walk like an egyptian

21Nov09

With all of the knitting I’ve been doing for others, I wanted to have a little something for me.

I working on the Egyptian Mittens, found here or here. There are charts, and the pattern is in Finnish, but Google Translate takes care of that.

They are so pretty! Even though it’s been warmer here lately, I know I’ll want warm mittens when winter hits. I can knit a chart repeat in an evening, so as soon as we’re done moving, these are going to be my podcast knitting. I’m about halfway done, and I can really see these being finished by Christmas.

What are you knitting for yourself to keep warm this winter?


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surprise

19Nov09

I’ve been physically tired by the time evening rolls around, and my brain power isn’t much higher either.

This sweater, which I’ve knit before, is my evening knitting. I have much Love for Elizabeth Zimmerman.

I’m knitting the amoeba-like manta ray sweater thingity [aka BSJ]. My cousin is expecting at the end of December, and I wanted to knit something for her little one. There is enough stitch counting to keep me awake, but it’s all garter, so no thought involved there. I’m so glad I have this as my moving knitting.


Filed under: Birthday Knitting, Project: Baby Things, Project: Sweater/Cardigan   |  1 Comment
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Dad’s Sweater Update

16Nov09

There has NaKniSweMo action in my house. It’s slow, and I know I’m not going to finish anything this month, but NaKniSweMo has been the motivator I’ve needed to get cracking.

I have actually been knitting on my dad’s sweater. There’s proof! I’ve knit about 1 1/2 inches of the pattern part, and I’m pleased with how it’s turning out. Each row takes about 10- 15 minutes to knit, so I’ve been saving it for knit night when I have a block of knitting time. I plan on taking this with me when I go down to see my parents for Thanksgiving; hopefully I’ll have more done so Dad can get more of an idea of how it’s going to look. I’m tempted to start the sleeves, but I want to see how far I can get in the patterned part with one ball, just for kicks.


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eye candy friday

06Nov09

The tree in our backyard, soon to be not our backyard.

I’m going to miss being able to walk across the street to the little shopping center to buy groceries, or get coffee, or checking out the little shops.

I’m going to miss walking the 1.5 miles around the block, with the trees and the park, and the geese, and ducks, and people with their dogs.

I’m going to miss only being no more than 5 miles from everything we need/want, including a yarn store, another grocery store, the public library, the fabric store, our wonderful mechanic, and other various and sundries.

I’m going to miss this little place, where Matt & I made our first home as a married couple.


Filed under: Catch- up, eye candy friday   |  2 Comments

NaBloPoMo fail & I need to clean my mirror

04Nov09

I tried, valiantly, to post here. It seems that unless I blog first in the in the morning, it doesn’t happen.

It’s still morning, and I’m sitting down to post, so we’ll see how this week goes.

Today I finished this skirt. Skirts are a tricky thing for me, as I am tall and long waisted, and have certain requirements for my skirts.

They have to reach a certain point on my waist, and they must cover my knees when I am sitting [this is a touch of modesty and to remind me that I am indeed wearing a skirt and should not sit as if I am in trousers]. I wanted a longer skirt, touching the top of my shoes, for the cooler fall/spring and cold winter months. This was spurred on almost two years ago by my Burial Rituals in Medieval Europe history professor, who has the loveliest khaki skirt with pockets and a zipper fly a la jeans.

One of the problems in finding skirts like these lies in what is popular in fashion/culture at the moment. I’m lucky to find a skirt that hits my knees, much less goes past the middle of my calves. I managed to find a few websites that sell longer skirts for either Muslim or Tzunit women.

Wonderful skirts, not so wonderful prices.*

Last month, while waiting for Matt to finish a meeting, I was in the university bookstore, and picked up a book on how to draft your own skirt patterns. There were sections on straight skirts, layered/tiered skirts, and circle skirts.

I thought to myself:  “You’ve made lots of skirts for yourself. ” How hard would it be to draft a pattern of my own, make a muslin trial, and go from there?

Not too difficult, luckily.

I used 4 yards of a silvery grey courderoy, matching thread, and an invisible zipper.

Newspaper was my pattern piece. I put it together, then added the invisible zipper. I would like to say that adding an invisible zipper was easier and simpler than installing a normal zipper, and I did it with a normal zipper foot. The key is just to be very careful and slow.

It went together without too much fuss, though I did have to re-sew most of the seams to make it fit. I added a facing at the waist, and my MiL was kind enough to pin the hem for me. Normally I would just pin it all the way around, but I am a curvy woman, and we found out the giggly way it would look ridiculous.

I did a decorative embroidery stitch around the hem, and voila, it is done.

I plan on making one out of denim, and one out of black linen. I also plan on writing up a pattern/tutorial, as I think this is a really flattering skirt, and easy enough to draft for women of larger sizes.

What are you making for the winter?

*Please ignore the fact my mirror is horribly dirty, and the boxes hovering in the background. We’re in the process of relocating.

 


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Uh, this is a little belated

01Nov09

I’m going to try and participate in NaBloPoMo here, to try and blog more regularly.

I write this blog more as a way to keep track of what I’m doing for myself, and for the random family members that don’t get to see my knitting very often.

No pictures in this one, but tomorrow, I plan on showing my swag from my travels this summer, as I just realized that I didn’t post a thing, and I got some neat stuff, in my opinion.

Happy Knitting!


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starting from the beginning

26Oct09

The first weekend in October is the Fall Fiber Festival and Sheep Dog Trial in Montpelier, Va.  Matt and I made it down there on Sunday, in the late afternoon. I ran into a few friends from my knitting group, saw all the vendors, and watched the sheep dog trails. [The only reason Matt goes with me to these things is to make sure that I don't buy anything yellow, and for the animals.]

I came away with this beauty, 8 oz of Screaming Wild Monkeys from River’s Edge Weaving Studio. It’s 70 Merino/15 Banana Tree/ 15 Seacell impregnated with silver, and oh, it’s so, so pretty. This is high on my to spin list.

The next weekend I went to visit my parents for my birthday. I was told it was to be a ‘working weekend’, so I didn’t bring my shawl to work on, but this pair of socks and yarn to start another pair [I had originally intended Leyburn socks.]

This is how close I was to finishing before I ran out of yarn. A row + kitchener. I had thought to bring scraps in the same kind of yarn, but ran out the door without them.

Then [insert dramatic music here], the yarn I had brought was not compatible with the needles I brought.

No knitting, for the rest of the long weekend.

Victory was had! After a lovely bit of encouragement from Alison, and spending a Wednesday night whinging about the stinkin’ edging on this shawl, I sat down, determined to finish before last weekend.

It was on the floor blocking Friday afternoon, before I spent the evening with a friend, spinning and catching up.

This shawl is huge and pretty, and I will have a detailed post up soon.

I spent Sunday afternoon outside in the lovely autumn weather staining.

I spent this morning taking the above to this:

I’m four screws and a tack short of a wheel. I did this as a favor for a friend, and really enjoyed the process. The smell of wood stain reminds me of the garage of the house I grew up in, and spending weekends refinishing things with my dad.

It’s an Ashford Traveler, double drive, Scotch tension, double treadle. I stained it with two coats of a cherry stain.

And… that wraps up October for me. Only 1 pair of socks finished and another on the needles.

I plan on spending tomorrow morning doing the final tweaking for Dad’s sweater. [No, really, I am this time. Promise!]


Filed under: Catch- up, Project: Shawl, Project: Socks, fiber festival   |  4 Comments

wishing…

21Oct09

Happy Anniversary, Beloved!


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turning the point

05Oct09

Ha. Ha ha. Ha.

I’ve reached just past the middle part of the edging on my Lightweight Mountain Peaks Shawl. All that is left is seventeen [!!!!] repeats of the edging, and I’m done! I had hoped to get this done for my birthday, but life and knitting ennui got in the way.  I love the way the edging looks, but I hate the turning after only twelve stitches. Knitting backwards isn’t really an option. I just need to sit down and make myself knit it. It’ll be a much used shawl, once it’s just DONE.

On a less whingey note, I love the point edging. It’s done with a really nifty short row technique, and I can’t wait to block this sucker out to see what it looks like. I’m predicting huge, as half of it stretches to almost my wingspan. Can you see my excited dance from here?


Filed under: Project: Shawl   |  5 Comments
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Look! Ribbing!

03Oct09

Look, Dad! Ribbing! It’s started!

On a random note, did you know sweater is typed with only the left hand?


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