Organized at last...and some yarn pix

Well, I finally succeeded. I now have A System. And here's to hoping that I can keep it together.

I had started a binder with project cards in it that I created onto which I attached photos of projects and yarn samples. On the back of these cards are spaces to write all sorts of useful information such as yarn name, color, amount used, needle size, etc. This was working great and created a nice binder that could be flipped through to see completed projects, except it was a tad time-consuming to create these cards and the whole thing was disorganized. I also made the mistake of trying to put in all of my older projects that were completed long before the binder came to be. This was causing much angst in trying to root through my notebooks and yarn to find informations on projects.

Long story short, I now have a plan that makes me happy. I have created two types of project sheets: in-process sheets and completed project cards. When I start a project, I grab an in-process sheet, which is the same as the completed project card except more informal and on paper. This then forces me to write down all of the pertinent information for the project (and eventually, for the card). There's space for notes and a start date and everything. I use a paperclip to attach my yarn ball bands to the sheet and keep the whole thing in my knitting bag. (I also try and keep things as one bag per project.)

Then when I am done with the project, I grab a completed project card and copy all of the information from the other sheet. I then snip a sample of the yarn for the card and one for the ball band. That gets put into a box, the card goes into another box to await a printed photo before completion and being put into the binder.

Sounds laborious, but this is a better system than I had before (which was basically none) and I had completed projects sitting around, waiting to be finalized and put away with all appropriate yarn snippings and notes made, but I didn't have a system. Now I have A System.

Oh and the other thing I've done is started a huge "database" of sorts that has my projects all listed. This weekend I went through all of them and noted the yarn and color as well. I now feel like I have things organized, I know exactly how many projects I have going (which is 6, noted in the sidebar). I love feeling organized!

The reason I finally got around to doing this was because I wasn't going to let myself start my next project until I had organized things. And finished one of my WIPs. So here's the deal: now that I have organized my knitting projects, I need to finish the Red Sparkly Scarf before I am allowed to start the Match My Coat Cap in these colors. (Cascade 220 in 8555, 9454 and 9324.) We're going skiing in early March so I need to have that done by then. Oh, and the headband to match, for those not-so-cold days. I was hit with this idea the other day...I have more than enough yarn for the hat, so I am going to make a headband to match, but since this is wool we are dealing with here, I decided that I will stitch it to a fleece headband which will be the part that goes against my head, since for me, headbands can be very itchy. Good plan, yes? We'll see how it turns out. But I think it has potential.

And now for some photos. My latest delivery of Yarn From Cyberspace brought me this:

Regia Sock Yarn

and this:

Sockotta

I'm still waiting for some Trekking XXL to arrive.

I have some other sock yarn waiting in the wings for their day to come...

Red-Gray Jacquard

and

Bernat Sox

That ought to keep me busy for a while!

Finally...

Well I finally have some new knitting to report on! It's been a busy few months...packing, painting, moving...and then the holidays were upon us. I wasn't able to do any knitting except for Christmas knitting, and I finally have something to show for it.

I present to you...Henry's Baby Blanket. We got to meet our brand new nephew Henry, born a week before Christmas. Here is the blanket I made for him. It is just a simple garter stitch square, but in the soft boucle yarn, it came out quite nicely.

Henry's Blanket

The other project I worked on was a pair of socks for my friend Kathleen. I had made her some a while back. One time I asked her if she ever wore them and she admitted that she had sort of forgotten about them. Some time passed, and randomly on the phone one day, she excitedly told me that she couldn't get enough of those socks I had made her! So I knew I had to make some more. These are made from Lion Brand Magic Stripes in the color Regatta Blue Stripe. I didn't make any effort to make the socks match stripe-wise (mainly because even after finishing the second socks I wasn't entirely sure of the stripe pattern anyway!) but I think they ended up looking kinda cool in their randomness.

Now it's back to other knitting. I have a couple of small accent scarves that I want to work on, and soon I want to begin a hat that is going to go with my ski jacket. I plan to use a pattern called Match My Coat Cap, in Cascade 220 yarn. I found some heathered colors that match my jacket quite well. Should be fun! I'd like to have that ready by the time we go skiing at the beginning of March. Can't wait!

Oh, and I treated myself to a ball winder with a gift certificate I had. Yay. :) Now I want to find yarn for projects that needs winding from hank to ball!

Satisfied customer

I must say, there's just something so fun and satisfying about getting yarn in the mail. Can't even say exactly what it is, but opening a box that's on your doorstep to find yarn in it is just too fun.

I love my new yarn. I love the choices I made (turns out, the color accuracy on their website/my monitor was spot on) and am very pleased. Though I am excited to start knitting with it, I am going to hold off and just admire it for now, since there are way too many things going on right now. And I don't mean just knitting, since I actually have my WIPs under control. It's Life In General that has me frazzled. Our new house and the changes we're making and the self-imposed deadline of moving day is what has me all worked up. But we're making progress, however slowly.

Speaking of progress though, I took my Sitcom Chic sweater along this past weekend on our road trip up north and managed to get a bit of it done. What I thought was going to be an endless stretch of knitting (200+ stitches per row is a lot) is actually coming along. I'm at inch 11 and need to go to 14.5, so there's definite light at the end of the tunnel. And the best part is that once I get to 14.5 I get to put that on hold and cast on for the sleeves. Yay! I am so looking forward to the 50 stitches instead of 200+. I will post pictures soon.

Yarn from Cyberspace

Some yarn will be arriving at my house soon, from cyberspace. Yay! Yes, this is indeed a momentous day. I placed my first online order for yarn. I am very excited about this and already I can't wait till it arrives.

The site: KnitPicks. The yarn: well, two actually. In three colors.

Firstly, I got some of this sock yarn, Dancing, in this color, called Ballet (I just love the pink and purple):

(Just so we're clear, that's not my sock, it's the sample color picture from their website. I'm not that fast. Especially considering I don't have the yarn yet.)

Then I decided to be brave and try something new: I got some lace yarn, for the purpose of knitting some real lace, a first for me. I have decided to try my hand(s) at knitting a lace scarf. So here's my plan. I am going to try this pattern, Branching Out from Knitty, because it says it has an "easy, leaf-motif lace pattern" so we're hoping that's true. I decided to get two colors, since I liked the looks of them and their descriptions, and couldn't decide. Oh, the yarn you say? It's Alpaca Cloud, in these colors:

Peppermint

Mist

Don't they look fun? Now that fall is here (though only on the calendar...the actual weather needs a bit of work) I will be excited to work on a scarf. I do plan on finishing off some of the other things I have going first, but this will also be a very different project/pattern from anything else, and therefore, allowed.

Speaking of other projects, I am making some headway on the black sweater. I have done several inches and even though it's not the easiest stockinette around (holding two yarns together that each want to split) I am finally making some progress. So I have updated my progress bar at the right to reflect that. I might be more than 20% along but I am being cautiously optimistic. Though I am of course enjoying this project (as with any knitting), it is one of those that will be fun to have and wear and so it is one I am anxious to finish. But we're not quite there yet.

Two socks for two feet

Woo hoo! Another project completed. I am on a ROLL here!! It feels good to be lightening my load of WIPs. This is what I am trying to do with my entire life right now, preparing for The Move. I am, by nature, a pack rat. And naturally, I have collected many things over the years. So it is quite fortuitous right now that my dad was moving at the same time we are (extremely fortuitous considering we got to buy his beautiful house which is now our beautiful house) so this has given me/forced upon me the perfect opportunity to go through every last thing I own, not only what's in my house in preparation for moving, but also what was stored in my dad's attic.

Back to knitting. Here they are...two whole socks. I finished the Striped Socks from this pattern. This project used less than one ball of Lion Brand Magic Stripes yarn in the "Purple Pattern" color. Here are some pix:

Now on to other projects, in between going through crap stuff in the house. I am plugging away at the fuzzy sparkly scarf at the moment, though that is fun to knit and might be nice to save for when it gets cold out (which it is not right now as we have a "tropical air mass" over us at the moment that is making things very damp and sticky. Isn't it September?? September in southeastern PA is normally very nice. Not like this. Sigh. And I've already resigned myself to the fact that we're not going to have a gorgeous fall because of the lack of rain we've had all summer. Oh well. That's what family trips to Vermont are for!)

Ready for Fall

Well, it is finally done. Whew. That pesky longways-striped scarf. And know what? I actually like it now. Finished casting off, put it around my neck (I was pleased to see that my calculations for its length worked well, as it is plenty long enough to go around my neck with enough length for holding it in place) and decided it is rather nice and cozy after all. The stripes going that direction are quite fun.

So without further ado...here is the Sideways Striped Scarf:

I had made that double layer gray hat out of the same gray as the darker gray in the scarf. So actually this will be a nice set. Now for some mittens. Truth be told, I tried making a pair of mittens for this set but was rather unsatisfied, as mitten #1 came out WAY too small, even though I used my usual pattern and same weight of yarn as other successful mittens from my past. The only thing I can think of that might have gone wrong is that I might have changed the gauge when I pulled my color changes tight (I didn't have any jogs though!) Oh well. That design I really ended up not liking so perhaps I'll just pick one of those other colors and make some solid color mittens to go. There's a plan.

aaaaarrgh.

Well, it would appear that apparently I do not in fact know how to pick up a dropped stitch in garter. Even when (or perhaps especially when) every row is a different color.

argh.

So I was knitting away this weekend on this scarf when as I was moving my stitches around the needles, my hand slipped and off went one of them, and because I'd pulled it a bit, it went down a couple of rows right away. Curses. So I dutifully got out my crochet hook and tried my best at picking up that stitch. But I was totally mystified. I got out my books...I went online seeking instruction...and I still couldn't get it. And I consider myself a competent knitter? Sheesh. So after a very frustrating half-hour or so (during which time I hollered at my poor husband who happened to say something at just the wrong time--sorry sweetie!) I decided to run a "life line" through a few rows down (which actually ended up being quite a few rows down since I'd managed to make the dumb thing "run" a bit) and pulled out the knitting. This was after I threw it across the room.

The second-to-worst part about this (the worst is the fact that I have discovered I can't pick up stitches) is that I don't even really like this scarf anymore, and I would have given up on it a while ago if it weren't for the fact that every row is its own length of yarn that could not have been saved if I decided to scrap the project. So I decided to soldier on and finish the thing, and then this happens. Hence the throwing it across the room.

But there's a happy ending. Even though I went back about 12 rows (and that's saying something considering there are I think over 200 stitches per row) during a rather bad movie we watched on Saturday night I got nearly all of it reknitted and am on the last row. Yay. Oh, I forgot the other painful part of this whole thing... I was on the next-to-last row when I dropped the stitch. ARGH. But it's all over now...if I can just get that last row knit and bound off, then I'll be a happy camper.

Sock #2 nearing completion

Had a nice weekend with some time to knit! There was no threat to my knitting by other things I should have been doing, like going through things in preparation for our move, and that's because my husband and I spent a weekend away at a wedding of one of his good friends. A very lovely wedding! And since we went for the rehearsal on Friday and the wedding wasn't until 3pm on Saturday, we had some relaxing time in the morning and so I had some nice time to knit.

I'd taken along the socks I'm working on, and I made some good headway on the second one. I turned the heel and did all of the picking up of stitches and then the gussets, and now I'm in the home stretch part of the foot.

I have decided that I really want to finish off some things I have going. So on the list of things I want to finish soon are:

• the almost complete striped socks
  
• the fun but a-little-too-warm-for-summer-knitting fuzzy blue/sparkly scarf
  
• the somewhat-boring-not-thrilled-with-it-but-want-to-finish sideways striped scarf
  

So that's my plan. I want to get these little things out of my way so I can concentrate on other stuff, like the sparkly black Sitcom Chic sweater.

I have also decided to try and keep my WIPs down to a minimum (every now and then I get this urge) and really make the effort to try and keep just a few on the needles, including one more involved project, and one "mindless" project that's good for travel, etc., like a scarf or socks. In this case, once I finish the socks, then the wavy scarf will become that project. A little part of me has always been bothered by having little, slightly boring projects going, but now I have a new way of looking at it, which is, there is nothing wrong with having a nice travel project around that I can just grab and go! So that's my plan.

A little bit of fear

That's how I feel about this pattern...Rogue. It is just SO beautiful. I love the cables, and the hood, and the pocket... I am thinking about investing in the pattern because really it's not that much of an investment, and maybe one day I'll be brave enough to try it. See, I am afraid of the charts. The website says that the cables are written in chart form, which I have never used. And clearly it's a rather complicated pattern. I do have confidence in myself that I could do it...I do, I really do...but still a little scary. At least there are vast amounts of stockinette so I could do most of it just fine, and only get stuck on smaller parts...right?

Oh how I love that sweater...

Not much knitting

I have been very remiss in writing here lately. And I have been so busy that I haven't even had time for any knitting (gasp!). This whole impending move thing is taking up a lot of time, going through stuff and trying to be brutal and get rid of stuff. (I am a saver, a.k.a. pack rat, and I come by it naturally since my dad is one too!)

As mentioned before, I did take the black sweater along on our camping trip...but then got so completely sucked into my book, Maeve Binchy's "Nights of Rain and Stars" that I didn't even pick up my needles once! That's what happens with me when I read her books. I love them, and become very anti-social when I am into one.

So I have a weekend trip to a wedding coming up and I was going to take along the black sweater, but really it's not a project very well-suited to travel. It's not that big yet but rather than the issue of volume I am more concerned with protecting the yarn. I'd like to keep the snags to a minimum, and that's better done from the relative safety of my own home.

Therefore I am taking my sock. The one that has a mate that's already done. So conceivably, depending on how much free time I have, I could have an entire pair of socks done soon. I am at the point where I am about to turn the heel, such a magical thing. Yes, I definitely think this is the best plan for travel. I have some other yarn for socks waiting in the wings (some fun self-striping yarn in red and gray and some pink that's plain but I just couldn't resist, cuz, well, it's pink...kind of matches this page, come to think of it) and when I am done with this sock, I might consider starting one of those others because as I keep seeing people on the knitting parts of the web point out, socks really are a great on-the-go project. I could even keep them all ready to grab, self-contained in their own little tote (seeing as I have more bags than you could shake a stick at, to borrow a phrase I've heard my parents use more than once). That or a scarf. In fact, now that I think about it, for a travel project I should probably finish up one of the scarves I have going before I start any more socks...

Sparkly black sweater

Well, the completion of the bath puff came at a good time, as I have now started something else new. This project is going to be my highest priority for now since it is something that I could wear now, rather than the fuzzy warm things like scarves and socks that are also on my needles.

My continued searching for the right yarn to make the Sitcom Chic sweater finally paid off and the Lion Brand MicroSpun paired together with the Patons Brilliant works great! I am getting just the right gauge and so far so good. Yay. (I was thinking of adding a couple of swatch photos here but realized that pictures of black yarn aren't that exciting or necessary. But suffice it to say they are playing nicely together and I love the effect.)

I am only about 2 inches into the bottom of it, but the good news is the back and two sides of the front are worked all as one piece. So far it is going very well, although the yarn took a little getting used to. It requires some care as both yarns that are being used are prone to splitting which then leaves little unsightly pulls. So I am trying to be careful with that.

This project is coming along on the family camping trip this month--and I can't wait!

Bonbon Bath Puff...complete!

Yay! I am happy to report that I have completed something. Woo hoo! My latest finished object is the Bath Puff. And I am very pleased with it so far. That is to say, I like how it turned out, but haven't tried it yet. But here's a pic of it:

I used the Bonbon pattern from Knitty and made a couple of tiny modifications. As mentioned before, I chose not to use the yarn called for, but used a ball of Lion Brand Incredible. That worked out great, and I love the color!

The other thing I changed was how I tied it all up. Instead of using the suggested nylon string, I snagged a zip tie from my husband's stash of handy things and used that instead. That allowed me to get the puff very tightly drawn up in the middle. I also secured all loose ends with it as well as the string with which to hang my newly completed puff.

Second try...

Well, I finally found some yarn that I think will work out for what I need it to do, which is to be carried along with the black sparkly stuff I have (Patons Brilliant) to make the Sitcom Chic sweater. I wandered around several stores, pondering my options. I was about to give up when I found enough in one dyelot of black Lion Brand Microspun that I think might do the trick. I even thought about abandoning the black sparkly sweater and tried to find another nice cotton blend yarn in some fun summer color that would work but no place I tried had enough of one dyelot and I couldn't spot any hiding up on top of the displays.

Anyway, I did find the Microspun and I think the combination of that, which is so delightfully soft and nice, and the Patons Brilliant just might end up being rather nice. That is, if the gauge comes out right! I haven't had time to try a swatch yet but I will soon! More on that later.

Fancy bath puff

So I have started yet another project...I know, I know. But there's just something about starting projects that can't be helped. My justification is that it is a small and potentially quick project. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! It's the bath puff Bonbon from Knitty. I didn't get the yarn the pattern called for, but got some of Lion Brand's ribbon yarn called Incredible in the "Carnival" color. There's a sample of the color on my June 8 post below.

Back later!

Pinkle

What's that? It's pink + purple. :) My husband came up with the term. I thought it was cute. I got some yarn last week that's going to become a felted tote. The pattern calls for two strands to be held together, so I got two colors this time: a bright pink and a purple that's slightly darker, to be held together. It should produce a neat effect, and I figure I can't go wrong since they're my two favorite colors.

I have made this bag before...it was my first felting project, and I thought it was a lot of fun! You can see the product on this page here. That one was the medium sized bag, and this time I want to make the small. I am excited to start this one, but am going to hold off since this will be a great project to take along when we go camping next month.

Dressy sweater wanna-be

Well, so much for that. I really really want to make the Sitcom Chic sweater from Knitty but cannot seem to get my hands on the yarn called for in the pattern, which I like a lot. It calls for Lion Brand Cotton-Ease yarn. So off I went, hitting up all of the local stores that carry Lion Brand yarn. This included two Michaels, A.C. Moore, and a new JoAnn's. Humph. I believe I have now exhausted all of my local resources for this stuff, and looked it up online. The website charges a lot more for it, so now I am just not sure what to do.

The other part of my quandary is some yarn I did get, but which I cannot seem to find a pattern to match. It is Patons Brilliant in Black Dazzle. It's very nice, has a fun sparkle to it. I thought it would make a really fun dressy sweater thingy for wearing out on a summer evening. I have tried searching online for cute sweater patterns and have found some nice ones but the gauge is way off. But I just can't seem to make the gauge work in my favor, and I hate to go up too many sizes of needles for fear that it would end up too thin. So now my thought is to find a thin black yarn to carry along with the sparkly stuff. If I can find something appropriate I might be able to make the gauge work for that yarn and the Sitcom Chic pattern. So here's to hoping.

Just saying Hi

Hi. Haven't got much to report at the moment, but thought I'd post a note anyway.

I was just fiddling around with my template and added some stuff on the right. I added a list of completed projects with links to pictures of them. I'd also seen that nifty progress bar thingy on someone else's knitting blog and thanks to a kind soul on the knitty forums I now have the code for here. :) Very fun.

Knitting is progressing slowly. I did finish the odd little "bag" for my car, which worked out well but isn't worth posting a photo of! Other than that I am alternating between my fuzzy blue scarf and sock #2. They are quite different animals...one is worked on size 11 needles with two yarns held together, all fuzzy and pesky, and the other is on size 3 DPNs with sock yarn! So whatever suits my mood is what I end up picking up.

Okay, my apologies for the boring post. Have been starting to wander around the Knitty Coffeeshop forums, which is fun. Still need to figure out how it all works, but I made my first post, to say thank you for the progress bar code. The internet is an amazing and fun thing!

Until later then...

Odds 'n' Ends

I guess I have been a little behind on my knitting lately. It's been so warm and there are other things to be done around home that I just haven't been doing as much knitting. But I am still plugging away at the blue scarf which I am enjoying working on.

I had come up with an odd little idea of something to make, nothing exciting, but I think it will be useful. In my car, there is a little "table" in the middle of the two front seats. It is a bit hard to describe, but it is hinged on one side and folds down to get out of the way, or can be pulled up to create this "table". It has two cup holders in it and a couple of shallow cubbies. On the two front corners of it are two mysterious hooks whose real purpose I am unsure of. This little table is not high off the ground so hanging things like a bag for trash wouldn't really work. But I came up with an idea to make a little bag that's not very tall, to hang from these hooks. I will make a small basic flat bag with two squares, and then loops on the two top corners to hang on the hooks. I though I could use it as extra storage for things like tissues or my cell phone charger, since the little cubbies in the car are kind of full. I started it last night and am making it in dark blue cotton yarn so that it will blend in and not be obvious. We'll see how that comes out.

The other thing I am about to start making is something I saw a pattern for on knitty.com. It is a bath puff! Here is a link to the pattern. It is supposed to be made from nylon ribbon yarn so that it will dry quickly. I investigated the yarn that the pattern calls for and that seems to be hard to find and pricey. So yesterday when I was in Michael's, I found some colorful, nylon ribbon yarn that might work. It's not the same, no where near as wide I don't think, but it just might work. The yarn I found is Lion Brand Incredible, and the color I chose is called Carnival. Here's a sample of it:

Lion Brand Incredible, in "Carnival"

I will be back with updates and hopefully this funny little project will work out okay!

Something new...

Wow, so here I am posting to a blog. Never really thought I'd take that plunge, but hey. Going to use this to talk about knitting. I'll be back...need to go see about how to change the color scheme...

Okay, I'm back. Have now changed this to a lovely pink, and added a photo to my profile. I realize that I have not yet written a word about knitting, and I am sure everyone is waiting with baited breath. I will get to that, just need to get my bearings here first.

Now my next task will be to figure out how I am going to neatly, and in an organized manner, transfer over all of my posts from my original online knitting journal. Need to go think about this...back later.

Okay, just figured this all out. I discovered that I can change the date on my posts...so I am just going to back-date my old posts! Whoo hoo! Gotta love technology...

The truth comes out! The posts from before today were actually all posted today! See, today is when I started this blog. So anything from today on is truly current. But I am happy that I was able to back-date my previous posts from my old journal. So there ya go.

Blue scarf

Since I have finally gotten my list of In Process Projects under control, (and I was slightly bored working on sock #2), I decided to start a new project. Actually, this is mainly because I was finally able to find the right amount of two particular yarns and colors (and enough of each) that are needed for a particular item that I had spotted a while back in a catalog and thought might be nice to make. It's just so pretty...and a color that is not often found on my needles, so it's very refreshing to me. It is a scarf that is featured in the Lion Brand catalog, and it is a pattern you can buy (it is also offered as a kit).

Here is a link to the pattern which has a picture (just a few typos on that page! ...can't...stop...myself...) and here's a picture of it:

Lion Brand Northern Lights Wrap
(click on photo to see larger image)

I decided that I really didn't need to purchase the pattern in order to make something that looks a lot like it--it's really a very simple pattern of stockinette stitch bordered by garter stitch to keep it from rolling. I think mine will be a bit narrower than the pattern calls for (that was intentional; I didn't want it to be huge and wide) and I have managed to figure out how to make it essentially the same as the one in the picture. You use two different yarns held together throughout, and actually, one of the yarns is made up of two different strands itself, so it's really three very different yarns all together. It's really fun yarn, a little tricky to work with, but fuzzy and quite delightful!

Here are the two yarns as they appear by themselves (the first one is Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair, in "Glacier Bay", and the second one is Lion Brand Trellis, in "Ocean"):

Though the Trellis has more brighter blues than the Moonlight Mohair, the two yarns complement each other very nicely. The Moonlight Mohair is the one that's comprised of two yarns--though it's hard to tell in the picture, it has a strand of a variegated blue mohair (which creates a subtle color shift throughout the knitting), and then a strand of a somewhat sparkly yarn that really makes it quite fun. So far I love the way the scarf is knitting up, and it's a great TV project to work on while catching up on my soap!