I'm Crafty, For Reals, Plus WIP Wednesday!

So, it's crafty.ninjakitten.net! Thank you for the feedback, and you should see this in any feed readers you use due to my new found love, Feedburner.

Are you bored by that blog business? So am I! Here's my "What I Did On Summer Vacation -- Crafty Edition" essay. Well, as I think I might, or might not, have mentioned, we went to the shore last week. (For those of you who don't live local to Philly, the shore is synonymous with the beach in my area. It normally indicates the Jersey shore, but I visited Ocean City, MD instead.) Thinking that I'd just knit knit knit all night, I brought along the nub's blanket and a lot of yarn. I don't know why I thought I'd knit so much, but mostly I slept every night because I was so darned tired. I did get some knitting done, though.





And, because I love to ask for trouble, I visited Salty Yarns while down at Ocean City. They bill themselves primarily as an embroidery shop, but what right minded person names their store Salty Yarns and doesn't sell any yarn? Not the owner of Salty Yarns, luckily. I wasn't going to go in, because they did have an extremely sparse yarn collection, but I spied something special through the windows. That's right, Lantern Moon needles! They had Sox Stix! The next trip to the boardwalk, I was there to purchase myself a nice set of size 1 needles in rosewood. I know it's extravagant, but they make me so darn happy when I'm knitting and that makes a difference. (As an aside, I got pretty indifferent service at Salty Yarns. Perhaps it was because I came in late just prior to Labor Day, but I was not greeted especially warmly, and the person who was at the register seemed both unaware and uninterested in what Lantern Moon needles they had available.)

Excited by the needles, I came home and wound up some very special yarn for a pair of socks I've been wanting to try from Cookie A. I'll leave the particular pattern nameless to surprise you all later! The super special yarn was Sundara Sock! I've been dying to try either that or my Madelinetosh, but when asked, Paul said he thought the pink of my Cranberry Mousse colorway worked better with the pattern. He helped me wind it and my heart sunk like a stone as we did. It went from being beautifully pink and cream in the skein to being a tiny bit like...




Grape juice vomit. I wanted to cry as I stared it, but I held myself together and decided I needed to use it anyway. I asked myself, somewhat crazily, what drew me to grape juice vomit yarn. I was angry at Sundara who was 'supposedly' a great dyer. I was cranky and tired and mean when I cast on, but what a difference a few rows can do.

Only half an inch later, I was back in love.




The yarn slid easily and beautifully from sharp pretty needle to sharp pretty needle. It knitted up tight, but not too dense. And, best of all, it was knitting up into a pretty petal pink. Some areas are slightly lighter, others darker, but it's as if it was a flower petal, all gentle flows of color. I apologized to whomever Sundara's dyer is, in my head. This is the reason people camped out on the Sundara website to try to get a skein. It was perfection.

So, now I'm knitting two different items for the first time in a while. I've mentally committed myself to working on the blanket half the time to try and crank it out, and working on my other stuff, including some sketching once again, during the rest of the week. We'll see how this all turns out.

Bye-bye, from one crafty ninja kitten!

How Much Sock Yarn Does It Take?

During my last WIP Wednesday, I made some noises about not having enough yarn to finish my pair of Toast. This is looking to be true, though the difference might be half an inch, which I can easily pull out of the first finished arm warmer.

A daily blogger I've been following quite a while, because she's a heck of a seamstress (and now a knitter too), Mermaids, asked:

"i am in the same boat in terms of hoping i have enough a yarn to finish a pair of socks. with fabric, it is so easy to tell if you have enough. how do you do that with yarn?!?!"

Peeps, this is the first time ever that someone has asked me a knitting related question on this blog. How can I refuse to answer? What type of person would I be? Would anyone ever ask me a question again about knitting? Let's go through how you can know.

Now, as the wise Ms. Knitpicky mentioned in her own comment, the ideal way to handle this is pre knitting anything. And considering she knits roughly a mile of yarn a month, she should know! You can, if you are worried, split your yarn into two equal yardage balls prior to ever knitting a darned stitch. Just wind those center pull balls and weigh them. Do they weigh the same? If so, get knitting!

I, normally, never run into this problem because I usually knit the same pattern for the same size feet (my own) all the time. Thus, I know exactly how much yardage I need to do that standard pattern. I guesstimate based on that yardage for other people's feet and other patterns. Sometimes, I guesstimate wrong. For instance, when I knit Helen's socks, I was only partially sure that I'd need two skeins of Lorna's Laces because when I knit myself anklets, I use less than one full skein. It turns out that when the person you're knitting a pair of knee high socks for size ten feet, you need to go the extra distance with your yarn purchase. Alternatively, I was absolutely sure that my purchase of yarn (roughly 430 yards or so) for Paul's normal height socks would leave me wanting more since he wears extra wide socks. I had enough left over yarn to make my baby a pair of tiny booties that matched! So, guesstimating only works well if you're knitting for yourself and for a pattern that's roughly the same height as you usually wear.

But, wait, you're saying! I knit a darned sock already! I need to know if I have enough yarn to match this first sock. Well, remember that scale that Ms. Knitpicky would have pulled out prior to even knitting? Yeah, go get it. Weigh your first sock. How much does it weigh? Note that! (I use my husband's kitchen scale for this task since it can tare out weights and it's really accurate.) Now, weigh your remaining yarn. If you have the same number or a heavier weight, you're good. If not, you might want to shorten your first sock now.

Hmm, I didn't include any pictures in this post. Nathan finds himself displeased with this post for that reason.

Autumnal Anklets

So, I've been wanting to post about these damned anklets for about a month or more now! I've been holding off to allow me time to go outside to photograph them against the beautiful backdrop of autumn leaves. Dudes, if I held off photographing them any longer, you were not going to see them until 2010 or later. So, tonight, I snapped snapped snapped some photos and came back to my computer and promptly uploaded them.

I knit these suckers using size zero needles. It was my first time knitting non-baby socks on such tiny needles and I found it to be slow going, but I ended up loving the look of the tiny knit stitches so much, I might be a size zero needle convert. The evenness of my stitches. The perfection of my stitches! It was amazing. If only I liked this colorway or yarn more. I ended up not loving Schaefer Anne yarn, sadly. I find it slightly scratchy while knitting and slightly fuzzy once knit up. You can see the halo of the yarn a little better in this picture.



I'm quite happy that my remaining untouched sock yarns are all semi-solids as I've been unhappy with my variegated yarns recently. I will say this for Schaefer Anne yarn -- it goes through a washer and dryer beautifully. While sick, I decided to toss them into my wash to see what happened. They bled hideously and I now have a slightly pink (previously light blue) tee, but they held their shape perfectly and are now soft enough for wearing around the home comfortably. They are also one of the few sock yarns I've worked with that make gorgeously thin socks that fit perfectly into my shoes.



As for the fact that they are anklets, as are most of the socks on my site? I have a horrible confession to make for a sock knitter. I hate socks. I only wear anklets at all (machine made or hand knit) and I mostly only wear them into bed. The anklet size allows me to kick them off once I get warm and sleepy enough. If you're wondering why I hate socks, it's all about constriction. I hate clothes that make me feel constricted. I also dislike tight clothing, shoes with backs, and turtlenecks. Dear God above, I really hate turtlenecks.

Saying all this, I'm still tempted to work some Cookie A socks next with my semi-solid yarn. That is, I'm tempted to do so if I ever get my scarf done. Chances of that? Slim to none.

Love you all and I hope to post soon. I am actually crafting once again!

Actual Knitting Pictures Included Below

My, my. How are you all doing? Just last night I chatted with you. Will this daily posting become a habit? My guess is no.

I was taking photos of a very simple dessert I made today when I decided to throw in a few yarn photos. The only one I cared for was this shot of my sock knitting in the lovely yarn bag that Vahnee gave me.



Isn't that yarn absolutely gorgeous? It's Schaeffer Anne in some unknown color way. Admit it, it's gorgeous! I'm so pleased that this variegated yarn does not yet look disgusting.

Short Unsweet Update

Last week, Nathan ran his little walker over to my knitting area, picked up my Pomatomus socks in progress and yanked two of the needles out of them. Those socks has taken me like a month just to knit to that point and they were already fairly screwed up with some areas where I had clearly not increased at the right time or I had simple dropped a stitch and then picked it up incorrectly.

This was already after Paul told me that the yarn was so incredibly crazy that he could not see the pattern in them. Also, the socks looked like they would be incredibly tall and I hate incredibly tall socks. I got so depressed about the whole situation that I ripped the socks out.

I've already started a pair of plain stockinette anklets with the yarn, but the whole thing is super depressing. I don't think I like the incredibly variegated nature of most of the Socks That Rock collection. I still plan to do the Pomatomus socks one day, but with a different less variegated yarn.

Ugh, I'm off to be depressed now. Sewing success news on the morrow, hopefully.

Lousy Blogger

So, it's been like a week since I last blogged. To be fair, I didn't have much to blog about. I have knit, but barely. I haven't really sewn. I've fake crafted.

What have I done? Well, I finished a pretty nice pair of Koigu anklets.



Aren't they cute? All it takes is one skein of Koigu to make anklets like these. Well, that's true if you have six feet anyway. It's not like one of those skeins is going to cover Paul's feet, even in anklet form. I'm ashamed to admit it, but my legs are really that white, by the way. I'm the palest person you know. It's as if the sun has never touched my skin. If you're thinking to yourself, "Go out and tan" right now -- STOP. I could sit out in the midday sun in the middle of July for about four hours without suntan lotion, and the odds of me getting any darker or burnt are very low. I've got really odd skin.

Now, you might think from the fact that I've got my feet into these anklets that I am keeping them. No, I'm not. My cousin Talena is very pregnant and she deserves a nice pair of warm anklets for the hospital or for the house in winter, if she'd like. My own knit anklets were the nicest thing to wear in the hospital after delivery. They were almost like slippers, but I could wear them comfortably in bed as well. I loved them. Plus, I like to knit for others and I do not really love the color of these socks as much as I should. Maybe if they had more green in them...

I've been thinking of making some cards because I've got some fairly pretty paper sitting around in my house from a card making kit.



I'm still not on it though. I know I need just one or two more items to make cards, but I don't have the energy right now.

What have I sewn? Sweet Jesus, all! In my efforts to imitate my new hero, Blair Waldorf, I've decided to wear more headbands. At first, I was like, 'This is brilliant', but then I remembered that headbands cost money. Even the cheap-o ones from my local supermarket. However, if I'm buying cloth anyway... I sewed a simple tube of green fabric tonight, turned it inside out and stuck it over the cheap black headband. Now, it is SUPER cute and green. I can do this with any leftover fabric I have too. I'm basically just making headband covers I can change out. Next step: wearing my hair down more. Next next step: losing weight so that I can comfortably wear dresses or skirts all the damned time. Paul would totally get behind this step and change in clothing style, I bet.

Lastly, back to knitting, I'm most of the way down a foot for Helen's socks (ravelry). Whee! They are taking forever, but will probably be one of my all-time best looking projects when completed.

In great news, I discovered my size seven 16-inch Addi Turbo circulars too. That means I can happily cast on my Slytherin scarf whenever I have a free moment (ie, never).

Ghost of Projects Past, Part I

Oh man, guys. Do you remember when I said I'd try to blog three times a week? I'm a TOTAL liar. My pants? They might possibly be on fire.

For those of you who are curious, Beth, the fashion designer, recommended the book New Complete Guide to Sewing by Reader's Digest. Apparently most fashion programs in Philly use this book as a text. That's a good enough rec for me and I plan to buy a copy sometime. I also bought a fat quarters of fabric, but I have no current plans for them. If I manage not to screw up completely, I've got one or two ideas, though.

Now, what is this post all about? I'd thought I'd talk about my knitting history and update you guys on my projects. It turns out that I think I've managed to convert my cousin Talena (the sweetest person on Earth) into a knitter. Since I plan to hang with her once a week now, that means I have a knitting friend! We got together last week and she worked on a really cute scarf made from Lion Brand's Nature's Choice Organic Yarn in a simple two by two rib. I have a feeling that it is going to be her first wearable finished project as she had previously tried to make two stockinette scarves, which you all know just curls and doesn't look nice, out of acrylic yarn. My bad, as I apparently totally did not warn her about that, nor did I teach her to cast off, nor have I explained how to weave in ends. I'm going over next week with tapestry needles and I'm going to show her how to weave in some ends. Luckily, I also got to work on my own anklets a bit since they're simple stockinette and can be chucked to the side every time Nathan decides to put up a major fuss.

I've also been working on Helen's socks quite a bit. Since they're knee high socks, they are slow going, but I'm finally working on the heel flap of the first sock. It's been so long since I've done a heel flap as opposed to a short row heel that I'm kind of intimidated. I've done it before, though, and I can do it again. I did temporarily take them off the needles when I got to the flap to make sure they fit my leg. They looked decent, but my legs are kind of fat (honestly a lot of that is calf muscle) so I'm hoping they look better on Helen. The pattern is gorgeous.

So, what's this about the ghost of projects past?




Do you see those? Those are three of my first projects, folks! The bottom one that Nathan is modeling up close and personal is my first ever projects. It's a basketweave scarf done for my mom. As no one warned me, I decided when first knitting to simply forge ahead and do a scarf of ten feet in length. As you can imagine, my knitting tension slowly started to relax from new tight knitter to relaxed looser knitter during the scarf's first three feet. When I examined my scarf, rather than just going with it when I realized this was happening, I tightened my knitting. This means that I made a scarf with a hourglass shape at one part of it. Yeah, that was smooth. Also, the scarf is acrylic and scratchy. Delightful!

The second project is a lacey scarf in blue. Mmm, it was short, it curls, and I knew nothing about the wonders of blocking. It's itchy, too. I hate to look at this scarf though the picture does not make it look as horrible as it really is.

The third is a horrible horrible horrible scarf done with a drop stitch and some fun fur on the ends. Oh man, that is one hideous scarf, and my mom likes it and wears it. I try to pretend she isn't wearing it when I see it on her.

I'm going to leave those projects as my projects past for now. Expect to see some a top and some older socks in the near future, folks!