Posts from Winter '06

Monday, January 08, 2007

Hasta La Pasta, Blankie!

SO, long, it's been GOOD to know ya, SO long..... blah blah blah, I don't remember the next line. oh well. It's true. This has been a pretty satisfying knit all and all. Just when I thought I was going fast, I wasn't. Just when I thought I was going slow, I wasn't! A little confusing, yes, but always a surprise down the next row.







A very pleasing stitch pattern, I think. I really like the colors now, that I've aquired an eye for them. The yarn, scrumptous, of course.

Pattern: Warm & Cuddly Baby Afghan
From: Quick Knitted Afghans pg 64
Yarn: Shine in Worsted Weight - Knit Picks
Colors: Crocus and Grass




Just as soon as it was dry, and photographed, I lost no time in wrapping it up like a giant candy.

Making it look all pretty, and so much LESS purple next to it's paper. Too bad, but, that's ok. It only looks slightly pinkish that way.

I thought it would be cute to use some small bit of the miles of extra green I have left, for a little garnish.





Then it was into the bag with it. How does she look, y'all? =)*) All purty and dressed up for the daynce. heh heh heh, shucks and garsh

So, it's Fare the well, sweetie baby blanket, I hope your new girl loves you! byeeee








...and hello new project! -- well until I get to the LYS for laceweight stuff --

(since I feel all NEKKID with no knitting project)


Hill Country Yarns

Strawberry Swirl

I've been waiting for ages to use this yarn, yaay. I think I should always have a sock going on the side, from now on. k? Should cut down on monotony once in a while.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

The Remains of the Yarn

Here are the remains of the yarn.

The two pieces left from stitching up the sides.

Of course I had to use the purple, since I couldn't have made the green blend in with the border so easy.


And of course you remember the tiny bit that was left after finishing the top.

I should admit that at both corners of both borders I weaved in the ends in such a way as to start the stitching, partly to conserve yarn, and partly really give it added strength at the corners - if you would call them corners? I guess they are the corners of the body of the blanket. Something like that.

It had been in the plans for me to be posting pictures of the blanket as a whole, all weaved in, washed and blocked. But NO! Thursday night, all my late nights caught up with me and I was hit by a very angry flu bug. 2 days of forced rest later, and a probably drug induced feeling of sorta wellness (Excedrine Migraine, how do I love thee?) I still haven't weaved in the rest of the ends, which means it hasn't been washed or blocked either. Hopefully I can weave in the rest of the ends today, and possible do the wash/block thing, too, which would (theoretically speaking) mean there may be pictures in the morning. (we'll see how that goes)

For now, mainly I could use a few postive thoughts, (or whatever you call it)lol and I'll get back to knitting, soon. =)

Weaving in Ends? CHECK!
Washing? CHECK!
Blocking? next =) and CHECK!

WOO HOO PIX TOMORROW BABY!

edited again to add:
yes, I know it's tomorrow already, but that thing is taking FOREVER to dry. So I put it out in the sun for a bit. Now it's half dry and half damp, it's been turned damp side to the sun, now and SOON we will have new pix.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Believe it or Not

Guess what? I have enough yarn! Here's what I had left after knitting the left border and the first row of the the top border. It was about at this point in time that I started to suspect that I may have enough yarn and that my order to Knit Picks may have been premature.

uh.... OOPS! and OH WELL! lol That's ok, I got myself a little present in that order, so I don't regret it. After all, I have 2 and a half balls of the green left, so I may as well have 2 balls of the crocus to match, right? I can always put yarn to use =)


Here is an artsy fartsy shot showing what it looks like right before I started knitting the top border.

Remember me saying that getting a good detailed shot of the whole blanket is hard? Well, it doesn't get easier on an overcast day when the blanket is even bigger.

So I figured I'd make it more interesting than detailed and pretend I am some awesome famous photographer who can show depth instead of detail and make people say, "OOOOO!" and "AAAAAAHHHHH!" and "Isn't that interesting?"

You don't have to burst my bubble on that fantasy, ok? lol




For all of you that love to get lost in the wrong side of this stitch pattern, here's YOUR artsy fartsy photograph showing depth AND detail.


(and YES, I'm aware of my weirdness, don't worry, I'm highly medicated on caffiene and antioxidants)






For those of you that don't love artsy fartsy so much but still enjoy they hypnotic properties of the reverse side of this blanket, your photo is here.


Zone out all you want!

And finally to totally freak out all the people who are very scared of running out of yarn....

I present, the end of the line. A line so close to being just short of the end of the line, that it boggles the mind.

This is the end of BOTH remainder balls from both the left and right sides. I did no calculations, no fancy measurements, it is pure coincidance, accident, random good happenstance. It's nice, it's rare, I know, so I wallow in my freakishly random good happenstance. =)*)

Just so you know, I'm using the scrap that wasn't part of either left side or right side border skeins to stitch up the side borders to the middle. I have JUST enough for that as well. How, random and freakishly good is that? yaay

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

LOOK! The Borderths of InTHANity! hahahahaha!

Now he'll NEVER catch uth! hahahaha

As you can see, my trusted photographer's assistant is doing an excellent job of impersonating a kitty cat.

She's definitely already a fiber snob, she knows the good stuff when she feels it.

Stho! What makeths me inthane over my borderths?



Well.... see the yarn ball on the left, compared to the right? Right ball is one skein. Left ball is one skein after knitting the right side of the border.

So... logically after knitting the left side of the border using the skein on the right, I'll have the same basic amount as the one on the left.

Do you think that's enough to knit the top border?

Am I INTHANE, or did the word THINK ethcape my mouth? I think it'ths NOT enough. We'll have to wait and THEE about that, but it totally thuckths.

ANYWAY, here it is in it's giant squareness, knitted from border, across the top to join the border for stability and to make it easier to move it around.

It's not easy to photo this thing in it's entirety, but this will have to do.





I tried the join as I go strategy and it didn't work so good, so I ripped back a couple rows of it and left a couple for a good anchor.

Now, to start the left side.

Looks like I'll have to buy more yarn, but I can't just order the ONE skein, right? hmmmm..... time to start thinking what I want from Knit Picks. (ah rats) hahaha

Monday, January 01, 2007

The Final Countdown?

It's 9:55 am, I haven't started knitting but I kept knitting after midnight and got down to 7 repeats. I haven't had breakfast and I'm going to snag a shower before I start knitting again. I'm hoping to be able to get thru the 7 repeats needed today, I did 7 yesterday even though I seemed to be in some sort of odd time warp. Why is it that some days you can knit SO fast and other days it seems like you are going JUST as fast but progressing OH so sssllllooooowwww? Since I can't make much sense of it I just attribute it to being in my own personal time warp.

The topmost marker is pinkish and marks the repeat for 10 to go.

The middle one marks the 21 spot.

I forgot the other one, but scroll down and you can find that answer.

I'm starting to plan the border, which is simple garter stitch, but I'm thinking of attaching it as I go, instead of stitching it up at the end. We'll see how that works out, or not.

I probably won't get to start knitting until after the munchkins get lunch (somewhere around the time I get breakfast) hmmmm, maybe I should do breakfast before I shower so I don't pass out? (Ya THINK?!)

Once I get a few repeats done, I'll check back.



10:28 am and 7 repeats to go

1:30 pm with 5 repeats to go wooo hooo yaay refill the coffee and knit some MORE weeee!

3:07 pm with 3 repeats to go except 3 is now the new ZERO so I'm DONE with the repeats!!!!

I'm not cheating even tho it seems so, because if I don't stop NOW (or 2 repeats back) I'll run out of the purple (crocus, I think) and I probably will anyway. (anyone have a spare ball of worsted crocus Shine in their back pocket? hahahaha)

Now I start the border. (after a couple of chores and one errand) I WOULD try the green as part (like the sides) of the border, but it scares me as the border. (I tried it to begin with and I nearly threw up, so NO to that)

scratch that! I found ONE MORE BALL OF CROCUS! yaaay I should have plenty

posted by JustApril @ 9:55 AM 7 comments