knits, notes, etc.

Thursday night, after we finished dinner at Empress of China (Chinese New Year, you know), Erica informed me that she and Amber had decided earlier that day they would come over for an afternoon of knitting. Hehe. Well, I'm always up for knitmeetings, but I didn't really want to displace Adam from the apartment (he goes to such extremes to avoid us gaggle of girls when we have crafting salon happiness), so I moved our impromptu knitting circle over to Samovar, on 18th and Sanchez.

Chai and coconut rice pudding. Sunshine. Ah. It was a lovely day.

Erica knits her Nintendo DS sleeve.

Amber shows us the yarn for her endpaper mitts.

I try to keep the angora off my jeans.

Oh. And I did finish the (above) angora cat sweater (the third time was indeed the charm in this case...) Yay! I just started a new job and haven't been knitting much; but, I need to finish two more cat sweaters.

Happy Knitting!

And, when I got off the train in Mountain View, I walked into a tree. It was very embarrassing, but I was too busy adjusting the straps on my bag and looking for a new place to clip my iPod shuffle. The tree appeared out of nowhere. I swear.

I restarted the Angora cat sweater yet again. After comparing it to the other two cat sweaters, last night, it was definitely too big. So, while watching an episode of the Japanese drama Kimi wa Petto (because it stars Matsumoto Jun from Hana Yori Dango), I unraveled version 2. Stay tuned for pictures of version 3. ^_^

I finished this sweater early in January; But, I was not happy with it at all. Really, I felt that I had made the frumpiest dress possible with the most luxurious (and pricey) of yarns. Here's the beginning of the first version of the sweater (I didn't take any other pictures of it even after I finished it):

100% Angora, frumpy cat sweater.

So, immediately after finishing my green dragon-scale cat sweater (yay!), I decided to frog this sweater while watching Macross: Do you remember love? It's already half-way complete and, though I really do like it much better, I'm concerned it may still be too big.

Normally, I'm very excited when my copy of the latest Rowan Knitting and Crochet Magazine arrives. Rowan 43 came in the mail yesterday.

The cover photo is beautiful (as usual). I'm not sure if any of the designs appeal to me--but that's okay, I have a long queue as it is. I don't think I'm disappointed in the issue--I am indifferent. I prefer Rowan's Fall/Winter designs. Tweeds. Sweaters. The Spring/Summer palette is usually too bright and colorful for me.

Knitting Update

I just want to start some sweaters for ME!--But I can't do that until I knock out some projects:

I finished a third cat sweater, the dragon scale cat sweater. I have two more cat sweaters, than I swear, never again.

I have one baby-sized lace-leaf hat to make and something to match it... for a baby girl due in March. Maybe a lace-leaf baby dress?

I finished all the knitting for my lace-leaf pullover, but I can't seem to get started on re-doing the graft and dyeing the sweater before I seam it together. Also, I have yarn left over so I may make a lace-leaf hat to match the sweater. It totally works.

Adam's almost-finished sweater vest is waiting on the sidelines for some attention. Perhaps I will try to make it a Valentine's Day gift. Teehee. I make no promises...

Happy knitting!

I read a lot of blogs everyday. A LOT. It took me some time to go through and pick the ten that make my day... Inspiration... Motivation... I don't think I would still be knitting without these blogs:

Hilary's Yarniad
I really can't believe I met Hilary only a year ago, and on the train at that; It really seems like I've known her forever. She never ceases to amaze me with her new projects and rapidly growing list of finished projects. (Thanks for the shout-out in your own list; I would not have known about this, otherwise! ;D)

Brooklyn Tweed
Craftoholic
Elliphantom Knits
My Fashionable Life
These bloggers don't post as much as they used to, but when they do, I'm very happy. I always look forward to seeing their finished projects and latest designs.

Cosmopolitan Purls
Little Purl of the Orient
Savannahchik Knits
These and See Eunny Knit were probably the first few blogs I started reading regularly. Through their pages I quickly discovered the world of knitting blogs. They really inspired me to start my own.

del4yo's Non dairy Diary
I don't know how I found her blog (I don't think she knits?), but I'm so glad I did. Her illustrations and little stories always make me smile.

io9.com
A blog about science-fiction. TV. Books. Movies. Science. Fiction. (Sometimes, I just need to get away from anything knitting-related.)

1 February 2008: Yikes, I didn't realize I had so many links wrong! They're now fixed.

I've actually had this design brewing for a really long time. I wanted it to be a heavier weight hat with a lace-leaf pattern, but was not sure how I would keep the distinctive leaf design with the crown decreases. In the end, I decided to just cast-on and knit away. I love how it turned out.

I'm very happy to present to you a very simple and cute lace-leaf patterned hat:

I finished it that morning, on the way to work.

Yarn Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, 2 skeins.
Needles Size 9 (5.5 mm) 16" circular and dpns.
Notions Stitch markers and sewing needle.
Gauge Approximately 16 sts and 18 rows = 4" (10 cm).
Finished Size Approximately 18" around, though stretches to fit my monstrous 22" noggin.

Pattern available for download: Lace-leaf hat PDF

Pattern Description

This pattern contains instructions for knitting the lace-leaf hat in child and adult sizes. Both hats begin with twisted-stitch ribbing for 7 rows (about 1.5”). The child-sized hat follows 1.5 repeats of the lace pattern before decreasing begins for the crown. The adult-sized hat follows 2 repeats of the lace pattern before decreasing begins for the crown. For the adult-size, the instructions include two widths: smaller (larger).

Not the best picture, but I love the detail of the crown.

Important! At the beginning of Rnd 7: Remove the stitch marker, slip the first stitch without knitting it, and place the marker to indicate the new beginning of the round.

The smaller adult-sized hat, side view.

This hat is very stretchy, especially in the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk yarn. The smaller size can comfortably fit head sizes from 16” to 22” around. Though, if you want a more relaxed fit, I would recommend making the larger size for head sizes larger than 20” around.

I hope you enjoy this quick knit. Please let me know if there are errors!

It's been a while, but this Sunday, we were able to have our crafting salon, again, at last. Crafting Salon was coined by Barbara (on the left) for our (at the time) monthly meet-up to knit/crochet/sew/collage/anything crafty while watching a movie.

The movies began with Jane Austen favorites (namely, Sense & Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice) and moved on to figure skating (Ice Castles)... We tried to keep up with the figure skating theme (the Cutting Edge, Ice Princess) or rebellious-blind-girl-overcoming-odds (Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken), but netflix wasn't cooperating. This weekend we had a choice of teen werewolf love drama (Blood and Chocolate) or spice-centric inter-racial love drama (the Mistress of Spices). We chose the latter... there were a lot of big chilies.

Hilary, Erica, and Barbara

Here, Hilary (wearing her lovely Flicca!) is beginning a project from Yahaira Ferreira's Sensual Knits: Luxurious Yarns, Alluring Designs. Erica is continuing her Girlfriend (or is it Best Friend?) cardigan from Twinkle's Big City Knits: 31 Chunky-Chic Designs. Barbara is crocheting some big granny squares for a blanket. I spent the afternoon unraveling part of one cat sweater and knitting some of another. In fact, Erica and I began the crafting salon with some unraveling madness: my dragon-scale cat sweater and Erica's cardigan:

Yay to having a day off from work! Happy Knitting =D

The first thing I did with my new iPod shuffle was look for a place to clip it:

I wonder if it will stay while I exercise?

After admiring it some in front of a mirror, I proceeded to register it and fill it up with some tunes. Basically, Adam needed a new iPod, and my iPod nano was wasted on me. So, we swapped. Yay!

Just not a whole heck of a lot. But let's see... I have three projects on the needles:

Cat sweater #2, using Louisa Harding's Kashmir Aran in a dark purple-red for the body and black for the edging. I actually started this a few times, but wasn't happy with the results. Hopefully, I can have it rethought before crafting salon this weekend; I fully intend to finish this by Monday.

Adam's Silky Wool sweater vest. Once again I'm taking a beautiful color-work pattern and making a solid-colored garment. Specifically, this is Kaffe Fassett's Dotty without the dots. Even though it's been my traveling project for the past month, I haven't knitted more than one or two rows a day. I really just have half the front part to finish, then the neck and armhole ribbing, then the seaming... Not much right?

Lace-leaf pullover. I've finished the second sleeve, which is drying out after a good soak. Should I be concerned that the second sleeve seems much more loosely knit than the first? Well, I need to redo the grafting seam that connects the top and bottom halves of the body. Once that's done, I am considering dying it a color more fabulous than it's natural off-white...

Happy knitting!

This weekend, Adam and I went with friends to see the BodyWorlds exhibit in San Jose. (It was interesting, but you should go see it for yourself!) On the way home, we decided to stop at Malibu: Grand Prix for a bit of turbo go-cart racing after dark.

Waiting in line to race!

It was a blast!—But, no joke, I was the slowest racer out there... Adam, after spinning out at the finish line one lap and then nearly colliding into a double seater during another lap, had to be warned to slow down. I'm pretty jealous of his fearlessness!

I know I know... Knitting news soon-to-come.