Balls of Yarn!!!

I used my new ball winder the other day to make pretty balls of yarn. Yay!


Here is progress on the baby jacket. A pic of the whole back.


Here's a detail piece. Because my knitting and purling tensions are different, I'm getting this funny columns thing, where I get a deeper valley every other stitch. It's hard to describe.



Unfortunately, I don't think you can see it in this pic. Actually, fortunately, because maybe it's not as noticeable as I thought.

Fancy Blogger

So, it seems that Blogger is trying to do something to prevent the spam comment thing. Now one has to type in a code, like when you buy tickets online, to verify that you are in fact a person. Fancy pants.

Crafty Cake

I haven't had a picture in a little while, so I thought I'd post a picture of the wedding cake I helped decorate, since this is my crafty page. I mostly rolled the fondant, and the bride actually put it on the cake, but I played a part.

The miracle ball winder

I had kind of a pissy evening last night. I left work in an ok mood, and arrived home in a foul mood, thanks to the "self" checkout line at the grocery store. The universe must have known, and balanced things out by having my ball winder sitting there waiting for me when I got home. I balled a skein without a swift, since I haven't ordered it yet (next Joann sale, baby). It was a pain in the ass. I wound a ball from a ball I'd wound. It was wonderful. So I rewound the ball I'd wound from the skein, and now it's wonderful. My balls got better with practice. Happiness is watching Lost and playing with a new ball winder. :-D

Oh Happy Day!

So, thanks to Minty and the smart folks over at Knitty, I now know that when one is buying Debbie Bliss yarn, one needs to buy a good bit more than is called for. I wish that conversation had happened two months ago when I was buying the yarn, but what can you do. I went ahead and called the yarn store in Oregon, and not only do they have 4 balls of the same color, it's the same dye lot! I'm really happy, because I figured after two months, they'd be out of it, or not have the same dye lot left, or something. Whew. I am so, so glad. I bought all 4 balls, because damn it I'm not going to run out of yarn. If it's too much, I'll make booties, or look for another project. Yay Northwest Wools in Portland, OR!

baby jacket and hat

The second skein of natural colored yarn for the hat has arrived. It seems to match well, but I'll knit up a little swatch with the two yarns to see if you can tell the difference. I'm lazy and want to wait for my ball winder to show up before I ball it.

I am making good progress on the baby jacket. I finished the back last night. I'm very worried that I won't have enough yarn. I'm going to call the yarn store (the same one in Oregon where I bought the yarn for the hat). I bought exactly as much as the pattern told me to. I didn't do a swatch (bad knitter), but my gauge is dead on. I don't understand. Making a Debbie Bliss pattern with Debbie Bliss yarn should be foolproof.

Anyone have extra Debbie Bliss DK Cotton in color 13007?

Pain in the butt

When I was on my west coast trip, I promised my lovely friend Meera that I would knit her a hat, to add to her extensive collection. I knitted her a hat years ago, when we were in college, and she is more apprecciative of the knitted gift than anyone else I know. So, we went to a little shop, and she picked out yarn. I knew the style she wanted, the Cabled Newsboy Cap from Stich 'n Bitch Nation. I have the book at home, but didn't have it with me, and they were out of it at the shop, so we went to a bookstore to look at how much yarn we'd need, but we apparently missed something. I was reading how many grams per 100 yds, not how many skeins we'd need, so I bought 1 skein, and we needed two. Luckily, we bought Manos del Uruguay in Natural, and they don't have dye lots, so I was able to order some from the internet, and hope that the colors are close. I also need to buy more Addi Turbos in the right size. How do I not have Addis in an 8? A trip to my LYS is in order. Maybe tomorrow afternoon. And I'm writing down what I need for needles, and checking it twice.

Pictures of the ll-back ribbon tank

Here are pictures of the tank top. Thanks to my lovely model. :-)

Front of the tank.


Back of the tank.

Done!

I finally finished the ribbon tank. I just have to weave in a couple more ends. My "model" let me take some pics, which I'll put up as soon as I have a moment. It fits me, and it fits her, and we're shaped pretty differently, so I hope it will fit my friend. The parallel straps worked out ok, I think. Whew. Done.

I'm not excluding you

I am sorry to say, because of bad, spam-like comments I was getting, I had to change my settings so that only people with Blogger accounts can post comments, which makes me sad, but I got 5 spam-type comments in 3 hours, and it was getting out of control. Hopefully something will change so that I can change the settings back. Blogger is great, if you want to get an account, and then you can post comments. I'm not sure how many people I have reading who aren't Bloggers anyhow. Too bad people suck. :(

The X-back will be a ll-back

I was working on the straps last night, and I've decided to do parallel straps instead of crossed straps. I had a strange conversation, trying to be casual, asking my friend about whether she has an x-back strapless bra that she likes, and not surprisingly, she doesn't. I think that it will work out ok. She's a little smaller than I am, but I pinned the one strap I was working on and tried it on, and it doesn't pull funny, and it looks fine in the front. So tonight I'll finish up the straps, I hope. Oh, which reminds me I forgot to mail back my Netflix movies that I was watching while knitting last night! Bummer. Now I'll have to wait a whole extra day to get more movies, and for some reason Sex and the City season 4 only has 4 episodes per disk, and only 2 disks! Man, I want that job. I'm working late tonight, but hopefully will finish tonight. Not that I have woven in any of my edges yet...

And Minty let me know that Joann's coupon deal is running now, so I'm going to order the ball winder this month, and the swift next month. Yay!

If I ever finish the freaking tank, I can work on the billed cap from SnB for my Oregon friend, and work on the baby jacket as I have time. And I have to figure out what I'm going to do with 8 balls of Crystal Palace Party ribbon yarn. I was going to make an x-back but it's not the right gauge (and I am not going to the effort of adjusting for this pattern). I can't bring myself to return it, but I fear I may have to. Sniff, Sniff.

I don't wanna go to work

I have stalled out on the tank. All I have to do is finish the straps and weave in the ends, and I have just run out of steam. My poor friend who doesn't even know about it will never even see it, I fear. I have been making some small progress on the baby jacket. I've never done anything in 100% cotton that I can remember, and I can't say I'm loving it. The yarn has no give, and it slows me down a lot, and I have to hold my finger higher, so I'm getting hand cramps. I'm glad I opted to do just the jacket, and not the booties too, becuase my fingers might fall off.

I'm totally dying to knit something with the fun yarns at KnitPicks. I wish I knitted for a living, instead of sitting at a desk.

How the hell is it August already?

I have made a little progress on the baby jacket. I find that I'm knitting a lot more tightly with the cotton. Or maybe there's just less give in the yarn. I tempted the fates and didn't do a gauge swatch, but I figure that I'm knitting the 6mo size for a baby that has not yet been born. My gauge is consistent, whatever it is. The baby is going to fit in this jacket for a limited amount of time no matter what size it is. I think it will work out.

I have done all of the shaping for the front of the tank, and now just need to finish up the straps, but it is just not calling to me. I just need to do it, get it done, and give it to my friend. I am now agonizing over whether to make it an x-back, or to make the straps parallel. She is full chested, and I have found it difficult to find x-back bras that work well for larger chests. It is an impasse. Do I ask her which she prefers? She doesn't know I'm making this for her, it was to be a surprise. The agony of it all.

By the way, did I mention that I want someone else to have a baby so I can make this? I love the friends for whom I'm making the baby jacket, but I think it would have to be a relative or a really, really close friend for this blanket. Although, I could just start working on it now and then give it to whoever has the first baby. Though, does that set a precedent? ;-)