fumblingwithneedles.com

Well, I’d love to say the cat bed came out really well and that Ike sleeps in it day and night.

But, um…

It felted up A LOT. I put some catnip in it to entice Ike into laying in it, but as you can see, there was NO WAY that was going to happen. Even in his tightest shrimpy-like pose, he wouldn’t fit in that thing.

I have some friends who just found a tiny kitten in their garage, so I’ll give it to them.

I have a bone to pick with… someone.  I’m not sure if it’s my own inherent boneheadedness, but I don’t get the directions for this baby sweater I’m trying to knit. I haven’t had to read a chart before, so it’s new to me.

Thank god my knitting group meets tomorrow so I can get help from someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

Being fairly new to the yarn-obsessed world of knitting, I didn’t realize a) how pricey nicer yarns are, and b) how insane knitters go when it’s marked down.

I visited Black Sheep Knittery about a month ago, and bought a few things. When everything got marked down again to 75% off, I realized that I’d better get my butt down there and see what was left.

I had hoped that there would be some delicious Koigu or Lorna’s Laces left, but alas, it was all gone (and I bet I know right where all that Koigu went). I did, however, get some other nice yarns (and, for what they cost, I couldn’t leave it - I mean, come on - it was TEN DOLLARS FOR THE WHOLE BAG). So, since Wen ordered asked, I present to you The Black Sheep Haul - taken in two pictures, because I couldn’t fit it all in one frame without you all seeing how messy my apartment is in the background.

I also got a bag of Rowan Big Wool Fusion, because my sister was with me, and said she liked it - and since she’s getting about ten scarves for Christmas (at her request), she’s getting some made out of that. I also might try to make something out of the Twinkle’s Big City Knits book for her (we’ll see about that one).

Speaking of yarn-y acquisitions, this came in the mail yesterday:

Oooooooh.

It’s Sky Tweed by Classic Elite in Upland Green, and it’s nice. There were a few colors I really liked, and based on how much success I have with trying to construct a sweater, I may buy some more.

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Last night I went to happy hour with La, and we were laughing at the fact that we both decided to do the Kitty Pi bed at the same time, and do the same color pattern, even though we hadn’t talked about it to each other at all.

I bet hers doesn’t have a cool nipple, though.

It’s almost done. I’ve got about another hour on it, and then into the washing machine it goes, and I’ll figure out a way to make my cat Ike think that it’s more comfortable than my queen-size bed. I suspect he’ll just laugh in my face and continue to cover my bed (and every other surface in my house) in his fur.

Now, I’m going to leave you all with some helpful advice: If you find yourself at a Claim Jumper, do yourself a favor and order the avocado rolls.

Holy CRAP, they’re good, people.

You’re welcome.

I found myself with quite a bit of orange and yellow yarn after making my felted bag a few weeks ago, so I decided to get rid of it by making a felted bed for Ike. I knew that it would have to be pretty big to accommodate his, uh, girth after it felted.
I didn’t bring the pattern with me for the meet-up at Madge’s on Sunday. And I didn’t take it to work when I worked on it this week on my lunch break. So, before I knew it, I had increased more times than I needed to, and had about four thousand stitches on my needle.

Amy, my local knitting guru, pointed out my retardery and put me back on track for having a finished object that would actually
resemble the pattern. But it involved A LOT of ripping back. A whole lot.

When I went back to the row I should have kept knitting on and NOT increasing, I started ripping back the kajillions of stitches that I put on. And they ruffled up and looked funny.

That’s Amy, modeling my mistake.

Now it’s a lot smaller, but since I intend to follow the pattern (do you know every time I want to say or type “pattern”, I always think and/or say “recipe”?), there should be a lot less knitting this time around, since I won’t be increasing so freaking much.

So now it looks like this:

Doesn’t the center look like a nipple?

I had to cast on to DPNs, and I have to tell you - that was frustrating. I had to cast on 9 stitches and divide them on to 3 size 11 needles. This was not easy. Not one bit. In fact, it took many attempts on my part (and poor Caroline [in my local knitting group] to try to help me to no avail) to get it down. I kept tangling the needles, twisting the stitches, and just having no luck whatsoever. It wasn’t until I got the bright idea to cast on about thirty stitches, and practice with a larger number of stitches that I could finally (sort of) make sense of what I was doing.

I have unwittingly become the victim of a yarn pusher. La found out that I had nothing to do at work, so we instant messaged and yarn shopped at the same time. Sometime next week, I will be receiving many yards of Classic Elite Skye Tweed in Upland Green, where I will (woefully) attempt to knit an actual garment.

You’ve been warned, knitting gurus. Expect many emails and “WTF?” looks on my face.

I was at Joann looking for needles after my last project (see below). I was walking up the aisle, and this skein of yarn caught my eye. The colors were so gorgeous that I just grabbed it and didn’t pay attention to anything else.

After I got home, I decided that the new yarn would be the second attempt at the hat I did with the dodgy decreases at the top. As soon as I touched the yarn, I knew it was going to be a pain. It’s acrylic, but it’s not soft AT ALL. In fact, I saw a word in La’s blog that perfectly described it: SQUEAKY. I swear, I felt like that yarn was going to give me a paper cut.

My second attempt at finishing with DPNs was much more successful than the first. I would post a closer picture of the top, but as soon as my friend Kay saw it, she took it and claimed it as hers (at least now I know where her son got his knitting thievery skills).

But I’m pretty pleased. I was feeling all cocky and confident in my knitting skills.

After I took the last picture, I walked away for a few minutes, and when I came back, the hat was gone. A few minutes later, I busted Ike sniffing it furiously, and when I tried to get a picture, he flipped out and backed away. I don’t know when he became such a diva about pictures.

Next time I’ll fill you in on the nightmare that was casting on to DPNs. Oy. The profanity.

SO. Where were we when last I updated? Oh, yes, I was cranky and mad and yelling at my knitting.

I found some circulars in size 7 at the LYS by my office, so I got back on the hat horse, determined to make it work this time.

I started working, and paid VERY CLOSE attention to the pattern AND to my work, so that I wouldn’t honk it up and have to start all over again.

My best friend Kay called me and told me that they were getting some boxing thing on pay-per-view, and invited me over. I don’t care about boxing (sorry, but if a bunch of hillbillies aren’t making left turns for four or five hours, I’m just not interested), but I decided to go and took my knitting with me.

I should not have done that. I switched the yarn over to the DPNs alright (though, it was very very awkward, I’ll admit), and placed my markers in all the right places, and was very dilligent to follow the pattern for the decreases. About five minutes later, not realizing I had been talking, watching TV, dodging insane 2 year-olds who were trying to steal the pointy objects from my hands, and just generally not paying attention, I had totally fucked it up. There were more stitches on one needle than the others, I didn’t know what row I was on… it was a mess. BUT. I was not ripping back again, and I was past the point of correction, so I decided screw it, let’s finish this bitch and see what happens.

 Well, this is what happened:

Um. Yeah.

So I decided to work the pattern again, and this time it will look less sloppy. I am determined.

Dammit.

Also, to those who are interested, my other blog is here.

I am a frustrated knitter today, kids.  Last night I was actually yelling  talking to my knitting, that’s how nutso I was.After I finished my bag, I was jonesing to start a new project. I was flipping through The Knit Stitch, and the next project I thought I could handle was a simple (hahahahahaha) hat.  I don’t wear hats, but I figured it would be good practice, and the last bit of it involved DPNs, and I’ve never worked with those before.

I had a ball of the Paton’s Classic Merino left over from the first scarf I did, so I decided to use it. I cast on (Casted on? Much like knit vs. knitted, I have no idea what the past tense of this word is. Yay.) the 70 stitches, and knit back and forth for an inch like the pattern said. I joined the yarn (careful not to twist those stitches!) and followed the pattern, and after about five rows, I noticed I honked it up somehow. I tried to fix it, made it worse, and decided to start over.

I started again, and realized that I didn’t do the increase on the row after I join the yarn, so I tried to go back and do the row again, and again, honked up my knitting.

So I started it again, this time bound and determined that I was going to pay attention, and that I would not be defeated by some stupid yarn.

I should mention at this point that I have a set of Denise interchangeables that a co-worker gave me. Most of the circular needles I’ve used so far have been bamboo, but I didn’t have a size seven with a short enough cable to use, so I used the Denise circulars. I don’t like them. The part where the needle snaps on to the cable makes the yarn stick and snag, so I decided that last night on my way home from work I would go look for better ones (I also had to get size 7 DPNs). I couldn’t find any with a short enough cable (of any type - not just the bamboo). All the circulars were at least 26″ long, and that was too long to join the stitches.

So when I got home last night, I was cruising around the web looking for patterns, and found a sweater for a beginner (hahahahahaha) on the Lion Brand website that I thought looked easy enough (again - hahahahaha). I had a bunch of Knit Picks wool that I bought for something else.  I tried to swatch it, and just couldn’t get the stitches right. They were too loose and looked terrible.

So, I have no idea what I’m going to work on now. Maybe I should just make some stupid pot holders until I figure out what the hell I’m doing.

My felted bag is done!

It’s not quite as big as I thought it was going to be, but I like how the colors came out. I wanted to make a knitting bag, so it will do nicely.

I’m trying to decide now what my next project should be. I have some different yarns, but no ideas. I might make another bag, I don’t know. I thought I might make Ike a cute bed, but he’s been sleeping in a queen size bed his whole life, so I doubt he’ll give that up for some yarn on the floor.

My dad thinks it’s dorky and old lady-ish to be in a knitting group, and refuses to acknowledge it so he refers to it as “the motorcycle club”, because he thinks that’s cooler. I tried to explain that knitting IS cool, and it’s relaxing, and that I’ve met some lovely, lovely people because of it, but he’s not hearing it. Whenever I start to talk about it, before “knitting group” can come out of my mouth, he cuts me off and says, “MOTORCYCLE CLUB, RIGHT???”

I’ve told him that knitting doesn’t make me an old lady. Wanting to be friends with Bea Arthur and owning The Golden Girls on DVD might, though.

ps. La, yes, we should do happy hour sometime since you work so close!

I don’t know what the deal is with this theme, but half the time it won’t let me post pictures, so I’m going to try and use my flickr account instead.

My boyfriend was visiting last week, so I didn’t do much knitting (but I did a lot of something else, ahem). I’m making some progress now on the bag. It’s about half-way done.

I haven’t gone to my knitting group in what feels like forever. I missed two meetings because the boyfriend was here, and then I had car trouble, and now my car is conspiring to keep me away from today’s meet-up as well. Stupid car.

This is one of the pictures I tried to post a few weeks ago, but couldn’t.

I love the colors on this scarf so much that I want to wear it every day, even though it’s not cold here. My only complaint is that it’s a little scratchier than I thought. Maybe I need to wash it again? I don’t know. But it’s pretty. There are a few flaws here and there, but I really like it.

I wish my dad would get here and fix my dumb car.

I’m beginning to regret that whole felted bag idea. Mostly because I’ve cast on THREE TIMES, and I can not seem to get it right. I keep twisting my stitches, and I’ve started over many times. I work to make sure I don’t twist them when I start the second row, but I notice after I’ve joined them, and it’s all one circle, that’s when it gets all honked up. Please please PLEASE offer me any tips and/or advice on how to not do this. Do I need longer circulars? Do I need to be less retarded?

Seriously. WTF?

Man, I really need a new coffee table.

Dude, I have a problem. I am officially addicted to knitting. I do it every day until my fingers hurt. I am part of a knitting group that meets twice a week, and Saturday I drove 35 miles down the godforsaken 91 freeway to go meet more knitters. And the yarn. Oy. I swore last week that I wasn’t buying ANYMORE yarn until I figured out projects to do with the yarn that I’ve bought in the last month, but I’ll be goddamned if I didn’t go and buy MORE when I decided my next project would be a felted knitting bag.

I AM NOT BUYING ANYMORE YARN. I’M NOT!!!!

At least I hope not. I’m going to have to start selling off vital organs if I do.

But really, you only need one kidney, right?

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Hey, guess what I did this weekend? Hung out with the Anti-Social Knitters and met Wen, who forced me out of my square-and-rectangle rut by doing a hat. It was pretty simple (hahahahahahaha) - knit on size 15 needles and then seamed together.

I had to learn to purl and decrease, and there was much tink-ing involved (look how I throw the lingo around like I know what the hell I’m doing), but this morning I finished it.

RAM (my best friend’s kid, and raddest kid ever) was over, and while I was knitting, he said, “T, you could totally kill vampires with that needle if you wanted to.” I like how he says it like it’s something I might actually have to do one day.

As with the scarf he bamboozled out of me, he’s angling to get this, too. But I don’t think it fits.

I will save you all from a close-up of the seam, because it’s not very pretty. But I made something that’s not a square!!

Woo!