How I Learned to Knit...

Beak Knits! has asked her readers to share their "learning to knit" stories. This is a timely topic for me to reflect upon, as my one year knit-iversary is quickly approaching, April first. Last year I decided that I was finally going to learn how to knit. I wasn't sure how to approach it, none of my friends knit. My buff's mom has knit forever, but I didn't want to go there, I guess I was too intimidated to ask a master knottier for help. Of course this was before I knew that anyone who knits LOVES to teach others to knit. And BTW, buff's mom has been one of my biggest fans. She goes on about how perfect my stitches are. Thanks Mary, xoxo.Being a sew-and-sew long before I had that yarn twinkle in my eye, I decided to sign up for a beginning knitting class at my favorite fabric shop. They offer tons of great classes on all kinds of crafty things, the fabric shop has a small but decent selection of yarn. I had never been into a real yarn shop, so I really had nothing to compare it to.

My first scarf
in lion brand woolease
Armed with my supplies list, I chose cascade 220 in a dreamy heathery robins egg blue #9452, and some #7 clovers. On the drive home I kept looking at my new yarn, the class was 2 weeks away, was I really supposed to just stare at it for TWO WEEKS? On the way home I swung by the local book store. I saw "Stitch n' Bitch", and I knew it was for me. I flipped through it, yep, definitely for me. I went home and scoured that book, page by page. Somehow I slept that night, but only to awake at 6 a.m. & attempt to wind that yarn. Using my knees, I eventually managed to wind a pathetic ball of yarn. Then I took it step by step by step, casting on, knit stitch for a dozen rows, then purl a dozen, then bind off. My stitches were super tight at first, and a little wonky. There were unintentional yarnovers, and my bind off was ridiculously tight that the edge was about two inches narrower than the rest of the piece, which wasn't very uniform in width to begin with. I decided that I needed a bit more help, but couldn't wait until the class. I went online. I found lots of great knitting blogs. People were so creative and very generous with their knowledge. I ended up at Knittinghelp.com. I wish that I could remember now which blog I was visiting when I discovered it. So to every blogger who has ever mentioned knittinghelp.com, I eternally thank all of you!

My first hat, first cables, and first attempt at knitting in the round
also lion brand woolease
I spent the next couple of weeks practicing everyday. I was knitting, and it was getting better every hour of each passing day. Fast forward two weeks, I get to class, & after 1/2 an hour, the instructor told me that I really didn't need the class. I had exhausted half of the cascade, ripping it out and re-knitting it a dozen times or more. I decided to practice on something less special to me. So I got a bunch of woolease, went home, and knit, and knit, and then knit some more.Although it was used for all of my first projects, I now use woolease strictly for practicing new stitches/techniques.

My second, or third scarf
lion brand chunky woolease Incidentally, I still have that half ball of cascade 220. It is safely stashed away in the special golden stash hall of fame. I like the idea of treasuring my first ball of yarn.
I have kept all of my first projects, in a storage bin, I look at them once in awhile, makes me giggle. I began working in a yarn shop last September. Depending on how slow or busy it is, we spend a portion of the day answering quick questions ("I cannot remember how to pick up stitches") to lengthier tutorials with newbies ("How come I cast on 20, but after a few rows I have 26?"). I have taught two people to knit, my guy, and my friend Stephanie. They both picked it up in one day, and continue to enjoy it. I have several other folks who have asked me to teach them, and I am looking forward to it.

A Weekend With Leigh Radford

Look, It's Me & Leigh!!

It was a grand weekend. Leigh was at The Shop Saturday and Sunday. Saturday she held a workshop on shibori, followed up by a book signing. That evening the entire staff & Leigh went out to dinner. We dined at an amazing restaurant, Le Cheval. I was lucky to sit next to Leigh, and just soak up the wealth of her creativity. We had so much wonderful food, but my fave by far was the famous broiled green mussels, on the half shell with lemongrass sauce, peanuts, & grilled onions. Lucky for us that most everyone else at the table was either allerigc to shellfish, or just didn't like mussels, the platter wound up between Leigh and myself, my god they were delicious!
Sunday was The Alterknits workshop with Leigh. I urged my friend Nomi to take the class, and she had a blast, read about it on her blog. I was working in the front of the shop, & they were giggling, & laughing throughout the entire class. I was so jealous that I had to work both days, & miss both of the workshops. BUT- Leigh signed both of her books for me, & she was more than happy to honor my uber knitting geek request to have my photo taken with her. Also, I was stunned that she totally remembered me from when I first emailed her back in September about an error in the lace up fingerless gloves pattern. Besides being such a brilliant, & open minded artist, she is truly one of the warmest, nicest people that I have had the privilege of sharing Broiled Green Mussels with.

In other news, slightly Leigh related... I have Been looking for wool/mohair/angora, i.e feltable sweaters at thrift stores since I first started knitting/felting. Then the AlterKnits trunk show came & I loved that blanket way more than I thought I would. I always liked it in the book, great colors, composition, etc. But in person, WOWIE! I was out in San Leandro buying cat food, (I refuse to give money to petco, petsmart, or any of those mega crappy pet stores!) & there is a huge Salvation Army a few blocks from Mike's Feed & Pet. This SA occupies what was once a large grocery store, i.e HUGE. I found a couple of dozen wool blend sweaters, angora, mohair, even one charcoal grey heathered 100% cashmere sweater, all for $ 3.20 a piece. Note: probably won't felt the cashmere, it just feels wrong. Besides, it's in brand new condition & fits Chris. I narrowed my selection down to 12.
After laying them all out, I realized that I won't be using them all together in one blankie. Some of them just don't go together. The oddballs will become purses.

And here is my sassy new haircut. I was so long overdue for a new do. I had forgotten how dang curly my tresses are.

AlterKnits Has Landed!!

Remember me? Yes. I am still around. My arms were acting up for a quite awhile. Then they were on the mend, & feeling better. THEN I slipped off of the folding step stool while hanging up items from the AlterKnits trunk show. Using a long pole with a hook on the end, we hang the garments up almost ceiling high. As the stool collapsed while I was standing on it I began to fall back, so I grabbed the handle of the stool, it kept falling, bending my wrist backwards. Were talking the back of my hand flat to my arm. ummmm, OUCH! Within the hour my wrist and elbow was swollen. So I continue knitting not very much at all. I am "typing" this post via voice activated software. But most importantly... Leigh Radford will be at the shop on Saturday & Sunday. She is teaching two different workshops, one on Shibori, & the other is called AlterKnits workshop. She is also signing books for a period of time. Our Staff will be taking her out to dinner while she is here.
I have about a dozen of the lanterns finished. We strung them in our front window, where more of the AlterKnits show is located. I am going to try to get a couple done per day to add onto the display. I promise a photo once the display is complete. I cannot wait to make a set for my house. I think I want to make a couple of large sized lanterns to fit over standard sized lightbulbs. OOOH, also we have advanced copies of Leigh's new book "One Skein", it's a great book. You can call & order it from our shop

In other news, my dear friend and coworker, Kate shares my constant need to obtain more & more containers that just might be the ultimate organizational system for knitting supplies. She gifted me this cool GREEN fishing tackle box thingy. It has two sides that open.

So I transferred all of my stitch markers into one side. And some of my point protectors, & cable needles into the flipside. Then I have my cool aqua colored travel pill container that I keep in my knitting bag.

The problem is, my stitch counters are too wide/tall to fit. So I left them in the "old" box, the clear one.

Is everyone thoroughly bored hearing all about my obsession with organization? I promise to talk more about the actual knitting, once I am able to actually knit. : )

Some of you have already seen this silly photo of me from my corset fitting. I am a bridesmaid in a wedding. One of my oldest friends, since freshman year of college, who is a hard core Goth chick, wants her bridesmaids to wear custom fitted corsets, in red silk duchess. Not my style, but it's her wedding & I would wear a potato sack if she asked. I will go ahead and answer the question that everyone else has asked. It was shockingly comfortable to wear, even while seated. And it pretty much forces you to have perfect posture. The woman fitting me said "WOW, you have a very compressible body!" wtf does THAT mean?! She went to say that basically I have a good body for corseting. Again, wtf?! I choose to take it as a positive thing.

It turned out that a friend of mine owns this book. She loaned it to me. I read the first few pages of the introduction & I was hooked. I highly reccomend this book. And Yahaira... If you are knitting harem pants for Amy, I want a pair too. he he ; )

I'm Alive

Yes, I know, I haven't posted recently. I have a really good excuse. My hands & arms have been acting up, so there has not been much knitting or computing around the PuNk rAWk household. It has been freakishly cold for the Bay Area this past week. And that certainly hasn't helped anyone's achey muscles & joints. If I didn't think it would totally gross everyone out I would post a post-op photo of my elbow. It was a 7 inch incision. The surgery was a year and a half ago, and I still have no feeling in certain areas around the scar. Though in the areas that I can feel... OUCH! I am not looking forward to the feeling coming back in the remaining numb spots!
I did not make it to Stitches West this past week. I had to work. The lack of funds wouldn't have made it much fun for me anyway. PLEASE... Just allow me to believe that!!
I DO want to include something knitting related in this post. So please enjoy these old photos of yarn porn...

Although at the time of purchase, I had very definite ideas for each and every strand of these yarns, I am pretty sure that none of it has been knit up into anything. It is all safely snuggled up in one of the many many yarn stash receptacles around my house.

Does anyone have this book? Any thoughts or comments? Love it? Hate it? I want to give sweater knitting a go again. I made ONE sweater about a month or two after I first learned to knit. It was beautiful, a 2x2 rib. All of the stitches were even & nice. I had completed the entire thing only to find that it was way too HUGE!! So I vowed that the next time I tackled a sweater it would be top down, & in the round so that I could try it on as I go. All of the patterns that I like are knit in pieces... BLAH! So I want to learn how to either convert flat knit patterns to round, OR just design my own damn sweaters.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

My Guy is THE BEST

He always orders the gourmet-est of gourmet fancy chocolates. We take chocolate very very serious around here! Last V-day & this past Xmas I received chocolate from this amazing company, John & Kira's. I cannot say enough about just how amazing & delicious they are. They work with & support local community organizations and farms. My favorite is the "project mint patch", they purchase fresh mint from an elementary school mint "farm" to use in their chocolates mints, which tastes like mint fresh from your own garden, enrobed in dark chocolate, and nothing like peppermint patty mint. You can actually taste the love & care that goes into their candy. My fave flavor from John & Kira's is the earl grey & orange blossom in dark chocolate. drooooool! Some of the other fab flavors are, lemongrass, start anise, coffee whiskey, pistachio cinnamon, and, lavender honey.

This year my sweet sent me sweets from here. Also very delicious!! Super "exotic" flavors; tahitian caramel, pumpkin pie, vanilla rum, apple, banana, peanut butter & jelly (it's actually chocolate with peanut butter & jelly inside), cookies n' cream,...
The packaging was pretty fancy too. It was like a puzzle getting into it. You really earn a piece of chocolate once you get into the damn thing! hehe Thank you to my true love, my best friend, that tall blonde guy that lives here! Love you!!
And HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all of you out there in blog land!! XOXOX

Socks, sons, & work

I finished the super stripy "first-time-knitting socks-with-sock-weight-yarn" socks. And I must say that although I am learning, and LOVING, the magic loop thang.... I truly do enjoy working on DPN's. I know!!! I must be a freak. It wouldn't be the first time I have been accused of total weirdness. I may just have to work up a pair of socks the old fashioned way once in awhile. Can you see me now, a closet DPN sock knitter, hiding it from all of my knitting buddies? I haven't been working too much on the new fangled two@once-toe-ups. My arms have been acting up a bit, so I have been working on larger gauge projects, and just not knitting as often. For those who don't know, I had some severe RSI problems with my arms, & surgery on one of my elbows. Now and then I get carried away, and push myself too far, and then have to cool off for a bit. I am chomping at the magic loop bit though!

The stripy Socks Stats:

• Yarn: Lion Brand Magic Stripes in #201 (denim stripe)
• Pattern: Ball Band of Yarn
• DPN's: U.S. #'s 2 & 3
• Start: 1/12/06
• Finished: 2/9/06
• Special Notes: switched to smaller needles for the ankles (I have skinny ankles)

This is my friend Jeanette. We met years ago while working for Trader Joe's. We were both managers & had way too much fun. We instantly hit it off!! Jeanette shares my goofy sense of humor. Like a couple of 12 year old boys, we find words like fart, butt, poop, and booger to be hysterical! We share an unhealthy obsession for the same celebrities; Johnny Depp, Crispin Glover, Christopher Walken, Benicio Del Toro, to name a few. And a neverending appetite for crab rangoon. Jeanette is 5 months preggers with a boy. (and yes, like a couple of adolescent boys we made all of the jokes about there being a penis growing inside of her. & sorry ahead of time if that offended anyone). We spent one day last week eating pancakes, shopping at Target, & listing possible names for her son. To my shock and horror I discovered that my boyfriend's first pick for a boys name is Ulysses. IF we have children, I hope they are girls! ; ) My top five boy names for Jeanette's son are Jackson, Cosmo, Nigel... & I forgot the other two.
And now for your viewing pleasure, some photos of my workplace...

The Purple Rain Picture Show

So we went to the Parkway last night & saw Purple Rain. It was a sell out show. We got there an hour early in anticipation of the crowds. The couches were all full, so we sat in super comfy (IKEA) Poang chairs, drank beer, ate pizza, & knit while waiting for the movie to start. The movie was just as FABULOUS as it was 22 years ago. WTF??? Did I just say 22 years ago?!!! Holy Moly! I was in junior high, UGH. So anyway. It was cheesy fabulous! The crowd was cheering, singing along, waving hands in the air, bic lighters in tow, & reciting all of the best lines. I will admit that I was leading the crowd in cat calls, & song. Frank-N-Furter would have been proud! btw, I still get a teeny bit teary eyed when he dedicates Wendy & Lisa's song (Purple Rain) to his dying father. I am a sap. Man oh man, that Apollonia was a tramp.

And there was the knitting.... er, uh, the felting

On the way to the movie, I stopped by Kate's house & felted the long overdue slippers. Here are the before & after photos, & details;

• Pattern: Fiber Trends- felted clogs by Beverly Galeskas, #ac-33x
  
• Yarn: Lambs Pride Worsted double stranded (bronze patina, seafoam, & spruce)
  
• Needle: US #13
  
• Pre-felt: 14" long x 6 1/2" wide
  
• Post-felt: 11 1/4" long x 5" wide

They fit PERFECTLY! They came out nice & super fuzzy, love that 15% mohair!! I was very happy with the color effects! The soles are bronze patina & spruce, the foot is seafoam & spruce, the cuffs are just spruce. These are so fun to make (when you don't get side tracked by new sock knitting techniques), & they are so comfortable. I will be making a couple more pairs for gifts. There are some important people in my life who are in real need of pampering. And some comfortable slippers would be a good start.
At the movie theater I worked on the second red/white/blue/brown stripy sock, possibly the last pair that I will knit via dpn's . I am halfway through the gusset decreases, I should be done with it by Thursday at the latest, today if I have the time. I feel like I have cleaned out my "knitting house" of ufo's. Now I can not only concentrate on my magic loop socks, and habu lanterns, but I can start a couple of new projects with a clear conscience. ahhhhh

Free Bag of Yarn!!!

Now that I have your attention!
Remember the yarn focus group that I went to a couple of weeks ago while knocking on death's doorstep? Well, my "free" bag of yarn came yesterday. We were there for a little over 3 hours, the yarn is $10/ball, or $100/bag. We figured out that we were "paid" about $30/hour for our time & opinions on yarn. Not too shabby! I have NO IDEA what I am going to use this for. The stats are:

• 3 1/2 sts/inch
• 750 yards total
• 40%merino. 28% viscose, 10% cashmere, 15% nylon, & 7% angora

Any ideas/suggestions? I was planning on using malabrigo to make the lace leaf sweater from loop-de-loop. Maybe this will be a better choice. I do like the idea of brown autumn leaves. The gauge is way off for that. OOH... Or maybe the Yoke Vest. When it comes to sweaters, I can never make up my mind, and commit to a project.
So yesterday some pals came over & we had an afternoon knitting session. I spent most of my time working on the stripy socks, the ones on the archaic dpn's. hehe Then my friend Kate gave me the motivation I needed to finish my damned slippers. Tonight we are planning to go see Purple Rain at the Parkway. This theater is awesome, they have big comfy couches, and serve pizza & beer during the movie. ANYWAY, what does that have to do with me finishing my slippers? Kate offered up her top loading washer for the felting process. I have given up felting in my front loader. It is totally do-able, stuff felts in there, it just takes 5 cycles to get it done. And I feel way too guilty about wasting the water! So the slippers are DONE!! I will give you all of the gritty details when I post the after photos.

I cannot believe that I was ale to practice such restraint and work on ONLY older projects. I did NOT even touch my magic loop socks. Well, just to show them off to my pals. And I have a silly non-important question...
Are there different names for knitting small circumference on one vs. two circs? Does magic loop apply to both techniques?

Thank You Secret Pal!!!!

Saturday night I came home from work & Chris met me at the door and announced "a package came for you, it's squishy". Hmmmm.... I knew that yarn sometimes came in squishy packages. YAY! Even after spending a whole day at work, surrounded by yarn, I was more than ready to look at some more!
WOW! My secret Pal has really done her homework, she has TOTALLY pegged my tastes in yarn & color! She ordered this from her friends website. This gorgeous handspun yarn came from Whirlwind Handspuns. Her name is Amanda, and as well as beautifully spun yarns, she sells batts for spinning. So, to my friends who are spinning or learning to >YAHAIRA<, you should scheck her out website. Oh, & she custom spins fiber too, i.e. pet fiber. A one stop fiber shop!

The skein of blues is 100% wool, I am guessing it is light worsted/DK. I am thinking MAYBE a hat. They are the absolute perfect shades of blue. The deliciously soft skein of mossy, citron greens & ocean blues is Blue-Faced Leicester. I had never heard of such a fiber. I took both skeins to work with me yesterday & luckily Xtina, the goddess of yarn knowledge was on hand to give me the scoop. Like Merino sheep, Blue-Faced Leicester is just another breed of sheep. From what I have read, & heard they are a bit more rare, & apparently a big deal in the world professional spinning, etc. Whatever it is... It is dreamy soft, melts in your hands. I want to do something special with this one. I suspect it is sport weight. Again, these colors are IDEAL for me!!

THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other knitting news...
I cannot believe that I am admitting this, but I STILL have not touched my felted slippers to be!!! I have been so immersed in habu lanterns, and "two-at-once, toe-up-socks on one long ass circular needle", that all else has ceased to be in my little world of knitting. The lanterns are plugging along. I have to be honest though, the novelty of knitting paper is wearing thin, & now it's just knitting a ton of little tiny "hats". I am still excited about the idea of having a strand of paper lanterns that I made. Though, these are for the shop, & I will have to make a whole separate strand for me. ick.

So... The socks. Friday night I had the worst insomnia, & at 1 AM I used Joelene's tutorial to learn Turkish cast on. I got it on the first try. Her tutorial is so clearly written, it was a snap! I began the toe increases Friday night as well. Saturday morning I ripped it all out, just so that I could try it again. But then I kept loosing a stitch somehow. Nuts! So I started over again last night & got it on the first go. The cast on looks great, but my toe increases look funny, kinda "holey" in spots. I should also mention that I am using the Elfines pattern from this wonderful site. I am not planning to use the lace pattern for this first pair, just using the pattern for sizing & #'s. This yarn was given to me from someone who no longer wishes to make socks, so I am using it to practice the toe up, magic loop thingy. I will definitely be making some elfine's once I get the swing of things.

The increases are every round for the first 8 rounds or so. Is it just me, or is it hard to increase into a stitch that was created from an increase on the previous round. The pattern calls for bar increases, but I wound up knitting into the front & back of the stitch, which was still difficult when increasing every round. If anyone has any tips....

I am super enjoying learning a new trick. Especially one that I suspect I will be getting a lot of future use out of. I am using a 40" US #1 addi. Has anyone used a shorter circ for two-at-once? Like a 32"? The 40" seems a little too long. btw, still CANNOT believe that I am knitting with a US #1. The other evening, I went to use a point protector & realized that all of mine were too big, & just slid down the needles. At 2 AM, it was SUPER funny, & I giggled for 5 minutes.
Today some friends are coming by for lunch & some afternoon knitting. I WILL work on my slippers! I WILL!!! I will... maybe.

Secret Project Revealed

Today is my pal Heidi's birthday. I swung by the ultra cool cafe where she works to deliver her gift. Yes, yet another pair of lace-up gauntlet fingerless gloves from AlterKnits, my third pair. When I made my first pair 5 months ago, she mentioned that she wanted a pair for xmas or her birthday.
Overall I was pleased with the final product. The original pattern is 6 eyelets long, they look SO DAMN pretty running all the way up your arm. BUT, in my experience wearing them I have found them to be a little too long for daily wear. With the silk ribbon lacing they just seem to get in the way, too bulky with sweaters & coats. So I shortened these to 4 eyelets long. I also found that the original pattern doesn't taper in enough at the wrist for my liking. I have little skinny wimpy wrists, so I went down a needle size (US7) when I reached the wrist. I love the red & blue manos, though I wasn't wild about the ribbon choices I had. I originally envisioned using chocolate brown silk ribbon. But with the blue cuff, and the red glove, the brown was too much somehow. The white ribbon was a little too bicentennial. There was also green, gold, black, and I think maybe pink. It was that blue cuff that kept throwing it off. The red ribbon was not ideal, but it works. I'm guessing that I will be on the lookout for different ribbon for awhile.

And here is Heidi modeling her gift. I didn't realize how "Wonder Woman-y" they looked until she rocked that pose. Now I am really glad that I skipped that white ribbon. I love how the card on the flowers titles the photo! (the flowers were from her boss, Julie)
Can anyone see the one major mistake that I made? The gloves don't exactly match.