Breakthrough!

I had a breakthrough with this stupid sock. I took a day off from working on it and picked it back up this evening. I finally got through the tedious gusset decreases and am now working my way down the foot, about halfway to where I need to be before starting the toe. I might actually finish this stupid thing!

Oh, and it fits!

FO Update

A few weeks ago I blogged about knitting Odessa. I finished it not long after that but did not get around to posting any pictures. Well, here is the finished result.

I didn't use beads because I didn't have beads and was too poor to buy them. Next time I make it I think I will do the beads, just to add a nice girly touch.

It's made out of the same yarn as the Evangeline's down below. Berroco Alpaca something or another. Apparently I had a ton of this stuff. I've made a purse, fingerless gloves and 2 hats with it. (Oddly enough, the other hat I made was the Divine Hat by Rheatheylia which I believe is the crocheted version of the Odessa.)

I screwed up my stitch count on the top as I was closing it up so it's a little jacked up but it's hardly noticeable and I'm rarely around people that are taller than me anyway. I think I've yet to complete a knitting project that doesn't have some sort of mistake in it. I just muddle through and keep going, I hate ripping back.

Speaking of mistakes, I'm still working on those damn socks. I did my heel flap but I kept losing count of my rows and every time I tried to count them I wound up getting different numbers. I think it wound up being a little too long but once again, I just muddled through and kept going. I probably picked up more stitches than necessary when turning the heel and the gusset decreases are slow going. I've realized it's going to take me a few weeks to finish both socks so to keep myself from going crazy I've started knitting the Sideways Grande Cloche from Boutique Knits to keep myself sane and to actually finish something in a reasonable amount of time. I'm a little nervous about it, it's my first hat worked sideways. I'm using the lovely Elegance Aegean from Knit Picks in one of my previous posts. It's going to look awesome with my new red hair. (I'm pretty sure I can only wear green hats now but that's ok because all of my hats are green!)

I plan on knocking this badboy out by this weekend so I'll have another FO to post. Now I just need to update my project page on ravelry. I'm way too unorganized to keep up with that.

Can I gush for a moment?

I recently discovered the website the Loopy Ewe and instantly made a wishlist of all the yummy, gorgeous yarns I wanted to try. Friday was payday so I naturally decided to place an order for some Dream in Color Smooshy in Go Go Grassy. I got my yarn on MONDAY. AND they wound it into a cake for me at no charge. How awesome is that? They included a personal little note with my package and it was wrapped oh so carefully in tissue paper. The yarn is gorgeous. See, pictures!





I'm dying to knit with it already but I'm making myself finish the first pair of socks before jumping into something more complicated and ruining such a gorgeous yarn. I'm thinking Go Go Grassy will pair well with Sunday Swing Socks (it looks relatively simple for a beginner) or Spring Forward if I'm feeling adventurous.

I also picked up a skein of sock yarn at A Good Yarn this weekend while we were in Baltimore (watching the Red Sox kick a little Oriole ass). It's variegated and supposed to create a fair isle pattern when knit. It's in some sort of Mexican color way so I expect it will look like a fiesta on my feet!

I'm getting ahead of myself. I still haven't even finished my first sock yet. My god, socks are slow going. This is my progress so far. Just got to creating the heel flap. I had to rip out a few rows because the instructions were so totally wrong. It wasn't much work but it takes a long time to get a little way when knitting with such tiny yarn and needles!



But at least I am making progress!

Knitpicks and Adventures in Sockland

So yesterday I got the package I was anxiously waiting for. It was from knit picks and it contained a)two lovely yarns and b) a set of their harmony 4" dpns. I placed the order last week after having been bitten by the 'omg I want to knit socks!!' bug. (The yarn isn't for socks, I just liked the colors.)

I was like a little kid on Christmas, ripping open the package and feeling up the yarn and nuzzling my face in it. The pictures really don't do the colors justice at all. I got two balls of blue and two balls of a lovely sea green color. The green kept showing up as blue in every picture I took of it, but I promise, it's green.

The harmonies are beautiful. They are a wonder to knit with too. I was afraid that knitting with such tiny needles with teeny tiny fingering weight yarn would be a total PITA but the harmonies ensure that every stitch is a pleasure. The yarn slides easily, yet I have no fear of it slipping off the needles. The points are nice but not painfully sharp.

I immediately cast on for my first pair of socks, using Teach Yourself Visually: Sock Knitting as my guide.

(as you can see the poor hat I had been working on was immediately discarded)

So far I've only done the 1" 1x1 ribbing and just started on the stockinette stitches. I will never, ever do 1x1 rib for a sock again. OMG, how tedious. I didn't swatch (I never do) but I'm casting on for the largest size women's sock, w/the recommended yarn/needle and just hoping for the best (like I said before, too impatient). I'm excited about my first sock, but I can tell it's going to take FOREVER to finish the first one (damn tiny yarn!). So expect plenty of progress pictures as the knitting comes along.

And, photos of the yarn. Not sure what will become of this yarn, but it's super soft so preferably something I'll wear close to my skin.





(seriously, it's green y'all)

Official Apology

I'd like to offer an official apology to my Denise Interchangeables. It was a total dumbass mistake on my end that caused our little tiff. I was using the wrong cable (the shortest one in the case) to make my 16" circs. I was thrown off because using the next cable size up made them longer than the other 16" circs I own. Now that I have that straightened out they are a dream to use and I am currently using them to make Odessa (minus the beads) and it has been going swimmingly. Hopefully I can get it finished tonight.

The noro spiral hat however has been benched for the mean time. The silk garden may be destined for something else entirely.

Noro spiral one-skein hat

I've got 3 balls of Noro Silk Garden Chunky. I have no idea what to do with 3 balls of Noro Silk Garden Chunky. It's not a lot of yarn to be sure. I decided to try making this hat (ravelry link). So far it's given me nothing but fits. The pattern isn't hard. I know it isn't. Logically this should be a piece of cake. So why isn't it?

I'm impatient. I hate ripping things out and starting over. Had to rip out my first go around because my holes were stacking on top of one another instead of in a spiral. On my second attempt currently. I did my ribbing and then jumped straight into the eyelet pattern instead of knitting a row first. Doesn't seem like a big deal so I keep going. Did an eyelet row, and then promptly did another one, forgetting to knit the second row. GDI! Do I keep going? Rip it back again? I decide to keep going and see what happens...what happens is now I have two holes next to one another but by my 3rd eyelet round I see my spiral finally taking shape. Now I'm wondering if I can get away with that first (ok, second) mistake and keep going at this point. I hate frogging stuff. Patience is not my greatest virtue at all. (god, how am I EVER going to handle knitting lace?!)

Another observation I've had: I fucking hate knitting hats on my denise interchangeables! Too much needle, not enough cord on the 16 inch so it's a fight to do every single stitch in a hat. Maybe I'm using the wrong cord? I'll come back to this issue later...I totally think maybe I'm doing this wrong.

And another thing...my hat isn't making pretty spirals of color like all of the others. Right now it looks like cat vomit. Nobody wants to wear cat vomit on their head, no matter how brightly colored it is.

I'm about ready to scrap the hat and make something else...but what else can you do with 3 balls of Noro? Three very small balls!

Mental Note

I really must make an effort to take better pictures of my projects in the future. But the lighting in my house is absolute crap!

And it's impossible to take pictures of both of your hands when one is holding a camera. Will need to recruit photographer friend in the future.

First project even and other recently finished projects

So I don't have much of what I've been knitting since I started. I gave quiet a bit away for Christmas presents last year (those poor folks!), but I do have my first ever knitting project.





It's a dish cloth, knitted with some sort of cotton (sugar and cream or something similar). As you can see I had no concept whatsoever of how the knit and purl rows worked together. For the life of me I could not figure out knitting every row made the bumps and alternating knit and purl make stockinette stitch. I also didn't bother weaving in my ends. It's a dish cloth, what does it matter?

And now on to something a bit more recent...

My third pair of Evangeline's. I still can't get them right, there are a few mistakes.



Something went wrong here but I can't figure out what...



This part bothers me. It seems too open. Are these ladders?


I really screwed the thumb up on the first glove but I managed to unravel it and fix it. I'm proud of myself, it was the first time I've ever frogged anything after binding it off. It's still a little holey where the thumb meets the glove but it does look much better.


I'm trying to make a pair of Fetching fingerless gloves with the same yarn (Berroco Alpaca, I need to get better at remembering my yarns or keeping the tags!) but I don't like the way it's coming out at all. The top is all wrong. I may be doing the picot bind off wrong but looking past that it still doesn't feel right. It's too...wooly. Too dark.



I think I may rip it out and maybe turn the left over Berroco into a hat to match the Evangeline's. I've yet to attempt any knitted hats since the first one I tried and failed miserably at the decreases.

Introductory Post

Welcome to Knitterwockey. My name is Bailie and I am a knitting n00b. Not a complete n00b, I've been knitting for around 9 or 10 months, but a n00b none the less. This blog is where I will hopefully track my progress and my journey from inexperienced novice to someone who can actually make pretty things. This is a hobby I plan on sticking with for a lifetime so I want a way to document the progress I make and skills I develop.

I'll be posting lots of pictures of WIPs and FOs and anything inbetween. I'll ask questions and plead for help (hopefully I'll gain some readers that will be able to guide me along my way) and maybe eventually be able to offer my own insights.

Currently I am at the 'fingerless gloves with lots of mistakes' level. I've done plenty of scarves and cowls, one hat, a couple of calorimetries and 3 pairs of Evangelines. Those have been my most ambitious projects to date.

I crochet as well. I actually started out as a crocheter first. My mom 'taught' me how (basically gave me a general idea and then I did it wrong until the internet fixed that) and I made plenty of scarves and hats and I'm halfway decent at it. But I felt lacking. I wanted sweaters and socks and a Calorimetry! That's why I wanted to knit. I went to my local LYS, had a basic introduction to knitting and purling, made an awfully ugly wash cloth and away I went!

I've recently (as of yesterday) acquired a book to help me fix the mistakes I make (I'm horrible at tinking!) and my big ambition right now is to learn how to knit socks. I bought a book on sock knitting and all I need now are my Harmony DPNS that are currently in route from Knit Picks and some sock yarn to get me started. Look for blog posts to come on that soon.

You can find me on ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/people/fizzestothetop . Please feel free to add me and offer any constructive advice! I welcome it!