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January 2006
January 30, 2006
Bartending hats, part two
i got a couple of questions about doing intarsia in the round. i think maybe i did a "cheating" version of fair isle. i'll try to explain. on the round, i "wrote" everything backwards. so line one, i intarsia normally. then i let the word color (yarn b) sit tight and hang out while the main color (yarn a) works its way around to the letters again.when i got to the needle that had the letters start, i would measure how much of yarn b i would need by counting the number of knits that would be done with it, and make that many loops on my extra needle, and also measure the length from where yarn b was hanging out to where i needed to start with it. then i tied a cast-on knot to remember how much yarn i had just rationed for line two. so then line two was intarsia-ed with that section of yarn i just got, and if it was too tight or too loose, i would be all anal and scoot more yarn where it needed to be. then, i would do the back with yarn a, and when i got back to where i needed yarn b, it would be there waiting for me, and i would undo the cast-on knot, and just repeat the process. sorry if thats confusing. its probably easier to do than to read. here's a pic of a hat inside-out though:
Posted by SQ at 9:58 AM | Comments (1)
January 29, 2006
Bartenders
so, about a million years ago (that would be around early november) i went to the bar wearing my dopamine hat, and since i was so tipsy and proud of it, told the two bartenders how i had made it, and how i could even make them hats with the bar's name on it. well, so much for being a friendly drunk. needless to say, i sobered up and stuck to my studies until friday, when i had a hanckering for bar peanuts and was greeting by demands for hats. it was pretty funny, so i held up the line and discussed appropriate color choices, and a few hours later i was at home trying to find some stash yarn colors that looked ok together and would be enough to get two hats out of. i chose rowan calmer (calm) and knit picks elegance (redwood). theyre both nice yarns, and im sad to see them leave me, but at least i got to knit with themone last time.. and besides, who knows how many drinks these hats are worth! i knitted them both yesterday in lieu of doing anything remotely productive. i figured that since i have so much going on at the end of the week, maybe i should just do all my knitting at once, and then quit cold turkey for a few days. although this might not be the solution for quitting something like smoking, hopefully it works for knitting!
Posted by SQ at 7:33 PM | Comments (5)
January 23, 2006
Mission Accomplished
whoot!
a million and four pattern repeats later, the dead carrot shawl is done! maybe the pitcure doesnt show it, but i think if the shawl was black and batman was a woman, it sure would have some secret technologies enabling batwoman to fly into the night as well as attend social events. i just finished today, after many hours of angst that my butt was about to become one with the couch. once blocking is done, the scalloping on the bottom should look more like the real thing. also, if you look to the right side of the picture, there are some pretty sweet mistakes that zig zag the pattern around. its always so nice when i can only detect errors once i'm super far away from them and *way* not motivated to go back. mom, if you're reading this, think "character counts." anyways, i should get crack'a lackin' on the good old biochem so i feel prepared for my test next week! yay.
Posted by SQ at 9:21 PM | Comments (6)
January 17, 2006
Victorian Lace Shawl
being the super child that i am, when the elann ad came in the mail, i offered to make the victorian lace shawl for my mom. it looked pretty cool, but i'd say my ego and i are a few decades too young to be wearing shawls anywhere, so mom it was!
the total pattern is 8 balls of yarn, and i'm on number three. its three different knit lace patterns, the first of which i never caught on to, which is pretty sad of me. every other row increases by four stitches, and im just waiting until i only get like 3 rows out of one ball of yarn and manage to hang all of that from my circular needle without stitches spontaneously popping off. seriously.. the last ball of yarn is reserved only for casting off. one thing about elann though.. my mom picked out the cognac color, which looked like a bright brown on the ad they sent in the mail, but in reality its more of a dead carrot color. i dont mind knitting with the color, but its beyond me what manufacturer is gonna make anything to match it. i'll think positive though!
other than that, i hope everyone had super holidays and happy knittings!
Posted by SQ at 5:46 PM | Comments (4)
January 2, 2006
Entrelacin'
this past week, i was in cali with my family, including my knitty sister who did *not* finish her sweater! between starting 8 other projects and completely running out of yarn, her demi was very sad to be so neglected, and was mocked by my demi. life sucks.
however! my super sister did bring me instructions to learn entrelac, a super way of knitting that makes knits look woven. its pretty cool! whoever invented it is a sheer genius who understands the innerworkings of knitting and probably lives life in a giant math matrix. really. its unbelievable. im impressed. anyways, i made a hat with it. it sure did come out super huge. i used cotton yarn instead of wool, but really. i casted on with 72 stitches, at least 12 shorter than other other hat i've made. once i was done, i added on a rib, but ended up folding it under itself because the rest of the hat looked puffy. its not like 5 sizes too big, its just a loose hat. my stepdad said i look like a rastafarian. i'll get working on those dreads and check out the marley family... or not. i didn't really know how to finish the hat, so instead of doing decreases, i just made 2 blocks of long rectanges instead of the regular boxes, and bunched them up into a super pompom. it worked.
Posted by SQ at 7:49 PM | Comments (9)
