Is spinning the new knitting? And other short musings on fiber arts

Is everyone spinning but me? I see spinning everywhere lately. Cosy is teaching classes. Every time I go into Natural Stitches, they have more new drop spindles and roving. Knitty Gritty has aired multiple episodes about it.

Is this the trendy new thing, or the natural evolution of the knitting craze, as knitters and crocheters take a greater interest in where their materials come from and want more control over the final product?

The irony in this is that I have no strong interest in spinning, and yet I have access to a plethora of materials. My mother has an art degree and her minor concentration was fiber arts. She mainly focused on weaving and felt work, but she has a spinning wheel, a few drop spindles, a hand carder, a carding machine, huge rubbermaid storage containers of roving, plus many more containers of yarn that she spun herself and never used. She went back to ceramics, so all this stuff is just sitting in storage and I could borrow it at the drop of a hat. The question is, do I want to go down that road and get into what I would consider an entirely new hobby?

In semi-related fiber musings, have I been living under a rock in terms of the level of vitriol and hate towards crochet? I've always been aware of the subtle (or perhaps not so subtle) bias against it: I worked at the Knit and Bead, not the Knit and Crochet and Bead, and we had only one employee who could crochet worth a darn. One day, a regular knitting customer came in to select a project for her daughter-in-law. The customer announced "She crochets but I love her dearly anyway" and we all laughed and then looked at some beautiful hand-carved crochet hooks. So I was aware of the red-headed stepchild thing, but my goodness, have you all ever seen anything at the level of this outburst when Knitting Daily dared to feature one blog entry about crochet? Sweet merciful crap, people. And I'm told that this is tame in comparison to other boards!

Last FO of 2007/First FO of 2008

Out of nowhere, yesterday afternoon during The Toddler's nap, I started whipping through the pattern repeats on Foliage. Other than my barely started Embossed Leaves sock, I've never done lace before and I've never knit from a chart before. When I started it, I was so afraid I was going to screw this up that I would only work on it when I was alone, no baby, no husband, to distract me, and if you have a baby and/or a husband, you know that time is rare.

Then suddenly I realized I could do this. If I could do all those complicated cross stitch charts in my other Crafty Grad School Period, I could certainly handle a few yarn-overs and double decreases. The Foliage pattern is pretty straightforward, and it hides the few mistakes I made well.

When The Toddler went to bed, I realized I had only one set of pattern repeats plus the ribbing to do, so I set to it, determined (particularly after The Debacle that was Christmas Knitting 2007) to have just one more thing off the needles for the New Year. We watched The Departed and I made it through the pattern repeats. We watched an old tivo'd episode of Kitchen Nightmares and I almost finished the ribbing. Just as the ball dropped I realized I still had 20 stitches still left to bind off and the ends to weave in! Shoot, I almost made it.*

But here it is! Foliage knit with Malabrigo Merino Worsted in the Forest colorway. I used size 7 and size 5 US needles as called for in the pattern. This pattern is not suited to the blunt Clover needles I have and in fact went much faster when I switched to my size 5 Knitpicks Harmony needles. It's a hard pattern on the hands, since you are using a smaller needle than recommended for Malabrigo. Between that and the second pair of Malabrigo Fetchings I started for my mother the other night, my hands are pretty sore.

A glance at Ravelry tells me I completed eighteen projects in 2007, not counting the umpty million Mason-Dixon bibs, burp cloths, and warshrags that I refuse to enter individually. I have five WIPs right now thanks to the Christmas Knitting that is still hanging over my head. So much for my rule that I have to finish something before I cast on for another.

* And yes, since starting Ravelry, I realize I must be an extraordinarily slow knitter. I refuse to blame the fact that I throw. It must be something else.

Happy New Year!

This is not a yarn diet, but....

I have been thinking an awful lot about my stash since Ravelry

• Forced me/gave me a place to organize and catalog what I have.
• Enabled me to buy more by showing me new yarns, new projects, and lovely links and discounts to new retailers.
• Hosted discussions about materialism and stash, stash-busting, and yarn diets.

If you’ve read any knit blogs at all, I’m sure you’ve seen this by now: The World’s Biggest Stash. When the pictures were posted on Ravelry, I thought a person could write a sociological study on the reactions knitters had to it. Some thought it was the greatest thing ever and wished she could aspire to such a stash. Some thought the Stash Owner was a mentally ill hoarder on the level of that poor woman on Oprah who hoarded 10,000 square feet of stuff into a 3000 square foot house. And some used the picture to spin off threads about how “excessive” stash was yet another product of the materialism that runs rampant in this country. All very interesting stuff that made me examine how I felt about my own stash.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the very idea that someone else gets to pronounce judgment on how much yarn someone has is disconcerting. If I feel comfortable with my stash, it’s no one else’s business but mine and the person I share my home and my finances with. I actually think that woman's stash is awesome, a true artist's studio. And yet as we get to the time of year where we make all kinds of good-intentioned resolutions, I am going to closely examine my stash and where my yarn money goes. I don’t feel comfortable with how many posts in this blog have received the label of “yarn shopping” this year. This is not a diet. This is not exactly a year of stash-busting either. But for now, here are the rules.

I may purchase yarn if

• I have a gift card (which I do, both for Natural Stitches and Jimmy Beans Wool, go me).
• It is needed for a gift and I have looked in my stash first.
• It is something I am totally and completely sure I will not be able to get at a later date and I absolutely love it (keeping in mind that I am a member of the 2008 Rockin Sock Club and the Chewy Spaghetti Blue Plate Special and if that doesn’t satisfy my jonesing for “new and exclusive” I don’t know what will).
• It is a special occasion, like the Pittsburgh Knitting Festival.
  
• It is Malabrigo (sorry, I can’t stay away from this crack. I will try, though).

I will try to stash-bust in the following ways

• I will haul out the stash and put it where I can see and access it, not stuffed in one cabinet, thus preventing me from throwing up my hands and saying “I have no suitable hat yarn” and running off to the store. I will also be honest about the projects I plan to complete and put all the yarn I have for them into my Ravelry stash.
• I will knit from stash throughout the year, interspersing large projects with small, and putting projects away into a “Long Term Planning Box” ala The Yarn Harlot, thus preventing a yarn binge in October and November and subsequent frantic knitting for Christmas 2008 (because, dude, I still haven’t finished Christmas 2007).
• I will embark on some charity knitting such as the Dulaan Project.

Okay, so I’m posting this on my blog to keep myself honest. Let’s see how long I can go.

PS: I want a new knitting bag, one that does not scream "Here is my cheap knitting bag from Joann's!" (okay, I actually like my cheap Joann's bag, but I want something I can use in all grownup, professional situations and still have some knitting on hand). Jordana Paige? Namaste? Everything is getting mixed reviews on Ravelry and I don't know what to do.

Thumbless Toddler Mittens: In Which I Attempt to "Design"

I’ve been on a mission, in between the frenzy of Christmas knitting, to find the Perfect Toddler Mitten pattern. My requirements:

• Must be easy to put on a moving toddler
• Must stay on said moving toddler
• Must not be easy to lose

It turns out that finding this pattern was harder than I thought, in part because I don’t know about the rest of you, but I cannot get my squirmy toddler’s thumb to fit into a thumb gusset. I just needed something to stick over his hands so they’d stay warm while we’re out walking with the stroller.

I ended up adapting Louisa Harding’s pattern from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. The original is knit with a light DK weight yarn and worked flat and then seamed. My version is knit with a light worsted and converted to be worked in the round. I don’t know if my changes are substantial enough to be considered a new pattern (please weigh in on this in the comments section if you can), so with apologies to Louisa Harding, here is my adaptation. This is my first substantial attempt at changing a pattern/design, so please be gentle.

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash (I used two colors, you can use whatever strikes your fancy)
Needles: Size 4 US DPNs, Size 7 US DPNs
Gauge: Not sure it matters for toddler mittens!

Cuff
With Size 4 needles, CO 32 stitches in Color 1, place marker, and join for working in the round.

Work in K2, P2 ribbing for three inches (this creates a cuff that can extend down the wrist or can be folded as desired).

Increase round: Work 4 stitches in rib, M1 around.

Hand
Change to Size 7 needles (and Color 2 if desired). Knit around until hand is just short of desired length. (To determine this, hold your squirmy toddler down and measure from wrist to fingertip. Then let said Toddler wander off with your new Lantern Moon sheep tape measure, which he will then promptly put in the cat’s water dish.)

Decrease for top of Hand
Change back to Color 1 if desired.

Place a second marker in the middle of the round.

Round 1: K3tog tbl, knit to 3 stitches before marker 2, K3tog, K3tog tbl, K to last three stitches of the round, K3tog.

Round 2: Knit

Rounds 3 and 4: Repeat Rounds 1 and 2.

Round 5: K2tog tbl, knit to 2 stitches before marker 2, K2tog, K2tog tbl, K to last two stitches of the round, K2tog.

Round 6: Knit

Rounds 7 and 8: Repeat Rounds 5 and 6

Cut yarn, thread tail through remaining stitches and secure.

This is a rough prototype, so please let me know if you see any mistakes. My plan is to knit the second the same as the first and join them with a three stitch I-cord.

Of course, when I showed the mitten to The Toddler, he shook his head and walked off. Your Toddler May Vary.

Malabrigo is the New Crack

Crafts 055,
originally uploaded by bookscatsyarn.

I took a break from Christmas Knitting to cast on for Foliage, from last fall's Knitty. I love Malabrigo. I love the softness. I love the colors. I even love the price. I can't walk out of Natural Stitches without a hank of it in my bag.

So how's that Christmas Knitting coming along?

1. Gigantic Garter Rib Socks: ALL DONE!
   
2. Clapotis: I don't think it's going to happen before Christmas. I got way too ambitious with this one, and when I realized how bad it was getting, I confessed to my mom what was happening and she ordered me to put it aside and finish everyone else's gifts.
   
3. Fetching and Calorimetry: ALL DONE!
4. Thuja: Despite The Toddler, I should be able to finish these tonight or tomorrow. I just have one foot and toe to complete.
   
5. Gentlemen's Fancy Socks: Yep, I have the yarn.
6. Child's Sweater Vest: Have I mentioned I have the yarn?

So obviously, these final two are not going to be even cast on before Christmas. I whipped up a pair of Men's Handwarmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts to stand in for the socks. For Henry's vest, I started a pair of mittens adapted from Louisa Harding's Natural Knits for Babies. I'm actually kind of excited about these; I've changed the pattern so much it might almost be an original design that I'll share here after Christmas.

I've been thinking a lot about stash and projects for the New Year, and avoiding this situation next year (!), so look for entries on that soon.

I turned my back just for a minute....

....and The Toddler pulled out two of the three DPNs on my Thuja sock. And put the stitch marker in his mouth.

You would think I would have learned by now.

I'd update the status of my Christmas Knitting, but I think I hear The Toddler playing in the toilet. More later.

Going to the Crazy Place, aka Christmas Knitting

GAH!

You know how the Yarn Harlot talks about going to the crazy place around this time each year? I fear I am going there too. Here's what I have to do before Christmas:

1. Gigantic Garter Rib Socks: I just turned the heel last night. I have to knit the too-long foot to match the other one, and this project should be done by the end of the weekend.
2. Clapotis: I'm on the 5th repeat on the straight section. Why am I knitting this again, again? The Sheep Shop yarn is really beautiful and lovely to work with, though.
3. Fetching and Calorimetry: I bought the yarn yesterday at Natural Stitches. Have I mentioned I've been there three times since the shop opened less than two weeks ago?
4. Thuja: Uh, I have the yarn.
5. Gentlemen's Fancy Socks: Yep, I have the yarn.
6. Child's Sweater Vest: Have I mentioned I have the yarn?

Anyone else at the Crazy Place yet?

My knitting is making me really happy

Knitting is always pleasurable for me, otherwise I wouldn't do it. But every once and awhile, all good forces in the Knitting Universe collide, thus making the experience truly wonderful.

This tree is what I see every morning when I wake up:


Now this is the sock I'm making:


Isn't that wonderful? I know the pictures don't do it justice, but the beautiful colorway of this sock yarn is the exact same color of the trees outside. The variation, the subtle shift in hue, it's all there. This gorgeous stuff is Dream in Color Smooshy in the Chinatown Apple colorway. The pattern is Embossed Leaves from Interweave's Favorite Socks. Both yarn and pattern are now my new favorites. I know I have no business knitting non-gift items at this time of year, but this project is truly a pleasure.

Knitting for Plimoth Plantation: Happy Thanksgiving!

Ever since all those "[insert historical period here] House" shows on PBS started coming out, my fantasy job has been to be one of those historical consultants that they use to do things like decorate the house, provide recipes and stock the kitchen, determine what the family will wear, etc. In fact, the spark of my dissertation came from my obsession with 1940s House and "Kitchen Front" recipes. My #2 fantasy job is to be one of those women who walk around Sturbridge Village knitting stockings and answering questions.

And now, just in time for Thanksgiving, a very small part of #2 has come true. I am going to be a volunteer knitter, making stockings for the historical re-enactors at Plimoth Plantation. Bill saw the call for volunteers linked into Ravelry and passed on the information to me. I'm going to be knitting plain stockings to start with, but the idea of knitting the fancy ones are intriguing. I'm such a geek, but I'm so, so pleased about this.

Speaking of stockings, I started my first foray into lace socks, casting on for Embossed Leaves. No, my Enormous Man Socks aren't done, but 1. I'm bored with them, and 2. I'm paranoid I'm not going to get the extra hank I haggled for on Ravelry. Here are some more sock skills I need to learn to complete these successfully:

• How to keep track of where I am on the chart.
• How to prevent huge, gaping ladders when the first stitch on each needle is a purl stitch.
• How to recover my project and pick up tiny dropped stitches after stupidly leaving the sock project where the toddler can get at it.

Could this sock be any bigger?

Crafts 013,
originally uploaded by bookscatsyarn.

Seriously? I mean, seriously...wow. I'm knitting for a man's size 11, and this is the sock that never ends. From what I'm learning on Ravelry, socks need to be knit at a really tight gauge, much tighter than what the label on the yarn suggests. I'm knitting these, made of a fairly thick fingering (KnitPicks Memories), on a size 1.5 DPN set. I'm not sure what my gauge is, but the stitches are very, very tiny, and I've had to beg for a third skein of this colorway on Ravelry. Combine that with a mindless but fiddly garter rib pattern and you have Sock Boredom kicking in pretty quickly. One down, one to go!

I'm having a really good time knitting with friends lately. Last week, Amy held an informal "Take Your Knitting Up a Notch" class and wrote a hat pattern for three friends who knew how to knit and purl but not much else. We went to Bloomin' Yarns, hereafter known as the Sock Crack Den, where I picked up two different colorways of Claudia Handpainted fingering for gifts. Then yesterday I met up with Lisa, Beth, and Michelle and ended up taking an impromptu fieldtrip to the newest LYS, Natural Stitches, where I bought yarn to do Backyard Leaves. The Cascade Wall is really fantastic, and the store has the best Malabrigo Worsted selection I've ever seen, so I will definitely be back with my husband to choose yarn for that sweater I've been promising him for years.

And also? When I worked at PKAB, I never had a stash. I never understood the concept of a stash. Sure, I worked on more than one project at a time, but I bought the yarn for projects as I went along. Today I am merrily entering my purchases into my Ravelry stash and it tells me "You are entering your 78th stashed yarn!" Where did all this yarn come from?

Posts that describe yesterday better than I could

Melissa and Amy summarize yesterday's "Knitting Bee."

All I can say is God bless Panera for not kicking us out for loudly discussing breast pumps, lactation consultants, Jenny McCarthy, controversial semi-famous in-laws and many other interesting subjects. ;)

Look! I can finish projects and blog about them, too!

Long time, no blog. I'm going to have to do an Amy-style list to catch up.

My new knitting rule is that for each project I want to start, I have to finish a WIP. My hope is that this will combat Startitis; if I have to slow down and make myself finish something before casting something else on, this should (ha ha) prevent me from starting projects on a whim.

So, SOCKS! Here's what I've learned:

• Socks are so much fun to do, with the magical turning of the heel.
• There's pretty much no finishing whatsover, which means that I can complete them and not have them stuffed in the bottom of my knitting bag for over a year like certain projects we will not mention.
• One can purchase all the sock yarn one wants because sock yarn doesn't count in a yarn diet*.
• Socks should be knitted on needles much smaller than you think because loose socks will wear out.

* In a fit of madness, I joined Blue Moon Fibers Socks that Rock 2008 and the Chewy Spaghetti Blue Plate Special Club. So that's $300+ worth of yarn that "doesn't count." Hmm.

ANOUK!
I still think this pattern is the cutest thing going in knitting. But I have to say, I am disappointed with the yarn and have my doubts about how well this sizes up. I'd knit it again for a newborn, with something with a little bounce in it like Cotton-Ease, in a heartbeat.

Many thanks to Lisa for doing some of the finishing work for me, and anyone who wants to join our Finishing Club, in which we trade projects we're tired of looking at, is welcome!

zomg! I turned a heel!

Wow. I get it now, I really get it.

I was forced to take a little break from Anouk (I need to reprint the chart, and the printer is on the third floor, and it wakes the baby, yadda yadda) so I picked up my sock again, which had been languishing as a boring tube for months. I'd started the heel flap at Beth's, and while zipping through my tivo'd Ugly Betty and Gray's Anatomy, I followed the Yarn Harlot's directions from Knitting Rules and turned the heel.


It was amazing. It was magical. People have said not to try to make sense of turning the heel ahead of time, just do what the pattern says and it will turn out. I never believed them because who the heck does a pattern without visualizing what you're supposed to do? But it's true. You just slip and knit and purl and suddenly, a heel!


Can you tell I'm really excited about this? I broke a DPN*, messed up somehow picking up stitches so I have two holes in various parts of the gusset, and discovered that the whole sock is full of ladders. But I've unlocked the mystery! I can do it!





* I've been using Crystal Palace DPNs and after this latest needle-breakage, I've come to the conclusion that long, fine bamboo ones just won't work for me. I need either the Lantern Moon Sock Sticks (ahem, stocking stuffer, ahem) or the set of Knitpicks Harmony DPNs with extra included in case of breakage or loss. (And yes, I realize that the third option is to learn to do it on two circs or Magic Loop, but one new skill at a time, people.)





PS. I went on a lovely yarn crawl with Lisa last week, where we hit Yarns Unlimited and Bloomin' Yarns.

Anouk musings

So I've been having a heck of a time getting gauge on Anouk. The recommended size 6 needle gives me 5.5 stitches per inch. Going up a size gives me 5.25 stitches per inch. The gauge on the original pattern is 4.5 stitches per inch. On Ravelry, my BFF Kate Gilbert told me she thinks Cascade must have reformulated the Pima Tencel since she originally designed and knit the pattern.

Oh well. So I plowed ahead and knit the front of the largest size with size 7 needles. It looks HUGE. The drape is nice, but the fabric is a tad bit see-through, and I wonder how on earth it's going to hang on a big baby or toddler, and I'm starting to wonder if my BFF Kate Gilbert actually tried a size other than the smallest one on a real baby. Plus, I don't know if it's me or the pattern (I suspect it's me), but the directions as written for the shoulders are backwards. Still, it's a super-cute design. I'll finish it and see how it works; if it doesn't, I'll rip it out and start over again on smaller needles. With any luck, I'll have it finished in time for Melissa to take with her when they visit Sophia, and by then, I hope the Guatamalan government can get its act together and let the adoptions in limbo go forward before the deadline.


In other news, my sister tried on her Tempting! We still need to get a nice ribbon, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

To Knit or Not to Knit

....knit Christmas gifts this year, that is. If I am going to do it, now is the time to decide.

Pros:

1. Economical! I can combine the Christmas budget with my Knitting budget and get hours and hours of entertainment.
2. Stash Busting!
3. Ravelry Queue! I can justify knitting those crapzillion scarves I put on my Ravelry queue. I can add them to my finished projects and have a sense of accomplishment.
4. Appreciative Recipients! I don't knit for "Muggles" anymore, so I know the recipients will like what I make for them. (Shameful Confession: I knit a Haiku each for my husband's niece and nephew but didn't give them to them when I realized my sister-in-law wouldn't appreciate what they were and they'd get trashed.)

Cons:

1. Not Economical!
2. Not Stash-Busting!
3. Horribly Time Consuming!

Here's why: I am, for some unknown and unfortunate reason, fixated on making a Clapotis for my mother (yeah, I know that's sooo 2004 and moreover, I vowed never to make one again). I have no Stash suitable for a Clap; I would have to buy more yarn. Hmmm.

In addition, I have horrible visions of me being consumed by Holiday Knitting, ala the Yarn Harlot, and family members opening boxes of half-finished projects and random scraps of yarn.

In other news, I have the back and right front of the Tilted Duster completed. It's a quick knit, but I think I messed up the shoulders. Sigh.

I joined a KAL

I've never done this before! I joined the Tilted Duster KAL, thinking I could use all the help I could get on this one. I feel like I'm making my first grown-up sweater, which is odd considering how long I've been knitting.

I allowed myself to cast on last night because I'd finished almost all the projects I started last summer in my Fit of Startitis. Tempting is now completed except for threading the ribbon through! I'm not 100% happy with it and I've decided that I just don't have the finishing skills to deal with those underarm seams. But to a non-knitter, it probably looks fine, and I'll post a picture when my sister tries it on.

I also swatched for Anouk, and I can't quite get gauge without it looking too open and airy. I'm terrible at this gauge thing, but if I'm getting 5 stitches per inch instead of 4.5, would that really be so bad for a baby garment? It would just be slightly smaller than it's supposed to be, right? Or maybe I should just try again with bamboo needles instead of my Denises. I know I sound like a complete idiot, but since I stopped working at a LYS, all common sense I had about gauge seems to have left my brain. Sigh.

Still more finished projects

The Placket Pullover from LMKG and the Moss Grid Handtowel from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I'm not entirely thrilled with either one of them. Both could certainly benefit from some blocking!

More Finished Projects

I've noticed this blog has become more about what I'd like to make and not so much about things I've actually done. Whoops. So here are two projects, just to prove that I am capable of finishing what I start.

The Men's Cashmere Scarf from LMKG; here it's become the Men's Sort-Of Cashmere Scarf. I used KnitPicks Panache. It feels absolutely beautiful, but it does fuzz a bit, and the stitch definition isn't as sharp as the 100% cashmere looks in the book.

Adaptation of the Candy Cane hat from Itty-Bitty Hats. Oh dear. This is going on the UGH! list on Ravelry. I was going for a fun Steelers hat for a toddler, but this looks like a misshapen bee disaster. It doesn't help that I used wool instead of cotton (the KnitPicks wool was the only yarn I could find that came in true Steeler colors), as the wool gives it this fuzzy blended look that makes the gold look dirty. Cotton would have been a lot crisper, at least. Ugh.

So many projects, so little time

I've decided I NEED to make the Tilted Duster, pictured on the cover of the latest Interweave Knits. Something about it is so appealing to me, from the beautiful drape of the "skirt" falling from the empire waist to the jauntiness of the asymmetrical fastening. It's been staring at me from the cover of the magazine ever since it came in the mail, and I finally succumbed. Jimmy Beans pulls through again with the yarn pre-packaged by size. Mine is going to be a beautiful heathered gray.

The other really lovely thing from the latest issue is the Minimalist Cardigan. I was daunted by the amount of seaming on it (I have vowed to knit in the round as much as possible) but my mother kindly volunteered to do the finishing work for me. Woo Hoo! These two sweaters are truly lovely and unlike anything you can buy in a store these days. I feel fortunate that I can knit well enough to make what I like.

And as always, I need to finish some projects before I begin the new ones. The boyfriend scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts is done. Henry's placket neck pullover, also from LMKG is also just about done, except for (what else) the finishing work. I think I will make myself finish Tempting and allow myself the pleasure of casting on Anouk, and then I can begin on my own sweaters.