In the Mission District, home of Imagiknit
The oh so Golden Gate
Grace Cathedral
Sunrise over San Francsico
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
New Stash Resolution
I am happy to report that my yarn diet is over, and I am back on the buying wagon! I haven't bought any yarn in longer than I can remember. It was back when Kristina and I went in on an online sock yarn order together at least 5 months ago. Around September, I vowed no more new yarn until 2009. Well folks, I made it. And here are my rewards:
Cascade 220 in a chocolate heather, for a second Boy Hat. Purchased at Imagiknit in San Francisco.
Malabrigo's new lace yarn, in a delicious cashmere blend, purchased at Imagiknit. I think it was a sample sale for select retailers-- I could not find this blend on the Malbrigo website. I am head over heels for this unique colorway. On top of that the yarn in lush, soft, and so warm. I hope to use it to make my first lace shawl, which is one of my 2009 knitting goals.
Classic Elite Yarns' Lush in a SUPER SOFT angora wool blend. Purchased at Imagiknit in San Francisco. This will become a cute hat for moi. Most of my hats are worthy for the slopes, but not the streets. I am looking for a pattern that will look cute with my pea coats and winter outerwear. I see cables in the future here.
Mirasol's Sulka, a silk based yarn at a very reasonable price (just $7 per skein), from Knitterly, in Petaluma.
Malabrigo merino worsted in Bobby Blue, from Knitterly.
My yarn buying diet may be out the window, but I do have a new stash resolution for 2009. For every new stash enhancement I buy, something must have recently left the stash, preferably in the form of FO. If I am not using my stash (and therefore not knitting!) no new yarn comes in.
The last new item in my stash is a gorgeous skein of Dream In Color Smooshy, in Chinatown Apple. I have been coveting this colorway for months of yarn dieting. Kristina brought it to me this weekend as a Christmas/congratulations on school present. I LOVE IT! Thank you again, Kristina. Miss you already!
Cascade 220 in a chocolate heather, for a second Boy Hat. Purchased at Imagiknit in San Francisco.
Malabrigo's new lace yarn, in a delicious cashmere blend, purchased at Imagiknit. I think it was a sample sale for select retailers-- I could not find this blend on the Malbrigo website. I am head over heels for this unique colorway. On top of that the yarn in lush, soft, and so warm. I hope to use it to make my first lace shawl, which is one of my 2009 knitting goals.
Classic Elite Yarns' Lush in a SUPER SOFT angora wool blend. Purchased at Imagiknit in San Francisco. This will become a cute hat for moi. Most of my hats are worthy for the slopes, but not the streets. I am looking for a pattern that will look cute with my pea coats and winter outerwear. I see cables in the future here.
Mirasol's Sulka, a silk based yarn at a very reasonable price (just $7 per skein), from Knitterly, in Petaluma.
Malabrigo merino worsted in Bobby Blue, from Knitterly.My yarn buying diet may be out the window, but I do have a new stash resolution for 2009. For every new stash enhancement I buy, something must have recently left the stash, preferably in the form of FO. If I am not using my stash (and therefore not knitting!) no new yarn comes in.
The last new item in my stash is a gorgeous skein of Dream In Color Smooshy, in Chinatown Apple. I have been coveting this colorway for months of yarn dieting. Kristina brought it to me this weekend as a Christmas/congratulations on school present. I LOVE IT! Thank you again, Kristina. Miss you already!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Yarned Forces Post #101!
FO: Stripes for Sara
Pattern: Manually striped 1x1 rib using two colorways of Noro. I used Brooklyn Tweed's guidelines here.
Yarn: 4 Skeins Noro Silk Garden Chunky, 2 each in the colorways 10 and 7. 45% silk, 45%kid mohair, and 10% lambswool.
Needles: 7mm Bamboo Straights
It is hard for me to find colorways of Noro that I love, but I really wanted to make this scarf for a friend. So I sat down at the Silk Garden Chunky bin at Knitterly, in Petaluma, and scoured their stocks. I settled on one colorway that was dark--blacks, browns, dark purple, and red-- and one that was light I absolutely love the lighter colorway I picked (I think its the #10). The colors are saturated, but pastel and elegant. Each skein reminded me of a Monet painting.
Enjoy the Noro pics! Back to mini vaca...clam chowder in a bread bowl calls.
Pattern: Manually striped 1x1 rib using two colorways of Noro. I used Brooklyn Tweed's guidelines here.
Yarn: 4 Skeins Noro Silk Garden Chunky, 2 each in the colorways 10 and 7. 45% silk, 45%kid mohair, and 10% lambswool.
Needles: 7mm Bamboo Straights
It is hard for me to find colorways of Noro that I love, but I really wanted to make this scarf for a friend. So I sat down at the Silk Garden Chunky bin at Knitterly, in Petaluma, and scoured their stocks. I settled on one colorway that was dark--blacks, browns, dark purple, and red-- and one that was light I absolutely love the lighter colorway I picked (I think its the #10). The colors are saturated, but pastel and elegant. Each skein reminded me of a Monet painting.
Enjoy the Noro pics! Back to mini vaca...clam chowder in a bread bowl calls.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
bring on the mini vaca!
Kristina arrives today, with some other college friends in tow. I have taken off work Monday-Wednesday to chill with my knitting buddy and tourist about San Francisco!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Last night was not a good knitting night. If you do not want to hear a verbose and sordid tale of a knitting related brain fart, go ahead and scroll down to the shiny pictures at the bottom. I settled in to get a big chunk of my Ranger Hat done, and instead frogged the whole thing. I was happily knitting along in a 4 x 3 rib, and when it was long enough, I went to start the pattern row. I looked up how to do the twist stitches online, and set about it. I knitted about 4 repeats when I noticed the twists looked a bit wonky. The first row of twists should have been making a little V shape, which comprises the bottom of the diamond in the pattern. My V shapes were upside down. With out giving a single, fleeting thought to the chart, I was reading left to right like a book and not right to left like a pattern. So I frogged that row.
I set about it again, going quite slowly, as I was meticulously checking my twists for correctness (meticulous= obsessive compulsive....I checked them repeatedly.) I got to the end of the row, finally, and found myself with an excess of 3 stitches. The twist repeats are 3 stitch twists, so I figured I must have missed a twist, despite the utmost obsessive attention I had paid to their correctness. I looked back at my work, and found what I thought was the problem (the presence of the word thought does not bode well here). I frog back to that point, and can't for the life of me find the error. Then it dawns on me.....the math. The counting. In a flash I thought of all the times I had giggled at the Yarn Harlot's hilarious accounts of being foiled by counting. I cast on the wrong number of stitches. In fact, I cast on for 7.072 pattern repeats. Nice. Ranger hat was frogged. To make myself feel quasi useful, I wound a hank of yarn into a center pull ball and called it a night for knitting.
Starting January 20th, I will be heading back to school to earn a teaching credential. I am so excited to be starting on the same day as President Elect Obama. Perhaps I am just a sucker for eloquent, intelligent rhetoric, but his expanded definition of social service and belief in the ability of every American to make the US and the world a better place truly does give me hope. And goosebumps!
Anywho, here are a few shots I took on campus today. Who says California doesn't have a bit of fall color here and there?
I set about it again, going quite slowly, as I was meticulously checking my twists for correctness (meticulous= obsessive compulsive....I checked them repeatedly.) I got to the end of the row, finally, and found myself with an excess of 3 stitches. The twist repeats are 3 stitch twists, so I figured I must have missed a twist, despite the utmost obsessive attention I had paid to their correctness. I looked back at my work, and found what I thought was the problem (the presence of the word thought does not bode well here). I frog back to that point, and can't for the life of me find the error. Then it dawns on me.....the math. The counting. In a flash I thought of all the times I had giggled at the Yarn Harlot's hilarious accounts of being foiled by counting. I cast on the wrong number of stitches. In fact, I cast on for 7.072 pattern repeats. Nice. Ranger hat was frogged. To make myself feel quasi useful, I wound a hank of yarn into a center pull ball and called it a night for knitting.
Starting January 20th, I will be heading back to school to earn a teaching credential. I am so excited to be starting on the same day as President Elect Obama. Perhaps I am just a sucker for eloquent, intelligent rhetoric, but his expanded definition of social service and belief in the ability of every American to make the US and the world a better place truly does give me hope. And goosebumps!
Anywho, here are a few shots I took on campus today. Who says California doesn't have a bit of fall color here and there?
Monday, January 5, 2009
No Pics for You
It's 2009! Woohoo!!!
I'm on a little vacation in Northern California which means a LOT of knitting time. I put the finishing touches on a couple of projects today. The first, a pair of Mad Color Weave socks that I will be gifting to my mom, since the last pair I made her were ridiculously small. Whoops.
The second project is a pair of fingerless gloves of my own design. Sorry, no pictures. I have no way to upload them from my camera. I'm not sure if I will put up a pattern for them. I charted up half of it, but just improvised the other half, so we'll see. They are made with Dream in Color Smooshy though. I highly recommend it. And it only takes up about half a skein. I might try to get a pair of ankle socks out of the other half.
I have nine more days of vacation. Pictures will follow.
Happy New Year!
I'm on a little vacation in Northern California which means a LOT of knitting time. I put the finishing touches on a couple of projects today. The first, a pair of Mad Color Weave socks that I will be gifting to my mom, since the last pair I made her were ridiculously small. Whoops.
The second project is a pair of fingerless gloves of my own design. Sorry, no pictures. I have no way to upload them from my camera. I'm not sure if I will put up a pattern for them. I charted up half of it, but just improvised the other half, so we'll see. They are made with Dream in Color Smooshy though. I highly recommend it. And it only takes up about half a skein. I might try to get a pair of ankle socks out of the other half.
I have nine more days of vacation. Pictures will follow.
Happy New Year!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
FO: Claire's Cowl
FO: Claire's Cowl
Pattern: Improvised from the Twisted Plait Stitch in my new stitch dictionary Knitting Stitches by Mary Webb
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Shocking Pink (kettle dyed), about 1/2 a skein
Needles: US 10/ 6mm bamboo straights
A belated Christmas gift for my little sister, this cowl is soft, squishy, and extremely pink! The Malabrigo colors are super saturated and gorgeous, and I seem to be drawn to their ultra brights.
I used a single crochet join to make an elegant ridge where I joined the fabric. Single crochet does not work if you favor a smooth, invisible join, but I like the braided look of a single crochet edging.
I cast on 41 stitches, knit in the pattern until the piece was 19ish inches, cast off, and joined! Piece 'o cake pattern. Not even really a pattern, just slapping a stitch pattern onto the basic cowl template. It was an enjoyable, quick knit, and I cannot say enough about the how amazing Malabrigo feels on the needles! No wonder there are Ravelry groups dedicated to knitting one Malabrigo project per month!
I still have about half a ball of the Malabrigo leftover, perhaps for shocking pink cowl part deux!
Another shot of the crochet seam:
Some eye candy shots of my newest WIP, the infamous Striped Noro Scarf:
Pattern: Improvised from the Twisted Plait Stitch in my new stitch dictionary Knitting Stitches by Mary Webb
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Shocking Pink (kettle dyed), about 1/2 a skein
Needles: US 10/ 6mm bamboo straights
A belated Christmas gift for my little sister, this cowl is soft, squishy, and extremely pink! The Malabrigo colors are super saturated and gorgeous, and I seem to be drawn to their ultra brights.
I used a single crochet join to make an elegant ridge where I joined the fabric. Single crochet does not work if you favor a smooth, invisible join, but I like the braided look of a single crochet edging.
I cast on 41 stitches, knit in the pattern until the piece was 19ish inches, cast off, and joined! Piece 'o cake pattern. Not even really a pattern, just slapping a stitch pattern onto the basic cowl template. It was an enjoyable, quick knit, and I cannot say enough about the how amazing Malabrigo feels on the needles! No wonder there are Ravelry groups dedicated to knitting one Malabrigo project per month!
I still have about half a ball of the Malabrigo leftover, perhaps for shocking pink cowl part deux!
Another shot of the crochet seam:
Some eye candy shots of my newest WIP, the infamous Striped Noro Scarf: 
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