New camera, so scarf photos

I got the updated version of my old camera for college - the Canon PowerShot SD750 Digital Elph - I love it!  The front is this lovely chrome color and the back is black with a much larger screen than my old one.  Plus no scratches.  The older version (older, like, four years older) had 3.1 megapixels and this one has 7.1 - I can finally take detailed pictures of stitches using a macro lens that works!  Without further ado, here is some Striped Illusion progress.

Still coming strong.  I expect to finish this in the next week.  I reached the exciting point where I got to start the pattern over again.

Arabesque

I filled in the chart Berroco provides for the Arabesque blanket I will be making for my dorm room.  I will be using Caron Simply Soft yarn (it really is soft, and shiny) in Violet (F), Dark Country Blue (G), Tapioca (E), Country Blue (B), Light Country Peach (C), Lemonade (A), and Mango (D).  The colors are not exact and are much more brilliant on the website.  The borders will be black.

Photo shoot

Updated photos of the ribbed lace bolero.

Turning a corner

The pattern is beginning to show up.  Just a quick photo update.  

Progress update

The zig zag is beginning to look "on purpose"  by now.  To make this pattern easier, I am translating the chart into "p13, k17" and so forth, into my knitting notebook.  The chart, though I am a visual person, is confusing because the right and wrong sides are both displayed simultaneously and so you have to constantly refer to the key to decipher which stitch to use.  Writing it out allows for you to see the pattern and thus knit a little more mindlessly.  

I am still loving this pattern, I can't wait to finish it!  A few more updates: I want to knit a top-down raglan in black with the UC logo in the middle (not the claw, the cool looking one with the U and the C interlocking).  In addition, I have spontaneously become obsessed with Latvian intarsia mittens and will venture to make a pair now that I have the technique established.

Ross' scarf

Here is some progress of Ross' "Striped Illusion" scarf.  Disregard the colors; they are completely off: the "blackish" looking color is really a rich, deep wine-maroon.  The cream is accurately named "Putty".  

So far, I am really enjoying knitting this scarf!  The book explains intarsia rather well (first time for me) but I'll admit there were ten minutes where I thought I'd have to scrap the pattern and make something else.  But, I figured it out, and the pattern of this is very fun to watch unfold.  The garter stitch also looks rather lovely.  

In addition, my vest is completely blocked and stitched.  All I have left to do is add the trim to the raw edging (thus explaining the curl in the photo).  I am not sure yet whether or not I will follow the trim in the pattern; I would like for it to look a little more sophisticated.

Proof

that my Tia vest will be finished soon, someday, or something.

Quality isn't too good but here is solid evidence that the last piece (of 3) of that vest is in process, after a complicated chart I drew up to help me with the decreases and increases.

$150 later

I visited a Cincinnati yarn shop today called "Fiberlicious".  The store was full of soft things and pretty things and it was basically a trauma to my wallet but it was great fun to look through it.  

I bought yarn for my boyfriend Ross's scarf, who decided he wanted it to be in "cream and burgundy".  He's a rather classy guy.

Here is the scarf I'll be making for the boyf.  I finally found a scarf pattern that was masculine and not boring.  (So many of the scarf patterns for guys are just plain, well, plain.)  He conveniently told me the colors in time for me to buy them today at the store.

The yarn I got was Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in "Putty" and "Deep Maroon".  They are very soft and I think will go very nicely with his dark dark navy cashmere coat.  (I said he was classy, didn't I?)  

I mentioned earlier how I had begun spinning - and I am hopelessly addicted.  I had already lain out the two skeins for Ross on the counter to pay when I asked, "You don't happen to have roving, do you?"  She did, to my delight.  (She also had purple hair and was about my mom's age.)  There were many little packages of .5 oz. dyed roving, and I bought one in a deep teal.

The photo butchers the color (I really need a new camera); it is really more of a deep sea teal.  It's 100% wool from someplace local.

The next picture is what makes me incredibly happy - after looking through the little packages of dyed roving, the lady comes out with a volleyball sized ball of undyed roving and my eyes grew twice its size.  

That's my laptop behind it, for scale.  The whole thing is bigger than my head, and weighs 1.5 lbs.  I can get a huge amount of yarn out of this!  I plan to hand paint it (colors undecided so far) and spin it in a 2 ply (I will need to learn how to do that first, however).  I am incredibly excited!

However, it will be a while.  After leaving the store, my mom and I (oh and my mom bought these two skeins of blue and green and teal silk, fingering weight, for a scarf.  They are luscious) decided not to start any new projects until we finish the ones we have already started.  First, the vest.  Then the Montego scarf.  Then back to the vest since my scarf is using its needles (the ribbing and body of the vest are on different sized needles).  Then I may begin Ross's scarf and my arm warmers, and finally, spinning again.  I'm über excited.  

Drop Spindle

Alright, so I tested out the drop spindle yesterday and it was so much fun!  My spindle is a top whorl spindle from Black Mountain Weavers. 

The original roving.  100% wool in a highlighter shade of yellow that my camera hasn't discovered yet.

After drafting.  I probably could have split them into two once more, but as it was my first time spinning I wanted to give myself enough yarn to handle so it didn't fall apart.

In process.  My cat loved this.  I found it was easiest just so spin the thing from thigh to knee and let it twirl in the air and catch it.  This was great fun!

Finished bobbin.  It looked so cool on the spindle that I didn't want to take it off.

I couldn't find a chair to wind it on that was a yard around, but this was 39 inches.  With a little math, the yardage came out to be about 9.

And some more photos that really just kill the color.  My sister has this super camera that I should steal and shoot the yarn with but I can't find it.  

After tying it off, I placed the yarn in a pot of hot water on the stove (minimal touching to keep it from felting) and let it soak for 15 minutes until it lost its memory of being wound up.  Then it was patted dry and hung over a wash basin in the basement with two thin wire hangers to weigh it down, but not heavy enough to stretch it out.  Then it was twisted and set into a skein!  I loved doing this and thoroughly enjoyed learning the process and cannot wait to try it again!  I plan to visit a local yarn shop (first time in Cincinnati!) for a huge puff of roving that I can possibly hand dye and add my own thrills to (feathers?  silk thread?  the possibilities are endless!)

Upandcomings

To organize my thoughts, here is an illustrated plan for my summer.

I have been dying to try one of these illusion projects and alas, stars!  I am going to make a scarf in blue with yellow stars much like the blanket above.  I will borrow the grid to help me with the star shapes.  I am seriously excited about this!

We got the book "Knitting New Scarves" (great title?) from Borders a while ago but still haven't used it.  I spun out my highlighter yellow wool yesterday and alas, produced nine entire yards.  Not enough to make even a cozy out of but we were trying to come up with a project and the cover of the book had the answer!  I will make the above scarf (reversible, yes!) using my precious yellow as the three little stripes in each section.  This pattern is called the "Hourglass Scarf".

I found a project for my California wool / mohair!  Since I have a limiting amount (176 yards total) I needed a project using minimal yardage.  This uses around 90 to 100, which is perfect.  The whole time I was on the trip I was thinking how I would love a pair of wristlets to cover where my sleeves won't go (Northface elasticized sleeves) but keep my fingers free for texting and camera purposes.  I will also use this project to tackle my hatred towards dpn's.  

Remember about that summer goal of making a sweater?  I found one I liked.  "Dolman Top" from "Knit So Fine" (I recently discovered that I could get knitting pattern books from my library.  Duh, Rachel) will give me the mindless knitting I like to do during tv shows but I will learn how to shape dolman sleeves at the same time and ... knit a sweater!  This will be my big knitting project before college.

Last but not least, my library ALSO has "Twinkle's Big City Knits", which is a revolution in and of itself.  The "Hampton Halter" of course calls for Twinkle yarn which I do not have access to, and I'm a poor college-student-to-be, so Carons Simply Soft will be used (like the above Ravelry user).  I am excited to make this!

Okay, maybe the halter wasn't last.  I promised by boyfriend a scarf last year and never got around to it because I couldn't find the right pattern that was masculine enough but not boring.  But, I have found it - the "Striped Illusion" scarf.  I can do it in his college colors or be a little more creative - I'll ask him - but I won't tell what it will look like.  Or maybe I won't even say what it is for?  Hmm.  Either way, he'll finally get a scarf from me before we part before college.

Of course, I still have a Tia vest, Montego Bay Scarf, and My So-Called Scarf to finish first.  We'll see how that goes.  My Montego scarf only has about a skein to go so it won't be long.  I resolved the broken needle problem by putting it on circular needles - which I do not like knitting on because of the cord which always bends the opposite way you want it to - but after another skein and some serious fringe, I can move on.  I finished the left side of my vest today (the back is done already) so it won't be long for that project either!  The So-Called is being saved for colder weather.

That is all for now, sorry for the boring novel I just wrote.  Knitting updates soon, and some highlighter yellow yarn photos next.

Montego Bay

This was basically my San Francisco scarf.  I knit a bunch of it on the plane ride in, and then about three-fourths of the way done, I planned on finishing it on the plane ride home.  I pulled out my needles ... and one of them was six inches shorter than the other!  The tip had broken off.  Too bad it was my only set of 8's, so this project is unfortunately on hiatus for now.

But as you can see, a strange thing began happening.  When i tied in skein two, so far so good until this argyle began showing up!  It went away after a few inches only to reappear inches after starting skein three!  Odd.  It doesn't bother me, since once blocked and worn you won't notice it, but it's unusual.

While in Point Reyes Station (cute organic town an hour north of San Francisco) I stopped in Black Mountain Weavers to buy some local yarn.

This first yarn is 70% mohair and 30% wool in the colorway "Victorian Garden" by Brown Sheep, called Handpaint Originals.  I don't have ideas yet, but I have 176 yards total.  Also at this store, I bought some highlighter yellow roving (no photo yet - my camera cannot capture the color correctly), and a drop spindle which I am learning to use as we speak.  I am excited to spin my first skein!

k1 p2 ssk

Knitting!

Project #1: Kelly Maher's "Ribbed Lace Bolero"

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in "Terracotta"

Difficulty: 2 out of 10

Enjoyment: 9 out of 10

This is a really fun pattern; it is engagingly interesting and goes by quickly!  I want one in every color.  It's super-comfy and I completely recommend it.

Project #2: Lion Brand "Learn to Cable Scarf"

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease in "Citron" and "Fisherman"

Difficulty: 3 out of 10

Fun: 8 out of 10

This was one of those satisfying-to-complete projects.  I got a little bored of repeating the cable to its long scarf length but in the end, the results were worth it.  Also, I learned how to cable!  This pattern is great for first-timers in the cable department.  Originally the pattern had one half of the scarf one color and the other half another; I changed this to add the two stripes on either end.  Unfortunately because of the cable, the stripes did not end up straight but I still like it; they lend a sporty flare to a classic scarf.

Project #3: Sundance Make-Up Bag

Yarn: Lily Sugar 'n Cream Ombres & Prints in "Early American Ombre"

Difficulty: 4 out of 10

Enjoyment: 10 out of 10

I really loved this pattern.  I finished it in two days - the knit had two necessary components: a mindless section, you know, for watching tv and knitting at the same time; and then the interesting, engaging section, where you had to watch the pattern carefully as you learned new things and tried out some cool stitch tricks to create multiple looks.  Unfortunately, I used a variegated-colored yarn - along the diagonal stitches, there are tiny eyelets that get lost in the busyness.  

I am actually making another one of these in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in "Lime" for the eyelet's sake.  I kinda enjoyed this pattern a little too much, too, but we'll just say it's for the eyelets.  

Meet Rachel

So I finally jumped onto the trend train so I could post all my heaps of projects I have lying around.  In a nutshell, I am an impending fashion design major with too much free time.  I thoroughly love knitting, crocheting, beading, sewing, and other old-fashioned selling points that are far underrated nowadays.  

My name is Rachel and I love to craft!  Here are among the few things I would love to accomplish this summer:

1. Learn to do intarsia knitting.

2. Learn to do stranded knitting.

3. Make an illusion scarf (with stars on it!)

4. Make a quilt for my dorm room.

5. Make two pillows for my dorm room.

6. Knit a sweater.  Like, a super-intense REAL sweater.

7. Knit a sock, since it's all the rage.  (And it probably will only be A sock ... )

8. Learn to hand-dye fabrics (and possibly to batik!)

9. Learn to spin and dye wool puffs.

10. Finish knitting my vest.

11. Knit all of those billions of patterns I have favorited on Ravelry!

12. Sew.  Sew.  Sew.

and the list goes on and on.  Obviously I won't accomplish all of these things, but it gives me something to look forward to on those rainy summer days.

As for an introduction into my life, I love stars.  I recently discovered my attraction to star-shaped things when all the fabrics and patterns and so forths I continuously saved had stars in them, and a realization was made.  So now I will take advantage of it and go all out with the stars!  My favorite color is highlighter yellow, I have a very fat cat who is my "personal assistant" in all of my crafting projects (you know, like sitting in the middle of the fabric I am using, NOT the fabric behind me that I am NOT using ... ), and I am particularly fond of Yves Saint Laurent.  I'm sure you'll learn more as I post.

So now for posting!  Since no one reads the text-filled posts anyway, only if there are pictures.