Natalie's Hitchhiker

I loved the Hitchhiker pattern so much I made Natalie knit one too.  Don't judge me too harshly, it was for a good cause.  One of Natalie's co-workers is moving to Minneapolis and I thought with the colder Minnesota weather she would need a nice scarfy thing.  I also happen to know her co-worker, like me, loves the color green.  I knew I had a "vintage" Dyeabolical Yarn skein of Derby Girl, which just so happens to be a green and black colorway.  It was one of the first balls of Dyeabolical Yarn I bought.  That said I had yet to knit something fabulous with it.  I knew it would make a stunning Hitchhiker, I also knew I was not going to have the time to knit it.  When I came to Natalie with the yarn and the pattern she saw the wisdom of my suggestion.  I was so right that colorway made a stunning Hitchhiker.  Natalie has not taken it to work yet for her co-worker, trying hard not to steal the finished project for myself.

Dyeabolical Sockhands

My friend Rachel at Dyeabolical Yarns (http://www.dyeabolicalyarns.com/) came up with a pattern called "Sockhands" to showcase her vibrant hand dyed yarns.  She said, "They started out as a sock pattern and whopsie daisy turned in to fingerless mittens."  The pattern is here: http://dyeabolicalyarns.blogspot.com/2013/11/sockhands.html.  The very  vivacious models for this pattern are two of my favorite knitters having too much fun.  I especially love the photo of the two of them mock kung fu fighting.  Take a peak at the pattern just to see these wonderfully silly knitters.

 I don't know if it was the crazy photos or the pattern, but I decided I should make a pair of these mitts for me.  I just happened to have a mutant strain of Dyeabolical Yarns in a color way  I am calling Easter Egg,  I thought the Easter Egg yarn would be perfect for this pattern.  The pattern was easy, the mitts knitted up quickly, and they look smashing.  I especially liked the way she designed the thumb gusset in the ribbing section.  It made for an elegant looking line on the mitt. 

I always have a difficult time photographing anything knitted for the hands, very complicated.  Baby Sis was enlisted to help me show off my knitting prowess.  She was a natural for the photo shoot and coincidentally her nail polish matched the mitts.  I even managed to work in a Fiestaware demitasse cup and saucer in one of the photographs.  Clever me or maybe it is more like obsessed me.  Thanks Baby Sis for the help.

Pride Knitting

Two things on the list of things I love are having pride in my queer life and knitting.  Put those two things together and what have a got?  I have two new Pride knitting projects.

First, I knitted a second pair of Dyeabolical Mixed Wave Mitts only I rearranged my colors to make a rainbow.  To achieve the whole rainbow effect I knitted the mitts so when held together you can see the whole rainbow.  Natalie was keen to have those mitts so I gifted them to my lovely wife.  It is ashamed the warm weather is not conducive to wear those mitts.

Second, with the leftover Dyeabolical yarn I embarked on a pinwheel pattern to see how much I could get with the scarps.  For awhile my knitting could have been a purse, a hat, or doily, but in the end it was an antimacassar.  Do you know what that is?  Stealing from wikipedia, an antimacassar is a small cloth placed over the backs or arms of chairs, or the head or cushions of a sofa, to prevent soiling of the permanent fabric. Originally, that was macassar oil doing the staining, hence the name.  No one in my home is into macassar oil, but whatever it what my knitting wanted to be.  I loved the end product and I think my chair looks prideful in it too. 

Happy Pride my friends! 

Dyeabolical Mixed Wave Mitts

Check out the new mitts I knit for myself.  I am kind of in love with how colorful and graphic these are.  I will tell you the amount of mistakes are legion, but who cares they look great.  I found the pattern, mixed wave mitts (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mixed-wave-mitts), on ravelry (a fiber enthusiaists website).  For the knitters each color has a series of short rows, which are new to my knitting skill sets.  My less than stellar execution of the technique seemed to not hinder a stunner of a project. 

I did three things right on this project.  First I leaned on my friend Rachel from Dyeabolical Yarns (http://www.dyeabolicalyarns.com/) to show me how to do those pesky short rows.  Second I used my stash of Dyeabolical Rainbow Minis for the the waves.  Third, added an I-cord cast-off to the top and bottom to really set off the colors.

I also really love how I reversed the pattern.  The reversal allows me to wear the mitts two different ways.  I can show my true colors of garish me.  Or I can change to show my deep, primary colors self.  Regardless of which side I decide to show, both are spectacular.  Call me humble and subdued, NOT!

Tempest Tease

I am superficial enough to be exceptional flattered by my good friend at Dyaebolical Yarn (http://www.dyeabolicalyarns.com/) for naming a yarn colorway after me.  And of course I am vain enough that I had to buy some of this limited edition yarn for myself.  The yarn is a lovely shade of green, which falls in the pantheon of greens I adore.  So thank you Dyeabolical for giving my already healthy ego a boost.  Love the yarn too.

Last Minute Catch Up

I really do try to blog at least once a week.  Apparently, August was the cruelest of months for blogging this year.  I had to cram three posts into the same week.  To be fair, I have had some personal things going on in my life that have distracted me from posting.  I have also had the drama of buying a new car, so I have been a busy woman.  I am hoping for things to slow down a little, after this weekend.  This weekend we are social butterflies (OK in our case more like social condors).  With that in mind I am trying to eek in one more blog post I have to do it now, while I am answering the phone for work.

(Yes, Mr I have already called 4 times today already, I can put Classic Rock of the 70s volume 4 on your request list.)

My knitting has not been going well right now, I am stuck on a sock pattern that is about to beat me.  I will blog about that when I either fail or succeed.  So nothing worth even posting photos of at this time.  Sorry I know you non knitters are dying to hear about the sock struggle.  But on the knitting front, I did find (be still my big girl heart) a plus size mannequin.  I found her on clearance at Jackman's.  I was so excited as I marched out of the store carrying my new purchase like a kid who just got a new bike.  I have yet to use it, but just owning one makes me feel all important and full of myself.  After the Ao Tank I discovered that having one of these could be very handy.

(No, Ms I never want to return anything, you can't keep Twilight Breaking Dork, part 2 for another month.  It needs to be returned now others are waiting for it.)

I also got seduced by my friend at Dyeabolical Yarns (http://www.etsy.com/shop/DyeabolicalYarns).  She twittered about doing a special run of mini skeins.  I could not stop myself from ordering the special limited edition set.  When the package came in the mail, I was so tickled with the mini skeins of yarn, I must have played with them for an hour.  I kept rearranging the colors and imaging all the hexipuffs I would knit with them . 

(Thank you for calling...is it time to go home yet?)

Like I said busy month.

Dyeabolically Wrapped or I Talk About Knitting

I couple of years back I bought a significant amount of cotton warped yarn from my good friend at Dyeabolical Yarns (http://www.dyeabolicalyarns.com/).  I bought over 900 yards of a blue/green colorway, that I called Peacock.  I decided to knit the Elegant Scarf Wrap pattern from the Spring/Summer 2009 Knit Simple magazine.  I even decided to put the project supplies and notions all together in a knitting bag and take it to work, making it my work project.  On Ravelry I marked the start date as April 9, 2010.  The project had a cast on of 350 stitches.  I thought, and you should not be surprised by this, I would cast on 50 more stitches, so it would be just a little longer. 

At first I was very diligent about knitting on this project during my lunch and breaks.  Over time I got sick of the project and knit on it less faithfully.  Somewhere last summer I stopped knitting on it all together.  Before Christmas I decided to take it home and after all my seasonal knitting I would put my needles to the grindstone and get this baby done.  Well the Elegant Scarf Wrap made out of cotton warp yarn is done, all 60 inches of it.   A lovely summer wrap perfect for throwing over your shoulders on a breezy summer night, and as if on cue St. Louis has had temperature in the sixties.  I love it when a plan comes together and I look FABULOUS!!!

Cindersocks, or Why Gauge Matters.

As I have documented before, I am not a sock knitter.  I try, really try, but you know I just have not found the sock love thing going on for me.  But does this stop me from buying sock yarn?  No, in fact with each sock yarn purchase I say to myself, maybe with yarn I will find my sock knitting grove.  And so far that has fallen into the dream on category.  But I solider on.

Last summer when I was in Florida I bought some Lorna's Laces Shepherd yarn in rainbow and a pattern, Lacy Summer Socks, to knit a pair of anklets.  The pattern looked fairly simple and well not a commitment to a time eating project off knee length socks.  I cast on and well let the project sit in a cute little bag for months.  Recently, I knuckled down to finish the damn socks with the idea that I would give them to my mother for mother's day.  Let's just say that would have worked out if my mother had bound her feet at the age of 3.

The pattern said the socks would fit a size 7 to 9, in their dreams, even with the gauge issue they would have never fit a 9 and only a 7 with some extra repeats of the pattern.  Frustrated with the tiny socks, I decided to try again with my friend Rachel's Dyeabolical Yarn.  She gave me a test color, Flamingo on a Croquet Lawn, in a sock weight yarn.  I nixed the size 1 needles and moved up to size 2s and than added a few extra rows to get my size 11 canoes covered.

And low and behold a sock was knitted that I actually liked the!  And there is even a little baby lace going on the top.  I can't wait to knit the second one so I can wear them around and say, "Look, lace!"  while pointing to my pretty socks.  I just can't get over the difference needle and yarn size make. These two socks were knit with the same pattern (except for 5 extra rows at the toe) and look at the difference of about 6 sizes. 

So now I must match my small pair of socks to a worthy pair of very tiny feet.

My Unbirthday Present

Like my inspiration, Alice, I got to celebrate my unbirthday this year. I must admit this was the perfect year for an unbirthday. My friends Rachel and Deborah asked me early in the year to join an Alice in Wonderland swap. Though the swap sounded fun, I had to pass, my life was just not conducive to the whimsical mood of the swap. But not to despair the wonderful ladies decided I deserved an Alice in Wonderland present anyway. And oh my little White Rabbits was it fun.

I got Alice in Wonderland books, buttons, cards, postcards, stitch markers, posters, quilt pattern, bookmarks, bag, yarn, and mitts (whew). I was overwhelmed by the bounty in my bag. I just kept expecting the Mad Hatter to jump out and proclaim "Clean cup move down."

Deborah made me the bag (with awesome inside pockets) depicting beautiful scenes from the original book. She also made me lovely bookmarks that are delightful to behold. Much love, Deborah, much love.

Rachel, yarn dyer extraordinary gave me some of her luscious creations, Hookah You and Flamingos on the Croquet Lawn sock yarn. Gorgeous! And as if not enough Rachel knitted me a pair of Pretty Lace Hand Warmers ( www.purlbee.com/pretty-lace-handwarmers/ ). Every item out of the bag got an ooohhh and an aaahhh, and filled my heart with love. OK I am verklempt all over again.

Thank you ladies, this was the best unbirthday presents ever!

Sock it to me!

On my infinite sock quest, as I have mentioned before I was six socks deep into debt. Well pull out the scoreboard cause I just finished my two at a time, cuff down, socks for Natalie!

Socks 4
Tempest 2


And the socks are being modeled by the very lovely recipient of these beauties. They fit her perfectly as if they had been knit to fit her pretty feet...oh wait they were.

I am kind of impressed by how sweet the Plymouth Happy Feet knitted up. The only problem I really see with my efforts, is well, it is almost summer and here are these snug wool socks. Not exactly season appropriate. Oh well there is always next winter.


On another yarn related front, the awesome Dyeabolical Yarn Diva ( http://stlrachelknits.blogspot.com/ ) has been dying away in her studio and came up with a cotton slub yarn with my name all over it. She said she dyed the yarn with me in mind. I am taking the liberty of naming the yarn "Jamie Green."

I am pretty certain I will get something light and summery knitted with it by next winter.

Shrugging

Last week I celebrated my 2 year knitiversary. Some of the first real yarn I bought was this lovely Dyeabolical Yarn, in Derby Girl colorway. I liked it so much I bought a second skein. I thought I would knit a pair of wristwarmers and socks for my sister with the lovely yarn. I did get the wristwarmers knitted and given to my sister. She loved the gift, but the socks never materialized. So the leftover skein and then some has been hanging around in my stash for almost 2 years.

Early January I decided to knit a very simple shrug for my sister with the yarn. I looked and looked for the pattern I saw in my head and had no luck finding it. After several fruitless hours on Ravelry I picked up sticks and charged forward making up the design as I went along.

I was pleased with the end result. It is not perfect, but my sister loved the shrug. My mom is so adoreablely modeling the shrug in these two pictures.

My sister loved the shrug too, but she has yet to send me pictures of herself in the garment. I am including my "damn the torpedoes" instructions just to keep the information available incase I want to knit another one. I can't promise they are good directions since this is my first attempt at keeping track, but here goes...

I used 1 skein plus about a forth of another of Dyeabolical Yarns Alter Ego Merino Sock Yarn 100g-430yards per skein.

1) First I cast on 52 stitches on size 8 dpns.

2)I used a knit 2, purl 2 rib stitch for about 5 inches.

3) For some reason I knitted a row before increasing.

4)I wanted the shrug larger on the next round so I knit a stitch and then added a yarn over knit the next stitch added a yarnover and continued to the end of the row (lesson learned, I was a bit over-enthusiastic here and should have probably added a yarn over for every 2 stitches).

5) I knitted three more rows on the size 8 dpns.

6)At the end of the third row I switched to size 11 straight needles and knitted a row flat.

7) On the wrong side I knitted the first 4 stitches and purled to the last 4 stitches which I knitted.

8)I continued to knit and purl my way through the skein.

9)As I started to run out of yarn I went back to the size 8 dpns and knitted 3 rows.

10)This next part was tricky, but I was happy with the outcome. I knit two together and did a yarn over all the way around.

11)On the next round I knit two together, until I had 52 stitches again. At this point I understood why I did step 3.

12) I followed with about 5 inches of knit 2 purl 2 rib

13) Cast off.

I love how this project is also reversible.

UGH

I have been sick the last two days. Nothing inspires a person to get well again more than daytime television. It really is awful. I don't know which is worse, the overwhelming amount of personal injury lawyer commercials or the ITT tech commercials. I am all about improving one's self, but do I really think a career in medical records will turn my life around? Maybe, but not without some work on my own core issues.

Okay enough with the pitiful, I finished putting all the buttons on my fidgets and they look so cute. I had some of the Dyebolical Yarns (http://stlrachelknits.blogspot.com/ ) pencil roving left over so I knit headbands to match two of the fidgets. I still had a little yarn left over so I knit the Chernobyl and the Mermaid together in a swatch. In a fit of creativity, I bunched up the center and tied it to one of headbands so it looks like a bow on the headband. It is very cute. The pencil roving was a lot of fun to work with. I wish everything knit up that quick.

Strange Folk Festival

Saturday I went to the Strange Folk Festival in O'Fallon IL to see my friend and yarn mentor, Rachel's table she set up to sell yarn. The beautiful weather and the desire to shop at an alternative Kraft fair, hopefully devoid of tole painted teddy bears, my crew and I crossed the river. I am amazingly good at not getting lost on the west side of the Mississippi River. People call me and ask for directions. But as soon as I cross that river I get lost. The lost where you can't find yourself on a map and you have to stop at a creepy farm house and ask for directions kind of lost. So of course I was tasked with getting us there because once 18 years ago I had been in O'Fallon IL. We did get lost, but a quick stop at a gas station put us on our way to the Strange Folk Festival. Surprise, we were 15 minutes early and they weren't quite ready for the Missouri contingent of neophyte knitters and random friend.
Early or not I found said Dyeabolical Yarn Mistress at her table selling her wares of yummy dyed yarns. She sat surrounded by riots of color that made me want to sit and knit them all up in to amazing garments (okay this is the fantasy section of the blog). Rachel was happy to see us and was showing off her new colorways. I felt kind of cool standing next to the hip indie dyer, while others crowded to her table and fondled her yarn. Then she gave us the look, like go busy yourself minions and we scampered off to look at other fun stuff. It is considered bad form to take photos of others designs so I can only regalia you dear reader with the variety of things I saw. I saw zombie dolls, brass knuckle quilts, reusable flannel sandwich wraps, bullet casing necklaces, lamb soaps, llamas, spinning wheels, vintage tie dog collars, pottery, and my favorite a day of the dead porn bedroom suite. Whew! There were a lot things there wanting my non-existent funds.
I only bought the lamb soap, lavender bath scrub, woman in corset photo, and of course Dyeabolical yarn (etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5101528). I tried to purchase Dyeabolical Yarn Mistress' hubby, but he was busy spinning yarn. So I left him with a lipstick marked cheek and left. It was a fun morning and I definitely putting the event on the calender for next year.
And then there was swag, lots of swag. For being one of the first 100 Strange Folk to show up we got bags for our bootie. The bags had the usually business fliers and cards, boring. But it also had other freebies like soap, notepads, buttons, fabric, tape measure/level, stickers, magazines, decals, temp tattoos, postcards, bead hangy things, and iron on transfers. I spent this morning digging through the swag. The green skull print fabric is my favorite, who knows what I will do with it. I haven't heard how Dyeabolical did, but it looked good when we left. End critque of the event for me, way worth the trip across the Mississippi.

World Wide Knit in Public Day

Lately I have not been spending much time with my mother. I have been really busy and with gas prices being so high I just have not made it down to Hermann that often in the last year. Two weeks ago I received a newspaper clipping announcing an event for World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIPD) on Saturday June 14th. Despite knitting in public whenever possible, I thought this was an excellent idea to knit and see my mom at the same time. I got in my hybrid and drove down. The weather was gorgeous, the setting at the Hermannhoff Winery bucolic, and the company was perfect.
My mother is not a knitter so she brought her current quilting project and we met 4 new knitters. The group at Hermann is small, but large in spirit. They call themselves "Strings Attached." Marsha, the woman who spearheaded the event was working on these adorable little Swedish elves she makes with leftover sock yarn (very clever her). I am including a picture of this cute little creations.
My mother worked on a quilt project she called, "Making a Scarecrow." I snapped a picture of her hands working on the block. I love watching her work. She is just so damned good at it she makes this look so easy. She will have this project done in a few weeks and it will be so cutesy it will assail my senses, but the craftswomanship will be excellent.
I worked on a little swatch bracelet with Dyeabolical Yarn. I really like how the colorway worked out on the bracelet. The ladies from Strings Attached invited us back anytime. They also seemed to really enjoy my mother's non-knitting project. Mom enjoyed meeting local crafty ladies too. One of the ladies, Joey, invited us to an art gallery opening that night which just extended our good time. Thanks mom for inviting me down and reminding me how cool it is to spend time with you.