Cheez Pleez

moar funny pictures

More about work, I guess.

Knitting? What am I knitting? Oh yeah, this is supposed to be a knitting blog.

Actively on the needles:

Lacy Diamante socks - I still really like these, but I get distracted. One sock is finished, toe and part of the instep on the second.

Possibly the World's Ugliest Log Cabin Florescent Kool-Aid Dyed Extravaganza of a Fambly Binkit. So I had this great idea, right? To make a blanket? Using all the yarn the kids and I have dyed with Kool-Aid? Two things: 1) It's warm. 2) And RILLY BRIGHT. Plus it started as a traditional log cabin and is moving into a Moderne Log Cabin (see Mason-Dixon Knitting for the Moderne version). So it should be interesting. Also bright.

Should be on the needles but ain't:

Mumma Smitten Hat - it needs to be about two inches longer, plus it's been fa-reezing here lately. Should be lengthened. Should only take an evening or so. But I haven't done it. I mean, I already finished it once! Status: in danger of being declared a UFO.

About to be on the needles:

Secret Pal project for the Miss Marple Read Along & Scarf Exchange. I want to do the flower scarf from the cover of the 25th anniversary Vogue Knitting in my pal's chosen color(s), but having a hard time finding yarn I like. I bought some today, but the plan is to see if I can return it tomorrow for something else that caught my eye at the shop. I would stick with this yarn, but it's a wool/silk blend. And, I don't know about you, but I have this weird habit of smelling my yarn. The silk? Kinda fishy. Not good.

In Quilting News...

I have the strips cut for another Easy Lap Quilt, this one for a baby of mystery gender. I tried to make a unisex quilt, but I'm having a hard time committing to color order and whatnot. One way it's too girly for a boy, the other way, not girly enough for a girl. So it's going to have to wait until the baby gets here, any day now. The problem with any day now is that we are going out of town in two days for 12 days, then when I get back, I work two days, then out of town again for 3 days, back to work for two days, and that's just the stuff I know about! You can see how this quilt might be done by the time the kid graduates high school.

Two quilting books I now love besides Bend the Rules Sewing (which is not strictly a quilting book, but whatever): The Quilts of Gee's Bend and Denyse Schmidt Quilts. If you like traditional, precision-cut and precision-pieced quilts, these may not be for you. But if your favorite quilting book heretofore was titled That Dorky Homemade Look (which is by Lisa Boyer and is awesome), and you basically adopted that philosophy to your whole entire life, then you might like these books as well.

(Unlinked titles not available at Borders.com. My Inner Tightwad suggests that you check your local library. Also, my inner activist says I should support my local recession-riddled state and link to locally-owned Border's whenever possible.)

Well, we're off. I'd apologize for being gone so long, but you are all probably used to that by now.

Show & Tell

After committing a drive-by posting, I guess I owe some explanations about the things I claim to have "unvented".

Thing 1 - The weird pattern.

The "real" Vine Lace stitch goes like this:
Row 1 - k1, yo, k2, k2tog, ssk, k2, yo
Row 2 - knit all (if in the round; purl if flat)
Row 3 - yo, k2, k2tog, ssk, k2, yo, k1
Row 4 - same as Row 2

Well, because I am lazy and stubborn, I decided I didn't want to have to start or end with a yarnover on the needle. It's too haaaaaarrrrrd. (waah)

So I figured I would knit in the same pattern, just adjusting the whole thing over a couple stitches to avoid the starting/ending yos. Like this:
Round 1 - k1, k2tog, ssk, k2, yo, k1, yo, k1 (repeat 8 times)
Round 2 - knit all
Round 3 - k2tog, ssk, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2 (repeat 8 times)
Round 4 - knit all

After a while, I realized I wasn't getting the pretty lace ribs in a straight line down the cuff like I'd imagined. Instead, the whole pattern spiraled around as I went.

Top

Side

See the spiral? My camera tends to take blurry pictures, so bear with. (What is this "user error" you speak of? Also, "sunless tanner"?)

I debated for a while about whether to keep this going or to frog and start over. The thought of frogging was unbearable, given how long it took me to start, so I decided call it pretty and give it a name. Twisted Vine Lace. Please feel free to (nicely) correct me in the comments if this is a well-known stitch. I don't want to take credit away from someone who actually set out to invent this stitch!

(Sudden scary thought - how do I get this to spiral the other way for the second sock? Or do I decide to just not care?)


Thing 2 - The makeshift needle marker

No photo yet, sorry, but it's pretty self-explanatory. I'll try to take a pic when I do the second sock.

Usually, I just use the cast-on tail as my round marker when making socks. However, because the pattern was spiraling, it gradually moved the tail around as I went. So to mark my first needle in a round, I took a teeeeeeeeny hair rubber band in bright yellow, wrapped it around the non-working end of the working needle before I started a round. Then when I got back to that needle, I knew it was a new round and what pattern to do for the next round.

These rubber bands also make great stitch markers. They are easy to find, and cheap. Worth it even if you don't have little girls. Maybe if you have a kid with braces, you could use some of their bands instead (new ones, please. ew).

WARNING: Obligatory Cat Photo



And One More - Unintentionally Arty Version


I mean, really. What's a knitting blog without cat photos?