Merry Christmas!

So after a (surprisingly) fun time with my family, I have a couple of photos to share.

So, you remember that illusion scarf I was working on for my uncle? Well, the illusion pattern was too difficult to keep straight, so I ripped it and started making it just a normal striped scarf with gradually widening stripes. Then it was 9 PM yesterday and I had like 12 hours to finish and two feet to go and I was about ready to run away to Canada to avoid the Christmas celebration. Then my boyfriend, who is a freaking genius, suggested just sewing the ends together and making a cowl, which worked FANTASTICALLY. And then it turned out to be an even better idea because my uncle works with heavy machinery and it is very dangerous for him to have scarf ends dangling out in front of him. So YAY. He opened it, and then refused to take it off all night. Here he is, graciously modeling it for me:

Also, my Aunt Jenny (who actually happens to be married to the uncle you see above, Chris) gave me a bunch of beautiful handspun yarn that her friend made. It's her entire year's worth of spinning. It's got wool, bamboo alpaca and even a little silk! I've never used handspun before and I am unbelievably excited to use it. I mean look at it:

The top layer . . .

. . . And the bottom layer

I still haven't finished my friend's present, but his is on much less of a time table. I'm going to work on his next, once I've taken a break from stressful knitting and worked on something easy like my shawl for a day or two.

Photo Dump

Well, I just uploaded several photos to Ravelry, so I figure it's only fair that I upload them here, too.

 This is some yarn that I picked up the other day. Hacho is on sale. This is a dangerous thing. This will likely become a pretty cowl.

 After fiddling with my camera settings for the better part of 30 minutes, I was finally able to get the focus right for this photo. I have dubbed this yarn 'Hard Candy Hacho,' and I'm going to make something for my sister out of it, but she doesn't know what yet.

 Shortly after I started the thumb gusset on my Horde mittens. I'm going to duplicate stitch the insignia in later, I've decided. I'll likely finish the first mitt today.

 The beginnings of my uncle's illusion scarf for Christmas. You can't really see the illusion yet, but that's because the scarf is actually backwards in this photo. Whoops.

 My scrapghan! It's growing! It's quite heavy now.

 This is the sock yarn that I saw and kept coming back to. I am very excited to start knitting my first socks with it!

 The first several rows of my Traveling Woman shawl, out of the yarn that my Maja was being made with. I like it so far.

This pile of green and black (with a little brown) is my Yoshi Blanket. Part of it. Or it will be, at least, once I sew it all together. Man, won't that be a fun day?

So yeah. That's what I've been up to! :D

P.S. WOW! The photos worked correctly this time! I have no idea why, but they did! Yay!

DPNS

THEY HAVE BEEN LOCATED.

THAT IS ALL.

< /pointless entry >

My First Cowl!

I meant to post this yesterday, whoops. But I finished my Dew Drop Cowl! I'm pretty happy with it, as far as first cowls go.

  I mistrusted the pattern, initially, when they said that gauge did not matter. The pattern said to cast on 200 stitches, but considering that 200 stitches would make it as wide as the blanket I'm currently knitting, I went with 100, like many people suggested. The cowl is still big enough to wrap around my neck twice. I would CO 50 if I did this pattern again, with the same weight yarn and the same needle size. I'd have to make it on dpns, though, if that were the case.

I like making cowls, I decided, but from now on, I'm going to go with ones that list a gauge, cause I still don't have what I want from this cowl: a tighter fitting garment that will keep my neck warm in the winter without a lot of hassle.

Eventful Day

I went to knitting today! It was awesome! Yay!

While there, several things happened. The first was that Emily gave me this FANTASTIC pair of felted slippers she made for me. They are super warm and fit perfectly, and I so far love patting about the house in them.
The second was that I learned that Hacho is on sale at this particular LYS. This was a bad thing for me to learn. :< I bought two skeins of it, and at least one will be for Christmas knitting. I think I'm going to use one of them on Ellie, and another one might just be for me...
Third is that I found the most beautiful yarn and I loved it. It was so soft and was a beautiful mix of purple and reddish pink. I had to keep getting up out of my seat to go look at it and pet it some more. So, I ended up buying it of course. :/ I'm bad at this game. This yarn, though, will become my first socks. Once I find my dpns. ...Crap.

Also at knitting (I got tired of counting, apparently,) I finished my headband! The crochet one I have been working on but didn't mention cause it didn't seem important! Yeah, that one! I wore it underneath my real had because today was/is our coldest day so far. :(

(So, I can't seem to get this new picture thing to work for me. Ugh.)




Also today, I got my set of 16" circs in the mail! It's got one each of sizes 0 - 15, without any exclusions, I believe. This means that I can knit hats now! This also means that I no longer have any excuses for not making things like this dew drop cowl, or good luck cowl, or the ridged lace cowl, or even things knit flat like the branching out scarf. {All Ravely links.} I've also got one other cowl that it not, to my knowledge, on Ravelry. I'll probably use some of my new Hacho for that, come to think of it...
I will also be using these circs for some already planned Christmas presents for some people who will adore their presents. (Yes, I am teasing you. You know who you are.)

Shortly after I got all these circs in the mail, I organised them all into my hanging organizer jobber (this thing.) Since only the needles themselves (as opposed to the cords) stick out beyond the case, it now looks like some horrifying porcupine death organizer. Just thought I'd share that, cause I think it's really funny.

The end.

Needles

So, instead of spamming my Twitter feed like I usually do, I'm going to post a blog about it. Yay productivity! (No, never mind the pile of homework in the corner. It's not important. Promise.)

First of all, I am at somewhat of a loss. I cannot find my dpns anywhere! It's freaking me out! I have a growing collection, stored in two tins (one for odds, one for evens), but I cannot find either tin. I was just finally getting up the courage to try a sock again, and one of my intended Christmas presents requires dpns, for part of it at least.
I did get a similar tin for my crochet hooks, which I can, of course, find. Maybe my dpns ran away cause they're jealous of my hooks? I would feel so bad. ;^;

But on to the real issue.

I am very seriously considering getting a set of knitting needles. Of course, most people think of the addi Clicks when they think of sets. And those look really nice. It's difficult to convince myself to not just cave and bu them. I know that I currently have the dollars to get them, but I don't have income right now. The other issue with this set is that it doesn't come with a 16" cable, for hats.
The one I am leaning towards right now, though, are the metal Options set from KnitPicks. I've never ordered from KnitPicks before, but I have heard nothing but good things about them.
There also the Denise needles, which don't sound terrible. They do have the shorter cords that I want, but they have fewer needle sizes total. They're also plastic, though, which I'm not sure I'd like.

I partly want to get the needles because I'm finally past that point where you only use two sizes of needle because you only know how to knit with DK yarn or whatever.
Also, I have so much yarn. I have projects lined up for some (ok, much) of it, but I don't have the needles I require to work on them.

In regards to other things I've been working on, though . . .

I've done a couple of rows on my uncle's scarf. It's still fun to work on because it changes almost every row, so it's (so far) not an endurance project. ..Yet.
I've been working on that scarf for John I've been working on for . . . a year now? Hmm. I'm a little more than half done now, I think. It is more than half my armspan, so that's nifty. I need to get my yarn wound on Saturday, since I'm coming to the end of the cakes I'm currently knitting from.

I'm thinking about other Christmas knitting, trying to figure out what to do for people. I did figure out what I'm making for my friend Mike, though I can't post it here until I've finished it and given it to him because I'm fairly sure he reads these posts. ( :P )
I'm figuring I'll just make a halfdome for my brother, if anything. I'm gonna try to get that vikings hat for my older sister, and I'm trying to think of something suitably awesome for Ellie. I also feel like I should make something for Kari, but I don't know what. I have an idea about a present for Laura, too, cause heaven knows she deserves something awesome with what she's been going through recently.

I'll figure it out. It's just nice to write it all down to figure it out, though.

So

Ok, so I ended up ripping my Maja shawl. I intend to make a different shawl out of it, but I need to buy the needles first. This is my first real frog. .___.

But, on to better things!

I started working on my uncles scarf yesterday:



I've only got the first few rows done, but I'm liking it so far. Once it's written, illusion things seem to be.. not that bad.

Also, on the crochet front, I'm working on these cuff thingies that I talked about before. But, they were really long and loose and the bell part of it was really huge and blocked my hand, so I'm reworking it so I can actually use my hands when I'm wearing them.

Tschüs.

To rip, or not to rip?

(Two posts in one morning! My, aren't we spoiled?)

So here's a question. Let's say you're working on a shawl. You know that the end product will be beautiful, but the pattern itself is really... a piece of work. And it takes a huge amount of effort to knit because you have to calculate the lace row every repeat. And it gets bigger as it goes. And you don't hate the shawl, but you wouldn't be entirely unhappy if you did not have to work on it ever again.

Do you rip it?

How do you know when it's time to rip? Have you ever had a project that you really wanted to love, but just couldn't for whatever reason? What did you do?

I'm thinking pretty seriously about ripping my Maja shawl. I just am unsure what I would do with the yarn. I'm thinking about the Traveling Woman shawl, but I would have to buy new needles for that. I could do my first socks? Ugh.

Funk

Yo.

So, I've been in kind of a knitting funk lately, and I'm not entirely sure what to do about it. So here's what I've been working on lately:

I'm probably about 10% done with my scrapghan so far. Some of my friends and people in my knitting group have been giving me their scraps, and I quite like how it looks so far. It's super nice to have while watching bad TV.

I made a pair of Dashing armwarmers for my boyfriend, who was ecstatic to get them. He wears them all the time and takes good care of them, which makes me very happy about the idea of knitting for him again. (His poor scarf, though, is still only half done..)



I have been crocheting granny squares like a crazy thing. When I have enough, I'm going to sew them all together to make a pixel sprite (that's "mosaic" to a lot of people) of Yoshi! I was going to do Link, but I couldn't find a sprite that was both simple enough to do and not boring/ugly. I think if I were to make another one, I'm gonna make a triforce. <3



More on the crochet front, I've been working on a pair of cuffs for myself. They're bright red, and I love them so far. I also learned how to do ribbing with this pattern. Or one way to do ribbing, at least.

I'm also writing a pattern! I am going to make a scarf for my uncle for Christmas, but the pattern I want does not exist right now. More on that later, closer to the holiday and probably when the pattern is actually written.

Also, in the realm of plans: I bought a pound of yarn on Friday. It is to make myself a stuffed animal. His name will be Thognos, and he will be based on my void walker from World of Warcraft. Yes, I'm one of those. I will be crocheting this one, but I'm waiting until I have a little bit more experience to actually do it.

Sorry there aren't more photos. I'll do a photo dump again soon, though. Probably.

Guh

Guh, I am so bad at posting. I was going to try and make a new entry every month. That obviously failed. :/ What have I been doing, though...?

I frogged the socks I was talking about last time. I just decided that I didn't like them, and that the yarn would have a better use for a different project. I might make some lace-ish or cabled armwarmers out of them or something.

I am still working on the Maja shawl. As it gets bigger, and not smaller, as it goes, though, I can only really do a row or two at a time before I go crazy and have to switch projects. There does appear to be a mistake in the pattern. The 4W thingies are supposed to be in multiples of eight, to make the row after them work, but have yet to actually BE in a multiple of eight. So I have to recount the stitches every time and figure out how many wrapped stitches I'm actually supposed to do.

Secret Santa project is underway. It will be quite quick to do once I actually sit and work on it. I might bring it and work on it in my two hour gap at school on Monday, since I can't work on it on Saturday at knitting...

I started my scrapghan! I'm using my leftover/acrylic worsed(ish) weight yarn and making a blanket out of it! :D I'm not super far yet, but I did start it, and I managed to not twist the join, like I was worried about. I didn't want to deal with the longtail cast on that I usually do with that many stitches, so I just did the loopy one that I used to do. I like it so far! I'm on my third ball out of who knows how many.

I also taught myself to crochet a couple of days ago! I've had the "Happy Hooker" book for a while, but had so many knitting projects that I didn't really have time to mess with it. But I crocheted a hat! I am happy with it, actually. Ellie also demanded that I make her one, so I'm working on a second one of the same design. I'm trying to teach myself to make a granny square so that I can finally start work on that pixel afghan that I am so excited about.

...Wow, I really didn't say anything interesting. >.< Sorry!

Knitting Again!

So, I had a really hard time knitting the last couple of weeks, because of Detour and finals. But, now that both are done, I have a ton of free time to knit and draw and whatever! :D

I have up on the DS pouch thing. I got it basically knit up, but then I couldn't figure out how to sew the pockets together, and then my sister gave me her old case anyway. So.. yeah.

I've been working on my socks on-and-off, and I'm almost done with the heel flap. I wish I had made the top of the sock longer (the part above the ankle), but I don't really care enough to try and figure out how to fix it. I'll just know that for my next pair.

I did start my first lace project, which is also my first shawl! The Maja shawl! I'm happy with it so far, but I think there might be a mistake in the pattern. Either that, or I can't read. It could honestly go either way. I'm nearly ten rows in already, but it's one of the shawls that gets bigger as you work it, not smaller. :(

AND! I found my project bag! The one with yarn for fingerless mittens for my mom, stepmom, and her friend? Yeah. I found it while cleaning my room earlier today. I've finished the body on my moms second mitten, and I'm about to start the thumb. I hope to finish before she gets home. I'm so excited to have found these!

FO!

I finally finished something! And, since I used someone else's camera to take photos, I actually can post them! :D

From the front, here are the mittens I made for Mike! The tops look pointy in the picture, but they're pretty round in person.

And then again, from the back.

Everything from about where the fingers separate was improvised. I'm pretty happy with them. I guess Kate (the intended) loves them.

General Update

Oh hi.

So I'm still not sure how much I'll be charging my dad for the mittens. But that isn't my primary concern right now. I've lost the whole freaking project bag, which had both skeins my dad bought me, plus my mom's nearly completed (seriously. <15 rows left) mittens. I've been looking everywhere with no luck. :/

I went in for yarn therapy the other day and bought stuff for a few new projects. I got a couple of skeins of green Cascade 220 for the Cthuluclava pattern. I'm going to sell at least one at CONvergence this year; two if I've got time to make two. I bought two differently colored skeins of dreambaby dk yarn. I'm going to crochet it into tiny crabs for Detour. I'm thinking three dollars a piece, but I'm not sure, since I haven't actually made any yet. Then I bought two skeins of this pretty reddish purple Happy Feet yarn to make my first pair of socks for myself! I'm excited. Once I make my own first socks, I can get John to help me write a chart for those programming socks. I found a pattern already, but they're in C or something that he doesn't like. -shrug- The last thing I bought was a skein of Baby Alpaca insanely soft yarn. My friend Mike commissioned a pair of mittens off me for his friends birthday. I found a pattern on Ravelry for a pair of fingerless mittens with one cable up the back. I'm going to modify the pattern so that they're full mittens, though. I'm pretty excited to make them. I love cabling. Plus it's really thick yarn with pretty big needles, so they'll be done relatively quickly.

I'm also still working on the Longcat scarf for John, plus I'm starting a gauge swatch for a DS cozy for myself, so I can carry some games on me without taking up a billion space in my bag.

Charging for Knitting?

So, at the end of last year, I knit something that wasn't a gift for someone else for the first time. I charged him a total of 15 dollars or so - enough to buy the yarn, plus a little extra. That was so not enough.
How do other people charge for their knitting? I know there's a quote, "Knitting is like sex. If I like you, and you appreciate it, it's free. Otherwise, you couldn't pay me enough."
I'm not sure if 15 wasn't enough because the pattern was confusing, and I waited until the end of the semester to finish the project, which wasn't the commissioner's fault, really. Or was it because 15$ just straight-up wasn't enough? I've been told to charge for yarn x 2 or 3. But is this what I should do across the board?

Right now, I'm knitting two pair of fingerless mittens for my dad. They're incredibly simple, and by the time they're done, I'll have made 10 total gloves, all things considered. Should I charge my dad that much, though? Especially considering they're a V-day gift for my stepmom? I dunno. Argh.

In Progress Update

Howdy.
I've only been working on one project lately, partly because of school, and partly because I really like working on it. I'm making a longcat scarf for my boyfriend!




I'm actually considerably farther (further?) than this, but it's at the point where it would be sort of silly to take a picture, since it would look like some sort of weird racing stripe with feet. I'm having a lot of fun making it, following this pattern. It's about as long as my arm now, actually. I'm still having a great time making it!

I'm also about to start my first (second, technically, after my own) of three (again, four technically) of my modified version of these glitzy fingerless mittens: one for my mom, one for my stepmom, and one for someone that she works with, I guess? I am so not excited to do all that ribbing again. But my mom is so excited for them, and my dad is paying me double the yarn cost to keep them a surprise, so I suppose it's alright.

Picture Post Four: St. Paul Ripper's Secret Santa

These gloves were made as part of a Secret Santa exchange with my knitting group.
Not the best pictures, I know, but I only finished the gloves an hour before the exchange! She loved them, though, so it was worth it.

Picture Post Three: Colorwork Fingerless Mittens

My first attempt at colorwork! I am really proud of these gloves and how they came out. Take a look!




































And my cousin loved them. <3

Picture Post Two: Half-Gloves

'Nother pair of gloves! These ones were commissioned by a friend at school, and followed this pattern. I'm pretty happy with how they came out. I made them in solid black, since that's what he asked for.

Picture Post One: Fall Fingerless Mittens

Remember those fingerless mittens/gloves I talked about last post?
Well, here they are!








Modeled by my wonderful boyfriend.
This is my first successful attempt at armwarmers, and I really love them. The pattern was easy, but not boring. The gloves are warm, and the yarn I picked for them looks really nice. I did modify the pattern, though. First it was on accident, but then I realized that I actually liked it better. On the first gloves, I skipped 17 rows. On the second one, I skipped 15, because I couldn't remember which ones I had skipped for sure. Next time I make them (and there will be a next time: both of my parents have asked for some (One as a Christmas present, and one as a commission for my stepmom), as well as a family friend. I'll never escape!), I'm going to skip the short rows, I think.