Capital "K"

Once upon a time, I said that I believed one must have knit adult sized socks and a sweater to be a REAL KNITTER.

Yesterday, as I dressed to go to knitting, I was totally a real Knitter. Capital K. I snapped this spectacularly crappy picture as I was getting ready to go of my first pair of fingering weight toe up socks and my Bleecker Street Cardigan. I've worn the socks several times before, but it was the maiden voyage for the freshly blocked sweater.  The socks are nice and warm, though they have some fit issues that I'm working through as I prepare to turn the heels on my second pair. The toes are a bit too pointy, and they are awfully tight getting over my heel when I put them on. They seem fine once they are on, it's just kind of hard getting them there. I don't know if it's because I didn't do any ribbing on the leg apart from the cuff, which I also wish I'd have done more of but I was just DONE knitting at that point, or if it's because the yarn is a wool-cotton-nylon blend rather than just wool-nylon. In any case, they fit well enough and I've appreciated having them this cold, cold winter.

The sweater, I LOVE. It's so warm without being heavy, and I think the fit came out really nicely. The pattern is written by Melissa Wehrle (affiliate link) and the yarn is Lousia Harding Kashmir Baby. I have yet to buy buttons, and technically I didn't add any buttonholes to the bottom ribbing. I'm undecided if I will, and if I'll do some kind of afterthought buttonhole to accommodate lower buttons. I typically wear cardigans unfastened, so the buttons are really decorative. I may end up putting buttons all the way down on the button side and letting the bottom 3 or so be purely decorative, while the top of the sweater could actually be buttoned. The only modifications I made to the pattern was to increase the length of the fronts between the waist shaping and the neck shaping (the sweater is worked bottom up in pieces) to make them match the backs - I have no idea why the math was coming out different. I didn't check my row gauge which was probably naughty and the culprit, but it all came out well in the end. I also started the whole extravaganza with a provisional cast on. After I seamed the sweater together, I went back and knitted the ribbing, which I did as 3x2 rather than 1x1 as written, as long as I could stand going. The pattern called for just an inch of ribbing, but I like a long cardigan. I went for about 6 inches before calling it done, and I'm really glad I did. I'm glad I did wider ribbing too, not only because I like the more substantial look with such a large length of ribbing, but also because I think 1x1 for that long may have driven me mad. For some reason I had an absurdly hard time keeping the rhythm of the 3x2 as I knit it, and had to drop down every few rows to fix an errant knit or purl. It's always good to practice those rescue knitting techniques, right?!

Someday I may get around to better finished object pictures, but for now I'll wear my sweater as often as possible and be happy that I have it this very cold February.

Personal Day

It's been an incredibly busy two weeks at work. So much so that I ended up sleeping most of Saturday to recover from a few straight days of big meetings and travel, and enough extra hours to take a day off all to myself. I didn't get to sleep in much, but I did get to knit a bit on my Quaker Ridge Shawlette while I watched the latest episode of Downton Abbey. (Wow, what an episode!) Yes, lord help me, I'm knitting a shawl. I tell myself that it's just a big squishy scarf and I'm not 100% an old lady just yet. And it IS nice and squishy, as I'm using a pretty tonal shade of malabrigo Arroyo in Aguas. I'm a little worried about running out of yarn. My calculations have me running out at the cast on row, so perhaps I'll just do one or two fewer rows of the ruffle. Those are mighty long rows to have to knit backward.
 

I also got to putter around in the studio a bit, clearing off the big table, getting things in order. The shelves still need their trim pieces, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I started filling them instead. I finally found a cute little tin to corral my double pointed needles. I mean, I hadn't actually been looking that hard, but I found it in the dollar spot at Target.

I plan to get a rotary cutter this weekend. It's been on my list for quite awhile, and I think the time has come. I tell myself it will make my cutting much more even.

I dipped a toe back into sewing with a couple of little project bags. I wanted them to be sturdy so I interfaced the outside fabric. The stuff I had on hand was really too sturdy for the job, but I didn't feel like making a special trip out. I did make the bags a bit harder to work, and harder to line up the seams as you can see on the fruit print bag. Oh well, learning experience. They're just for me anyway. I'll have to pick up some ribbon to make the drawstring closures. I might get a zipper too to make a larger wedge type bag for sweaters or a baby blanket or something. These bags are good for socks and mitt size projects. I thought it would be nice to have something a little cuter to corral my projects than the makeshift bags I've been using - which are actually the casings to a couple sets of twin sheets! They work pretty well, but I've been wanting to dip a toe back into sewing and this seemed like a nice quick project. It would have been quicker if I hadn't made a few dumb mistakes! If the directions seem goofy....there's a good chance it's operator error. :)

In the studio

It feels like there's been a lot happening and at the same time very little. I've taken advantage of the end of the Christmas rush with a good deal of selfish knitting. I finished my Bleecker Street cardigan, finally, and it's drying on the blocking board. The fit, from what I can tell so far, is great. The fronts were doing quite a lot of curling though, so I wanted to give it a good block before wearing. It would be wonderful if it were ready to wear to Monday night knitting!

After that, I immediately cast on a simple, plain hat with the leftover ball and change from the sweater. I haven't photographed it. It turned out well, though I wish I'd done it with either more or less slouch. It's right on the edge. I might line it though, as it's only a sport weight and I could use a little more warmth here up north. That will probably fill in the not enough slouch just enough to make it a good hat for me.

After THAT I cast on the Chilly Podsters that have been on my list for years. I started out working the fingering weight pattern, but quit after deciding they wouldn't be warm enough. They're a fingerless glove with a mitten flip top. I've needed them ever since the advent of touch screen phones, and now they are mine. They are knit from Cascade 220 superwash worsted weight on size 3 needles. I usually knit my kids mittens, also worsted weight, on size 5's, so this fabric is even more dense than I'm used to. They were really tight when I first put them on, but they are loosening up nicely with wear, and the dense fabric keeps them warm. Even so, I might go ahead and line the flip top if and when I line the hat, because why not. I love the functionality of the flip top thumb. I only did it on my right hand and I'm glad I did. Sometimes it doesn't quite overlap and that's a little annoying, but that's really the only thing!

I've been picking away at the sock yarn blanket too after snapping up scraps from a much smarter knitter whose blocks are about 4x the size of mine. I'm really loving this time to myself. I've yet to feel much in the mood for sewing, but I'm hoping it will come soon. I've got some ideas for myself, and possibly the shop. We'll see. I'm not pushing it.

I also, after a few years of idle speculation, acquired a spinning wheel. My years of speculation have merely been idle because it turns out wheels start at $400 and go up steeply from there. A little much to invest in a possibly passing fancy. I'd been casually looking on Craigslist, and found a working vintage wheel, origin unknown. The guy threw in a dress form, which I've also been looking for, for just $5, and a pile of yarn (chosen from several bins) for another $10. She's a bit bustier than I am, but since I'm looking more for decor than fit, and more for a $5 pricetag than $50-200, she's perfect. She needs a stand. I'll have to work on that. It was a pretty good trip, and no mom, I didn't get murdered or maimed.

As for the spinning, I spent an evening disassembling, dusting, and greasing up the moving parts. It still runs a bit rough but I think it will get better with time. I ordered some fiber. I'm pretty terrible. Most of the time I spin frustration, the others I seem to be spinning tightly spun rope, not pretty soft yarn. Yes, this will take some practice.

TIme Elapsed

So the end of 2014 really wiped me out. I ended up with three rolling and simultaneous work deadlines, a fairly heavy load of knitting, none of which was for me, and a harebrained idea that I had to fix up a vintage dollhouse by Christmas Eve. It was already somewhat painted on the inside, so those are the surfaces I touched. I didn't mess with any of the natural wood. It turned out really cute, and hasn't looked this orderly since December 25. The studio is nowhere near "finished," but it's mostly functioning. I haven't had the time to spruce it up or fully organize it, but it was great to have a place to stash and work on Christmas gifts. I really need to order a space heater though. Winter has unmistakably arrived. It's definitely taken a while to get back the desire to be creative and to write and to do anything in my spare time but sleep.

This weekend though, I cast on a new pair of socks from the wonderful and slightly over my head Sock Architecture (affiliate link) book by Lara Neel. I did the long wedge toe based on the exercises in the beginning of the book, and I already like the fit much better than my first pair. I also finished knitting the two fronts of my Bleecker Street Cardigan, and I even ripped out and redid both of the sleeve caps. I've been putting off that rip for months, but I was just in the right headspace to sit down and do it. I'm glad I did. There was another mistake aside from the one I ripped for, so re-knitting made the whole thing assemble much more easily. Which it is now, mostly. I'm just attaching the neckband, and then I'll be starting the ribbing along the bottom where I left the provisional cast on. I ended up with just shy of three balls of yarn left. I won't use it all. I'll rib till I get bored or I feel like it's long enough. Then I'll block - it's curly as hell - and photograph the finished object. I can't wait to wear it. It's been so cold here.

As for me and the blog in 2015? I don't know. I haven't felt much in the mood for twice weekly updates, so I just stopped. I'd rather post nothing than post nonsense for the sake of it, you know? I feel both inspired and overwhelmed by the resolution or goal or theme of the year posts I've read elsewhere. Part of me would love to say "I'm going to knit a pair of socks a month!" and the other part of me is like, well, good luck with that, not going to happen. I guess my main goal for the year is to roll with it. I want to be kind to myself and not set myself up for disappointment. Realistically all of this is my hobby. I was feeling pretty burned out by knitting for my Etsy shop this holiday, so for now I think I'm just going to stop. I took down all the custom listings right before the holiday order deadline, but not before I over-committed myself. I'm not going to shut the shop down altogether, but I think I'm going to take it in another direction, as the mood strikes. No definite plans to share right now, I'm going to do it more as I'm moved to. I'd forgotten how nice it was to knit for me, so I'm glad I had this weekend to rediscover it. I knit about 21 things (mostly PAIRS of things) for Etsy sales last year, and just 12 for my nearest and dearest. For now, I'm hanging up my commission knitting hat, no pun intended. Perhaps selfish is my 2015 theme. Or taking care of the home front. It's actually not as bad as it sounds - part of what's been on MY list and gotten pushed down a lot is knitting newborn and preemie hats for local hospitals, and I just haven't had the time to do it. Perhaps as soon as I cast off my sweater, I'll cast on a little hat. Yes, I think that feels right.

Holiday Gifts!

Hi everyone! My brain is getting altogether scrambled with alternating deadlines every week at work, which is leaving little time or desire for blogging, but I wanted to pop in with a couple of announcements.


First of all, the USPS has released the holiday shipping deadlines!

Given this, I've updated the information for my Etsy shop.

{{HOLIDAY 2014 ANNOUNCEMENT!}} 

Need it by Christmas? The USPS shipping deadline for Christmas delivery is December 20. My made to order items (most of the knitted things!) have a 2 week lead time, so the order deadline for MADE TO ORDER is SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6. If you are ordering "READY TO SHIP" items (this will be noted in the item title), the deadline is THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18. Thanks so much for your understanding!

I'm busily knitting away on a couple of current orders, and I'm getting down to just a few things that are ready to ship! So no pressure or anything, but if you were planning to place an order for Christmas, the deadline is fast approaching!

And on that same note, I've been featured in a holiday gift guide! How cool! Thanks Suzanne!

Anyway, I'm hoping my brain recovers from all this work soon, but I don't really expect much before the new year!

Renting a Rug Doctor

My very first job was at the local Pick N Save grocery store. I was a cashier and service desk clerk, and I worked there for....3 years I think? Over that time, one of my responsibilities was to help people rent that little red carpet scrubber machine....and now (a bunch of) years later, I'm the one making the rental.

Honestly I'd never given it much thought. I don't remember my parents ever using one of these in the house I grew up in, and later on they built a house and had a crew come in and scrub everything from time to time. I DO know that on the day I rented the Rug Doctor, I was in a really foul mood. You see, I'd finally picked out a rug for the "den" area of my remodeled studio. ((link to rug) When it arrived, I wasn't certain it was the ONE, but I spread it out thinking I'd either get used to it or I'd return it.

However.....disaster soon struck.

All of those white spots are the result of an unhappy cat - not sure if it was unhappy bowels, attitude or both. This discovery made ME so unhappy I couldn't deal with it, so my husband did, and he was rather aggressive on the Resolve and not so much on the rinsing, so those white spots are not only discolored, but also rather crusty. I went down several times with a bucket of water and a scrub brush, and this was as good as I could get. I thought maybe it was actually bleached, but I decided to give it one more chance with a heavy duty scrubber, and re-evaluate my options after.

I got the medium sized bottle of the Oxy-Steam Carpet Cleaner solution (I opted against the pet formula because the pet portion of the stain was already gone. I also opted against the upgrade version of Oxy-Steam because it was bigger and I didn't need that much, and I was already irritated about having to spend any money on this in the first place.) My total cost was $50, including a $10 deposit. Operation was pretty simple. It was easy to remove the whitish reservoir to put in the diluted solution, and it wasn't heavy at all to pull. It operates by pushing a button to get the water and scrubbers going while you pull it backward. If you don't push the button, it runs as a heavy duty vacuum. One thing I'll say is that if you're doing a rug, you need another person to stand on the edge so the whole thing doesn't get pulled back into the vacuum, which has pretty strong suction. Obviously this isn't an issue with carpeting which is attached to the floor! I also had quite a lot of excess water, even after going over it a few times with just the vacuum function, so I ended up laying it out on the concrete portion of the basement to dry so as not to cause the vinyl flooring to pop up with all that moisture sitting on it. I also draped it over a coffee table to get some air to the underside after a day or two.

The results?

I'd give it a solid "decent." With the comparison of the before and after photos, you can still see the outline of the original stain. Everything feels the same texture now - no more crusty spots - and it's not quite so obvious in person where the problem areas are. Part of the issue honestly is probably the rug itself. It's viscose, and has both sheen and direction to it. It's sort of like microfiber in that you can rub your hand on it one way or the other and see its path. I'm hoping that both with regular vacuuming and a coffee table in the middle (you can see one of its bright footprint on the upper right above, which also demonstrates that this rug shows tracks if you breathe on it), that the rug will be ok in the basement studio. If I had endless money, I'd replace it with something else, but I don't, so I can at least rest in the fact that it's definitely CLEAN, even if it doesn't look perfect. I also wouldn't buy a viscose rug again. This is just NOT a "messy person" friendly material.

To sum up - Rug Doctor = I'd use it again if I had to, but I hope I don't have to! Viscose rug = not thrilled, wouldn't buy again.

It may not be pretty

...but at least I'm moving.

Slowly, slowly, I'm staining, painting, polying. My usual problem with painted/poly-ed surfaces is that I get too impatient and don't allow enough drying time between coats, resulting in a sticky surface. That won't be a problem this time! I can basically get a coat on something every couple of days....and I'm sure it's about a week by the time I get back around to the beginning.

It's a good thing I'm in the mood (sort of) for painting. I keep turning around and finding spots like this that I just straight up missed when I had this color out for touch ups.

I rented a carpet scrubber to try to solve the unspeakable horrors done to my rug. The jury is still out on whether or not it worked - it's taking a long time to dry despite dehumidifiers and fans pointed in its direction. An afternoon rest outside caused, well, a frozen rug. I did learn that you can't JUST shampoo the middle part of the rug where the nonsense happened. As it started to dry, there was a definite visible line where I'd scrubbed and where I didn't. Luckily I'd prepared for such a thing and had enough time to RE-scrub before returning the machine. Long story short....I don't recommend a viscose rug. I'm not sure anyone will ever be allowed to touch it if it comes out of all this looking ok.

As I have absolutely nothing finished to show you, I'll leave you with this. What is wrong with the world. The My Little Ponys of my day were nowhere near this terrifying. Or....vertical. I'm so confused.