Lace – This Tangled Skein

Sad Sock

October 22, 2009

7:06 am

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Finished, In Progress, Lace, Loopy Ewe, Mishaps, Sock Clubs, Socks, Wollmeise

One day, I will learn to look carefully at a sock before weaving in the ends. Yesterday, it seems, was not that day.

I had just finished watching Glee while doing the toe decreases and grafting the final seam. I neatly wove in the ends, turned the sock right side out, and put on my snazzy pair of socks.

Something didn’t look right. It took a minute to figure out what it was (and move past the Denial stage). The patterning didn’t match.

Somehow, on the second sock, I zigged when I should have zagged after the heel turn.

Wollmeise comes in a extra-large skein: 150g instead of the usual 100. My finished sock weighs 42g, and I have over 70g left. I would rather knit a whole third sock than rip out that woven in end, frog, and reknit the entire foot with the kinked-up yarn. I’m just not quite ready to cast on yet.

It Might Be Cursed

by beth

June 17, 2009

12:00 pm

1 Comment on It Might Be Cursed

Yarn

Baby, Beaded Knitting, Deadliest Crab, Entomology, In Progress, Knitting, Lace, Mishaps, Projects, Shawls, Toys, WIP

I’m starting to wonder if this particular yarn is cursed.

Looks perfectly innocent, doesn’t it? Nice orange Cascade 220 all skeined up, waiting to be knit into a cute toy for Little Miss. My plan was a carrot from Amigurumi Knits for my daughter’s play kitchen. I popped the yarn onto my swift, wound it up into a ball, cast on, and happily knit away for several rows before realizing that I had miscounted somewhere along the line.

Off to the Frog Pond with the carrot. Maybe I should try something else. So, I cast on The Deadliest Crab and knit merrily away for several rounds, all the way through the first set of bobbles, and then I noticed that something was wrong.

Miscount. Again. A really big one this time, and I could not for life of me figure out what happened where.

Ripping out stitches can be so satisfying.

I’m hoping the third time is a charm in this case. If this one goes all wonky, I’m afraid this skein will be in need of a time-out, and I’ll just have to comfort myself with stringing another couple hundred beads for Entomology.

One Pomatomus, Two Skeins

by beth

September 11, 2008

10:22 pm

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Yarn

Cookie A., Glam Grrl, In Progress, Knitting, Knitty, Lace, Mishaps, Pomatomus, Socks, Stash, Stash Enhancement, Tempted, Yarn

I finished the first Pomatomus sock while watching Rachel Maddow last night, but a picture will have to wait for the weekend. I manage to finish kitchenering the toe right at the spot I’d marked as the halfway point of the ball. But when I weighed my sock, then weighed the remaining yarn (all on my trusty Weight Watchers scale; at least it’s getting some use), I seem to have used 1 more gram on the sock than I have left.

Here’s the frustrating thing: I think I’d actually prefer a shorter leg. But the idea of ripping out the first sock and doing it all over again fills me with dread. I’d rather knit up the second sock with what’s left and take the chance of having to do the last couple of rounds with a different yarn.

Speaking of yarn (and aren’t we always, really?), Stacy of Tempted Hand Painted Yarns, well, tempted me over Plurk with new colorways of Glam Grrl. I was helpless to resist, I tell you. And then these lovely things showed up on my doorstep a few days later:

Red Diamond

Destiny

One of these days, I’ll get my hands on some Branded in Glam Grrl. But that day is not today.

Ceci n’est pas une sock

by beth

August 27, 2008

8:45 am

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Yarn

Embossed Leaves, Frogging, In Progress, Knitting, Lace, Mishaps, Socks, Tempted, WIP

(Yes, I know that “sock” is not the French word for sock.)

That sad loop of yarn was once almost half of a beautiful skein of Tempted Hand Painted Bad Grrl in the Clover colorway. After that, it was a gorgeous Embossed Leaves sock that was, sadly, too big for my foot, and a little too loose-knit in the gussets.

So, I ripped. And ripped. And ripped. It takes surprisingly little time to rip out an entire adult-size lace sock. I wrapped the yarn around the lid of Little Miss’s block box, and then wrapped it again around the back of a chair, tied it in a couple of places, dunked it in the sink, and hung it to dry.

It was when I tried to rewind it into a ball that things went really sour.

I don’t know what happened. I put the hank on my swift and started winding, and I ended up with one ginormous tangle. I spent 4 hours detangling until the yarn snapped. Twice.

At the moment, I have one lovely (properly-sized) Embossed Leaves sock, one sock about 2/3 of the way through the leg and already on the second remnant of yarn, and three more small balls made out of the frogged sock. I am going to have a lot of ends to weave in. K has already renamed this project The Sock of a Thousand Tears.

But I love this pattern, and I love this yarn, and I am going to finish this pair of socks.

I mean, look at this:

How could I not give it a mate?

Christmas Come Early

by beth

December 24, 2007

2:46 pm

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Yarn

BMFA, Feather and Fan, Finished, FO, Knitting, Lace, Lime & Violet, Loopy Ewe, Ravens, Socks, Stash, Stash Enhancement, Yarn

Yesterday, we had a family Christmas get-together, during which I was unable to resist the siren song of my knitting, since I was so close to finishing the Feather & Fan Socks.

Pattern: Feather & Fan Socks by Judith Sumner, from Socks, Socks, Socks
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight in Haida (Ravens series), from Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Needles: Brittany birch dpns, size 2, set of 5, all of which are now dark blue
Modifications: Swapped out the garter stitch ridge at the beginning of the heel for another pattern repeat, did Eye of Partridge instead of ribbing on the heel flap. I also did all the decreases on one sock one stitch over, but it will never be noticed from a trotting horse.

And, they fit! Oh, glorious day, I made a pair of socks that fit on my feet!

I wore them to work this morning and made everyone admire my fancy socks.

I worked half a day today, since the library was open in the morning, and when I came home, there were two packages waiting for me. The first was full of pink and purple loveliness:

When Miss Violet of Lime & Violet put up some her stash for sale, well, the phrase “sharks on chum” really is the best way to describe it. Several items vanished out of my cart when I went to pay for them, but a skein of Doodlebirds Swell Socks in Goth Girl, a pink and gray skein of Austermann Step, and a cotton shawl kit from Rowan made it to my house, along with a note from Adminnie and a Thank You note and candy from V. I promise to do right by your yarn, Miz V.

But that was not all, oh, no, that was not all! (Sorry, Dr. Seuss moment)

A little Loopy Ewe package was also waiting for me. It held two skeins of L&V Sasquatch Sock in Connect 4 to make a scarf to go with the socks I’m working on for K, some Stitchkeepers, and a packet of Entrelac stitch markers, which are very, very pretty.

It was like my own private little yarny Christmas around here.

Pictureless

by beth

December 5, 2007

7:09 pm

1 Comment on Pictureless

Yarn

Cross Stitch, In Progress, Knitting, Lace, Non-Knitting Projects, Secret of the Stole, Stockings, WIP, Xmas

I meant to take a picture of Checking His List this morning, I really did. It’s coming along nicely. I’m way down at the bottom, stitching in the toys in Santa’s bag.

I am well aware that it’s less than 3 weeks ’til Christmas. Maybe I should have bought that little pink Baby’s First Christmas stocking I saw at the grocery store.

I’ve been so wrapped up in cross-stitch these days, in fact, that I missed the deadline to download the final clue for Secret of the Stole, but DK emailed me a copy.

I have to say that the SotS knitalong was really excellent. The pattern was lovely, the guessing game for the theme was fun (although, man, I was way off on those first few clues), and DK has been wonderful in offering advice and support through the Yahoo! group and commenting on individual members’ blogs. I’m already signed up for SotS-II.

But, first, the stocking.

WiP Wednesday

by beth

November 7, 2007

2:10 pm

2 Comments on WiP Wednesday

Yarn

Baby, Cross Stitch, In Progress, Lace, Non-Knitting Projects, Santa, Secret of the Stole, Stockings, WIP, Wraps, Xmas

I had Halloween off from work, so, while Little Miss napped, I finished clue #3 of Secret of the Stole. I seem to be falling farther and farther behind. And I’m okay with that.

I have no idea what the theme is. For a while, I thought the large motifs might be flowers, and then someone said they looked like spiders, and that’s all I could see for a while. And that little X at the top looks sort of like, well, one of those guys who waves in the airplanes at the gate. I’m pretty sure that’s not it.

Last week, something very bad happened to my lovely MacBook, and the widget that was counting down the days until Christmas Eve went with it. (Since my iBook is still running Panther, there are no widgets on that one.) But even without the clock, I know there’s not much time left, so all crafting efforts are currently focused on one thing:

10/25/07

That’s “Checking His List”, as of two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve finished the red portion of the coat and started on the trim. I might manage to finish this stocking yet.

FO Friday!

by beth

October 19, 2007

1:03 pm

1 Comment on FO Friday!

Yarn

Baby Knitting, Blankets, Donation Knitting, Finished, FO, In Progress, Knitting, Lace, Pinwheel Blanket, Secret of the Stole, WIP, Wraps

That’s the Colonial Williamsburg Pinwheel Baby Blanket, all done and washed and dried and laid out and sat upon by the cat and brushed off and taken away from the cat and laid out again.

I put a bit of a rush on it early in the week so I could take it to a meeting on Wednesday to show the folks who might want to purchase it at next month’s fundraiser.

Pattern: Genia Planck’s Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket, a KnitList pattern I found through Ravelry.
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Colonial and Williamsburg, a bit less than one skein of each.
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, size US10.5, with a cord that just kept getting longer
Modifications: None
New Technique(s): I used the Lighter Circular Beginning (scroll down) to cast on.

Since I was pushing to finish the baby blanket, I thought I was going to fall way behind on Secret of the Stole, but I finished Clue 2 this morning while Little Miss was napping.

The picture quality isn’t very good. The sun was a little too bright for the light yarn on the white blanket. I’ll get a better one after I finish clue #3, which I’ve just printed out.

Clue #1, Done

by beth

October 8, 2007

3:44 pm

1 Comment on Clue #1, Done

Yarn

In Progress, KALs, Knitting, Lace, Secret of the Stole, WIP

Bright and early on Friday, I downloaded the first clue for Secret of the Stole. I like a pattern that begins by advising, “DO NOT PANIC.” Always a good sign. I did not panic, and I was glad to see that my inability to wind my hank of laceweight into a single ball actually turned out to be a good thing.

Over the weekend, this:

turned into this:

I had a little issue with the beads. I didn’t bother to look up the technique for attaching them, and I was several beaded rows in before I learned that, no, you’re not supposed to knit the stitch first. I’ve decided to go with it.

I think next week’s clue will go a little more slowly, since I’m working Friday and Saturday, and knitting lace is definitely not an appropriate activity for the Reference desk.

I Am Such A Joiner

by beth

August 30, 2007

9:29 pm

1 Comment on I Am Such A Joiner

Yarn

Branching Out, In Progress, Knitting, Lace, Non-Knitting Projects, Ravelry, Secret of the Stole, WIP

Spending all of my free time on Ravelry wasn’t enough, clearly, even with the 20 groups within the site I’ve joined. One of those groups is the one for Secret of the Stole, a mystery lace project. What can I say? All of those MS3 posts got to me. And I did just buy that Lisa Souza Lace. Tomorrow I go in search of beads, having discovered that my five packets of Mill Hill seed beads are size 11, which is too small.

It’s not even like I needed a new project. I’ve already reached QBLE – Queue Beyond Life Expectancy – and I keep adding more. And, yes, several of those projects could have used that yarn.

And LM’s stocking is ticking along. I took a few days of rest and cast on some Debbie Bliss Merino DK for Branching Out from Knitty, but I’m back to it. The background trees are done, along with a large chunk of the scroll, Santa’s face and beard, and most of his hat. I’m fascinated by the way cross-stitch is like an impressionist painting. I get so used to looking at it close up, examining each stitch, but it looks so pretty from a few feet away, when each little X or / blends together with its neighbors.