Fun Fact: I knit Continental, because it is so fast. I learned to purl continental as well, because I could never figure out how to purl english-style, and also because it is so fast.
My continental purling is also super loose, and makes my stitches look like...well, crap. Exhibit A would be the floppy, giant pieces of that frumpy cardigan.
I now realize that all that trauma could have been avoided had I just taken the time to figure out english purling, because when I do it that way, the stitches are tight and even and look totally professional. d'oh.
In Conclusion: Thank you mom, I learned something new from you! Speed is not always everything, and maybe now pieced garments will no longer be anathema to me.
In actual project news, I've washed and blocked my swatch for the ravelympics mittens, and I hope the gauge turned out right because I definitely don't have any smaller needles. eek
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
BLOCKING:
This is the first time I have properly washed and blocked a lace scarf (the Juliet being my first lace scarf), and after leaving it unblocked and soft and cushy for months I finally got up the courage to bite the bullet and do it.
Here is a before pic:
I have learned several things:
1) This silk gets incredibly stinky when wet. Hopefully the smell will dissipate when it dries, good lord.
2) There are never enough pins, not in the entire world.
3) No-one will be able to iron shirts in the morning.
4) Despite not being wool, this pattern still opens up LIKE CRAZY.
Here is a before pic:
I have learned several things:
1) This silk gets incredibly stinky when wet. Hopefully the smell will dissipate when it dries, good lord.
2) There are never enough pins, not in the entire world.
3) No-one will be able to iron shirts in the morning.
4) Despite not being wool, this pattern still opens up LIKE CRAZY.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
WIP Roundup
Okay. This is just madness. I have a psychological inability to finish knitting projects within a reasonable amount of time. Here's a list:
Raha Scarf: I need to weave the ends in, wash and block, and mail to Emily. This was supposed to be done like a YEAR ago. shame!
St. James Sweater: Technically this is finished, since I sewed a ribbon into the collar (for maximum stability and awesomeness) and wore it on christmas eve. But! I still need to wash it and block it, which I'm totally afraid of since it fits so well as is. ah me. And I need a decent picture of the sweater in action.
Triinu Scarf: I haven't worked on this in a while, mainly due to holiday madness, but it's such a complicated pattern that I need absolute quiet in order to focus. So I don't see this one being finished any time soon. I have about six or seven inches of scarf done. it's gorgeous, and I love doing the lacework and working with that yarn, it's just so intensive. a rainy day project. :)
Socks: no more progress since tuesday, I still have a couple inches of ribbing to go on sock #2. But I brought it in today to work on during my break.
And because I just needed something new in my life, I've started a Ballband Dishcloth, as featured in Mason-Dixon Knitting and a million other places. I love the pattern, it looks way more sophisticated than it is, and the colors just make me alert and excited. Although when I'm madly chugging away at near-midnight, the color combo of deep magenta and seafoam green can get a little too hot, and my eyes are really tired this morning. smaaart.
In addition to all this there's several other finished projects that don't have photos up on ravelry and I feel like a slacker. this will get done! ...Eventually!
Raha Scarf: I need to weave the ends in, wash and block, and mail to Emily. This was supposed to be done like a YEAR ago. shame!
St. James Sweater: Technically this is finished, since I sewed a ribbon into the collar (for maximum stability and awesomeness) and wore it on christmas eve. But! I still need to wash it and block it, which I'm totally afraid of since it fits so well as is. ah me. And I need a decent picture of the sweater in action.
Triinu Scarf: I haven't worked on this in a while, mainly due to holiday madness, but it's such a complicated pattern that I need absolute quiet in order to focus. So I don't see this one being finished any time soon. I have about six or seven inches of scarf done. it's gorgeous, and I love doing the lacework and working with that yarn, it's just so intensive. a rainy day project. :)
Socks: no more progress since tuesday, I still have a couple inches of ribbing to go on sock #2. But I brought it in today to work on during my break.
And because I just needed something new in my life, I've started a Ballband Dishcloth, as featured in Mason-Dixon Knitting and a million other places. I love the pattern, it looks way more sophisticated than it is, and the colors just make me alert and excited. Although when I'm madly chugging away at near-midnight, the color combo of deep magenta and seafoam green can get a little too hot, and my eyes are really tired this morning. smaaart.
In addition to all this there's several other finished projects that don't have photos up on ravelry and I feel like a slacker. this will get done! ...Eventually!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Knit Night strikes again!
I am much improved in my knitting-while-talking prowess, or perhaps just while doing things like K2P2 rib, because I finished Sock #1 during tonight's get-together. Hooray! and it fits perfectly! I'm thinking duplicate stitch to reinforce the heel.
Now I have about three inches of ribbing to go on Sock #2 and I will be FINISHED. Omg. I have ventured into the abyss, and it is awesome. But I have a million other things I want to do before I tackle another, more fancier pair of socks. But still. I feel accomplished.
Now I have about three inches of ribbing to go on Sock #2 and I will be FINISHED. Omg. I have ventured into the abyss, and it is awesome. But I have a million other things I want to do before I tackle another, more fancier pair of socks. But still. I feel accomplished.
Friday, January 8, 2010
SOCKS.
I have ventured into the abyss. Toe-up socks using Wendy Johnson's recipe here, only I'm using a figure-8 cast-on because I have some familiarity with that method from top-down hats, and that provisional cast-on stuff weirds me out a little. I started yesterday mid-afternoon, and so far I've got Sock 1 up to the ankle, and I'm about an inch or so past the toe of Sock 2, and I'll do the ribbing when they're both mostly done to make sure I have enough yarn. I stayed up until about 1:30 trying to figure out the short-row heel, and I finally found a tutorial online that had nice big pictures and used continental method. (woohoo!)
These socks are so comfy. The heel is a little weak, and the next pair of sock I do will be reinforced...but this is my first effort! I feel good about it! And they fit perfectly, and I always love when that happens with my knitting.
photos to come later, once I get them off mom's camera. ^_^
These socks are so comfy. The heel is a little weak, and the next pair of sock I do will be reinforced...but this is my first effort! I feel good about it! And they fit perfectly, and I always love when that happens with my knitting.
photos to come later, once I get them off mom's camera. ^_^
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Happy New Year!
The Christmas Knitting fizzled out, which was not entirely unexpected, given how much of a ridiculous procrastinator I am, and also because I spent the holidays with a cold (since like Thanksgiving) and haven't felt like knitting, and I'm really only now getting over the congestion to the point where I feel like I can consume dairy products again without horrible consequences. ...Not that that has anything to do with knitting.
the point is: I finished the cowl, which is lovely, but Ronnie's hat came out WAY too huge, even for his giant head, and that took enough time that I couldn't do fingerless gloves for Jenny. meeeh. I'll either keep the cowl for myself or save it for next year, and I think the hat will be frogged and started over at some point. I did manage to make some snazzy and adorable knitted ball ornaments for John and Jenny, since they have a tree but few ornaments, and two cats. Super cute. Those were accomplished while blazing through seasons 1 and 2.0 of Battlestar Galatica with dad. hahaha! (And of course in my haste I forgot to take pictures of the ornaments, so I will have to make more to show on Ravelry. heh)
the main point of this post, however, is that my comrades at work have started an official staff reading contest for the year, and I'll be contributing my reads at UCPL Book Challenge, and probably posting more extensive reviews here. ^_^
Right now I need to finish: The Child Thief, Jenny's book, The Austere Academy, and I started reading A Study in Scarlet but I might hold off on that until I get the nice massive shiny Annotated Sherlock Holmes novels. (yes, I loved the movie and I plan on reading like all the stories, if possible. I am crazy.) I already have volume 2 of the short stories at home, and I picked up a crappy copy from children's dept. that has the first two novels in it, so that'll hold me over for now.
My thoughts so far: This is such a wonderful style, and so easy to read and not horrible like...Dickens. It's going to be fun. Poor crippled Watson.
the point is: I finished the cowl, which is lovely, but Ronnie's hat came out WAY too huge, even for his giant head, and that took enough time that I couldn't do fingerless gloves for Jenny. meeeh. I'll either keep the cowl for myself or save it for next year, and I think the hat will be frogged and started over at some point. I did manage to make some snazzy and adorable knitted ball ornaments for John and Jenny, since they have a tree but few ornaments, and two cats. Super cute. Those were accomplished while blazing through seasons 1 and 2.0 of Battlestar Galatica with dad. hahaha! (And of course in my haste I forgot to take pictures of the ornaments, so I will have to make more to show on Ravelry. heh)
the main point of this post, however, is that my comrades at work have started an official staff reading contest for the year, and I'll be contributing my reads at UCPL Book Challenge, and probably posting more extensive reviews here. ^_^
Right now I need to finish: The Child Thief, Jenny's book, The Austere Academy, and I started reading A Study in Scarlet but I might hold off on that until I get the nice massive shiny Annotated Sherlock Holmes novels. (yes, I loved the movie and I plan on reading like all the stories, if possible. I am crazy.) I already have volume 2 of the short stories at home, and I picked up a crappy copy from children's dept. that has the first two novels in it, so that'll hold me over for now.
My thoughts so far: This is such a wonderful style, and so easy to read and not horrible like...Dickens. It's going to be fun. Poor crippled Watson.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Ah, Productivity.
So, This weekend I've made a ton of progress on Leslie's cowl, which is great because maybe this year I'll actually be able to do knitted holiday presents for people! huzzah. Well, I'm starting with my siblings since there's only three of them, and perhaps in years to come I'll have amped up my knitting speed to be able to gift for more people. As it stands, I have a good plan set out, and I'm liking this New New Shale pattern enough that it doesn't bore me.
I got through about three repeats while watching tonight's Mad Men, which was fandamntastic, and much more emotionally satisfying than last week's episode. I loved Betty in this. And I looooooved Joan. I always love Joan. but ACK I am dead from Jon Hamm pathos. That man is a powerful talent. eesh.
What I'm most proud of this weekend (which was largely spent at Innsbrook with the family for my grandma's 80th birthday party, and that was great fun for everyone, I love those folks) is that I've ventured further into the epic world of...I don't know, urban homesteading? DIY cooking? Being Awesome? whatever you want to call it. Mom's been listening to this audiobook called I Love Pie! (great title) and has been convinced that we need lard in the house. Finally! She thought I was crazy when I started talking about cooking with lard earlier in the summer. Granted, I may have been foaming at the mouth a little, but that is only because the thought of delicious flaky biscuits and pie crusts and dumplings and cornbread et cetera is enough to drive anyone mad. But I digress. I now have a partner in fat-rendering crime, and to this effect we took a trip to Whole Foods (yes, yes, more like Whole Paycheck) after dropping off the bags and whatnot from Innsbrook and dithered around buying bread and various kinds of chocolate and looking at what kind of shortening they offered in their baking aisle. Mom chickened out at the meat counter, so I had to nut up or shut up (thank you, Zombieland, I will be saying that....forever, now) and lo, asked one of the butchers if they had pork fat. We ended up taking home a pound and a half of fat scraps, quite a bit of which was actually meat and my goodness it's a shame how much food goes to waste in a supermarket world. they were going to throw this stuff out! And I got it for free! FREE. And I know it's not ideal for making lard, but this is more of a trial run, in my mind.
We used the oven method, cutting up the fat (and separating a lot of the meat out for use in stews or whatever later) and putting it in the oven at 250 for...a couple hours, more like two and a half. Since this wasn't leaf lard or pure back fat, there wasn't a whole lot of lard rendered, probably about...1/4 of a cup. But it WORKED. And it's sitting in the fridge now, snowy white and ready for pie-making, which mom is all excited to start, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. More exciting still, I have a whole mess of pork cracklings which I plan to put in the green beans for Thanksgiving, unless I use them for something (or hell, just eat them) sooner than that.
To those of you naysayers who are going "LARD AUGH THE HORROR," including my dad and my girlfriend, I say to you: Shut your pie-hole. I am going to make kickass pastry with this lard, and complainers and folks who have bought into the actually quite unproven idea that saturated fats cause heart disease and are evil evil evil to the core but gosh does that do wonders for corporations that refine and sell vegetable oil OH WAIT ARTIFICIAL TRANS FATS..well, complainers are not going to get any biscuits. or Pie. Shazam.
I got through about three repeats while watching tonight's Mad Men, which was fandamntastic, and much more emotionally satisfying than last week's episode. I loved Betty in this. And I looooooved Joan. I always love Joan. but ACK I am dead from Jon Hamm pathos. That man is a powerful talent. eesh.
What I'm most proud of this weekend (which was largely spent at Innsbrook with the family for my grandma's 80th birthday party, and that was great fun for everyone, I love those folks) is that I've ventured further into the epic world of...I don't know, urban homesteading? DIY cooking? Being Awesome? whatever you want to call it. Mom's been listening to this audiobook called I Love Pie! (great title) and has been convinced that we need lard in the house. Finally! She thought I was crazy when I started talking about cooking with lard earlier in the summer. Granted, I may have been foaming at the mouth a little, but that is only because the thought of delicious flaky biscuits and pie crusts and dumplings and cornbread et cetera is enough to drive anyone mad. But I digress. I now have a partner in fat-rendering crime, and to this effect we took a trip to Whole Foods (yes, yes, more like Whole Paycheck) after dropping off the bags and whatnot from Innsbrook and dithered around buying bread and various kinds of chocolate and looking at what kind of shortening they offered in their baking aisle. Mom chickened out at the meat counter, so I had to nut up or shut up (thank you, Zombieland, I will be saying that....forever, now) and lo, asked one of the butchers if they had pork fat. We ended up taking home a pound and a half of fat scraps, quite a bit of which was actually meat and my goodness it's a shame how much food goes to waste in a supermarket world. they were going to throw this stuff out! And I got it for free! FREE. And I know it's not ideal for making lard, but this is more of a trial run, in my mind.
We used the oven method, cutting up the fat (and separating a lot of the meat out for use in stews or whatever later) and putting it in the oven at 250 for...a couple hours, more like two and a half. Since this wasn't leaf lard or pure back fat, there wasn't a whole lot of lard rendered, probably about...1/4 of a cup. But it WORKED. And it's sitting in the fridge now, snowy white and ready for pie-making, which mom is all excited to start, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. More exciting still, I have a whole mess of pork cracklings which I plan to put in the green beans for Thanksgiving, unless I use them for something (or hell, just eat them) sooner than that.
To those of you naysayers who are going "LARD AUGH THE HORROR," including my dad and my girlfriend, I say to you: Shut your pie-hole. I am going to make kickass pastry with this lard, and complainers and folks who have bought into the actually quite unproven idea that saturated fats cause heart disease and are evil evil evil to the core but gosh does that do wonders for corporations that refine and sell vegetable oil OH WAIT ARTIFICIAL TRANS FATS..well, complainers are not going to get any biscuits. or Pie. Shazam.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)