Silly me

Oh wow, I'm so out of it these days! :blushing: I just now realized that THIS is the Knit and Crochet Blog Week. Oh well. I'm doing it, I'm just not doing it every day. I still don't know if I can blog next week, but I will complete the Knit and Crochet Blog Week over time.

So today I'm supposed to talk about how my knitting skills have improved over the last year.

I can't even remember what I was knitting at this time last year. I do keep a knitting journal of sorts- at this point it's more a design workbook- but I'm not so good at dating the projects. I need to start working on that.

If I remember correctly, over the last year, I have worked on a few new skills.

I've definitely been knitting faster since I took the YarnHarlot's Speed Knitting class at Sock Summit 09- granted, that was almost 2 years ago, but it took several months to get any sort of speed with it because it changed the way I knit.

I knit/designed my first knee-high sock. That was a fun new skill to learn. Lots of research went into that one in an attempt to not frog constantly. I also took a class on knee-highs at SS09, so I was happy to be able to use the lessons I learned.

It seems like I've knit/designed mostly socks over the last year. A couple non-sock projects that I got to do something new in really stand out-

I used my first lace-weight yarn and knit/designed my second Cowl pattern. That was a fun one, and I think it turned out really well.

I did my first steek this past year. That was a scary one. Another that I think turned out well. Which is good. I've been meaning to learn that skill for several years now, and I'm pretty pleased that I finally did it- and with success! Enough success that I intend to use that new skill again a couple of times within this upcoming year of designing. :D

I love the fact that I am still learning in knitting. I love being challenged and doing new things. I'm sure I've said this over and over, but I love that you can knit for years and years and not learn all there is to learn in knitting. I've been knitting for 7 years now, and can't see the end of what I get to learn yet. I'm not sure there is an end. And I'm so stoked on that.

I'm also very happy that as soon as I finish this sock I've got on the needles right now, I get to turn my attention to things other than socks. I intend to not knit a sock for at least 6 months. Not because I don't like them; but because I need a creative break. I am running out of design inspiration for socks. When I start feeling like it's all been done, it's a pretty good signal that I need to rest on that one. I like socks, and I think I'll come back to them soon, but I need to enjoy these other designs that I've been shoving to the back burner for the last 2 years. I anticipate finishing this sock this weekend, and then on to sweaters and mitts, hats and scarves, pants, cardigans, and maybe a blanket or two. I have a big book of patterns to put together and lots of ideas to solidify for it. :D

Knitting Blog Week

I heard about the 2nd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week on Twitter a week or so ago. I thought it sounded like a fun thing to do. So I'm going to participate this year; but I'm participating a bit differently. I'm not blogging every day next week. I don't have the time, and quite honestly, I don't know if I'm going to be able to blog at all next week. I will try, but next week will be particularily busy, and I may not be able to get around to blogging. So rather than blog every day next week, I will use the topics that are meant for the Knitting Blog Week over my next 7 blog posts, whenever they happen to be.

A Tale of Two Yarns:

In case you didn't know, I really like yarn. Most yarns. A lot of yarn. I like it a lot. I invite it into my home whenever possible. Sometimes it accepts and stays, sometimes it just comes long enough for me to play with it and make it into something pretty and then it goes away and so someone else can enjoy it. Either way, I like it. There are some yarns that make more of an impression than others, though. I have learned that I am very partial to bamboo and bamboo blends. I like cotton too, but I'm a bit pickier about it. Some cottons are painful to knit with, and require very specific knitting techniques- usually the more basic ones. I really hate cabling with Peaches and Cream, for example. It's a great yarn, but the lack of elasticity is difficult to work with. But that's not the yarn I intended to talk about.

This yarn has become one of my very favorites over the last couple years:

This is The Unique Sheep's Sushi Sock yarn.

This is a wool/bamboo/nylon blend. Besides the colors that Laura and Kelly can put on it (the picture is of the remnant of my Bombadil sock), this is a really yummy yarn. It is soft and smooshy, which I really like. It has just the right amount of elasticity, and no scratchiness (which I notice in a lot of wools, as I am pretty sensitive to animal fibers). It has great stitch definition and a lovely sheen that I have found common to bamboo and bamboo blend yarn. I love that little bit of shine. You know how little kids are? So attracted to the shiny. I don't think I ever outgrew that. (Does any woman?)

I use this yarn a lot. It is truly one of my favorite sock yarns. I love it so much that I designed a pair of socks specifically for me with it - even though I'll only be able to wear them for a few hrs at a time because the wool content starts bothering me after a while. For those few hours, I will thoroughly enjoy those socks. So very warm and soft.

This is Cascade Fixation. My picture really doesn't show it very well, follow the link to really see what it looks like.

I have made a couple pairs of socks for myself with this. It's a nice yarn and also has great stitch definition. However, it is a lot more difficult to knit with than a lot of yarns I've used. Maybe it would work better in a different project than socks, I haven't tried yet. It's a more difficult yarn to use because of the elastic content. It's nice to have the elasticity in cotton- but it's a lot. It's a bit like knitting with an elastic band. If you are trying to knit tight enough to make something to last- like a sock- it is uncomfortable. It's great for texture stitches, knit and purl, but I wouldn't want to work a lot of increases, decreases or cables with it. That's limiting. I do think I would feel differently if I tried it with larger needles and a much looser gauge, but then it would be harder to regulate the elasticity, and I'd probably wind up with a wonky gauge because some stitches would be so much tighter than others.

The first pair of socks I made with this yarn, I had for 3 years. I used them so hard! I washed and dried them with the rest of the laundry, and as I really only had 4 pairs of socks for 1.5 of those 3 years, those first blue Fixation socks got worked very very hard. I finally ripped out the afterthought heel accidentally. At that point, I darned them right into the trash can. They really weren't worth trying to mend.

The 2nd pair of socks I made with the red Fixation in the picture, I like a lot better. The construction is better- I actually designed a sock rather than just playing around and knitting myself a quick pair. I've had them for probably 6 months. Yesterday, a strand gave out in the toe. I really think it was just a weak strand. This yarn is pretty tough. I did mend it, it was worth it this time. But I'll stop throwing them in the dryer.

Maybe I need to be more careful with my handknits.

It was very difficult to decide which yarns to really talk about. I try to use as many different yarns as I possibly can, and I have become a whole lot more opinionated about yarn than I was when I first started knitting. I wasn't too worried about what kind of yarn I used when I first picked up needles. Now I confess, I'm much pickier. But I'll try any yarn at least once quite gladly; and change my favorites almost as often as I change my socks.
What is your favorite yarn of the moment?

More Bread and Knitting Talk

I promised I would share if I ever got a nice looking loaf of the Whole Wheat Sesame Bread, so here it is- sortaAnd I am convinced the problem was the whole wheat part of it. Because this week I really wanted some of this bread, but I am out of whole wheat flour. So I used all-purpose instead. And voila! There it is! In all it's nice round-top glory. So I will continue to use that recipe without the whole wheat flour. :D

So, I'm not really sure what bread and knitting have in common, other than the fact that I like both. I admit to not being as obsessed about bread as I am about knitting- but I do like it. I especially like it homemade freshly baked. For some reason, it's easier for me to resist bread after it has cooled from baking. When it's hot? mmmmmmm.

As for the knitting? Well, I was right. It took a lot less time to fix my glaring error in that sock by just dropping those sts, than it would have to frog the whole thing. I finished that sock on Tuesday night- all but the Kitchener. Did the Kitchener on Wednesday, and cast on for the next design. The last sock design that I will be doing for a while. I have some sweaters, mitts, hats, scarves, and other fun things to whip up before I move back to socks. So I'm excited.

But back to the new design: I was actually able to brainstorm, chart, swatch, and cast on for this pair all on Wednesday. This is unusual for me. But I must admit that it might have something to do with- #1, I am LOVING this yarn. It is Good Grrl, by Tempted Yarns. I've never used Tempted before, but am quite impressed. It's smooshy, I love the stitch definition, it's just all in all a joy to work with.

Another reason I was able to get that much done on one design in one day? It might have something to do with the size of my swatch:

I know, I know. Shame on me. A swatch is supposed to be at least 4"x4". I know. I hate swatching. Don't you? I have yet to meet a knitter that really enjoys it. (surprise me, tell me it's you) I recently read Sweater Quest, my year of knitting dangerously by Adrienne Martini, and in it she talks about how designers love the swatch and love making those who knit our patterns do swatches (at least I'm pretty sure that's where I read that. It may have been someone's blog post. Forgive my sick Mommy brain today, please); but I have to say, for the record, as a designer, I hate swatching.

In case you missed it- I really don't like swatches, or swatching.

It's just as much as waste of my time as it is a waste of your time. Here's the thing: as much as I dislike swatching, I have to do it. Because if I didn't, you would get a pattern that would come out in a completely unknown and probably unusable size. The difference between my swatching and your swatching (if you use my pattern), is that I get to choose the gauge while you have to match my gauge. I get to say, I want to use these needles with this yarn, and I want it to look like this (drape, tightness, looseness, etc), so if you want your garment to look like the one in the picture, this is the gauge you need to have. It's still not fun. And I have issues with it sometimes too.

When I started designing, I didn't really think swatching was all that big of a deal. I learned the hard way. One of the first designs I did, I didn't wash and block my swatch. I finished the garment, washed and blocked it- and discovered that I had knit a size XL instead of a size M. Oops. Had to re-do ALL the pattern math. Not fun. I take swatching a bit more seriously now. I washed and blocked that swatch in the picture, I promise.

Confessions

I confess we didn't do all our schoolwork today. But we had such a very good time crafting homes for the kids' toys, I thought it would be OK.

We made parking garages and stables (4 actually, but here's a sample)And we made special stables.

We had so much fun I intend to do some more on Saturday. I have some boxes left, and they have more toys in need of homes.

I confess I stole this idea from my big brother.
When I was a kid, I wanted a Barbie house for my birthday so bad- but it was really expensive. My brother made me 2 Barbie houses with cardboard boxes. I wish I still had them to show my kids. They were 10 times better than what we made today. Mine had carpet and wallpaper and tables, doors, windows with curtains. My brother was the coolest.


I confess I almost left a glaring error in my knitting today.

But I couldn't quite bring myself to leave it. I also couldn't bring myself to rip out over 4" of knitting on size 0 needles.
So I compromised

I ripped out only the stitches that contained the error. This may take a little while to fix; but I guarantee it won't take as long as it would have if I had frogged all 70 sts. (yes, I know the picture is fuzzy and all the patterning is hidden. I couldn't show it to you otherwise. ;D)

Nothing to Report...

....but I'm reporting anyway.
Things are pretty quiet around here this week. (I shouldn't say things like that, I'm sure I've jinxed myself now.) I know this to be true because I finished up a sock (a sock with a gauge of 10st per inch on 2.0mm needles) in a week even with having to frog the first 2-4 inches of it at least 5 times. And I am glad that I went ahead and did that. I like the end result. In fact, I know the end result is good because Joel commented on it before I asked him to- and his comments were good; as in "that is a cool sock" and "the pattern really works with those colors", rather than "Yeah, it looks fine. You did great." That last is the normal comment I get, so when it goes up even a notch, I'm pretty happy. (He really doesn't care about socks, but he loves me, so he plays this sweet little game with me about the sock designs I do.)

I was good. I finished the Kitchener this morning and cast on the second one right away. For those of you who have wondered and commented in the past- I do my socks with the Magic Loop method- and I used to do them 2-at-a-time, but I had to stop. It's one thing to whip out two socks at time when you are following a pattern- but I'm usually not. I'm designing. And when I design, it is very frustrating to have to rip out and re-organize not just one sock on the needles, but 2. So while I would normally prefer to work 2-at-a-time, I don't do it when I design. It's much faster and easier to design them one at a time. Yes, it's harder because of my horrible Second Sock Syndrome, but it is a better way to go. So I am trying to be good, I've already cast on the 2nd sock- but I noticed that progress then immediately slowed way down. :shaking my head here: Oh well.

I also have the pattern pretty much written up, which is well in advance of how I normally do it. I think I'm getting excited to be done with the hard part of this big project. I already have a test knitter for this pattern- and then I only have one more pattern to design, write, and have tested for book #1. I am so jazzed. That is definitely not all the work that needs done for it, but the most time consuming stuff on my end is almost over; and then I can concentrate on something other than socks!!! Not that I don't like to design socks, because I do; but it will be so nice to have a little break so I can come back with fresher ideas in the future. I'm really excited about some sweater designs I've been sitting on for awhile(as in over 2yrs). This is so fun. :D

Some Slightly Connected Things

Remember the socks that I was talking about a few weeks ago- the ones that were dragging along? Well, I did finish them. (They were the ones inspired by the song- see previous post) They were helped along considerably by the fact that they were the one and only knitting project I took with me on a weekend retreat the weekend before last. I knit over 11" of sock at that 1 and a half day retreat. I think that's pretty good for me; seeing as how I am nowhere near as speedy of a knitter as the YarnHarlot- even though I have taken her class on speed knitting, I have nowhere near as much practice as she has, and am therefore a whole lot slower and can't knit a complete sock in one day. Well, maybe I could if it was a small sock. But that's beside the point. At least for today.

As I continue to knit away on the the things that I can't share with you, the rest of my life keeps going. This is one aspect of it that is super cool.

We homeschool, so I get to say, "Ok, today we are studying the planets, so I want you to paint Styrofoam balls so we can hang them on the ceiling so you can learn the order of the planets from the sun. " Dude, it was so much more effective than I imagined. They know so much more about the Solar System than I do!

I also get to say, "Field Trip Day!" And take them to the zoo on a Tuesday. They loved it. It was especially cool this time because it was my Roo's first time ever. The sea lions were a bit overwhelming for him, he wouldn't stand up close with the others.

But he spent most of the morning saying "oooooooh" and "whoooaaaa". Which would have been even more cool if it had been directed at the animals instead of at how fun it was to run and crash. It was cute anyway, and we all had a great time.

Speaking of my Roo, the child is the biggest eater I've ever met in a toddler. My other kids hit this age, and didn't really eat a whole lot; kids can do that, you know. But this one? Nope. Wow. The boy can eat. So yesterday, I fed him breakfast (I honestly did, or I never would have gotten to eat mine- he'll just come over and start eating it- well, he usually does that even after his breakfast anyway, but honest, I fed him.), and about 2 hrs later, I came out of the back room from talking to another of the kids to find the crazy boy here:

Please notice the banana peel in front of him.

That was the first banana he had gotten. He climbed up, pulled off two bananas from the bunch, peeled them, and proceeded to eat them both on the spot. And his tummy was not noticeably huge afterwards, which you would think it would be. The boy is only 17month's tomorrow, and those were good sized bananas. No, the other kids didn't help him with this. He did it all by himself. And then he ate a big lunch too. Mom talks about my teenage brother doubling their grocery bill- this kid? I don't even want to think about it.

Inspiration

I get asked frequently where I get my inspiration for designs. That is a very difficult question for me to answer. It varies rather a lot.

Some examples:
Remember the Erratic Argyle which I recently fixed so it would fit my husband? That was a case of halfway seeing something out of the corner of my eye as I drove by some pedestrians and having a complete design formed in my head instantaneously. I came home, sketched it, and when Yarn Forward put out a call for menswear submissions- there it went.

Once on a "honeymoon" trip with my husband (we take one at least once a year), he graciously took me to a yarn store. I couldn't find anything and was ready to leave, but he asked me to look again and get something. I picked up some yarn from a back corner, and it said "I will be the perfect pair of socks you have been looking for". I finally knit that yarn last year, and yes, they are my perfect pair. I love them. (You have to wait for the book)I love it when yarn talks to me like that. Fabulous designs happen when the yarn talks. Like Hanging Gardens, and Love the Forest.

I get inspiration from books (The Lord of the Rings series), from movies (Alice in Wonderland Clubs), from songs (I just finished a design based on this song), and from pictures.

This is the inspiration I am working with right now

It was pretty tough to work out just how I wanted to do it. I think I will be pleased with the results, though.

Personally, I think my best designs are inspired by people.

I love working with people to find a design that they will wear and love. The Argyle Skater Sweater was the 2nd one I did for Joel, and one of my favorites. I've designed vests for my parents and my in-laws(sorry, that was before I was good about pictures). Every once in a while, when I design something for someone else, I have to admit that I don't really like the result. But you know what? I don't care whether or not I like it- if the person that I made it for does. If they like it, I've won.

I have to watch closely. I never know where inspiration is going to come from. Must be time to go the yarn store and see if the yarn will talk....