Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Quickly

I don't have much time, but I don't want to leave everyone knitless for another 2-3 days, which may be how long I'm out of town.

So here are the cheating socks. I have (almost) finished both pairs. You will see that one still needs to be grafted shut and have its ends woven in:

I finished that sock during the football championship games Sunday. The Saints lost, which is too bad, but I'm not broken up about it. The Colts won, which makes me do a little victory dance in the privacy of, well, not the whole world wide web, that's for sure.

In the meantime, my faithful cashsoft socks (cashsocks) are beautiful


But you can only have a peek.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

There is love and work and lover's work

Sometimes, when you stay up all night for no reason listening to Songs:Ohia this is what you end up with:


This is a picture I took near the river where my old apartment was in Oshkosh. Something about it, something I can't clearly articulate, tells how I felt for much of the time I lived there.


This picture, taken the same day, shows the river view, and the railroad bridge. Again, there's something about the way these pictures look, something about the weirdness and uselessness of the light that makes me think about those months.

If I remember correctly, I ran outside to take pictures because of the light that the setting sun was casting on the clouds. By the time I got out to the river and was taking pictures, there was nothing particularly great about the clouds, and there was certainly nothing great about the lighting situation. Altogether these are not the best pictures I've taken, in fact, I disliked them so much I hadn't even bothered to photoshop or resize them until tonight.

But tonight it's not about my best pictures. It's about the pictures that captured the mood.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

It's all about the swatch.

This weekend we have a sock swatch!


I love it dearly. I want to go to sleep at night with it lying next to my pillow, for it is Rowan Cashsoft, and it is purple. I delight in its purple, cashmere-y goodness. I pet it as if it were, well, my pet.

And I love it dearly because i feel it indicates knitterly maturity. I made a swatch in both stockinette and in the pattern(s) I was considering. And I washed my swatch. Then I neatly pinned it out, and patiently waited for it to dry before I measured the swatch.

I never, ever do this. But because of my love for the cashsocks I have taken the responsible path. I have settled down and swatched, and washed, and measured, an so far the knitterly swatch has served me well. I have progressed a fair way through the foot, even onto the heel, and no horrible gauge-related mishap has befallen me.


And see this? This mistake? It is a mistake I have made in the swatch, and thus will (hopefully) not have to make in the sock itself. Because of my cashmere swatch-of-protection which I have wisely knit myself has taught me to be a good and true knitter to this sock of mine.

I am all about this swatch because I am all about these socks. I really do love them. Truly and deeply.

But, dear readers, though my love for the cashsocks is pure and good, it is not without wayward glances, misplaced hands...it is not, I am afraid to say, without unfaithfulness. There are...other socks. Varigated socks. And not just one sock, there are two pair.

Two more pairs of socks. Unswatched, barely counted, made without regard to measurements or so much as a glance at a pattern.

These hussy socks I will show you tomorrow, or maybe Monday. Sometime when the cashsocks are not around to see my sockly infidelity. Also when the light is acceptable for the taking of pictures.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Twice knit...

..is twice blessed. I love dearly the idea of double knitting. It was my Knitting Olympics project to double knit socks, I've also worked a doll version of the Hoover blanket.

I often wonder why I don't double knit more often, seeing as it is mainly socks that I knit these days. So when I had a scarf to knit for my mom, I decided to do a two-sided scarf and double knit it.

This is what it looks like when you double knit:

It's all pretty simple, really. You cast on double the number of stitches you need, then you knit across slipping every other stitch. This makes the front. Then you knit across the back, slipping every other stitch just the same way.


Like this!

Here's the thing. I love the idea of double knitting. I hate. I hate, I hate actually double knitting. I hate slipping the stitches. It really slows me down, and I need the gratification of accomplishing row after quick-knit row. When you double knit, half the stitches are slipped, which means that you're not adding anything onto it.

This will not do at all. So yesterday I switched it from double knit, to single knit on double pointed needles.

Just like that, no more double knitting! I can knit faster, easier, and no more slipped stitches.


Now if only I could solve the problem of color knitting...

I love the idea of color knitting.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

So sorry

My new year's resolution? Not to leave my blog-readers postless for a month and a half.

I apologize.

There was vacation, there were holidays, there was a crazy amount of knitting. Dear readers, I've been in five states, and nine cities since we last spoke.

There were two projects in particular of which I took photographs for you:


The jamesy! This was a Christmas present for my dad, and it's a very good thing that he is not the same size as me. I tried it on and the sleeves went a good 6 inches past my fingertips.

This led to a frantic moment where I actually tried to blow dry the sweater to get the sleeves to shrink a bit. It didn't work, but luckily it didn't need to.

Here's a detail shot.
I'm pretty proud of having learned a sideways stitch.


I also finished the stubborn socks. These, too, recieved a major blocking to sort out where I let the fair isle pucker a bit.

I've knit two and a half pairs of socks in the meantime...but they're plain old ribbed socks which I didn't bother to take pictures of.

Here's something I did take a picture of.

Congratulations to Sarah and John, whose wedding I photographed last week.

(I'd also like to draw your attention to the difference in quality between this picture and the ones I take of my knitting. I can be a good photographer when I want to be.)
Tomorrow:
Double knitting, and my love hate relationship with it.