years old, including the rootball) down. It ended up causing a nightmare of traffic that affected the whole neighborhood.

IMG_1952
Originally uploaded by brennx0r.

In early August, I submitted a couple photos to the annual KnittyCalendar Contest. Within the issue where they posted the contest, they cliamed that the winners would be posted when the Fall issue of Knitty came up. Well, it's up now, but the winners haven't been announced. Apparently they will be within the Fall "Surprise", whenever that is. I also was the photographer for my friend's 3 submissions, which are more geared towards Spring/Summer and are much brighter.

I'm so anxious! I would really love to be a part in winning the grand prize (AN ASSLOAD of yarn!) Above is one of the three pics that I submitted.

IMG_2166
Originally uploaded by brennx0r.

I started this a couple days ago. I'd say I'm about halfway through. I spent most of Sunday working on this while watching many Star Wars movies (with a hangover the size of Texas).

The fiber is this recycled silk that I bought while at Bumbershoot with my brother. I like the colors, but it is a little too fuzzy for my taste. I'm hoping that the fuzz will grow more on me as the project goes on.