Hoodie Scarf from D-Made

Phew! I’ve been busy lately searching for a new apartment and such so blogging time was replaced with apartment searching, calling, appointment-making, etc (fun, fun). But, thankfully, the search is over and I won’t be busy again until about mid-Sept when we start moving. I’m really excited especially because we’ll be moving to a nicer area that’s closer to my job (and my job’s new location, come March of next year). We’re within walking distance to one of the nicest parks EVER! And the craft stores are in a good location as well. So once again, all is well over my way. So without further ado, my most recent FO:

Hoodie Scarf from d-made.com! This is my mother’s birthday gift, which isn’t until early Oct but I was really excited about the pattern I figured I get it done early. Plus, knitting on a deadline while moving is probably not a good idea. Where the heck did these time management skills come from!?

Pattern: Hoodie Scarf from D-Made.com
Yarn: Bernat Berella So Soft 100% acrylic in dark blue, less than 2 skeins
Needles: Size 8 Denise Interchangies
Mods: garter stitch edging on the scarf pieces
Woulda-Shoulda: Thankfully my mother doesn’t mind cheap acrylic yarns since that’s what she crochets with. So, no regrets there. Plus, a winter accessory should really washable. Stuff like that can get yucky pretty fast, and I know my mom would rather not be bothered with hand-washing. Secondly, for some reason my mind could just not accept this scarf’s construction so the garter stitch modification was my way of eliminating the wicked rolling on the edges. But I didn’t realize that the edge would be picked up and worked in 2x2 rib to help tame the edges. Read the pattern. Trust the pattern. The pattern is good. The pattern… is…. your friend…

And seriously, the pattern is good. I looked around quite a bit for a cool hooded scarf a few months ago and was disappointed. Then d-made came along and made everything all better. There's enough to this pattern to keep you entertained and easy enough to finish in a short period of time. Not exactly knit-stant gratification, but satisfying nontheless. Since this is my third FO from d-made I think that warrants an official link in the “Awesome Knitting Resources” section. So check out d-made’s quality, free patterns. NOW!

And since I’m on a roll with this gift-knitting I decided to start on my MIL’s birthday present which is in late-Sept. She’s getting socks made from some Knitpicks Simple Stripes. I'm following Knitty's Socks 101 tutorial for this, so it's nothing fancy. I’m about half-way through the first sock so it looks like I’ll be finished with this ahead of schedule as well. Nice!

What's a Knittah to Do?

I was going to frog my self-designed tank, but I'm really not in the friggin' mood. I'm so tired of ripping and re-knitting the same thing over and over. I needed a new, smaller project. My mom's birthday is coming up in early October and I finally found a hooded scarf pattern that would be perfect for her. It's the Hoodie Scarf from D-Made. My mom requested one of these because she hates hats (since she styles her hair, unlike myself), but the winter chill is just too much to go without any insulation sometimes. She requested this last winter, but I couldn't find a pattern and I wasn't particularly inspired (or confident) to create my own. I CO for this the other night and I'm moving along nicely although the scarf part is kind of boring. But once I get to the hood part things should liven up a bit. I'm starting pretty early, but that's ok. I hate having to knit things at the last minute and feel rushed. Plus, my mom is visiting in late Sept so I want to give it to her then. PLUS, come mid-Sept Mr.V and I will be moving so I won't have time to fool around with last minute gifts. Plus, - just kidding. I'm done rambling.

I'm making it with some navy blue Bernat SoSoft acrylic that I have in my stash. So far, it's turning out alright, except that it's bunching up a good bit because of the cable and the ribbing. I'm hoping a run through the washer and dryer will help relax the acrylic because, of course, blocking is out of the question. Other than that...

Oh yeah, question: I need some project ideas that would be good for a 4 1/2 year old boy. I could go the stuffie route, but I've kind of done that already. I thought maybe a cool scarf or hat. He likes trains. I mean really likes trains. I don't know if I want to knit him a sweater because that's just not any fun for him. Anyone have any ideas?

Boston Pics Up!

Click HERE to see some pics of our Boston trip!

Boston Knit-a-Thon a Bust

Ok, I'm back. First off, Boston was awesome! I had a great time, but now I'm bummed to be back to the same old, same old. Here is some stash enhancement I procured while killing time in AC Moore in Danvers, MA. This was my first ever AC Moore experience, and it definately won't be my last.



"Mill Ends" 1lb bags of 100% cotton yarn. $5 ea. I got two bags and now I'm up to my ears in the cotton yarn. There are no labels but if I were to guess the multi-colored one is Bernat Handicrafter and the wine colored is Sugar n'Cream. Not that it really matters. Hooray for cheap yarn! If all AC Moore's are like the one in MA I think they definately top Joann's. They have a wider selection of yarns I actually want to knit with. And I thought their prices were slightly better than Joann's as well.

Now, lemme tell you how my Boston Knit-a-Thon turned out:

It didn't. I have absolutely nothing to show for my several hours of knitting the Licorice Whip pattern, and here is why: I got about four rows in during the drive to and then I realized I had to make even more pattern adjustments. Then, I had to knit back a couple of times, plus I didn't realize how much a pain 100% cotton yarn could be. Progress was slow. So by the time we arrived in Salem, MA I had about 1.5 inches of sweater. It was at this point I realized that I was NOT finishing this sweater during the trip. But I continued knitting in the hotel before bed and on the drive (though not as diligently). I even worked on it after we got home. At about 10pm last night, I flipped the page of my pattern and realized that there was a whole other inc row in the increase set. I counted my stitches and I realized I was not increasing enough along the raglan lines, (stupid computer print out >.<) So, I had to frog. The whole. F-ing. Thing.

So I now I have nothing to show for effforts which is extremely upsetting (not to mention a tad-bit embarassing).

So now, I think I'm going to return to the Trial and Error tank and make my adjustments to that. Man, it seems like forever since I've finished anything. I'm even thinking of ditching the Licorice Whip completely and knitting something else with the yarn. It's a lovely pattern, but I'm a little po'd with myself and I need to take it out on something. Sorry, sweater.

I'll post some Boston pics on my Flickr account soon!

The Boston Knit-a-Thon

The Challenge: Knit an entire project from start to finish, sitting shotgun while traveling to and from vacation destination.

Destination: Beantown

The Project: Blue Alvarez’s “Licorice Whip”

Yarn: a crap-load of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in “Pale Seafoam”

The Needles: Denise Interchangeable Size 7 circs

ET-FO (Estimated Time to FO): 5+ hours up. 5+ hours back. Total = 10+ hrs

The Preparation: Checked gauge and subsequently adjusted pattern to fit preferred yarn gauge. Will be knitting sleeves to ¾ length instead of full length

Return Date: Wednesday, August 16

See you then!

WIPs and Reads

Ok, here is some knitting content as promised.


This what I've been working on lately. It's the umbrella cozy I keep talking about. It's not quite finished yet, but I figured I'd share it since I think it's fun to make this site slower by adding yet another pointless picture(bwah-ha-ha). All I have to do is finish the strap and I'm done. Yippee!

What exactly is an Umbrella Cozy, you ask? Well, it wraps your umbrella in knitted goodness and since it has a strap you can sling that bad boy on your back and you're good to go. This idea came about from scanning the umbrella rack at Wal-mart in search of a more travel-friendly umbrella. But you see, they're all freaking small and uber-flimsy. I like my big, heavy umbrella. But it's heavy and has no strap, not even an ergonomical handle. My umbrella was crying out for a knitted accessory! So I grabbed some inspiration from the Yoga Mat Bag in SnbN and started knitting. I'm kind of liking how this is turning out so I think I'll post a pattern when all is said and done.

In other news I checked out two knitting books from the library yesterday. These will be great reads while I'm laying on the beach in Rockport, MA next Monday:

Fair Isle Knitting by Sarah Don: This is copyrighted 1979 and is comically outdated as far as the patterns go. But what attracted me to this book was the 20 pages or so of fair isle motif samples. Well, that's pretty cool. So all I have to do now is actually learn how to knit fair isle.

The Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee: I've heard this pretty good for helping you design your own sweaters. We'll se what it has to offer.

Umbrella Cozy pattern coming soon. Also, the Boston Knit-a-thon!

Like the new digs?

Welcome to the all-new Eat-Sleep-Knit!

The tour begins after this brief introduction:

I didn't feel the generic Blogger template was really a unique reflection of me, as corny as that may sound. I want to make impression, dang-namit! And as some of you may know I would like to start posting some patterns so I felt that this place needed a cleaner, more professional look. In order to do that I had to immerse myself in the basics of HTML and CSS and I read up on some good ways to personalized your site and increase traffic. Easier said then done. There is definite potential for this stuff to turn your brains into gloppy-goop. But don't let that intimidate you.

Which brings us to the first stop on the tour: The banner. Mr.V in his infinite talent (and sweetness) created my very own banner using Photoshop. He also helped me place the banner neatly in the center of the page. 3 Cheers for Mr.V! (he's also helped me figure out other formatting issues that just seemed to elude me. Isn't he greatest?)

Stop Two: The elusive 3rd column. I just really like the look of 3 column formats. I needed to have one, but alas, three column-ers are not offered by Blogger. But that's where Pam Blackstone at Random Bytes comes in! 3 Cheers to Pam Blackstone! NOTE: to view all three columns you must have your window fully maximized.

Stop Three: Ah, color! Sweet pigmented, visible energy! It's brightened up a bit and I think this works quite well. If you think the background color is a little over-powering though, please let me know. I care about your retinas, really I do.

And the rest is self-explanatory. I hid most of my profile info because it pushed other important sidebar content too far down the page, plus this site isn't about ME it's about my knitting. So I wanted to make that the overall focus. But you can still access my personal info (at your own risk, of course) by clicking on my profile link.

Here is a list of the on-line resources that helped make this possible. Check them out!
-Random Bytes (for the 3 Column version of Douglas Bowman's Minima)

-HTML Dog's CSS and HTML Beginner's Guide

-Photoshopsupport's tutorial on Blog Design and Templates


Knitting content will resume shortly. Ta!

Squiddy!

Everyone, meet Squiddy:



He’s very pleased to meet you.

Actually, Squiddy was supposed to be an octopus but Mr.V informed me that a pointy head is squid thing. Oh, well. He’s still cute.

Pattern: Mr. Octopi posted on Craftster.org (no link for you, it’s seems Craftster is kind of slow at the moment so search for “octopus” in the knitting boards and you’ll find it)
Yarn: Some scrap LB Wool-Ease and part of the Clapotis I never wear.
Needles: Denise Size 6
Mods: The pattern suggests making two increases per increase round. I did that and I would suggest doing that too, otherwise you might end up with a REALLY narrow head. But I guess it all depends on what yarn and needles you use.
Woulda-Shoulda: I kind of fudged the base (which you seam on separately), but you can’t really see that unless you actually look, so it’s alright. What exactly does a grown 20-something do with a knitted stuffy? She’s sits it on a bookshelf at work, of course. He can be my pick-me-up when work gets dull and slow- a reminder of the fun activity that awaits me after hours.

And yes, I did sacrifice a Clapotis to make a leg and the base for Squiddy. I’ve probably committed some knitting mortal sin considering how popular the Clapotis is. But before you cast the stones hear me out: I don’t wear it. Not because it’s a bad design. It was because I chose the wrong yarn. It was my first big knitting project and I didn’t know any better. I plan on making another one (possibly mini-sized) with some variegated yarn like the pattern suggests (possibly even dyeing my own since Knitpicks has expanded their Dye-Your-Own yarns to different weights, plus superwash).

Thanks for all the feedback on the Trial and Error Tank (aka, the TET)! I’m a little less critical of it after reading your gracious comments. I do think I’ll frog the ribbing part and re-knit it with some more shaping and less ease. But I will be keeping the ribbing thanks to your input (and I’ve finally gotten over my “it makes me look fat” mind-set, sorry for that). I also think I’ll be adding some crab stitch crochet edging to the straps and top edges to battle the “rollies”- thanks to Cheryl for that suggestion (you rock!). So it seems the saga of the TET continues.

I’m back to inventing the wheel with my new project. An umbrella cozy? Just wait and see.