Monday, April 13, 2009
Socks on Parade
Ok, sock, singular, on parade... and by "parade", I mean "cat":
...at least it proves the existence of one sock. (And one of my amazing, adorable kitties!) If only the second one would just find the exact point in the yarn which will provide a near-identical striping sequence, and cast itself on.
I tried an anatomical toe on this one, since the recipient has more of a toe-angle going on than I do. I remembered seeing instructions for this once on Persnickety Knitter, but since I was doing top-down construction (and I haven't yet tried toe-up - I will take the challenge some day), I did a little more scouting around and found some helpful pointers at Under Dutch Skies. I didn't follow the instructions entirely (I don't have a printer with which to produce the custom knitting chart graph, though that is an incredible, incredible resource), but I did trace Bre's left foot on some looseleaf paper and did some rudimentary calculating based on my gauge, and though she hasn't yet tried the sock on, it seems to have worked out.
Ok, enough faffing about, I should get to bed. But before I do, the Krikki gals want to wish you a happy Easter... and so do Bella and Edward. G'night!
...at least it proves the existence of one sock. (And one of my amazing, adorable kitties!) If only the second one would just find the exact point in the yarn which will provide a near-identical striping sequence, and cast itself on.
I tried an anatomical toe on this one, since the recipient has more of a toe-angle going on than I do. I remembered seeing instructions for this once on Persnickety Knitter, but since I was doing top-down construction (and I haven't yet tried toe-up - I will take the challenge some day), I did a little more scouting around and found some helpful pointers at Under Dutch Skies. I didn't follow the instructions entirely (I don't have a printer with which to produce the custom knitting chart graph, though that is an incredible, incredible resource), but I did trace Bre's left foot on some looseleaf paper and did some rudimentary calculating based on my gauge, and though she hasn't yet tried the sock on, it seems to have worked out.
Ok, enough faffing about, I should get to bed. But before I do, the Krikki gals want to wish you a happy Easter... and so do Bella and Edward. G'night!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
De-stashing, Re-stashing, and All Points in Between
We started to seriously de-clutter a little bit in the past couple of weeks - there have been boxes sitting in our office/computer room/junk room/hobby space since we moved in, and I haven't been making very good use of the bookshelf or my "new" desk that I got Christmas 2007 (it's incredibly lovely, made by my husband and my dad-in-law, but it has unfortunately become a holding spcae for everything except my computer... right now the built-in bookshelf is totally packed, though!). I think in that first 2-day burst of cleaning we threw out about five or six bags of garbage/unwanted items that have been collecting dust since forever.
The big part is that I actually threw out yarn! Not good yarn, mind - I'm talking the cheapiest, scratchiest acrylics from when I began knitting, the fun-fur type stuff I got at Hobby Lobby that is a pain in the arse to knit with and offers no stitch definition (but I bought in the beginning stages of knitting because it was soooooooo fluffy and sooooooo fun! Am I ever glad that I'm over that infatuation phase). I actually did some of that a couple of months ago, too, when I realised that I was never going to fit my whole stash into the super-sized tote box I bought for storage. Which is not to say that my whole stash is even in there, now - there's still some on my desk, in another Rubbermaid tote in the bedroom, distributed among a few knitting bags, downstairs by the kitchen... you get the idea, ha. But I made the decision this year not to buy yarn that I absolutely loved, or had a purpose for. If it was of a poor quality, or not for a specific project, I wasn't going to buy it, even if it was on sale. So far I have stuck to my guns on this and I am quite proud of myself!
So, for my birthday this year I received quite a windfall in Handheld Knitting gift certificates, and while I don't usually go nuts in there (as much as I wish my yarn budget could exceed my food/grocery budget, it's just not feasible, heh), I've allowed myself a few things I couldn't ordinarily afford, such as Tofutsies sock yarn, Opal sock yarn, Mini Mochi sock yarn (hah... seeing a trend here?), some Brown Sheep company stuff and... well, that's it so far, but I still have a bit of credit left. I got the Opal on Saturday, and I'm 3/4 of the way through a sock for my friend Bre. Obviously a second one will follow it, but as with all of my sock projects, it's anyone's guess as to when it will materialise! I tried finding the label (I know I saved it, but can't remember where I put it as I am a doofus), so I can't link to a source, but you can see the sock-in-progress to your left. It is such a yummy colourway - it makes me feel very happy to knit with it, and I only hope I can find more so I can make a pair for me! Although the Mini Mochi (in very jewel-y, ultramarine blue tones) and the very pink Tofutsies are for me... so I might have to hold off on that.
Right now I'm just getting back into the swing of the knitting thing, after a brief hiatus (a large work-related project had me delving into another craft - painting - and left little energy for the sticks), and I'm loving it again. Being in the yarn store is a refreshing experience, a little bit of soul renewal every time I step through the door and let myself think of the possibilities. Today I even stayed a little while and worked on my sock while trying to decide what else to get (it's nice to meditate by the sock yarn!) and chit-chatted with Joy, one of the owners. It was quite lovely.
In other news, my aforementioned friend Bre and I started a new blog, Krikki Watch - it's a Kristen Stewart/Nikki Reed hybrid fansite, for following the gossip surrounding their meteoric rise to BFF-dom and also their movie projects, those done together and seperately. It's a bit of fun and I loved finding a cute pic of them for the site!
Ok, that's about it. I will post more works in progress and hopefully get to that second sock by the time the weekend comes!
The big part is that I actually threw out yarn! Not good yarn, mind - I'm talking the cheapiest, scratchiest acrylics from when I began knitting, the fun-fur type stuff I got at Hobby Lobby that is a pain in the arse to knit with and offers no stitch definition (but I bought in the beginning stages of knitting because it was soooooooo fluffy and sooooooo fun! Am I ever glad that I'm over that infatuation phase). I actually did some of that a couple of months ago, too, when I realised that I was never going to fit my whole stash into the super-sized tote box I bought for storage. Which is not to say that my whole stash is even in there, now - there's still some on my desk, in another Rubbermaid tote in the bedroom, distributed among a few knitting bags, downstairs by the kitchen... you get the idea, ha. But I made the decision this year not to buy yarn that I absolutely loved, or had a purpose for. If it was of a poor quality, or not for a specific project, I wasn't going to buy it, even if it was on sale. So far I have stuck to my guns on this and I am quite proud of myself!
So, for my birthday this year I received quite a windfall in Handheld Knitting gift certificates, and while I don't usually go nuts in there (as much as I wish my yarn budget could exceed my food/grocery budget, it's just not feasible, heh), I've allowed myself a few things I couldn't ordinarily afford, such as Tofutsies sock yarn, Opal sock yarn, Mini Mochi sock yarn (hah... seeing a trend here?), some Brown Sheep company stuff and... well, that's it so far, but I still have a bit of credit left. I got the Opal on Saturday, and I'm 3/4 of the way through a sock for my friend Bre. Obviously a second one will follow it, but as with all of my sock projects, it's anyone's guess as to when it will materialise! I tried finding the label (I know I saved it, but can't remember where I put it as I am a doofus), so I can't link to a source, but you can see the sock-in-progress to your left. It is such a yummy colourway - it makes me feel very happy to knit with it, and I only hope I can find more so I can make a pair for me! Although the Mini Mochi (in very jewel-y, ultramarine blue tones) and the very pink Tofutsies are for me... so I might have to hold off on that.Right now I'm just getting back into the swing of the knitting thing, after a brief hiatus (a large work-related project had me delving into another craft - painting - and left little energy for the sticks), and I'm loving it again. Being in the yarn store is a refreshing experience, a little bit of soul renewal every time I step through the door and let myself think of the possibilities. Today I even stayed a little while and worked on my sock while trying to decide what else to get (it's nice to meditate by the sock yarn!) and chit-chatted with Joy, one of the owners. It was quite lovely.
In other news, my aforementioned friend Bre and I started a new blog, Krikki Watch - it's a Kristen Stewart/Nikki Reed hybrid fansite, for following the gossip surrounding their meteoric rise to BFF-dom and also their movie projects, those done together and seperately. It's a bit of fun and I loved finding a cute pic of them for the site!
Ok, that's about it. I will post more works in progress and hopefully get to that second sock by the time the weekend comes!
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