Shawl for Grandma

It's been quite a while since my last post. No doubt it's because I have not knitted much since winter. You know the usual excuses: summertime, laziness and such.

BamBam has also passed. I found him one day on his back right in the middle of the tank as if he jumped off the red rock to his death. I hoped he was molting but alas after a few days when his tank emitted the foul stench of crustacean death, I decided it was time to do the right thing and clean it out.

I'm visiting my grandmother in Hong Kong in about 5-6 weeks. Planning to send my love by knitting her a cozy and fabulous shawl. Since I haven't experienced a HK winter since I was 7 years old, I posted a note to Hong Kong Knitters on Ravelry to ask for yarn suggestions and patterns. Hope to get some replies soon so I can buy the yarn and get cracking. While it would be nice to have something to knit on the plane ride, ideally I would want to finish and block it before going to HK.

Been mulling over these patterns for now.

Woodland Shawl


Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl


Clapotis

That's pretty knit!

KnitMap lets you find yarn shops all over the US, Canada and UK. Users can comment and help keep the site updated. You can post pictures, comments, ratings. It specifically lists what type of store it is, whether it has has seating, refreshments, classes or just strictly yarn.

Found this little gem while bored, even though I haven't knit seriously in ages. Longing for it. I commute an hour and a half each way now to work and my fingers are itching except my brain keeps shutting down and fall asleep. Maybe I should bring a little something, especially when winter time comes. It'll keep my hands warm...maybe.

I dream of Knitting

It seems like I haven't really knit in a long time. No active projects on hand. Everything that are on needles are side projects. I still surf Ravelry, Knitty and all the usual sources for inspiration but time is too precious now. My sister is getting married in about two weeks and a week Saturday I will be on the way to Southeast Asia to visit relatives then to Bali where her small and intimate ceremony will be!

Months back I had thought of knitting her something but I really didn't know what and had I decided what to make, there wouldn't have been time. I am stuck wondering how to spend the money I allotted for her wedding gift...I am terrible. It will be a last minute gift or just a chunk of cash. Maybe I will knit her a closed pouch, with the cash in it. That way it will last forever AND it's sentimental! Just like she wanted!

Anyways. I love the videogame series of Katamari Damacy. Doesn't this look like a Katamari?

Not bad huh?

I think I could've used a finer weight yarn to make them more delicate. They turned out pretty nice though and my mom loved them. So it's a month and a half late, whatever. Everybody's happy.

O pretty pretty!

I just cast on for a pair of mesh gloves for my mom's birthday. Yes...it is WAY belated considering her birthday and party was this past Saturday. To be fair, I only found Eunny Jang's free pattern from Interweave Knits website 2 days before that and I just can't seem to find time to knit, nothing inspired anyways. I ended up choosing a lavender mercerized cotton yarn over what I originally intended, which was to try out something bamboo/silk. However, I think this will work out very well and my mom will love them.

Since my last dreary post, I have kept my head out of the water by knitting something simple and repetitive with all the left over yarn from bf's Swelling Skull toque & roommate's 1up Mushroom Headband. It's the circular shrug by Julia Allen (pattern here). The choice of colors is not that nice but meh, I need to do something with all that leftover yarn and I need another sweater/vest/anything to keep warm around the office. I don't really care if it's "ugly". The only problem is that I probably have to order more of the yarn to finish it off. So that'll be my second old faithful running project aside from the Never-ending Afghan.

I really find myself becoming a huge fan of Eunny Jang's work. Her other design in this quarter's Interweave Knits is the Katharine Vest. Absolutely beautiful! I love how her designs are classic, fine and modern all at the same time and they always perfectly showcases her design abilities. She is an amazing designer.

Whorling Dervish

Who knows how this started but for the past week I have been obsessively looking up sources for cost effective spinning fibre even though I don't have a clue on how to spin. Of course, those who know me or have read my blog know how chinsy I am with yarn & knitting supplies. By god, I love doing it but simply cannot justify the cost!!!

I suppose it's because I am at that point where I am simply unsatisfied with the quality of cheap yarn but nice yarns (merino, cashmere, bamboo, silk, alpaca, etc/) in pretty colors costs so much dough!!! But I want it... *pout* How can I justify $12+ for a 50g skein when a sweater will probably require 12 skeins? Luckily I may never have the attention span to knit up a full sweater but that's another matter to discuss.

So somehow...I was probably on Etsy looking at handspun art yarn listings, somewhere thrown in there were rovings or top listings. I had no idea what that meant. So I Google'd it, got interested, read up on handspinning and it didn't seem too hard. It looks like something that just requires practice and experience paired with good raw materials. Then the perfect looking spindle for someone like me came along and I can't get over this new found obsession and question: To spin or not to spin?

After some extensive research on the cost of fibre available online and from nearby alpaca farms, it seemed that after shipping, spinning & dyeing, your own yarn will be cheaper. However, considering the effort, cost of spare time & labour, not really by that much? I really sat down and crunched those numbers.

Some things to consider:
1) Raw fleece requires washing & carding (lotta work) and you lose about half the weight after the process.
2) If you choose to wash & card yourself, you must have the tools to do it, the price of which varies depending on ease & efficiency of machine/tool(s).
3) You have the option to send raw fleece away for processing into rovings.
4) You will probably knit with at least 2 ply which will be another spinning process.

So...here're my backwards calculations:
Worsted Weight @ 12 wpi (wraps per inch) - 1 lb (16 oz) = 900-1200 yards
Compare to: 1 x Worsted Merino 50g/100yd @ approx. $5/ea x 12 = $60

2 lbs raw fleece @ $10/lb = $20
wash/card yourself = free -or- Process at mill into rovings @ $1.5/oz x 16 oz = $24
16 oz x $3/oz rovings-to-spin-to-yarn = $48

Savings:
ALL DIY $60 - $20 = $40
Buy raw fleece, send away for process to roving = $60 - $20 - $24 = $16
Buy rovings to spin = $60 - $48 = $12

** If anyone thinks these figures are way off, please comment. They are the results of my "research" & bargain hunting online for lowest/average pricing. By the way, these calculations did not take into consideration the cost of shipping if you were to purchase materials & services remotely.

Is it worth it? Well I don't know just yet. Unless I find better deals to start with I'm not sure I will allow myself to start this hobby. I just have to fight the urge to buy that Trixie Spindle... Honestly, it seems like a helluva lot of effort. Surely spinning enthusiasts will say otherwise. I guess my only other concern here, is feeling kind of silly (even though I am sure I will love it if I tried) when my bf sees me pick up another "useless" hobby, doing something that the Industrial Revolution basically eliminated however many years ago.

Curiously Lacey

I have several projects that need to be started & done before I can allow myself to purchase new yarn but for some gosh darn reason I just don't want to start them yet. I somehow became interested in lace construction. I read up on Eunny Jang's articles, thought I got a handle, attempted to draw a simple lace chart which turned out pretty disastrous even after several tries...so now I am just doing small swatches of patterns from Knittingfool.

I don't know if it's just me but usually the end of the row is slightly wrong or something. Anyways, I've knit up 3 different patterns so far across 28 stitches. It's interesting how they come together where established left or right leaning columns will continue to sway surrounding stitches in the new pattern.

Knit bottom up obviously but listed top to bottom:
3) Overlapping Waves (10 rows - multiple of 6 + 4 st)
2) Diamond Spanish Lace - (8 rows - multiple of 8 + 4 st)
1) Travelling Vine - (12 rows - multiple of 8 + 4 st)

Current Crafting Tally $$

Knitting Tally - At last check in October, this was at approximately $360. I haven't done much since then but let's see what else is new (gotta keep tabs on myself):

$360 - previous tally
$5 - buttons for cable bag
$5 - Sean Sheep yarn
$15 - Christmas presents yarn
$35 - misc. Sale yarn (gloves, dog sweater)
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$420 TOTAL / 15 Projects = $28/project
11 months since start = $38.18/month

Sewing Tally - While not much has come of this hobby, the tally is considerably higher due to the startup costs for notions. I definitely plan on sewing more soon. My skills blow right now, need practice...

$110 - sewing notions & Halloween fabric (pilgrim, turkey, machine cover)
$20 - Terry Cloth (pj pants)
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$130 - TOTAL /4 projects = $32.50/project
3 months since start = $43.30/month

Wonderful & Icky Weather

It's been T-shirt weather for 2 days now and all the snow has melted resulting in mashed green grass & muddy floors (and a little extra in my backyard from the dog). All that is gross and dead is now exposed from under its white blanket yet it is too early for spring. The ickyness will remain for at least several days but it's not like I'm motivated to go frolick about outdoors. When will the mild winter nights with light flurries come so that we can finally go use our Night Boarding Pass? When?!

The headband for roommate has finally been started. I did about a third of it, decided it was too messy and clumpy doing it all in the round, so I frogged all the colorwork and reworked it the same way I did the Skulls hat. Looks waaay better. Here's my sorta chart:

Also, we are ripping up most of our bathroom because of a piece of rotten wood under the shower step due to minor leakage. Bf is gonna install a new base & walls for the shower. We're getting a new vanity counter top, sink, cabinets & doors. The walls wil be repainted and he will rip up all the existing floor tile and yippy I will be re-tiling both the floor and the shower! It'll be a big, fun & intimidating project but I am very excited! It'll also be something nice for us to plan, work on and finish together. It'll be a first! Gotta do lots of research and color scheming, wheeeeeee!!!

Busy hands

Christmas is fast approaching and the list of people I suddenly realize I should have a gift for grows. I realize that the holiday seasons is not all about gift giving or receiving and I am usually pretty stingy anyways. Realistically, I only have 6 people on my must-gift list but it's always fun & nice to give out presents. There are at least an additional 8 people/groups of people that I feel should receive a small obligatory gift.

Usually these people get the generics: wine or homemade cookies. Two of these lucky people are relatives who used to live in HK and I've decided this past Thursday (12 days 'til Christmas), to knit up a scarf and a hat for them. This doesn't sound like a lot to most knitting enthusiasts but it is to me. I can most likely finish the hat in 1 night on the weekend. The scarf which contains a pattern of 44 rows X 42 stitch repeated 9X is currently only 4X complete in 4 days. With that amount of progress over 4 days, 2 of which were weekend days, on top of my daily chores, planned grocery trips, extra cookie baking time, last-minute Christmas shopping, etc. Will I finish them in time? I don't even know when I will be seeing them!!

I would also really like to make and finish roommate's 1up Mushroom Headband for Christmas as well. So many things to do, so little time. I wish I could just take time off work to knit/bake up a storm.

BTW: I'm back on WOW; started a new character on the 4 days I took off 2 weeks ago. We did some hardcore leveling in 5 days but I haven't played since that week. I have a level 18 Gnome Mage right now who I desperately want to squeeze in some time for to do some instances with our make-shift guild, on top of all my other hobbies. Everyone else is getting ahead of me again.

I still want to finish my quilted sewing machine cover. I've also been thinking about making my own ball-winder as inspired by David North's Lego Yarn Winder. Although I would preferably not make it out of plastic parts. Oh, so many ideas!

A slow but cold month

Winter has come very early this year and I've been procrastinating on my knitting. It's been almost 3 weeks since my last post. Bf's head is covered by some generic retail available toque (in fact I think it might have been free) and I MUST get back on track! There're many reasons to procrastinate like my fingers are cold and dry that they are actually snagging my yarn! I've also been sewing a little on the weekend, not too much. I started making a quilted cover for the sewing machine using left over halloween costume material. The material is slippery and stretchy and being the beginner that I am, the first attempt was quite the disaster. Correction: the first attempt on the first piece of quilting was a disaster.

Anyhoo, last few nights I got back on track and found some very useful articles that I did not read before about knitting intarsia in the round. I think the basic thing that I have to accept is, you can't, but you can do something like it with some adjustments. The adjustment I've chosen now, a third of the way up the Skull pattern, comes from one of Knitty's 2007 Fall patterns. With its simplistic approach, I've been back on the knitting wagon for 2 days. I think I will end up lining the hat with fleece to hide all the ugly string coming out the WS.

There have also been other distractions. Political turmoil at home and abroad. You know, the usual. Seriously though, at home there have been a few troubling issues. First with me and bf, then roommate too. It made me realize yet again and more so than before that our hidden demons can really affect our lives. Even when we keep them hidden, they drive us to things so obviously bad for us but we will deny the root causes even if they were pointed out to us. Sometimes even if we verbally agree and admit the cause, our hearts won't allow us to stop hurting ourselves. Why do we always have to ram our heads against a wall a million times before getting the message? It's really beyond mere stubbornness.

I am Christian, no longer a practicing Catholic. However, this season, aside from the new year's resolutions that need to be made, I actually feel the need to pray and send good wishes to my friends & family. Maybe that's what happens when you're older, you finally realize there are some things you can't do anything about. You can only affect change on things in your control. The rest, if we are lucky enough to still be optimistic, we'll just have to leave to God.

Swelling Skull

It's a fitting name for my current knitting project using the Swell hat pattern from Knitty. I plan on eliminating the waves pattern and incorporating a single skull logo instead. The reason this one is causing my own skull to swell is because it is my first taste of 2 color knitting and I thought at first it would teach me the new skills of stranded knitting.

If I went with the original waves then yes, this is strictly stranded knitting project but as it turns out as, it's more of an intarsia technique. What makes this even harder for me right now is the fact that I am knitting intarsia in the round so I literally need to section off my skull pattern so that the strands carried on the wrong side are no more than an inch long. Another added obstacle is the fact that this yarn from Knit Picks while soft for wool at this price, with the amount I am handling and sweating on it out of frustration, it is already fuzzing and pilling so much it makes it all the more harder to look at my stitches.

Due to all these factors, I am procrastinating on it and diverting to my new Singer Esteem 1732. I just finished a pair of stretch terry pajama pants for bf today. It was pretty frustrating due to the auto-tension mechanism constantly screwing up on me, having to rip the damn thing out of the machine, rethreading, etc. It's taught me that the machine can do well and it is punching through about 5-6 layers of material easily but I definitely need to set a few good habits, no matter how lazy I want to be. In the end, it will mean less work, smoother sewing and just more peace of mind as I pursue this hobby alongside my knitting.

Imagine all the things I can make with these 2 crafts at hand.

Halloween Aftermath

So...there isn't much of an aftermath. All I know is I bought 2 boxes of candy (I know it isn't a lot) and we were out completely after only an hour. I went straight home yesterday to carve the other pumpkin and it's a shame the jack-o-lantern was only in use for about 2 hours. It looks nice, traditional but well made. I'm pretty proud of it. I just hafta figure out something with the seeds now. Definitely will roast but how and what flavours?

While handing out candy last night I decided to put my costume on for the latter 45 minutes just so my bloody pilgrim get-up would see the light of day (dark of night). We didn't end up going to the costume party last Saturday. It's a long story and one I don't care to repeat but I did finish the costumes mostly. The turkey could've been more finished but as is, it is passable as a turkey. I'm not 100% satisfied with my pilgrim costume either just because my craftsmanship is super shoddy on it but practice makes perfect and once I get my b-day present from roommate & bf (Singer Esteem 1732) I can practice and sew all sorts of crazy stuff on this apparently heavy-duty home sewing monster. I was skeptical about its abilities because online it only costs between $99-$130 US. I just figured how good or powerful can a $150 and under machine be? Anyways, when it arrives it will be put to the test.

Knitting update: Been procrastinating on bf's skull hat. Started to knit a dinky little sweater with cheap Sean Sheep yarn from Walmart for my bf's sister's new puppy (a pomeranian & chihuahua mutt). I figured it would take 1 maybe 2 nights, the thing is under 3 lbs! It's been longer because I've never worked with such bulky novelty yarn. However once finished it'll be neat because the texture will be like blue cotton candy.

Finally been invited to Ravelry-beta. Looked around, it's pretty neat. It takes more time and dedication to keep up-to-date. Also I don't really want to start a profile on Flickr just to get photos up but then my Ravelry profile has no pictures and sans pictures, the whole Ravelry thing is kind of useless. Well, just my 2 cents.

One more in the "bag"...

The Drops Cable Bag is complete! Looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself, and fairly close to the sample on their site. I was somewhat careless and sewed the bottom seam a little twisted from the top. Oh well. It'll hold a couple paperback novels but anything more would significantly stretch the bag body and straps. Perhaps a light sweater could be stuffed in it for one of those windy autumn days. This will make a nice, useful & casual fall time accessory.

Up next: Swell hat w/ skull logo & 1up Mushroom Headband

Michaels had a yarn sale...I couldn't resist. Got 3 balls of Bernat Softee Chunky (Soft Taupe, Natural), 3 balls Patons Poochie (Auburn, Wheat Field, Sherling) and 1 ball of Bernat Satin (Ebony). All for the super thrifty price of $21.06 after taxes. WOOEEE! That'll go to a fun sweater for my lovely puppy and a pair of gloves for me which will serve as another skill builder project. Yes...my knitting time is all planned out.

Painting with Yarn

Last night about 3AM, I was standing outside having a cigarette. I looked out into the distance, you know how sometimes the horizon has a glow from whatever lights are below. It was a beautiful graduated wash of grey, like a water color painting. The way the clouds twisted reminded me very much of knitted cables made of the softest cashmere.

Then I looked up further into the night sky, dark and mesmerizing with specs of starlight like a deep-shaded tweed, I imagined the whole world made of knitted textures.

One day, I will knit a "painting" and hang it over the couch in the living room.

More interesting Knits

This is friggin' awesome! Anyways, just surfing the net looking for interesting knitting related things, of course. :) Found out about Microrevolt and their interesting (to say the least) form of activism. I suppose it's art. It probably does an adequate job of informing the public, at least knitters, about their cause but in terms of the effectiveness to cause change, I guess that remains to be seen and I shall not comment any further. Definitely some very cool knitted pieces linked on this site.

Fall/Winter Knits

I know knit-wear is very fashionable right now and that's great for us knitters. In fact, I think the boom in knitwear as a fashion trend was probably influenced somewhat by the birth of a new wave of knitters and designers because the internet gave us a breeding ground to congregate and grow. The funny thing I find about "fashion" is that it just costs so much. I understand and respect the ingenuity of new designs, luxury materials, fine(r) tailoring, etc. so while "fashion" even on the so-called lower cost ends of ready-to-wear are still out of my budget, I accept the justification for its cost.

For knit wear? Okay let's face it!. I am never gonna knit a whole sweater out of lace-weight yarn. I am also not a huge fan of chunky knits. Bulky weights I think should be reserved mostly for accessories, except on the odd pattern that is fitting. There are however lots of fashionable designs that could be knit up even by a slow knitter like myself before the season is over. Here are a selection of interesting pieces I discovered on Shopbop. If I could deconstruct the pattern (and right now I believe I can but not really up to it), these could easily be made in as little as 1 night to 2 weeks. Check out those Mischa Lambert hats & scarves in the super chunky boucle yarn. The colors look delicious and they are hand-knit but DUDE! Every single one of those "things" cost no less that $160 US! If I buckled down, I could probably make 10 of those on a weekend! Sell them off on ebay @ $100 a piece minus materials, I'd probably make $700!!! And that is being very modest in my calculations. Man...I should really jump on this knit-wear bandwagon!

I just realized, any single item from 4 of 8 of these sweaters costs more than I have spent in total on yarns & notions. Yea...I'm not cut out to drape myself in real "fashion".

** Note: Just roll-over pictures to see the brand. Prices are as listed on Shopbop. Enjoy!

I can't help it...I just have to rant. The models on the Shopbop site are sickly-looking skinny. If it weren't for the knits making them look like they have a bit more meat on them, they look like somebody plucked them out of the crazy crack addicted homeless part of town and said, "Here! Put these clothes on and you'll get a dollar, or summore crack." Maybe that accounts for the odd "hungry" looks they have on their faces. Yes...sometimes I am mean.

Current Knitting $$$ Tally

Since I am doing lists...I figured I would tally up my total knitting spending up to this point just to get a rough idea. I'm a little curious as to how much I've put into this hobby since February/March. Note that I am rounding slightly up in many cases to include tax.

$20 - Learn to Knit kit
$45 - yarn for Afghan
$25 - yarn for Barcelona bolero & bag
$100 - yarn for cable bag, secret project, yoga bag, shell scarf
$60 - Denise Interchangeable needles
$10 - set of sock DPNs
$15 - crochet hooks
$10 - sock yarn
$5 - size 4 DPNs
$10 - Sugar N' Cream yarn
$50 - Knitpicks stuff (yarn, notions)
$10 - knitting/sewing notions
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$360 TOTAL / 12 projects = approx. $30 per project
8 months since start = $45 per month spending

I suppose that's not too bad. It could be a helluva lot worst. From now it'll mostly be yarn spending anyways since I pretty much have all the needles I need and I am too cheap to buy expensive yarn.

An update on current project(s): started knitting the cable book bag pattern from Garns, ordered stuff from Knitpicks which should be here by now and I am getting super antsy.

Knitto Relaxo

I decided to compile a list of projects I have completed to include on this blog. It seems pretty short. For 7-8 months of knitting, THAT's all I made? I guess I love knitting but not in that frantic gotta-knit-and-finish everything ASAP mentality. That and I'm not very fast at knitting still. If I go faster, pay a little bit less attenion and it's a guarantee that I'll screw up and end up frogging. I found though that if I don't let myself get too wound up about "finishing", just knit and keep knitting, when I make a mistake and have to unravel, it's not half as frustrating. There's no such thing as a waste of effort or time. It's merely about knitting.

Although I would like to have finished more projects just because I have ideas brewing yet I feel guilt that my previous ideas have not yet come to fruition. Whatever...I love it enough to be relaxed about it. This way I can be at peace.

The Goings On

After finishing the yoga bag, I have been kind of feeling blah about knitting. Up until the final stitches, I was all excited about finishing because I have 3 more projects in my head that needs to be done. Well, technically 4. I have yet to make the shoulder/book bag pattern from the Garns Studio for myself. I should line the Learn-to-Crochet bag. The next 2 projects are would-be gifts for bf and roommate. Bf is gonna get an earflap hat using the Swell pattern on Knitty. For roommate I am doing a custom headband with my first attempt at stranded colorwork and knitting elastic to create a logo of some sort on a solid background. The idea was to pick a simple 8 bit video game character for the logo but because I haven't picked this yet and because I planned on buying the new extremely cheap ($1.99 US!!! Duuude!) sport weight peruvian highland wool on Knitpicks, I have no new yarn to work with.

I was thinking 8-bit Link would be pretty cool, he would match roommate's snowboard jacket in brown & white. On second thought, after going off on a tangeant and looking up more classic video game sprites, Link probably isn't the best. Here're a bunch that could be interesting but with a simple enough color scheme on a solid dark brown or blue background. Gotta decide tonight so I can order the yarn.



So the reason I felt blah was because I had to go back to my In-betweeny Afghan for a bit to tide me over. Except it just kind of bored me so I decided to start working out again instead which is good but now I haven't knit in like 4 days and it doesn't feel right. I have to knit tonight. I MUST!