Follow Friday: Knitty Blog

If you don't tweet, you may not know what Follow Friday is. It is not that hard to figure out, but I've decided start it as a regular feature on my blog. I am going to go through my blog roll and share with you who I follow in my RSS feed.

From the Knitty Blog about section:

This is the blog for Knitty magazine, which lives on the web at knitty.com.

The four women that make Knitty happen write about things here. We write about Knitty and Knittyspin, and more often, about whatever else we think is interesting. Or silly. Or both. You can tell who’s written a post by looking next to the date.

I follow Knitty because of their obvious awesomeness. Knitty is my favorite online magazine. The tutorials are fantastic and their patterns are always fun. Their blog is just as wonderful. They are of course a go-to source for what is happening in the fiber world. They have some fun contests and giveaways. I trust them to share with me the latest and greatest yarn bombs. Their posts are full of fantastic pictures (many of which are drool worthy yarns and fibers.) If you didn't know that the ladies of Knitter were blogging, please go check them out.

Twitter Bonus: @knittydotcom

Edited to add Twitter account.

The Bro Blanket

I have gotten my very first knitting request! My awesome little bro (who is quite a bit taller than me, but little none the less) asked me to knit him a blanket. I love him, and I couldn't tell him no, but since it is such a big endeavor, I told him that he had to get involved in the planning. I sent him a bunch of links to patterns and made him help me pick out the yarn. I had sent him a link to a Woolly Thoughts pattern and while he was on their site, he settled on the Curve of Pursuit. Hubby is jealous because he asked for one of these back in 2008 when I was considering it for a girlfriend. My bro gets his because it turns out I can be bought (for a blanket's worth of yarn.)

When I did the practice piece for this blanket, I was worried that it would be miserable because of all the ends since the yarn is broken after each triangle is knit. Fortunately, Owen's blanket taught me to sew in my ends along the way. This was my vacation project over Christmas, and I'm happy to say this was the perfect knit for the holidays. It is all knit stitches, but you have to pay just a little of attention. It is easy to work on while watching football or chatting with the family. It also carries enough impressiveness to wow the people who only see my knitting once a year. The best part though is the geeky little tidbits that I got to share when people asked me about it. It turns out this blanket (like a lot of the Woolly Thoughts patterns) is mathematically fantastic! Here is one of the cool little quirks about this pattern: When you finish any square (four of the triangles) you can weigh the blanket and you will need half that weight in yarn to complete the next square. (How cool is that!?!)

eKnitting Books

I have recently become the proud owner of a brand new Kindle, and for Christmas I was lucky enough to receive an Amazon gift card. I know there are so many wonderful things to buy on Amazon, but I am still excited about my new toy. I, of course, want to buy books.

The number one book on my wish list is Knitting Mochimochi and it just so happens that Amazon has a Kindle edition. So, I am wondering what you guys think. Have you bought any eKnitting books? How did you like it? The interactive Table of Contents seems like it wouldn't be too troublesome to get from pattern to pattern. Generally I get most of my knitting inspiration from the pretty pictures and brilliant modifications on Ravelry so I think I won't miss flipping through the pages too much. I am really close to having my mind made up to get it, but I think I was to hear about how much someone loves having their knitting books digital before I go for it. So tell me about it. To ebook or not to ebook! That is my question.

Out of My Element

There is one other gift this year that I wanted to craft, but this time I had to step out of my element. I decided to make my girlfriend a art/crafting apron. I know absolutely nothing about sewing, but I am lucky to have a quilting MIL. I asked her for some help during our Thanksgiving visit and she sent me home with all of this:

There was not a single part of this project that I found easy. I can't draw or cut a straight line so just getting the fabric ready to think about sewing was intimidating. Thanks to the encouragement of my MIL though, I pushed ahead and even included lining and made each piece double sided.

I would like to proudly say that I only sewed through (yes completely through) one of those cute little flower shaped needle heads. It took all of the Christmas specials I own and two full glasses of wine, but I made a full apron!

Sewing is definitely not my craft. I missed cuddling on the couch with Hubby and bending over the dining room table for the evening made my back feel much older than it should. So maybe I'm not a quilter, but it was nice to overcome my fear of the sewing machine. Maybe I'll reach the point of empowerment where I can do my own hemming and small alterations.

Bull Cozy

If you need a little New Year knitting inspiration, I think this will do it:

I like the idea of our market being wrapped up in a nice warm yarn cozy. I think it could only help and bring us luck in the new year.

Christmas Socks

I have decided that I do not like Christmas knitting. There is too much stress and pressure, and I'm tempted to make gifts that I know I can complete on a deadline rather than gifts I think the recipients will like. This year though, I was stumped on what would be the perfect gift for my Grandpa. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that he would probably like some knit socks. In mid-November I accepted that the idea was stuck in my head and nothing else was going to seem like as good of a gift. I cast on some basic socks and spent every knitting moment I had working on them. These were my couch and subway projects. I even lost a DPN to the subway tracks in all of the frantic knitting. I knit through my lunch breaks at work. I wouldn't let myself sleep at all during our cross country trip to and from Thanksgiving with Hubby's family because it was prime knitting time. (Fortunately that meant I was awake for a delightful History Channel special on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.)

I decided to knit these from the toe up. I knit the first leg as short as I thought I could get away with and left the stitches live on some scrap yarn. When I finished up the second one, I assessed my time and decided they both would get another inch and a half on the length of the legs. Hubby has never had a problem with the legs of his socks, but he must like them short. Both his dad and brother commented that theirs were too short. Despite Grandpa having smaller feet than Hubby, they still seemed to be some crazy long socks that went on forever. I did finish them on time though. Two hours into our train ride to Chicago all of the ends were woven in and everything was complete. I had hoped to block them, but I wasn't certain my family would be ok with the guest room smelling like wet wool. (They are not the converts that I am.) Grandpa seemed to like them, but Grammy was definitely giving them an envious look. Unfortunately, despite all of that buildup, I do not have a good FO picture to share, so instead I have this picture that Hubby took of the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. I hope your holidays were great. Happy New Year!

Birthday Warmth

The past couple months have been extremely busy, but I have managed to get some knitting done. Unfortunately, I haven't been very good about sharing it. Hubby and I are great friends with a woman from our campus. When her November birthday was coming up, it was Hubby who said that we needed to knit something for her. Our friend is from India so she is not very keen on these New York winters. Thanks to Kelley, I (and Hubby by proximity) discovered the joys of hot water bottles last year, so we decided to pass on the warmth and knit our friend a hot water bottle cover.

I knit the cover and Hubby knit the patch on the front. This is his first attempts at colorwork, and I have to say I'm really proud.

A Bad Week for Viper Pilots

Glenna has done an amazing job creating my current sock pattern. She has given me very clear instructions for cables that will turn out perfect little Vipers like this:

However, the one I made over the last week, looks more like this:

For some reason, I just couldn't focus on these very well. The wings have been clipped, and the sides are all battered. There was clearly some rough flying in this ship's recent past. I'm sorry Glenna. I would take responsibility, but this one must be Starbuck's.

The Land of Mochimochi

Anna Hrachovec is a wonderful knitter and a fantastically creative artist. If you are not familiar with her patterns or her blog you should check her out at Mochimochi Land and Ravelry. Her designs are adorable, and her toys are inspiring because she can make anything cute. (She even makes cuddling with bedbugs ok!)

She has been blogging about a big art project for a while now, and now it is here! Opening night for her exhibit was Thursday. I went to visit Mochimochi on Saturday and loved every stitch of it. Here are some pictures of my favorite scenes. (I am completely enamored with the little picnic!)

I cannot say enough about how much I enjoyed it, so if you are in NYC go check it out. I insist. Her instillation will be up at gallery hanahou until October 29th. If you cannot make it to her quirky little world, check out her new book. It is on my Christmas list!

On The Needles

So now that I'm all up to date on what I've accomplished, I want to show you what I'm working on. I pretty much have two projects really active at a time: the one in my purse and the one on the couch.

In my purse:

These are my me project. This pattern (Rav link) was a gift from knitting friend that I met in Philly. (She's an awesome knitter and she has the best Save the Dates.) I started these in December on the train to Chicago. I understand that December is a long time to be working on a pair of socks, but they went inactive for a long time. I have finally gotten use to the K tbl stitches, and I am now good with the cables. I have turned the heels and I'm close to done with the gusset shaping so it should be much quicker from here on out. I am starting to worry a bit about them being too tight. I don't have a reason to really worry about this, beyond my lingering lack of confidence in sock knitting. Well, that and the fact that every time the idea that they might not fit occurs to me, I'm on the subway and not willing to whip off my shoes. So rather than try them on and settle my mind, I just let myself believe a little more that they won't fit when I'm done.

On my couch:

At home I am working on a Jeanie wrap. The more I work on this project, the more I love it. First of all, the Knit Picks Stroll in the Tonal colors are incredibly beautiful. I love working with it. Beyond the yarn, the pattern is fantastic. When I started the project, I only knew that it involved some dropped stitches. Dropped stitches are always fun but this pattern is also reversible! I was obsessed with the charts for the first few rows, but havi0021 made a comment on Ravelry that helped me figure out that most of each row is a four stitch repeat of Ktbl, P, K, Ptbl. That gave me the freedom to stop staring at my color-coded chart and go back to admiring the beautiful yarn. I am also looking forward to the bid-off for this project because the reversible cable border on each side goes around the entire wrap. I will keep you posted on how that goes.

The New Rule

I have create a new knitting rule for myself, and I am going to publish it for the world to see in hopes that the perceived social pressure will help me keep it.

Amanda's New Rule: I will only work on one project for someone else at a time. Or, all projects that I am currently working on except for one must be for me.

I have decided to institute this rule because I don't do nearly enough knitting for me. Admittedly, the definition of knitting for me is kind of broad. The completed project does not have to be for me. Here are some situations where that might come into play. 1) I knit these nine-to-five socks for myself. They turned out great, but really just too small for me so I gave them to a girlfriend who I knew would appreciate some hand knit socks. Under this new rule, I would not be required to rip out a poorly fitting item and reknit it just to make sure that it was for me. 2) The item does not have to be intended for me in the first place. There are quite a few items in my queue that I want to make, but that I won't wear or use. Mainly this falls into a desire to do new techniques. A perfect example is the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I am fascinated by the technique and look of this jacket. Quite simply, I want to make it. I also recognize that it is a shape that would not flatter me at all. I would never wear it, and if I did, I would be uncomfortably self-conscious the entire time. I have a couple girlfriends that it would look adorable on, and hopefully one of them will be interested enough in it that I could give it to them when I am done.

If I can make something for someone else, but it still counts as knitting for me what is knitting for others? I have decided that knitting for others is defined mainly by someone else requesting that I make the item, there is a deadline for completion, or it is being knit in secret. I like when people ask me to knit them things, as long as the deadline is reasonable I don't mind it, and I really like surprises, so knitting is secret doesn't bother me either. However, I look at my queue and it is full of things that I want for me. I haven't finished anything for me that I really wanted since last December so I'm bumping me up the priority list.

What is there to say?

Last night I was out with a girlfriend for our weekly knitting date. We were sitting in the neighborhood working on our projects when a friend of hers walked by. They talked about work, and introductions were made. She made a couple comments about how cute we were sitting out knitting, and asked about our projects. My friend described her blanket plan and then she turned to me. It seemed like a normal enough conversation.

"And what are you making?"

"I'm working on some socks. I've just turned the heel!"

"oh... oh socks mean a lot to me."

"..." Here is where it turned odd, and continued to be speechless.

"A while ago, about 30 years ago, I was a political prisoner and spent every day knitting socks. And here you are knitting socks."

I had no idea where to go from there. What is the proper etiquette when your hobby has reminded someone of their days as a political prisoner?

I *heart* my City

Creative Time presented an art project by Paul Ramírez Jonas called Key to the City. On my birthday, hubby took me to Times Square, and bestowed me with a key that opened locks all over the city. As we researched the project more, we learned that people were leaving notes, cards, and other markers in the places where they unlocked keys. I wanted to interact with this project in a way that showed how much I love the idea and my complete infatuation with NYC. So, (as I'm sure you've guessed by now) I knit up a bunch of little hearts to leave as my calling card. Several of the places ask that you not leave anything behind, so I respected that. The whole project for us was much more about the city then the locks. It was nice to hold a key to some of her secrets, but really we used it as an excuse to explore place we wouldn't think of on our own. The project is over, but I still keep my key on my key chain. I'm really possessive of this city, and I'm not ready to part with a memento that represents that so well.

These are the photos we took around the city as we hunted down and opened up locks. Some of them even show the hearts in places they were left.

Summer Catch-Up

I have had a wonderful summer playing around in my fabulous city. I was having so much fun, that never made time to sit at home and blog, so now I'd like to do a little catching up. I haven't done any major knitting, but there were some cute little projects that I'd like to show off.

Technical Note: for this post I am going to try out a new Ravelry feature and link to my projects so anyone (Rav members or not) can see the details of what I worked on, and skip the Pattern, Yarn, Needle, Notes section of my post.

Cthulhu Bag

A friend of mine picked up a fun little game, and was looking for a nice bag he could keep his dice in. I couldn't resist the opportunity to make him one. I knit most of this while waiting in line for Shakespeare in the Park. Unfortunately, we never got tickets, but we did get to spend a (couple) beautiful days lounging in the park.

I learned from this project that I need a lot of practice with color work. My gauge tightened right up, and I didn't leave the floating yarn on the wrong side loose enough.

Katy's Cup Sleeves

You remember Katy. She is still coveting knit goods, so when she mentioned wanting some coffee cup sleeves, I dedicated a subway ride to knitting just for her.

Piper's Highline

I love The Highline so I've been wanting to make this pattern since the moment I saw it. A friend that Hubby hangs out with had a surgery this summer, so I knew she'd need something to keep that cold hospital chill away. I had to block it one half at a time because I don't really have space in my apartment to spread out a full wrap to dry, but it was worth it. This is a fun quick knit and I will be making it again.

I *heart* My City

You'll just have to wait until my next post to hear more about these.

Knitting in Envy

The whole time I was working on Dean and Katy's wedding gift, a little green monster was growing inside of me. I only have one hand knit dishcloth, and I wanted more. I decided to keep up the momentum I had created with their kitchen set and stock my own kitchen.

Patterns: Ballband Dishcloth from Mason Dixon Knitting, Lizard Ridge Dishcloth (Rav Link), and Circle Cloth

Yarn: Lion Cotton Yarn in Sunflower and Navy

Needles:US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 9 (5.5 mm)

Notes: Hubby picked out these colors. He swears that he didn't choose them because they were his high school colors. Generally I liked them because they match the beautiful vase we picked up on our honeymoon in Spain, but there were times when I would look down at the knitting in my lap and felt like I was cheering for Michigan.

I made two of every pattern and alternated the color set up. One of the circle dishcloths did not make it into the photos, because I have been loving these so much they haven't all been clean at once. I had bought 4 balls of yarn from the Lion Brand Studio, but all 6 of these cloths came from just one ball of each color.

I didn't make any adjustments or changes to any of the patterns, the only note I have is that, the circle cloths are a bit smaller than the others. They could use an extra column and an extra row, but I would have needed my other two balls of yarn to make that happen.