11 posts tagged “learning”

Been a long time since I've written: Mea culpa, mea culpa. Life tends to grab me and run away at top speed.

This past week, I got my hands on a yarn winder for half price at JoAnn.com, and I've been using it with my umbrella swift to wind up any and all hanks of yarn I have lying about the house.
This also means that I finally had the tools to frog my Malabrigo merino poncho and ball it up for a new project.

I loved my poncho: It was my first big project, the first larger-than-a-scarf garment I was actually able to wear, and the Malabrigo meant it was insanely soft and cuddly. I'd been looking at it lately, though, and finding some amateurish mistakes: Parts where the stitches were seriously uneven, parts where the pick-up for the hood gapped and pulled and left holes, parts where I'd dropped stitches and never noticed. That poncho was always warm and something I was incredibly happy to wear, but I knew the longer I wore it, the more it would come apart and eventually fall apart irreparably.
So I took it apart and salvaged the yarn, frogging the six to seven skeins by winding it onto the swift, and then wound it up into a center-pull cake on the winder. (Which prompted the fiance -- who had patiently helped me with the project by playing engine to keep the swift rotating while I frogged lengths of yarn free -- to comment that the night's work sure looked pointless now.  ... I then grinned at him and reminded him that all the hanks of yarn I get require winding into balls, and the balls are then knit into projects, and that's all part of the process rather than wasted effort -- and that seemed to leave him a little more gratified.)

I'm now halfway through the back of a modified Roam -- I'm opting out on the seed stitch, since my left wrist started hurting when I was working up a Roam as written (in the shade redwood forest of fingering-weight Memories), and because the Malabrigo is decidedly heavier than DK weight, I've had to do a little math to keep it sized appropriately. I'm having fun doing it at any rate, and I'm getting to intermittently cuddle my Malabrigo again.

Honestly, I love that wool. If only it weren't so expensive, I swear I'd use it to the exclusion of all other yarns... Excepting for the friends of mine that are wool sensitives, of course, but for me? I'd live in the stuff, especially since they seem to now offer it in both lace and chunky weights, and I'm pretty much hopelessly in love with all things merino.

I'm rather fixated on the current pseudo-Roam I've got going, though, so with any luck I'll have pictures of a finished hoodie in the next couple of weeks.

Or, food / semi-review post! Don't read this if you're hungry.

The other night, I went out to dinner with the co-workers: We all earned a service award, essentially, and the dinner was our thank-you from the company. When we earned the same award last year, our reward was a dinner at Claim Jumper's (and I'm still dreaming of their ginger creme brulee) -- this year, we were treated to the Kitchen Table at Buca's.

While not my first trip to Buca's, it was my first experience at the Kitchen Table -- and if you ever get the chance, I'd say, take that table at least once. It's interesting to watch everything going on in the kitchen, they'll bring dishes by your table and tell you what they are as they go out, and you get to interact directly with your chefs.

I have to say, I was really fond of ours. She had some excellent suggestions, and, er, we may have gotten to talking about unusual food combinations (like the ingredient choices made in the porchetta rustica -- more on that later). Also, she was a former California Pizza Kitchen chef, so she was listening intently when we started talking about them -- and then she and I got to talking about the Peking Duck pizza that (alas) is no longer on the CPK menu.

I had a lot of fun, and it was interesting to see how the kitchen worked. But I digress from the real reason we were there: The food.

I'm sad to report that for the first time in the years since I've been going to our local Buca's, I did not get the caprese. I'm an enormous fan of the way they make it, but there was just not enough interest at the table, it seemed -- though the day's salad special made its way onto our table, and I wasn't sorry in the least. The Bossman and I polished off most of that (and the leftovers, such as they were, made it home with me) -- he more after the spinach, and me attacking and devouring the fresh, flavorful wedges of tomato.
It was a 'warm spinach and tomato salad,' but it was also so much more than that. They touched the spinach, slivers of red onion and beefsteak tomatoes to the pan just long enough to warm them, and then added candied pecans and what I believe was a house balsamic vinaigrette -- if I'd been able to think past the goodness dancing on my tongue, I would have asked what went into it -- and then tossed with a mild, white goat cheese. The tomatoes were definitely my favorite, though chasing the onions and pecans around my plate were a very close second. -- I may very well have to call over there and ask what balsamic they use, because theirs was so much more mild than the stuff I keep at home, and managed to be sweeter without being cloying. (Time to upgrade!)
I do not know what kind of goat cheese they used, alas, but I think it needed a little more oomph to really make itself known: It didn't stand up all that well when paired with the dressing. Feta'd be all wrong, but it needed something... Guess it's time to go cheese tasting and expand my goat cheese repertoire.

Before that, though, we had bruschetta and the trio sampler -- battered shrimp, calamari, and mozzarella, only one of which I'll touch. The breaded mozzarella wasn't what I was typically used to: They appeared to be thin, breaded rounds of cheese, and tasted more baked than fried; I was so relieved to see something other than the fat, leaky fingers of fried, breaded cheese dripping with grease, that I did perhaps snitch one more than I should have. (No one complained since the shrimp and calamari were otherwise theirs.)
The bruschetta was little more than fresh chopped tomatoes and basil atop the house bread, drizzled with garlicky olive oil. I did love it, but the toppings were a little light. Maybe they needed a touch more garlic and onion, who could say?

And then we ordered the main course.

I was first to pipe up, and I requested the porchetta rustica: Herb-rubbed pork sliced into rounds, and topped with a sauce of red wine, balsamic, blueberries, capers and hazelnuts, served with a side of roasted potatoes and veggies.  (I have to admit, I've recently found a mild obsession with capers, especially when in these kind of dishes.)
The boss wrinkled his nose at the blueberries -- "Blueberries? In a wine sauce, on pork?" -- but I persisted and received backup from the rest of the group, so it made its way to our table and I was so very not sorry. (Neither, for that matter, was he -- he actually admitted it worked, in spite of the perceived weirdness.) I'm now going to have to dedicate my life to duplicating that dish. ;)

Of course, our chef was listening in while I announced to Bossman that I make it a point to try my hand at making ans tasting 'weird foods.'  It was an amusing couple minutes while I defended myself by pointing to his reaction to the blueberries and capers on pork. ;)

There were other things we ordered, though I did not touch the linguine fruitti di mare -- Again with the calamari and shrimp, only including mussels and clams, which are also not my cup of tea. Meant more for the co-workers, right?

We also ordered some pasta dishes (that were tasty, but I was way too full to truly appreciate) and a side of tuscan beans and escarole in marinara. It was my first time knowingly trying escarole, and I have to say I enjoyed it: I like it in much the same way I like cooked spinach, but it's got ... Hm. Perhaps not 'more' flavor, but that's the best term I can come up with at the moment. Cooked spinach can be a background flavor: Escarole isn't. I'm probably going to have to track it down fresh to form a better educated opinion.

I discovered something, however: While the co-worker-turned-friend at my left was squeezing his lemon onto his linguine di mare at his seat next to me, I took my first bite of the Tuscan white beans, and wow. The scent of lemon that hit me was enough to make that dish pop, and I was actively disappointed that the bites afterward lacked that citrus-y hint. I've decided that this weekend, I will be making white beans with greens (likely spinach, since I always have that on hand), olive oil, and lemon juice/zest.

Honestly, I only had enough room for a spoonful of tiramisu. In-sane.
Great food, though. I'm clearly going to have to drag people back that way to go get more of the things I really liked.

I'd meant to do this earlier, but then Six Apart had a power failure and I forgot to sit down and type this up. Mea culpa.

Since I'm still new to dyeing yarn, I admit I shy away from dyes that are less ingestion-friendly than, say, Kool-Aid. (I have cats. One of them was once both smart and stupid enough to get into a closed room and drink bleach: A trip to the Pet Emergency Room and $500 later, I learned not to keep things that could poison my cat in the house.)
This means that I've been having fun figuring out palettes with food coloring.

For my original No Sheep buddy, I finished dyeing a skein of raw silk in variegated shades of orange: I did end up using the dip-dye method after having blathered on about it for months a good while, and I think I like the results. There's an interesting little yellow-orange splatter on the natural section, though: I forgot why I usually use latex gloves to handle the yarn. One, keeps my hands clean. Two, the ridges in my fingerprints seem to be a really good hiding place for dye after I've wiped it off. Oops.

I ended up picking up three one-ounce bottles of Kroger food coloring from the local Food for Less, along with a gallon of white vinegar so I knew I'd have enough: Two red and one yellow.
I used my Rival steamer as the yarn cooking pot, as I've personally found the thing to be useless for actually cooking food: I miss my late '70s, early '80s Rival steamer that I inherited from my Mom when she found it. (Old Christmas or anniversary present, I think it was -- and it worked fabulously, up until the seals gave out. I'm still looking for replacement parts, because that thing was WORTH saving.)

I digress.
Using my newer Rival, I set up the water and vinegar: I was perhaps a little careless with the 8 cups water to 1 cup white vinegar, but it didn't seem to hurt (and, remembering not to put the vinegar in the water for the overnight soak was helpful, too) -- and then in went one bottle each of the red and yellow.  I let the steamer come up to heat and then put all but the last eight to ten inches of yarn in the basin, swished it around, and left the white end hanging out over a bowl. Twenty minutes, tug out another six-ish inches, and set the timer for another 30.
Repeat until I've done this three times, and then add the last bottle of red food color, stirring to mix, and then continue until you're down to the last of the yarn in the pot.

At this point, to make sure all the colors set, I dumped the basin, put in fresh water, and also inserted the steamer basket: Coiled the long hank up in the basket with the darkest part on the bottom and covered it, letting the whole thing steam about 30 minutes. ...This would also be the point where my fingerprints added 'interest' to the white end of the yarn. ;)

Anyway. Currently avoiding putting the thing back on the umbrella swift to wind it into something presentable, but that's only because I'm being lazy: I may also still be remembering my last dye experiment, and the Nick-cat deciding that he'd help with the yarn... By playing with it!
I just remember stepping out of the room for a minute and coming back -- pit stop or something, I forget -- to find Nick in a little nest of blue and green and pink, with the world's most innocent "What? What did I do, Mom?" look on his face.

Felines.
But that's why I'll be setting up the swift outside where he can't assist me this time. ;)

I've hit that dreaded point in my knitting career: I have to reduce my stash.
The fiancé hasn't said he'll leave me if I don't, but we did have a talk about how we're both hating the clutter -- and to be fair, my yarn collection is contributing to the problem.

I'm an impulse knitter. I have that awful habit of walking into a yarn shop without a plan in the world, and the moment I touch the pretty offerings they have there, I'm overcome with potential and possibilities.
I have a very nice poncho that came from the first time I got my hands on some Malabrigo merino yarn, but that's neither here nor there: It's a bad habit, and while I'm not pretending I'm going to break it, I can at least make sure to work on what I have before my next little spree.

This means I need Ideas.

Now.
I've been a member of Knitting Daily since before the site officially opened -- To the tune of about two months, actually, but that's neither here nor there -- and they're full of ideas. In fact, recently posted was the Tomato shirt out of Amy Singer's No Sheep for You knitting book as one of their free patterns.

You have to understand how excited I was to see this: That shirt was one of the main (but not only) reasons I wanted the No Sheep book: I now have that pattern in my hot little hands, gleeing like a fiend over it. However, I don't really have the yarn I want to make it. (Cue the head-thunking against the desk.) Irritating, especially since I'm now on a 'Reduce My Stash Before The Fiancé Kills Me' kick, but livable... Guess it means I wait a little while to dive into that particular project.
Side note regarding what I want to do with it, so that I don't forget: Thanks to my explorations of Yarncountry.com, I've decided that Cascade's Fixation yarn looks like love. Since I have this hopeless affection for almost any variegated yarn, I'm thinking that eight skeins of Fixation in black and one to two skeins of Fixation Spray-Dyed in Tequila Sunrise for the color work would be an exquisite use of that pattern -- Honestly, since the pattern itself calls for a cotton yarn, I think a cotton yarn with a bit of stretch could be just the thing. I really need to find myself a local-ish yarn shoppe so I can go handle the stuff and see if it's worthy of my current adoration before I let myself really commit to the idea. (... My recent experience with Lionbrand may have unfairly put me a little off with cotton yarns. Mea culpa.)
Aside: anyone have any experience with the Cascade Fixation yarn, color unimportant?

However, if I were serious about stash reduction without any ideas of what to do? One of About.com's more recent Knitting entries led me to an exhibit of knitted hero costumes.
No, really. Take a look -- It's worth it. :D
I personally love the (original) Batman and the Iron Man costumes, but the photo toward the end of Spidey knitting his own costume is priceless.

Another factor in my stash size: I have some unfinished projects.
Three are things for other people and one's a charity donation that I really ought to get on, but the sad truth is I've gotten bored. Having four projects at once tends to make sure that I always have something else to pick up when my knitting's gone a little too mindless for my liking... But I've gone over my self-enforced three-to-five active projects limit.

I did finish Interweave's Summer Tunic in salmon 'terracotta' cotton-ease last Thursday, because I was going to kill something if I didn't. (I have two skeins at two-thirds unused, and found three more balls of the damned cotton-ease in a drawer, and I'm about ready to just throw them on the mercy of the internet and say take them, personally. That's too much even for use as waste yarn.) The 1" satin ribbon in chocolate and the two copper-embossed amber glass beads I used to adorn the ties worked really well... I suppose I need to either charge the digital camera or visit my parents, see if Mom will take some pictures for me. (My mother's a shutterbug, and I'm often sad that I seem to have not inherited that talent.)

One down, with how many to go...?
I'm still only halfway through my Dashing cabled mitts, probably because I'm still debating whether I'm frogging them and re-working it or not.
I'm giving up on Twinkletoes for now: I made a poor yarn choice, and I don't want to add to the stash, I want to reduce. Maybe after I make the Tomato in that Cascade Fixations or Nashua's Cilantro, I can think about giving twinkletoes another shot.
My two-socks-at-once double-knitting is still going well, if slowly.
I frogged the entirety of my Simple Shrug in Caron's Opal Twist because it was displeasing to me in its as-written form, and I'm now working it in the round instead: If that works (which I'm certain it will), I'm intending on making a second in Mardi Grey. Now, keep it for me or find someone to give it to... Hm.
Still full of intentions regarding the making of Knitty's Thermal pullover in Memories: I have the requisite skeins on hand, thankfully.
I have started Stitchdiva's Sahara sweater in simply soft, color bone. I doubt it's going to see wear outside before, oh, September -- unless there's a sudden cold snap or the promise of really frigid a/c inside -- but I'm pleased with how well it's working up already.
I also seem to still have the long fingerless gloves to make in Malabrigo, since my arms always look naked when I'm in my poncho.

So many projects, so little time.

This has been a little while in coming: Mostly, I've just been trying to figure out what it was that I was noticing while I knit with this particular brand.
The longer I work with the Cotton-Ease, the less impressed I am.

Case in point: The current skein I'm using to make Interweave Knits' Summertime Tunic has been knotted four times in the last three inches worth of rounds. And I'm not talking, "Oh, oops, my yarn tangled and knotted" -- No, I mean that the yarn itself had been broken, and was then knotted to keep the ends together. Four times in the last 24 rows of 206 stitches on size 6.
... I don't feel like doing further math to scream 'OMG that's four breaks in seven yards!!' or what have you, but it seems excessive. I've found less breaks in my recycled handspun sari silk yarn, and I think that says something.

Not impressed, Lionsbrand. Not impressed at all.

So, yes. My trend lately has been less and less lionbrand, and this only serves to reinforce why. And it's an honest shame -- I wanted to try things like their sport-weight cotton Muse and their linen yarn, Jazz. I wanted to get my hands on their newer yarns and try the fibers that weren't wool or acrylic -- Jiffy and Wool-ease have their place, but they just don't feel as good as other acrylics and wools out there, in my opinion.
(I've developed a preferance for Caron's simply soft line when it comes to widely available acrylics -- Otherwise, KnitPicks seems to be my current supplier.)

But. Honest review of cotton-ease: My experience has been that the colors are WIDELY variable, from the lot of salmon-shade yarn that ended up on my door step when I was expecting the color named Terracotta to the considerably deeper, almost rusty shade of the same name I found at Michael's last week.
I'm rather dismayed at the number of knots I've found in the skeins I'm working. It's a very splitty yarn, which while annoying is not exactly a deterrant for me: I'm a little crazy when it comes to that trait. I've had earlier battles with bamboo yarn and sworn never again, no sir, and yet I continue seeking out new and interesting bamboo yarn.

Cotton-ease and I do not have the same love-hate relationship.
If I were rating cotton-ease on a scale of one to ten... Well, before I do that, let's get some context.

Overall, against all yarn I've worked with, I'd give it a three.
I've found and used yarn that felt more difficult when knitting, and I've worked with rougher. It is an evenly twisted yarn (although I'm of the opinion that if it's mass-produced, it damned well better be), though it's now lost points for one of the aforementioned knots -- now counting seven in a single skein, though I'm three skeins into the project and can't bring myself to unravel it back to the beginning -- since one of the joins gave way and left me scrambling to frog back to a point at which I could repair it. ANNOYING.

Against the other primarily cotton yarns, though? It's a two. Maybe a one and a half.
Now, I've taken to working with some pretty high end cotton. I love Dharma Trading's alpine cotton: Softest cotton yarn I've ever felt. Not merc'd, I believe, which is probably part of that. And then there's KnitPicks' Shine series -- Soft, silky, easy to knit with a very low split factor, and the end result has a pleasant weight and feel... And true to its name, Shine has this fabulous sheen.

So, yeah. Not my favorite yarn ever.

I'm going to keep plugging on my summertime tunic, because I think it has true potential (and I have to use the seven skeins of cotton-ease on something), but I won't be purchasing it again.

The crazy continues.
I'm still working on my two socks at once project, though I've ended up frogging it twice: Once because two of my super-slick double-point needles fell out at once and foiled my attempts to slide them back in the stitches, and the second because I was not pleased with how things were working up on the socks' legs.
'Curses,' I told myself, rifling through my saved collection of sock patterns. 'I really just want to make these toe-up socks and worry about the cuff from there.'

Happily, I found a toe-up solution that works with the two-at-once on DPNs, also thanks to Knitty.com.
I came across an article called Tiptop Toes, and in it, I found the solutions to all my issues with leg-down socks.
I ended up using the Easy Toe method, which is the third... I started out with the figure-eight toe, but it didn't exactly lend itself well to not crossing the start stitches on my two-at-once socks.

Now, side complaint about my DPNs.
I love Knitpick's lightweight hollow brass and nickle plated needles. I can't recommend their Options set highly enough, though I make sure mention that 1) the needles aren't marked with the size, so you're going to have to make notations on their individual pockets in the carrying case, and 2) the initial set is only a starting point and I have taken to adding to it with an almost addicted fervor. I have not yet added the 13, 15 and 17 size tips... But I have a section for them all marked out in my set.
However. There is a point where I think it can be a little too slick.

Remember that earlier comment of mine about losing two out of the four active DPNs when I was attempting a cuff-down sock? Yeah. That's a problem. And I don't have any size 2 bamboo DPNs -- I'm embarrassed to admit that I really have not taken sock-knitting seriously up 'til this point, because all my DPNs have been reserved for things like arm warmers and hats, which are usually size 6 and up. I have a plethora of 6, 7, 8, 10.5 and 11 DPNs. 0-3s? Not so much. And I like bamboo and wood needles. A lot. I love their smooth feel that somehow isn't quite as slick and slip-prone as the nickle-plated.

...I'm going to tell you a secret.
I have a pair of size 4 Susan Bates needles that would honestly be the perfect surface for these socks I'm making, if it weren't more imperative that I do the socks on size 2s. And I hate, hate, hate that the Bates needles only come in packs of 4 -- I love my fifth needle, thank you very much! -- but for texture... I might actually bite the bullet and find some if this pair of socks turn out well.
I despise most of the Bates line's offerings, honestly, because they all feel so chintzy (and why only 4 needles when nearly all other manufacturers give you 5?!)... But this might be one issue in which I have to concede.

 Anyway. I'm currently at seven stitches (from each sock) per needle and I'm going to need to keep going 'til I've got 12, so I'm a little more than halfway through the toe. The toe-up does seem to be going much smoother, uber-slippery DPNs not withstanding. Once I finish with the toe, it's my intention to snip and switch the colors, so I have a pair of coordinating (but not necessarily matched) socks. The heels will switch again, and I'm currently debating whether or not to switch at the last half-inch or so at the sock cuff.
I ought to see how difficult it's going to be to just switch off from toe to body, first. ;) Best laid plans, and all that.

If this works out, I may never want to knit a single sock at a time in my life. ;)

First 'handpainting' experiment in process!
It's currently in the dishwasher, using the heat there to set it.

Yeah, so perhaps I was inspired by Knitty.com's feature on handpainting your own yarn.  I'd originally wanted to use the dip-dye method mentioned, but silly me didn't bother to read the instructions completely -- I added vinegar to the overnight soak, and the dip-dye method is the only one that says not to (because you don't want the dye to get taken up the moment it's set in the pot)... Mea culpa, mea culpa.
My hands are a little bit dyed from handling the food coloring, but not as bad as they could have been: Thank goodness for having an extra few disposable pairs of latex gloves around for dyeing my hair. (Vanity pays, who knew?)

Anyway, I wonder how it's going to come out: I went into the dye process thinking I'd get a sunset red, mint green and light turquoise on the yarn for kicks and giggles -- I did end up getting the sunset red color, but clearly went overboard and ended up with a dark teal and a dark mint green, but I still have hope that this'll be interesting.
Dye notes, mostly for me and before I forget: Applied on fingering weight raw silk yarn.

Sunset red:

1 cup water
Kroger food color: .3 oz red, .1 oz yellow.

Deep teal:

¾ cup water
Kroger food color: .3 oz blue, .1 oz green

Dark mint:

¾ cup water
Kroger food color: .2 oz yellow, .2 oz green, .3 oz blue

Also noteworthy in all things yarn and crafted, I finished a halter top that I started Friday and made up on the fly today: I was half-tempted to wear it home, since we seem to be in the savage clutches of a heat wave. I'm rather proud of how it turned out, honestly: Made it out of crochet thread, of all things, using size 4/3.5 mm needles. I've also written the pattern down for myself so I remember what I did, and can tweak it if I so desire. Turns out I could have probably taken it in a few stitches, since the crochet thread has a lot of give -- No complaints, though. It's comfy.  Needs blocking, though -- sadly, after the dyeing, I'm not really up for stretching more things out on the glass coffee table that's turning into my quick-cleaning craft central.

I hope the dye job turns out well... I'd really love the excuse to get some more raw silk yarn and dye the hell out of it.
Still, what I wouldn't do for more of Stephanie of RecycledSilk.com's Andromeda silk... Silk and merino, two of my favorite yarns right there.

I've put the sweater on hold, largely because the feel of the cotton-ease is irritating me.
It's got a good drape, don't get me wrong... But right now, with the somewhat rougher hand than the other cotton yarns I've worked with and the way it's getting all splitty on me -- which was a massive peeve when I was working with bamboo, but I could at least forgive bamboo because it felt good and silky. (Also, the weight of it in the finished Convertible is really nice.)

Cotton-ease is just not doing it for me in sweater format.
I'm planning on frogging it and picking up the Sahara sweater in something softer, like my guilty pleasure yarn (Caron simply soft) in, I don't know, the secret stash I have of autumn red or bone.  I know I have enough of it tucked away for when I felt like getting into sweaters and shirts, so I think it's time.
And that means the cotton-ease will be going to the hidden spot in my drawer for a while until I decide what to do with it... Though I suspect I already know.

Anyway. Since I put the cotton-ease 'sweater' attempt down, I've picked up something else to chase away my annoyance. I'm almost two skeins in to a Simple Shrug using the suggested yarn in opal twist -- I am such a Caron whore, honestly, why? -- and it's at least proving to be fun.
I used to hate shrugs. Couldn't stand them.  Why have half a sweater when you can get a whole one for ten to thirty dollars less, depending on where you were shopping?

Then, I started making them.
I won't say this makes them anything less than half a sweater, but somehow, I find them more attractive when I've made them and they didn't cost me $50. ;)  I also have four skeins of Mardi Grey to go into the next shrug I feel like knitting, since I'm really and unnaturally fond of that particular color pattern.
And I don't even like pink and pastels. I guess a little grey will improve anything.

I am fond of black -- hence, the opal twist going first. The pink strand's a little more pronounced than I'd like, but it's not a constant, so I suck it up and deal -- and I can't help but imagine that it would be really cool to do the Sahara sweater in black simply soft, and then the collar in opal twist for a little change in appearance. I may well have to follow up with that idea, actually... Once I finish the current 'black' shrug, since I'll have a skein and change to use when it's done.
Wonder if I should keep it or offer it to one of my friends. They're certainly glad to take my knitting experiments off my hands, which makes me happy.

Back to work: The shrug's not going to knit itself, after all.

Took the plunge: I'm officially part of the No Sheep for You skein swap.

It should be fun. :D

Day 2 of my Knit Your Bit project. I would be a lot farther along if I hadn't gotten bored with it yesterday: This is why I should carry more than one project at a time in my bag. I mean, I have three inches of the 36 to 40 required by the pattern before I get another color change and a break from the monotony.
It's strange. I've discovered it's more fun to knit scarves longways than the traditional short ends I'm being forced into now by the pattern -- It's different, it's immediate, and I can see how long it's going to be the moment I decide I've cast on enough stitches and turn, and then I've only got six to eight inches before I'm done. I can finish the thing in an afternoon, as the friend over on Saturday can attest.
Yeah. Turning a piece always slows me down, so having to work in 20-40 stitches per row drives me out of my skull. It's so boring.
Now, lace patterns that same width take me forever, but they're at least interesting: I get to do something other than count my stitches as they move from one end to the other -- though let me tell you, stitch markers are LOVE. Now that I've discovered them, I don't know how I ever managed my amigurumi experiments or hats without them.

So, yes. I'm bored.
I do have yarn for two scarves, what with the loden and the denim, but I've always been intending the blue one go to my Grandpa -- who also served in WWII, so. He wasn't one of the Tuskeegee Airmen, but I think he might like having something his first granddaughter made for him. (It'll probably remind him of Grandma, actually -- On thinking about it, I believe my crafting ADD comes from her. She was always on something new, trying new techniques just to see how it would come out, and she loved things like sewing for sewing's sake. It occurs to me that I don't know if she ever picked up needles or a hook in her life, but I'm willing to bet she did, once upon a time.)
... But since I'm making it for Grandpa, that means I don't necessarily have to follow the directions as written. I guess I'll just have to see if I can make shortwise stripes on a longways scarf.

I'm taking a second crack at the Convertible in a different yarn type and weight: I have about 880 yards of Gossamer yarn from KnitPicks, in the color Rose Garden that I've been saving: My original intent fell through, but now it has purpose. I also like the longer sections of color that Gossamer has, vs. the inch and a half to two inches of color inherent to the Royal Bamboo ombre I originally picked -- Rose Garden is about six inches or so per color, and it leaves these nice, gradually shifting colors along the row. Okay, it's wool -- Merino, specifically. It turns out I have a real soft spot for that type.

... Pun unintentional.

But it's turning out really lovely, though I won't be completely sure 'til it's been blocked, many weeks from now. I've also picked smaller needles, since the yarn is finer, and I'm going with eight repetitions of the pattern instead of the six I had to do to make gauge with the Royal Bamboo. (I'm also debating whether I want to do eight reps of row 1 of the pattern, or if I want to shake it up a little and do section 1: row 1 pattern, section 2: row 2, and so on. On row 2, start with the row 2 pattern and move down the line, rep 6 heading back to row 1's pattern. And so on.) Also, I think the smaller gauge will work with my quarter inch shank button 'cufflinks'. Here's hoping.

Got to meet up with the fiance for lunch yesterday and ran some errands.
I know what we're having for dinner (since it's honey-glazed chicken, currently sitting in the fridge and marinading), and I get to bully him into starting up our charcoal grill for it. I'm still debating whether the side is going to be steamed rice or soba noodles.

I'm eyeing lots (as in, actual bagged lots) of bamboo yarn, though I've already been swearing up and down that I've done my last with bamboo, thank you... Clearly, I'm out to drive myself nuts.

Right now, I'm thinking I've 50% figured out how to make this sweater. Really: The sleeves look like they've been knit from cuff to cuff, and I've been playing with knitting longways recently -- and the neck itself is easy enough, since I've already messed with that making my poncho. The biggest issue, I think, would be how to do the body of it -- but even that might not be too tough, so it's a question of working in panels or in the round. Think, think, think.
I may have to play with this for fun, see what I come up with.

I've recently found a new knitting blog to follow -- Eunny has some beautiful work out there, though it seems she and I disagree on the topic of ombres and what makes good colors, but she's inspiring. I don't know how long she's
been knitting, spinning, or designing her own patterns -- Where do you learn how to make patterns for more complex garments, anyway? Ponchos and the like, not so difficult -- but sweaters seem more so. I have yet to grasp the concept of short rows. Gussets, I have yet to grasp. Steeking sets me running off to quiver in the closet... But I'm getting over my fear of lace (though lace patterns slow me down like mad) and I certainly came to grasp the concept of double-point needles. (Seriously, circular needles still elude me. I suspect I'll need to watch them in action or get a detailed write-up to truly get it.)
I had a lot of fun with my introduction to amigurumi (thanks to Amy Gaines' Jellybean Bunny), though the first attempt wasn't something I'd consider giving anyone outside my immediate family. -- It wasn't ugly, but, well. It was a first attempt, and had all those little flaws that first time projects tend toward.

And Eunny makes me want to get back into learning to spin again. Just reading about how passionate she is, and seeing the results of her labors -- Dude. I wish my attempts with the drop spindle hadn't been so very juvenile, comparably. Also, the idea of making my own yarns always fills me with inspiration and a fierce kind of glee.
I want to make my own yarn. I want to dye roving and then see what comes off the spindle.
I really need to try spinning again in the near future.