Between Rain is Sun

...and between econometrics there is knitting! Doesn't the world make sense?

Here's a Glee Shot:

And here's a shot of my latest socks.

The pattern is from the IK book Favorite Socks, although, I can't remember the name of the pattern (wavey flame?? or something like that). The book is packed up ready for the move, so you may not get more info than that. These are a mother's day gift.

Winter Foliage Hits the Road!

...soon, very soon!

I don't have much to report knitting wise. I haven't even had a chance to brouse the crafty sites lately. So I thought I'd spruce up the site with a new header. That's right, this summer is going to be full of fun on the road.

First a month back in Philly! It's always great to spend time there. I love the layout of the city, the great restuarants, the new knitting stores popping up here and there, and the new paths for biking and running along the river. It'll be a perfect place to wind down after the crazy end of semester work.

Then, we're off! Heading west on a road trip to Berkeley where I'll spend July and August. I'm sure I'll find some great crafty stores while exploring the bay area.

And through all of this, I'm sure the blog will become a travel-log of crazy adventures!

Travel Quiz ~~ the header picture comes from one of the cities I'll be visiting. Which city? and can you name the artist?!~~

Spring has Arrived!

It's been a lovely weekend in Boston, and it only gets better - they're calling for 80 degree temps tomorrow! Crazy.

I just added a few rows here and there to Glee. I think it's going to be the perfect light, spring sweater. Or, the perfect sweater for summer dining - you know, when restaurants decide that the ideal temperature is 65 degrees.

I do have this finished item to share:

It's Dashing from the spring issue of Knitty. I started these a few weeks ago. At that time I was making them in grey alpaca with a deep purple edging. They were nice enough, but they didn't have the pop I wanted. So, I went through my stash and pulled out some nice soft alpaca in deep blue and an earthy green. Perfect!

Red Sky at Night

I'm no sailor, but the sunshine sweater was a delight to knit!

I was attracted to this pattern because it was a top-down knit with very few seams. I also liked the panel design on the front with the off-center opening. I'm a big fan of the euro-style sweaters with a skewed opening. I assume that they have a european influence because I first saw these designs while traveling through Paris. I was in love with this fleece coat:

I borrowed it all week because the weather was much colder than I expected, but I was also in love with the funky design. After that coat, I've been on the hunt for sweaters, coats, and sweatshirts with this style.

~~Pattern Modifications~~
I followed Amanda's pattern just as it was written, I'm lucky that we seem to be about the same size!

Although, I realized that I have to keep my long-torso in mind because it may require me adding length as I see fit and I may have to start the was shaping a little lower. One that note, I also realized that my waist "shape" is basically to go in along my lower ribs and then to stay skinny for quite a few inches. As a result, I did modify the sunshine waist shaping slightly. The pattern calls for a few rounds of decreases (an inch apart), followed by a few rounds on increases (again an inch apart). After doing the decreases and then one increase I tried on the sweater and realized that I didn't have to do anymore increasing because of my skinny waist.

My one other change was unintentional - I think my collar is slightly shorter than Amanda's, but I like the sweater both ways!

~Yarn and Blocking~
I used KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in the Iron Ore Color. I wanted a deep red, but without hits of pink or purple. I choose the color by looking at the KnitPicks Catalog, and unfortunately either my eyes or the picture were off. This yarn definitely isn't as deep of a color as I wanted, but I'm still happy with it.

From my experiences with blocking a few other items, I sensed/hoped that the yarn would lengthen a bit when I blocked it. Assuming it would, I knit the sweater so that the ends of the arms and waist were a slight bit shorter than I wanted for the final item. I took a risk here, and really I didn't use a specific conversion to determine exactly where I should stop.

To block, I soaked the sweater in warm water with some Johnson's baby shampoo - I think I saw this tip on Eunny's blog. After soaking, I pulled the sweater out of the water and was happy to feel that it was really stretchy in my hands (so I knew the wool had the 'give' I wanted). I then pinned the sweater to some towels and left it on my table for a couple of days to dry. This worked perfectly! The length of the arms and torso dried to just the right size.

And viola!

~Now What?~
Well as I mentioned, I've started Glee. Again, I was drawn to the neck-down, seamless patterns. No seams for me! I figured before I start designing my own patterns, I should do another practice sweater. This pattern has no waist shaping, so I'll add some, and I'm going to knit some longer sleeves, probably down to the elbow. After Glee, it's on to some of my own euro-style patterns that have been floating around in my head!

This and That

I've been busy over here, but there's always time for some browsing.

Check out this sock elephant! Nik, doesn't your pea need one?!

I'm going to start Glee tonight!

Last night during a marathon knitting session, I finished a pair of these for a friend of friend.

Lately I've been eating some tasty treats which came from this debacle. thanks, thanks, and yum!

Posts with pictures to come soon. And I need a spring/summer blog header...

Bundle of Joy!

I can FINALLY share some of the many surprises that I've been working on over the past few months. I was putting together some presents for Nikki and her pea (you'll notice a theme throughout this post). Knitting for this baby was really a lot of fun, and to present the gifts, I used a clementine box!

The packaged included my first knitted sweater! ~Sunshine is my first knitted adult sweater~

Pattern: Sweet Pea Baby Sweater (can be found on the IK site)
Yarn: KnitPicks Merino Style, asparagus color
Needles: Size 5 straight
Pattern Modifications: The only changes I made were in an attempt to avoid sewing seams. You knit the front panels first and you are supposed to bind-off at the top. Instead, I held those shoulder stitches from the front panel and when I was done with the back, I attached the shoulders with a three-needle bind-off. As well, for the sleeve seams, instead of sewing them together a did a three-needle job.

This present also included my first, designed piece of art ~slash~ baby toy that will be slobbered all over!


Pattern: My Own Peapod and Peas (THE PEAS FIT IN THE POD!)
Yarn: Infinity Harmony (I think I have to check the label when I get back to Beantown)
Details: It involved knitting a large "heal" and some little peas. Once felted, I stuffed the peas with fun, baby stuff, including: jingle bells, lavender, and a vibrating unit (you pull the string and the toy goes crazy). Shaping the pod was fun - it just took a combination of stuffing the pod and tying with with string in the right places to get the shape I wanted.

~This was a really FUN project and I think I'll be making more in the future!~

Now. I can't wait until May to see the little pea!

Off to the library!

These can be made here, which I found while doing some late night reading.