March 8, 2007
Knee Highs
I finally finished my lovely knee highs. I've been working on these for a long time, and I'm glad that they're done so I can wear them!
Project Details:
Yarn: Piece of Beauty "Boathouse" - custom dyed for the longer repeat necessary for the knee highs. I used a little less than 3 skeins of the Boathouse and less than one skein of the Boathouse Blue for the heels, toes, and ribbing.
Pattern: A basic toe-up pattern based on Diana's knee highs
Needles: I started on 2.0mm dpns and finished the second sock using magic loop. I love my dpns, but I'm really liking magic loop too. It made the sock go so quickly (well, the second sock went fast once I dedicated myself to finishing it).
Thoughts: I made these socks with some negative ease so they don't slide down, and I wore them for an entire day without any sliding. The length of my legs made these socks go on forever; I was sure I was never going to finish. Sometimes being tall is a real pain in the ass.
Posted by Stephanie at 1:42 PM | Comments (35)December 4, 2006
A Knee High
It was another crazy weekend around here. There was very little unwinding going on and a whole lot of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off (as my dad would say). I swear I need another day off, but that isn't how it works, so I will just make the best of it. I was supposed to teach a class at the yarn store on Saturday - it was an informal come by and learn to knit a scarf for Christmas kind of thing. Two men were supposed to come, but they went elk hunting instead. Ah well, that's Wyoming for you. I was a little disappointed, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that hunting would beat out knitting (although those priorities are completely skewed in my mind). After the yarn store was Travis' Christmas party. We were an hour late (don't ask), but it was a nice time as far as those work functions go anyway.
Travis left for a business trip to Boise early yesterday (and by the way, this getting up at 6:30 on Saturday and Sunday needs to stop or I'm going to do some serious damage to my lovely Bose radio - I should at least get to sleep until 7:30 on the weekends). After he left I spent the next 3 hours on the phone with Apple technical assistance trying to figure out why my wireless internet wasn't working. I must say, they are very helpful (except for one guy who talked to me like I was 5 years old and didn't have a good grasp of the English language) and we finally got it straightened out. I now have entered the 21st century - high-speed wireless internet. I am so excited I'm just beside myself. But as soon as I got it all up and running, I had to leave to go knit with a friend and I couldn't even play on it. My friend has been knitting for awhile, but she wanted to learn how to knit continental so I went to her house and taught her, her daughter, and her good friend how to knit continental. It was a lot of fun to sit and knit with some girls - I really don't get to do that very often. And as a bonus, Ann made the most delicious lunch - grilled cheese sandwiches with brie, granny smith apples, and bacon. Yum. I do believe I have a new favorite sandwich.
As far as knitting this weekend, it was a bit scarce. But, I did manage to finish part of a project! One knee high is done.
That sucker is 18 inches tall. It is times like this being tall really sucks. I bound off using a 3.75mm needle, but the bind off is still too tight. So, I'm going to take it out and use a stretchier bind-off recommended by Yahaira. I should be able to do that tonight - hopefully.
November 13, 2006
It's All About Yarn
I had planned to post about Tatami - the sweater I test knit for Sundara Yarns, but every picture I took was terrible. The light here was awful all weekend. So, I'm going to try again today and hopefully post about the sweater tomorrow.
This weekend was pretty quiet. I made a lot of progress on the Knee High, but did run out of yarn.
Please ignore my really white, bruised leg. That's how far I got with the first ball of yarn. The good news is that I have a second ball, and I continued with it and am in the process of getting a third ball from Piece of Beauty. I should have the third ball before I'm at that point on the second sock, so it all worked out. I debated about finishing the sock with the blue, but I decided that it would be too much plain blue and I wouldn't like how it looked. Better to do it right and get an extra ball of yarn.
Yesterday I spent some time working, but I also sat down at my spinning wheel and finished the purple I was spinning (I'll try to ply that next weekend) and started the blue roving I bought at Estes Park.
I'm not sure about this stuff. I think I'm used to spinning top or something because this stuff is kind of annoying. There are all kinds of little burrs in it and the fibers seem to be going every which way. Despite that, I am pretty pleased with how it's spinning up. I'd like to make a hat or socks with this. I think I have 4 oz, so I'm not sure what I'll be able to get out of it, but I'm trying to spin worsted (even though you can't really tell - the end result is really hairy).
I have a Supreme Court argument this week, so it's going to be kind of quiet around Unwind until Thursday. I hope you all have a great week. I'll have a sweater post for you tomorrow and hopefully a knee high finished this week.
Posted by Stephanie at 7:16 AM | Comments (19)November 9, 2006
Mid-Calf
The knee high is creeping up to about mid-calf. Right now I have 7.5 inches and I need to knit until I have about 14 (and hopefully I won't run out of yarn before I get there), then I'll add the ribbing in the solid blue.
I just finished the 4th set of increases, and the pattern calls for 8 - so, really on track for the 14", assuming the yarn holds (can you tell I'm worried about that?)
I've been knitting these socks on 2.0mm Susan Bates needles, as recommended by Grumperina. I have to tell you - I love them. They're a little long - 7 inches rather than 6, but the good outweighs the bad. The points are wonderful, the coating on the metal is perfect for socks - the needles are nice and strong, but not too slick, and they're cheap! I bought the socks needle set at the LYS (the set is 4 pairs of needles - 000, 00, 0, and 1) for $10!
The only other news is my new cell phone. I have had a long term hate relationship with the previous phone and yesterday was the first day I was eligible for a new phone. So, over lunch I ran right down to Circuit City and set myself up with a new version.
Picking out a cell phone is hard. There are so many, and 90% are flip phones (which I have a personal aversion to). That left me just a couple of choices. I considered a blackberry or palm, but I know I wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost of all those bells and whistles. This one actually has an MP3 player, which I won't use because of my iPod, but other than that - I really like it. I can't figure out how to get the bluetooth headset to work - I either have it on when I don't want it on or it's off when I want it on. I hope I'll get it figured out today, but man this technology makes my head hurt.
November 2, 2006
A New Heel
I know I've said it before, but after yesterday it bears repeating. Knitting and blogging friends are the best. Thanks for helping me out of my funk. Between all the lovely comments and some serious chocolate (dark chocolate truffles), plus some knitting, tv watching, and puppy snuggles I'm feeling much better.
The sock has made a turn - a heel turn to be precise.
I kind of fumbled my way through the solid color heel and played around with a couple of ways to pick up the wraps on the short-rows. I used the tutorial from Misocrafty for the toe, but I wanted to compare it to the method where you pick up and knit (or purl) the wraps with the stitch (like Wendy explains). I'm getting holes (tiny ones, but they're there) with both methods and I'm not sure why. Maybe one of you short-row experts can help me with this one. Even with the tiny holes, I have a completely lovely sock and now I need to work about 4 inches of the leg before I start the calf increases. I can't wait.
Posted by Stephanie at 9:22 AM | Comments (22)October 30, 2006
A Pair of Hearts
This weekend was surprisingly productive. Well, maybe not surprising because I didn't leave my house all weekend. Travis said it was scary that I was more of a home body than he was, and he has a point. But, it was nice to spend some time at home after the craziness of last weekend. You'll all be so relieved to know that I have finished the kimono sweater! That's the good news, the bad news is that I don't have pictures for you yet, but as soon as I hear back from Sundara, I'll let you know where we stand on that. I also made good progress on the wedding square for Cindy. I'm officially half done, but I should finish it this week.
It's called Heart Strings and it's from the 3rd Barbara Walker stitch book (the yellow one). It's a little smaller than the required 8 inches, but I have it on good authority that the yarn grows when washed, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on it working out to be the right size. Sure, I could have knit a swatch and blocked it, but it's cables, so swatches lie. I'm winging it and hoping for the best.
The other thing I started this weekend were the knee highs.
I wasn't sure how much of the toe should be the solid and I did too much the first time. I ended up going with 1.5 inches, which is basically the short-row toe, and then I switched to the striping yarn. That is one great thing about toe up socks - you can try them on as you go and see how things are working.
This week should be pretty quiet. We're going to visit my dad and stepmom Friday, so it will be a short week. I have a few things to do at work, but nothing outrageous. I've been thinking about painting my bedroom dark brown - like chocolate brown. Anyone have any thoughts on that? I'd do the walls dark and then use cream or off-white on the bed and maybe a print with brown and white/off-white on the windows and pillows.
Posted by Stephanie at 8:30 AM | Comments (27)
