knitting the second cowl

October 9, 2012 by 5 Comments

Remember how I’m making two cowls for my mom (one for her, one for a friend)?  I’m using this pattern from Ravelry to make it but I’m doing it in thinner yarn and adapting the pattern a bit.  She wants something thinner — more like a necklace.  Well, here’s how far I am on #2:

This one’s going much slower, and it’s not just because I’ve already done one and the novelty has worn off.  That’s not it at all, really — this one I’m making with a thinner yarn but the same needles.  The first cowl was sock weight, and this yarn is about half that size.  It will be much more lacy, which I think will look equally cool, but it’s taking longer because I’m not used to working with such lightweight yarn.  It keeps sliding through my hands so my tension is wonky and I have to keep adjusting to keep it right.

As you can see, my knitting is resting on my laptop, which is in turn resting on the arm of the couch.  My boyfriend is often taking up the TV with his video gaming (which is fine), so I usually sit here on the couch, using my computer to watch movies/TV or listen to audiobooks with my headphones on.  When a pattern is difficult for me, I’ll postpone those things in favor of turning all my attention towards my knitting, but for stuff like this cowl, which is an easy pattern, I like to listen to things.

Do you do things while you knit?  If so, what?  I need some new ideas — I’ve practically memorized all of my audiobooks and movies (lines and musical scores).

Thanks for stopping by, hope you visit again soon!

 

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have you seen this yet?

October 9, 2012 by 6 Comments

So I was browsing Pinterest today and came across this really cool program.  When making a granny square project, if you’re like me, the colors have to be used an equal amount of times on the edges, in the middle, and in the center.  This can be very difficult to keep track of — my last granny square blanket‘s colors were distributed evenly like this, but I did it by keeping all the squares in carefully organized piles, and it got kind of ridiculous because I kept knocking piles over and having to re-sort everything.

That picture doesn’t show everything, and actually looking at it makes it seem like I didn’t do a very good job distributing the colors… but trust me, there’s every combination possible in this blanket.

But now there’s an easier way (do I sound like a TV ad?).  Check out this program from Double Crochets, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  You can see the results of the math permutation in a printable chart.  Now you can’t select your colors, at least not yet, but you can choose the number of colors.  Once you see the way the chart is made it would be easy to just draw out your own with colored pencils or markers.  It just makes the whole process of distributing the colors evenly easier to visualize.  I will probably use this in conjunction with Design-Seeds (for picking out my color palettes).

What do you think?  Would you use this program, or make a chart of your own?  Or do you prefer to just wing it and not worry about such things as even distribution?

That’s all for today!  Thanks for visiting!

Oh and PS:  I made an extensive post the other day with lots of great information about makeup & skincare, but I didn’t publish it because I thought it might not be very interesting to everybody, since it’s off topic (I don’t want my dear readers to be put off by posts that aren’t about crocheting).  I was just wondering if any of you would like me to publish it.  It’s made specifically as an extensive and detailed regimen for people with really oily, acne prone skin like mine, but there are other great tips too on how we should really be applying our makeup, how to contour, and more.  I spent lots of time writing it up and putting videos and links in, not to mention the years of trying to find things that work and suffering through lots of embarrassing skin issues.  Just let me know if you’d like to see it.  If only one or two people are interested I can just e-mail the content to you instead.

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KnitPicks needle set review

October 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I’ve had the Options Sunstruck Wood Interchangeable Needle Set by KnitPicks for long enough to review them.  Here’s the set in all it’s beautiful glory:

I got a couple of extras, like extra cables, ID tags, and cable joins.

I will confess I was a little worried at getting the whole set without trying any of their needles out beforehand, but I’d heard/read good things about them, so I was mostly confident.  The set was expensive, but I saved 19% buy buying all the components together instead of buying them separately over time, so to me it was worth it.

what the set contains:

This set of laminated birch needles contains needle sizes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10.5, and 11.  There are two metric sizes between 10.5 and 11 that are not included (7mm and 7.5mm).  They have the 7mm tips sold separately but do not offer 7.5.  The set also includes two each of the 24″ cables and the 32″ cables, a vinyl needle case, a vinyl cable case, 8 end caps, and 2 cable keys.

the review:

So smooth and beautiful!

I love this set.  Now I’ve never had an interchangeable needle set before, but I can confidently say that I wouldn’t even bother trying other brands out because these are just perfect.  The cables are very flexible and [so far] do not kink up while knitting like my old ChiaoGoo fixed circulars sometimes did.  The joins from cable to needle are smooth and don’t snag yarn.  The wood is silky soft and smooth, but since it is wood it has a nice grip to it.  I like wooden needles because they are lighter than aluminum/nickel so they don’t weigh your work down, they stay nice and warm in your hands, and they have that good grip on the yarn so you never have to worry about your stitches sliding off (even with double points).  The tips of these needles are way pointier than the ChiaoGoo needles, as you can see here:

ChiaoGoo on the left, KnitPicks on the right.

Getting into stitches to do complicated twists and cable work is so much easier with these pointy tips!  The difference is amazing!  Also, I think that since these KnitPicks needles are made of laminated birch, they will be stronger than the ChiaoGoo bamboo needles (which would sometimes chip at the points during tight sections and cause an awful lot of problems).  Also, the caps are really handy — it will be great to be able to keep my projects safe, secure, and on the cable while I use the needles for something else!  That’s one reason I wanted the interchangeable set instead of fixed ones.  The cable keys may seem unnecessary, but they help make sure the cables are screwed into the tips nice and tightly for use.  The cases are OK — they’re just regular clear vinyl, but they get the job done.  Maybe someday I’ll spring for a beautiful cloth needle roll or something, but for now this is just fine.

availability of Sunstruck needles:

Since the Sunstruck needles are relatively new, they don’t have any double point sets like the Harmony needles do.  Hopefully they’ll make some soon, because while I’m sure the Harmony quality is the same as the Sunstruck, I really would prefer my needles to not be multicolored so that I can see what I’m doing better.  I think a set of Sunstruck double points would definitely be in my future if they make them (and if they don’t, I might end up getting the Harmony ones anyway because I love the sharp points).

that’s it!

So that’s my review!  If you’re in the market for a set I’d highly recommend this one.  It may be a little expensive for poor grad students like me or others on a budget but I think the quality is worth the price and more.  I love them, and I think they will last a very long time!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you pop in again soon!

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one down, one to go

October 2, 2012 by 1 Comment

As I think I mentioned in my last post, my mom asked me to make this pattern for her and one of her friends.  She wanted a thinner version though, so we got some pretty variegated sock yarn and I used size 6 needles.  Here’s the first one:

Didn’t the yarn turn out lovely?  It’s Classic Elite Yarns Alpaca Sox, and the colors are gorgeous!  I enjoyed making this, which is good because I still have one more to make!

My ski bonnet is currently on hold until I decide whether or not to do one more repeat of the band pattern before going down the other side of it, and whether or not I can actually do the math to make it work out alright in the end.  Since I’m new to knitting, it might take me a few days to be sure of what I’m doing.  When I do decide, though, you’ll be the first to know!

That’s all I’ve got for today, thanks for stopping by!

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post-birthday

October 2, 2012 by 1 Comment

Thanks everyone for the kind birthday wishes!  It was indeed fantastic!  Here’s a blurry picture of me taken by my dad at Buca di Beppo, a yummy Italian restaurant, with my free birthday dessert and candelabra, haha.

 

We had a great time, and my parents bought me some awesome yarny birthday gifts from the lovely yarn shop!  Unfortunately for this post, almost all of it is stuff for knitting — there’s just one neon ball of yarn that I got that could go either way (see post here for full birthday gift details).

While we were at the shop, I asked the lovely ladies there about spinning, thinking that I might like to start spinning my own yarn.  I asked if it is generally cheaper to spin your own yarn than to buy it, and basically they said it depends on what kind of yarn you’re making/buying and how much pre-spinning stuff you might need to do.  Of course the wheels are very expensive — upwards of $400 for the good brands.  The yarn shop does have spinning time where you can have a lesson and rent a wheel for $25/4 hours (which you spread out over the month), which sounds great.  I just need to get up there and try it out.

Again, I’m afraid I have no crochet to show you today.  I thought about starting a dog sweater for my baby girl but just couldn’t get motivated to start, even though I have enough of that frogged cotton yarn to do it.  Is it possible that I’m getting bored with crochet?  Goodness I hope not — I’ve been doing it for years and it’s meant so much to me!  I’ve just been knitting so much more lately… I don’t know if it’s the fact that knitting poses a new challenge for me (whereas I haven’t been too challenged by crochet in a while) or the fact that knitting takes up less yarn and therefore I have to spend less money on it.  Or perhaps I’ve run out of fun patterns that I’d like to try, or just don’t have the money to buy the yarn for it (which I know is the case for some projects, like blankets).

On another note, I’ve decided to go through my old crocheted hats and scarves and give some to Goodwill.  I’ve got TONS of items from over the 7 or 8 years I’ve been doing this, and since I live in South Carolina there’s no way I could possibly wear all my hats and scarves in one winter.  It just doesn’t get that cold!  But for someone less fortunate than me, these warm handmade items might be very welcome.

Sorry this has been such a wordy post.  I’ve just been feeling some post-birthday down-ness and this blog is sort of like a journal — I feel like I can say whatever I feel and nobody that I know personally will ever know (except my mom, who does pop in sometimes, and I tell her everything anyway so that’s fine).  Even if I don’t go into detail, the writing process itself is soothing to me.  Thanks for bearing with me today.  Hope to see you again soon!  Maybe then I’ll have some great crochet things. 🙂

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