pupdate now with more socks

update on the pup. she's fitting in beautifully. the crate is still in the living room but only because we need to replace it with an end table next to the couch. need something to put the lamp on dontchaknow.

we had to use the crate for only a very short time. she has adjusted to the cats quite nicely and vice versa. want proof? ok. here's proof.



what? too far apart? hows this, then.



really? still too far apart? jeez. ok you doubters.



see that ferocious little cat face? she's trying to chew on sophie's paw. she is also partial to sophie's ears. sophie, for her part, likes to flea-bite dinky. *sigh* those two.

jenger is still keeping her distance, although she has, at times, actually rubbed up against our little sophie. no pictures of that rare occurrence. we're just grateful sophie isn't inclined to chase her like prey.

now for the sock portion of this post. i'm trying to get my sock mojo back. i've been putting in time on non-sock related knitting and realized my sock situation is getting desparate. time for socks! going for a pretty basic sock just to get going again. trouble is, i think i need to switch out to my metal needles. these wood ones, beautiful though they may be, are just a little to grabby for me. i'm struggling just to do a round at a time. want to see? ok.



yeah. just the toe getting started and it's taking way too long to get to this part. i'm hoping switching out the needles will help. i'm using stroll kettle-dyed sock yarn in "jay" for the toes and heels. (it looks like they're phasing that particular yarn out but the equivalent yarn is the regular stroll sock yarn.) i'm using this particular yarn because it has some nylon in it and i need that to keep the toes and heels from wearing out too fast. for the body of the sock i'll be using a beautiful handpainted yarn in purples. when i get to that part i'll take a picture.

onward and upward!

way back when

i mentioned the pull that crochet was starting to have on me here. i actually started a ripple blanket which was inspired by this one. i actually tried to do it in crochet but just fought with that first row. it wasn't fun and, quite frankly, if it's not fun why do it? i really wanted one of those ripple blankets though so i am doing one in a modified feather and fan. instead of doing YOs for the increase i'm just doing a KFB at the increase stitches.

wanna see?


i really like how these pictures are coming out. i think i did the right thing by getting my daughter to do all my knitting glamour shots, don't you?

i have close-ups. wanna see?











instead of going all crazy bright with the colors, i decided to stick with a limited palette using, *ahem* palette yarn from knit picks. it's fingering weight wool and i just love the way it drapes. it won't be machine washable but i'll deal with that aspect of the blanket when the time comes. this is another long-term project. a good thing to get out when i don't feel like being inventive but want to work on something satisfying.

oh yeah. lovin' the ripple.

hexagon blanket update

i've been working on the hexagon blanket again. there for a while, i got stumped because i was starting to have problems choosing colors.

i really want to keep this looking very unplanned. do you know how hard that is to do? i realized i started clustering colors in one area so then i had to start in another area then the same thing happened and then i switched and it happened again and and and

well

it just wore me out so i took a little break.

i was looking at some of the hexagon blankets on ravelry and in the flickr hexagon love pool group to try and get umphed up about it again. one of the people mentioned she was doing hers in groups of 7 hexes. then when she got enough she joined them up. the main thing is to make sure you don't repeat the final round color choice in any of the groups of 7. then, when you join them you don't have to worry about the same colors touching! genius!

it got me out of my brain lock. it's also easier to be "unplanned" with just 7 hexes at a time, too.

i also got a photographer that knows her stuff. see?




i'm ready for my close-up mr. DeMille!

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

i've never been that impressed with crochet as a craft. i think this is mostly because, when i was growing up, the crochet you saw was that gawd-awful eye-gouging color-combos of acrylic in granny square vests.

i mean... that's enough to scar a girl for life.

so, several years ago now, i learned to knit. loved the knitting and wanted to learn for two basic reasons: 1) sweaters and 2) socks. i could never find the kind i wanted so i wanted to learn to make my own. i could already sew; i had that aspect of clothing covered (heh). but the crochet? still not interested.

then.

well.

this started me thinking "maybe crochet isn't so bad after all". look at all that wavy stripey goodness. i thought "hmmm. i could probably find a knit stitch that would give me basically the same effect". *whew* crochet successfully fended off.

then. oh the evil that is moonstitches. i saw this and began to think "i need to learn to crochet. there is no way i can do that by knitting." i lusted after this blanket. i realize that the phrase "pure lust" is kind of an oxymoron but there it was.

pure. lust. blanket. gah. urgle.

then, as if this wasn't bad enough, moonstitches has to go and crochet this. not only does she have no shame in crocheting something this droolingly marvelous but then she posts pictures of it!

MUST LEARN CROCHET NOW!

thank goodness i'm surrounded by brilliant women. enter one (sadly blogless) becky. this woman is a fiber genius. she does spinning, knitting, needlework, quilting, and crocheting (and probably a host of other things as well). she looked at closeup pictures of the hexagons in the hexagon blanket and figured out what i need to do. she then showed me basic crochet and explained it all. then she got me started on all the little centers (i decided to take an assembly line approach). once i got a ton of little centers done i was able, with her previous instructions, to go to the next step. then a friend at work got me working on the next steps then the lovely tutorial put up by moonstitches got me to the joining step! becky was also able to track down the crochet stitch used in that lovely scarf. see? i told you she was genius!

crochet is fun! i love it!


oh, remember what i said about granny squares? yep. guess what's next?

short row heels

The saga of the short row heel. Short row heels should be easy and quick, right? Ha. I'm attempting to master the toe-up sock with a short row heel. I'm doing the round toe (which I love) and I want to do a short row heel because I have never been satisfied with a regular heel the way I knit them. I always end up with holes where I join the heel and the gusset and the sock. Always. I'm doing a pair of socks for a friend of mine in a lovely dk-worsted weight deep purple tweed wool. They will be perfect house socks for those cold winter mornings. I am bound and determined to master the short row heel. Darn it!

I have knit and frogged the same heel so many times I have actually lost count. I finally realized the last umpteen times I had been doing it I was doing the wraps wrong.

Yep.

I was doing the wraps wrong. No wonder I was having so much trouble picking those wraps up when doing the increase half of the heel. No wonder those same wraps were so obvious. One thing for sure, I can go like a house afire on this heel now. I finally went back to here and watched closely and paid attention. (I just love this site; it is incredibly helpful)

Oh.

I also have the frogging down to a nicety too!

zee sweataire, she ees sad

Slumped over in her dejection. "But I tried so hard!" she cries sobbing. Yes, my darling, I know. I know. The fault dear sweater, lies not in you. The fault is mine. Alas I trusted too much in the early fit. But it will be ok, I promise. You will soon be lounging luxuriously in your red chair in your golden gloriousness.

See the needles already in place to start up again? I will not fail you. You shall, again, be the saucy thing you once were.



"Yes," she says proudly. "I will."

and the frogging begins

There will be pictures when the frogging is more impressive. Right now, since I have to go SO far back (heh) I'm gong with the as painless as possible frogging method explained by two left needles.

pictures! we got your pictures right here!

Ahhhhhh. Picture time.





My finished fingerless mitts modeled by my lovely daughter (her manicure was *much* nicer than mine). The yarn is from a Canadian eBay seller (sheepgal54). She does some amazing stuff. I was enthralled with the yarn and the way the various colors came together and worked together. The cable down the front really stood out.



Here is view showing the front and back and one with a closeup of the yarn showing the stitch definition. This is (I'm winging it here) a 2 ply with multi-colored space-dyed wool. I would guess the weight to be about a worsted. Nice.





Here's a lap throw I'm working on using Crayon yarn from Knit Picks. This yarn is sooooo soft it should be illegal. Even though it is 100% cotton it doesn't hurt my hands the way most 100% cotton does. Definitely a pleasure to work with. It's one of those knits that I'll keep coming back to when I need something simple. No deadline either, which makes it nice. Garter stitch all the way and I'm loving it.

The dish rag! The dish rag! This is my practice dish rag for dish rag tag


Remember when I mentioned the top-down sweater I started? The one I'll need to frog?

Check out this saucy little wench all relaxing on the red chair there. So pleased with herself.




Check out that cable action. Oh yeah, baby. You know you like it.




And get a load of that color work!


Shame it's going to get ripped right up the to armholes. Darn dirty shame.

Just keep repeating "It's the process... it's the process"

so here's the thing

I started my first ever top down sweater. I started from this pattern by Wendy from Knit and Tonic. I made adjustments since I was basically using the pattern for a "how-to" in creating a top down sweater.

I like the idea of top down sweaters because you can try it on as you go, thus ensuring a proper fit, 'cause I'm still not so good with the important things like gauge.

So there I was, knitting merrily along and trying it on and things seemed to be going hunky dorey. I got to a certain place in the sweater where I thought I was golden and quit trying it on. Yeah. So, after I do the stranded color-work I added (since I'm dealing with limited amounts of yarn and needed to make sure I have enough for the sleeves) I thought to try it on again. Yep. Too tight.

So, here are my choices. 1) lose weight, 2) block the bejeebers out of it and hope it stretches enough, or 3) frog back and start over.

I've just about decided to frog it. Eh. After all, it was a really quick knit and I'm all about the process. Yeah. I'll just keep telling myself that.

Pictures tomorrow.