June 16, 2004
Random Thoughts
Maude
I've decided to retire Maude. I'm now at a point in my weightloss where there's no way of salvaging Maude. While I hate to see the yarn be wasted like that, I'm not very upset. Being too small for something is just fine by me!
Teaching Knitting
A friend is opening a knitting store in August and she's asked me to teach some classes (yes, plural). She said she thinks I have a good grasp of techniques and she'd like them to be technique-focused. I have no idea what to teach! Some ideas that I've mulled around:
- Socks
- Combined or Continental Knitting
- Top Down Sweater
- Something cable-y
I really have no idea though, so I'm taking any and all suggestions.
For those of you who either have taught or work at a yarn store, what amount should I ask to be paid?
Knitting Meetup
It's tonight! I'm meeting Kim for dinner beforehand as well. I have a big document to get out by noon today, and I've been thinking the dinner and meetup is my reward!
Diet
I had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's last night. I'm not usually a huge fan of chains, but this one is different. Their entire menu lists the fat, calorie, net carb, and fiber content for EVERY entree! I was able to confidently order things off the menu and know I was keeping on plan. For those of you doing Atkins, there had to be 40 different things to choose from - entrees, wraps, salads, and sides. I ordered a seasoned Tilapia topped with shrimp and a cream sauce. For sides I got steamed broccoli and mashed cauliflower. And for dessert I had their 1 carb cheesecake. VERY GOOD! What I love the most is the fact that they let you choose what you want because their entire menu lists the nutritional info. Very liberating to be able to look at a whole menu and make choices without being afraid of hidden carbs. And if you're counting fat grams instead of carbs, the menu is for you too. That's the best part. Friday's does low carb. Applebee's does Weight Watchers. But Ruby Tuesday's is giving you the choice. I'll definitely be back.
June 16, 2004 in Maude | Permalink | Comments (8)
May 12, 2004
Cotton Steeking Adventures
A few of you have mentioned that you were interested in how I steeked my cotton Mission Falls tank so here ya go...
I started out by pin fitting the tank on my body:
Once I got a good fit all around (it took a bit of tweeking), I carefully took it off to make sure the pins didn't fall out.
Then, I laid the garment flat, folded along the center front and center back so the side seams were in the middle (hopefully that makes sense). I then pin marked the excess fabric that needed to be taken in on both sides of the side seams. Note: Since I knit it in the round there really aren't side seams. In my case I marked along the line where the side seam would be, which is also where yarns were joined.
See all those ends I was able to get rid of? Woohoo!
Then, I took out my trusty Viking sewing machine, and stitched along the lines marked with the pins. The hardest part about the stitching was the fact that the shaping was at the sides, so I couldn't just sew between 2 stitches. I had to sew across them at times. I fiddled with the presser foot tension, the stitch length, and even dried dropping the feed dogs. I finally determined I should use a very weak presser foot tension, and a stitch length of 3.5. I liked it better with the feed dog up - it helped push the fabric through and didn't catch it like I had been concerned about.
Once I stitched along both pin lines, I cut up the center.
Here's a closeup in case you can't see the stitches. Sorry it's a bit blurry.
And then, I sewed a second row of stitches about a quarter of an inch away from the first row. This second row is further out than the first row and is hidden in the seam.
I then clipped very close to the second row of sewing and seamed up the tank using the mattress stitch.
Voila! A tank that actually fits!
In case you're wondering why I had to go through this exercise at all, here's what happened. This is the first tank that I've made for myself. I pulled out some knitted tanks that I own to use as a comparison for sizing, but they all had some kind of rib in them. So they were definitely smaller than I'd like for a st st tank. So, I made the tank just a bit narrower than I would a sweater and it was just way too much ease. In all honesty though, I'm glad I went through the exercise. I taught myself that steeking isn't so bad, and I saved my time weaving in all those ENDS. Hell, it was worth it just to get rid of the ends!
May 12, 2004 in Maude, Tips & Techniques | Permalink | Comments (7)
May 10, 2004
Lotsa Projects
I was finally able to do a knitting weekend! I spent most of Saturday and Sunday either browsing at a LYS or knitting. The weekends always go so quickly this way!
First off, Maude. She's just about done. I finished the front on Saturday and steeked the sides on Sunday. Here's a pre-steek pin view:
As you can see, it was way too big for me. I took off about a total of 6 inches from the waist down, and about 4 inches at the bust. BTW, the lines do actually go straight across my body. Trying to hold the camera and take a pic while wearing always gives you weird angles.
The steeking went very well and the new and improved Maude is all seamed up on the sides. I took progress pics to show how I steeked the sides and I'll post them later this week. All that's left on Maude is shoulder seaming and edging for the neck and armholes.
Oh, and I should mention that Maude has already been washed and dried once. It did beautifully. I turned it inside out as per the label and washed it in cold water. I dried it til almost completely dry. The colors didn't run at all. It did shrink about 10-15% in the length but I had lengthened the top to take that into account. Since I really wanted to have an easy care top I decided to do the extra few inches. It did almost backfire though -- 3 colors have only a couple of feet remaining!
I also knit up a small sachet for my mom. I ended up using a pattern in Vogue Knitting to Go Pillows book. It came out very cute and I'll post pics later this week. I'm - ahem - a bit late in finishing this. It's all knit up but needs to be seamed and filled.
Then, I cast on for Smooch in a navy blue Cotton Classic. Let me tell ya - thank god for Alison's explanation of the picot edge (scroll down to the May 26th entry). There's no way I would have figured it out based on the directions. However, going with my knittng karma of late it's too big. I had to make an adjustment for gauge and I have about 2 inches extra. However, I'm only 6 rows in so no biggie to rip. Now that I have Maude to size things up against it's pretty easy to tell when I'm off course.
I also cast on for a meshy knitting poncho that I'll tell you more about tomorrow. It's a pretty big departure for me in terms of the type of knitting I do and I'm really enjoying it!
May 10, 2004 in Colinette Poncho, Maude, Smooch | Permalink | Comments (3)
April 28, 2004
The Good and the Bad
OK, so which you wanna hear first? Get the bad news out of the way? OK.
Maude
I motored along on Maude, getting the the armhole decreases last night. Now that only half the stitches are on the needles at once I was able to try it on for the first time. It's too big. Not huge. But definitely a bit drapey. It may shrink up a bit after a bath. If it doesn't, I think I'm going to take some off the sides by steeking them. What do you think? The biggest benefit I can see for doing this - no ends to weave in! The ends would be cut off as part of the steek. I think there's a really good chance I'll have to do this (or frog the whole thing) so I may finally try my hand at steeking!
Here she is, just a couple rows into the armhole shaping:
Linen Drape Along
I've been really struggling with what pattern to make out of the linen drape. I love the yarn. Love the color. But I was totally missing design inspiration. Until yesterday. I'm designing my own sweater and I'm VERY excited about this one. It's going to challenge me to get a really good fit, and there's a healthy dose of crochet in there as well. The color I picked is called Tango (a claret red) and the design I've come up with is very Spanish-inspired as well. I'm not going to give away many of the details on this one, as I think it will be fun to reveal the design as I go.
However, there is one thing I need some help on. Crochet instructions. All you hookers out there, can you clarify something for me?
The pattern says starts out by doing a series of dcs and chs (dc, ch2, sk2 ch, dc into next ch). It makes a mesh. At the end it says (9 sps). I got that - it's telling me there should be 9 mesh holes (spaces?) after that round. Then it says 1sc into next dc, ch5, skip next 4 sps, 1 dc into next sp. This is where I'm confused. Does that mean I should put my hook into the mesh hole (in essence, under the ch2) instead of into the top of the dc in the previous row? I think that's what it means but I'm not sure. If anyone can help me I'd really appreciate it :)
Blog Links
I've finally added links to some of the blogs I read. I just started working on this list so it will definitely grow. Please don't feel insulted if your blog isn't there. It's probably because I just haven't added it to the list yet. I've put off creating this list for such a long time now because I've been afraid of hurting someone's feelings by not having their blog listed. There are so many good knitting blogs out there!
April 28, 2004 in Maude | Permalink | Comments (5)
April 23, 2004
Stripey Goodness
I gotta say I'm in love with knitting this Maude tank. The mindless part of straight stockingnette just isn't happening because of all the color changing. I can definitely see how Fair Isle keeps knitters interested. I can't wait to see how the tank changes its look with the addition of each new color.
I'm also finding myself trying to understand how Mags Kandis chose the color sequence that she did. At times she went for two very different colors - like Jade green and Chili red. And in other parts of the sequence she put two very similar colors together - like the Peony pink and Chili red. It all seems to work marvelously and I keep thinking I never would have done such a nice job if I did it myself. And still I find my mind wandering - thinking about how I might layer the colors if I tried to do it myself. Would I have chosen a theme? Maybe rich autumnal colors, or beachy blues and greens, or perky citrus shades, or possibly some serene neutrals.
Maybe so, but for now I'm quite content knitting it Mags' way:
the side shaping is starting to show |
Tank Talk
Since I have a few tanks planned for the summer (who doesn't?) I decided to join Nathania's tank along. C'mon and join us. You can knit any tank you like. It's fun to see the variety that's happening on this one.
Don't have yarn for a tank? Then go visit Carissa who's holding her first contest. She'd like to get together a comprehensive list of tanks, and is offering up some GORGEOUS batik ribbon to the winner. So send her links to all the tanks you know of. I'll be putting together my list this weekend.
April 23, 2004 in Maude | Permalink | Comments (1)
April 21, 2004
New Beginnings and The Ends
The New Stuff
One of my friends had her baby yesterday! A few days early and he's 7 pounds 10 ounces. She's only 4'11" tall. I can't believe that baby came out of her. A no, it wasn't a C section.
So, now that I know she had a boy (I was holding out for a girl so I could make Anouk) I can get to thinking about what to make for her.
After lots of discussion about what to make for a new summer baby, I decided to ditch the idea and make something for the fall/winter. It just seems to fit so much better. I know you can make tanks and little onesies, but something about them just didn't say "wow, handknit gift" to me. So I'm going for the more traditional cool weather gift. No inspiration yet, but feel free to chime in if you have an idea!
The Ends
The talk of a thousand ends sure brought about alot of comments. I agree with Allison - ends are the worst part of the project. But similar to childbirth (I've been told) the lure of knitting pulls us back in to yet another (and another...) project.
I took Kathleen's sage advice and decided to do Maude in the round. Since I had planned on giving it a side vent I just cast on for the front last night and caught up to the back. Thanks, Kathleen - you are right. It really does make alot more sense.
Dontcha just love that part about blogging? The support, the ideas, the kick in the butt when you need it.
And I love Christine's suggestion for an end-along. How funny! I may just need the support. I've been considering making the matching shrug for Maude since I'll have so much yarn left over. What is it about Mission Falls that just sucks you into thinking "Those ends won't be *that* bad."?
April 21, 2004 in Maude | Permalink | Comments (2)
April 20, 2004
Knitting in Circles
No, I don't mean knitting in the round.
Knitting in Circles - The act of knitting the same part of a project twice. Often preceeded by frogging, always preceeded by cursing, it is what a knitter often does in search of the perfect garment.
And I've been doing exactly that. On Sunday I cast on for Maude. I was really enjoying knitting with the Misison Falls. It was making a beautiful fabric, and the color changes every few rows kept me interested. As I added each new color the tank took on a different look. I couldn't wait to pull the next color out of my bag just to see how it integrated and played off the others.
I was so into the color changes that I didn't bother to look at the whole garment. When I finally did I thought to myself "Hmm, that looks awfully large. Maybe it's just the stripes." I measured it.
4 inches too big!
How in the world did that happen? I even did a gauge swatch. So - rip, rip, rip.
I didn't pick it up until last night. I was able to catch up almost to where I left off on Sunday
look at all those ends! |
It's a good thing I recently got all those darning needles! I considered doing it in the round, but I didn't want to delay seeing the colors take shape. Impatience won over practicality.
Betcha I'll be cursing that decision in a couple of weeks!
April 20, 2004 in Maude | Permalink | Comments (5)