Bad Cabbage!

Bad blogger! ::slaps hand with a ruler::
So I haven't blogged. There's a good reason. Well I wasn't blogging at first because it was hot and gross and I wasn't knitting, so there was nothing to blog about. Then I realized I couldn't see any pictures that were hosted by blogspot. So I let it ride for awhile, tinkering with things here and there. And then it dawned on me that I could see pictures on blogspot blogs that were hosted by Flickr. So I tried to post that way, but it didn't work. I imagine that was my fault, I probably effed it up somehow. So then I realized that I should probably just reinstall my operating system on my computer, and then finally I decided to move. Wait, what? Move? Yes, I moved a couple of miles away into a bigger, cheaper place in a safer neighborhood. And then I had to unpack. That takes awhile when you work 53 hours per week. And its the holidays and you're out of town a lot. So finally last night I decided to reinstall the OS. And now I have pictures! However, now I can't find my digital camera. So it'll be awhile til you see anything current, though I have some FO's from the past six months or so that I'll post once I finish importing all of my pictures from my old hard drive. I will try to be a better blogger, I promise!
Until then, hope you have a happy new year!
-Cabbage

Tubey rocks again, finally!

Ok, it has been a good knitting week. I picked Tubey back up, and I knit 9 body rows. I tried it on, and... success! Well, so far. I still have a lot to go. But I'm very excited, because I was seriously doubting that this sweater would ever be finished.



I have also started Pullover Flair from Sping 2006 Interweave Knits. Scroll down towards the bottom of that page to see the sweater.



The yarn is actually really interesting. Its two-stranded, one strand is this tweedy grey and white cotton, the other is this silky very orange ribbon-like yarn. I'm using the recommended yarn, Artful Yarns Olympic in 34 Tokyo and size 8 addi circulars. Its a fairly open gauge, which accounts for the extreme drape of this sweater (a big part of why I like it).



And, for fun, my lazy cat enjoys the sil on this beautiful day!

FO-Classic Tweed

Yo. So Its been wicked hot here and the knitting/finishing has been at a minimum lately. I did manage to finish the seaming, weaving in ends, and ironing (yes, ironing) of the Classic Tweed Sweater. I'm happy with it in that it is a large finished project that doesn't suck. Do I love it? No. The yarn, though very pretty, breaks like its friggin' cotton candy. That's not so bad for knitting, but sucks for seaming. Oh and there's a lot of seaming. There's no waist shaping, so it looks a little lumpy on me. And the sleeves are doing this weird puckery thing... but overall I'm satisfied. I will wear it. Most likely with jeans on the weekend.





I've also made progress on the USMP. I am falling more and more in love with this sweater and getting more and more nervous about the curling that is going on. Again. pray that blocking works!



And, also, because it is the most beautiful WIP I've seen lately, here is the pre-sundried tomato pesto out of Sundays at Moosewood. I think this is beautiful before its blended. I love the layers!

USMP and Classic Tweed Sweater, continued... plus... cherrybutt!

Well its been awhile since I posted... I have a few updates, as well as some booty-fruity (click here and here and here and here and finally, here). So classes have resumed and I can finally work on mindless stockinette again. The USMP is coming along... slowly but surely. I'm on the increases now and its taking friggin' forever. But its nice... and hopefully things will work... and then I'll be a happy camper.



I'm also making quite a bit of progress on the Classic Tweed Sweater, which pleases me (i'm CHUFFED!) considering it is DK weight yarn and size US 6 needles. I'm done with the front and a good way into the back. 2 1/2 hours of the back=sitting in Pirates of the Carribean Dead Man's Chest, 2 1/2 hours= Selection and Acquisitions class today.





And finally... the butt-cherry. When I first saw this I thought it was two cherries and then I realized it was supposed to be two cherries and they're all siamese-like instead. Anyways, looks like a butt:

Classic Tweed Sweater- started

Ok so the Union Square Market Pullover is slow going and a bit tedious to work on, and Tubey is still drying, so I cast on for the Jo Sharp Classic Tweed Sweater (bottom right in the set of six smaller pictures). I am using the recommended yarn, Silkroad DK Tweed in 405 Emporio, a very deep purple with flecks of red and grey. The picture makes the yarn look almost black, but its not actually quite that dark. I really like it, it knits up nicely. I'm knitting it on Addi Turbos, size 6. And listening to a book on tape!

Weeee for new projects!

Tubey Surgery

Well I was knitting Tubey and I had just finished the arms shrug tube thing and picked up for the body tube, knit an inch or so, tried it on, and realized that the flat part of the tube was too short. So I decided to block just the flat tube part.
Here's me soaking just the flat part

And while we're at it, here are my colors for the stripes

And now its blocking! :) Wish me luck!

Union Square Market Pullover-started

Good grief its been weeks since I posted! Well its been hot... grumble... and I completed a Socky Sock. I am more pleased with the look than I was before, but its too small. ::sigh::. So I decided to do it again. I just bumped the needle size up... hopefully it won't be too lacy.

I've also cast on for the Union Square Market Pullover by Interweave Knits. Its the one on the cover (Fall 2005). I'm making mine in Garnstudio's DROPS Alpaca, in black and scarlet.




Let me tell you, don't ever attempt the invisible cast-on. This fucker says to use that cast-on, knit 9 rows or something, then fold it up and knit two together (kinda like a three-needle bind off) fo make a hem. Forget it. I tried with another needle and with waste yarn and made a HUGE mess both times. So I just cast on normally and then stitched it up... kinda like when I made the Last Minute Knitted Gifts Hourglass Sweater, except they told you to purl a row where the bottom of the hem is. I didn't, and now I'm wondering if I should have. But fuck it, I'm way too far with laceweight yarn and size 3 needles to rip this puppy out. I'll just "aggressively block" the sweater when I'm done. I'm also not too thrilled with the yarn choice. I couldn't for the life of me find the required yarn anywhere (Plassard Alpaga) and someone else posted to Craftster with her pictures and a link to her blog and said that she used the yarn that I am using now. She sorta gushed about it in her blog and I have to say, so far I am not that impressed with the softness of this yarn. I mean, it's alpaca, it should feel glorious. But its almost a little scratchy. Oh well, maybe hair conditioner would help. Wish me luck on this crazy sweater!

Socky socks

So I love Lorna's Laces. I really do. And I love Purl and their online store (I've never had the opportunity to visit the actual store in Soho). So when I saw that Purl has Lorna's Laces sock yarn dyed specially for them, and I actually saw the hanks, I was very excited.





So I bought two hanks in colorway Manzanita and set to work on Interweave Knit's Spring 2005 Cable Rib Socks by Erica Alexander. I don't know how I feel about the sock so far.



I mean, I think the reddish color is pretty, and I kinda like the weird spiral white stripe... but I guess I expected the stripes to be more than just one row each. They kind of give me a headache now. I don't know if I think that this sock yarn just sucks, period, or if it needs to be in stockinette to not hypnotize me/give me seizures/make me ralph. From far away it doesn't look so bad though. I really like the cable detail (there are only two cable panels on the sock), but I think the crazy striping kinda makes the cables invisible.



The first four inches are worked on size two needles, then the rest of the sock is worked on size ones (ugh). I just switched, about three rows ago, to the ones, so it'll be interesting to see the difference in the striping (and that random diagonal white stripe) when I get a bit further. Stand by.

Body Bags!

Peep these, yo. And snaps to anyone who can guess what is in the bags (there are two bags, not two pictures of one bag).




No, actually, there are no bodies in the bags, though I guess they look like they could hide a not-so-small child in them, don't they? I had four things to full and I remembered that I had destroyed my only zippered bag the last time I fulled something. So I hoofed it (okay, you're right, I drove) over to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy some new ones. I had a bag to full, and since it was kinda huge pre-fulling, I thought I'd just buy a bigger zippered pillowcase. Um, so yeah, king-sized bed things are ginormous. In fact, they look like body bags. Okay, now for the unveiling of the post-fulling items (please excuse the towels and plastic bags that are being used to shape them as they dry:



This is a stash bag loosely based on Leigh Radford's Alterknits stash bag. I used bulky yarns instead of worsted weight yarns. I actually really like this bag, even though it is lumpy, because I can point to almost every stripe and remember what the yarn in it originally was from. Like the green bottom is from the hat that I knit for my friend Tyler, and the purple stripe (the thin one) is from the wavy scarf in Melanie Falick's Weekend Knitting that I knit for my friend Beast even though I knit it out of Lite Lopi and it is way way too itchy to wear (the lady at the yarn store told me conditioner would make it softer. She lied.), the blue is from a hat I knit for my boyfriend, three of the stripes are from scarves I've knit for they boy, and the grey is from a scarf I knit. Now, let's talk about this grey stripe. i think this is what is making the top of the bag wonky. That grey stripe is a little stripe of alpaca yarn that felts like mad in comparison to its wool friends in the bag. So that stripe is HARD because it is so felted. I think that shrunk more than its share and it is drawing the bag in like a badly cinched waistline on some hippie shirt. Oh well, I love it because it tells a story.



This beauty is from Leigh Radford's One Skein. I followed the pattern exactly (I think the pattern is called something like "The Clutch You'll Never Give Up" or something) but I used Misti Alpaca Yarns' Misti Alpaca Chunky in VR1380 Sage. Will I ever use this? Maybe not. Do I love it, nonetheless? Yes, most definately. I have yet to add buttons, maybe I'll add them and then post another picture.





These bowls are also from One Skein. They both came out a lot bigger than I thought they would, even though the alpaca yarn shrinks like mad. The green one is from the same yarn as the clutch and the black one is from Brown Sheep's Burley Spun in BS05 Black. I may try and felt the black one again, we'll see.

Okay, that's all for now, folks! Oh and I also found out that the merc carries Lorna's Laces Sheperd Worsted, albeit only in variegated and solid black. I bought a berry-toned variegated anyway, because I loved making the One Skein Socklettes so much, half because of the awesome yarn. Weeeeeeeeeee!

I also finished the hemp scarf and added fringe and everything. Glad to be done with that. I finally finished knitting my friend Bek (Beast's sister) her two-weeks-belated birthday scarf though I forgot to take a picture of it. It was a herringbone stitch scarf knit in Plymouth Yarn's Baby Alpaca Grande (100% alpaca) and I stupidly forgot to take a picture. Bek, if you're reading, please take a picture of you wearing the scarf (you can chop your head out if you want) and send it to me to post!

Ok I'm really gone this time.

P.S. Happy Birthday to me on Thursday! YIPPEE! Quarter century!

I am Shetland Wool

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Shetland Wool. You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a little on the harsh side. Though you look delicate you are tough as nails and prone to intricacies. Despite your acerbic ways you are widely respected and even revered.
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

I heart Whole Foods

I went to Whole Foods for the first time today. This store has been around for, I want to say, maybe six months? And I had heard it was fantastic and why hadn't I gone and blah blah blah. But I also know it is more expensive and I freaking hate Sawmill Road and avoid it like the plague. Well, I had to go up there today and thought I'd check it out. And even though it is on Sawmill and a good twenty minutes away I will be doing the bulk of my shopping there now. Forget Wild Oats, Trader Joes, and especially forget Kroger's. My god this place is amazing. I bought these strawberries and they look and taste like g.d. berries from a fancy restaurant or a movie or a commercial, where the food all looks fake but tastes amazing. I bit into one as soon as I got to the car and it was L-O-V-E. So anyhoo, that's my story for today. P.S. I hate Tubey. I'm on my third try on this sweater and I knit the back shrug part too short and now the front all rides up. I am stupid. I think I can fix it though. I'm going to try to block just the back part and pick up less than 3.75" worth of stitches in from the armpit. I think that might do it. ::sigh::

Captain Jenni Kidd

My pirate name is:

Captain Jenni Kidd

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Summer scarf

We got this new yarn in at the shop I work at, its by Misti Alpaca and it is called Misti Cotton. But don't be fooled, it has 15% silk in it! This is NICE yarn. I decided it would be good for a summer-weight scarf, and I had been wanting to knit a scarf in a mistake rib like my friend Jen thinks she accidentally did on her first ribbed scarf (which actually looks really really cool), but mine did not turn out the way hers did. I don't know if it is because my yarn is thicker and my needles are bigger or what. But I still like it. I'm knitting this up on size nine needles and the color is 314 Light Blue Twist. By the way, I've recently discovered the magic of Crystal Palace bamboo needles. I'm a big fan of metal needles, but these days they are hard to find unless you want to go to Wal-Mart, and I refuse to give them one red cent. Anyway, these are really highly polished and really smooth, so it almost feels like they are metal. I looove them.

Long-term WIP

I've been working on this since about February. I guess that's not that long-term... I have some things that have been on the needles a lot longer.

This is Hello Yarn's Irish Hiking Scarf
I am knitting this in Dzined's sportweight Merino/Hemp blend (55% merino wool/45% hemp) in Natural on size six needles. I think it will only take one skein. I decided not to do the garter edge and just slipped the first stitch of each row purlwise. I don't have any problems with curling or anything. I wish I had knit this in a size eight needle so it would be less dense, but I'm not willing to rip it all out. I think I'll put fringe on it when I'm done. I actually knit this up in a worsted weight version of this same yarn, in a reddish pinkish colorway on size 10 needles and I hated the way it turned out. That will eventually get ripped the hell out and made into something. This one will be okay for a basic scarf when I need something a little boring, ha.

One Skein socklettes!

So Thursday night I went to the midnight showing of the new X-Men movie (btw, very good, very destructive, very tragic, very sad) and so I started these and showed up early, allowing me to get all the way through the turning of the heel on the first one. Then I went to Cleveland this weekend, and finished them up in the car on the way home! The pattern is from Leigh Radford's One Skein. I used bamboo DPN's and the recommended yarn, Lorna's Laces Sheperd Worsted in Blackberry. I ended up deciding to go down to a size 7 needle instead of 8, like you're supposed to use, because my feet are a size 6.5 and the smallest size is for a women's 7.5-8.5. Plus sometimes I knit loose. I'm really excited about how nice this yarn is, it was lovely to knit with. The pattern was actually super-fast, even considering the fact that it involved cabling, which was annoying for the first cable round or two. But after that it went fast. And I'm really happy with the way they fit, there are no gaps or bagginess. Here are some pictures... the color is a bit more purple than in these pictures, but I guess they're close enough.

Anniversary scarf

So last Thursday was my two-year anniversary. The boy-toy and I are both broke so we decided no fancy gifts. We went out to a nice dinner instead, and I knit him this scarf... what did he get me? I guess that's TBD, as when I gave the scarf to him (albeit two days late) he said "uhhhh... I thought we weren't doing gifts!" Ha...


This is Sheep In the City's My So-Called Scarf
It is actually just herringbone stitch, knit with two skeins of Manos Del Uruguay in Prairie 104. I used almost the whole two skeins, and the recommended size 11 needles and cast-on 30 stitches and it was plenty long (70 inches). I love love love the way the herringbone stitch shows off the Manos colorway. I think I'm going to eventually try this scarf in Noro too and see how that looks.


A close-up of the stitch

Welcome, Me

So I decided to jump on the blog bandwagon. In general I think blogs bite, I think it is arrogant to write about yourself and what you did that day just to eventually complain about people stalking you... but then I discovered knitting blogs. Ok, so there's a blog with a purpose. Of course, I don't expect non-knitters to care much for this blog, as I won't be discussing my latest trip to the mall or the funny thing my friend said the other night at a bar... unless of course it is yarn-related! I do, however, reserve the right to throw in the random book review or recipe, since books and cooking take up a good chunk of my life (mmmm, basil). Ok, that's my intro.