Eliphanten

So if you can't tell by now, I've got a little "thing" for knitting toys. Remember Sheldon, Skylla, or the Chubby Bunny? They're just so damn adorable and fun. Throw in a good challenge and a pattern designed by someone I know and I suddenly had a new toy on the needles!

Elijah
Source: Ysolda Store
Pattern by: Ysolda Teague
My Ravelry Project: Eliphanten

Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Extra Merino Big
Color: Heathered Grey (192) & Cayenne (127)
Material: 100% Merino Wool
Skeins: 1.25 Grey & .55 Cayenne
Needles: US 3 DPNs

Care: Machine wash, gentle cold

Started: 8 September 2009
Finished: 4 October 2009

This was the first time I knit a toy by picking up stitches vs. creating all the body parts separately. It was quite challenging. I used a crochet hook to pick up the stitches, then I transferred them to DPNs. Knitting the first rows of these picked up stitches were quite awkward and I kept stabbing poor Elijah in other body parts during the process. So cruel. I’m still unsure of which process I prefer for toys. But I do love the clean look of where the limbs meet the body when the stitches are picked up rather than sewn to the body.

To create the illusion of a sweater, I switched to a new color about four rows after picking up the stitches for the body. The first row in red was knit, then I purled two rows. I also used purling at the hands (row 23 & 24) and at the bottom of the body (row 31 or 32?). To create the red feet, I switched to red at row 30.

Elijah wasn't designed with a tail, but I had to make one. So I created a little i-cord tail by picking up three stitches on his little bum. After about 6 i-cord rows, I knit two stitches together and did a few rows with only two stitches. I pulled a knot through the base of the yarn and separated the plies to create a fuzzy tip.

The disappearing loop cast on link in the Elijah directions didn’t work for me. I found the correct Disappearing loop cast on link found AFTER I started the project.

As for the yarn, oh my was this some splitty yarn to be using on DPNs and picking up stitches. That did NOT make me happy. But it feels soft and I loved the heathered look of the grey. I definitely wouldn’t knit a toy with this yarn again, especially since I hate how visible the increases and decreases appear in the red. But I think it might be nice in a knitted garment. And it was stash yarn, so I stuck to my yarn diet.

My next toy will be the Sleepy Snake and the Mischievous Mouse for a certain niece of mine...

Happy Birthday to ME!

It's my 37th birthday today. YAY ME!

But I'm actually more tired than this post can show. I've been sick with a head cold for the last three days and am still under the weather today. I can't let that hold me back because Jason is taking me to my first chi-chi restaurant: Restaurant Magnus. Then we are going to a concert to see Mirah. I'm quite excited...

My birthday started early yesterday with my neighbor Ronda giving me this lovely skein of sock yarn that she hand painted. She has her own Etsy shop and is about to start selling her yarn at Lakeside Fibers and The Sow's Ear. A shop in Chicago is also interested in her yarn. Her colorways are just lovely. The only reason I hadn't bought anything yet was that I couldn't decide what to buy and I've never knit a pair of socks! I'm happy that my first pair of handmade socks will be made with her yarn.

Oh and I found out that my in-laws got me a gift card at my favorite shop - The Sow's Ear. Holy cow, I'm getting more yarn despite the fact that I'm on a yarn diet!

Never Diet Alone...

In the past, I tried to do a yarn diet without mentioning it and I failed. Then I tried by telling others and I failed yet again. This time I decided to create a support group - we're over at the Stash & Burn group on Ravelry. The thread is called "Yarn Diet Anyone? Going cold sheep..."

I figured that If I found some like minded people and we all set our goals and rules, we could help each other along the way. It keeps us accountable. I'm really excited about it...

The group has already been quite helpful with ideas. For instance, they recommended rewarding myself for successfully avoiding yarn purchases at regular points during the year. Like every two months I get to go to a movie at the Sundance Cinema, or get a decent haircut, or buy a pattern booklet. I've also considered depositing money into a yarn savings account for use after the diet is over. Or what about a big road trip to the actual WEBS store in Northampton, Massachusetts at the end of the diet in the fall? Or what about a cool knitting retreat on an island? Now that sounds like fun.


It may seem like a bad idea, but I have a Knit Wits group trip to my favorite yarn shop (The Sow's Ear) coming up this Sunday. Surprisingly I'm not worried that I'll be tempted. It's still early in the diet and my commitment is strong. But I think it's important to continue to support my local LYS by purchasing needles, patterns, or just eat lunch at the cafe that is a part of my favorite shop.

Heather, one of the Sow's co-owners, has already been a great help by setting aside a pattern booklet for the purple yarn I purchased at Stitches. I want to make the Wool Bam Boo Rick-Rack Hooded Pullover from from Classic Elite #9106 Sunday Brunch. But that's also the same amount of yarn needed for Norah Gaughan's Kingscot. Ah, decisions, decisions...

*Wool Bam Boo Pullover photo from the Classic Elite web site.

A Farnsworth House Day Trip

At the end of our summer road trip to North Carolina, Jason wanted to stop at the Farnsworth House. But we were far too excited to return home, so we put it off. Last Saturday we took a little day trip to Plano, IL to see the infamous glass house. I still can't get over the fact that Mies conceived of the house in 1945 for his client Dr. Farnsworth, but the project wasn't finished until 6 years later. It's no wonder she sued him after taking so long and almost doubling the cost...



Of course I got distracted by little things like some cracked earth and tree fungus.



I was pretty excited that this trip also offered the perfect opportunity to take some new photos of Tuck. I wasn't happy with the originals, but I'm quite satisfied with these.



They were taken at the boathouse on the Farnsworth property.



Jason, who's my knitwear photographer, called this trip a combination of our two loves: architecture and knitting. I see more trips like this in the future...

It's all about the legs and how you use them...

There are things in my life that make me smile. I thought I should share them with you. Granted, since they aren't yours, you probably won't smile as much as I do...



My skirt garter belt. Oh how I love you. You keep things rated PG in the morning when I ride my bike to work while wearing a skirt. Which is almost every day in the summer.



My new commuter bike! It's an Uptown 8 Breezer. For the past seven years, I rode a hybrid to work. It was pretty aggressive in stance and didn't really allow for me to wear some of my tighter jackets. Now with my upright Breezer, I'm breezing along in style...

I love that it has a generator headlight and taillight that turns on when it gets dark and I never have to replace any batteries. Plus it has a completely enclosed bike chain - so no grease on my pant legs! PLUS it has an integrated rear wheel bike lock that I can use when I stop for short periods of time like at a shop of a farmer's market. Otherwise I still use a heavy duty lock when I'm at work for eight hours. Ah, perfection...



Finally my rust colored thigh high tights. I got these on sale last summer at my favorite Madison shoe store, Cornblooms. I just love colored tights...

Himalayan Disaster

You might think I'd give up on knitting, but I won't. Let's take a few steps back in time so I can explain.

I fell in love with this lovely rusty tweed yarn at the Sow's Ear earlier in the year. I'd visit the yarn about once a month to fondle and dream about it. After about the fifth visit, my friend finally burst out and said "JUST BUY IT. You've proven to yourself that you have self control. Now it's time to finally buy it." I purchased enough skeins to make the Himalayan Vest for this fall.

Himalayan Vest
Source: Knitscene, Fall 2008
Pattern by: Katie Himmelberg
My Ravelry Project: Himalayan Disaster

Yarn: Tahki Yarns Sedona
Color: New Gold (003)
Material: 10% Silk, 90% Wool
Skeins: 8.1
Needles: US 8 and 13 circular

Care: Hand wash

Started: 5 August 2009
Finished: 16 September 2009


The vest is knit bottom up, double stranded - so even though I used only a little over 8 skeins, I really used a chunk of yarn from each of the last two skeins. You use two circular needles at the same time to knit the outside and the inside of the garment to create a pocket for stuffing. The needles are knitted with separately, yet they create an in-the-round garment. It’s hard to understand until you actually start doing it. After knitting one section, you stuff it, transfer all of the stitches to one smaller circular needle, then garter stitch a couple of rows to close the puffy section.

It's all knit in one piece and seamed together at the shoulders. The final step is to pick up stitches at the neckline to create the rolled collar. The construction was completely fascinating and fun to experience.

The only part where this pattern loses it’s focus is in the instructions for stuffing. The basic instructions tell us to be sure to stop and stuff all of the in-the-round sections before closing. But while following the actual knitting directions for the first two sections it reminds you to stuff, then they don’t mention stuffing again. This made me think twice about stuffing all the sections, so I decided not to stuff the upper sections because it might make me look top heavy. But that was the least of my problems with this garment.

When I was ready to seam the shoulders together, I realized that the official "right" side of the vest didn’t look as nice as the wrong side. I admit that I had made a few wonky stitches. Since both sides were virtually the same, I flipped it inside out before adding the collar. Ah what a bright girl I am!

But even with those modifications, I've decided that this vest is headed to the frog pond. Why? Oh so many reasons, let me show you the disaster:

FYI: all of the photos are with an unstuffed vest and if you look closely, you may see that I didn't even bother to weave in the ends since I'm going to frog this dog.

The front of the vest, up by the shoulders, is way too wide. I swear I look like a linebacker. Every photo taken of the back or at an angle looks fine, but the minute I show that front straight on, you can easily see the problems. And I'm blaming the pattern, not my ability to follow instructions.

When the vest was stuffed, I looked like I had lumpy boobs. Yeah, lumpy boobs. Maybe if I had a flatter chest it wouldn’t look so bad. I easily took out the stuffing with a crochet hook, but then my attention was drawn to the fact that the vest was TOO short. I’m too tall to wear a short blocky vest. It makes me look like a football player. Since the vest is knit from the bottom up (oh man I am starting to hate bottom up), I had no idea it would be this short. But that is no excuse.

I learned the hard way that I should ALWAYS compare the garment schematics with my body. Looking at the magazine picture, I had no idea that the vest was so short. Had I compared my body to the schematic, I would have realized this and not wasted my time. Adding an extra puffy round section at the base of the garment would have helped to make it longer and I might have liked it, but I don’t have enough extra yarn to try it.

I thought I wouldn't have anything to frog at the next Unravelling Party, but I guess I was wrong. This lovely yarn will be reinvented as Bianca’s Jacket some time soon.

Part of me wants to give up because I'm extremely disappointed to have another project that doesn't look good on me. But it's only a small part of me that's crying. A bigger part of me is determined to succeed and create garments that I'm proud to wear. After all, I've done it before! I guess this experience just means that I still have a lot to learn - which is a part of why knitting can be so fascinating.

*Photo of Bianca's Jacket from Interweave Knits.

Yarn Diet - Starting NOW!

Stitches had an even larger significance for me rather than just being the first time I attended the conference. It was also my last personal yarn purchase for a year. Yep, you heard me right, a whole year! I've tried a yarn diet before - and failed miserably. Thus my overflowing yarn storage boxes and some yarn stored in the top of my closet and in my desk drawer. I analyzed my yarn stash after reading the "In Stash Shock" thread on the Stash n' Burn group, and I've determined that a diet must commence.

I have approximately 29,000 yards of yarn, which consists of 36 future knitting projects with only three of those projects intended as gifts. I knit up an average of 10,000 yards a year, so that's about 3 years worth of yarn! Holy crap Batman! Personally, for me, that is a bit overboard. I am not the collecting type, so this stash leaves me a bit overwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE ALL of my yarn, so don't go asking for any of it. But this overflowing yarn stash is getting to be too much for me.

So a yarn hiatus for one year will get my stash back to manageable proportions which makes me feel virtuous. And who doesn't like to feel virtuous?!!!! I love feeling so high and mighty ... um at least until the next time I go to a yarn store with my friends and get that grumpy look on my face because they are all giddy about their new yarn purchases...

Honestly, this decision gets me excited to dive into my stash to start working with all those lovely skeins that called to me eagerly over the past couple of years of stashing.

FYI: That picture doesn't even include all of my leftover yarn bits or any of the yarn from four projects I'm currently working on.

Stitches Midwest

I was so completely excited to attend my first Stitches last Friday. Yes, STITCHES MIDWEST! I've heard so much about Stitches from personal blogs or podcasts that I couldn't wait to experience it for myself. I was sad that the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival (which I attended for the first time last year) was on the same weekend, but I couldn't imagine attending both in the same weekend. Even I can handle only so much yarn shopping.

As I've mentioned before, I tend to buy yarn with a particular pattern in mind. I cringe at the thought of buying a chunk of yarn without a pattern in mind. Certain patterns call for certain yarns and colors.

So I organized my pattern queue on Ravelry for my plan of attack at Stitches. I used my queue to store all patterns that I am seriously interested in knitting soon (BTW, I use my favorites to store all of the individual projects that other people have made that I love for their beauty, ingenuity or modification tips). Over the past few weeks, I tagged all of these potential project purchases as "stitches" and I shot them all to the head of my queue so I could print the summaries of those items, cut them out and tape them into my Moleskin. This provided me with a picture of the garment, yarn gauge, and the basic amount of yarn needed for that project. I even went so far as to determine the exact size of the garment I would make and the exact amount of yarn for each project.

Voila, I was completely organized for Stitches! My friend and I arrived at Stitches on Friday morning at 10:15 am (after a TON of road construction). As I stood in line for my Market ticket, I came to the immediate decision that in the future, I should purchase my entry ticket online. It was a long line, but thankfully it moved fast. Lynn & I walked into the market and... um... man, I was so disappointed. Completely underwhelmed. I don't even have any photos because cameras weren't allowed in the Market.

Stitches Midwest was a lot smaller than the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival. There weren't as many yarn producers, rather there were lots of yarn stores represented. I also wondered if the Midwest Stitches gets less vendors than the East, West, or South gatherings. Despite what I had heard about others experiences at Stitches, I couldn't imagine returning to the market multiple times. We saw it all within 5-6 hours. We even had time to go to IKEA afterward! You don't need to know what I bought there ;)

Granted, I loved looking at all the yarn and two stands were my favorite: the yarn discount bin at Woolstock Yarn Shop and the WEBS stand. I purchased yarn from each one. The people were so friendly and helpful. Despite the crowding at the sale bin and the flying bags of yarn, people helped each other out by passing someone a bag if they wanted it - definitely not a Black Friday experience. I also purchased two shawl pins, a vest pattern, and a lovely insulated coffee mug that makes me smile.

I was also quite excited to see Habu Textiles in person. Unfortunately they didn't have enough of the color I wanted so that will have to be a future online purchase. But honestly, I expected more from Stitches.


A big part of the Stitches charmlessness was the huge white, generic, florescent lighted room. I prefer the barn setting at WI S&W. And the booths didn't even fill the whole room! I should clarify and say that despite my disappointment, I will probably attend Stitches in the future if I'm interested in a class, but other than that, I doubt I'll go. I heard that next year Stitches Midwest will return to their August conference date, so that will be helpful. But I still don't see the point in hitting two major yarn events within two months. I'll probably wait to go again in 2011...

Scattered

I'm feeling a bit crazy lately because I have so many things on the needles, yet I don't want to work on them. I would love to cast them all aside with a wild swing of my arms and start totally new projects like Wrenna (a short sleeved cardigan) or Emerald Fingerless Mittens or Little Birds (a colorwork cardigan which I do not have yarn for)... But that just isn't the way I do things.

First, there's my oldest: Sylvi

This red seed stitch coat got set aside after I finished the cuffs and the front sides. I was scared of the complicated, mile long chart for the back. It looks WAY too complicated, but I'm sure I can figure it out with the help of my new pattern magnets.

Next comes Pleat:

Oh man am I bored with this. So much tan stockinette. Neverending... Plus I think I may have fallen out of love with the look of this garment. I think it will have to hibernate until next spring...

And I can't forget the Himalayan Vest:

I sped through knitting this vest while on our road trip to NC. But once I seamed the shoulders together (in preparation for adding the collar), I totally lost my mojo, despite this incredible mustardy tweed color. Maybe because I was finally able to try it on and it looks like this project is going to totally BOMB. Ergh...

We can't forget the Barberpole Legwarmers:

No, there isn't an official pattern. I met a woman at my local cafe and was obsessed by her colorwork. I convinced her to teach my knitting group her technique: Slip Stitch Crochet. I decided to use it to make some legwarmers with my free Spud & Chloe yarn.

Finally there is my newest project which I just cast on for this month, Elijah:

This is my favorite project right now. There's something innately satisfying when I work on small toys. Even grey toys. They are just so damn charming.

Since I can't bear the thought of another new project on the needles (despite my strong desire to work with new yarn), I need to STOP. FOCUS. And take care of these old, moldy projects. Man I can be hard on myself...

Living Fishie Hats

Every year, my husband's family (his parents, his two brothers, their wives, their four kids and our Ellie) gets together at a cabin on a lake up north for a long weekend in the fall. It's my favorite time of year. Tons of relaxing, game playing, canoeing, knitting, eating, and for some people in the family: fishing.

Fish Hat
Source: Knitty - Winter 2008
Pattern by: Thelma Egberts
My Ravelry Project: Living Fishie Hats

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes
Colors: A crap ton - literally
Material: 100% Peruvian Wool
Skeins: 105 grams per hat
Needles: US 7 circular and DPNs

Care: Hand wash

Started: 9 June 2009
Finished: 9 September 2009

I made fish hats as 2009 Xmas gifts for the fisherpeople in the family. Yeah, I'm finished super duper early and it feels so good. I'm quite tempted to bring the hats to the cabin this October for a better photo shoot, but I can't see how I can make them model the hats, then take them back until Xmas. I'll have to figure something else out. Especially since these photos on my deck don't do the hats justice. I'm not sure that the adults (green & orange) will wear their hats in the "real world", but I'm hoping the kids will get some use out of theirs (blue & purple).

The pattern was extremely simple as long as you are familiar with circular/DPN knitting. There are some short rows to create the mouth, but that was explained quite well. My only modification was to continue knitting with the lip color until the short rows are finished. The pattern recommends differently. Other than that, color choice and fair isle patterning is all up to the knitter.

To keep the rows from jogging, I used these instructions for traveling jogless stripes. I wasn't always successful (especially since my rows changed so damn often), but I did my best. It was a good learning experience.

The dorsal and pectoral fins are created by picking up stitches after finishing the body & tail. The tails were knit flat and as part of the body, but are later stitched together to give the tail some bulk.

I used white felt and black buttons for the eyes. No dead fish for me! I think it's funnier to have it look like the fish are eating the fishermen. I used the sewing machine to attach the felt, then embroidery yarn to attach the button eyes.

Two hats were mostly finished in four days (except for weaving in ends and sewing on the eyes). The only tedious part about this project was weaving in the millions of ends. Oh man, no fair isle for me in the near future...

These hats were my first serious attempt at fair isle. It was addictive and a lot of fun to fool around with changing colors and patterning.

Hopefully better photos will come in the future…

Road Trippin' - Part 3

Coming out of the mountains, we spent some wonderful time in Asheville, NC. I promptly left my lovely necklace (seen in the side view mirror) in our hotel. I'm still sad - it had been a gift from my husband for my birthday last year. The first piece of jewelry he ever gave me.


I was fortunate enough to explore Purl's Yarn Emporium - mightily protected by a tiny but vociferous dog named Merino. This was my first yarn store organized by color rather than yarn weight. Of course I had to purchase a small bit of yarn...



Then it was a mad dash to the coast as rain poured out of the skies.



We weren't sure we would find the sun, but we took a chance and the morning of our arrival on the coast, the skies were clear. For only 2 hours. Then more rain as we tried to explore Okracoke Island. A place you can only reach by car ferry, boat or plane. It was a dream destination that didn't live up to my dream. But maybe it was the weather's fault and not the island's...

I'm glad Ellie got to see the ocean, but I don't think I'm as much of a road trip fan as I was when I was younger. Just costs so much money and my bum started to go numb after a while...

Unravelling Party

No one likes to frog a finished knitted project, right? Least of all me: the person who hates to admit that she isn't perfect (yeah yeah, that's a whole other blog post).

But there's a time when you really need to recognize that something just isn't right about a garment and it's time to let it go and frog it. Not just shove it into the back of that drawer or try to find a friend that would wear it, but to sit your butt down and frog the damn thing.

Thank the gods that I have a friend who was smart enough to realize that the froggin' might not be so bad if it was done during an Unravelling Party. She thought that frogging a garment with good friends, while drinking margaritas, while watching the new season of Project Runway would make the frogging that much easier. And she was right.

First I tore apart the Tank Top by Erika Knight. Yes, it's what an American would call a vest, but those English folks have their own dictionaries.

The Tank Top made me look huge for multiple reasons. First let me say that I'm not blaming the idea of using a bulky yarn for a vest or my own knitting skills, I think I'm blaming the pattern itself. The V on the vest descended too low and thus split my chest extremely wide. Making my already wide chest look that much larger. Every undershirt I tried didn't solve the problem. And I don't think making a larger size vest would have helped either. Almost all of the projects on Ravelry show that unless you have no bust, this vest just isn't becoming (oh man, I hope none of those people read my blog).

I've decided to use the yarn (plus almost a whole leftover skein from making the Tank Top) to make Wrenna - a short sleeved cardigan with arrowhead motifs. It's from the French Girl Knits pattern book.

Next up for frogging was the Shalom Cardigan. This was really difficult for me to frog. Mostly because I had really high hopes for this garment. Plus I loved how the coppery brown yarn shimmered in this pattern. But the alpaca resulted in WAY too much drape. So it didn't work out. I'm wondering if I could make this again, but cut out one of the pattern repeats in the yoke. Then it might look better. Or using smaller needles might keep it from stretching out. I think I'll be compelled to try this pattern again with the same yarn.

But I didn't finish all of the frogging of Shalom, so that'll have to wait until the next Unravelling Party...

A Fortune Cookie

Today I opened a fortune cookie and it had this to say to me:

You are endowed with strength of purpose and energy of will.

Exactly what I needed to help me move forward with some decisions in my life. I'll talk more about that later...

Road Trippin' - Part 2

How was this a vacation when we never slept in?



We followed small highways through small towns in Tennessee.



We came across the incredible campus of Sewanee: The University of the South atop the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee.



I still can't get over the fact that these photos weren't taken somewhere in Europe. I felt like I was in some scenes from the Tudors. All I was missing were the right garments...

Road Trippin' - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, we drove Ellie back to North Carolina.



She lives with her mother during the school year.



The goal was to reach the Atlantic Ocean since she hadn't seen it despite the fact that she has lived on the coast for a few years.



We reached that goal, but it will take a few posts before I can show you the proof...



All photos taken in Tennessee.