Knitting

  • Knitting,  Thoughts

    The Physics of a Yarn Stash

    So a few days ago, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot) posted about the troubles that knitters might encounter when packing for a trip (pretty much it boils down to not enough yarn, or incorrect tools for working with the yarn you have).  There are two obvious solutions: carry huge volumes of knitting related items with you at all times or purchase new knitting items while traveling.  I engage in both of these behaviors.  The latter often leads to the increase in the volume of the yarn stash.  One of the comments on Stephanie’s blog was extremely amusing to me, and I just had to re-post it.  It seemed to…

  • Home,  Knitting

    Opal sock yarn at Opal Divine’s

    Joey and I went to Opal Divine’s tonight for dinner.  I decided to try some new beers, so I got a flight of beer, including: Southern Star Blond Bombshell, Thirsty Planet Armadillo Wheat, Circle Brewing Envy Amber, and Southern Star Buried Hatchet Stout.  The two Southern Star beers were by far my favorites.  While we waited for our food, I worked on Mom’s socks, for which I am using yarn called Opal Hundertwasser by Zwerger Garn.  Coincidence?  I think not.

  • Knitting

    Socks finished! On to the next pair…

    I finished the socks I have been working on for the past week. I am wearing them right now. They are wonderful and cozy, and they match the feathers in my hair. What could be better? Elanor and Joey helped me take the pictures. I have started the gauge swatch for my mom’s socks. She picked out some self-striping sock yarn while we were in Germany, and now I will turn it into a groovy pair of socks. Self-striping yarn is always fun to knit with. I feel so accomplished, even though I know it isn’t my skill that makes the stripes happen. This particular yarn is especially cool because…

  • Knitting

    Knitting progress and a trip to Gauge

    I made great progress on my sock. I have finished the first one. I will cast on the second one tomorrow. Rachel and I hung out this afternoon and evening. We had a great time. We spent a couple of hours at Gauge picking out yarn for some projects that Rachel wants to do. We found tons of awesome yarn, but we finally managed to narrow it down. Then we spent quite a while trying to wind the yarn wound into cakes, but it was not very cooperative! Rachel managed to figure out its secret, and then we got it into shape! After the yarn store we went over to…

  • Knitting

    Travel knitting

    I had some time on my trip to North Carolina to do some knitting.  I had made great progress on Liam’s hat over the last week, and on the plane I got the body of the hat finished. I am a little worried that it will be too small for Liam.  He has an 18 inch head. My head is only three inches bigger than that, and I have 35 years on him! I will try it on him when I get home.  I will keep it in any case.  If it doesn’t fit Liam, I am sure it will fit someone with a less giant head. I also got…

  • Knitting

    Organizing the stash

    Yesterday I spent time organizing my stash of yarn.  I pulled everything out of the closet.  I re-wound a bunch of yarn that had been partially used, or squished out of shape.  Then I took pictures of all the yarn individually, and added it all to my stash list on Ravelry.  Not a small project, but I am so happy to have it done!

  • Knitting

    Finishitupitis

    As you most likely know, I love to knit.  Like many knitters, I occasionally, all right, possibly more than occasionally, come down with starter-itis.  This is a disease that leads the knitter to get extremely excited about starting projects.  Then the knitter has all kinds of unfinished finished objects (UFOs – to steal a cute name from the Yarn Harlot) lying around. A few weeks ago, one of my favorite writers, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot, posted on her blog about a related disease that could actually counter starter-itis – finishitupitis.  She describes the symptoms in her post. Basically (because I know, despite the fact that you totally should,…

  • Friends and Family,  Home,  Knitting,  Lee and Billy

    Delayed Shrug

    Last summer I made Lee a shrug for her birthday. I almost finished an entire sleeve before I realized that it would be big enough for two of her. I ripped the whole thing out – this is called “frogging” in the knitting world because you rip it, rip it.  I started again, but was disheartened by the set back, and took a LONG time to finish it.  Her birthday is in July.  I finally delivered it in November. The first time I saw her wear it I realized that the back was too broad.  This was my own fault.   I totally did not trust the pattern (in my defense,…