fishie’s aquarium

No, really, I am. I had an awesome time on the Seattle-to-Portland Yarn Crawl on Saturday (update with pictures coming soon I swear), and among my plunders is some eggplant colored Habu bamboo lace weight. It’s my first laceweight yarn ever, and I’m so excited to use it. I’ve been wanting to knit the Oriel Lace Blouse for a while, and now it seems like a possibility. I’ve also been throwing a couple other ideas around, like the Peacock Feathers Shawl. The Habu has been tumbling in my brain so much that last night, I had a dream that I had knit a bunch of lace-doily-dishcloth things and I was blocking all five of them.

Huh.

I should mention that on the train, I cast on Intolerable Cruelty in hot hot pink SWTC Bamboo. I got through a couple inches of it on the train trip, and as of last night, I have 7 inches knit. Watching a couple of the other knitters on the train made me realize I’m kinda fast.

Huh.

Poor neglected craft journal *pets it*

Things have been busy. I made a lot of stuff, but I have no pictures because I’ve been too busy to upload them.

I finished my NaKniSweMo sweater, although I had to bind off my last several stitches a couple days into December because I couldn’t find my swatch to unravel. The sleeves are half length, which is annoying because I can’t stand half-length sleeves on sweaters, but if I wanted them longer I’d have to undo the bottom of the sweater and I’d rather have the extra length. I’m thinking I’ll knit armwarmers with the same pattern out of a different color and attach them with buttons or something like that.

I also finished Kate’s hat and scarf (the Manitou Passage/Reversible cable things). The hat didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it to, and I’m not sure I’m going to bother writing up the pattern. Too much of a pain and the reversible cables don’t decrease very well.

The first two of my army of cupcake hats have been completed, and I made them to match the baby blankets I made for these kids. The cupcake hats are way too big for their little heads, and since the hats only take me a couple hours to make (once I get past the damn nubbins) I’m going to make a couple that are smaller and can fit the babies now.

Liesel has been cast on, but I’m not that far into it yet, just three or four lace repeats. It’s looking nice, but I’m worried that my mystery vintage yarn is mostly acrylic and I won’t be able to block it. I am planning on making more than one of these, so it shouldnt’ be too much of a problem.

Hallowig has also been completed, and that was finished in about three days worth of spare time. Very easy, very quick. I think Andie will like it.

Non-knitting crafts: I etched some glasses with snowflakes for a gift exchange we had at our party, and they were well received. I took pictures of those before they left the house, and I’ll post them when I have time. Which will hopefully be tonight because I need to upload lots of pictures. My Ravelry notebook is all unillustrated. Can’t have that.

I also might be submitting a couple things to magazines and books soon. I’ve got the submission criteria, all I have to do is come up with the designs…

I finished Cherie Amour

And I started Kate’s Scarf

Pattern

Blue.

Chris was at his parents’ house from Monday until last night, and I spent the entire time he was gone working on Cherie Amour. I just finished the main body. Have I mentioned this thing is FAST? Anybody who’s doing Cherie Amour for NaKniSweMo is a dirty cheater. I could make five of these in a month.

I cast on yesterday on my way to Endfest, spent time between sets knitting, knit a little at an after party at Doc Maynard’s, then went home and fell into a 14-hour coma-like sleep.

I pick it up today, and after getting through half of the bottom lace… Realized that I’d twisted it. Note to self: when Chris ASKS if you’ve twisted stuff in the round, CHECK before saying no.

I had to undo everything, and I cast on in the X-small since the small was looking especially huge. I want it to fit me tight-ish. X-small seems like the way to go.

I really really really really really want to knit Cherie Amour in the new issue of Knitty. SO bad, that I’ve already bought yarn and swatched. The only thing keeping me from taking this pattern by the throat is the watermelon top. I WILL NOT START a sweater before I finish the one I’m working on. Ground rules. Technically I’m not supposed to have more than one WIP in the first place, but I get impatient.

I want to be working on Cherie Amour by the weekend, and since Kate wants me to make her a skirt she can wear to Endfest on Saturday (dammit why did I agree to this before I realized how late in the week it was already?) I need to be knitting my ass off. So I stayed up until 3:30am working on it. Progress: the front is done, minus the finishing touches. All I have left is the back and the finishing.

Can I do it? We’ll see.

No pictures for you though.

I posted them in my other journal without a lock

But more closely on topic for this journal, I bought lots of yarn while I was there and more importantly, did LOTS of knitting too.

The hot pink fuzzy coat from hell is taking shape. I’ve got the body completely done, and I’m making progress on the sleeves. Problem with the sleeves is, my yarn gets a LOT shorter when it stretches, and it’s hard to measure their length when you’re sitting in a car.

This was my progress when I was in Santa Cruz:

I did get a little bit of the watermelon shirt done, but not enough to take a picture of.

I bought pretty yarns:

The entire haul

Schaefer Laurel (two 400 yd skeins) in Katherine the Great

Blue Heron Egyptian Mercerized Cotton (one 1000 yd skein) in Raspberry

Maggi Knits Maggi’s Linen, 5 120 yd skeins in hot pink, 2 in variegated orange/olive greenish-brownish

And two blue cascade fixations for a CHRIS THONG. Har. He’ll wear it too, I’ll make him.

I’m bad, bad, bad, I know. I haven’t updated in a while and I’ve been knitting a lot. I finished the TTV (but I don’t have FO pictures; hey, I said I was bad):

It ended up being a little bit longer than in that picture. I tried it on when I was halfway through the bottom ribbing, and with all my alterations it FITS PERFECTLY.

Item: Third Fourth time’s the Charm
Pattern: Turtleneck Tube Vest, Fitted Knits
Needles: 6 and 4, 24″ circs
Yarn: KnitPicks Shine Worsted, Ebony
Time to Complete: About two weeks?
Unusual Knitting Location(s): Cast on at a camp ground by Crater Lake
New Skillz: farking RLI’s *spits* Also, first time I added this many modifications
Notes:

Alterations I made:
• After the increase rows were finished, I worked 4 more rows (2 RS and 2 WS) with no increases before casting on the stitches for armholes. I did this to avoid the bottoms of the armholes digging into my armpits and it worked PERFECTLY.
• When the stockinette on the front proceeded past the fullest part of my bust, I worked decreases on either side every other round until I reached 39 stitches on the front. I’m busty with a tiny waist, and without doing this I would have looked pregnant.
• I didn’t start knitting the bottom ribbing until the stockinette had reached a satisfactory distance from my bosoms, and I did ribbing until my last skein ran out.

I made quite a bit of progress on the Hot Pink Coat from Hell in the few days I was working on it (No pictures yet, I said I was bad). I’m completely dreading picking up stitches to do the lace panel on the outside (I CAN’T SEE THE STITCHES WITH THIS YARN!!!) and it’s not a very portable project being a giant cone. So when we went to Kate’s family’s cabin last weekend, I brought my watermelon yarn and cast on the Drop Stitch Lace tank:

I’m working it in the round as opposed to two pieces and then seaming. I like the circle :3 And it goes fast. Wheeeeee! One problem with the bottom-up construction is I’m paranoid I’m going to run out of yarn, but I’m sure I’d be able to get more without too much of a problem.

If it’s not obvious, I’m on a Fitted Knits kick. Finished the shrug, halfway through the tube vest, and I’ve already got the yarn for the drop-stitch tank. So what’s next? I think I’ve fallen for the Long Coat with Chevron Lace:

Here are the specifics from the book:

Gauge: 10 sts and 13 rows = 4 inches
Size 13 needles
Suggested Yarn: Cascade Tuscany Grande, 1755 yards

I have a 50% off discount for Joann.com right now, and the only yarn I liked that MIGHT get the right gauge was some Red Heart. I’m checking some other online places too, but it’s hard to find super bulky yarn anywhere.

Red Heart Casual Cot’n Blend Yarn in Preppie or Black Grape
Spinnaker

More than anything, I’m figuring I’ll probably end up making a nice fuzzy coat out of one of the giant cones I have, but I’d want a scale first so I can figure out what my yardage is. I’d hate to get 75% done and run out of yarn. Ew.

UPDATE

EUREKA

I seem to have gauge from the bit I did. The one problem I can see this yarn bringing up is that there is NO STITCH DEFINITION WHATSOEVER. But it’s soft and pink and I got a GIANT cone of it. I *think* this one is Squish, but it could be Cush.

I’ve been in love with the Turtleneck Tube Vest ever since I bought Fitted Knits, especially since it seems like it would be instant gratification.

This thing has been giving me nothing but trouble. It starts out with my visual thinking having problems understanding the instructions for LLI and RLI (lifted increases). I need pictures for most new stitches like this, otherwise I don’t really understand how to do them. It also doesn’t help that there seems to be a typo with the LLI instructions (you should be knitting into the stitch TWO rows below, right? Right???) Anyway, started this at Crater lake last weekend, so I had no access to internet things to help me out. I ended up ripping out all my progress when I realized I’d been doing the LLI’s wrong. Then I ripped out a second time when I realized I’d done the RLI’s wrong. Turns out I wasn’t doing the RLI’s wrong at all, they just knit a little looser thatn LLI’s and look fine when you’re wearing the garment. I didn’t know this yet, since the stitches look fine the first couple rows before they loosen up. But I’d ripped out and restarted only to have NO difference whatsoever.

Observe:

LLI vs RLI

I reknit this bit THREE TIMES

I worked on washcloths out of shrug yarn leftovers until I ran out, and spent the rest of the drive home eating. Mmmmm food.

When I got home, I looked for visuals on how to do the RLI correctly, and found…. nothing. Maybe knittinghelp.com calls it something else, but I didn’t find it on there. I decided to just accept it the way it was and hope that the stitches look fine after blocked and while being worn.

I was beginning to get worried that the garment wouldn’t accommodate my ample bosoms, so I did the increases for the medium size, then worked a few non-increase rows so the armhole doesn’t dig into my armpit (I HATE that!). Then I did the 18 cast-on stitches, and spent all yesterday on the body. After I’d gone through an entire skein, I tried it on. And it was way too big.

wtf.

I was a dork, and forgot that those 18 cast-on stitches WOULD be the accommodation for my ample bosoms.

For posterity’s sake, this is how far I got before I ripped out to restart for the FOURTH time:

I love the yarn, I love the pattern, but I’m am NOT enjoying this cursed top.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Started it the day after I finished those damn socks (Sunday) and wheeee look at me go! I’m going to call it a two-skein wonder because I’m amazed I had enough yarn for it. I got two skeins of cotton-ease from a swap, and decided they’d be perfect for this shrug. Cotton ease is significantly thicker than the Cascade 220 the pattern calls for, but when I went down a couple needle sizes, it seems like it’s working out JUST fine! I’m more than halfway done after working on it for barely four days.

Two-tone ribbed shrug from Fitted Knits in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease.

It’s been a long time, I know. I’ve been working on stuff for swaps instead of these and I can’t really post pictures of the swap items otherwise I’d spoil all the fun. Anyway, I picked the boring plain white sock back up yesterday because I was going to see a movie (1408, oh man it was good!) and finished it today. Hooray.

My first time with kitchener stitch: Success

Boring *yawn*

Too big for me. That’s a good thing.

Now to do the other one. :/

I want to make real things dammit.

See my problem? My size 5 in men’s feet are fitting these socks perfectly… His size 11/12/whatever huge size he is probably won’t. I got gauge when I swatched dammit!!!

I normally only knit one thing at a time. I’m so bad at keeping interest in things that if I have options, I’ll completely neglect one thing. In other words, I have no concept of moderation. I started those socks for Chris on Tuesday and I’m not very far yet (HELLO 00 SIZE NEEDLES AND GIANT MONSTER FEET??!?!?!):

But there’s a craft challenge on Craftster I REALLY REALLY want to do and think I’ve got a really good chance at if I can get what I have in my head out and into yarn. Problem is, it’s due on the 24th (BAH I knit a blanket in 12 days!) BUT… my idea is probably way too complicated for my current skill level. Here’s the idea (psst: no stealing!)

Yay rough charts! I can DO this!!!

I want to knit it in the round because if I do anything with seaming, there’s the chance I don’t get the colors to match up. BUT intarsia in the round? Possible, but not easy OR fast. And taking into consideration that I’ve never 1) Done intarsia 2) Made a knitting chart or 3) Written a pattern before… I don’t know if I’m being overly optimistic for a project I’d need to have DONE in *counts* 16 days. Granted, my final is next Thursday and I have a week off before my next class starts, but I’m still working 40+ hours a week with lots of overtime forecasted. I know I can do it. I just don’t know if I can do it that quickly. I’m really good with math, geometry, etc., and I’m thinking I might have to sew a mock-up in order to figure out the chart for the color changes, but I KNOW I can do it.

I get the feeling I’m getting myself into trouble.

Completely unrelated, DID YOU KNOW that my first ever FO was made completely without a pattern? I didn’t even realize that was at all weird until two days ago. It’s my knitting bag, but when I first made it, I used it to carry around books. It fits a big fat hardcover book in it PERFECTLY! When I started knitting hardcore in the past few months, I’ve used it to carry around my yarn, tools, and WIPs. Considering I had no idea how to seam, weave in ends, or block, I think it turned out pretty good and sturdy.

I knit it with normal worsted weight Red Heart on size 2 needles. The sides and the strap are knit on bigger needles with two strands of yarn held together. I whip-stitched the pieces all together. I currently have a safety pin keeping one of the straps attached.