Monday, January 31, 2011

2011 January Stash

I've collected quite a few yarns since I started knitting just a few months ago. Perhaps it was a want to build a stash - through stash envy - or simply my eyes being so drawn to certain yarns/patterns that I just had to go ahead and have the yarns on hand so I could start them as soon as I was ready! Or it could just have been the awesome deals the Wooly Ewe was having for an end-of-year sale. But whatever the cause, for a new knitter, I do have a fairly nice stash. And I thought I'd link some pictures to show it off.





















That's the whole of it. Not the best picture, but it shows the quantity at least. I've got closer shots below.




This is a closeup of my WIPs. The far left is a roll-up of the project bag I'm working on in Thick & Quick in Oatmeal. The gray (and corresponding yarn) is the afghan I started way early in my knitting career. It has been taken off the needles and put onto scrap yarn, but it is still quite nice.
To the right of that is the Patons bamboo silk and the pile of remnants from all my previous projects.








This is mostly all my acrylics. All except for the large pile lime green on the left - which is Ultra Pima (Cotton), currently being used on my Primrose Path. I inherited most of those acrylics from my mom ^_^.




This last batch is my favorite. Its most of my nicer yarns that have yet to be delved into. Wools, Tencel/Viscose (the light pink), another batch of Ultra Pima (the wine colored), and a cone of laceweight bamboo. My absolute favorite is that variegated dark blue - its Berrocco Borealis, Super Bulky. I *Have* to find a use for it..because it is just sooo damn pretty!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Primrose Path

It has begun! My very first sweater is well under way at this point. I have knitted over 4", closing in on 5" done. Woo!

So last I left you, I was still working up my gauge swatches. I liked the look of the swatch on the US 5 needles much more, so chose to go with that one. The swatch only added about 4 stitches to the gauge, surprisingly, and when I did my math.. the appropriate addage of stitches also equaled the largest size the pattern came in - talk about luck! So I'm just knitting the sweater in the largest size of the pattern, and I *think* it should work out. Its really freaking hard to figure out gauge on 2x2 ribbing, let me tell you. There's no way in the world to know how much to stretch the rib to count stitches. The pattern said 'slightly relaxed" but yeah, no idea exactly what that means. But I think it'll work out.

I added 4" to the bottom of the pattern (extending the lace-flower pattern further across the front) because I tend to like longer shirts. I figure I'll try this baby on as I get a lot further up the back and make sure I am liking the length on it. I can always add more at the top too. But since I added 4" to the bottom, that means I've only just begun the actual pattern itself! Hah! And I've already used a whole skein of yarn. Something tells me I may need to buy more yarn. Oh well. At least its an easy yarn to come by.

I will say the pattern looks beautiful. I showed it off to a few friends this weekend and they were much impressed. *Squee!*

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Finding Gauge

Working on this new sweater that I fell in love with - Primrose Path - its the first time that I've had to seriously contemplate gauge. I wasn't too impressed with the yarn used in the pattern, according to comments about the yarn that says it fuzzes really fast, which just doesn't seem to fit my ideas about what would be good for that pattern. So I decided to look around a bit. I still want something that might have a little shine to it (which the original yarn gets from the silk), but that hopefully won't fuzz up much. I've fallen in love with Cascade Yarn's Ultra Pima, and when I went into the LYS it was on sale. It isn't the most ideal choice for this pattern, as it doesn't really fit what the pattern calls for, but I am determined to make it work. For one, Ultra Pima doesn't fuzz or pill very much, and it does have a little shine. Its cotton, so it won't stretch very much - but the pattern is ribbed, so I think it'll stretch enough thanks to that. I'm just hoping it will work out okay. I stuck with a color similar to that used in the pattern, because I just think its a good color for a spring-time top.

So here's the specifics that I'm going to have to work with. The pattern calls for worsted yarn, 22 sts x 28 sts = 4" in 2x2 rib, or 21 sts x 28 sts = 4" in St st (using size 6 needles). The Ultra Pima (considered a DK) gauge suggests 22-24 sts = 4" in St st (using size 5-6 needles). That's really really close. I'm hoping that it won't take too much finagling to make this yarn work. I'm doing a large swatch now in 2x2 rib to get the measurement using size 6 needles. It looks a little..open.. to me, so I think I may do a smaller second swatch on size 5 needles and see if it looks better. Then I'll compare stitch counts and see what I need to do from there.

I'm sure I'll have to add a few stitches to the pattern no matter which needles I end up using, its just a question of how many. I'll have to test my math skills and hope I know what I'm doing!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Cherie Amour pausings

Not sure if it was the troublesome untangling of the bamboo silk, or just rethinking what I was doing.. but I'm gonna re-stash my Patons bamboo silk rather than use it on the Cherie Amour. Which means I need to find new yarn for my Cherie. Affordable yarn. I may try to locate a couple skeins of Malabrigo - i've heard its a really nice yarn that a lot of people like. And the "velvet grapes" colorway even looks close to what I'd like to emulate in the Cherie. I may keep looking, but I'm leaning that way. Will probably require some online ordering, but oh well.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Cast-off Day

I'd gotten so close to finishing up my mitts last week that I was adamant that I would finish them over the weekend. Normally, I take my knitting with me to my vampire game on Friday night, and if things get a little slow I pull it out and work on it a bit. Doesn't always happen, but sometimes. Turns out Friday night was an interesting game for me and my character so that totally didn't happen.

But Saturday, there was no question, if I was getting anything done - it was those mitts!! Woke up sometime before noon, and immediately pulled out my needles and wrapped them up. Really, all I had to do was about four teeny-tiny thumb rows, and then weaving in the ends, and sewing down the hems. Really only took me like half an hour. You'd think I'd have found time to do that before!! Or I just kept putting it off because it was so small a job. Anyway..they are done.


And I wore them all day Saturday, and all day Sunday, and all day today... yes, I love them ^_^. They may not go with everything, but they sure are warm. Maybe I should put a pair of neutral gloves on my queue list so I do have a pair that goes with everything. Someday.


Following the mitts getting finished, I decided I needed to finish up another project - the Serendipity earband mom had asked for. I'd finished the main band, and really just had to crochet up the flower and sew it on. Another half hour project or so and that too was done. Yay!



So with two projects done, I only had two other projects still on the needles. My lover's knot afghan that I started...a hell of a long time ago, and the project bag in thick-n-chunky oatmeal. I still want to finish that project bag..but I need to take a break from it. I knitted up one whole skein of it using the wrong size needles, and so it kinda hurts my head to look at it. I'll finish it up eventually. But I don't despise it enough to take it off the needles. The afghan, however, I've had sitting at the bottom of my knitting bag for months. I think I stopped working on it before October. I still love the pattern, and totally intend to work on it more, I just have other things I'd like to focus on right now. Sweaters, specifically. So I took that project off the needles and put it onto some scrap yarn for hibernation.

I must say - it is nice to finish up some projects and then look ahead to starting up new ones.

So with all my needles ('cept one set for the project bag) freed up, I finally get to consider an entire set of new projects!!! There was one that I knew I'd be working on next - the Cherie Amour that I fell in love with early on my arrival to Ravelry. It is absolutely adorable. I realize that a lot of people have problems with the pattern, and yarn choice seems to be crucial as well as design choices. But I've just got to give it a shot. I'm going with a double-strand of Paton's Bamboo Silk in Orchid and Coal. I'm hoping it works out okay. I threw that yarn in my bag for Saturday night's vampire game, and actually did spend a good deal of time while there working on it. I got quite a few rows done...and then noticed I'd twisted the work. Siigh. Tried to pull it all out, but I think I got distracted...and it got all very very tangled. Spent the rest of the night trying to untangle it. What a way to start the project. Still haven't finished untangling. I'll try again...soon. When I get up the courage.


Additionally, I found a new pattern that I (and my friend D) just fell
in love with!! Its this Primrose Path sweater. I showed it to D and her immediate response was "so when are you going to make that for me?" Haha. We're actually likely to go yarn shopping either this weekend or next for the yarn for it for the two of us. That'll probably take me a few months to finish two of those, but it sure is pretty enough for it. I can't wait to get that one going. It'll be a completely different type of knitting from the Cherie Amour too - ribbing, rather than lace.

So looks like 2011 is starting off as the year of the sweater. Jumping straight in and going for the big pieces. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Building a stash

So my last impromptu and surprising trip to the Wooly Ewe gave me a chance to start building up my stash of yarns so I have a bit more to work with for future projects. Now i just need to pull it out of the plastic bags currently holding it all, and figure out a way to store it in bins or baskets or something so that I can actually see what all I have. I did buy one basket that I had been keeping in the living room next to where I sit to knit. But when the hubby wanted to clean up the living room, he made me move it and hide it. Sigh. Actually, I was surprised the cats didn't find and destroy any of the yarns in that basket!

I've been thinking about getting some plastic bins, or possibly metal-cage bins and setting them up..somewhere.. Still trying to decide on where. The middle bedroom is a possibility. Problem is, that room doesn't have all that much extra space as it is..and the one wall I'd have "room" to put in some bins, is really the only extra space there is in the room at all. And I'm sure our guests appreciate having just that little bit of space for them to dress in. So honestly, I shouldn't put it there. I could confiscate some of the back closet, if I move some of our militarily-inclined roommate's binned items into the garage. That's a possibility. Then it doesn't screw up any of the hubby's ideas of a clean house :D


Alternatively, I have one part of stash building that I'm struggling to understand. When I went to the Wooly Ewe, I had a shopping list. I knew of a few projects I wanted to work on in the future, so I went looking for yarn specifically for those projects. Which was good - because they all required a good deal of yarn (400yds plus for almost every project). So that meant I was buying 5-6 skeins per project! That added up to a lot..which meant I couldn't just go buying yarn just because it was pretty/soft/touchable/loooove. And to be completely honest, I'm afraid to buy yarn "just cuz" when I'm not sure how much of that yarn I'll need for a particular project - afraid I'd not get enough and then be unable to get more in the future. I did inherit a few yarns from my mom over Xmas, some yellows and blues for future baby projects, but those are going into a "someday in the future" part of the stash that will have very little viability for random projects. But generally, I'm not sure how to just shop for yarns, without a particular pattern's requirements in mind. Not sure how to ensure that I will get enough for whatever future project I'll want to do with it.. Maybe its just a spontaneity trait that I don't really have. ^_^