A blog about my life, knitting, and other stuff.

August 29, 2014

Thursday Friday Is for What the Hell Is This?

Whoops. I missed it. Sorry about that.

So this one feels eerily familiar. I don't *think* I've posted it before. But, really, even if I had I think it's worth a second look. And a third. And a fourth. Because, oh my word. What is this?



I'm feeling pretty confident that PiƱata Chic is not the next big thing in fashion. 



August 26, 2014

Whoops. Started a cowl too #rosekimknits



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August 25, 2014

Malabrigo Worsted leftovers hat. #rosekimknits



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August 24, 2014

Off the Loom

I finished weaving my camp project a while ago. I got it off the loom and went to soak it and--blech!--the stench that came off of that thing. A mix between gasoline and mothballs. Horrid. I washed it over and over and over again. It still stinks when wet. It's fine when it's dry. I'm planning on overdyeing it because it currently looks like this.


It's 20" wide and about 4.5 yards long! I have no idea what I'll do with it once it's dyed.

August 23, 2014

How can one tiny sweater have so many ends?? #rosekimknits



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Latest scrap hat is done. #rosekimknits



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Remember the Pink Yarn?

The stuff in the this picture? I threw it in the dyepot along with the lavender and mauve skeins in the lower left of the photo. I'm so much happier now.


The lighting was a bit funky. I can't seem to correct this photo to really show the true color. It's a lot less vivid in real life. I promise. But now they all go together.

August 22, 2014

CustomFit #2



Pattern: CustomFit
Yarn: Woobu in Corbie
Needles: US6
Notes: I didn't have a lot of yarn so I monkeyed with the CustomFit program for a while making the sleeves longer and shorter, making the body longer and shorter and playing with how open the fronts should be. The resulting pattern had 16 stitches worth of space between the front edge and the front shaping. I used Up, Down, All-Around Stitch Dictionary to find a stitch pattern to plunk in there (Eyelet Crescents). I mirrored the pattern on the two fronts. I would have loved to have made the fronts wide enough to meet in the center but I didn't have enough yarn and wasn't interested in a sweater that was any shorter or had short sleeves.

I put the following choices into CustomFit. 
Fit: Average
Length: Medium-hip length
Sleeves: Three-quarter length sleeve
Neck style: Scoop neck
Neck depth: 5"/12.5 cm Below shoulders
Hem edging and height: Twisted 1x1 Ribbing, 11⁄2"/4 cm
Sleeve edging and height: Twisted 1x1 Ribbing, 11⁄2"/4 cm
Neck edging and height: Twisted 1x1 Ribbing, 1"/2.5 cm
Button band allowance: 5"/12.5 cm
Button band edging and height: Twisted 1x1 Ribbing, 11⁄2"/4 cm

August 21, 2014

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

Was the world crying out for balloon art knits? Somehow I don't think so and yet...


Poor model.


Look at those eyes. "Help. Me."


"How soon is this over?"


"Because it definitely isn't soon enough."


August 14, 2014

My foot is very sore so I'm in bed icing it, watching Downton and spinning in my miniSpinner. Try doing that with a saxony! #rosekimknits



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Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

I realize crochet magazine editors struggle with the stereotype that crochet is fusty and old fashioned. They want desperately to show readers that crochet can be hip! Crochet can be cool!

This is not how you do that.


August 11, 2014

New reward system for weaving in ends. #rosekimknits



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August 7, 2014

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

There's a reason you don't often see art competitions with a Bizarre Bra category.

 

It may be more than we mere mortals can handle.







"You'll poke your eye out!"




August 4, 2014

Weaving Camp Recap

I'm back from Weaving Camp. It's not a real camp. It's a small gathering of weavers that get together with Judith Mackenzie every summer for some dedicated weaving time. I was lucky enough to be invited to join them this summer.

To refresh your memory, I am a failed weaver. I've tried my hand at here and there and other than a few nice scarves off my Cricket rigid heddle loom I've never had success. I brought a big bag of yarn with me, my Rasmussen table loom and a shred of hope.

First attempt: I wanted to make a simple scarf with this Kauni. I discussed it with Judith. We tested the yarn to see if it was strong enough for warp. I measured my warp and got it on the loom with lots of guidance. A warp thread broke before I started weaving. I learned to fix it. Another broke. Then two more. At this point I still haven't done any weaving! We look again at the yarn and see that it has many bad joins in it that are too weak to stand the pressure of the tightened loom. I cut it off my loom and throw it in the trash.

Second attempt: I have two skeins of lace-weight alpaca in two colors that have been in my stash for about ten years. I wound them for a striped warp. Then I didn't like the way they looked. They were blah. So I overdyed the whole warp. (Photo from yesterday's post.) I love the new color but I couldn't weave it at the retreat because it had to dry. I also don't know what I want to use for the weft now.

Third attempt: I try my hand at a "miracle warp." The idea is you throw a bunch of yarns together into a warp that is twice as long and half as wide as you want your finished piece to be. Then you thread both ends making a mirrored warp. I missed the part of the instructions that said the warp should have a cross at both ends. I made my warp with one cross like one would normally. When I was ready to take it off the warping board someone said, "You have to tie your second cross." I stood and blinked. Second cross? What second cross? A great deal of time was then spent trying to fake our way through a second cross. This made the warp a tangled mess. I got it sorted out and through the reed and heddles but not before realizing that I had miscounted and it was too wide for my reed. I pulled threads out. Then I broke a few threads. Fixed those. Then my edge threads started fraying and breaking. Pulled those out. Tension problems came up. Basically every problem a warp could have came up at least twice.

Then I started weaving. Judith wanted me to try a boat shuttle but it would not work with the mixed warp. It kept falling through when it would hit the stretchier yarns. So I'm using a stick shuttle and it's very slow going.


It's not really my colors, is it? No, it's definitely not. I'm planning on overdyeing the whole piece with black to make murky, autumn-y greens when I'm done. But who knows how long that will take.

I also did a lot of dyeing. I dyed some old handspun, some newer handspun, commercial yarns I never liked the look of.

So I learned a ton, dyed a ton and got not weaving completed at all. But it was great and I hope I'm invited back next year.