One Sock Down, One to Go - Olympic Days 6-8

I'm half way there! One sock complete, one more to go.


And the first one fits.


I'm babysitting tomorrow night for a little one, and after he goes to bed I'll have some uninterrupted time to dedicate to sock number 2. While completing the matching sock (fingers crossed), I'll have to think of a name for these girls (I think green and purple socks have to be girls).

I've really enjoyed knitting these socks and I'm excited to cast on the second one tonight. I'm already looking for my next project since I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with these socks. I'm thinking about this bandeau top. I thought it would look cute for spring, maybe with a white t-shirt and jean jacket. It's cute and it is a beginner's fair isle pattern.

Another choice is this cute tank from knitty called Honeymoon . It's a good pattern to practice my shaping and it will be cute to wear with jeans or, if I dare, under a suit.

I've not forgotten about my Einstein coat. It's just so hot here this winter (82 today) and I'm burning up with it just laying in my lap. I cannot imagine wearing it this year. So, once we turn the A/C on in the house - I'll get back at it.

Knitting Olympics - Days 4 & 5

I'm working on the foot of the sock. After successfully turning the heel and in the middle of knitting the instep, one of my brand new Brittany needles cracked and eventually broke. I had enough length on the needle to continue to work, but I will have to make a trip to the LYS to get another set.

I was a little shocked by the break, since I have other Brittany needles and they are such high quality, I really didn't expect this to happen. But I believe that the true sign of a good company is how they handle problems and Brittany has this covered. I happened to notice on the needle pack that the needles are guaranteed for five years. I went to the website and all I had to do was send an e-mail with the needle information and they would replace my needle within two weeks! How fantastic. While I will still need to purchase a new set, eventually I will have two complete sets. I guess I better get good at knitting socks.


Could this be equated to Kerri Scruggs in the 1996 Summer Olympics when she hurt herself on her first vault, but went back out there and nailed her second vault to win the gold for the women's gymnastic's team? Ok, that might be pushing it, but I am making progress. I just hope they fit after all is said and done.

Knitting Olympics - Days 1-3

I'm making progress. I hope to finish the heel tonight, but here's what I've learned so far in my three short days of the Knitting Olympics:

1. Knitting with toothpicks takes some getting use to. However, I love my size 2 Brittany needles and after a few rounds I've gotten the hang of it. I can't imagine what working with size 1 or 0 might be like.

2. I'm not knitting socks for church. In the process of working the leg, I missed a stitch and had a hole in my sock. Not good.

3. Frog in circles. I tried to ladder down to fix the hole, but being a novice at making teeny, tiny stitches, I had little success at fixing my mistake. I ripped back, but didn't rip an entire round, so after a couple of rounds I realized that the end/beginning of my round was no longer the end/beginning.

I need to get moving on this heel if I want to try and stay on schedule. Only 13 days left.

Update

Its great that you are knitting in the Olympics. I was so amazed with some of the projects when I visited the web site. I thought about joining, but couldn't decide what I wanted to knit. So, I'll be anxious to follow your progress with the socks. I have knit a few pairs and find them a lot of fun to knit, but not nearly so much fun to wear. I agree with you, can't wear them to work, don't wear work boots and since I'm always traveling the Birkenstocks don't travel with me. I find that when I'm at home, I do wear the socks with the the sandals around the house. So I get some wear out of them.
I haven't started anything new lately. Still working on the vest from Dazzling Knits. It is so much fun to knit but can't work on it while on the road as well. I am traveling with the Catherine Lowe BodyWrap from the kit I bought. It will take a long time to finish it. I find the knitting difficult since the yarn is lace weight and the wrap is so large, however it is all garter stitch and is meditative knitting. Stress reducing after a long day.
I'm in Newark this week, going to Texas next week. If anyone reads our blog I'll bet they think we must work for the same company, both going to Texas at about the same time. I'll be in Bryan/College Station, what about you?

The Newest Knit-lete

I decided to challenge myself over the 16-days of the Olympics, so I signed up for the Knitting Olympics, just prior to the deadline of midnight last night. However, I decide not to tackle the sweater I posted previously. I plan on knitting this sweater over Spring Break at the beach (yes, when you're married to a school teacher you still get spring break). Due to lack of funds to buy the yarn required for the sweater and the threat of a ton of travel in February, I've decided to complete a basic pair of socks as a part of the Knitting Olympics. I figure that if I am sent back to Texas over the 16 days of the event (totally likely), that socks will be easier to manage on the plane.

I'm going to use this pattern from Vogue Knitting, Fall 1992. It gives good directions (believe it or not) and I like how basic the pattern is (I'm not all that keen on fancy socks anyway - I can't wear them with heels and a suit, so why bother). I'm going to do my best to update each day.

In other news, I've felted my free-form purse. I don't know what I will use for handles, but what I do know is that they won't be knitted. I'm going to try something different. Who knows what I'll come up with. I'll post photos later once the handles are on - whatever they turn out to be.

Podcasts & Knit-letes

I'm leaving for Houston tomorrow evening and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to take with me. I think I'm going to try my hand at making another sock. The purse I'm working on has gotten too big for me to drag along. I do have a new guilty pleasure while flying. I've really gotten into a knitting podcast called Cast-On. It is fantastic - like NPR meets Debbie Bliss. She uploads each Friday and I have a new edition in my ipod to enjoy each week. You can download on your computer as well if you want to listen to them while you work. Check it out. She's really great.

I read the Yarn Harlot's blog pretty regularly - not just for the great knitting, but for her fantastic sense of humor. We heard her speak at Stitches and she's written a couple of books. For the 2006 Winter Olympics, she is organizing the Knitting Olympics.

I've toyed with the idea of joining in to participate, just to challenge myself. All of the rules are listed on the site, but the gist is to begin knitting something on Feb 10 and have it finished when the Olympics conclude 16 days later on Feb 26. It might be a good way to force myself to finish a sweater. I've started at least three and have finished none.

So, I've had my eye on this sweater from last summer's Family Circle Easy Knits. I thought it would be cute for spring and I can use it while I'm in MA boating this summer. I have no idea what color I will do it in, but it's easy enough to complete while sitting in front of the TV at night and if I'm traveling it may not be too big to tag along in my bag.

I'm going to make my decision on whether or not I'm a worthy Knit-lete this week.

Latest projects

I've been working on the Concha Vest from the book Dazzling Knits by Patricia Werner. This is the most fun project I've had in a long time. Knitting a "shell" goes very fast and you can't wait to see what another shell will add to the look. I find myself knitting longer than I plan every time I pick it up. I'm using Debbie Bliss Cotton and Angora that I got on sale. What do you think? Looks good, huh? I've never been a big vest person, but I think this will look good with black pants and turtle neck.

 


I'm also knitting on the Body Wrap from Catherine Lowe that we saw at Stitches East. The yarn came a couple of weeks ago. It's a lace weight, so progress is slow. Nevertheless, I'm about done with one triangle. It will make a great road trip knitting project so it will go with me to Texas this week and to Newark the following week. It feels great to have another road trip project! I traveled to Texas, Seattle and Newark the first 3 weeks of January and didn't have any projects. I worked too many Sudoku puzzles instead of being productive with work or knitting.

Hope your week is a good one. Where are you off to this week? 

Another Week, Another City

I'm on the road again this week. This time it is the great state of Texas. I will be doing this commute regularly now. On the plane I finished the long, emerald green scarf I started on my trip to NYC in early December. I'll take a photo once I take care of the loose ends. I'm looking for ideas to finish the fringe. I'm thinking about spiral fringe, but we'll see if I can come up with any other options. I don't know that this trim is the best option, but it does need something.

I also started a felted purse tonight. I've got the base completed and I'll cast on three times the amount of stitches I started with and join in the round to complete the sides. I'm not using a pattern, just experimenting as I go along. I'm using the bright yarn that I used to make the fingerless mittens. I'm curious to see what it will look like felted. I hope pretty neat.

I was making great progress on my Einstein Coat until I found that there's a hole in my knitting a pretty good ways into the panel. I guess I split the yarn and it pulled loose to make that darn hole. I'm going to sit down and figure out exactly which stitch the problem child is located in and rip that stitch all the way down and fix it with a crochet hook. I was shown how to do this in my cable class at Stitches and I've used it a few times, but just for a few stitches - not 75! I'll let you know how it goes. Fingers and toes crossed.

Amazing

The Wright Wrap is AMAZING! Both beautiful in design and detail. It lays beautifully when worn. I hope you wear it out. It's just beautiful. I'm sure the pattern is way out of my league, but it is something to aspire to. I wonder what it would look like in a different color pallet. I'm sure Interweave will love it. Who wouldn't? I love that it is knit in Cascade 220. What wonderful colors they have and such a range to choose from. I wonder what it would look like in brown/earth tones? Maybe more pastel for spring.

I've been knitting a lot this week. I'm almost done with my first sock. I have to admit that I don't think I'm a sock person. Maybe the second pair will be better. I'm considering frogging this one and starting over, but I'm almost ready to start the decrease rows for the toe. Here's a photo of the top portion that I took earlier this morning. I turned the heel and knit the instep this evening. I'll just finish it off and consider it practice, then rip it out. While I love this yarn, it's the same I used for Mandy, I don't like the way it looks for socks. I have a few balls of Sock Garden from KnitPicks that I may dig into for my next practice sock. I don't have enough of one color to make a pair, but I have enough to practice with. I'm back on the road week after next, so I may just have to get good at socks so I have something to do while I'm gone since my Einstein Coat is too enormous to manage on a plane.

I'm almost done with the bottom portion of the Einstein coat. I've completed 115 rows of 160. I took a photo for proof. Maybe by tomorrow evening I'll have it done and be ready to pick up stitches to start the front. I've got a really busy week ahead of me next week, so I've got to get my knitting in this weekend.

Ophelia!

I think she is just beautiful and the mittenettes are great. I am still working with the yarn that I got at Stitches, plus the other yarns. I did an afghan for Lisa for Christmas and finished the sweater I was working on at Disneyworld. I'm also re-working my master's level submission. I had to re-do a lot of the swatches, mainly because I didn't use a good quality wool so the swatches didn't turn out with consistent gauge. Perhaps I'll be able to get the re-worked submission in the mail soon. I wanted to finish before I had to return to work, but that isn't happening. I leave tomorrow but I'm not looking forward to it. I've been at home for 3 weeks, so going back to work is really difficult. I would rather stay home and knit. At least I'm not going North at this time of year, but am going to Texas for the week, back to Seattle next week.
I'm glad to see you knitting continental style. It really does build up speed and allow you to finish projects faster, which means you can get on to the next one! Somehow, we never run out of projects.
See you soon in the blog.

Inspiration Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass window

Inspiration window 

This is where it all started. I bought this faux stained glass window in 1998 and knew for several years that I wanted to knit something from it. Now I have the wrap!

Front view

Wright Wrap front view 

And this is the way the front looks.

Wright wrap wrapped

Wright Wrap wrapped 

This is the way the wrap looks when wrapped across the front.

Wright Wrap Finhished!!!

Wight Wrap back view 

Well, I'm sorry to do 4 separate blogs here. I can publish more than one picture, but didn't take the time to review how to do it.
I wanted to share my masterpiece! It turned out even better than I expected. In this view you can see the back. It is knit with Cascade 220 in stockinette stitch with duplicate stitch to create the "lead" lines from the inspiration stained glass window.

I've emailed the pics to Interweave knits for consideration for publication. Problem is that I don't intend to ever knit it again, and magazines usually expect the designer to knit it in the colors they want. We'll see.
Hope you like it.

Behold Beautiful Ophelia

Here's Ophelia in all her glory. I'm happy with the way it came out. The directions say to put thin wire in every piece of that fringe, but I think it will be fine as is. I'm not sure when I'll get to wear it since it is 70 degrees here today. But I finished her before the new year.




While looking online for a new pattern to work on, I read one of my favorite blogs, Midnight Knitter, and decided to try these mittenettes. I really have no reason and I'm sure I won't ever wear them it gave me an excuse to do two things:

1. Use my new ball winder that my mom gave me for Christmas
2. Practice shaping and I've never tried to do something with a thumb.

I used the great wool that we bought at Stitches in those grab bags for $15. The ball winder was a necessity. There has to be 400+ yards in one of those hanks. I think they look pretty neat. I finished the first last night in about two hours. I worked the left this morning in about an hour and a half and all I have left is the top ribbing and the thumb. I'm no longer throwing my stitches and I can definitely knit a lot faster.

I wonder if my sister would want something like this to use while driving. We'll see. It made me think that I might want to try a pair of socks next. The yarn was easy to work with. I'm not sure what the other 350 yards will become, but after looking at the way the colors came out, I may try felting something in it. We'll see.

Yes, I'm still working on the Einstein Coat. I've completed another 50 rows on the bottom. Only 67 more to go before picking up the stitches to start the top of the coat.

Ophelia Lives

Yes, except for blocking, Ophelia is complete. I have to say I was pretty scared pulling out those last five stitches, but it worked like a dream. Not one problem. I didn't have quite enough yarn, so instead of 16 rings, I only did 15. I'm glad I cut it short because it gave me enough yarn to embroider the daisies in every other ring. I'm excited to post it. I'm in search of another cable pattern to start soon. I'll let you know what I find.

Also on the needles, a green variegated scarf that I started as a travel project. I've neglected my Einstein Coat, so I've recommitted myself to get back to this pattern. I really need to do something more than scarves. I think once I successfully complete a sweater, I won't be so hesitant. After the blocking, I'll post photos of Ophelia.

Comfort Wrap

This is the wrap I finished for my friend. 

I thought you might like to see the wrap I created for my friend. I've had great knitting time on this trip and finished it on Sunday. The picture isn't the greatest. My computer has a small camera built in and I used it to snap the pic. Had to use the motel room lighting, which isn't the best.
The shawl was a simple pattern, 66 stitches, and a 4 row repeat creating a subtle pattern in the design. I used a yarn from Michael's that's so soft, size 11 needles, knit til it was fingertip to fingertip in length, then created a crochet chain fringe. I think it turned out pretty cool. I wanted something similar to the "prayer shawl" and think I got a good wrap that I hope she will enjoy using.

Great flower

I think the flower is fantastic! Glad that you told me about the size. I haven't started mine yet, but the yarn, needles etc are in my carryon bag. I got the impluse to knit what we called years ago a "stole", now a shawl or wrap, for a friend of mine who's mother died a few months ago and her father died in October. I wanted her to have something to wrap her arms around when she feels she needs a hug. So I brought that project and finished it last night (I didn't get to travel home this weekend). It is really pretty and unfortunately I don't have a camera with me that will take a decent picture. I plan to send it to here before I go home on Thursday. Now that the wrap is finished, I'll do the flower tonight.

I'm also finishing a sweater that I'm knitting for Heidi for Christmas. I think I wrote about it earlier.

What are you knitting now that you have finished your flower project? Can't wait to see the finished Ophelia. When it comes to doing the fringe, just take a deep breath and do it. Does the pattern speak to blocking before you do the frings? I think you will end up with kinky fringe if you do that and I thought the picture was very straight. Is that right?

Airplane Knitting

I brought along my flower pattern and thought it would take me this evening to complete it, but I finished this ginormous flower in about an hour on the flight to Dallas today. I think the next flower I do, and I will do more, I'm going to reduce the pattern. It's too big to wear comfortably, but perfect for decorating a purse or worn low on a sweater (on the side or something). I'm happy with it and I'm excited to look for more color combinations. The lighting is horrible, but you get the idea.

I'm Getting There

I'm getting closer to being done with Ophelia. I've completed 10 rings - only 6 more to go, then embroidering the daisy in every other ring, blocking and then unraveling the garter stitches on the right side to create the fringe (which I'm nervous about). I'm guessing it will take about 10 more hours to finish her. I won't be wearing her in Georgia any time soon though. It is supposed to be 80 degrees here every day next week!

I've ignored my flowers, but I am flying to Dallas this week and I plan to bring this project with me. I have my first evening completely unplaned, so this should supply enough time for me to make headway on it. I'm sure that once I start knitting with that Touch Me yarn, I'm not going to want to put it down. I'm still kicking myself for not buying this yarn for a scarf. Maybe after the holidays.