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!