I haven't been blogging, but I have been knitting.


I think I can finish a few WIPs soon and then I'll write something about them. Really, I can only show the same half-finished blue sweater so many times. 

Hopefully this is the last time:

Works in Progress

The last week or two I've lost the knitting mojo.  Work has been a bit overwhelming, and apparently my coping strategy is killing Raiders and Super Mutants - I've been playing a lot of Fallout3 lately. I keep a plain sock at my desk at work and plink away at it when I take a break to listen to the news, but that's about it.

I'm hoping the mojo comes back now, as I've got two sweaters I know I could finish soon.  One of them is entered as a WIP in the round of the Colourmart contest (rav) which starts today.

It's a silk top, untouched since the last Colourmart contest ended a couple months ago.  I had all manner of trouble adjusting the bust to fit my measurements but I think the rest of it should be smooth sailing.  (Famous last words?)  Anyway, I'm planning to pick it up again tonight, maybe it will work some magic on me and I'll knock it out in a couple weeks.

The other sweater I'm working on is the Lily sweater for my friend.

I am so almost to the armholes.  This is like the home stretch!

By the way I switched out one of the stitch markers for this adorable thing I got from home:

He (and his several brothers and maybe a few avian friends) were just too cute to resist.  I'm lucky I didn't have a whole damn menagerie waiting in my mom's mailbox!  There are a bunch more in the etsy shop I got them from.

Anyway, my main problem is that both of these projects are going to need sleeves soon, and both are on the same size needles. Since I only have so many 3.75 mm needles, I'm going to have to finish one before starting the sleeves on the other.  I've chosen to work on the silk top, so that I have a better chance of meeting the contest deadline.

FO: Socks

Pattern: Bavarian Cable Socks, Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy

Woo hoo for finally getting these off the needles - where they have been since Valentine's Day. Yikes!

 First let me give a shout-out to my delightfully helpful boyfriend for the following things: being a patient and inspiring sock model, giving me free reign with his camera, showing me how to use some photo-editing software, and deciding that taking pictures of knitting is so much fun that he'll help me on a regular basis.  This is great news for anyone reading this blog because he's a much better photographer than me.  My next post will have some evidence of that!

About the pattern:  This pattern comes from Wendy's book and it's perfectly well-written.  For someone with average-shaped feet the fit is great.  But. My bf, I have learned, does not have average-shaped feet.  His heels are pointy.  As in, my leg makes a 90-degree angle with the ground and his make like a 75-degree angle.  The heel on this sock (and probably like half of the sock patterns out there) can barely accomodate the extra volume in the heel area.  See:

Luckily I've already found a different type of sock heel that fits him better and will probably stick with that one in the future.  These socks have already been knit though.  Oh well.

 I took so long for these puppies because all those twisted stitches making up the "cables" are painful to knit.  My right pinkie always cramped up after about 20 minutes of knitting.  This problem was probably exacerbated by the needles I was using - 2.0 mm circs with a short "needle portion" (the hard part at either end).   Definitely a fault of the knitter and not the design.

About the yarn: I have already mentioned that this yarn is a little disappointing for me.  I mean, the color is beautiful, really I could ogle this yarn all day.  However, the yarn itself gets quite thin in places, and pills like anything. Trying to compensate for the delicate yarn, I used much tinier needles than recommended, and this just gave me a pilly fabric that was also stiff. I guess the "Smooshy" comes from its being loosely spun, so perhaps I shouldn't complain about all this and use it only for low-wear items in the future.  But still it's a bit of a downer to finish my bf's socks after an eternity and have his first comment be, "they're kindof fuzzy, is it supposed to be like that?"

Considering that it's a pattern that I'd rather not knit again with a yarn better suited for something else, I would say the project turned out OK.  On to the next, I guess.

FO: scarf

Hey check it out I finished something!

Transpacific Scarf

I didn't the entire yarn, because I realized that I wouldn't be able to block the thing if I did.  Before blocking, the scarf was 59" long; it blocked out to 74".  Which you can see is the largest my blocking surface could accommodate. 

The process of blocking lace, which I hadn't had to do before, is pretty straightforward but I can imagine that it's a real pain for a more complicated piece.  But even on this simple scarf, it completely changed how the yarn behaved.  The lumps smoothed out, the YO holes became more uniform in size, the pattern itself became more clear.


I'm not exactly sure what to do with this scarf.  The wife of one of my coworkers is moving to northern Europe next month and I suspect a warm cuddly scarf would be welcome, but I'm not sure if I should gift it to her or not.  It's that weird social distance where we are friendly enough that we can have a conversation without my coworker around, eg when we cross paths at the bus stop, but not friendly enough that I would contact her on purpose.

Regardless, mostly I'm just excited that I finished it!

travel knitting

Woops, it's been a while since I posted.

One of the reasons that I haven't posted in almost a month is that I took a trip home for a couple weeks. I've never been so happy to see my family and friends and I'm truly rejuvenated after some downtime in my hometown. I'm also a little bit heavier - I made every meal count while I was there. While home I picked up a bunch of knitting-related stuff that will surely pop up on this blog soon, as I'm itching to dig into all the goodies.


I definitely got some knitting done during my travels - flying back and forth through twelve time zones without pulling a two-beers-and-a-slide would not be possible for me otherwise.  Two new projects were started specifically for the journey, even though I had plenty of projects on the needles. I had my circs cut at an airport once (kiss my ass, Peru) and since then I don't pack projects that I'm emotionally invested in.

First up is a scarf knit with some alpaca sock yarn.  I'm delighted at how this is turning out.  I had fallen out of love with this yarn, and chose the pattern not because I thought it looked nice but because I could manage it in the zombie-like state I enter during an eleven hour flight.

Pattern: Adia; Yarn: Classic Elite Alpaca Sock

In combination, though, they make for a fun project. The pattern is easily memorized and the yarn incredibly soft.  A gift-worthy item which works up quickly from stash yarn and a free pattern?  I'm a happy girl.

The full-body shot above doesn't do it justice - it's prettier than I thought it would be.

The other project in my carry-on was a pair of stockinette socks, on wood needles to avoid another Peru incident.  I'm using one of the patterns from Wendy's book - Gusset Heel Basic Socks. I picked up this yarn at a craft store in Singapore (Spotlight to be exact). It's not my favorite yarn - it feels plasticky despite the 75% wool content and the dye is sparsely applied. I can't tell if the thinness of the color is a desired effect or if it's the yarn producer being really cheap.  Anyway, bf is getting these socks and he likes the color so it's no big deal.

Pattern: Gusset Heel Basic Socks, Yarn: Moda Vera Noir

This pic was taken while I was still traveling, currently I am almost done with the first sock.  Bf isn't around to model right now, but this heel is fitting him way better than the other heel I knit from this book.  I did add two stitches' worth of gussett but the difference in fit is more than two stitches can explain.  I'll keep this observation in mind when picking sock patterns for bf in the future.

Now that I'm back in Singapore, it's all about WIPs. Most of the projects on my needles are at least half done, which explains why I've finished, like, 1 project this year despite knitting all the time. I think a dedicated effort can knock all my WIPs out by Halloween.

I understand people e.g. the Yarn Harlot who feel like establishing rules for oneself like "no new projects" or "no new stash" takes the fun out of something which we do purely for our own enjoyment. But I'll be tickled when I see an empty knitting basket for the first time since I started knitting.  And for the next couple months I can ooh and aah at all the patterns on ravelry and change my mind a thousand times about what I'm gonna cast on for in November. That's part of the fun too. I think of finishing WIPs like exercise - I hate making myself do it but I feel better afterwards.

I leave you with a photo of unspeakable cuteness from my trip home.  I assure you, no laws were broken and no nephews harmed in the actions portrayed here.

Third time's a charm

It fits! It fits! I want to knit 100 sweaters in exactly the same gauge with exactly the same bust shaping.

Of course I didn't finish in time for the Colourmart contest, but I am happy anyway because the contest forced me to figure it out.

My wraps at the end of the short rows were (as usual) a little wonky, but I found that with a little patience and a slightly smaller needle I could tease the stitches into looking more even and less noticeable.  The photo below is the left side, which wasn't so bad to begin with and the second photo is the ride side short rows, which looked awful before I finessed them.

I did a bit more waist shaping than the pattern called for, and I am at the point now that I need to do some calculations to make sure my shirt isn't going to hit the knees.  I am skipping the eyelets in the pattern but am almost to the lace section at the bottom.

I took copious notes because I have to set this project aside for a few weeks - tonight I am leaving to go home to Cincinnati, Ohio!  I haven't been home since January so I am really looking forward to it.  For so many reasons, but among those reasons are a couple yarny surprises that got shipped to my mom's house recently. ;)

I did finish the other item I entered in the Colourmart contest, my bf's reversible cable scarf:

In the background are my newest acquisitions, both Colourmart fingering weight.  I'm saving them for the fall-winter contest/KAL in the colourmart group, but they'll probably end up being lacy gifts for some people here in SG.

Time to finish up my work so I can finish packing, eat some delicious Indian food, and start my 26 hour journey home.

Boobs are irritating.

In general, you might say that I'm pro-bust. I'm the kind of girl who refuses to buy any bra labelled "minimizer" because I feel that the clothing industry should make clothes to fit my body and I shouldn't make my body fit their clothes. I'm a curvy person, and even living in Asia surrounded by Chinese and people of Chinese descent at work all day, I still prefer my body shape to something slimmer. One of the reasons I got interested in knitting after being a crochet freak for a couple years was the possibility of making flattering clothes for myself that actually fit properly. (I know there are many beautiful tops that can be made with crochet, and I'm not trying to dis a craft dear to my heart, but let's face it crochet doesn't have the stretch of knit fabric and it's hard to get full coverage without stiffness.)

HOWEVER, all that boob love has gone out the window as I have been working on the bust portion of this silk sweater. I had ripped out all the short rows and re-knit them, adding in vertical bust darts, as found here. The problem, as I found at knit group yesterday, was that the bust shaping is now too much and too low. Observe:

 

Anyway, I'm glad I brought something else to work on at knit group because once I tried the sweater on I didn't have the heart to even look at it. I hunkered down with that blue sock I've been working on for an age.

I want to speak my mind about knit groups, and I hope if anyone from any of the knit groups I have attended ever reads this they don't get offended. I've experienced knit-outs with three different groups. Two of the knitting circles were awful for me and one was great.

I think the one knit group was awesome because I was friends with the core members outside of knitting and nobody in the group considered themself to be a knitting expert.  So it was just a bunch of girls gossiping and doing our best to tackle whatever pattern we were working on.

The other groups just didn't work. One, which I attended a couple times a couple years ago, was more like an expensive-knitting-stuff fan group than anything else. When I went, I felt like I was not sufficiently in awe of whatever new yarn or book was being raved about on ravelry and blogs. Furthermore I felt like I was completely not cool enough to be in the group - my clothes matched and were clean, I don't have piercings and tattoos and I'm missing that hipster factor so highly prized around college campuses. I kinda got the feeling that the core members of the group didn't appreciate strangers coming to their knit group, and I wondered why the hell they posted about it on ravelry if they didn't want people to come.  I think I went twice and never went back.

The third group group is here in Singapore. I must admit that the main problem for me is quite personal, my hearing is bad and I absolutely cannot hear what anyone else is saying because the meeting place is always a coffee shop near an MRT station - cramped, full, and LOUD. (There is no such thing as a quiet cozy coffee shop in Singapore.) So it's really hard for me to follow any conversations that are going on. But the other thing is that most of the people I've met there seem convinced that they are expert knitters. For me it doesn't matter if one is a master knitter or not, it's just the attitude that comes along with judging oneself to be an expert. Also, it usually feels like there are two knit groups happening simultaneously - the Singaporean one and the expat one with very little interaction between the two.  Knit group is the only place that I've seen another American here, and I really wanted to make friends but I just can't find any common ground with the ladies I've met there.

I left the knit-out yesterday feeling down and wondering why I bother to go to those things. It's really hard for me to understand how I can be so anti-social and unable to make friends here when I have never had these problems before. I used to be painfully shy, but people actually enjoyed my company; here the problem is that people don't seem to like having me around. After six months of trying to make friends at work and through my hobbies, I gave up a while ago.  It's been great for getting reading done but not so great for my well-being.

Perhaps this is just a clue that it's time for a trip home to bring my spirits up.

Anyway I am almost ready to rip the sweater - I plan to rip back about half of the bust shaping, since the apex of my boob is just over halfway down the line of the vertical dart - but for some moral support I went out and got my new favorite coffee:

It's the best local-style coffee I've found. The branch by my bf's house is at the Pasir Ris MRT station, and I love going there because the staff is actually friendly. The man who is usually making the coffee there just brightens my day. It's not that he chats with me or does anything beyond his job description, but he somehow manages to be friendly just by saying "Kopi take-away, ah?" with a smile.

Time to start ripping.  Come hell or high water I WILL get to the waist shaping this week!