Jofrog is Knitfrog!
September 30 2005
I spent yesterday at the Franklin Park Zoo, and I'm planning on going to the Stone Zoo tomorrow! As if that wasn't enough to make it a wild weekend, Sunday you can find me at the Boston Knit-Out! In-between there will be some knitting. I'd planned on having at least one T-Shirt Sweater sleeve, if not both, to show you today, but the unthinkable happened... I ran out of yarn. I knew it was a possibility, I technically have enough yarn to finish off the first sleeve, (I'm at the sleeve cap), but there isn't enough yarn to keep alternating skeins, and there isn't enough to finish off the next sleeve. So there I was last night, an almost finished sleeve, a half a skein of yarn, and no knitting to be had. Off to pick up one today and maybe finish this darn thing over the weekend... at least they are only 3/4 length sleeves! Enjoy your weekend and give a shout out in the comments if you'll be at the Boston Knit-Out this weekend. I'll keep an eye out for you!Wild Weekend
September 29 2005
Plum! I ordered the Aurora 8 for the Huxley sweater yesterday! Apparently, in my world, if I think about a sweater all night long it trumps any other sweaters in the queue! Now I just need to go finish that T Shirt Sweater and hope that my yarn comes swiftly!And the winner is...
September 28 2005
Today, I was innocently flipping through one of the new Jaeger books and I found a pattern I can't live without. It's beautiful, it's a cardigan, it's interesting (look at how the bottom edging melds together with the body pattern). I need to do it, and I need to do it out of Aurora 8. Oh, how does one order their knits? Moonlight I have the yarn for, but Huxley is so beautiful, then there are others too... That's it, I'm quitting my jobs and staying at home to knit full time. Shall I set up a Paypal account for you all to fund my new lifestyle?Too Many Patterns!
Huxley from Jaeger Book 38
September 27 2005
A week after I ripped out almost two entire pieces of a sweater, I'm back... and they are back and better than ever! I refuse to be defeated by this sweater. I'm so tired of it by this point, but I'm just pushing through. Only two 3/4 length sleeves to go now and I'm done. With all of my frustrations on this project I haven't even talked about what it will be! This is going to be the "T-Shirt Sweater" from Ella Rae Book 1 in the new Atacama 100% Alpaca yarn. Eventually it will look like this... hopefully by this time next week. The upside to all of this is that the yarn is beautiful and nice to work with. It would be really nice knit tighter at a DK gauge, and is loose and flowy at the called for 4.5 st/inch gauge. The other upside is that, this yarn is beautiful and really reasonable, especially for hand painted alpaca... it's only $8 a skein! Go check it out for yourself! Go, right now!I Will Not Be Defeated!
September 26 2005
Wow, this weekend the only working I did was working to shove more food in my stomach! It was a weekend full of eating events, all starting with the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival outside of Fenway Park. All you can eat samples from amazing local eateries. The offers were so varied and I ate them all. A sampling? Sure... Oysters on the half shell, bacon cheddar smothered hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches, whoopie pies, ice cream, french fries, bagels, wings, ribs, cookies, coffee cake, buffalo calamari... and the list goes on! We spent Saturday morning, from 10AM until 3PM there, and then went home to recover before a dinner party that night! Of course there were lots of great rich foods there too, and lots of desserts, so we couldn't dissapoint! You'd think that after a Saturday like that I'd lay low on Sunday but what do you think? I finally made it up to Gloucester to visit with my cousin and when you are in Gloucester around lunch time, lobster and muscles are the only option, right! Mmmm, what a weekend! I did make it back into Boston in time to go to Knitsmiths where I chugged along on that cursed sweater that I showed you last week. I'm 24 rows away from finishing the back! I will not be defeated! Off to eat breakfast, why should I stop now?One Big Eating Weekend
September 23 2005
First off, thanks for your encouragement on the Atacama sweater. I'm well on my way in the knitting of that sweater again. My goal is to have all of the knitting done by next Friday... It's a lofty goal, but I think it's possible. I just want to get this one off of my plate. It isn't for me, and it's too much hassle for something that I'll never wear! On a totally different note, I spent yesterday at Marino Lookout Farm, specifically at their petting zoo. Seeing these guys got me all psyched up for Rhinebeck. This will be my first year going, and I can't wait! Cara was talking about finishing her Manos sweater to wear to Rhinebeck. I hadn't even thought about what I'll wear! Does my "Rhinebeck Sweater" need to be new, knit just for the fair, or can it be something I've already knit? I could probably start and finish Rowan Moonlight before then, but it wasn't necessarily my next knit. Oh the pressure!Getting Ready For Rhinebeck
September 22 2005
Let me tell you a tale about a wonderful new yarn called Atacama. It's beautiful, it's hand painted, it's alpaca, it's afordable. In the Ella Rae Book 1 there is a pattern for this great yarn. I'm attempting to make this sweater. It's not happening any time soon. I started knitting on this sweater Saturday morning. I had a conversation with someone about how it is really a DK weight yarn, although it's being knit loosly at worsted gauge for the pattern. Some time after this conversation I started knitting loosly. ...too loosly. Fast forward to Sunday at Knitsmiths. Despite the fact that I worked Saturday, went out Saturday night, and worked Sunday, I'm already up to the armholes on the first piece. I look at it, hmmm, those stitches look really loose. Oh yes, my gauge is far off, so far off, and so different from the correct gauge at the beginning of the sweater that I decide it all has to go. Because I'm knitting alternatively with two balls of yarn, to prevent pooling and to blend hand painted differences, this will not be easy. I set it aside to be ripped out with the help of my rip-happy husband. I start again with another two skeins. I knit Sunday night and Monday night on it, I'm past the waist decreases but ten stitches short. I count again, ten stitches short. I count a third time, how can this be? I must have cast on ten too few stitches. This Sweater Does Not Want To Be Made
September 21 2005
My sock pal socks came yesterday from the wonderful Liz and I love them! Thank you over and over again! They are absolutely beautiful and couldn't fit better! See: I have to admit that I was a bit worried about being one of the few that gets stiffed from this whole shabang, but thank you Liz for not letting me down! I can't wait to do this all again! No pressure Alison! Sockapal4zME!
Click to see the inside packaging
September 20 2005
Almost a year ago I recieved a great gift from Savannahchik Jody. It's been sitting in my sock yarn drawer for all of this time, waiting patiently. After finishing my sock pal's socks, and finishing Mike's Safari socks I was left with no socks on the needles! Shocking I know! I opened up the sock yarn drawer and looked inside. I pulled out three main contenders and put them on my coffee table. The more I looked at the options, the more interested I became in the yarn Jody had gifted me. I had already decided that whatever socks I'd do, they would be done together via magic loop on the 40" Inox 2.5mm needles I'd found. No, I don't need new needles, but when again, if ever, am I going to come across Inox 2.5mm circular needles, especially 40"! Here it is, Tuesday morning, this is where I am. So I ask you this, whose twins will be finished first? Melanie is working hard on her twins, due in March, and I'm just starting on these socks. It will be a close race, I hope you are up for it Melanie!
Stay tuned tomorrow for my Sockapal2za socks! I love them! I can't wait to show them off. Twins!
Check out the subtle differences in the skeins!
September 19 2005
Mike's going on safari! His Lorna's Laces Safari socks are finally done, and in use! After finishing my sock pal's socks I felt like maybe I should finally put a toe on Mike's second safari sock... after all, it is getting to be sock weather again. Mine are all washed and ready to go! Goin' On Safari
September 16 2005
Finally, may I present you with my Sirdar lace cardigan ready to wear! The whole body of the sweater as well as the cuffs have a picot bindoff that took forever, but looks great. Alison asked me last week at Knitsmiths how the Sirdar waist shaping fit me... I'd say really well! Sirdar knows my body. For those who care: I'd originally bought 8 skeins of the Calmer, thinking I'd have plenty. When my row gauge ended up being so far off, (36 rows rather than 28 rows to 4 inches), I bought the other two skeins of my dye lot so that I wasn't left in a bind. I used most of skein number 9, but didn't break into number 10. Anyone planning on making Shedir from the Breast Cancer Knitty? Calmer retails for $11 a skein, I'm happy to sell this one for $8 plus $1 for shipping if necessary. Email me or comment, first come first served. Happy Weekend everyone, I hope it's cool enough for me to wear my new cardigan!Lovely Lace at Last
Click to see it open.
September 15 2005
So, after hours of agony, lots of options, but none of them just quite perfect, I settled on these yarns for my "Missy" top from Rowan 31. If you hate them, or just can't see it, I don't want to hear it! I got way too many opinions yesterday and none of them were "Wow, that will be awesome, those colors are great!". If you love the colors on the other hand, think I know what I'm doing putting them together, and think that there is no better combination for me personally, please tell me! I've obviously made my decision, but it was a long road. In other news, these are the ends that I've woven in this week. You know the multi-colored pile from Tuesday, and you'll get to see the results of the white pile in action tomorrow! You'll have to wait to see it, but be assured, I LOVE IT! That's why we need to wait for a good picture, this sweater deserves the very best!Decisions, Decisions
September 14 2005
Thank you all for your nice comments yesterday. I am really pleased with that little sweater... so much that I'm diving back into a Bouton d'Or book to start this: Before I even cast on I found problems in this pattern. Not HUGE problems, like the fishy sweater, but more sloppy problems. Specifically mislabled charts and incorrect translation. It's a good thig for them that their patterns are so cute! Separate from kid knitting is knitting for me of course! Do you have a "dream yarn"? Some yarn that you really want to use, but you have to find the perfect project for it before you do, because anything less than perfect would be an insult to the yarn? Calmer was this yarn for me for a while. Finally I found the Sirdar lace cardigan and it was a perfect match. Felted Tweed, (Yarndex has the wrong color card) was one of these yarns for a long time. It got scratched off of the list a few weeks ago when Alison was looking for yarn for her next sweater. She was looking at the FT and then at the Silky Wool as a substitute. Silky Wool is my desert island yarn. I would knit with it all day and all night forever, so realizing that it's a substitute for Felted Tweed made me realize that I really don't need to work in the FT. Scratch. A third "dream yarn" is 4-ply Soft. Oooh 4-ply Soft! Today is the day that some comes home with me to be made into this: It's "Missy" from Rowan 31 done in 4-ply Cotton and Lurex Shimmer. I'll use the 4-ply Soft and it will be my holiday sweater this year. If you are going to see me around the holidays at any sort of holiday event, you will probably see this little top! First things first though, off to the Post Office to mail off my sock pal's socks! I can't wait to get a pair myself. If the knitter that has me is reading, thank you in advance, I'm so excited to see my socks, I'm sure they will be amazing because they were knit for me! Next!
September 13 2005
The fishies swam to their new owner yesterday and, although he's turning 2 and would rather have toys, he was thrilled with it and wanted to put it on right away. In fact, I had a hard time getting him to take it off. His mom was even more thrilled and appreciative of the hours that went into it. A word of warning to anyone planning to do any Bouton d'Or pattern. Be ready for inaccuracies and just plain wrong instructions. If I'd knit this to the stated gauge it would have turned out 32" chest size, rather than a loose fitting two year old's 27". The pocket instructions were wrong, the length before the armholes made no sense at all... all in all, it took a lot of thinking and redesigning to get something that resembled the picture. They have amazing patterns, but be ready for some major interpretations. PSA over. Can you believe that I actually forgot to take a finished and blocked picture of it! You will be able see an unblocked one on my knitsmiths page once it's updated, thanks to Alison. I'll see the sweater again next Monday and take a good picture for the sidebar, until then you'll have to go with this. I've already started on the next Bouton d'Or sweater. I'm using the tan from the fishy sweater for the main color. I love the Gems Opal yarn and it lets me use up some leftovers and buy less yarn. Woo hoo for frugality!Fishies Swam Away!
Pattern:Bouton d'Or Layette #11 Pattern #11
Gems Opal tan and Zara colors
Size 2 on #6 needles
September 12 2005
I finished my sock pal socks this weekend with time to spare! Once I found that pesky fifth needle the second foot just flew. Somthing about these needles though, they must be cursed... I seriously thought of giving them away at Knitsmiths yesterday! Every time I turned around I'd lose the fifth needle. Sitting on the couch, droped one, gone! Got up for a drink, set them all down on the table, fifth one, gone! It was crazy. "Fifth Needle" is now officially a forbidden phrase in our home! I didn't spend the whole weekend knitting though, I spent a good chunk of it in the White Mountains hiking to here: We took the "Falling Waters" trail to the top of Little Haystack Mountain... let me tell you, there is nothing little about mountains! The trail did not fail us with the falling water though, we had to cross water six times on the way up and back down, but it was well worth it for the waterfalls: Naomi came with us and was the driving force of our group of hikers. She may be small, she may have shorter legs than us, but this dog is pure muscle and never tires! I hope your weekend was as enjoyable as mine. Look forward to more FO pics tomorrow! It may just be a week of FOs, are you ready Dani?With Time To Spare
Koigu, size 2.75mm US 2, Bobble Socks from the Koigu sock book, 2 skeins with plenty left over for a kid's pair.
September 9 2005
I'm back from a very quick CT/NY/NJ tour. Phew. Lots of driving and more planned for tomorrow. I did most of the driving so not much knitting progress. I did get past the foot gusset decreases in my second sock pal sock, and I do have the rest of the day off, but I'm too tired to knit... that's right, too tired to knit. See you Monday!Back
September 7 2005
Yesterday I was "picking up loose ends", today's the day to weave them in! I've been moving right along on the little fishy sweater. I'd finished up the fish by the time I posted on Friday and by Saturday morning it looked like this: Now, just a few days later, all seams are seamed, neck band and pocket edges are finished, and all that's left are the ends. And oh my are there ends! Maybe I'll weave them in on the car ride back down to NJ tomorrow morning... of course that was meant to be Sockapal2za time, but I've lost one of my needles! Ahhh. Good thing they come in sets of five, I might just finish this one with four! (...and then have the fifth one show up the day I send them out, isn't that always the way!)Weaving In Loose Ends
September 6 2005
With the two toddler sweaters winding down I've been thinking about what project is next! I started to go through some patterns, look at my "Future Projects" list on the left sidebar, and then I looked up at the WIPs list. Oh, what ever happened to that Sirdar Lace Cardigan? The last time I worked on that was June 30th!. I picked it up Sunday morning and found that I'd finished two sleeves, the back, and most of the first front, before I'd put it down for deadline projects to begin. I picked it up that morning and here's my progress on the fronts: Dani and I made a little wager on Sunday to see whose project would be completed first: my lace cardigan, or her Harry Potter scarf. Despite the fact that I only worked on it Sunday and last night after 8PM, I may win this one Dani! How's that for motivation?Picking Up Loose Ends
September 2 2005
FISHIES!! Just A Tease
September 1 2005
The Sockapal2za deadline keeps creeping up on me. I started the first one ages ago, but socks are usually just an on the go project so little progress has been made. ...that is until this weekend. My mom drove the whole way to and from NJ on Sunday so I got to sit and knit for a while! Sock #1:DONE! Sock #2 has been started and I'll show you it as soon as it's past the cuff. Are these your socks? Who knows! There are two major motivating factors that move me along on this project. One is that these are for someone else and I don't want to let them down, and the other, which I forget about most of the time, is that there is another pair of socks out there, being knit FOR ME! Wow. Okay off to knit more on this one! Motivation found!Could This Be Yours?
