Don't Cross Me!

I've got a new pattern up!

 Don't Cross Me is now available in my Ravelry shop for $4.99, or you can purchase the PDF through the patterns tab at the top of the this page.

As an added bonus, followers of this blog and members of my Ravelry group can use the coupon code "Censored1" to get 25% of their total purchase when you buy the Don't Cross Me pattern. This discount is running through the end of October, so hurry before it expires!

Out of Context

Hey, look! It's a finished object!

Pattern: Context by Kristen Briney

Yarn: main color--Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga in a grey that I can't find on their site, "Geek". Contrast color is Bugga in "Spanish Dancer." (70% superwash Merino wool, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon. Skinny Bugga is fingering weight, Bugga is sport weight). I used a full ball of Geek, and about 1/3-1/2 of a ball of Spanish Dancer.

Needles: US 4/3.5mm

Notes: I made a few modifications to the original pattern. I decided I wanted it larger than pictured (I was hoping for something shawl size, but was out of luck), so I knit until I ran out of my main color. I did four rows of garter stitch after the end of the pattern, and then did the bind off row in the contrast color. Without cutting the yarn, I went straight into picking up stitches for the ruffle.

The original instructions for the ruffle call for it to be in plain stockinette, using a kfb increase in every stitch on right side rows, purling the wrong side rows. I decided that I wanted something more open, so I knit the the first two stitches on the right side rows, then did a yarn over between every stitch, knitting the last two stitches. The wrong side rows remained purled.

After only four rows, however, I was starting to run out of circular needle (that's what happens when you have almost 700 stitches on your needle). On the next rs row, I grabbed a crochet hook that was just slightly larger than my needles and did a modified crocheted cast off.

What I ended up with was an epic ruffle. It's kind of funny--I love ruffles on hand knitted objects, but I avoid them like the plague on anything store bought.

So why is this the Out of Context scarf? Well, first there are the modifications to the pattern. Second, the colors. Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a fan of our local college team. I don't even like the school very much, but that's a political diatribe I won't get into here. Anyway, I usually avoid the scarlet and grey color scheme whenever possible for that reason, but in trying to match a color to that grey, which has some yellow undertones and bits of grey and tan in it, the orangy-red of Spanish Dancer was really the only option from what I had on hand.

I think they look fabulous together.

I love this scarf.

I am not sure I can bring myself to wear it in public, however.

But perhaps I just need to get over my issues and appreciate the knitting. After all, the scarf itself has no affiliation or political leanings.

I'm just a girl with a scarf. Call me a Buckeye, and you might find out how pointy my needles really are.

 

Don't Mind the Ice

Ignore that frost over there in the corner. It's just hell freezing over. Do you know why?

I've got a finished object.

With pictures.

How often does that happen?

I started this super-basic shrug about 2-3 weeks ago at the Ravelry/Pride meetup, and finished it up this afternoon. It was such a lovely, sunny day that I took my mannequin outside for the photoshoot.

The yarn I used is a mystery yarn that I picked up in Italy a few years ago. The ball band is long gone, but I remember that it was 100% linen. To date, this is still the only linen yarn I've ever worked with, but I love it. I bought two or three balls of it (I think it was something like 2-3 euro each; a steal) and used the first one to make a Turkish rib scarf for my mom while I was away. Somehow, it never got entered into Ravelry. :/ I feel like this is a gaping hole, somehow.

At any rate, I do know that it was purchased here, and if I remember correctly, it was the house brand. If you happen to be in Firenze, though, don't go expecting to find this exact yarn--it was on clearance and I grabbed the last two balls, so it's probably discontinued. Do check out some of their other yarns, though. This one was great to work with and I swear each ball has about a billion yards in it. The scarf I made for my mom was rather massive, and a single ball made this shrug--with some leftover.

Oh, did I mention? That yarn shop will also let you buy bulk yarns by weight. I did not take advantage of that when I was there (that would be a dangerous rabbit hole for me) but if I ever go back to Florence, I will.

The shrug itself is extremely easy: yok2tog all the way around the first round, then knit the second round. Repeat those two rows for about an inch, then split and work flat (substituting a purl row for the knit round) and work for 18". Rejoin in the round, and continue for another inch before binding off. For a finishing touch, I picked up stitches to add the ribbing. If I'd had a little more yarn left over, I would have added ribbing around the shoulder/neck/hem area, but I was about two rounds short of what I needed. Missed it by that much.

The conclusion of this project means that I'll be buckling down in earnest to make samples for the book soon--as soon as I nail down the final yarns and relay them to my publisher. At the moment I'm using some of my samples to swatch a couple of patterns that may or may not make their way into CENSORED. Right now the big challenge is that all of my yarn support yarns are much thinner than all of the yarns I worked with originally--by about half, if not more. Writing the patterns with the yarn held double would, I think, make most projects prohibitively expensive for the average knitter (at $32 a pop, who wants to buy eight skeins for a scarf? I feel bad enough asking for four...). At minimum, this means going back and reworking all of my charts and the thus-far-completed patterns...for a third time.

But, considering that last night the cat and I were fighting over who got to use the sample skeins as a teddy bear...I don't mind too much. Hey, when it's THAT soft, who can complain?

Birthday Contest!

When I was a kid, I thought it kind of sucked having a summer birthday because it meant I couldn't bring cupcakes in to class to celebrate with all of my friends the way everyone else did (because somehow, out of 115 people in my graduating class, there were only a handful of us with birthdays from June through August). But as I've gotten older, I've liked my birthday better and better. For starters, it occurred to me around third or fourth grade that my birthday was exactly six months away from Christmas, making the distribution of presents through the year more equitable (unlike the poor kids with December or January birthdays, who often got their birthdays rolled into other holidays, or mostly left off in the post-holiday slump).

I don't know about you, but I love presents! Since today is my birthday, I thought I would give all of you lovely people on the internet a chance to get one.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by 11:59 PM June 30th (EST) telling me what your favorite birthday memory is. It can be your birthday, or someone else's that you helped make special. Don't forget to leave your name and a way for me to contact you, either through email, Twitter, or a blog.

On July first, I'll draw two winners using a random number generator. First place with get a free PDF download of my pattern, "Charlotte" and some lovely yarn to knit it out of:

Cascade Yarns Luna Paints in Color #9701
100% Peruvian Cotton, 100g

Second place will get the free pattern.

Winners will have until the end of July to redeem the coupon code on Ravelry (if you're not on Ravelry, just let me know and I can email you a copy).

(All of my photos of "Charlotte" are on the laptop, which I still don't have back yet. A preview shot can be found here, however.)

Now You See It, Now You Don't.

Chameleon Circuit.

Well, here it is. Actually, I lied--the pattern became available yesterday.

One of the most frustrating things about working with illusion patterns is that they can be really hard to photograph.

I whipped up this TARDIS chart over the weekend, and made it available through Ravelry (you can also download it here and read all of the pattern details). It's free, and is intended to be worked into existing patterns as an embellishment of sorts--hats, socks, scarves, etc, rather than as a stand alone. I want to work on a larger, more detailed version, but that will have to wait a little. Too many projects to get off of the needles before work on the book begins in earnest!

Getting caught up

What happened to this week? Where did it go? I think there was some working in there at some point, and a bit of writing, but I think most of it got taken up with this:

Yep, that's right. Hermes and I are back under the same roof! I'm so happy. Except for the part where he has been more vocal than usual, and keeping me up for the last three nights. Where did that rumor that cats sleep 20 hours a day come from? Mostly he paces around the house chirping at me (because he's too cool to meow) and pawing at stuff like he wants attention (and then promptly runs away when I try to give it to him).

Anyway, it's an (exhausting) adjustment period. But, I've had a long weekend in which to work on this:

That's "Charlotte," the first pattern that will be available to Post Club members with Silver memberships or higher.

This entrelac neckwarmer is knit flat, with a little bit of subtle shaping. The yarn it calls for is not just soft, but a budget-friendly natural fiber, and the color progression lends itself well to entrelac. I'll be adding some more (better) photos to this post tomorrow, but I got hijacked by my photographer (Missouri is a terrible enabler) and wound up missing the daylight I was going to use for the photoshoot, and my camera does not do well with anything other than diffused sunlight.

Perhaps I should add "new camera" to my "things to do with my tax refund" list. Which, if you were wondering, is much bigger than the refund itself is going to be. Ah, well. I guess there's always next year.