Rib and Cable Mitts

Alrighty. So. Yeah. I planned a lengthy post today about the baby socks and all that I have learned from them and so on and so forth. But then I decided that I was too fucking tired to actually type all that out and take the necessary pictures (Oh yeah, there will be pictures. Maybe even a small soapbox commentary.) Anyway, so instead I give you my current WIP. Rib and Cable Mitts from the Spring IK.

I know that I said that I was going to make the snowball's chance in hell armwarmers but I made a fatal mistake in pattern choice, you see. I didn't read the pattern first. When I did sit down (Monday night) to read it and start in, I realized that the chart pattern (snowflakes to skulls, very cool) is accomplished using duplicate stitch. I am not at all interested in working duplicate stitch. Just not interested. Of course, if I had thought about it I would have realized that the patterns must have been accomplished with duplicate stitch because how would you work intarsia in the round? There's probably a way but not one that I'm aware of. I did, for the record, try to figure out a way to work the intarsia in the round, but could not think of a way that did not make me want to scream. So I frogged all efforts and decided on something different.

Enter, the rib and cable mitts. They're easy. They cover my hands. I should be able to finish them with the stash yarn I had selected for the armwarmers (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino for anyone who is interested) and I really like them. And it's my third official cable pattern. Yeah for me.

I'm finished with my first mitt already, and am currently at work on the second, using the light pink as the main color and the dark pink for the contrasting color. I think they're going to be uber cute. Also, I just have to say that the pattern is fantastic. The designer thought of everything. It makes perfect sense. You know how sometimes a pattern wants you to do something that seems completely unnecessary and unnecessarily complicated? Nothing of the sort here. This pattern rocks. 

Back from My Non-Weekend

Alright, so I've figured out how to post more than one picture per post but not how to arrange them as I want. Technology. A lovely thing.

Anyhoo, after 10 hours in the car in the space of 24 hours, I'm back to work and back to blogging. As expected, I knitted the whole way over to my parent's house and the whole way back (except the time it took us to wolf down a McDonald's breakfast in a McDonalds located in a Chevron station in Ritzville. Now that's Americanism, let me tell you.) We didn't even stop on the way back we were so eager to be home. I did manage to finish the Ruffled Rib Socks on the way over, and most of the Chevron Lace Socks on the way back (more on that later.)

We made it home by about 4:00 and then proceeded to plop down in front of the television for the next couple of hours (watching Star Wars, Episode I.) During that time I knit and knit on the Chevron Lace Socks until I RAN OUT OF YARN. I was just beginning to work the short row toe on the second sock when it happened. At that point I held up the end of the yarn and waived it (in all its stubby, too short glory) in front of Stephen's face. Me: I ran out of yarn. Him: hmmm (Star Wars is fascinating. The lights, the action.) Me: (waving yarn end and nudging him now): I ran out of yarn. Finally, he looks over. Uh-huh. And he goes back to watching the movie. I would like to tell you that when I reminded him that this means I would have to buy more yarn that this got his attention. But then I would be lying.

So now I have a pair of baby socks 99% done with no more yarn and no way to buy more until I get paid. Tragedy of epic proportions, I know. So I leave you with the above sad pictures of one finished sock and one *almost* finished sock. The slightly more blurry picture in the middle is of the Ruffled Rib Socks right before I left them forever with my sister. She is huge, by the way. 

Behold! The Beer!

So, I suppose that you were wondering why the name of the blog is "brewerburns." Well, now you know. Me and the hubby. We brew beer. It is fantastic beer. Highly alcoholic beer. This beer? It's the barley wine. It's called that because it's twelve percent alcohol. More like a wine than a beer. We love it. Enjoy. 

It's a Random Day

It’s Friday, but it’s not really Friday because I have to go to my sister’s over the weekend. I am happy to go because I haven’t seen her in a couple of months and she’s ginormously pregnant, but I do hate traveling over the pass in the winter. For one thing, it’s been snowing like crazy over Stevens Pass and they just cleaned up two avalanches. I’m actually starting to hyperventilate a little just thinking about it.


You know the way some people are about flying? The anxiety and panic? The need for narcotics? That’s me when it comes to driving in the snow and ice. Even when I’m not the one driving. I’m actually considering bringing the one valium that’s clinking around in my medicine cabinet just in case I really need it. And I might.


Since I won’t be in town over the weekend there will be no posting here for a couple of days. Of course, there will be knitting. I am almost finished with the ruffled rib baby socks, and hope to start on the Chevron lace socks either tonight or tomorrow. It's a five hour drive both ways. I'm very excited about that. I will also be bringing along my next planned project, the snowflakes to skulls armwarmers from the AntiCraft. By the way, have been to the AntiCraft? They’re fairly new and pretty bitter but I like them. To shake things up a bit I plan to make the armwarmers with some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, using light pink as the main color, and dark pink for the snowflakes/skulls patterns. I know, it’s not very AntiCraft-y but I do like pink. A lot.


Speaking of pink, I just want to say that I absolutely COVET with an Unholy Lust the argyle socks that Eunny of See Eunny Knit is making. (I just needed to get that off my chest) The main reason for the Lust in My Evil Little Heart? The colors. That pink with that green? I want to lick the computer screen whenever I go over there. And the fact that they are knee socks? Be still my (black) heart.


And lastly, on things my little black heart desires: More Lorna’s Laces Shepherds Sock. I NEED more. Really. Okay, maybe not. But just try to stop me from buying more anyway.

Willow Hope

This post is about Willow Hope. She is my soon to be born niece. She is my little sister's second child. And what do you do when your little sister is going to have a child? You knit for her, of course. You shower her with as much love as possible while she's in the womb, and after.

So these will be her very first hand knits from her aunt Jennifer, Hugs and Kisses Socks in Lorna's Laces Girly Stripe. As you can see, I've already started on a second pair, the ruffled rib socks. I plan to make a third, the chevron lace socks. This is my most effective expression of love for her, and for my sister. I hope they both like them. 

An Ode to Shepherd Sock

Lorna's Laces Shepherds Sock, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. I love the way you are so tightly spun that your plies hold together with a stick togetherness heretofore unmatched by any other yarn I have experienced

2. I love the way you are not *too* tightly spun so as to make knitting with you a pain in my ass and exercise in patience

3. I love your sheen

4. I love the fact that there is no pooling when knitting on size 0 needles, 45 stitches to a round

5. I love the way you only cost me half of my mortgage payment and not the whole thing

6. I love the fact that there are literally hundreds of different colorways to choose from

7. I love the way you feel in my hands as I knit you up

8. I love the fact that when I knit with you the stitch definition you provide makes me seem like the world's best knitter, even if it isn't true

I love, love, love you. I must go now. It's time to decide which family heirlooms I'm going to sell so that I can afford more of you.

Baby Socks

What do we have here (aside from a messy ottoman)? Why, a ball of Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock in Girly Stripe and the beginnings of the x's and o's better than booties baby socks from the Summer '05 IK.

So, have I mentioned that I don't have a ball winder? I don't. Which means that I had to wind this ball of yarn by hand. What a pain in the ass. I really need a ball winder. Walking around the house with a hank of yarn hanging from one wrist, while wrapping a ball of yarn with both hands, and swearing the whole time at the tangles that inevitably develop is not my idea of fun.
In non-knitting news, Stephen and I went ice skating last night. It was so much fun. I never learned how to ice skate, and the last time I was on ice skates, the second of two times in my whole life up until yesterday, was five years ago. So it was a learning experience for me. It was mighty fun though. The best part? The cute kids skating circles around me, sometimes literally. The worst part? Cute kids skating circles around me who weren't always watching where they were going and who assumed that I knew how to stop. I don't. This lead to some falling on my ass to avoid cute little kids. Also, to the mom who spent the last 30 minutes of the public skate time telling her kids to "SKATE TOWARDS ME. HOLD HANDS. COME RIGHT AT ME. DO IT AGAIN.": Please stop doing that. Not only were your kids totally tired of posing halfway into the first pose, that fact was apparent to everyone who had to SKATE AROUND THE TRAFFIC JAM YOU WERE CREATING FOR THE LAST 30 MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC SKATE. Okay, I'm done now. 

Embossed Leaf Socks

Finished embossed leaf socks for my mom.
Pattern: Embossed leaf sock from Winter '05 IK
Yarn: Opal Magic self striping
Needles: US 2
Mods: modified for 56 stitches to fit small feet

Sock Model: me
Sock sniffer: Prussia, the nuttiest cat who ever lived. Seriously. She likes to lick earlobes. A lot.

This pattern was great, very cute. I know I probably shouldn't have used self striping sock yarn but the opal is my favorite sock yarn so far. It's sproingy and therefore easy on my hands. Love, love the pattern though. I will be making a pair for myself when I'm done with some other compulsory projects. Anyway, enjoy the pics. I'm going to be casting on for baby socks next. 

Sharfik

This is my finished Sharfik, courtesy of Grumperina's free patterns. I made it over last weekend, after I finished the sweater, but hadn't quite started the embossed leaf socks yet (for my mom.) I modified the pattern and took out a repeat because the scarf was shaping up to be really wide and I only had two balls of the Berroco Foliage yarn. It's only about forty inches long, but it's cute. I like it. I may give it to my sister, who, by the way will be a mother of two in less than a month. It's very exciting.

Since I will soon have a brand new niece you will soon be seeing pictures of baby things. I plan to make a few pairs of the "better than booties socks" from the summer IK for her. I've already purchased the Lorna's Laces shepard's sock. I've never used this before so I'm pretty excited about that too. Anyway, enjoy. And yes, that is the sunday morning light shining through the window onto the chair. It's a lovely day outside (even if it is about -10 degrees F with the windchill.)

Fair Isle 101 FINISHED

So, I really did finish it and here's the photo proof!

Pattern: Fair Isle 101 from IK Winter '05
Mods: Gauge, yarn, removed fair isle band and substituted embossed leaf pattern from embossed leaf socks from the same issue
Yarn: Mountain Colors weaving quarters, 3 1/3 hanks, Juniper (I made the 38" chest)
needles: 4 and 5 (US) circs

I loved making this. The patterns was well written. I think I might make it again in the yarn called for in the pattern with the fair isle band. 

Damn, I love my cluster map. I had more visitors, although I'm pretty sure the one from Eastern Washington was me. But still. Very exciting. Soon I will have sweater pictures up. Either tonight or tomorrow. I need to take a good picture of it. Anyway though, the real reason that I wanted to post was that mamacate visited my blog! How exciting is that? I'm very excited about it.

Also, I just want to say this: the fantastic, fabulous, wonderful thing about knitting is that if you fuck it up the solution is no more than a frog session away, at worst. Unlike in life. Where you actually have to live with the decisions you make and suffer the consequences. I hate that about life.

Here is what I'm working on right now. Embossed leaves socks from Interweave Knits winter '05. 

We have Pictures People!

As you can see from my last post, we now have pictures on this here blog. How, you ask? well, the first part is courtesy of my brother in law (we'll call him PB) who works for a particular, highly successful wireless phone company and who GAVE ME A FANTASTIC FUCKING PHONE WITH A DIGITAL CAMERA BUILT IN. It's fantastic, isn't it. The second part is courtesy of my loving husband who figured out how to work the camera phone, take a decent picture, download free software from the internet to edit the picture so it looked half decent, and then posted it on the blog. It's all so amazing. So, thank you PB, and thank you loving husband. Before I go, Thuja info:

Pattern: Thuja, from Knitty, winter '05 issue
Yarn: 2/3 ball of Opal Magic, self striping
Needles: size two (U.S.) (isn't that 2.25mm?)

I've made this pattern three times already, once for me, one for Stephen, and one for my dad. It's a great pattern because it's simple and easy to modify. That's important when you have the world's smallest feet, and so does everyone else on my side of the family. By the way, what the fuck is up with patterns which are sized for "the average woman's foot." What the fuck does that mean. I know that it doesn't mean that it will fit my foot, but would it kill the designer to take out a measuring tape and give some actual dimensions? I would appreciate that, thank you very much.

Also, I managed, all on my own, to add a map and hit counter to the blog the other day. It's way at the bottom and the best part is that you don't have to click on it to add your location. It does it automatically. Now I know that at least three people have at least opened this page. Thank you whoever you are!

Thuja! I knit these for my hubby. He loves them. 

Fair Isle 101: The Conclusion

Well, she's finished. I finished the sleeves in the middle of last week and was ready to do the neckband by late last week. I finished the neckband on Thursday night and then stayed up until midnight seaming up and blocking. I used to think that all those people out there who hate seaming up garments were a little on the whiny side. I could never understand how you get through all of the hard work of knitting the entire garment and then let a few little seams get in the way of the finished product. Now I know. It took me four hours to sew up the seams on the sweater. And it was a bitch. I was so nervous when I pinned the sleeves into the arm holes (what's the plural of scye? scyes?) that I actually just sat there at my kitchen table for about 20 minutes looking at the body and sleeves and trying to figure out how it should go. I wanted it to look good, and I know from experience that if you sew something in crooked, which is really easy to do with a sleeve-armhole join, it will look terrible and feel terrible on because it will be crooked and pucker. Finally I just did it.

Then came the hard part. The actual seaming. Using Debbie Stoller's book for a reference, I ended up using three different kinds of seams along the armscye and the sleeve seam itself. And I did sew one sleeve crooked, the second one of course. I picked out the seam when I realized it and seamed it again. Then I put it on.

The pattern is supposed to be a pullover with a fair amount of breathing room. It's actually designed to go over another shirt (you can look at the picture on page 35 of Winter '05 Interweave knits) which is exactly how I plan to wear it. So, when I put it on and it pulled in all around so that it really had very little ease (just a little more roomy than a skin tight baby tee shirt) I was a tad worried. By that time it was midnight, so I was thinking, Okay I can work with this. I'll just have to make peace with the fit of the sweater and make it BIGGER next time. At that point I figured that I had been completely delusional about my actual size. So, I took it off, resigned to its (and my) fate, and blocked it. Full immersion block in luke warm water and a drop of woolite, rinsed twice, and laid it out on a towel in the extra room.

Blocking is magic. Not only does the sweater fit perfectly, exactly like in the picture but each and every stitch is perfectly straight, even and shiny. I love it. I wore it saturday when it was dry, I wore it yesterday to work, over a white button down dress shirt, just like in the picture. It's beautiful. I love it. I would never take it off except I live in fear of dropping some staining, oily or toxic substance on it. I love it.

Silent Poetry Reading

I am totally stealing from other people now, but I really love the idea of the silent poetry reading to commemorate Brigid's Day. So, one of my own (I like it, I hope you do too.)

silence sewn breeds time

like yoked ox breaking nude soil

she is brought to bear

And in knitting news... We did watch the super bowl yesterday. Living in Washington state it was difficult to not get too worked up about the Seahawks lackluster playing. But that's all over now. The fantastic thing about several hours in front of the television is that I got several hours worth of knitting done. So the update on the Fair Isle 101 pullover: I knit thirteen inches of the first sleeve on Friday, and then on Saturday discovered that I had completely missed the pattern instruction that tells you to increase eight stitches right above the ribbing for the cuff. Goddamnit! I ripped back to the cuff (from thirteen to three inches), worked the increase round, and reknit the whole damn sleeve. I finished right about the end of the third quarter of the game yesterday. I have now cast on the second sleeve (isn't it tragic that people have two arms instead of one?) and remembered the increase round this time. So, I have my fingers crossed for smooth sailing. Of course that other little problem is really starting to haunt me. Will I have enough yarn or not? I'm starting to get a twitch above my eye so I think I will just bite the bullet and buy another hank of yarn on my way home tonight. If the LYS has any. But they did the last time I was there. Why didn't I buy it then? I'm a moron.

Fair Isle 101

How many yards of yarn does it take to knit two sleeves, a neckband and sew up the seams in a sweater? We're going to find out. Yep, that's right, I finished the body of the pullover and am onto the sleeves. I also finished rewriting the pattern to fit my gauge. So, soon, very, very soon we shall see what I have wrought. Stay tuned.

The Things that No One Tells You...Part Two

The Fair Isle 101 Pullover Series

So, on to the problem du jour (nice use of the french, no?) I knit the lace, I knit up to the armholes, I divide the front and back (new skill learned A+,) I shape the armholes (new skill learned A+,) I bind off for the neck line (new skill learned A+,) then I get to the neck shaping. this is where the new knitter gets her ass kicked. The directions tell you to bind off two stitches at the neck edge of each shoulder three times. Seems simple enough, right? I assume it means that you:

knit down to the last two stitches on the first shoulder, bind those off, then bind off the first two stitches on the second shoulder, knit to end and repeat twice more.

Study that sentence for a moment or two. See what’s wrong with it? That’s right! You can’t bind off at the end of a row without ending up with a single, dangling stitch on the other side of the bound off stitches. I, of course, didn’t realize this until I actually did it and was looking at that dangling stitch like, what the fuck?

After cursing the knitting and the pattern (but not too forcefully) and consulting my knitting reference book (a/k/a Ms. Stoller’s SNB) I come to the conclusion that you must alternate rows, binding off the first two stitches at the beginning of the second shoulder each time until the correct number of stitches have been bound off. I will spare you the details of this reasoning but it may have involved a graph. Anyway, all of you out there, am I right? And if so, why didn’t anyone tell me? (Cursed fucking useless knitting books.)

P.S. I have now finished the front of the pullover and am onto the back. We shall see what other surprises are in store for me. And, of course, whether I will run out of yarn.