An overdue post

This post is long overdue. I've all but finished the Tree Jacket that I've been knitting for my sister. All that I need to do is weave in the ends and block it. I have until Christmas to do it, so it might actually take a while to get it done. But that's alright, as long as it's done in time for me to give it as a gift, that's all that really matters.

I've got a few projects that I'm getting ready to start, including a set of half-fingered gloves out of malabrigo lace. I haven't gauged them or anything like that, and thus haven't cast on yet.

Also, I knit a Kiwi Hat, a la Peter (yarndude), it was really fun and easy hat to knit, I enjoyed it a lot. Ooh look! A picture!

New project!

So I cast on a new project today (I know, I have finished so many projects that I've cast on), but I figured that I needed to get started on this if I was going to finish by Christmas (especially at the rate that I've been knitting). I finally started the Icarus shawl for my mom using the Alpaca with a Twist yarn that was originally from the Seascape stole that I ripped. It's going alright, i'm sad that it loks so awful at this stage, like wet ramen...

Tipsy, Excited, ZephyrGals are awesome...

Alright, so I pretty much just flipped my shit at getting mentioned in the ZephyrGals blog, like, really, freaked out a little bit.

A suprise came in the mail!

Oh look, it's a box! How interesting...




Look, who it is from... Yarn, that's interesting...


The anticipation is killing me!


Oh look!


And what's this? A spindle?


Look how pretty! Sheeps!


Instructions, they look classy.



It's the pre-pre-drafted test yarn I spun.


Look at how pretty it is.


Here is the first that I spun


It's not very pretty.


I think that I'm really gonna have to have someone show me how to do this better. Watching videos and reading about it isn't helping very much, i'm still a little unsure how to control the twist, though I suppose I will have to practice more.

Project in less than 24 hours...

So I completed the boy hat today, I cast on this project yesterday, and it was nice to cast on and cast off in a day, makes me feel better about some of my longer projects.

Not much more to this post, but here are some pictures.

Rubbing elbows with the Knitting Stars

So, guess who should show up tonight to Twisted Knit Knite? Why, it would be the ZeyphrGals who designed my tree jacket. I about peed my pants when they showed up. Not only did they come to knit knite, they came out for drinks afterward. I talked to Rachel for a long time about knitting and designing patterns, and she has put the idea in my head that I should start designing things for men, maybe I can convince them to collaborate on designs with me, that would rock ass.

I cast on the boy hat today, and am almost half way done, I should finish it tomorrow.

It was a good day for knitting.

Sleeves, Hats, Gloved Dreams

I am probably 3" away from being done with the second sleeve of the sweater, but I am waiting for my sister to get back to me with her preferred sleeve length, which is taking a while because she has a baby. So, until then, I pulled out my longer needles and re-threaded them to work on the body. The only sad part is that the sleeves went so fast (I knit the second one in about a day) that the body seems to be going so slow. I just need to get back into it.

I am itching to cast on a new, shorter project, as many of the ones I am working on right now are bigger. I want to knit the boy hat out of the Velvet Grapes Malabrigo that I bought at Twisted last week (how can anyone resist this yarn?). I think the patter is interesting enough to be fun to knit, but simple enough to show off the yarn. It'll be nice.

Also, i have this dream of making fingerless gloves out of the Malabrigo lace weight yarn, which means, with my gauge I'd be knitting on double zeros, which I've never done before, but I think the result would be amazing. So tell me, am I mad?

Update on stuff

Wow, I haven't updated this in a while. I'm about 10" into the body of the Tree Jacket, but I just finished the first sleeve. Because I want to make the sweater longer then the pattern calls for, and I am worried about yardage, I decided that I am going to knit the sleeves first, then finish the body, either stopping when it is long enough or when I run out of yarn, whichever comes first. I am a little worried that the sleeve is too short (it comes in at 19" from underarm) and that it will be too baggy. But I won't really know until I try it on my sister (come December).

My socks are progressing nowhere, both the ones for myself and the ones for Kati, I just haven't been in a sock knitting mood.

I bought some Malabrigo yesterday from Twisted, I think I will make myself a wonderful little hat, it will be glorious.

I think i am going to scrap the Seascape Stole, and try a different kind of shawl, I have been finding it too frustrating.

Jason's Gryffindor scarf is also behind schedule, I have also been finding it boring to knit.

Granted, it's not really behind schedule, since these are all christmas presents.

Moar Socks

I'm very surprised with how well the socks are going. If I wanted, I could stop the one I'm working on now, it's long enough, but I think that I am going to make them knee highs (Ghey...) which will be fab. I'm a little less pleased with the striping pattern then I was earlier, the toe and heel stripe the way that I want, but my feet are just to big, so the main body of the sock is doing single row stripes, where I would want them thicker, but it will be alright in the end, it is my first exploration into socks, and it's going well.

I'm going to start a pair for Kati tomorrow, she's going to buy then yarn and then I'm going to try and get them done before she leaves. I'm also going to knit them both at the same time, which will be a first, but I'm excited to try it.

Socks! That Rock!

I cast on my first pair of socks yesterday, and am surprised with how easy they are to knit (of course I say this before I have reached the heel). Also, my Socks that Rock yarn is knitting up beautifully.

Sweaters, Stoles, and Scarves

I've been working on the Tree Jacket sweater for two days now, and it is going swimmingly. I am a little worried about the sizing, the yarn i'm using is DK (the pattern calls for worsted) but my gauge swatch was right on. It's a top down sweater, and everyone who sees it keeps asking if I'm knitting a sleeve, when it is actually the neck. I'm hoping it will block and streach a lot when I'm done.

I am also worried that I will run out of yarn, I don't think I will, but it will be a close call.

The Stole project is not going swimmingly, I'm frustrated by it and I keep haveing to pull it back. Part of me just wants to give up, but the yarn I got is georgous, and I think I just need to do it.

The scarf for Jason that I'm knitting is also going well, it gets a little boreing, but I can pick it up when I get overwhelmed by the sweater (or the stole).

So far, I'm enjoying having multiple projects going at the same time, it's good to be able to move between them and get stuff done.

Today, I need to go to Twisted and wind some more of the sweater yarn, I just can't do it out of those stupid little balls, I prefer the cake. I also learned that the yarn is 20% Possum (really Delaka), which is a fact I think I won't tell my sister.

New Project, Gryffindor Scarf

Today I drove out to Naked Sheep (man, what a ways out it is!) and bought some Cascade 220 yarn (they don't sell it at Twisted) for the Gryffindor Scarf that I am knitting for Jason for Christmas. The pattern I'm using is super simple, and it's moving pretty fast. Because I'm knitting it in the round, I can walk and talk etc. while knitting, which makes it very easy to do, I don't even rally have to pay attention except to make sure I click my row counter.





Today the Twisted T-shirts came in, and I am the FIRST person to own one. They are on American Apparel shirts, and super comfy, not to mention super cute. They make me look super cool.

Pasha Completed

I finally sewed on eyes on Pasha last night before open knit night (thanks Kate!) and stuffed him late in the evening yesterday. So, he is now complete:



I had a little trouble sewing up his rear, there are a few lumps, but it still looks good none the less. Now I just have to decide who to give it to. I've decided that I want to make a little one out of sock yarn for Asher for Christmas, I think that it would be a super cute to the two that I made for Britta (my sister) and Jason (her husband) when they moved into their apartment in San Jose.

Ah ha!

I was sorting through my needle box tonight, looking for some circs with which to start a new project (the stole is slow going, and I get frustrated quickly, I need new things to do while I do it) and I found a tag for the 'mystery yarn' as I have been calling it that I used for Pasha. It is Cascade Pastaza. I knew it was Cascade, and I'm surprised I didn't recognize it when I looked on the website. Anyway, now that I know what it is, I can rest easy. And remember to tell Kate and Emily at Twisted.

7/19 - Seascape

I cast on the Seascape Stole that is in this season's knitty.com. I've never worked with lace weight yarn before, and the going is a little bit tricky. Thank god Shannon told me about safety lines, where you thread yarn (or in this case, dental floss) through all the stitches so if you have to rip out, you only have to go to there, and you don't risk dropping stitches. I have a feeling that this is going to be a few rows a day project, which could make it take a really really long time. Hopefully it will get better as it goes on.

Pasha update

Well, two days ago I started knitting a penguin (Pasha from knitty.com) and I finished knitting it tonight and sewed it all up while I watched So You Think You Can Dance? and it actually went faster then I thought.





Emily (emilystarr at ravelry) showed me today a good way to navigate the wrap and turns that the patterns call for. Picking up the stitches when you're knitting is easy, but when you do it on the purl side, it always looked aweful before. But Emily suggested using a crochet hook instead of the knitting needle and it worked famously! So thank to emilystarr for the great suggestions.

I am thinking of starting my toe-up, two at a time, on two circs socks soon, they will be fab.

Tuesday Night Open Knit at Twisted

I went to the Open Knit night tonight at Twisted. It was nice to meet even more Portland knitters. The more I am meeting, the more I realize that this is a group of people that I would really like to be a part of. The knitters at this group were a little more awkward then those at Queer Knitting, but I think it's because there were many new people and they didn't have the kind of familiarity that the people of QK have. Kate and Sarah were there tonight, and it was good to see them again. I like them.

I've decided that I need to start a new project besides my scarf. I pulled some of my Mystery Yarn out of my stash and am knitting up a penguin to kind of get me started. I found this beautiful shawl on knitty that I might make for my mother. It is super light and I think that it would work really well for her trips to alaska where she needs something sort-of-formal. I am also going to try and knit gifts for the whole family for christmas this year, and we'll see how that actually goes...

New Blog, Twisted Queers

So, after joining Ravelry, I decided that I need to have my own dedicated knitting blog.

Today, I went to the Queer Knitting group the the Q Center. Man, it was awful. Basically, no one really wanted to talk, so we just sat there in close to silence for two hours. I don't think that the guy who ran it liked me very much. I don't know why, I just got the distinct impression that he didn't like me.

So, feeling dejected, I decided to the Queer Knitting group at Twisted, a yarn shop that was recommended to me by Emily, my co-worker. I almost didn't go, but god, am I glad I did. The people there were much more friendly and I felt like I fit in right away. They immediately invited me to dinner afterward, but I had plans to go to dinner with a housemate, next time. I only wish they met more then every other week.

One of the women there, Sarah, looked so familiar, I knew I had seen her somewhere before. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye for a long time before she finally said "Wil, I think we've met before." I expressed that I felt the same, and we proceeded to try and figure out where we had met before. It turns out that we met twice before about three years ago at Queer Knitting at Mabel's. We obviously must have made an impression on each other to remember each other years later, it was pretty wild.

I can't wait to go back to Twisted and hang out with the amazing people that I met there. Sitting and knitting while talking makes it so much more fun then just knitting alone. Yay for!