grown-up booties

grown-up booties
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

contrary to my complaints about not feeling jiggy with the knitting lately, it is happening. i whipped up these grown up booties this week using 1.5 skeins of debbie bliss' alpaca silk. a pleasure to knit, this mostly garter stitch in an aran weight project was fast and easy. the pattern is theoretically a great gift project, but i discovered a few things about the pattern i wasn't too crazy about.

first, there's only one size, and i think it runs about a woman's size 8. i'm a size 6, so even though i cast on fewer stitches, it still came out too big. the diagram and photos look great, but unless it's felted, the shape really doesn't sit well on the foot meaning it doesn't keep it's well-designed slipper with a rounded square toe shape. the toe corners end up being floppy or misshapen if it actually fits snugly. this brings me to what i will be doing with these--felt them and hope for the best because i really like this super soft yarn.

it was a test knit to see if it would be a good gift. since i'm such a perfectionist, i won't give away a handmade gift that i think is crap. i know. friends tell me most people won't even notice certain things like my less than stellar finishing job, but i can't escape my warped thought of making something that someone would politely accept but not use or think was poorly done. so we'll see how they come out after felting.

lace scarf

lace scarf
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i started this lace scarf from knitty last night, but am still not feeling it. the rhythm and satisfaction of knitting has been drifting lately. i'm tempted to start a more exciting sweater project, but then there are the christmas presents i had hoped to do as well...too many things going on right now. i find it hard to focus on more than one thing even though i'm certainly trying to fit it all in.

snb yarn swap

snb yarn swap
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

susan hosted another great yarn swap for our stitch n' bitch group this past sunday. amazingly (yay!), i left with less yarn, which is excellent (another thing this weekend i never thought i'd say). one way or another, i'm whittling down my yarn stash, and since little knitting is happening lately, this was opportune.

i'm not a big cotton knitter, but i liked the colors on the all seasons cotton (iceberg) and mission falls 1824 (magenta) i picked up, and was thinking i could make dishcloths for christmas gifts.

rhonda brought sophie, who was quiet and sleepy/sleeping most of the time, so there was plenty of oohing and awwing at her little cuteness. much knitting was done, though not by me. i was a bit distracted and spent the whole time trying to cast on a new scarf, and in the end decided, the yarn i had was too thin. the time just flew by! a nice way to wind down after pigging out on chocolate all morning.

less than knitting

lacy rose sweater
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

between art, recent freelance work, food outings and an effort to incorporate exercise into my regimen to counter the food outings, i have knitted little to nothing lately. part of the problem could also be that the project(s) that i have in progress require some attention be paid to the pattern. i put down the lacy rose sweater from rebecca 31 i had started some time ago, promptly forgot, then had to refresh myself of the pattern. now that summer is fading into fall, i feel less motivated to finish it. it's also the first pattern requiring more experience as it makes assumptions and doesn't spell everything out so well.

i tried starting a lace scarf, but have run into the same issue. must find a simple or short pattern fast OR find an exciting pattern i can't put down. oi. i'd ask for more hours in a day, but i'd probably fill those up too and still not be satisfied.

little, fluffy cloud bolero

little, fluffy cloud bolero
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

there were a couple months towards summer's end there that i was knitting along as productive as could be. i was ready to bind off my little bolero, when i became busy with work and art projects. the knitting has been almost non-existent, and i missed a few weeks of knit night. a couple weeks ago, i finally finished the bind off and luck would have it, i found the perfect button at liscat.

it really is a simple repeating pattern knit from the top down (ysolda teague's cloud bolero). make sure you're paying attention. i had to frog in the beginning because i wasn't paying close enough attention and missed a yo. i also knit with too small of a needle and ended up knitting the size s. even with those snafus, i still managed to make a nice little capelet. with the bulky yarn, it goes by quickly.

cloud bolero wip

cloud bolero wip
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i was still trying to figure out what to do about the increase seams on the lacy sweater from rebecca 31 i had started last week AND forgot the pattern at home, so ended up casting on a new sweater, isolda's cloud bolero, in the mean time. it's been a fast knit so far, despite having to rip and reknit the first 18 rows because i wasn't paying close enough attention to my yo's and not counting my stitches. it couldn't be helped as we were talking about cupcakes last night at snb.

sweater madness

hew
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i don't know what has possessed me to be so obsessed about knitting sweaters. the summer is heating up, so i can't really be sporting most of these sweaters. so far, it's given me good pause for not shopping, so i'm saving money in that respect. i do like that there's a lot of variation between sweater patterns. i have yet to tackle one that requires a lot of assembling or sleeves, but may soon, as some of the patterns i really like involve that.

hew

hew
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

anxious that even after buying the one ball after the fact that i would need yet a little more, i plowed through this weekend to discover that i barely had enough.

the ribbing at the bottom didn't end up being tight enough for my liking, making the sides sort of hang loosely at the ribbing. if i were to do it again, i would use a smaller needle size, and cast on more stitches. the sweater is definitely designed for the more flat-chested of us. there were a few spots where i fudged things, like casting on the ties, because i wasn't sure how best to do it. i used a cable cast on on the longer tie, but the way it's written, i ended up having a narrower tie on the shorter side. it doesn't bother me so much. it's a cute sweater.

there is some confusion in the pattern, but i asked a fellow knitter for some advice and emailed canarysanctuary who was nice enough to respond with some clarification. on the part where you work the increases for the bust, it says to do so until you have 22 stitches--that would be for each side, not the total. then you continue in stockinette until the desired length.

it is hot today in southern ca, and we have no ac. i rushed the photo taking as i couldn't take the heat in the sweater.

hew progress

hew
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i realized after i was almost halfway up the neckband that i was incorrectly knitting the last stitch of every RS row with each knit row along the body, when i should have knit it with every other row, so the stitches from the neckband would be evenly distributed with the already knit stitches. as it was, it was bunching up, and i was almost through the new one and only ball i ordered. had to rip back to the ties. doh!

shalom cardigan

shalom cardigan
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

finished! i made some minor mods. for each of the twisted rib repeats on the yoke, i did two less (total of 5 instead of 7 for each section). at the point where i binded off the sleeves, i divided the section to be more even on the front and back and to better fit my body (i have small arms). k22, bo 40, k45, bo 40, k22 (row 45 in the pattern, 39 for my mods). the next row i cast on 10 instead of 15.

in retrospect, i think i would have k a few more stitches in the fronts and bo fewer so the yoke wouldn’t be so flared and the arm opening not so big. considering that the pattern was designed for someone tall, i also made fewer repeat rows (2 less for each section) on the body.

the only confusing bit was placing the marker on the center sides. instead of following the instructions, i made sure i counted the # of front stitches and for the decreases made the stitches so they fell at the center spot. eg. if there were 27 stitches before the center spot, after the decrease, there were 26. same with the increases.

overall, i like the way it turned out.

koigu trunk show

koigu trunk show
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

alamitos bay yarn, an lys, is hosting a trunk show for koigu this weekend. i went and bought more yarn. surprise. surprise. i'm a bad girl. think i'll make a shawl with this.

shalom

shalom
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

this simple little yoke sweater is so cute, i moved it up my queue. last night, i cast on and am happily knitting away. my first official button hole went by without much hoopla, but it was exciting as i used my newly acquired knowledge of cable cast on from a recent project. the bulky yarn knits up quick.

the only snafu has been the realization that one of the needles in my knitpicks options set is not the right size. i ended up with a size #10.5 for a #10, so 3 #10.5's were in my set and only 1 - #10. thankfully, when i emailed knitpicks, they were quick to respond that a new pair would be in the mail. i'm not sure what the consequences are for knitting with two different sized needles. i'm 2/3 way through the yoke, and thought it wouldn't be terribly painful to start over, but i've a mind to continue.

this will be a nice extra layer of warmth as there is some alpaca blended into the yarn, which is valley yarn's berkshire bulky. this yarn is great. it's soft and has a subtle halo of fuzz from the alpaca. the best part is the price! they come in nice earthy tones, which i love. i just ordered a few skeins to use for the cloud bolero.

anthropologie-inspired capelet finis

anthropologie capelet
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

despite the scratchiness, i finished this. once you get going, it knits up pretty fast. mine came out shorter than i like as i followed the instructions at the end without trying it on until i was done. i'd like to take apart the ribbing and add some length to it, but i'd rather move onto another project. what i'd really like to do is soak it in a sink full of conditioner in hopes of forcing it to be softer, but am doubtful it will make a difference. i stilli need to get a button for it. maybe a wood button with some texture to it.

anthropologie capelet

anthropologie capelet
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

due to my absent-mindedness, i have had to unknit and reknit three times, not including the first time in a different yarn in a different color, as my yo's were placed in the wrong spot or were missed. after the fixes, things have been going along pretty fast. i'm 80% done, but now, the mass of icelandic scratchiness is bugging me. i'm not allergic to wool per se, but i swear a fiber got in my eye and irritated the heck out of it last night. i can't decide if i should rip (yet again), and find a softer yarn. i don't think i will use this reynolds lopi again.

even though it's suppose to be reverse stockinette, i think i will wear it stockinette side out.

stash busting

yarn stash
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i am so happy that i was able to sell a bunch of my yarn (ok, maybe it's not a bunch in relationship to the whole, but it's a good amount). it's not like it was a sudden realization that i have more yarn than i can knit with, but more of an acceptance of my limited time in this lifetime. and yes, this past week has been about a huge effort to clean out and simplify our tiny abode.

parting with one's yarn is a difficult task. each little skein has become such a part of my home, but now they must go to other homes, be treasured by other yarnophiles and live in their homes for a while. it's a good thing i'm getting some extra cash as our projector malfunctioned, and we had err....rather wanted to get a new tv this weekend. more on that later...

knitted fo: holding hands

knitted fo: holding hands
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i like the star pattern on this even though the p3tog, yo, p3tog in the same loop was sort of awkward. it's a 4 row repeat, and easy to memorize (yet forget where you are and screw up because not enough attention was paid to the task at hand. the irregular hand-dyed color pattern of the yarn--rio de la plata wool--worked well with the stitch pattern. i had a few projects on the needle, so this took a while to finish, but voila, here it is whole in the heat of summer. i have so many scarves now, i may have to find someone to gift this to.

knitted fo : juliet

knitted fo
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i actually completed one of my to dos yesterday and finally put buttons on this. i loved the yarn and the pattern so much i wanted to find the right buttons.

knit with art fibers' kyoto (silk, mohair, wool blend)
i love that there is minimal finishing. knit from the top down. fairly easy. i ended up going down a needle size on the bottom part so it wouldn't be so flared. it stretched some after blocking. i would have preferred the top section to be a little shorter. other than that i think it came out beautifully, owing much to the lovely yarn. the silk gives it a silvery sheen.

little knitting

orangina
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

since our vacation, my knitting has been almost non-existent. true, i had some time on the flight out, but after that, i was just too busy. starting up again was a little awkward. i hadn't worked on this for weeks, and had to refresh my memory. overall, a fairly straightforward pattern. sweater construction consisted of two rectangles seamed together. i was feeling better about the seaming, but still not enjoying it as much as the rest of the process.

the post-project doldrums are blowing through. the other two projects i'm working on are either too simple and thus boring or too attention intensive to inspire a hungering to work on. apparently, word games and programming are more engaging. speaking of the latter, i can't iterate enough how much i hate microsoft and its crappy browser.

my yarn runeth over

stash
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

woe is me. i was doing so well. i almost went two months without buying yarn (must be some kind of record since pre-yarn days considering my record). my goal was to abstain from yarn purchases until summer. what did me in was being in the proximity of some fine yarn, which is a sure sign i'm an addict.

i signed up for a finishing class to help me get over the ugh feeling i have when i think about having to seam my knitting. of course, i couldn't stay away from all the lovely sweater patterns out there. i've done minor seaming, mainly kitchener grafting on socks, but with some projects in the past, i felt in the dark and fudging along. patterns usually don't give detailed instructions on seaming, so i wanted to find out from someone with experience how it's done. it was a good class, but inevitably ended up walking away with some skeins of shibuiknits sock yarn newly arrived at a mano.

german chocolate cupcakes

german chocolate cupcakes
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

devil's cake recipe from tartine cookbook
coconut with hazelnut & macadamia nut filling from martha stewart
ganache chocolate from martha stewart

maybe i've been cooking for so long that i have a knack for winging it, but baking is hard. the weekend before last, my stitch n' bitch group communed for a little pic-a-knit. in addition to my enthusiasm, i brought homemade from my new fancy mixer that won't fit on the counter german chocolate cupcakes.

i found a devil's cake recipe that appeared to have the rich chocolate-y-ness i was looking for to go with recipes for coconut filling & ganache chocolate from martha stewart. wtih some inspiration from a vegan recipe, i substituted hazelnuts & macadamia nuts for pecans (i much prefer the former). the filling and ganache turned out great, but some of the cupcakes were a little overcooked and dry. i did take them out earlier than the time for the cake recipe, figuring that the cupcakes would bake faster, but i think i should have taken them out even earlier. l guess the ganache distracted the knitsibs enough such that they didn't notice the dry cake or maybe i'm just being neurotic.

i have to say that for a name like ganache, it is surprisingly easy to make. mike becomes physically distraught when i say ganache as it sounds too pretentious or something. i have nothing against ganache, especially eating it. besides, it rhymes with panache which is a fabulous word. he doesn't like the word cabachon either. i'd rather say cabochon than "a precious stone of convex hemispherical or oval form, polished but not cut into facets."

lace smoke ring

lace smoke ring
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i finished this a couple weeks ago. the pattern was easy to remember. even though there were five charts, they were merely variations of the same basic pattern. i made it shorter than the pattern recommended, since i have no intention of wearing it over my head. sometimes i don't like the ends of a scarf coming loose. the compactness of the neckwarmer is nice. i also enjoy knitting in the round and being able to tuck this under a jacket. hard to say, but it certainly has the promise of becoming a favorite scarf.

kfo finished

kfo finished
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after knitting several pairs of socks back to back, i was tired (if that's possible) of knitting socks, so this one went a little slowly after the first sock. the pattern is the embossed leaves from interweave knits' 25 favorite socks. there was a minor and confusing error in the instruction at the point where you pick up and knit stitches along the sides of the heel. in general, i found the pattern to deviate somewhat from most sock patterns i was used to, and i ended up not following all of the instructions.

after picking up stitches, i did not add an extra stitch nor did i later decrease the extra stitch at the toe. although i followed the unusual toe decreasing, i think next time i would do the decreasing on the bottom of the foot more like a traditional sock pattern. i can see that the decreasing was meant to carry on the pattern of the sock into the toe, but it looks weird on the the bottom of the foot. i also don't like the garter stitches on the heel edges. next time i will make slip stitches.

i don't think the pattern was particularly difficult, but it didn't lend itself to memorization, and found myself often wishing i had a simultaneous simpler project to work on whilst watching tv.

elegant ribbed stockings

elegant ribbed stockings
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

knit in knitpicks' telemark, a sport weight yarn, these really were a fast knit and a perfect first cable project. admittedly, this was the second time casting on. i was worried about gauge and stretchiness as i was using an alpaca yarn and size 5,6,7 needles the first time. i moved down one needle size and used wool instead. they came out nice, and with the neutral color and leg coverage will probably get good use. great for the cool weather.

happy valentine's day

happy valentine's day
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

so it would appear that my posts have been dominated by food and restaurant reviews, and i've been asked twice now at various food meetups if i have a food blog. my stumbling answer is something to the effect of "not exactly" or "my food blogging is not really structured." not sure what any of that means, but to attest to the somewhat randomness of my posts, here is something else--a heart i knit for my honey.

tyger tyger burning bright

tiger eye scarf
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

so the scarf's not so bright, but i'm liking the earthy burnt sienna, and will post to my mom tomorrow.

eye of the tiger

tiger eye scarf
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after 3-4 repeats, the knitting was quick and could be done while watching tv or chatting, but i had to be careful not to lose stitch count.

because i wanted the scarf to be symmetrical, i made the grafted version, with 13 repeats of the pattern on each side for a total of 26 repeats. in retrospect, it did not need to be as long, as it is ending up being 7' long post blocking, which is a long scarf for a 5' woman (my mom).

oh, and there was one mistake discovered while blocking... doh!...somehow i slightly shifted the pattern on one row, but didn't notice because it didn't affect the stitch count. hopefully, my mom won't or care.

the one thing that was annoying was the grafting. i did it twice, but the kitchener grafting did not appear invisible. i've used this technique on socks before, and it was great. i don't know if it was user error both times or the pattern that made it pucker up on the back side. i tried using a darning needle to loosen up, and it looks normal on sections of it. if i were to do it again, i might add a couple lines of stockinette at the ends where they join. finishing is becoming my least favorite part about knitting.

i really enjoyed this pattern and have decided i love lace knitting. probably has to do with my innate tendencies towards texture and pattern emerging from order.

rather than being a literal representation, the pattern requires some imagination to visualize the tiger eyes, which is nice. they also resemble peacock feathers. though i love fresh flowers, i'm not a flowery kind of person, so am reluctant about flower designs. i guess it all depends on the design. this one's for my mom, but i would wear one in grey or sky blue myself.

baby's bootees

week2_0041
Originally uploaded by maddox_paul.

caroline's wearing the bootees i made her. ok. so maybe all that finishing was worth it.

tiger eye scarf

tiger eye scarf
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i tried three or four different yarns with this pattern, most of which were hand-dyed variegated and competed with the pattern. one of the yarns, a baby alpaca laceweight, was making my eyes hurt trying to make out the stitches. finally settled on this blue sky alpacas baby alpaca sportweight. it's a good color for my mom, is soft and hopefully warm, even though hole-y.

once i got going and completed the repeats four or five times, the momentum remained consistent without requiring a lot of undivided attention, and i'm almost halfway through. the scarf can be knit as two halves and grafted if you want the pattern to be symmetrical on both ends, or you can knit the pattern to length. i'm going to do the former, as i think it will be nicer. i may try this pattern in the laceweight again after i finish this, since i am more familiar with it. i'm enjoying knitting these lace-y patterns that are initially an effort to start but fun to see emerge.

jaywalker finis!

knitting fo
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

a repeat of two rows, these jaywalkers were an easy knit, yet look "fancy" enough with the zig zag pattern. this was the perfect project for knitting whilst watching tv or socializing at the snb meeting. i blocked these on my recently acquired sock blockers.

it's odd, but the first one, i knit a little loose, so went down a needle size as i got close to the ankle and continued in the smaller size through the foot to get gauge. the second sock ended up being tighter, so i didn't need to go down in needle size. they appear to fit the shape of my leg really well, but looks can be deceiving as i learned. my one peeve is that the socks don't stay up. they slip and bunch around my legs when i get up and walk around. i'll have to look into fixing these so they stay up and making sure future socks don't end up like this. oddly, after wearing my first pair of knitted socks (these are my second) they too started slipping. i thought wool was suppose to be elastic and snap back into shape? well, i'll have to incorporate some elastic then.

otherwise, i like the color, though i'd like to start knitting more neutrals. so happy & ready to move on to more sock knitting adventures.

fast & furious

knitting fo
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i wanted to knit myself another hat to take to montreal. after perusing through several books and patterns, i settled on this one, called "clara" from hip knit hats. the pattern is interesting looking, but not so complicated that it couldn't be finished on the plane ride over. since we were stuck in miami for an additional 4 hours between flights, finishing was no problemo. i even started to worry that i had not brought enough knitting projects to work on. yikes!

i really like the color and texture. i don't know if it will be a favorite hat as the top came out a little pointier than in the photo. my favorite hat is still a knitted black cashmere one with braids on either side i received as a gift from my friend edlyn, who saw me eye-ing it at banana republic in 2000. i may have to try to recreate that one or something similar in a different color.

the never-ending scarf

knitting fo
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

not sure why, but this scarf seemed to take forever. a pattern that is so simple in fact that it bored me to tears at times, thus sat unknitted for long periods of time. i've looked at it for so long, i can't even tell if i like the color any more. towards the end, i did throw myself into a knitting frenzy, determined to finish the darn thing, and inadvertently knit it too long. it comes out to around 10' after blocking. so silly of me.

it made a great tv watching project, and was the second knitted item that i actually blocked, and the first that really needed it. the pattern causes the sides to curl up. i couldn't completely remove the curl, but flattened it into a sufficiently flat scarf shape. i think i will wear it tomorrow,

knitty obsession

mini-sweater progress
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

for black friday, i made a mini yarn crawl up the 405 as there were two different yarn shops, wild fiber & a mano yarn, that were having sales. at the former, i picked up some twinkle chunky for a vest and made an impulse purchase of soft merino by pear tree australia yarn. also picked up some superwash cascade 220 for a shrug, some trekking sock and alpaca lace yarn from a mano. shannita was so nice to give me an extra 5% off for bringing my own bag. i guess it pays to do one's part for the environment.

the mini-sweater grows. i separated the sleeves and joined the body. in retrospect, the substituted seed stitching for the garter stitching is not really visible in this dark thick & thin manos wool yarn which has somewhat felted.

#2 on list of things to do in NY

2. visit lys--
purl
habu textiles
string
the yarn tree

jaywalker progress

jaywalker progress
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

when i switched needle sizes, i moved to knit picks nickel-plated dpns. pros & cons as follows:

easier to pick up stitches (and drop them), easier to do the double decreases, quicker to knit (jury is still out on this, as i invariably drop a few stitches each time i put this away in my bag, and have to spend some time with recovery upon restarting), not so fragile (i really felt like i could break the bamboo takumi us #1's at any moment)

it's coming along. i should be able to start the heel tomorrow. i'm making it longer than the pattern indicates (i like long socks) and can only hope that there is enough yarn.

lacey cowl/neckwarmer fo

lacey cowl/neckwarmer
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

the momentum on knitting this cowl has been sporadic, with moments of it flying by, and then pauses while i was distracted by other projects, but i finished and posted this on friday. i am happy with the way it turned out. the pattern was interesting enough to keep the momentum up, but not too difficult to memorize and work while watching tv.

the original pattern calls for a laceweight yarn and comes out to be 22.5" around. i thought that was large, so i modified the number of cast on stitches to be 20" circumference using a sock weight yarn. it was still loose, presumably to fit over the head, although i would knit it at 18" next time, so i bought a beautiful handmade pin to secure it.

the yarn, artfibers' carezza, is a blend of baby alpaca, silk & wool. the silk gives it a subtle silvery sheen, which i love, and the baby alpaca and merino wool are soft and slightly fuzzy around the neck, which i also love.

weaving & fiber festival booty