gerbilgal1's Friends

Colorwork....
I'm embarrassed to say that even with all the knitting I've done over the past few years the only time I've ever changed colors is a top band on wristwarmers or socks. It scares me. *blush*

I REALLY want to do this pattern: http://stitchnsnitch.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/jacobs-knucks/

I've looked at youtube videos on how to carry the secondary yarn and I get that, but do I really need to do that with the secondary color just being this little bit of paw? Or does it make sense to cut the yarn and weave in tails? I feel silly asking this, but I really have no clue when it comes to working in two colors. It seems like a waste to carry the yarn around for just this little bit, but I will bow to the experts here and do whatever I'm told. I'm easy that way. ;)

Thanks in advance! I'm headed out for the evening but will check replies first thing when I get home. :)

Current Mood: confused

Stretchy Bind-Off
Hey all!

I'm playing with a pattern for a top-down hat, and the pattern says that after an inch or so of 1x1 rib to "bind off all stitches." I've played with three different bind-offs and none of them have stretched enough to get the hat easily on over my head. I've tried binding off knit-wise, binging off in pattern, and binding off with k2tog, slipping the right needle's stitch to the left needle, and repeating.

What bind-off do you recommend for top-down hat brims?

blocking acrylic lace blankets....?
I got a gift card to WEBS for Christmas, and I really want to make Jared flood's Girasole. I've been debating which yarn to get, but I know I want to make the blanket version (so a worsted/aran weight yarn). The yarns that fit best in the gift card amount are the acrylic/ acrylic blends... if I used those would I be able to block the finished product to see the lace well enough? Or am I better off using wool, even if I have to pay extra out of pocket?

Thanks for any advice!

Camden
I made Knitty's Camden for my sister for Christmas, and I love it so much I want to keep it. (For some reason when you click the link, Knitty has it wrongly tagged as "Mangyle," but it's the right pattern.)

( Pictures and stats. )

Sweater ideas
My framily loves me. They really do. This holiday season has sucked in more ways than one. I've been unemployed for a little over two years now and have been knitting for about a year. My fiance was diagnosed with sarcoidosis (and they really don't like that diagnosis--doctors have been fighting over who gets to treat him)all about six months ago. This year has been hell in a handbasket.

But that's besides the point. My sister in all but blood got me thee hanks of Dyeabolical's In the Navy cotton slub sport weight yarn. Another friend of ours dyes this line. It's nummy in ways I can't describe. I want to knit myself a sweater with this yarn, but I only have straight needles, 13 inches in length.

What would be a good pattern for me to use? The only other things that I've knitted are a Barbie puke scarf for my soon-to-be sister-in-law, a baby bib, and several washclothes. Right now, I'm knitting a cowl with Noro's Cash Iroha yarn in color #93 (another gift).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I bought a Denise set and wanted to try my hand at using circulars for the first time. I also wanted instant gratification, so I used bulky yarn and made up a hat as a I went along :)

( Three pictures... )

Anti-SAD socks
Continuing my campaign for brightly-coloured winter wear ...

Pattern: Temptation Top-Down Socks, a free pattern by Wendy D. Johnson (a basic sock pattern that I love because the heel doesn't require picking up stitches)
Yarn: Schoppel Wolle's Crazy Zauberball. This yarn not recommended for people who have an obsessive need for socks to be identical twins ... I'm addicted to the stuff because I love the fraternal twin look.
Needles: Two 2mm Addi Turbo circular needles
Details: Both socks were knitted at once using the two-circ method. A little patterning was added by borrowing the ladder and mock back seam sections of Katherine Misegades' Gusset-Heel Gansey Sock (another heel style that requires no picking up of stitches, BTW). I also once again used the final row of the Gansey Sock's heel instructions instead of the Temptation Sock's final row to avoid holes (there are more detailed notes on why I do this in my FO post for my first pair of Temptation socks in this community, and also on my Ravelry project page for those same socks)

While this is my fifth pair of completed socks, I consider them the first pair where I've really figured out the knitting side ... by dropping down to 2mm needles and then following the directions for a size larger than I would normally make, this naturally loose knitter has finally achieved a fabric with what I consider to be the right combination of firmness and "sproing" (I think the slick Addis help too ... they make me pull my stitches tighter in paranoia of them slipping off the needles ***grin***). I'll be doing the smaller needles/larger size adjustment for all my future socks.

( And now, the important bit! )

Current Music: CKUA

Wait... what?
I recently purchased a front loading washer and it has produced felted clogs with a problem. The first time I felted a pair, I set the machine for extra wash, extra rinse, regular spin. One cycle. They ended up looking like little tennis balls (picture below, the green and yellow pair.)

The second pair, I put them in for 2 regular cycles, no extra anything (I used hot wash, cold rinse for all of these, and added jeans and towels for agitation). These are the light blue with dark cuffs. I have included a pair felted in my old top loader for reference.

What I want to know is what I can do to prevent the increases in the soles from indenting and getting all bumpy like that. I googled it and got the advice of using everything from jeans and towels to flip flops and tennis balls for agitation, wash it all by itself, use a lingerie bag, don't use a bag, etc. I expect I'll have to experiment in the end, but I'd like to have a clue to preventing that crinkling of the soles so I'm not wasting two days of knitting with each experiment...
( the visual evidence )

Follow-up to "manly gloves" plus
After the input I got here, I decided to use the "Diamond Gloves" pattern ( www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/diamond-gloves) substituting the Chinese symbols for the elements in place of the diamonds. ( pictures, of course )

Tweets of the day...

08:35 @AdamLambert Please check out ONTD_AI's present. Video set to Master Plan. Lots of hard work and Love. bit.ly/6OTMRR #
10:46 @Meganjoysings twitpic.com/vbob0 - Ooh, that is a gorgeous view! #
10:58 @nealfingtiemann gee...sounds like fun. #
11:46 1st thing this morning I turned on 93x & they played 3 Linkin Park songs in a row. Just turned it back on & it was another 3 in a row! Nice! #
12:22 @nealfingtiemann surprise, surprise... #

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With socks, if they're bunching where the ankle and top of the foot meet, what needs to be adjusted to remedy it? Do I need to decrease more rows in the gusset? Do some crazy (long) short rows along the bottom/sides?

(I've finally worn my first pair and I followed Silver's Sock Class to make them. They turned out great, but I'm looking to customize the next pair to avoid the extra bunching bit at the ankle. I'm pretty good at making stuff up as I go along, but I hate frogging, so I like to get it right--or close to it--on the first try.)

The saga of a hat....
This all started with the KnitPicks Andean Chullo pattern from their 2008 Winter catalog (I think..it's been a while!). The moment I saw it on the page, I *knew* it was the hat I had been searching for. (Don't look at me like that - I'm sure every knitter, at some point, has had one of those moments.) I thought about it, dreamed about it....and went to order the kit.....but Knitpicks was backordered. So, I saved it to my cart, and went on about my life.

I kept thinking about that hat....and the more I thought about it, the *less* I liked it. The shape wasn't correct - it was basically a multi-colored watch cap. The colors weren't right for me (even the alternate colorway they had was...not me)...but I still wanted it. I even called KnitPicks and asked them if I could create my own kit - but they said no, it ONLY came as the 2 kits, you couldn't (at that time) buy the pattern separate.

Well, OK then....I started looking for an alternative. I looked at a TON of chullo patterns...and finally hit pay dirt with the Blossoms Chullo by Deja Knits. THAT was the perfect hat.......except for the motifs. :lol: I immediately bought the pattern....and started trying to figure out what I was gonna do with it.

( What I did with the pattern - it got long! )

I had to share this with someone - since you really can't go out and accost people on the street to show them your latest project. And my husband was really getting tired of my "Isn't this the coolest hat EVER? I love the earflaps - isn't it *cool*! I'm glad it's cold....." :rotflmao:

Current Mood: happy

Just a heads-up, Joann.com is having a sale on yarn, every skein is on sale. They also have needles/hooks/notions/etc on sale too.

I am seeking opinions on switching 100% pure alpaca for 100% pure wool which is the yarn that is suggested yarn to knit a heavily cabled cardigan. Is this a good idea?

I have not yet knit with pure alpaca and am wondering if this yarn can be substituted for wool with success. I'd hate to spend weeks knitting only to find out that I should have stuck with wool

Thanks for your input.

Tweets of the day...

09:27 @Longineu Congratulations! :) #
09:28 Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays! #
09:34 @superscope My first digital camera had video with no sound! Quite useless for most occasions. #
14:48 Made an epic snowman and snow cat/rodent creature with the sis. Pics coming soon; now it's time for hot chocolate! #
15:15 twitpic.com/v7hio - six foot tall snow man and his pet! :) #
15:15 twitpic.com/v7hn0 - close up of the snow cat/rodent critter. #
16:17 I was setting the presets on my new iHome alarm/clock radio (YAY!) and the second I tuned in @KDWBradio Kris Allen started to play! :D #

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Mystery yarn label identity?
For Christmas, my wonderful, but woefully needle-craft ignorant sister gave me three skeins of a lovely angora/wool blend. Unfortunately, she tore off the price label on all three, which also tore the brand label. I'm wanting to check this yarn out on Ravelry for ideas, but I have no idea what it is, my searches come up with nothing matching, and the LYS she bought it from is closed till Tuesday.

Under the cut is a photo of the label, in case anyone can recognize it. The unripped parts read -

Made in Italy. Suggested needles US 6 (4mm), suggested tension 22st x 30rows, 25g ball 125 yards. Content - 70$ Angora, (maybe)30% Wool(...this is where the rip starts, and i don't know if it may have a bit of a third fiber in it). Below the rip where the brand is - handwash only, max temp 30C, handle with care. suitable for dry cleaning with special treatment, advice should be sought from professional dry cleaner. cool iron, max 110 C, do not use chlorine based bleach, no tumble dry.

The label is baby pink with brown lettering (my camera phone is awful). The yarn itself is a lovely grey lavender/orange/pink variegated color, and for an angora yarn, it doesn't shed too bad. Its about a DK weight thickness.

( mystery yarn label )

How does one safely rip out a few rows on circular needles? I'm a newbie with knitting in the round and need to go about 5 rows back, but I'm afraid to ruin the whole project.

Merry Christmas!!
Gotta love a snowstorm in 35 degree weather that stops during the day. These factors, combined with awesome quality snow, makes snowy craft time much more enjoyable. Six foot tall snowman (and a Christmas mouse?), whatwhat? :D

I got an iHome alarm/clock radio docking station for my Zune! Very excited about that. Also a CD/DVD case to store all the DVDs I've been burning. The entire series of Eleventh Hour on DVD (still ticked at CBS for canceling that. HISS). Finally the book Life at the Zoo, which has some great behind the scenes zoo stories if you're into that thing. :)

Current Mood: full

Pattern: Instant Gratification Scarf
Yarn: Three skeins of Araucania Yarns "Magallanes" in colourway 303.
Needles: One 5.5 mm SRK bamboo circular
Details: I cast on 40 stitches and carried on until I was out of yarn; scarf is about one foot wide and a smidge over eight feet long. Because of the significant difference between the thickest and thinnest parts of the yarn, I worked stitches with the thin sections extra-loosely so that they wouldn't pull the scarf in. The patten lives up to its name ... the twisted drop stitch is very easy, goes by at light speed, and shows off this thick/thin yarn very nicely. Yarn note: Magallanes has no dyelots ... my three skeins (which were the last three orphans on a clearance shelf) had perfectly matched hues of green, but one skein was predominantly of that colour while the other two had greater amounts of cream, grey/green, and black/brown. I opted to use the greenest skein in the middle and the more varied skeins at each end ... the skein changes are detectable when the scarf is laid out flat in bright light if one is looking for them, but not when in its natural state of being draped/wrapped around shoulders/neck.

( Green and snuggly )

Tweets of the day...

09:57 twitpic.com/uyrxe - Winter Wonderland #
12:52 twitpic.com/uznkx - mmm...new Breyer smell. Newest addition to the herd! #
16:33 Woo! Look at that moose go! -- Minnesota Zoo Animals Enjoying the Snow www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r5XUZKJuos #

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East Meets West strap & bottom
The first part of the East Meets West bag is finished. The strap and bottom are worked as one piece in the round with a short row section that widens the bottom of the bag. The front & back are worked as one piece in the round and are steeked later. That's what's on my needles now.

( Photos )
KnitFlix

I finally found my Petz 4 discs and got them installed on my Windows 7 computer. I had to hunt down the XP patch for it, but it seems to work fine so far. :)

Current Mood: chipper

12.23.09

Finished up the boys' stockings (used this pattern).

Current Mood: accomplished

FO: bird mittens! And needle holder.
My favourite thing I've knitted this year! ( Mittens )

I also thought I'd share the present I got from "Secret Santa" at work. It's super cute!( Needle holder )

Current Music: Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash | Powered by Last.fm

Tweets of the day...

18:49 @Clementville twitpic.com/uvgz7 - Why you gotta be hatin' on Minneapolis? #
21:46 lol, Fox 9 weather just compared the snow storm to a stampede. At first its "AHH STAMPEDE!!!" but after a while it's just a bunch of cows. #
21:53 At first it's SNOWMAGEDDON!!! but after awhile it's just frozen precipitation. #

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