I'm Old!

How old? Check out these custom M&Ms my mom sent me last week:How cool are they? In case you can't read them, they say, "Emily's 30 WOW." And they're my favorite colors as well :)

I know I've vanished - I'll try to be back soon. Here's a brief update! I went to Florida. It was fun. I've been knitting. But nothing complicated. I think I'm going to abandon the Petal Halter. I finished my second Clapotis. It's great. I'm trying to schedule my thesis defense. Scary. Therefore, I have to write my thesis. Scarier. And find a job. Scariest...

But today is my birthday, so I'm keeping a positive attitude!!!

I'm out of here,,,

I'm leaving this misery:

And this chaos:

And spontaneously running off to Florida for the weekend. It's going to be tough to leave, don't you think?

I'll just have to endure it...

(Bonus points if you recognize that last line)

Transition Mitts

Finished! Now if we could just transition into spring that would be great!
Project Stats: Transition Mitts
Pattern: Transition Gloves by Kerin Dimeler from ShibuiKnits. Raveled here.

Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock in Pagoda and Ivory, one skein each with some to spare. Yarn purchased from Knit Purl (Portland) at the Madrona Fiber Festival.

Needles: Size 1 (2.25mm) and 2.5 (3mm) DPNs.

Time to knit: February 13 - March 28, 2009.

Modifications: None, aside from using slightly smaller needles for the colorwork section because they were seeming a bit big.
Impressions: OMG! These are great - I love them! I had a really tough time choosing colors, and it was actually good that I bought the yarn at a festival and they didn't have the full range of options - otherwise I'd have been completely stymied. Originally I wanted brown and turquoise, like these by TelmahQ, which I faved on Ravelry for inspiration months ago. And then I saw some turquoise and ivory ones, which I also loved. But in the end the orange won me over (and to be frank I have a lot of teal and turquoise already). As per usual any time I do colorwork, I was reminded how much I enjoy it. It's just so satisfying to see the pattern unfolding so rapidly - good motivation.

All that said, I'm not sure how useful these will be. As you can see, they're quite long, almost to the elbow, and even though it's thin yarn it would still be tough to get them under most of my sweater sleeves. Plus, you really only see the orange bit unless a 3/4-sleeve shirt is involved, and I don't have that many of those. I do have a 3/4-sleeve grey jacket that they work well with, so at least I have something to wear with them. I had considered this problem before making them, but I really wanted to make them so I pushed it aside and figured it would work itself out, so I'm sure it will! Thanks to Katrina for taking the photos!

It's not all FOs around here - I have a new project as well! This isn't actually new, I've been working on it for a few weeks now, but it's my work project so I haven't taken any photos of it. This is another Clapotis:

I'm hoping I'll actually get some use out of this one - my other one is really too bulky to wear comfortably, so I haven't worn it much. This one is knit with sockweight yarn, and it's very drapey, so I think it'll be more useful. Don't expect it to be finished very quickly - I'm only knitting it at lunch and I get a little less than one repeat done per day, so it'll be awhile...Here's a close-up of the yarn - it's Araucania Ranco Multi:

Lovely, yes? So many colors :)

A vest for David

Thank you all for the comments on the evil cast-on for the Petal Halter. As you can see here, I've finished the first petal, and I must admit that, despite being one of the worst knitting experiences I can remember, the cast-on works pretty well. It's a bit looser than the rest of the knitting though, so I'm thinking about using smaller needles on the next one to tighten it up a bit. The shaping on this is really cool, and the pieces go pretty quickly once you get past the beginning. We'll see how long it takes me to summon the courage/energy/alcohol to start the second (of six) piece... In other news, I have a secret project that can now be revealed! This is the vest I knit for Jennifer's baby, David, who was born on February 13th. It was just gifted this past weekend, so it can finally be shown off on the blog.
Project Stats: Vest for Jennifer's David
Pattern: Design F (seriously): Pullover Sweater and Vest/Tank Top by Sirdar. Raveled here.
Yarn: Knit Picks Cotlin, Kolhrabi - less than 2 skeins.
Needles: Size 3 (ribbing) and 5 (everything else) Clover Bamboo.
Time to knit: March 4-15, 2009.
Modifications: I don't think I made any - if I did I've already forgotten them...
Impressions: This is a cute little item! The v-neck ended up being a little smaller than I was going for, and I'm not sure if that's something I did or the pattern, as the project photo in the book makes it difficult to tell how deep it should be. I love Cotlin - it's great to knit with, blocks nicely, and I assume wears well, although I haven't kept anything I've knit with it. This is the same yarn as the Petal Halter, so I'll find out about the wear soon enough. The color is more accurate in the second photo, but the flash obliterated the texture. Hard to get both texture and color these days, since the sun doesn't shine...I used much less yarn than I expected - the pattern had me ordering three skeins and I used about 1.5 to make the 6-12 month size. I think that was a good size choice, since this is a cotton/linen blend and will be good for summer. I met little David this weekend and there's no way this will be fitting him for awhile! So, congratulations to Jennifer and Aaron, and I hope David likes (or at least tolerates) his vest!

Oh, and I have a story. Yesterday I wore a new shirt to work, and then after work I went to the gym to go swimming. I'd already changed into my bathing suit, and I didn't want my new shirt to get sweaty, so I just wore my bathing suit under my jacket while biking to the gym. When I was finished swimming, it occured to me that I couldn't really ride home in the damp suit under my jacket, but I still didn't want to wear the new shirt, so I just wore my bra under my jacket. And I thought, "Self, this isn't the best plan. What if you crash? Or run into someone you know and they want to have coffee? Or crash?" I ignored all this and proceeded, and I did not crash. I got home, and I waited for the elevator with a nice couple just coming back from the airport, who were thankfully quite involved with each other when I decided I was warm and unzipped my jacket in the elevator. I realized my error quite quickly, and thankfully I have a messenger bag so my jacket stayed mostly closed, but it was entertaining. At least to me - I really don't think they noticed. And to Dave, who almost fell off the couch laughing when I told him about my new career as a flasher...

Driven to drink

Friends, I have encountered the project from hell. I'm not a big drinker, but the cast-on for this baby sent me running for the booze. This is the Petal Halter from the newest Interweave, and I loved it on sight. In fact I still love it, but frankly I'm not sure it's going to be worth the hassle of making it. Each petal is knit separately and then seamed, which is fine. The issue is the Eastern cast-on, which is a morale-sucking experience like none I have encountered knitting. Why? I'll show you: Sorry that the photo is bad - white yarn + evening light + alcohol is a difficult combination for photography. Regardless, what you can see is two needles next to each other with stitches on them, that have to be knit by a third needle. Let me back up: to accomplish this cast-on, you wrap the yarn snugly around two needles held parallel (as above), and then knit across the top needle stitches. I'll wait if you'd like to go try this yourself, but even if you don't, you can probably imagine the physical difficulty that ensues when trying to knit stitches from one needle when the stitch you're knitting into is composed of yarn that is tightly wrapped around another needle parallel to the one you're knitting off of, all without slipping any stitches off of the bottom needle. AND THEN, just when you think you've got it, you turn it around to knit the other side of the stitches (which is also fiddly and difficult), which then results in what you see in the photo above. I admit, and you can see this in the top photo, that the end result of this is pretty cool, and creates a piece of knitting that is knit in both directions without a seam, but still! This cast-on, it's brutal. And I have to do it five more times...

A special dinner

Looks like pasta, right?

Wrong! This is special pasta, with sauce my parents sent me overnight express all the way from my hometown in PA. The sauce is from Serafini's, and it is the best sauce ever. Thanks again - Dave and I very much enjoyed the sauce! And we'll be enjoying it several more times, as we have two quarts and we only used about half of one today!

Finally!

Crystal Mountain
Originally uploaded by Emily E.M.

I got to go skiing!!! It finally snowed again this week, so I headed up to Crystal Mountain today. I went by myself since Dave is out of town, but it was fun regardless. I took the express bus from Seattle, which is definitely the way to go. It's super easy (it leaves from Green Lake, about 10 minutes from my house) and saves a lot of time. They give you your lift ticket on the bus, and if the lines are long, as they were today, that's really great - I figure it saved me at least 20 minutes of waiting in line. Plus, no driving hassles and better for the environment. The snow from Wednesday and Thursday was pretty packed down already, but the groomers were really nice. Not much sun, but a very high overcast and really great visibility, both afar and of the snow, which is key. I hate skiing when the light is really flat - today was pretty ideal!

Started!

As I mentioned last week, I have started the Urban Aran: I'm about 5" in at this point, and it's going well. My original plan to knit the medium with a smaller gauge didn't appear to be working out - I got a few inches in and decided that it was going to be way too wide. The sweater is designed with more ease than I consider ideal for me, so I'm going with the small and my gauge. So far it's looking like a good width. The cables do pull in, but not as much as I expected - of course it remains to be seen how much they pull in when an entire body piece is complete, but they aren't doing much at the bottom. Plus, with 100% wool I can surely block this baby into submission if it's a touch too small...My fear that the side cables would be too similar to those on the Chevalier Mittens was unfounded. They are similar, but this yarn isn't being knit at a gauge much smaller than it would like, so they aren't as difficult as the mittens. Overall I'm enjoying the sweater, although the Transition Mitts are really addictive - I finished the first one on Saturday. I've resisted casting on the second one so I can work on the sweater, but we'll see how long that lasts...

Madrona, or a break in the "yarn fast"

Ack! I uploaded these photos on Sunday morning so I could post about them, and here it is Wednesday already! The annual Madrona Fiber Arts Festival was this past weekend in Tacoma (Why Tacoma? Really, why not Seattle itself?), and Katrina and I headed down Friday after work. To be fair - we left early. Working in a lab is very flexible. After braving the traffic, we arrived at the hotel and prepared ourselves for battle. Armed with detailed lists and debit cards we attacked the market. In the end Katrina didn't buy anything and I didn't really buy that much, although I'm really happy with what I got. First I bought two skeins of Shibui Sock for the Transition Gloves, started here: That's what Ihad Sunday morning - by now I'm about 2/3 finished with the first mitt, and it's really lovely. I was also looking for unique laceweight yarn that I couldn't get in Seattle (harder than you think, we have a lot of yarn shops here), and I found some: This is undyed wool from Ireland from Black Water Abbey Yarns, and it's very sheepy. I'm imagining some rustic lace with it. I already have yarn for the Cobweb Lace Stole from Interweave, but this might be better. We'll see. Here's a close-up: And I bought some yarn that I probably could've found in Seattle but hadn't, for Anne Hanson's Morning Glory Stole, which Rachel bought me the pattern for a couple of years ago (!) now. It's almost exactly the color of the yarn in the pattern, and it's very lovely in person - the photo doesn't do it justice.So, that's all I bought, and I have plans for all of it. I avoided the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. Well, I didn't avoid it, but I didn't buy anything there. None of the STR leaped off the shelf at me, even though I was looking for some to match a colorway that I already have for a striped scarf. We met Rachel and Pam there and neither of them bought anything either, although they were taking classes and still had Saturday left for shopping, and I've not heard the final damage report.
All in all I thought the mood seemed a bit subdued compared to past years. That's probably the economy talking - I think people are hunkering down a bit with what they have, and although they were there browsing, I didn't see much being purchased. One thing I really noticed, and I think I noticed this two years ago as well, is that the market has too much handdyed sock yarn. Now, don't get me wrong, because I love me some handdyes, but there were SO many vendors selling it, and how many socks does a person need? I realize the purple yarn above is actually sockweight, and I'm not intending to use it for socks, but really a lot of the crazy dyed stuff really won't translate that well into a lot of other items.
In other news, I have started the purple Urban Aran (twice) and it's moving along. I jetisoned my original plan of knitting the medium because it was looking really wide, so now I'm knitting the small and hoping for the best. It's looking reasonable so far, about 5" in...I'd be further along had I not started those addictive orange and white mitts!

Swatched!

Well, the mob, such as it is, has spoken, and it (you) have told me that I should knit the Urban Aran. I am in total agreement with you, and even had Anne-Marie not cast the tie-breaking vote yesterday afternoon, I probably would've proceeded with that choice. Having made this decision, I got to swatching:
I actually cut the yarn, and washed the swatch, which I photographed as evidence. May I just brag for a second that I took this photo with my phone (I got myself a Blackberry Storm for Christmas), and the color is really accurate, better, I think, than my regular camera would have done. Of course I took this at work where we have good light, so that might have something to do with it as well. I also uploaded it to Flickr from my phone, and now I can blog it, all without carrying around my camera. Hehe...
Now that I have the swatch, the problems can begin. Of course my row gauge is a disaster, which is frankly nothing new and I'm not worried about compensating for it, since I do it all the time and the pattern has things like "knit until 11 inches" in length, which make dealing with row gauge managable. The larger issue is my stitch gauge. I'm getting 4.25 st/in, and the pattern calls for 3.75 st/in. I did a lot of math and determined that if I make the medium size with my gauge I should get something in the range of the small size, maybe a bit smaller, which would actually be preferable. So, that's my plan. I was going to convert the pattern to the round to avoid seaming, but I think, with the stitch/row gauge issues, I should knit in pieces so I can knit the back first and make sure it comes out the right width before I knit the entire sweater. Thoughts?

Tell me what to do!

Folks, I am having a wee knitting crisis. I've been knitting loads of accessories lately, but I have trouble getting around to wearing them. Mostly this is due to the fact that I bike commute, so I don't really spend much time outside in situations where I need warm scarves (although I have a lot of them), hats (fewer, but still a significant number), or mittens/gloves. I ski, and snowshoe, but for skiing I don't wear scarves, and snowshoeing I really get too warm most of the time. Thus my compulsion to knit fun scarves/hats/mittens/etc is being tempered by the realization that I don't actually get to wear them very often, and although I'll keep knitting accessories, I need to move on a bit just now.
It's not that I haven't knit garments before, but I haven't made a sweater since last winter, and I figure I should get back on that. I have several sweaters worth of yarn hibernating in the stash, and it's time. But, dear readers, I need your help. I have several sweaters in mind, and I'm torn about which to make, and that is where you come in. I'm putting these as non-Ravelry links as well so my mother can see them and provide her opinion, as she is wont to do!

Patons Urban Aran Pullover - in deep purple tweed (Ravelry)
Central Park Hoodie - also in deep purple tweed (Ravelry)
Demi - either tan or light maroon tweed (Ravelry)

I had pretty much decided on the Central Park Hoodie but then I noticed that some of the ones on Ravelry don't really look that great (although plenty do). Then I remembered about the Urban Aran, which I love the shape of due to the pulled-in side cabling. I had almost ruled out Demi since it's so complex, but I want to knit it sometime, so I put it in there.

What should I knit? I want to start soon, please comment!

Snowshoeing to Snow Lake

Dave and I went snowshoeing on Sunday (before, not instead) of watching the Super Bowl (go Steelers!). We attempted to go to Snow Lake, but we somehow (it might have been my fault) got off the trail and followed some ice-climbers tracks instead, and we ended up turning around when we got frustrated with essentially making our own way and I sliced up my hand in an unfortunate glissading incident (It was warm, I wasn't wearing gloves. Yes, that was a bad idea to begin with.). We eventually saw some other hikers about 200 feet downhill of us, and figured that they were on the trail, so we headed down there and went a bit further on the trail (which was completely obvious, when we were on it). In the end we didn't get very far but it was nice to play in the snow a bit - we haven't been skiing yet because we're waiting for some actual new snow. It hasn't snowed in the mountains for weeks and weeks, which is odd. Good thing they got a nice base back in December or things would be quite dire.
My hair is really long, isn't it?

Parade of Christmas FOs - Part Three

And, finally, I knit my grandmother a lace stole: This was the last of the Christmas knitting to be completed - there was definitely some stress there as I was finishing the second half and grafting it the day before I flew home. The grafting? Major hassle and I can definitely see the line. While I like the concept of identical ends, I don't know if I can be bothered with that in the future. Someone remind me I said that as soon as I cast on something that will require it...

Project Stats: Waves of Grain Stole

Pattern: Waves of Grain, by Rosemary Hill, from Knitty Fall 2008. Raveled here.

Yarn: Zephyr Wool-silk, colorway Curry, purchased at Acorn Street.

Needles: Knit Picks Harmony bamboo straights, size 4.

Time to knit: October 15 - December 20, 2008.

Modifications: Aside from making it shorter (only 52"), I also added extra beads on the first row because I misread the chart and thought that the "b" meant bead when it actually meant knit through the back loop. So, I repeated that error on the second half, and I think it's nice actually. I would do it again - it adds extra weight to the end of the stole and it's shiny.

Impressions: This was fun! I really enjoy knitting lace even though (or perhaps because) I do it fairly infrequently and generally complain about it when I'm not physically working on it. I decided that I wanted to knit my grandmother something nice this year, and I had this yarn laying around from the Swallowtail Shawl I made my aunt (her daughter) last year, and it was a match made in heaven. The Knit Picks Harmony needles are great for lace - nice sharp tips, not too slippery. The only problem, and this is likely just me, is that they're 10" and I prefer 9" because I knit with my needles propped on my stomach and 10" is a tad too long. But, I got used to it. You can get a lot of lace out of a skein/ball of Zephyr. I believe I started with 4 oz, knit this and the Swallowtail, and still have a ton left. Probably enough for another thing of similar size, which makes Zephyr an absolutely great deal. I think I paid $17 for the ball and that's a lot of bang for the buck!

My only real issue with this was that I had a tough time with the grafting. It was completely nerve-racking the entire time (almost 2 hours) because I was SO worried about screwing it up/dropping a stitch/not lining it up/etc. Part of that was because I was finishing this close to Christmas and I knew there wasn't really any room for error, but I think it would have been stressful regardless. And I thought grafting was supposed to be invisible, and although my line of stitches matches really well and looks like perfect stockinette, there is definitely a shadow there that I wish wasn't. But, it's certainly not something that detracts from the piece and maybe it's just an inherent problem with grafting in thin, light-colored yarn? Feel free to reassure me on this, or contradict it - if I need to figure out a better way to graft I'd like to know now before I screw it up again!

My grandmother loved the stole, and was totally impressed with it. I'm glad that she liked it - I'm always really happy when people like and appreciate the things I knit for them. I knit this for her because I knew she would both appreciate it and use it, so I'm quite satisfied.

Oh, and these photos, with the actual snow, were also taken when I was in PA, when it snowed again just before I came back to Seattle. The weather was really all over the place...

So ends the parade of Christmas knits - now onto the more current projects, although there will still be gift knitting involved!

Parade of Christmas FOs - Part Two

Okay! The second large Christmas gift that I knit this year was a vest for my dad, which I had been meaning to knit for a couple of years. I wanted to knit it last year but ended up making socks instead because I hadn't found a good vest pattern. The year before I made felted clogs. You'd think finding a simple men's vest pattern would be easy, but apparently not. I apologize to my dad for these photos, which I took candidly while he was showing Dave around his workplace, Organ Supply Industries. So you know, they make pipe organs and parts, not livers and kidneys. It's a really cool place and I always like visiting. Big pipes, sheets of metal for making pipes, fancy woodworking, etc.

Project Stats: Dad's Vest

Pattern: Based on the Argyle Vest from Knitting Classic Style, obviously without the argyles and with a different bottom edging. Raveled here.

Yarn: Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed, in Cedar, about 6 skeins. Yarn purchased at Acorn Street in 2005(!) - note use of stash...

Needles: Clover bamboo circulars, size 5 (ribbing) and 6 (body).

Time to knit: September 27-December 16, 2008. There was a delay there while I hunted down appropriate needles for the armhole ribbing and mustered up the courage to pick up all those stitches.

Modifications: Oh, lord, where to begin. Obviously, no argyling. I did think about that, and I have this yarn in a different color as well, but I wasn't really sure about my dad's feelings on argyle. I also knit ribbing at the bottom instead of doing a sewn-under hem. More on that later. And, I converted this to the round until I had to split for the armholes/v-neck, which made the whole thing go much faster. As I've mentioned, I don't like seaming. I did do a faux seam with a line of purl stitches up the sides. I'm hopeful that this yarn has enough structure that it's not going to stretch ridiculously without seams. Oh, and I did shortrows and a three-needle bindoff for the shoulder shaping/seaming instead of doing stepped bind-offs. Why patterns don't use shortrows for this I really don't understand. SO easy, SO neat, and SO much easier to seam. Do they think shortrows are too hard? They're really not.

Impressions: First off, I love this yarn. I bought it quite awhile ago and have enough for a sweater for myself in another color and probably a vest for myself left in this color. So, it's good that I like it. I'm a big fan of tweeds, which is clear looking through my stash but maybe not so obvious when looking at my projects because I'm keeping it for myself and most of what I seem to finish are gifts. I had a good time knitting this, I'm a big fan of large things knit in the round, no purling, just round and round. That said, I think this came out a bit big for my dad. I measured one of his vests the last time I was at home so I'd have something to go off of, and this is actually not that different in size, but somehow it seems really baggy. Part of it is the ribbing at the bottom, which doesn't pull in like I was expecting/hoping. That's what my dad is used to, so this is a bit more casual than what he usually wears to work. It's also a bit big in the back - definitely a comfort vest as opposed to a form-fitting dressy one. But, I'm hoping he'll get some use out of it!

While I'm on a roll with this, I also made Anne-Marie a scarf:

Project Stats: Juliet Scarf for Anne-Marie

Pattern: Juliet, from Knitting Little Luxuries. Raveled here.

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Angora, cherry red, about 3.5 skeins.

Needles: Size 9 Clover bamboo.

Time to knit: October 7-November 23, 2008.

Modifications: None aside from using bigger yarn and bigger needles than the pattern suggested.

Impressions: This was a nice knit, although it's impossible to photograph. That's not its fault of course, it's my fault for using red fuzzy yarn. My camera doesn't do well with either, so this is a double-whammy of photographic misery. Neither of the photos is really an accurate representation of the color. I used bigger yarn because Anne-Marie moved back to the great white north this fall, and it's cold there, and I figured something warm would be more appropriate than something dainty. I'd been meaning to use this yarn for her for some time, so I was glad to find a pattern that suited it. As for the pattern itself, I absolutely couldn't remember it, even by the end, which was frustrating. Not that it was hard, the lace panel on the left just wasn't intuitive for me.

Next, up, the Waves of Grain stole!

Happy Inauguration!

Obama cookie
Originally uploaded by Emily E.M.

Check out the sugar cookies they're selling at our coffee bar today! It's good to work in a liberal environment :)

Parade of Christmas FOs - Part One

So, of course I meant to show off the Christmas knits much sooner, but then laziness life got in the way and so on. To make matters worse, I actually uploaded these photos ages ago but then discovered that posts don't write themselves. But, without further ado, let me show you the Christmas knitting!
In addition to the mittens I knit for my cousin (here), I knit several large (time-consuming) gifts for Christmas this year. The first of them was the Lady Eleanor stole that I knit for my mother:

By the way, this was December 27th. Note the complete lack of snow. In western PA. When I arrived home on the 22nd (at 5:00am - I had a real adventure getting to PA from Seattle, but thankfully I did arrive without anywhere near the hassle that many people had. When I have the strength perhaps I'll talk about it.), there was a ton of snow, which promptly melted and then fell again just as I was leaving. Such is life. Anyway, the stole...

Project Stats: Mom's Lady Eleanor

Pattern: Lady Eleanor, by Kathleen Power Johnson, from Scarf Style. Raveled here.

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, colorway 221, about 9 skeins. Yarn purchased from Little Knits.

Needles: Size 9 bamboo circulars.

Time to knit: July 15-August 21, 2008. Talk about getting a head start on the Christmas knitting! This was my Ravelympics project, although I did start a tad early because I was so excited to get going.

Modifications: I made this stole two squares narrower than the pattern suggests. I find mine to be a bit cumbersome and I thought something slightly narrower would be easier to wear.

Impressions: I'm really happy with this, In fact, I like it much better than the one I made myself, and I did contemplate keeping it and giving my mother mine, which she's seen and liked. I love, no, adore, Noro Silk Garden. I know a lot of people complain about Noro yarns having random bits of grass/sticks/etc in them, and being scratchy, but to me this is part of their appeal. Plus, Silk Garden? Not scratchy. I like the "rusticness" of Noro, and use it whenever I can. It's such perfect yarn for this project, and it really does get even softer upon blocking. This pattern is really fun - enterlac looks all tricky and complicated but it's really easy if you just trust that it's going to work out, and it's addicting because you always want to do just one more square. My mother was very happy with this and wore it often while I was home, and I don't think that's just because I was watching...but if it was, I don't want to know. So, I count this one a resounding success!

Next up, the vest of improvisation...