I've Moved!

Blogger is being a pain in the behind, and I haven't been able to access my blog for the past two weeks. So, I've moved my blog to WordPress.

http://dimsumknitting.wordpress.com/

Come and find me there!

It's a Beautiful Day

I started to title this post "Rain, Glorious Rain" only to realize that it should be followed up with "Sun, Glorious Sun." That made me think about how beautiful it is right now in Southern California. Sunny, cool crisp temps that make for perfect sweater weather. I just can't complain about it. It is a Beautiful Day, and I hope yours is too.

Since I owe you the FO picture for Ingenue, here it is. First, let me say how much I love wearing this sweater because it is soft and warm, but how much I hate how chunky I look in it. I really don't want nice comments from you nice readers about awww, it's not really. It's okay; I accept it. I still love wearing it. Okay, here here it is.

Project: Ingenue by Wendy Bernard from Custom Knits
Yarn: Needful Yarns London Tweed in green, 9 skeins
Needles: Susan Bates Silverado circular needles, US size 8s
Start: January 1
Finish: January 29

Thoughts: The first of the fl00zy cast on with my knitting group, this is the second of the batch that I've finished. Mind you, finishing projects it not a requirement of the fl00zy cast on, but I liked this sweater so much that I decided to. The pattern was extremely easy to follow, and the fit is perfect. I didn't try this sweater on at all during the increases and decreases, even though I attempted to with a very long cable needle (don't ask). I blindly knit along with the confidence that it would all work out in the end, and I'm so happy to say that it did.

After the sweater was finished, I toyed with the idea of keeping the cowl long, instead of pinning it down, but after playing with it a bit, decided the open cowl neck really makes the sweater. Its vintage look is what appealed to me from the beginning. The ends of the body and sleeves curled something crazy, but a nice steam blocking relaxed the fibers beautifully. It was a thrill to watch the fabric relax with the steam and lay nicely. I made no mods and highly recommend this pattern. However, you could save a ton of time by knitting the stockinette portions and picking up and crocheting the ridge pattern at the neck and sleeves. This sweater is definitely a thumbs up.

Since it's February and everybody's doing it, I've picked up my February Lady Sweater. The DIC Classy has a nice worsted feel to it and is just rustic enough to give you a good feel for the yarn.

Here's my lastest mindless knit, cast on in a reckless fashion too, One Skein - A Stole! (English Version) by Katja Jordan. I'm using some Noro Kureyon Silk Garden Sock yarn I picked up at a sale just for this project. I really love the olive greens with the black, and although I'm not a typical blue wearer, I think the colors will be really versatile yet uniquely me. Uh, what does uniquely me mean exactly? I dunno, but it sounded so good in that sentence, even though rather pretentious.

The second picture is bluer than it really is. I think the blues are more teal than denimy.

I finished my sister's socks and shipped them off. I'll wait for her to receive them before I put up the picture of them and do the final write up. I also did a tiny secret project that will be revealed at a later time. That's all for now. Have a great week!

Return from Wilderness

The Brownies and I returned from the Wilderness, alive and unscathed, and Ingenue survived it too! I finished her up Thursday night at about midnight, and steam blocked her on Friday. Wow, was that fun! Watching the stitches relax and straighten out was like magic before my very eyes. The ends curled quite drastically but the steam blocking worked wonders. It was ready to be folded up and smooshed into the weekend duffle bag. I had the inspiring idea to get my co-leader and co-knitter, Pam, to take the FO picture of it while camping. Too bad we never got around to it. This is the only shot I got of it from group picture, and I cropped it. I'll try to get a better, "official" FO picture of it but this will do for now.


Please excuse my crazed look. This was after two full days with twelve 8-year-old girls. We were almost done and ready to head home. I think you understand now.


My project du jour during our camping weekend was a plain toe-up sock. I worked on socks throughout the year in 2007, and in 2008, I made only one or two pair. It was time to try to learn a toe up sock without being a slave to numbers. I really wanted a recipe, similar to the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe. I found the Lifestyle Toe Up Socks - No Swatch Needed by Charisa Martin Cairn on ravelry and this was the time to try it. It features a no wrap short row heel. It intrigued me so I gave it a shot with some stash yarn, STR Heavyweight in Nodding Violet. It's a little wide on me, but these will be for my sister as a late Christmas gift, and I think they'll fit her fine. I have to cast on for the second one tonight to get started.





With the fun steam blocking of Ingenue on Friday, I pulled out some other FOs that were ready to go and blocked them. What fun! I have a scunci steamer, purchased on sale at Target with a 10% off coupon, and this baby has earned its keep and then some.


Sweetie Niece's late Christmas gift, the Republic Hat, got a steam shot and relaxed beautifully. I just have to wrap it up and send it off to Ithaca, NY where it'll get some use in those freezing temps.





Project: Banana Republic Hat Knockoff by metaphysical_muse
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Chunky in Lavender, 1 skein
Needles: Knit Picks Options, US sizes 8 and 10
Start: December 31
Finish: December 31

Thoughts: I love the vintage-y style of this hat and will be perfect in the cold NY temps. I bought this yarn at my very first yarn crawl with my knitting group at a now defunct store. I've never had the right project for it, until now. I'm glad the alpaca will be well-used.
Mods: I made it longer so it would cover the ears more. That's it. If you haven't made one of
these, you definitely should. Super cute, super style!





Project: Child's Rainbow Scarf by Joelle Hoverson
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky in Roasted Coffee, 1 1/2 skeins, and Noro Kochoran Natural, 1 skein
Needles: Knit Picks Options, US size 10
Start: January 11
Finish: January 21

Thoughts: The mistake rib was fun at first, especially the color changes, until it got too bulky to work with. Then I let it sit for a bit while I played around with other projects. Followed the pattern but chose yarn to man it up a bit, as it's for my brother-in-law. This is a surprise replacement the teeny tiny Irish Hiking Scarf I made him years ago. No mods, other than knitting it really long and then steam blocking it so it grew longer. He's tall, so the goal was to make it long enough so he could wear it Parisian like. I hope I get a picture of him in it one day, but don't hold your breath!

A Few FOs and Stuff

Thanks for the birthday wishes for Sweetie Boy. I thought the most exciting part of his birthday would be the new cell phone we got him. He walks about a mile to and from school everyday, so we thought it would be a good idea for him to have one (even though he was one of the last of his 10+ friends to get one). But no, this is what he was most excited about.



That's right. Sitting in the front seat. He is gleeful with a capital G when he remembers and gets in. And then he loved that he could see so much through the front windshield, pushing all the buttons (remember... 12 or 2?), and playing with the radio. Perhaps there should be a recommended maturity age for front passengers, but then that might put a lot of our spouses and significant others in the back seat. Hmmmmm, might not be a bad thing. Something to think about.

I have some recent FOs to show. First up are the Toasty wristwarmers that were modeled by the lovely Annette. Thanks Annette for being a wonderful model. Toasty was a fl00zy cast on, so this is the first completed fl00zy project. Very proud, I am.

Project: toasty by leslie friend
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere, 3 skeins in green, leftover scraps in pink
Needles: Knit Picks Options in US size 5, a'la magic loop
Start: January 6
Finish: January 11

Thoughts: I love everything about these. The cashmere feels like velvet after washing, and the color makes me smile and feel all cheery inside. Too bad my daughter likes to swipe them from me and put them on.

Mods: I did a provisional cast on but followed the rest of the pattern. Then, I used up all of the rest of the green cashmere to pick up the stitches at the provisional cast on and Use It All Up. They're a bit long, but I wear them scrunchy around my wrists. Great pattern. A definite must make, especially in cashmere. But then I wouldn't turn my nose up at a pair in tweed either.

My quick knit for this weekend was... a pair of socks. Surprise! I haven't made socks in about a year, I think. Lenores were the last from what I remember. Sweetie Girl and I are going on a Brownie Camping Trip in the mountains where it will be cold cold cold for us Southern Californians. I decided she needed some wool socks, so I whipped up a pair last weekend using some worsted weight yarn. She loves them and I got to practice on a plain vanilla pair, which I hope to do lots of in 2009.

Don't her feet look big? Well, that's because they are, but I made these with room to grow too.

Project: Basic Sock Pattern by Ann Budd
Yarn: Artyarns Supermerino, 2 skeins in some purpley pink that I've had in my stash for over 2 years.
Needles: Knit Picks Options in US sizes 4 and 5, a'la magic loop, with a little bit of dpns thrown in to mix things up a bit
Start: January 24
Finish: January 26

Thoughts: I have sock yarn coming out of my... ears (okay, let's try to keep this family friendly) and I'm determined to get some sock knitting done this year. However, I'm not ready to start back with size 1 needles (Sorry T. Your Christmas socks might have to wait a bit longer.) I decided I needed to learn a sock recipe, like the Yarn Harlot's, and not be a slave to the pattern. So I consulted the Yarn Harlot's Sock Recipe from Knitting Rules and Ann Budd's Basic Sock Pattern from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and did a bit of both. I'm feeling comfortable enough that I could follow the Harlot's recipe in the very near future, but I'm also tempted to try the Lifestyle Toe Up Socks - No Swatch Needed by Charisa Martin Cairn. Either way, I'll use up some of that BMFA Socks that Rock Heavyweight for some house socks.

The only real mod I did was the Eye of Partridge heel which I'm pleased with except you can't see them really well in this picture. Or maybe I didn't do them right? Oh well, they'll be inside boots so I think it'll be just fine thank you very much. They were fun to do so I will definitely incorporate this heel again.

Lastly, I'm on the last half of the second sleeve of Ingenue. I'm hoping to have it done also in time for the camping trip this weekend and if all goes as planned (although it rarely ever does), I hopefully will be warm in handknits. I'm getting a lot of curl on the edges, so I might have to take the iron to her. Let's hope she is cooperative and not in need of torture.

Have a great rest of the week!

12

Or more like 2?

Happy Birthday, Sweetie Boy.

Happy Inauguration Day!

Today was the first of many tough decisions ahead. I decided to skip pilates class in honor of watching the Inauguration. The sacrifices I make... say no more. I'm glad I did. My sister and her family actually attended and here's a picture she sent.


T, do you mind if I use this picture on my blog? Thanks!
Photo by dimsumknitter's sister

I've been bored bored bored working on the Mistake Rib scarf so I switched to Ingenue. We're going on a Brownie camping trip in the mountains at the end of the month, so I thought a new wool sweater would make the idea of a it a little less painful. I'm at the final ridge rows at the bottom before binding off. I think the cowl at the top will be too small, so it might be a regular cowl, instead of tacking it down per the pattern.

This weekend began the first of a long series of soccer weekends for tourneys, friendlies, State Cup and Cal Cup. Luckily, Sweetie Boy's team won their tourney.

We had temps in the high '80s this weekend, as you can tell from his pink cheeks. I know in other parts of the country temps are in the negatives. Stay warm and safe. Sweetie Boy is definitely due for a haircut. My friend calls it mon chee chee hair after some toy doll in the 80's, I think. Cracks me up but it's true, I think. Fingers crossed that Sweetie Girl's team will put up a good showing at next weekend's tourney.

Final Day of Fl00zy

Day 7 of our Fl00zy Cast On knitalong has come and gone. I realized I didn't show you my final official project, so here it is:



Exciting, no? It's Bianca's Jacket by Michele Rose Orne and I'm using Berroco Denim Silk which is discontinued but I managed to snatch up in a flurry of frenzied searching on ravelry. Directions for the pattern have you make the back and fronts separately, but I'm going to knit those all at once. Wish me luck, because I know I'll need it. I'll also try to wing some other mods, such as lengthening it and knitting the sleeves in the round also.

I managed to finish my first Fl00zy cast on project, Toasty. I'm waiting for the camera battery to charge so I can take a modeled FO picture of it. Pics to come soon! As soon as I bound off on Toasty, I cast on for a Mistake Rib scarf with some Lamb's Pride Bulky and Noro Kochoran.

This scarf is intended for my brother in law. He came to Christmas Eve at our house sporting his tiny Irish Hiking Scarf I made for him in 2005, I think. It was tiny because, perhaps this sounds familiar, worsted weight wool-ease on size 8 needles goes oh! so! slowly! and I wanted to finish that puppy as quickly as possible. So it came out too short. If nothing else, I have learned that knitting on size 10s with bulky yarn knits up faster. Waaaaay faster.

Have a great week!