Knitasha von Stashenskeins

Monkey Got Back

In my continued quest to use up sock yarn, I have started another project.  I'm making this!

Aren't they cute?!  I was able to buy and download the pattern on line, which I LOVE.  I am all about the instant gratification.

I started my first monkey on Monday night and it has been very easy knitting. Last night I reached the top of the head and got to stuff it.  Now I have an arm-less, ear-less, tail-less mutant monkey.

 

In case you can't tell, he is wearing blue jeans.

Booty shot!!

The snout and the butt are actually knit like an afterthought heel - really clever.

Of course, it is a little fiddly working with a small amount of stitches on DPN's, but it really hasn't been that bad.  At the end of the snout or the butt, you graft the edges together.  (Yay!  No sewing!)

Pucker up, baby!

Now I have to knit arms, legs and tail. Sadly, those do have to be sewn in place, but I am noodling with an idea to knit the arms on for monkey #2.  We'll see if I can pull it off.

This is my last pre-beach week post - we are off to Delaware for our annual reunion.  Everybody take care and I should have an FO or two to show you when I get back!

Go Forth and Multiply

Did you do anything fun yesterday?  I created new spinners - two of them!!

Karen just bought a spinning wheel.  She got it from a fellow Ravelrer and it was brand new, still in the box.  I was too busy and distracted yesterday to take any pictures, but her new wheel looks just like this.

So, we made a date to meet at Yarn Cravin' and take over the porch.  Of course, then it rained, so we took over the main room instead.  (Poor Dale Ann and Bobbie have to put up with so much from us)  I brought some of my Woodland Woolworks heather merino top for her to work with.  I showed her how to pre-draft and then we were off to the races.  It was a little squirrely at first when she tried to alternate her "twist control" between both hands which equals no twist control at all.  In my role as dignified instructor, I threw myself on the floor and yelled quite a little bit.  (At least Dale Ann and Bobbie got some entertainment.)  But she was soon sorted out and finished the day making something that suspiciously resembled yarn.

Just when we were settling down, in came Jen.  I had promised I would teach her to drop spindle spin and she has ordered one, but it isn't here yet.  She did have some fiber - didja know Yarn Cravin sells a little roving?  So, we had student, teacher, and fiber, but no tool.  Dale Ann to the rescue!  She has her own fancy schmancy drop spindle which she was storing, of course, in the bathroom.  She graciously allowed us to borrow it and even let Jen finish spinning up the pencil roving that she had already started.

Jen is an overacheiver.  Before I left, she had spun all of Dale Ann's roving into a 2 ply skein and was starting on her own fiber.  Once her own spindle arrives, there will be no stopping her!

I had considered taking my wheel yesterday, but it isn't very portable and takes up a lot of room.  But I knew I wouldn't be happy unless I could spin too, so I took my long neglected little drop spindle.

Look, look, I made some yarn!!  It was actually fun.  I guess the time I've spent on my wheel has improved my skills so that I can use my spindle more easily as well.  I'm thinking I should take it to the beach this year.

Of course, spinning is a lot slower on the spindle, so when I got home I just had to get my wheel out.  Remember my sock yarn?  Well, it is all spun up.

Hanging to dry and set the twist.

I calculate I have over 400 yards here, so that should be plenty for some socks.  Add this yarn to my take-to-the-beach list!

One more thing to show you - an FO!  (two actually)

These turned out a lot cuter than I first expected and I might even wear them in daylight someday.  I am bugged by the ladders formed switching from one circular to the other - I can do a much better job on DPN's.  Oh well, that's eleven little balls of sock yarn all used up.  Approximately one zillion to go.

What's Logic Got To Do With It?

I am still plugging away at my sock yarn blankie, but progress has seriously slowed since it got so big that one round takes me over an hour.

Flip-flop added for scale.

This thing is also eating up yarn at an alarming rate.  A 50 g ball won't last for more than one row and I am down to my last 50g+ ball of scrap yarn.  So you can guess what that means.

Yes.  I have now resorted to buying new sock yarn to add to my "scrap" yarn blanket.  I realize that this is absolutely ridiculous, but I don't see what other options I have as I have a specific size goal and I haven't achieved it yet.  I bought four 100g skeins at Yarn Cravin' yesterday - we'll see where I am when those are used up.

If it will make you feel any better, I have become even more obsessive about using up ALL of my yarn scraps.  When I can't get any more rows out of a yarn, I am always left with a little ball.  I have been tossing them into the bottom of my knitting bag, where they have really been starting to bug me.  Have I really done all this crocheting just to create a new sock yarn stash of miniature balls?

Heck no!  So, what can you make out of little bitty bits of sock yarn?  Ummmm....striped socks!

In typical OCD manner, I used my fiber scale to split each yarn remnant into 2 equivalent balls.  To make them match without a lot of row counting, I decided my best option was to knit them consecutively.  This has led to an entirely new knitting experience, one that the land of Knitasha has never before witnessed.

Believe it or not, that is two socks on two circulars.  I NEVER knit socks on circulars, so this has been really weird for me.  I am still not completely satisfied with my tension between needles, but I have given myself permission to not sweat it.  Socks this fugly unusual are destined to end up as sleeping socks anyway, so who cares if they are perfect? 

Since I took this picture, I have turned one heel and am halfway through the heel flap on the second one.  (I had a lot of knitting time today while I sweated out the men's Wimbledon final through three rain delays.)  I predict I'll be decreasing gussets by bedtime.  And if I still have little balls left when these socks are done,   I'm thinking the world's fugliest chemo cap might be next.

And Now For Something Completely Different

I apologize in advance for the staggering number of pictures in this post - anybody with slow download speed is in for some teeth gnashing.  There is also absolutely no knitting content whatsoever, so you may choose to skip it altogether.

As Dale Ann so diplomatically reminded me, I promised long ago to show you a non-knitting, non-yarn craft that I worked on during my mom's visit.  As much as I want to show you the latest three inches of my sock yarn blankie, we'll save that for next time.  Got to keep my readers happy!!

My mom has never been the craft monogamist that I am.  Quilting, knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, weaving, spinning...she has done it all.  I vividly remember a long period of macrame in the late 70's which then led directly to an Ojo phase.  (Does anybody else remember making ojos?  We made oodles of the things, I wonder where they all went.) Crazy words like Pisanki and batik are in my vocabulary because my mom dabbled in them.

Uncharacteristically, my mom did not step off the plane in Detroit with a project in hand.  After a day or two of watching me knit (the secret graduation sweater's final days), she announced that we needed to hit a craft store.  She wanted a "small craft", something interesting to work on while she was here that wouldn't take up too much room in her suitcase.

Off we went to Hobby Lobby, which they don't have in Arizona.  After a loooooong tour of every aisle, we happened upon a new twist on an old craft we had both tried in the past.  The most exciting part was that there was a gadget involved.  Gotta love the gadgets!!  Need I tell you that we purchased one for each of us?

Anybody want to guess? 

This is a handy-dandy yo-yo maker!  No, not the toy.  Not the cellist either.  The cute little fabric kind.

If you have ever tried to make yo-yos, you know that it is time-intensive.  You have to cut perfect circles of fabric and they all have to be the same size.  Then you have to hand-stitch each one.  Hard to justify the labor involved for such a teeny product.  But then, some genius came along and invented this wonderful little tool.  All the hard steps have been eliminated or made easier.

You place the gadget above and below the fabric and cut around it.

Doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to leave yourself some extra all the way around.

You fold your extra up against the orange disc and then stitch around the circle using the stitch guide holes.

Leaving the needle and thread attached, you pull the orange disc out.

Now you pull the thread tight to gather up the edge.  Once it is gathered, you make a careful knot or two to keep it all together.

Ta-da!!!! 

My fabric stash can't hold a candle to my yarn stash, but I did have enough fat quarters to keep my mom and I occupied for the rest of her visit.  At first I just made yo-yos willy-nilly with no significant plan for them.  (My mother, the lunatic, decided right away that she was making a bedspread.)  After I had a good-sized pile, I started to consider what they might become.

Internet to the rescue!  I printed out hexagonal graph paper (close enough to circles) and got my crayons out.

Before long, I had a plan.

I already had enough dark yo-yos for the flower shapes, so I stitched them together to see how they would look.

I lurve them.

So now I just need 26 (only 26, she says!) light yo-yos and then I'll stitch them into a little mat.  I'm thinking it might want to live on my bureau top.

Okay, I am done torturing you with yo-yos.  I will make you look at a picture of the final product eventually, but there is little risk of completion at the moment.

Before I head off to work, let me just thank Dale Ann and Julie for their generous donations to my sock scrap stash.

Have no fear, girls, I will put it to good use!

Kniterella Made Me Do It

So Saturday, Kim posted some totally gorgeous lace-weight that she had spun.  I was so jealous!!  Why can't I spin skinny yarn?

Well, when inspired by blind envy, it turns out that I can.

20 wpi, baby!!

Details:

Superwash merino, custom blend colors by Cris and Hillary Godfrey at the ranch. This skein weighs about 1.2 ounces and my new McMorran balance tells me it is about 138 yards.  I have 4 oz total of this fiber, so I have high hopes I might get a pair of socks out of the deal, even if they have to be anklets.  It was so fun to spin up skein #1 that skein #2 is already in production.

In a stunning display of my ineptitude at Corel Paint Shop, I tried to add a little caption to this photo of my sock yarn blanket so you could see how far I've progressed since last time.  Humor me and pretend you can see it. I could not convince it to print in black, no matter how I begged.

It turns out this is really nice to work on in the movies.  (It also turns out that the new Get Smart movie is freaking hilarious!)

One more teeny knitting project to show you.  Gerd on Ravelry had some really darling booties on her project page, but when I investigated the pattern, it was not so much in English.  I sent a pleading note to Gerd and she was kind enough to translate it for me.  This is just a test bootie to see if I could follow the pattern.  It doesn't look quite like Gerd's, but I'm hoping she can tell me where I went astray.

Once I get the pattern figured out, I'll make a pair in more baby-appropriate yarn.  I like the way that the mohair Gerd used looks, but I know from experience that I don't enjoy knitting with it.  I will find a fuzzy substitution I can get along with.  (Machine washable would be a big plus.)

SP12 Questionnaire

Sorry to everybody for being boring, but I am supposed to post a questionnaire on my blog for a secret pal exchange I signed up for.  (I'm actually late - sorry, secret pal!)

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I like soft wools and wool blends, but I am not a big fan of scratchy wool. (Lopi, Kuryeon, etc.)  I love alpaca and alpaca blends.  I only use cotton for dishcloths.  I don't mind man-made fibers if they are soft, but I do not like squeaky acrylics, linen, hemp, or mohair.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I have a hanging circular holder in my closet.  My crochet hooks are in a yellow plastic pencil case.  My straights are stuck in a box somewhere - I never knit with straights!  My sock needles are in a little Piddleloop pouch that Karen gave me.  A lot of my needles ride around in my knitting bag "just in case".

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? 

My mom taught me basic back-and-forth knitting when I was 7.  Since then, I've picked things up from patterns and books.  I guess I'm advanced, although it sounds smarmy to say so!

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Nope.  I am no good at waiting for someone else to buy me a book I want.  Books and yarn - can't live without them!

5. What's your favorite scent?  Ummm...vanilla? 

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?  BIG sweet tooth and it's all about the chocolate!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I crochet once in a while.  I dye yarn and fiber.  I spin on my Mom's old wheel.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) 

Easier to tell you I don't listen to country or Christian or rap.  Otherwise, I probably like it.  I have iTunes on my computer.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? 

Favorite color is blue but red is my favorite color to wear.  I'm not a fan of bright neons or beige/tan.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Husband and two daughters - 18 and 12.  No pets.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? 

Scarves and mittens.  Hats look weird on my giant head and my kids do not allow poncho-wearing.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? 

Socks with 4 DPN's and sweaters in the round.

13. What are you knitting right now? 

I am halfway through a pair of socks but I am momentarily obsessed with an afghan I am crocheting.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?  Yes!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? 

Wooden/bamboo circulars and double-pointed needles.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?  Yes, both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO? 

If I haven't touched it for over a year, it moves from UFO to abandoned.  My Kauni sweater has been languishing untouched since before Christmas.

18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas!!

19. Is there anything that you collect?  Just yarn and books.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? 

Ummmm...I generally spoil myself and buy things I want when I want them.  There are lots of cool sock yarns I haven't tried yet.  I subscribe to Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits, also Spin-Off.  The other knit mags don't interest me.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? 

I am enjoying Cat Bordhi's sock book - it is fun to learn a new way to do things.  I think I've tried most knitting styles - I know how to knit intarsia and entrelac, I just don't like to.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?  9" long and 8.5 " circumference

23. When is your birthday? April 25th

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?  yodaknit

That's all - back with actual blog stuff soon.

 

 

 

To-Do List

Plan, shop, cook, schlep, and assemble graduation party?

 

Check.

Sew 8 beanbags for cornhole game at said party?

Check.

Finish BGSU hat to present to daughter's BFF?

Check.

Still to do:

Take leftover cake to work to get rid of it share it with my co-workers.

*Crochet another round on the blanket of obsession.

Repeat from *.

I Love Surprises...usually

So, this was the view that greeted me when I got up this morning.

No, we aren't trying out a new white vine in the yard - that's toilet paper.  What the picture doesn't show very well is that it is also pouring rain.  Great!  I don't have a lot of experience de-TP'ing a yard, but I would guess that rain doesn't make it easier.  Luckily, our attackers were kind or lazy and didn't fling paper into the trees, so it is all with in my reach.

We have never been toilet-papered before, but I suspect it is a graduation ritual and not a patient's mom indicating her disapproval of my refusal to give antibiotics for colds.  Of course, the graduate is conveniently safe at work, so the pediatrician will be the one out there with the trash bag.

Slowly and with much resentment, I have been working on the newsboy cap.  It has reached the brimless tam-like stage. 

This poor hat is doubly-loathed because it takes me away from my sock blanket AND I hate the colors.  I chose to make it brown and orange because the recipient is going to BGSU in the fall.  I don't mind brown or orange, but I don't really enjoy them together.  Just the brim to go, and then I can wrap this little annoyance up and get rid of it graciously bestow it on the treasured friend.

Here's a new picture of the growing blankie.

Sorry, the flash makes the colors harsh, but it is too wet to take it outside.  My love for this project has not dimmed a smidge and I still have a big pile of sock scraps, so I'll keep plugging away.  Deb's blanket took her five months, but I suspect she is not quite as obsessive as I am.

Oh joy, the rain has stopped.  You know where I'll be if you need me.

Absolutely Obsessed

I'm baaaaaack! 

Graduation went off without a hitch and the last of the grandparents left this morning, so I've got my house back.  I really enjoyed spending some time with my parents and we kept pretty busy!  They were both very proud of their graduate.















Say  "diploma"!

My mom is an equal opportunity crafter, so she got me hooked on a non-knitting, non-yarn project while she was here.  I'm going to save that show-and-tell for another day, as I actually have some knitting content to blog about!

The secret graduation sweater was completed on time and gratefully received.  Unfortunately, the recipient has had approximately 27 graduation parties to attend since Saturday afternoon, so there has been no chance to photograph her in it.  Youngest daughter was kind enough to fill in and humor her crazy mom.

 













Of course, it is way too big for her, but at least you can see the cool stripe pattern.  I made stockinette hems for the bottom border and the neck and ribbing for the sleeve cuffs.  Surprisingly, it only took five skeins of the Cascade 220, three red and two white.  Washing it to block it was absolutely harrowing as the red yarn bled like mad.  I was lucky to have some Shout color catchers, but even after three rinses, I can still see some pink in the white.  I knew I was in trouble when my wooden needles started turning pink during the knitting.

One of the things we did with my parents was a visit to Cedar Point, so I just had to start a pair of socks so I would have something to knit waiting in lines.  Jean has been raving about 6x2 ribs for men's socks, so I gave that a try.

 

One giant sock for my giant nephew.

The 6x2 rib is nice and simple and manly and was only marginally boring to knit.  I switched to 2x2 rib for the very top of the leg.  This is Knit Picks Felici yarn in the schooner colorway.  This yarn does have a tendency to split, but it is really soft.

My nephew's birthday is not until August, so I am not very motivated to start sock #2 yet.  I bought some beautiful Debbie Bliss alpaca silk to make another newsboy cap for a graduation gift.  Last night would have been a perfect time to cast on, but I didn't.  Instead, I embarked on a project of such foolishness that I hesitate to even show it to you.

Let me start by saying it is all Deb's fault.  She just posted this incredible afghan and I was immediately fascinated.  Hey, I have lots of leftover sock yarn!  Hey, I know how to crochet granny squares!  Hey, I am a master of self-delusion when it comes to starting giant crazy projects!

 

Fairly inevitable, don't you agree?

I  became immediately obsessed and stayed up until nearly eleven last night adding "just one more" little ball of sock odds and ends.  Just one more tiny ball to go, and then I move on to the bigger skein fractions that I stash in the entertainment center.  I had forgotten how soothing granny square rhythm is, and we all know how I feel about sock yarn!  Do I need to tell you that the afghan is several rows bigger since I took this picture?  Or that I'll go right back to it as soon as I'm done posting?

In order to have any chance of finishing the newsboy cap, I have resolved to only work on the afghan at home and use the cap as my portable knitting.  We'll see if I have that kind of willpower!  (The odds are against me.)

Stealth Project

While you weren't looking, I took a brief break from my mystery knitting project and made something else.  My youngest has her birthday on Saturday and a hand-knit item is expected.  Besides, I needed blog fodder.

Meet Miranda's Newsboy Cap!


















Not bad for less than 24 hours - much of which was spent doing other stuff.

















I am fairly certain DD will love this.  Eldest daughter pronounced it "so cute" AND mentioned she might enjoy one of her own.  It was so easy to knit that I won't mind making another.  Or a few.

It's the brim that really makes the hat.  The designer is so clever!  You knit the hat, then you knit a little brim pocket on one side of the cast on.  The brim gets its shape from a little crescent of plastic mesh.

















You slip it into the pocket and then sew the pocket shut.

















So cool!   I love it when things work like they are supposed to.  This pattern is so good that my mods = ZERO - very uncharacteristic for me.  When I added this to my Ravelry page, I noted that mine is # 430.  Not Monkey socks or Clapotis, but pretty dang popular.

The pattern is in Stitch and Bitch Nation and I used some yarn that was kicking around in my stash: Trendsetter Yarns Tonalita in the Sunset colorway.  It's 52% wool and 48% acrylic, so it is nice and soft and shouldn't itch.  The pattern calls for 200 yards of yarn, but I bet I only used about 125 or so.   Good stashbuster project, especially since I'm famous for only buying 2 balls of whatever yarn calls to me.

In other news, I got a present today!  Kim sent me a massive skein of some Briar Rose Yarn to thank me for knitting squares for her charity afghan.  (You can see the afghan here)

















That is 600 yards of sportweight superwash merino!  This yarn is much softer than the yarn we used for the afghan.  A girl can do a lot with 600 yards of sportweight - I will have to ponder.  Meanwhile, back to the secret knitting!  My parents arrive Friday for the big graduation and I won't have as much time to knit.  Or blog, for that matter, but you guys are getting used to that.