KNITSTER

I finally completed yet another pair of wristwarmers. Although I could use a pair myself, I think I’m done with doing them for a while. Since November, I’ve made 5 pairs. FIVE. Can you believe that? And that’s in between everything else! And that doesn’t include the actual mittens I made. I’m glad that project is done. I’m being paid for them, so now I can send them out, and since I was prepaid, now I feel okay if I choose to spend the money I earned for them. It didn’t feel right to do it before.

So now I’m left with two projects that I’m actively working on, namely the Flying Geese shrug of my own design (which we’ll see how that turns out), and the red sweater that was the revamp of the Flaming Sweater of earlier that I frogged. Now that I’m not working on the wristwarmers, I think I’ll be able to make more progress on these two projects. I’m going to do my best to stand firm on not starting anymore projects for a little while if I can help it. I really want to finish these two projects soon! The shrug was started about a year ago, and put aside for a very long time. I want to wear it before summer this year! And the sweater, well, I want Drew to be able to wear it for the spring, and still fit into it!

In the meantime, I went to a local craft fair this past weekend. It was an interesting experience, as in the past, I was just looking around casually, and usually I was another vendor there with my Body Shop at Home stuff. Now that I don’t sell that stuff anymore, and I don’t work the shows like that, I was on a mission to see what was there, of course, but especially to see if there were any knitted goods, what they were, and how much they charged. It was very interesting to see the differences betwen the three vendors who did do knitted pieces. One of them did everything in Lion Brand Fun Fur, and I could tell because I have some and recognized the colors they had! All of them had very simple designs really, but because all of them used novelty yarns of various types (some higher end yarns, some not so high end), they made them look interesting to the amateur eye. I mean, one used higher end ribbon and other novelty yarns, that I could tell, but all it was was a short neck scarf of 10 stitches across, all done on large needles for about 20 inches, with fringe of said yarns. And that was it! Well, I could probably mass produce those too! But that’s not what I would want to do. I’ve toyed with the idea of having my own craft business of some sort, but of what? Sometimes I’ve thought of having an online yarn shop, but they are a dime a dozen. And there’s Etsy, so it’s not like I wouldn’t have competition that way either. I don’t know…it’s still in the thinking stages, since I’m not sure exactly what I would want to do just yet. Knit little things? Make home dyed yarn colorways? Have an online LYS? Open a yarn store? I don’t know. But I’m starting to feel that one of my possible callings might be in that direction. I need some creative outlet and be able to reap some sort of reward for the effort, you know? Hmmm….more thinking needed…..

Posted on March 10th, 2008 by Dani
Filed under: Finished Objects, Projects, Shopping | No Comments »

I saw this in the news today…didn’t see it mentioned anywhere else, and I’ve heard of this before. But hey, we here at Knitster.org like to try to stay on the cutting edge of things, so click to this link:

Knitters Dress Up Trees For Public Art

Enjoy!

Posted on March 10th, 2008 by Dani
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I’m upgrading knitster’s back end, as we’re wayyyyyyyy behind on doing so. Will update this once I’m finished; shouldn’t take too long!

Edit: ALL DONE! Let me know if you have any problems with the upgrade– you may need to refresh your cache, but I’ve brought us up from Wordpress 2.0.4 to 2.3.3.

Posted on March 9th, 2008 by Helen
Filed under: Admin | 2 Comments »

You know that sweater that my son asked for, the one that was supposed to have flames on it? The sweater from hell? (Well, he wanted Hot Wheels flames, he knows nothing of hell.) Or at least hell to me? I finally broke down and frogged it, and I’m making a plain red sweater for him instead. Why? Well, look for yourself:
The pattern, and the sweater from hell.

As you can see from the photo, I have a lovely diagram of how the flames were going to look, based on the pattern I was using. There were eighty stitches across for about 11 inches, so this easily would– or should– have worked. But as you can see, reality didn’t match the fantasy.  So I frogged the whole darn thing. Poof! Up in smoke.

This was my first real foray into color knitting, and I think I bit off more than I could chew. I think I was going in the right direction, but it was just too daunting after a while. I spent more time untangling yarn than I actually did knitting. I tried to combine the techniques of fair isle and intarsia to better manage the design, and it still didn’t work. I think I was going in the right direction, but look at it! It looks awful. So, I showed Drew the work so far, and he agreed, and understood that Mom just doesn’t have the skills yet to do something that fancy. He only asked if the replacement sweater could be red, and I said, “of course”, since that was my intention in the first place. Well, you can’t say that I didn’t try to please my little one, since he usually doesn’t ask me to knit him anything.

Even after this, I’m not put off from doing color work, but I think I need to build up to it, rather. Start out with some two color work, or something like that. Maybe someday I’ll be able to handle four colors! But not yet. I think I have some more learning to do.  I knit because I enjoy doing it, and even projects that are “must-do” for whatever reason, I usually get some joy out of it. I wasn’t really feeling the joy in this one at all, which is sad. It was starting to take shape, but it looked too…amateurish. And well, it IS, but I didn’t want that either. I wanted to make something that people would say, “Ooh, that’s cool!”. Like I said, I’m confident I’ll get there someday. Just not yet.

Of course, I’m still trying to figure out my shrug that I started last year too. Talk about trying to design something in a freeform way! But I think I have some direction with that, we’ll see. I’m too far along with that one to frog it now!

Posted on February 24th, 2008 by Dani
Filed under: Patterns, Photos, Projects, Works in Progress | No Comments »

I don’t know about Xiane or Pickleboot, but one thing I know that Helen and I have in our many commonalities is a love for British comediennes, French and Saunders.  Heaven knows Helen and I both love Ab Fab, and I know that Helen is big for the Vicar of Dibley. The last thing I saw Dawn French in, at least where I could pick her out, was as the “Lady in the Painting” for the door to the Griffindor dormitory in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”. 

Anyhow, little did any of us realize that Dawn French has something else in common with us, other than her humor? Check this out:

Who would have thunk it? Dawn French, co-writer of big girl knitting patterns?

I wouldn’t have guessed. I mean, it makes some sense, but her a knitter? Cool by me.  I’d be tempted to put these books on my Amazon Wish List (I did find them on Amazon, after all), but considering that they were published in 1990 and 1993 respectively, I’d be unsure until looking at them that the designs might actually look a little…dated. At least the sweaters on the covers, albeit very colorful and artsy sweaters, look dated. I’m a big girl, and I don’t need to look too dated right now. Most of the rest of my wardrobe is like that already, so I don’t need extra help with that.

Maybe we should write her and tell her to do an updated version, like Dawn Knits Again (much like the Kaffe Fassett book of some of his updated patterns that was out recently)? While there are some good big girl knit books out there (like the Big Girl Knits books by Jillian Moreno and Amy Singer), wouldn’t it be nice to have some more updated ones out there that doesn’t make us big girls look like grandmas or middle aged? (Okay, so I might be pretty much middle aged now. I don’t want to look like my mother just yet!)

Posted on February 23rd, 2008 by Dani
Filed under: General, Patterns, Shopping | 1 Comment »

Do you remember when, not too long ago, I posted a few finished things, which included Oceandirt’s Mittens? (Her mittens are the very first photo in the post.) Well, I finally got my buttocks into gear, and finally mailed them to her. While she lives relatively closeby (maybe a half hour away), my schedule has been such that I haven’t had time to get together with her, and while we talk via email and blogs all the time, I just hadn’t gotten them to her. Being that her birthday was this past Sunday, and the weather has gotten bitter again, I felt I had to make sure she got them. And sure enough, even though I just mailed them yesterday, she got them today! And she loved them! She said she liked the color a lot, and they fit perfectly. (As I mentioned, she has asymmetrical hands, so having custom mittens were hugely craved for her!) She was very happy with them, and she even made sure to ask how to take care of them, so she didn’t over felt them or something like that. She must really treasure them!

I think after having a someone not so great day, to get a phone call to let me know that she had gotten them and how much she loved them really made MY day. It feels really good when something that you made with lots of love in every stitch, and went to special lengths to get the right yarn, the right colors, and get the pattern right…well, gets appreciated. Yay.

I also sent out the baby hoodie and the matching socks I made as well yesterday. That was going to Richmond, some 300 miles away, so I suppose that one will take another day or so to get down there. I figured I had to get it down there before the baby outgrew it! LOL Hopefully they’ll like it too.

Posted on February 21st, 2008 by Dani
Filed under: Finished Objects, General, Projects | No Comments »

Do you remember a while ago I was drooling over a Jordana Paige Knitter’s Satchel as expressed in this post? Well, sometimes “dreams” come true! It’s also a case of persistence (and persuasion) pays off! I got after JC enough that I REALLY wanted the bag, and had been drooling over it for so long, I convinced him to get it for me for Valentine’s Day! And although he ordered it a few days before the “big” day, it finally arrived today! Hooray! And even by his standards, once I opened the shipping box, it was better than even he expected. I tell you, the quality of pleather has gotten better over the years, because he really thought it was real leather, and it definitely looks and feels like it. JC also told me that now that we have the bag in hand, he can see why I liked it so much, as it’s “very Dani”.

Behold!

First, it came inside a very nice dust bag.

 
It looks designer just ’cause of the dust bag! Good for big projects that don’t fit in the purse.

Then, I opened the gift card inside, which was a Valentine’s note from JC.
Nice card! Handwritten note inside!

Here’s the actual bag!

It’s a beautiful deep red color. Not quite burgundy, but clearly RED.

Look at the big interior!

 
Nice and roomy. Please excuse the thumb at the top of the photo.

And finally, you know it’s a real Jordana Paige when you see this on the side:
The Jordana Paige tag.

This is a pretty “big” gift coming from JC, but like I said, he was even impressed with it. And I think he knows it makes me happy. It’s just a tad too small for me to be putting my monster of a sweater project (the Flaming kid sweater I’m making for Drew– too many balls of yarn!)in it, but it can easily accomodate a regular sweater project that didn’t involve the current 7 balls of yarn that are simultaneously being used and detangled by me constantly. So, I have another two projects in there instead that are “easier” ones. One is me making yet another set of commissioned wristwarmers. Hey, it’s easy money for me! The other is going to be (since I have to still put it in my bag) the shrug I started last year that I really ought to finish. It’s not much, but I think I have some ideas of how to finish the look of it a little better than when I “designed” it last year. We’ll see how it turns out.

I just wanted to share, as this is probably one of the fanciest knitting things I ever got! I can’t wait to start bringing this to work, and bringing it around with me as my purse.

Posted on February 18th, 2008 by Dani
Filed under: Photos, Shopping | No Comments »

So. Here I am, the prodigal blogger of Knitster, but I do not return empty-handed! [or empty-headed!]

I *have* been knitting, but I’ve been delinquent in my blogging. I decided to attempt something fun and quick, so that I could post about it and get back on track - and that Calorimetry would be a perfect project for this goal!

I followed the pattern faithfully except the choice of yarns - I have been thrilled with Patons SWS so I subbed in the Natural Plum colourway, happily. You’ll see that it worked really well with the striping!

The only issue I have with the pattern is the well-documented issue with it coming out bigger than most heads can accommodate. I got gauge and it still came out a bit large, so I moved my buttonhole up a bit, and that seems to work pretty well.

Of course, now that I’ve finished it, the weather’s been warm and pleasant, not wool hat weather at all!

You can see the striping detail in this photo to the right. I’m pleased with my short rows - that was my first time working with them! Look ma, I’m a knitter! *grin*

I promise to follow this up with some updates about my forays into spinning and the finish and fate of my fabled Big Red Tongue shawl. [yes, I finally finished it!]

Posted on February 10th, 2008 by Xiane
Filed under: Finished Objects, Photos, Projects | 1 Comment »

I was reading one of my most favorite websites/blogs,Project RunGay with those lovely boys, Tom and Lorenzo, and after writing them an email note about getting their view on why Christian has been the bridesmaid but not the bride on the last two challenges, when I started thinking about one of their new neighbors and best buds, Project Runway Season 1 winner Jay McCarroll. And I was thinking about something I told them to pass along to him (who knows if they did with their busy schedules, and depending on how seriously they took my suggestion to pass along).

The idea I was thinking about in regards to Jay was that I think he should be a knitwear designer, or start a knitwear design pattern book, or something like that. If you remember the line he presented at the Project Runway finale show, he actually had a lot of knits and sweaters and the like. Jay comes from a family full of knitters, seamstresses, crocheters and crafty people, from whom he gets a lot of his crafty aesthetic. Jay is hip and hot with his designs, right? So wouldn’t it be cool if he started producing patterns of his designs for us common handknitting folks to work on? Kind of like getting the latest Debbie Bliss book, or other very cool designer? I think that would be awesome, and I bet you he’d make a good profit from that!

Another one from PR who was also into knits and such was Kara Janx. Now, let’s see, a book of knitting patterns for her stuff too would be cool. Or maybe Kara J and Jay could collaborate on something like that. Oooh, that’d be awesome! So what do you think? I think the world needs a Project Runway inspired knitting book, or even a few books from a few of the individual designers. Seriously, I think it’d be a hit.

And remember, you heard it here first by ME. I am willing to be the editor of said project, if it really came to fruition!

Posted on February 7th, 2008 by Dani
Filed under: General, Patterns, Projects | 1 Comment »

Okay, so maybe I’m not masked, but I’m been blazing through a lot of projects lately. I think it’s mostly because of my new job. It’s incredibly boring, non-stimulating in any way. I have almost no interaction with people, and all I do is open mail and pull and file check stubs. YAWN. Like I said, not stimulating at all.

I’m guessing, that as a result, since I’m not using my web or desktop publishing design skills, I need some sort of creative outlet. That would make sense, right? So, in the last week or two, I’ve completed two more projects.

First, I finished “Oceandirt’s Mittens”. Behold!

These are made with Debbie Bliss’ Soho yarn in #19 colorway, which was hard to find! What makes these special is that these are custom made for my friend, Sandy, aka “Oceandirt”. I still have to give them or mail them to her, so I hope she likes them!

The other project was a hat for myself. It had been put aside a few times due to other projects. I started it before Christmas, for heaven’s sake! But finally, after buying the yarn a year ago, and starting it a while ago, I present to you, “Mama’s Hat” (me being the Mama):

Mama’s got that ‘come hither’ look, don’tcha think?

I messed it up on the top, but I think I recovered it okay.

It looks almost like a flower, despite the goofup.

So there you go. Two projects– done!

Also, in the interest of being crafty, I purchased two books in the past week.

I dunno– sometimes I think that maybe I can just do little projects and such and sell them. Or maybe I could start doing the yarn dye-thing, or something like that. Just seems like a fun way to start making some extra cash perhaps, so the book intrigued me.

And, in the interest of a little boy who is now including Harry Potter among his obsessions…

Drew’s already chosed two or three patterns out of it already. He wants me to make him an owl, a wizard’s robe, and perhaps a Weasley sweater.

But first…another Drew project. He usually has a sweater-jacket of some sort each spring, and he’s always gotten them from his grandmother who would get them in Ecuador. Well, she hasn’t been in Ecuador for a few years now, so the ones he’s had are too small now. So he asked me to make him a red sweater. Okay, no problem. Oh, and by the way, he wants flames on it. Okaaaaaaaay. So, I found a good pattern from the Yarn Girls’ book for older kids’ knits, and then pulled out my SnB Design Journal, and looking at both, well, I guess I’m setting out to design my first sweater, so to speak. Or at least my first graphical pattern. It’s graphed out, so now I have to decide whether to do intarsia or fair isle method, or both. I looked at Knitting Help, which is a site that Helen turned me onto when I first was starting to learn 3 years ago (has it been that long already?), and I actually understood the explanation pretty well. But I’m still undecided. I finally got the gauge down last night, so it might help if I cast on first, right? We’ll start with that, and then go from there.

Look out! Whoosh! There’s she goes off knitting up a storm again!

Posted on February 4th, 2008 by Dani
Filed under: Finished Objects, Photos, Projects | 4 Comments »