Finishing mode

Ever since I finished the shawl I've been in a finishing mode. It's mostly finishing the pillow cushion I mentioned. It has taken longer than I thought and it is a lot of trial and error since I'm really just making it up as I go. It's closed to finished, but I need a bigger pillow for the cover. I had bought a pillow in the same size as the front, but the back adds to it's size, which I hadn't realized.

I was knitting Saarties booties, but I lost my stitch markers and I can't do the pattern without them. It was weird how they just disappeared. I looked for some at Walmart today but they have too much crap yarn to carry stitch markers it seems.

I did get some of Walmart's crappy yarn however. I needed it for Clint's afghan. It's Homespun (Lion Brand). I had run out of yarn. I only got two skeins to begin with and I'm just buying it as I go along. It's garter stitch afghan, so it's nice and easy knitting for taking around.

What else do I got? (looking around). A start of the baby jacket from the first knit-a-long we had (we being Garnaflækja). I kept having problems with it, kept having to rip back and eventually I was at a point where I had no idea what I did wrong or how to fix it. I did rip back again but haven't been in the mood to continue. I think one of the problem is the yarn. It's Rowan All Season Cotton. I'm recycling it. It used to be Ása's sweater but I was way out of gauge. I tried to make a hat but a children's hat turned out too big for me! That yarn is just nothing but problem!

Oh yeah. I did finish something today. A very orange dishcloth I started in May. I know I started it early in May since it was part of the monthly dishcloth kal.

This post seems to be part of my WIP clean up. Categorizing what I'm working on. I hope you'll bare with me for this one. It will be funny tomorrow.

Work post

I'm at work at the moment. Work on a Sunday! Yes, things are piling up and I can't get any work done on the weekdays because I'm too busy working! I'm working on not one but two proposals and at the same time there are two research projects starting in the lab. So I'm busy in the lab in the day time. Funny how everything is happening at once.



I took a little break and looked up prjonablogg (knitting blog) on google and found some Icelandic knitting blogs I wasn't aware of before and I stumbled opon my own blog from September 2004. If you scroll down you see that sock in the picture above. This is the first sock from the first pair of socks I ever knit. In September 2004. Since then I've knit 4 pairs. Out of these 5 pairs, 3 are for my kids and 2 for me. I guess I'm not a big sock knitter. Three of these pairs where made with circulars and what's stopping me now is that I need better 2.5 mm circulars. The ones I have right now are old (probably 20 - 30 years old), nicked from my mom's pile of needles and the yarn always snags on the join between the cable and the needle. What's stopping me from getting better circulars? I don't know.

Me segir kindin (Bah says the sheep)

Have you seen Yarn Harlot's post from yesterday? I haven't noticed any back-talking amongs knitting bloggers, have you? I have to admit I don't frequent a lot of knitting blogs these days. Mostly just those in my side bar to the right. I do think I've heard something about this before, but never noticed it.

The pillow is growing slowly. Especially today since my girls got a hold of the project and got the threads so tangled up that I'm still unraveling it. It must have taken them forever to do this to begin with. I wonder what their father was doing in the mean time? Probably having a quiet and peaceful time. ;)

Correction and moving on

I was wrong in the last post. The temperature is not in the 80's it's in the 90's (around 35C) and it's too hot to even hold the shawl, let a lone wear it!



Right now I'm working on the pillow above which I started last winter. Currently I'm working on the back. And it's taking much longer than I thought it would. Maybe since I'm using a new technique (well new to me anyways), Tunisian Crochet.

Wearable Garment

Here is one of me modeling in it - with pajama pants on :)



After this I folded it with gift tissue paper and put it in the closet. After all the temperature is in the 80's (30+°C) and not much use for wool shawl at the moment.

p.s. Those leather masks behind me where made by my Aunt Signý :)

Large Rectangle Shawle with Diamond Center

I finished my rectangle shawl. I learned how to knit edging around corners and I got better every corner. By the last one I really got the hang of it - and then it was over. The end of the edging even lined perfectly up with the cast-on edge. I can´t believe it. I'd been nervous about it the entire time I was knitting the edge.

The center pattern was very easey to remember and pleasant to knit. The edge pattern was more complicated and it took two tries and 10 repeats before I had it memorized. First I got about 4 repeats up before I had to rip it all back and start over.

This morning I crafted the edge ends and put away the whole 4 ends that were left. Although this project took 5 skeins of Kambgarn (on 4.5 mm needles for the center and 4 mm for the edging), since it was wool I spliced the new skein to the old when I ran out. As a result I only had two ends for the center part and two ends for the edging to weave in.

Before I could block it I had to wash it. I used too much shampoo, see:



Then I blocked it on our bed and it went fine, despite Kamilla helping me (he he). I had enough pins, which I'm thankful for.



Kamilla thinks the shawl is for laying on and can't wait to try it out.

There is a close up:

My poor neglegted blog

I have some making up to do regarding this blog.

Last Thursday I went to the knitting club at the only knitting store in the area - The Spinning Turtle in Nelsonville, OH. I almost forgot though and only remembered at the last moment. I rushed up there and caught the last half an hour or so. The ladies there where a lot of fun (well of course they were, they are knitters after all) and today I went again. Again I could only stay for half an hour, because Clint and the kids where there in Nelsonville checking out some houses.

This time I brought some knitting stuff for 'Show and tell'. I brought Clint's boyfriend sweater. The one I knit him and sent to CA. It's a traditional Icelandic Lopi sweater and the second sweater I ever made.

I also brought the EZ February Baby Jacket - this one here:



I also brought the rest of the plate of unspun yarn I used to make it to show them. Marty (the owner) told me this kind of yarn was called a pensil roving and she had the idea that you could use it for easy (or easier) spinning.

I uploaded some more photos like this one of the Tychus hat we knit as a KAL at Garnaflækja:



I also uploaded a photo of one of the strips (nr. 2 out of 3) of my blanket I'm making.



If you click on the photo and go back to the flickr site you can tell by the notes on the photo where I went wrong. What I did was to knit one row too much before changing colors at one point. It shouldn´t be too hard to fix, just a little snip and some crafting.

Dear Diary

Not much knitting done yesterday too, even if I was dying to continue with the stole. You can blame the proposal I'm working on due Thursday. Yesterday it all came together though so I expect to be able to knit more tonight.

Thanks Cassie for the explanation on blanket vs. afghan.

The memory card is found (probably a week ago) and still no photos. Shame on me. I guess I can pick the no daylight excuse, but I wouldn't. There was daylight on Sunday, plus the evenings are getting increasingly brighter.

Dear Diary

I didn't knit at all yesterday. To compensate, I brought some knitting to work. Not that I can actually knit at work, but I left my keys at work yesterday so I had to wait for someone to come to work so I could come in. I managed couple of rows on my afghan/blanket.

Can someone explain to me what is the difference between a afghan and a blanket?

Back in the saddle

I didn't knit Thursday, Friday nor Saturday. Finally Sunday I got a little knitting time and boy was it good. I didn't realize I was so dependent on knitting :o I was preparing 'Asa's birthday party on Saturday, she just turned 2. When I got back to it I picked up the Victorian shawl. I am knitting the edges and going around the corners, which isn't terribly complicated but still not obvious. I was a little off turning the first corner and fixed it on the short side (or so I thought) but it didn't match. When I picked it up again I desided just to stop thinking about it and knit on. Turns out I wasn't off at all. It fitted perfectly. Now I'm happily knitting down the other long end of the shawl.

As you've noticed I've only been talking about knitting lately, not stitching. I was very active stitching for the first 3 months of the year but then April came around and I dropped it altogether. I've been trying for a little while to get back into it. I even had a plan to stitch at least one length of thread per day. That didn't last long - one evening perhaps. My problem was that my orginization was out of whack. In the beginning I had my threads in a zip lock bag and that didn't work so well, especially with the larger projects since the colors kept adding on as the project continued (it's a year long SAL). I bought rings to put the thread on but they didn't work. One had a broken lock they weren't big enought for all the thread. So finally I got another box for the thread. I have 5 big ones that I use to store the thread and 1 small one for WIPs but it's being used for a UFO. So yesterday I brought that box out and put the thread for these two working projects in it. After I had knit for a while I picked up one of the project and made some improvement on that. You know what? Of course I had to knock the thing over when I stood up and I had thread all over the floor :( What can you do.

The 'stash' may seem small to some people (no names he he) but I usually just buy what I need for my current project and it stresses me to have yarn for other projects that I'm not even contemplating making. So I don't want to have it grow. It is comfortable being able to grab yarn and start knitting, and not having to go out and buy it first. I probably will end up with a stash of simple wool that can be used for smaller projects (mittens, hats etc) but I like to use what I have. I guess I'm also kind of a thrifty person. I don't like owning books either. It's probably the same mechanism behind that as the yarn. I only keep books that are really special to me for some reason. Most books I rent at the library or give away when I'm done reading them.

Stash or not?

I keep thinking I don't really have a stash. I hardly ever buy yarn, but have gotten big amounts of yarn from Iceland from time to time. One time about year ago when I returned to the US from Iceland and then a bunch the other day when my stepmom came for a visit. So while putting the baby to sleep (she's not really a baby anymore, she turned 2 yesterday) I thought I take a stock of what I have. Turns out I have more then I thought. Here is a list of projects I have yarn for - only 'virgin' wool. This excludes WIPs, leftover yarn and odd skeins of yarn.

• 1x baby sweater (like the 5 hour baby sweater)
  
• 2x shawls (from eingirni, Icelandic 1 ply wool)
  
• 1x mittens for Clint
  
• 1x slippers for Clint
  
• 2 pair socks
  
• 1x crochet sweater for me
  
• 1x tank top/skirt for Ása (baby cotton)
  
• 16+ washcloths, facecloths, bibs etc. (things that take less than a skein of kitchen cotton
  
• 3x denim bibs
  
• 1x pedal bib
  

The list is a lot longer than I had assumed. But still not too long. I could do this in a half a year, providing I'm spending at least 2 hours a day knitting. It'll be interesting to see at the end of the year how many projects are left on the list.

Follow up from last night's post

I was hurrying to post last night to get all this stuff out I wanted to say without taking up too much knitting time. So what was I knitting that was so urgent. Well, it's not so urgent but I was just starting the edge on my Victorian Lace Today stole. I've never made an edge like that before and it was a new experience for me. It was exciting to see it 'grow' on the side of the stole. It was also challeging because it took be about 10 repeats to remember it compared to the center pattern, which only took me 1-2 repeats to get it down. I like it better than I thought I would (the edge pattern that is). I was contemplating changing it but I decided just to do it first, which proved to be complicated enough. After about 5 repeats I was starting to learn part of the pattern and got overconfident and ended making a mistake and having to rip and it was hard to find my place again. There is a small flaw in the edge, which I can identify very easily but I'm counting on others to overlook it.

I buried up the sewing machine I tested. It's Janome Jem Platinum 720.

The connection with Persia was repeated in the Folk Mittens book as well. So I felt confident that it was plausible. I think it's mostly the 8 corner star that is the connection.

Lots of misc. knitting news

There is a lot I want to share, but at the same time I really just want to knit. So I'll be brief.

Starting with a book I got at the Ohio University library. It's called Scandinavian Knitting Designs by Pauline Chatterton and was published in 1977. It talkes about the origin of knitting in Scandinavia (I didn't know it came from Persia through Finland) and consists mostly of two color stitching patterns. There are some patterns mostly sweaters, blankets and pillows. Yes, pillows. They are actually really nice and make good use out of the stitching patterns. What cracks me up about this book is that every single pattern specifies acrylic yarn. Acrylic! No Scandinavian with any sense of dignity would use acrylic, especially not for clothes and blankets. The knitting culture there is a total opposite from the knitting culture in America. Here people use acrylic specifically for babies and children, but in Scandinavia you would never dress your child knowingly in acrylic. If someone in Iceland gave my children cloths made out of acrylic I would be offended. Seriously, it's that big of a deal. Of course in Iceland cloths will have to keep you warm in cold, wet and windy weather. But I would much rather perfer cotton to acrylic if I lived in a warmer climate, like in the southern part of the USA.

Ok, I was going to be brief. It's not working. I have days of suppressed blogging.

Yesterday there was Final Friday in Nelsonville. That means galleries and businesses in downtown Nelsonville are open until 10 PM and have demonstrations and stuff. This includes both the knitting store and the quilting store. I went there after the kids were sleeping and went straight to the knitting store. There I looked over the yarns. They have a nice selection, especially for a small southeastern Ohio town. I especially like the lack of novelty yarns :) I met a nice lady there, who was there with her husband and two boys. We got a long very well and it seem like I have a new knitting friend :) I also learned that there is a group that meets on Thursday evenings at the knitting store. I have to check that out next week.

I also went to the quilting store. There is a lady who works part-time at the Corrosion Center and shares an office with me. She also works part-time at the quilting store so I went to meet her. I almost shouldn't have, he he. I haven't been in a quilting (or fabric) store in a while and now I want a sewing machine. I sold mine before moving to the US so I need a new one. The owner showed me a machine, which is so cool. Instead of using a foot pedal, you just push a button and that starts the machine. It's like cruise control but for a sewing machine. You can adjust the speed how ever you like. It also finished the thread for you (ties a knot) that's also something I hadn't seen before. So now I want to sew again. I've always wanted to sew more than I have been doing so it wasn't hard to be tempted.

Finally I have to tell you that today I took the girls to the library and actually got a library card this time. You need to have both a picture ID and a proof of residancy and I haven't manage to have both with me before when I've visited the library. The kids played and had fun and I found two nice knitting books (they had more nice books but I only grabbed these two) Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush and Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I'm sorry for lack of links, but I really want to get back to my knitting rather than to find links. I especially like the folk mitten book because I've been wanting to knit mittens and it does have some great patterns that I want to try.

For those of you waiting for photos, I have to disappoint you. We've lost the memory card for our camera. It's not american (Ricoh) so I'm not expecting to find this type of a card here. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows.

Travel knitting

I did get a lot of knitting done on the way to Norfolk. I finished a part of the afghan/blanket I talked about in the last entry. I will knit it part of it in stripes and one stripe is like a giant scarf. The main color is red (Clint insisted on red) and the second color is a golden color, not a solid and not a variegated but consists of golden, black, white and even some red strands. This yarn is not spun, but consists of many acrylic fibers loosly held together. This means that the yarn comes loose as soon as you cut it.

During the symposium, I knit a skein and a half for the French Market Bag the first day. I was going to start the next stripe for the blanket the next day but I forgot to pack the knitting needle (I always knit with circular needle (and dpns) even if I'm knitting a flat piece). I got a little knitting done on the way home but we decided to take a different route, Route 50, which goes from north of Virgina, through West Virginia, Maryland, West Virgina, Ohio and all the way to our house! It seemed simple enough, but took a lot longer than we anticipated, plus I couldn't knit because the road was too winding and going up and down mountains (the Appalachians). In return we got beautiful landscape and pretty towns to admire so it wasn't too bad. We didn't get home until midnight, this alternative route took about 3 hours more.

Knitting plans

On Monday we are going on a road trip (we being me, my husband and 2 daughters). We are driving to Norfolk, VA. So why are we doing this on a Monday? I am going to be a surrogate speaker for my director at an ASTM symposium. So Clint and the girls will have fun at the beach while I'm stuck in a conference room for two days. No, it'll be fun, some of the biggest names in Corrosion will be there, so it's a great opportunity for me.

Since we are driving there I'm hoping to get some knitting done on the way. Hoping, because I tend to be carsick, but on an highway it shouldn't be too difficult, unless it's sunny. So we'll see.

I have one repeat left on the center panel of my 'Victorian Lace Today' shawl. Of course I ran out of yarn with one and a half repeat left (out of 36). This knitting has been smooth, right until I hit the 30 repeat mark, then I kept making mistakes and having to rip back and fix them. This is so much fun to knit and I just started my fourth skein (out of 5). So I should have enough for the edging. What's preventing me from finishing the last repeat is that I have to practice for the presentation I'm giving on Tuesday.

I'm becoming more and more American. I'm actually considering knitting out of an acrylic yarn! The yarn in question is Homespun from Lion Brand. The thing about this yarn is that it comes in beautiful colorways, is super-soft and bulky weight. So it's the perfect candidate for a blanket!

I had a great idea for a design. Last night I was drawing and calculating all night and didn't get any knitting done. I finally came up with the perfect design. It looks simple but it was difficult to get the right sizes. Now all I have to do is to swatch to see my gauge so I can figure out how many stitches to cast on and how many rows to knit. The blanket is made up of panels and I'm not going to knit it in a 'logical' order. Let's just say that it is a Mason-Dixon inspired blanket.

Hopefully I'll have everything sorted out before our road trip. If I run into problems I always have my faithful French Market bag. It's at the stage where you just knit around and around, so it's a good traveling piece.

Not your granny's crochet!

Check out Patricia Waller's artwork.

I just can't pick a favorite. Crochet pig's head meal or crochet bicycle accident, how about crochet crocodile accident?

Hmm....

Berroco

I haven't paid much attention to Berroco before but I just learned that Nora Gaughan, yes that Nora Gaughan, it the new design director there. Why didn't I know about this before? I immidiately signed up for their KnitBits. There are some great patterns there. Go take a look.

I want this:

Except for sock needles (dpn) and not straight. I can't think of a better useage for cables, can you?

Samprjon2 dagur5

Sama og i gaer nema...

Thegar komid er ad sidustu umferd (litur 1 yfir allar lykkjurnar) tha er bara prjonad eina ferd og fella svo af. Sauma saman uppfitid og affellinguna og thid erud komnar med hufu. Thessa her: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/PATTtychus.html

Samprjon2 dagur4

Sama og i gaer.

Samprjón2 dagur3

Sama og í gær.