A Little Green Sweater

A few months ago, the charming Lore (I assume she is, she looks charming on Ravelry) knit up my Keys to the Castle Baby Sweater. It's still one of my all-time favorite designs, and I asked her if it was ok for me to use her project photo on my blog. She said "yes" and also included these notes.

"I modified a few things. First the contrast color I used was some leftover yarn and I wasn’t sure how far it would go. So I didn’t do the vertical stripes on the arms (although I still kept the CC cuffs). I also wasn’t sure if there would be enough of it for the front bands so I picked those up after I finished everything else. If I hadn’t had enough CC I would have picked up bands in the MC.

Second, I detest knitting I-cord and avoid it at all costs. So I decided to go with buttons instead.

Thanks for the pattern. I had fun knitting it. Out little baby boy should be arriving in June, although he’ll have some growing to do still before he gets to wear it."

There have been some photos of an adorable baby boy on her Ravelry page, so it looks like it all worked out!

Grungy Basement and 16 Handknit Socks

Sorry for showing you my grungy basement. Hey, it's dry and functional, and that's really all I ask. But, I am very grateful for the little green bar someone hung up there a while ago. It's the perfect spot to hang 16 socks to dry at once!

My sis bought me that little octopus years ago at Ikea. I love it to bits.

So, I haven't dropped off the face if the earth, and I've been knitting socks.

A Little Spinning

I'm still trying to figure things out, but life is getting closer to normal. Which means, when my awesome sister sends me beautiful Coopworth wool dyed with indigo from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, I can spin some of it without everything else going off the rails. 

So, I did. Hooray! I can't wait to ply it. (In return, I sent her some Ply magazines, and she loved them! You might, too. Go check them out.) 

Sometimes I Agree With Travis

Things are starting to settle down now, but it will probably be a while before things feel normal. I don't remember having this much trouble getting a house put back together before. Then again, maybe I'm feeling more pressure because I have more happening in other areas of my life than I did. I love the new direction my career is taking, but it is definitely a different kind of headspace.

Some days, I agree with my little scaredy-cat Travis.

I like it under the covers. It's nice there.

One thing I haven't found: the hard drive with all of the Journal Gazette Crafty Living patterns on it. I might have to spend some serious time downloading pdfs in the next few weeks! That will teach me not to back up to the cloud.

Modeknit Socks: Finished!

We bought a house! And moved into it! And now I have to climb over boxes to get to the coffee, but that's ok. 

Moving is a lot of work, but I'm excited about making a home again. Our apartment was really just a badly-jumbled collection of STUFF, not a real home. 

One thing that has helped with the craziness is my lovely pair of Modeknit socks. I knit a lot of plain, black socks. I'll admit - at first, those snazzy pops of color kind of freaked me out. But, I'm absolutely in love with them and I get a real kick out of seeing them on my feet. 

The pattern is unpublished but is based on a set of patterns I hope you will all be able to see before the end of 2014. 

I'm going to try to get back to blogging regularly. But, until all of the boxes are gone, I don't think it will be every day.

A Quandary

Everything you see on my Ravelry designer page that says "journalgazette.net" is a free pattern. Come July or August, the Journal Gazette is changing over how it does its website, so all of those links might (or might not) stop working. There are ways to archive a website and keep old links working, but I'm not sure that a newspaper will want to do that. After all, yesterday's news is, well, old.

That's over 150 patterns. You can kind of tell which ones were from my really early days. A few are, frankly, embarrassing.

I was able to make them, and provide them for free, because my employer allowed me to use work time to write, format and post them. (They asked me to do all of the knitting at home, and I did. I also paid for my own yarn.)

I'll admit: some of them aren't great patterns. Even the ones that produce great finished products aren't written in the most standard ways. Only a few have sizing of any kind. Most of them don't even have page numbers. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it can be if you're a little tired and don't want to think more than you have to. Many of them use handspun yarn or yarn that is discontinued.

I don't want the patterns to just go away. But...

To justify spending time reformatting, rewriting (using a real, live style sheet!) and suggesting alternative yarns, I would have to charge for the patterns.

I love the thought of updating things, and maybe offering them in collections.

But, will people hate me for what might look like charging for patterns that used to be free?

Yarnover!

If you have never been, you should go, because Yarnover is awesome! I didn't take very many pictures and I can only think it's because I was very overwhelmed. Basically, fibery vendors and teachers took over a local high school for a day. It's amazing. 

I took a Designing Cables class with Fiona Ellis. It was wonderful. She's a very clear teacher and her designs are beautiful. At the end of class, she had a little show-and-tell of some of her designs. She really blew my mind. 

I managed to only buy a little art batt from a (sort of) local sheep farm: Diamond D Farm. I can't find a website for them, but their information is listed here. I would have loved to shop a lot more, but we're moving from the apartment to our new house in less than a week and I'm starting to see every object in the apartment as an obstacle!

I stopped by the Modeknit booth to say hi to everyone and rave about my socks in progress. They should be finished very soon if I get any time at all to knit over lunch. 

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

It's hard to believe it has been almost 6 years since we got married here!

It's still a stunning little garden spot smack-dab in the middle of Minneapolis. 

New Couch!

That's not our living room, it's the consignment furniture store, called Mainstreet Furniture. I'm so excited about closing on our new house next week. We bought this couch and they're holding it for us until we have the moving truck. I can't wait to lose knitting needles in it!

Starting Over

I didn't like the way that one was turning out. So, starting over with toe-up!

Don't you love the colors together? They're a bit darker than this and called Mrs. Moss and A Lovely Thing. I'm not normally nuts about pink/rose, but, my. These are pretty! 

Modeknit Socks, At The Beginning

I'm not normally crazy about yellow, but yellow is gray and white? I love it!

The View Across the Water

I love this time of year, when the ice is just starting to break and melt away. A little more depth of field would be nice, but what can you do? An iPhone can only do so much. 

Modeknit Mini Skein Set

I have a little sample pack of Modeknit yarns, in "Call the Midwife" colors. They are so cute! I was going to mix in a lot of gray from Simply Socks, but now I'm leaning toward just having the Modeknit go in all of its multiple-colored glory.

Kitty With Spinning Bag

Please forgive me the gross rag I use to wipe spinning grease off of my wheel. Our little Travis doesn't relax well enough to sleep around us very much. When he does, it's quite an event.

Antique-Store Inspiration

For those of you who have babies, would they REALLY benefit from having their little knees covered like this? Or was this just a good idea before central heat?

What Yarns Do You Love to Miss?

Some yarns are like twinkies in a zombie flick. You love it. They don't make it anymore. Someday it will all be gone. I bought a whole bag of this stuff when it went on clearance at Simply Socks. I'm knitting stash right now, and it turned up. It's a great yarn. A little splitty if you don't treat it right, but what isn't? Every bamboo yarn I have used is, essentially, indestructable. If you've never tried one, you should.

A Little Plying

I couldn't resist. I finally chain-plied the singles I finished several weeks ago. I love it! I will wash and measure the skein...sometime. Right now I'm just enjoying the feeling of having empty bobbins.

A Fun Idea

I don't usually see a lot to inspire me at the Gap, but I love this raglan idea: plain front and back, patterned sleeves. :) This would be fun with colorwork or even a little lace.

Another Great Card for A Knitter, Especially in March

I don't know where my mom finds these things, but isn't that just the CUTEST? They're handmade in the UK and have real wool (and really cute designs) on them. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I hope your mom sent you something fun. Yes, my mom still sends me gifts for just about every holiday. I'm a lucky girl.

I Love Minneapolis!

I mean, really, it's just too beautiful. It's all I can do not to just stop and stare at all of the buildings downtown. This is at Hennepin and I'm Not Sure in downtown. Just part of my drive home from work!

Grow, Little Sock!

This is in Cascade Heritage Silk in Vandyke Brown. I'm actually testing to see if a sock pattern I thought needed a repeat of 8 stitches could work on a repeat of 4 stitches. The math works out, but sometimes you have to see something "in the wool" to see if it really works out. And, Dee deserves a few more socks. She's walked through a BUNCH in the last few months. Malabrigo, they all warned me about you, and you...broke my heart. Such soft delicacy wasn't meant for everyday socks, apparently. 

I End Up With Some Weird-Looking Notes

I'm not always great at visualizing things completely in my head, so I often draw "maps" of stitches to figure out how many stitches are in-between decreases. This is for the shaping of a sock heel that I thought I figured out a year ago -- but it turns out I needed to know more about it, so away I went!

The Yarn Bank in Taylors Falls, MN

I didn't take more photos because I got all shy when I went into The Yarn Bank on Saturday. It's a great little LYS that even has some spinning supplies in Taylors Falls, MN. Just an hour away from the Twin Cities, it really is in an old bank in the tiny downtown. If you go, don't miss a latte at the awesome Coffee Talk up the street and try to get there before noon on Saturday so you can visit the super-tiny library that is over 100 years old.

Kudos File

When I started my career as a journalist, I got some great advice. Keep a physical file of any notes you get from anyone that say you're doing a good job. It's easier to remember the bad feedback, for yourself. But, when you're not having a day that is full of whiskers on kittens and warm woolen mittens, you can bring out your file and cheer yourself up. 

It's a technique I still use today, although more often than not, I'm printing out emails to put in my file!

The Verdict

My three-gauge socks fit like a dream and didn't fall down all day! That could have been because it is finally warm enough for me to not wear long underwear! Or, the thinner fabric on top of the socks might be better at keeping socks up. Time will tell when I wear my other socks and see how they perform.

...And I Also Know This

Trekking 6-ply: 427 yards per 150 gram ball

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Heavyweight: 350 yards per 198 gram ball

The Blue Moon Fiber Arts is 100% wool, the Trekking is 25% nylon, which explains some of the difference in weight per yard. The BMFA is also just a tiny bit thicker, but I get the same gauge with both on #3 needles. 

So, if it takes me 79 grams of Trekking to make a pair of socks for myself, it should take me:

(427/150)*79 = about 225 yards

Multiply that by (198/350) = > 127.2 grams, or round to 128 grams, of BMFA to make a pair of socks. 

I have parts of two skeins of BMFA under the bed. Is it enough? 

--Quick check with the scale.--

YES! There are more BMFA socks in my future! Yay! 

A Bit of A Frankensock

In our rather small and cluttered apartment (one follows the other, I find), I'm really fighting stash. It would be great if I could knit through some yarn and have less to move when we get a house!

I made a pair of top-down socks with Trekking 6-ply in color #1801 (or, as I put it, a BIT More Pink Than I Thought, But It's Ok.)

When I finished, I weighed the socks - they weighed in at 79 grams - from a 150-gram ball! So, there wasn't quite enough to make a second pair from the same ball. 

To the stash under the bed I went! Here's the problem: I don't have a lot of yarn in that weight (although I certainly will get more now that I love in Minnesota!) So, I tried doubling Simply Sock Yarn Solids in Navy and started from the toe on #3 needles.

It made a VERY firm and thick fabric, but it would be pretty tough on the hands in the long term. I need to explore using doubled sock yarn on #4 needles. After the toe, I switched to the rest of my Trekking, weighing the leftover ball until it weighed only about 36 grams. 

I then wanted to switch back to the navy yarn - but I couldn't handle the feel of the double-thick yarn on that part of the sock. So, I increased from 50 to 70 stitches (k2, m1, k3, m1) around - and finished the top of the socks!

Dee thinks the deep color change makes it too obvious that I ran out of yarn, but I almost always wear socks with long pants, so who will know except for me?

I feel like I got the best of all worlds. A super-strong toe. Cool colors and a tough-wearing yarn through the body and heel. A thinner, more stretchy sock top for my, um, sturdy calves. We'll see how it wears, but for now I'm thrilled!

I promise I will write the pattern, eventually. I kept good notes on the heel, both top-down and toe-up. A 52-stitch or 48-stitch sock would have been a lot easier to work, but...live and learn!

Skeinny Dipping Socks!

Sorry for the blurry photo - it is still VERY hard to photograph your own feet, I find.

Again, this is lovely Skeinny Dipping Mericash in Girl on Fire. That particular color is out of stock right now, so I feel super-lucky to have it! 

The yarn is 20% cashmere and it feels just like butter. I love it!

The pattern isn't written out, but it uses techniques I'm using in my Great Work. I'm chugging along on it, so hopefully you'll be able to knit some of your very own soon. 

Yes, it's the same drive to work..

The weather has been tough, but I do live this beautiful city.

Cold Blue Sky and Warm-Looking Clouds

So pretty! Sorry for the spots on the windshield.

I Love Ravelry!

One of my favorite things about Ravelry is that it lets me see when someone knits one of my designs.

Sandra, who goes by Strempesan on Ravelry, in lovely Tétange, Luxembourg made an Almost Spring hat in a pretty cotton/wool blend for her mom. Isn't that cool? She's over 4,000 miles away and I can still see what she knit.

I Took This Photo Yesterday

I had forgotten how, when it warms up a little, mist rises off of snow. It's beautiful!

Top Ribbing

Could someone please tell me why that last 2 inches of ribbing on the top of a sock feels like it takes longer to work than the whole leg?

Just What I Needed!

Christine of Skeinny Dipping sent me a few skeins of yarn as a "Good Luck on Your New Job"gift. 

I finished a few deadline knitting projects and cast on for a sock for myself (I know, it's shocking)!

The colorway is Girl on Fire and the yarn is a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend that is out-of-this-world. The other skein is Muir Woods in the same base. 

I love it! It's knitting up really fast, probably because I can't stand to put it down. It's still snowy and cold here and four years of living in Indiana left me with only one pair of wool socks for myself. I need to get knitting so I can stay warm! The red colors are just gorgeous and I'm sure they'll be super-cheerful when I slip out of my heavy boots and pad around in moccasins at work all day. Dee's need for solid-black socks at work (technically, it's the dress code, not her fault) has kept me away from hand-dyed socks. It's fun and exciting to see what I've been missing. 

(I can't share the pattern with you. It's a toe-up sock using methods that will be in my Next Big Project, so you'll be able to knit your own at some point. Soon, I hope!)

And yes, I have a model foot in my apartment. Don't you? :)

Color Inspiration

I love the deep, dark colors that you get right at dusk!

I'm Working, I Promise

I know I look quiet, on the design front, lately. But, I'm working very hard on a BIG project that I hope you will all like. I have no idea when it will be finished, but the more I work on it, the sooner it will become reality.

Photo Notes for Colorwork

I find that my colorwork does change depending on which hand I use to carry which color. To make sure I don't switch when halfway through, I always take a photo of the position when I start. 

(The project has to be secret, for now...)

Knitting Group!

I finally found a knitting group. This is the longest I've gone without having one since I started knitting again. I'm so excited to be among my people, again! (The coffee isn't bad, either!)

Boomer Boy

Just in case any of you thought he steals socks ALL of the time. Sometimes he's just sleeping...

Just About the Cutest Thing, Ever!

If you're looking for a knit-tastic birthday card, check out Michelle Brusegaard's stuff. She's a painter and fiber artist who is also into "painting, photography, screen-printing, batik and sometimes a little mixed media."

My darling niece gave me this card, and some hand-printed kitchen towels, for my birthday. It's a new experience, for me, to have family in the same city as me. We can drop in on each other and plan outings in just a few texts. I could get used to it!

More Singles

I worked for a little over an hour and made it a little closer to finishing these singles. Working with materials I like is like reading a good book - I love the experience, and I know I will be both happy and sad when I finish. Happy for the achievement, sorry that it's over!

A Plus Side to Dry Weather

Even though it is SO dry here that my yarn throws sparks when I wind it, at least, well, everything dries pretty fast. I can wash socks at night and wear them in the morning. Even thick ones!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to Me!

1) I found my swift and ball winder. 

2) It turns out the ball winder works, even when on its side.

1885 Lumber Exchange

New Work Friend: "Hey, are you into architectural details?"

Me: "Yes!"

If taking photos of grates in 129-year-olf buildings is wrong, I don't want to be right.

(There's a little more information here, but I think the captions on the photos are switched.)

Black and White

I hope it isn't considered harassment to take a photo of the back of an intern's shirt, because I totally did that (I asked first!)