progress on various

Right! So May was reasonably productive, I think. Aliénor is cast off and end-tucked, but not yet washed or blocked, and I need to figure out who the best person is to help me photograph it. Also still need to finish writing the pattern and get test-knitters, but - ulp - that means letting other people see the pattern and - ack - possibly CRITICIZE it, oh noes! This is not a thing at which I excel. Anyway, this is how it looks, unblocked and folded on a chair, in bad light. Either my camera or my computer screen is falling down on the color, but in real life it's a nice plain blue. The color name is Cornflower, and as it was a limited edition color I can't even find an image on the Fyberspates site. Oh well, one of a kind and all that. 

Next up: also cast off and end-tucked but not yet washed, blocked, or properly photographed and also not documented at all for some reason, nor even properly named, is a wool/alpaca sweater that combines ribbing, cables and lace. I bought the yarn at Webs when I went to Rhode Island with Mr Husband, lo these many years ago. It's Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL which I think might be discontinued. I had intended to make a cardigan from a Schachenmayr booklet that I'd bought at some point - they didn't name the pattern either - but as it happened, the pattern as written wanted thinner yarn and redoing the math turned out to be more than I could be bothered with. Also I wanted to try out this new contiguous method of knitting, so hm, modifying this super-simple pattern was actually more work than redoing the math on the Schachenmayr thing. Which I guess goes to show that it's not only my kids who work very hard to avoid doing any work. Anyway, it will be nice and warm this winter, though the yarn is somewhat hairy and I'm a little worried about pilling.

Further progress on last month's acquisitions: the Resilience Top that I was going to make with the Drachenwolle yarn I bought, well, that is also too thick for the pattern, but I do have this Wollmeise Laceweight that should to the trick. I also found some fabulous buttons (not as many as the pattern requires, but I don't like making buttonholes, so I would have reduced the number of buttons anyway) at a little vintage et cetera shop handily located between my office and my bus stop. That is still waiting to be cast on, and will probably be waiting a good long while, all things considered. So it's not exactly a WIP, is it? I guess the point of this paragraph is look! Buttons!

The Giant Clam Closing Forever laceweight from Dye For Yarn is well on its way to becoming a featherweight cardigan. I already have one in Wollmeise Laceweight, with a lace front panel, and another in progress in light purple silk, so I decided this one needed something to distinguish it from the others. Hence th butterflies. It's still mostly plain stockinette, so I can knit most of it while reading, with the occasional rows of lace so I don't die of boredom.

Then there's the Windspiel shawl in the cobalt silk, which is making limited progress but I do love the pattern and the result thus far. The yarn is quite splitty and requires attention, so this makes excellent podcast knitting.

And of course all of this had to be set aside for a week so I could do another fabulous test-knit for the always-fabulous Yarnissima. It's for a publication so I can't really tell you anything except that my version is red and it has been extra super fun to knit and these will be my socks for feeling like a movie star while slouching around the house this coming winter.

And that's all that is currently going on, knit-wise. I'll post better photos when I have them.

First German Wollfest in a while

So one of the Heidelberg knitters posted that she was driving to the Backnanger Wollfest on Friday the 25th and did anyone want to ride along, and I said oo! me! so that's what I did yesterday.

The location was the local Waldorf school and hoo boy, I'm a little skeptical about the Waldorf method, but if we'd had this available, I'd've sent my kids there, because LOOK!

Coolest school I've ever seen, I'll tell you what. After we signed in and got our nifty red rubber souvenir bracelets, we all scattered to look around at our own pace, and then some of us reconvened for lunch and to show off our purchases. At that point all I had was some new Holz & Stein needles to replace the ones Lilu and Fufu ate. Yes. They didn't eat them UP, but someone bit the point off one end of my ebony 2.5mm circs, and someone gnawed the other end quite ferociously, and I've been using them anyway for lo, these 6 years now. And while I was there anyway I got some rosewood 2.75s, because that's a size I didn't have yet. And they threw in a free pencil!

After lunch I took a class on photographing your knitting, which was all informative and stuff, but I am clearly a creature of habit because even though I couldn't wait to try all these neato tricks I learned, all my photos still look the same as they did before. Tja. At least I learned that my phone has a macro setting (and a panorama setting, which is not knitting-related but I have been complaining about this phone not having that for oh, must be nearly two years now). 

So then my cohort were all in classes, and I had oh, two hours to kill before it was time to head home, so that's when I did all my yarn-buying. I'm glad I waited, looked around, and made sure to have a plan for each thing I bought. The things I'm planning are not things I knew I needed, but that's okay. I know now. 

Drachenwolle has yarn you want to hug, in big shouty colors. I loved their red, but I'm never going to wear anything that color, so I chose some nice pale jeans-blue stuff to make this little jacket from Needles & Artifice. Which means the button-quest is on. 

Aaaand then there was Dye For Yarn. Holy cats y'all, I saw the Muknitters talking about it on Facebook and really didn't think anything of it. I should've known better. I must have visited their stall 10 times - partly because I needed several trips to decide what color I wanted, and also then because once I was closer to a decision I couldn't fight my way through the crowds. The colors? Are amazing, even apart from the names. I finally settled on "Giant Clam Closing Forever". My camera came close to capturing the intensity of the color, but my computer is totally letting me down here. You'll just have to come visit me once I've made a Featherweight out of it, but I'll warn you - you won't be able to resist hugging me. The color is just that fabulous. 

And then I simply had to buy the pattern for a scarf they had hanging around, and of course the yarn to go with it. Say hello to "Severe Cobalt Intoxication" in 100% Silk. 

I don't even know what to cast on first. My little heart goes pitty-pat every time I look at these. Also I have to go to the Dye For Yarn store. You should come with me!

a possible step forward

I'm going to the Backnanger Wollfest next Friday, where I will be taking a "Photograph Your Knitting" workshop! Maybe that'll help me blog. I am not finding a good surface for taking pictures, my camera does not love me, and there is probably good light, but it's on the other side of some pretty filthy windows. I'm thinking of buying this dress form from eBay. I daydream about getting a better camera. I have no intention of cleaning the damn windows.

But I am making progress! I cast off a nice snuggly-warm wool sweater on this, the first really nice spring day of the year. I'm sure I'll enjoy wearing it in six or seven months. Photographing it is a different story. It's dark purple, textured, and impossible, and it is the project I will be taking to the photography workshop. I am fairly certain it will defeat the teacher.

Also, there are socks. The Jemisin design is now my official go-to sock pattern. I'm making a pair for a friend in Mannheim, and this weekend's Star Trek marathon meant real progress, so that's good.

Aliénor... wow, I should really set up that test-knit, huh? But the sleeves are the perfect zero-ease size in plain stockinette, and then the lattice pattern is too ridgid around my Popeye-forearms (probably because of the yarn's high silk content) so I have to reknit them, AND I put in way too many short-rows at the bust so that has to be re-done too. I was stupid, I just plowed ahead and figured I'd fix it in the blocking, but reality must be faced. So I basically finished the sweater - okay, I actually finished the sweater, put it on display at the Brei- en Haakdag in Amersfoort last month, and now I'm frogging oh, about half of it. A little more than half. Argh.

None of this, of course, constitutes an excuse for procrastinating on the test-knit.

I know the Song du Jour of the Day is a feature of the other blog, but I'm on this blog today, and I have a song, so: Simply Falling, by Iyeoka.

One more tiny sweater

Here is the last of the 4 tiny sweaters I made to test the update of my 5-Hour Baby Sweater pattern (almost done, I promise!) and also for my friend Ann's new babies. They've been done a week (the sweaters, that is. Not the babies), and I still haven't mailed them out. I did gain a new job this past week, and lose a cat (*snif*sob*) so I've been a little busy. Mostly moping. I really loved that cat.

Anyway. The pattern has gone out to the testers for one final proofread, and I need one more photo and then it'll be ready to go. Good thing I've forgotten how to publish on Ravelry, eh? Oh well, I'll probably figure it out.

oops more sock yarn fell into my shopping cart

Hm, so looking over my previous post I see that I did not tell you to stop me from buying more sock yarn at Aldi. That was a serious oversight on my part, because I am sure you would've come through for me if I'd asked. But I didn't, so you didn't, and this happened:

Uh-oh.

tiny sweater update

Size newborn1, worsted weight

Size newborn2, worsted weight

Size newborn2, fingering weight

Four sweaters knitted, three photographed, none washed or blocked yet. I'll try to get that all done this weekend so I can mail them to their new little owners on Monday. 

I wrote out the pattern for four yarn weights and six sizes, and sent it to Arja(aaa), who invited, oh, 27 of her closest friends to a test-knit (for which thank you, Arja, because it got me moving like nothing else would) and there has been good feedback and now I am struggling to work it all in and rewrite the pattern like a real writer, you know, someone who can do stuff with words. Then there's pictures and formatting and such still to do. It's taking me ages, because every time I find a mistake anywhere I have to recheck all the math, which is a real recipe for crazy. Once it's done I will very seriously consider sending it to the MuKnit group for a second round of testing. Just to try being all rigorous for once. (It probably won't suit me.)

Then, too, other non-knitting related things are going on, which drag my attention away from What Really Matters (hint: it rhymes with "schmitting"). Don't know how I let that happen...

And oh, epic noes! Aldi is going to have sockyarn again next week! What'll I doooooooo!? Well, knit all the sizes of my pattern, for one. And many more socks. 

Which I will definitely blog about. There, I said it. Now I have to do it.

Oh! Right! Pictures!

... of socks, yay. For the record, I took the pictures when I said I would, and edited them and uploaded them to Ravelry, I just forgot to put them here. So here they are: six pairs of socks, received with various degrees of enthusiasm.

For the Sniglet

For Ignaz

For me!

Man, I have got to get a better camera...

from socks to sweaters

Again I am not posting because there aren't enough pictures - yes, I know: stupid. So here is my New Year's Resolution vis à vis this knitting blog: I will certainly try to post more often, because I actually do use this blog for documentation. Sometimes.

BUT ANYWAY. I bet you were wondering what it would take to break my sock obsession, and it happened about a week after my last post: a friend in NL had twin boys, so it's on to tiny sweaters! Which I actually already promised them when I visited them in hospital (eeee that was fun!) a month ago, so I should really get on with that.

Not that I haven't, I am knitting up a storm here. But I'm also designing/documenting the process, so I can properly publish the Five-Hour Baby Sweater pattern. The existing pattern is very specific and yields exactly one size, in one yarn. I know I can do better. 5hbs mk 2 has six sizes, in four yarn weights, and I've already worked up two of them. I should probably line up test-knitters as a next step.

The socks are washed and now drying and the light is gone, but I'll try for photos tomorrow, and then I'll get on to documenting the sweaters. Okay, now it's out there: instead of having a vague intention, I've actually written and published it, so that means it's more likely to happen, right? Right.

I got a picture !!11one!

As you can see, some of the socks are inside out. Yeah. That's because I had to tuck in the ends but I haven't snipped them yet because you're supposed to do that after you wash them, so I decided to wash them inside-out, then snip them, then right them. To save myself some trouble. Because turning socks inside-out is so hard.

It is just now occurring to me (not for the first time) that I may have some sort of psychological problem.

the problem is getting the pictures

Literally. That's the actual reason why I haven't blogged in nearly four weeks. Because night is when I think "ooo - I should blog, oh but I can't because I don't have pictures" but I can't take pictures of my knitting at night because my camera is kinda crappy and learning teh mad photography skillz will take up valuable knitting time. Maybe writing this will remind me to take the dratted pictures tomorrow morning? Though the next three months will probably be sucky photo-months because of the winter light.

I'm still in sock-nirvana, with nine socks in some stage of development but not sure how many I can count as finished. Ends are tucked in four socks, three are still pending, two are on the needles and none have been washed yet. So what counts as done?

Other Knitting News:
Gave up on various original designy-type things for the lavender silk and am settling for another Featherweight. Miles of plain stockinette, enabling me to read The Left Hand of Darkness on my computer.

Aliénor: the second sleeve is about 7/8 done and I am stalled, Stalled, STALLED. I've been revising the pattern and I'm at the proofreading stage, which is why I haven't even opened the file in maybe four months. Because I do not love proofreading, especially my own stuff.

Also stalled on another design that was rejected by Twist so I decided to self-publish, and I must say, it's a good thing they rejected me because I would nevar have gotten this done by the deadline. So yay them, right?

Stalled on the Rosita Mittens.

I need gloves. I bought three patterns by Laris. I have the yarn for all of them. Still have not cast on.

I designed some nifty stripey fingerless mitts and wrote up the pattern, it can be published as soon as I can get it tested! I have a potential testing crew on hand, and even a forum that I can use. I could start this up like flipping a switch. Am I making any move toward that switch? Um, no...

And Cassandra says I should open an Etsy shop! And she is absolutely right. Uh. Yeah, about that...

But! I gotta lotta socks!

sock obsession, probably temporary

Three weeks? Wow, it seems like I would've gotten more done in that time, since I've been neglecting every other project, even The Fat Squirrel's Squirrel It Away Knitalong which was SUCH a great idea and I signed onto it with immense enthusiasm, only to drop it like a hot rock when the grocery store stocked some cheap yarn. I am... a unique and special snowflake, I suppose, as long as you understand that to mean "bat-crap crazy."

The socks are a great accompaniment to listening to Mark read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and watching football. Not to mention a super-awesome way to stall on some jobs I should be applying for.

(Side note, I really don't like Blogger's options for placing pictures. It shouldn't be that hard, folks.) Anyway, brown socks for Secondborn, nearly done. Teal/purple socks for MEMEME! Done! Started teal/green socks recently and have already turned the heel on the first one and started the toe on the second one. I think these are my favorite so far.

 

So yeah. We'll see how long it takes this one to wear off. And how many unfinished socks I have on the needles when the "meh" takes me. My prediction: seven. 

N K Jemisin socks

Augh, it is a struggle to put down my knitting to blog about my knitting. Is there irony in that? Nah, probably not.

So since my last post I have MOVED TO ANOTHER COUNTRY, which is only part of why the not-blogging. One of the ways in which I procrastinate is to involve every action in a complicated ritual which begins with a step that I can't take right now, e.g: before I get dressed I have to take a shower but first I should probably get on the exercise bike which means I need to summon the motivation to be bored and sweaty for 20 minutes OR I need to admit that that's not gonna happen today because I am a wuss. Both options take a long time to work up to, which is why I'm still in my PJs at 4pm some days.

The knitblog equivalent of this is "I can't post (or list the project on Ravelry) without pictures, and my camera sucks and it's dark out." Also, taking pictures with my phone, bluetoothing them to my computer, resizing in IrfanView and then cropping in MS Paint and then sharpening, resizing and fixing the colors in IrfanView again, takes up valuable time that I could spend working on my spiffy new project which I am so excited about that I had to cast on even though I have 8 WIPs already. I tell you, I am a deeply flawed human being.

Anyway.

Now that we're back in Germany we can shop at Aldi again, with their semi-weekly theme events (we are so stocked up on pasta after Italian Food Week we'll have no trouble surviving the Barilla boycott, I tell you what). And Aldi has noticed that knitting is hip again (as the magazines have been telling us for lo, these ten years now), so they had SOCK YARN last week. And there was great rejoicing (me) and rolling of eyes (Mr Husband) at casa alala.

I think I was very restrained. Sixteen skeins isn't much when you realize it comes in packs of four (two colors per pack), and there were two whole color pairings that I didn't actually buy. There would have been three, but Secondborn has recently decided he likes brown. Ooo, I wonder if he knows about Steampunk yet...

And here they are, in the pairs they were packaged in:
Yes. I bought yarn from the grocery store. We are living in amazing times.

And I've already knit almost half a sock, so I'm naming the project after author N K Jemisin. Today while knitting I watched Mark read Valedictorian, and read Mark's response to the first few chapters of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and also caught up on her blog, so now every time I wear these socks I'll think of her. Which is fine. I really like this author. She totally deserves some socks.

This is what I get for procrastinating on the blog

Hi, yeah, sorry about that. I've been doing lots of things, and managing to document most of them on Ravelry, anyway.

I'm on a secret test-knit right now, so I can't tell you anything about it except that I'm using this Tosh Merino Light I bought at the grand opening of Penelope Craft's new premises (EPIC cupcakes were had, you really shouldn't have missed it). The colorway is called Mineral, it was the last of its kind in the shop, and it just happened to be a perfect match for some beads I've had since... oo, probably 2005 or so. You see, if you just hold on to things for long enough, eventually they'll tell you what their purpose is.

I've also made it to the sleeves on Aliénor II, but apparently the last picture I took (that wasn't a super close-up detail of a gusset or dart) was this one. Maybe I should do something about that...

I finally managed to struggle through the Knotty gloves. I love the pattern, they fit perfectly and are beautiful, but dang that's a lot of fingers. I hate knitting tiny tubes almost as much as I hate tucking in ends. And I still have about a squillion ends to tuck, so I'm not listing the project as finished yet.

No progress on Namarië. Because I am the worst friend ever.

And finally, there was another test-knit, which is done so I can write about it. Adri from http://adriprints.blogspot.com designed this neato lace cowl and loop and I tested the cowl but loved the fabric so much that I frogged it and bought another skein so I could make the loop. That's it on the left - the Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend is a joy to work with, and I'd been wanting an excuse to buy the Wildflowers colorway since Harlequin first opened. So I worked on it until it was really wide enough, and I still had some yarn left over.

These make me ridiculously happy.

And yes I have to republish Aliénor (I've told too many people I'm doing it now) and I'm also working on a new pattern plus the aforementioned super secret test knit, but there was that extra yarn, so I picked up some needles and started noodling around and came up with matching mitts.

I'll fill you in on the new pattern soon, but first I have to take some pictures. I've just checked the folder and all I have is a couple of sketches and a scan of the swatch. How did I forget to take pictures of this? Duh.

Stripety Mitts

So here's what I made with that yarn I picked up at the Handwerkbeurs from Zeven Katten. I'm still trying to decide whether and how to publish the pattern. Probably should be free, since it's so simple. Do I need to find test-knitters for a free simple pattern? Meh, probably. This business of needing other people can be problematic.

and this also happened

 ... like, aaaaaages ago, before the bag from Petra even, Arja made me a yarn bowl in her pottery class. I think this is the first thing I've ever commissioned; she showed me some bowls and I said "One like this please," and I chose the colors, inside and out. And I paid her in yarn, but still! Real (functional) art! And I love it, even with a center-pull ball which should render such things unnecessary, this bowl is still the shizzle. The photos don't really do it justice. I'll try to add more, but dang, it took me weeks just to get these taken and uploaded. Probably because I was too busy oohing and aahing over my fab new awesome YARN BOWL, Y'ALL!

'Twas een mooie dag!

So I went to the Handwerkbeurs in Zwolle with my friend Patricia today! And it was fun, and all y'all who didn't come with us? You totally missed out.

For not intending to buy anything, I think I did fairly well - I really did need the beading wire, and here was a chance to look at it in person instead of buying from the internet. But then I got to the Zeven Katten stand, which was imperative, since we had to say hi to Arja (who wasn't there), and well. It's a single-ply! In semi-solid colors! With long repeats! Talk about your triple whammy. 

In order to justify the purchase I came up with a plan for the yarn right there on the spot, and I still like my plan, hours later. I will even publish the pattern, just to make it extra-justified. Because the world totally needs another wristwarmer pattern. Yes it does.