![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvHEHP24mEo525MeH79heWQ8_rJX0PVWNstGkknxXoVb5my6v6fuvpPE5mtmEyNak-joCEYno5qq67TtZO_9BFiVouIxJbJfwrc3lEHV3QWZnZ0SpDYCRchkSnjpJsZRSflQko5-a3mRDE/s320/gabi's+socks.jpg)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
i FINISHED something! finally.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvHEHP24mEo525MeH79heWQ8_rJX0PVWNstGkknxXoVb5my6v6fuvpPE5mtmEyNak-joCEYno5qq67TtZO_9BFiVouIxJbJfwrc3lEHV3QWZnZ0SpDYCRchkSnjpJsZRSflQko5-a3mRDE/s320/gabi's+socks.jpg)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Recent Knittings
Child's hat.
Half a pillow.
A glove.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
ARG!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH-Evww2KR9G3K92x6g7J1iOE0vrFeZ9Ob1bVFVSf5krf_tgB4eo1UWBDf6zwGZEBtSLruPoqcguSAfrCjmqdZAMubENAFSfVshVLCvazzuRWtOOZXZ2IqLInqJnDbL9JHi7NjVAnCJH6Z/s320/knit+pillows.jpg)
I don't plan on selling name pillows, though, because that would cater to too small an audience, unless I want to put up custom postings, but I don't want to do that just yet-- I'd rather put up stuff that I have made and are ready to be mailed. Anyway, I started doodling some designs for pillows. Standard stripes, bubbles, hearts, plaid, diagonals, a sun, a rainbow, a star, a smiley face... the possibilities were endless! I was so excited that I rushed right over to A.C. Moore to stock up on lots of different colored yarn. I bought a few small skeins and a pillow form to make a test pillow. I wanted to start with the SUN one, which would be a series of circles within one another, i.e., a yellow circle in the center surrounded by an orange one and all of that on a red background.
I got home, did some calculations for the gauge, and happily cast on. The method I used for changing colors was standard, carry-alongs, that is, when I was knitting with one color, I simply carried the other color yarn along behind the row and knit it into the stitch I was working on so that it would stay snug. This is how I've always done color-changes, like for the name pillows. But it didn't take me long to notice that it looked like crap. If I'm going to be selling these things, they need to be perfect, and this clearly was NOT. The knitting where I had carried yarn behind was all bunched up and scrunchy, it wasn't smooth or professional looking, and it was making the knitting all tight. In short, it looked amateur and bad. I ripped it out. I looked up "knitting with colors" online and read about intarsia knitting, which is a different kind of color knitting all together which I will not explain in detail here-- suffice it to say, it looks a lot better though it is a little more complicated.
It also required a tool I did not have: KNITTING BOBBINS. So I went to A.C. Moore today to buy some. Or try to. They didn't have any. I went to Wal-Mart. They didn't have them either. I went to Michael's. THEY DIDN'T HAVE THEM. I am starting to suspect that these things do not really exist. So I bought at Michael's some clothespins, which one website had recommended as a substitute, and some other stuff that I didn't need (can't walk out of that store without spending money). And now I am going to start this intarsia method. I think this will be a long and frustrating road but I must walk it.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Slow knitting day
Anyway, I have to start the gloves again, obviously. But now I don't have any yarn to use for it that's not sock weight or medium weight. I need something in between, maybe weight 3. I don't know what to do with this pink sock yarn that I made the first glove with. I don't think there's enough left to make socks-- maybe ankle socks, but who wants knitted ankle socks? Oh well, add it to the stash.
I tore out the leg warmer that I'd started and began again with 48 stitches instead of 64. First I did a k2, p2 rib for two inches, then a k4, p4 rib for the leg, but it looked dumb so I tore it out and started again with stockinette. Oy, this project is going to annoy me.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
projects about which i am no longer enthusiastic
glove madness
I know it looks like it's on the wrong hand, but it looks just as bad on the other one too.
Basically, WEAK.
I'm trying again. I'm using Bernat Worsted, which is medium-weight. I originally used it for a sweater vest and I had some left over. I bought size three dpns, but I think they are too small. Anyway, the glove is going to come out way too big, since my friend has tiny fairy-like hands and this one seems like it'll be too big on me. Blurg! I bought a dowel at Wal-Mart to make my own size four/five DPNs instead of having to buy another set for $4. It worked out pretty well. I cut it into five equal-size lengths and used a nail file to sand down the points. To make them perfect I'd have to smooth them down with some sand paper and maybe paint on a coat of varnish, but I don't have that kind of dedication. This works fine. I actually made another set, like comparable to size twos, from those shish-kebab skewars you can buy at food stores. This is a great solution to buying dpns. You can get dowels in lots of sizes from hardware stores REALLY cheaply. And one stick will make a whole set of five.
Anyway... I'm going to finish this one just so I can have a general idea of sizing. Even though it will definitely not fit my friend. So that means I'll have to make a third test glove.
Oh well, knitting is a labor of love.