Sunday, July 29, 2007

sunday musings

so here are the books i have gathered over the last week or so. with only one of them read cover to cover!

i am spending way to much time reading various v v s blogs and not knitting. i have therefore missed my personal deadlines for finishing the drop knit scarf and oceane. we are going away for a few days and i wanted them both done by then. since they aren't, decided i may as well pack them because, heaven knows, there is so much to knit and so little time.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

ok, ok, ok

so, i reassessed the small blue bag last seen on my sweet friend's head.

i modified the corded closing so there are pull cords from either side of the bag, which makes opening and closing of the bag a bit easier. modifications were done in time for a ferry trip to the city for a meeting; i decided to do a test run with it. i filled the bag with my cute husband's socks, which are being knit on two circulars, a small pair of scissors along with some stitch markers. not only did it all fit, but the bag worked out really well!

the only thing was the bag got lost in my big tote. so i decided it needed a snap tab that would connect it to the tote handle. that way i could snap the tab around the handle of the my tote bag and always have my knitting available and easy to get to. which prompted me to put snap tabs on all of the bags i had made, so now they look like this:

as you can see, there is a big blue bag that matches my small blue bag. i found i had inadvertently cut out more material than i needed for the small blue bag. not wanting it to go to waste, i made a dark pink bag, only bigger and with cording modifications. instead of running the cord from the inside, i put contrast casing on the outside and thread the cord through it. the big blue bag is the perfect size to carry long single point needles without them peeking out the top, which is what i was wanting.

but the most exciting project made this week was these:
needle cases. the straight point case is just that. it was supposed to have two pockets on the inside, one on the bottom for knitting needles and one on the top for crochet hooks. it also was to have fusible batting. i left off both the fusible batting and the top pocket. if i make this again, i would shorten it by about 1.5-2inches.

the case i truly love is the circular needle case. it holds my circulars snugly, including my new size 7 natura's, and though i had a difficult time envisioning the way it was put together, it was rather easy to make. the material selection for the pattern was a little odd. it calls for 2 contrasting colors and a remnant. the remnant is for the front and back (dark blue); contrasting colors are for the inside. i found what i really needed was 3 contrasting colors. 1 for the outside, 1 for the inside and 1 for the pockets. luckily i sort of figured it out, but didn't really think through the pockets so had to use some muslin i had lying around. if i were to make the case again, i would choose material and colors differently. cases and bags are a butterick. if you would like the pattern numbers, let me know.

in knitting news, i once again goofed up the eggplant stole. i spent a couple of sessions trying to get it back into knitting shape instead of unknitting it. and i think i may be there. wish me luck!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

ahhh, a sale

when i arrived at the yarn sale, not only had i missed meeting davimack, but it looked like a cyclone of knitters had whooshed through, looking through every box, bag and ball for something they may have the slightest interest in and once satisfied that all possibilities were explored, whooshed out again. needless to say, the staff was a bit worn out.

the up side being, i had the place, and staff, to myself. so i walked a few rounds, finding various this's and that's, stashing them in a bag to be decided upon later. the initial round was mandalay raw silk in a cafe au lait color that gave way to a cream color to make a shell; louisa harding kashmir dk in a pastel blue; stone blue debbie bliss cotton cashmere for a top of some sort with musings of what to do with gobs of bright magenta or bright blue bamboo because the bright yellow bamboo was not a color option but knitting with bamboo was an enticing thought.

the second round found some jo sharp aran cotton in a blue similar to the db. not enough of this to do anything substantial with so found some in white with thoughts of making something striped. started to seriously consider if i would make anything to wear out of the lk pastel blue kashmir dk; considered making a baby blanket out of it along with the pink and yellow pastels that were available. quickly followed by the thought of why would i knit anything cashmere for baby spit up? noticed the boxes of pick up sticks felted flower brooch kits.

on the third round, considered a bag of ggh cotton ribbon for a shawl; found louisa harding sari ribbon in the gorgeous orange colorway; gave up the jo sharp because i am not really a stripe gal; said goodbye to the lh kashmir dk; ruled out the bamboo and found a bag of muench sir galli yarm, 100% silk in a brown white tweed and dark cream color. solicited the opinion of the 2 staff and 2 buyers about which color would be best for me; got 2 set of answers so walked another round.


by the end of this round i was done. decided no on the lh sari ribbon; looked longingly at the jo sharp aran cotton one last time; and decided the dark cream color raw silk was totally boring on my skin so went for the brown and white tweed; still had the db cotton cashmere, grabbed a box of pick up sticks flower brooch kits (whose packaging tickled the fancy of my sweet friend).

as i was waiting to check out i overheard staff talk about how much knitters had spent on yarn. i had a slight twinge of missed knitting opportunities. but i am pretty content with my choices. i got some lovely yarns. hopefully there will be another yarn sale before davimack leaves the country.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

two hits and a miss

sorry, couldn't resist. the allstar baseball game was played in san francisco last night and the whole city seems to be gripped by the frenzy of it all.

but it is true. two out of three project bags turned out well. the third one just fizzled.

the two that worked out are just square lined bags; the light pink bag has 12, count them, 12 buttonholes that gather the bag in an interesting way. the darker pink bag was supposed to be all frilly and beaded. i chose to leave the frills and beads off. which threw the casing off because one of the frills was supposed to be along the top of the bag, which helped create the casing. since there was no frills, i had to do something different with the casing. but it all worked itself out and i like both bags. next time i will try making the dark pink one a little taller so straight needles will fit without poking out the top.

the miss was the circle bag. it also had extra curricular frills etc. which i left off. which then prompted some modifications which didn't work out. so i thought i would modify the modifications just to discover the bag wasn't big enough to hold a knitting project. which ended my interest in the bag. my sweet friend modeled it as a hat with no better success.

sew until next time.

dear vvs secret pal...

thanks for the great card! it sure was sweet.

i sent you an email but am not sure if it got through as the return email address was a bit uncertain.

any way, thanks! hope you are doing well and having fun knitting!

take care

Sunday, July 08, 2007

all in a sunday afternoon

so this is what occupied most of my sunday afternoon.

it may look like a heap of odds and ends, but this heap represents 3 project bags, 2 pairs of pants, 1 circular and 1 straight needle holder.

i am not fond of cutting out patterns so tend to cut everything out at once. will keep you posted on their progression.

nestled among the various pattern pieces are two balls of sugar and cream. it must be selective reading, but my first encounter with this yarn was via my stitch n' bitch desk calendar where it was a yarn of the week. i had never even heard of it. as i continue to explore knitting blog world where knitted dishcloths seem to have a life of their own, this yarn is mentioned a lot. so when i saw it at joann's fabrics i thought, why not! let's see what all the hub bub is about. doubled with tea and cakes sharing a really sweet dish cloth pattern which looked extremely enticing in a different colorway of this very yarn. thought i would give it a whirl.

in other knitting news: oceane is going well. i like the way the smaller needle size is making it look. and though i am a slow knitter, this is knitting up very quickly.


even though i do not need another project, i couldn't resist. i was really just meaning to make the hank into a ball, but the yarn was so pretty and i bought new brittany needles in just the size i needed for it so...i cast on and it practically started knitting itself! so, yes, the sari ribbon yarn is in the midst of becoming a drop stitch scarf. and i really like it.


Wednesday, July 04, 2007

happy 4th

for those of us in the states, it could be a day of sitting in the hot sun during the town parade; visiting with friends over a bar-b-que; eating way to much apple pie and home made ice cream and for me, knitting all the while.

or it could be a nice quite, sit at home day, doing whatever takes our fancy. either way, it is nice to have a breathing day in the middle of the week. happy 4th of july!

Sunday, July 01, 2007

open to suggestions

so i have been knitting with circulars a lot lately. most of my circulars are crystal palace and though i love c.p. needles, the transition from the plastic strand to the needle is driving me crazy. with all of my various circular needle projects, the yarn is consistently getting stuck there and i have to cajole it onto the needle.

i have found clover needles to be to blunt; lantern moon to be to expensive; i am not fond of the steel addi turbos but do have a couple of pairs of their natura needles, which is their bamboo needle line. the trick being,very few stores carry them.

so i am open to suggestions. what are your favorite needles, circular or otherwise? i would love to know.