yaaaaaaaaaarn!

September 29, 2012 by 5 Comments

I’m so excited — I’ve got some new goods!  Usually I’d post new yarn on my crochet page but I know ahead of time that this is for knitting.  My parents got me this yarn for my birthday!

Those first two pictures are of two kinds of sock yarn.  I’m going to make two of this cowl, one for my mom, and one for one of her friends.  The pattern calls for chunky yarn and bigger needles, but I’m going to use this sock yarn and some smaller needles to make more of a necklace type thing (that’s what she wanted).  We’ll see how it goes.

This lovely multi-hued blue fingering weight yarn is for this shawl.  Can’t wait for that one!

And I’m not sure what this will be for, actually.  It’s enough to make a hat.  It’s the softest yarn I’ve ever felt — it’s Royal Alpaca — and it is gorgeous!  The picture doesn’t do it justice.  It’s actually more of a neon yellow-green…

So that’s my new mini-stash, and I can’t wait to get started!  But that’s not all the new stuff: my parents also got me something not related to yarn.  The new Fame perfume by Lady Gaga.  You may be thinking “ew, perfume by celebrities is always really gross,” and normally I agree, but this stuff is great!  My parents liked it, my boyfriend likes it, and I love it!

That’s still not all, though.  I also got this for my birthday:

It’s the KnitPicks Sunstruck Interchangeable Needle Set, which includes needles sizes 4-11 (including 10.5), two each of cables 24″ and 32″, vinyl needle case and vinyl cable pouch, end caps, and cable keys.  I also got two 40″ cables, some cable connectors, and some size tags.  I’m so excited.

You can imagine how incredibly happy I am with all these awesome new knitting things.  I can’t wait to get started, but for tonight I might just stare at it all, grinning goofily.  Although honestly, while I’m really happy, I also feel guilty for having so much new knitting stuff when my boyfriend and I are struggling so much, even though it is for my birthday.  His birthday last month was terrible — I didn’t have the money to do what I wanted to do for him and he didn’t get any presents.  I tried to make up for it later when I did have some money but it still wasn’t enough.  I’m really grateful for everything I have, and I want to make my boyfriend as happy as I am by being the best girlfriend I can be.

Well, that’s all for today.  You can of course look for posts soon of my progress with those projects.

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how to properly knit a ski hat

September 24, 2012 by 7 Comments

I’ve had a bit of success with the ski bonnet!  About time, too — this is attempt number 4.  I figured out how I needed to knit the band.  First, I knitted the first few rows on double points, because it was easier for me to keep things from getting twisted that way than it was with the magic loop method:

I’m liking the magic loop method much better now.  It feels less like I’m wrestling with a large wooden spider and it’s going quicker.  I’ve gotten 24 rows done so far, and you can begin to see how the pattern will look:

The yarn looks extra pink here. The first picture is more accurate color-wise.

So far, no mistakes (that I know of).  I’m crossing my fingers for continued success, because I wouldn’t know how to go back to a previous row with this pattern of complicated cables and twists if I did mess up.  Well, it’s complicated to me, at least.  But hey, I wanted a challenge, right?

I am actually worried that the band is too narrow — I believe it should be about 4 inches wide and mine is about 3.  Maybe once it’s blocked?  PLEASE don’t tell me that  I should start over and go up a needle size.  Well, actually, do tell me if I should, but don’t expect me to be happy.  What do you think?  I don’t want to redo it, but I do want it to be perfect!

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frustration wins this round

September 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

While I’m happy with how my blogs are looking after some changes, I’m frustrated with the ski bonnet.  Last post I mentioned that I ripped out my first attempt (which was only about 13 rows but actually took a long time.  Well, here’s my second attempt, using scrap yarn so that I could get the pattern down:

I messed up the twists in the bottom right corner but it got better.

As you can see, I chose to use my double points instead of the circular needle.  Crazy as it seems, it feels less cumbersome to me (especially when starting off).  So after achieving satisfaction with the sample, I brought out the magenta yarn again and tried for the real thing.  Again I got to about row 13 and realized I made a mistake in row 5, and I had no idea how to go about fixing it.  So I’ve done rows 1-13 three times now, none of which have been satisfactory.  I considered just keeping going, but I want this hat to be perfect, so I frogged it again.

Maybe 4th time’s the charm.  I’m going to try to be less distracted by other things while I’m knitting this time so I can follow the chart properly.  No more Japanese anime with subtitles!  Maybe some good ol’ Harry Potter audiobooks.

Wish me luck, and thanks for stopping by!  Hopefully I’ll have a photo worthy sample soon.

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ski bonnet: begin!

September 22, 2012 by 7 Comments

Remember that awesome ski bonnet that I wanted to make?  Well, I’m gonna make it!

I’ll be using 3 skeins of Berroco Vintage in their Dewberry shade, which I had to purchase today, even though I said I couldn’t afford yarn this month.  I swear, this yarn was the cheapest yarn in the store that still felt soft.  I’m gonna just say this is my birthday present to myself.

So I started the pattern, and I was immediately struggling.  I know how to do the magic loop method but I’m still not good at keeping the breaks between the sides tight and even, so that was all over the place.  Maybe I should try it on double points, which I’m more used to, so I don’t have those “wings?”  In row 1 I immediately had to learn two new things, as well: the Left Twist and the Right Twist.  I think I’m doing them right.  (Check out those links for video tutorials on YouTube.)

In the end, my first 6 rows looked so shabby that I frogged it.  I think I’m going to practice with some spare yarn to get the hang of the pattern first before trying it again with my nice magenta yarn.  Anybody have any advice for me?

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finally, something’s done!

September 19, 2012 by 6 Comments

I finally finished my Hermione Hat #2!  You probably don’t remember #1 because it was so long ago, probably before I separated my blogs.  #1 was too short by about 10 rows, because I read the chart wrong throughout and just skipped them.  This one was done properly (although it’s still a little short/snug for my taste, but I’m sure I can block it).

#1 is on the left, #2 on the right. You can tell #2 looks much bigger.

The eyelets were fun, but I’m not sure I like making cables… my stitches get so tight.

I’m so excited to have this done!  I did all of the decreasing top part tonight because I wanted to get it finished.  This will definitely be going on my Christmas trip to England with me.  It might not even get cold enough here in South Carolina this winter for me to wear hats (it didn’t this past winter), so I’m excited for the opportunity to show off my hard work!  I know it’s not the most complicated hat pattern, but for a beginner I’m really proud of how it turned out!

Oh and if you want the pattern for this hat, it’s here.

Thanks for stopping by, that’s all for today!

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