It's Something

Behold, my first finished object of 2009!



It's the same pattern I used to make myself a hat from Drops and I kind of love knitting it. I don't even mind doing the picot hem because I find the results to be utterly darling. This time, I knit it in Patons Kroy and I think the results came out quite nicely. I'm going to wash it and then send it off to my mom. She's excited.

Not much else is new. The job is going well and I'm glad that I decided to renew my lease for another six months. Even if I had found a place in time, I would have had to move in the bitter wind and cold that we have been experiencing in Minnesota.

Lazy Yet Accomplished

Today, I sat around and knit a lot while watching some Arrested Development. That rumored movie really needs to come out (don't be difficult, Michael Cera because I'd like to keep liking you). While I was generally a lazy lump, I did manage to finish the hat.



I messed with the color a bit to make it look closer to what it actually is but I still don't know if it came out ok. Also, pay more attention to the hat and less to my generally disheveled appearance.

Please?

Look, lace close-up!



Much better, yes?

Combating the Winter Blues

It snowed this morning and for awhile it stuck. Fortunately, it warmed up enough to rain and wash it all away. Still, it won't be long until the ground will be covered for months on end. To combat that, I have pretty green lace.



The is the project I was talking about yesterday and I think it's coming along nicely. The bottom has a picot edge so I'm holding it folding under to show what it will look like when hemmed. Knitwear is definitely the upside of winter.

Not Socks!

I was browsing Ravelry looking for non-sock sock yarn projects since I already have a decent amount of sock yarn and now have a discount for over 11 months. I'm now making this hat in Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine in Pea Soup Mix that I got from 3 Kittens.

I just got into the lace repeats at lunch today and as far as I can tell it should be OK. I will say this much - Ravelry is the most perfect tool for finding DROPS patterns. I've always found that site a little daunting to navigate through and the patterns are all numbered not named. Everything just seemed to blend together into mush in my head before.

No progress picture now but I may post some at a future date.

When Knitters Get Bored

They knit a hat in two days.

It's the Koolhaas Hat by Jared Flood (aka Brooklyn Tweed) from the 2007 Holiday IK and I stumbled upon some worsted alpaca I forgot I had (I know, good quality alpaca sitting there all lonely). It's a lovely pattern and I would really suggest learning how to cable without a cable needle before doing it. Juggling a cable needle when you cable every stitch on about a fourth of the rounds and half of the stitches on another fourth of the rounds would be a bit of a pain. I like this tutorial from Wendy Knits. I cast it on because, despite the fact that my KnitPicks order for my sweater has been in the metro area since about 4:00 yesterday morning (Brooklyn Park) I still don't have it. It got to the Eastern Heights Post Office at 9:30 this morning so I'd better have it when I get home tomorrow, United States Postal Service! I mean it.

Other things I've talked about recently are Buffy Monkeys (there are two but I was too lazy to take a picture of both, yeah)

and NHM #3 from Selbuvotter by Terry Shea in Brown Sheep Nature Spun. I really have to thank Sarah from suggesting getting the book cut and spiral bound and also for marking the part about thumbs so I wasn't pulling my hair out when I got to that part.

Note a color theme? Yeah, definitely time to take a break from the purple. Hopefully, I will be seeing lots of forest green as of tomorrow. It's going to be my first sweater. I'm going to actually swatch.

Finished Items

I think NaBloPoMo actually did cause me to burn out on blogging. I'm back to posting again and for once I also have finished items. The first one I forgot to get a picture of before returning from my parents' house. I made my sister a Fake Isle Hat and it turned out well. I had to frog it once because the gray I was using for the coordinating color didn't pop enough against the SWS I used for the main color and it was too small. The final version now has black as the coordinating color. I may get a picture one of these days.

I also finished the pair of socks out of Tofutsies I was going to give my grandma for Christmas. Because I didn't even have one sock done in time and my mom had already had a gift ready for her, I'll either give them to her as a Mother's Day/birthday gift (her birthday's May 10) or save them for next Christmas.

Christmas Fast Approaching

1) I have a little less than half of the third and final Acrylic Hat of Death left to knit. My hands feel like they are counting down the inches.

2) Tomorrow is my department pot luck. I've got a carrot cake in the oven right now and the cream cheese is out so it can soften for the frosting. I'm bringing it in a disposable pan so I don't have to worry about being stuck with any leftovers or forgetting my pan. Also, the only 9x13 I have is a Pyrex without a cover. Yea Pyrex, boo aluminum foil that would smoosh into the frosting.

3) I am officially done holiday shopping. Holiday knitting, no. Shopping among the crazies, absolutely.

4) I found out today that our holiday party for my contract company will be at a bowling alley this year. This has the potential for crazy awesome klutzy chemists. Wee!

5) I leave for my parents' Saturday morning. I'm really excited for a few days off.

Snow Day!

Even though it looked like this when I woke up

I went and got this done.

I'm blonde again! I went in mid-afternoon when pretty much everything had been plowed and it actually wasn't that bad. I also did this

It's a Fake Isle Hat for my lovely sister that sent me this. I especially appreciate the fact that the picture she used for our mom and her faces was from when they were in a play so they have way more makeup on than they usually do.

Hat Factory

I started the first hat last night.



I've decided to knit them on magic loop. This one it plain black and the other two I'm making will be mainly black with some sort of teal striping pattern on them (not identical). It's going pretty quickly but I think I'm going to get really sick of 2x2 ribbing.

In the background of the picture you can see my new bedspread. Yes, I often take photos of knitwear on the bed. Don't judge.

Home Again!

I've made it safely back to my apartment with more clothing, food, various household items, and probably more weight than I had when I left. I also have more yarn. It's all acrylic as I have been commandeered into my grandmother's Christmas sweatshop. After agreeing with my sister that we would buy our parents gifts together I was down to only one pair of socks for my grandma for Christmas knitting. Then my grandma said that she wished she would have asked my mom and I earlier to knit caps for my six male cousins and my one cousin's foreign exchange student and we stupidly agreed that we could do it. Six of the seven of them have adult sized heads. I've taken three adult sized ones and my mom has the other three larger ones and the one child sized one. My grandma may be getting one finished sock and the yarn for the other one under the tree.

Bohus = Complete!

I found the extra yarn while I was gathering my stuff together before knit night last night.

Instead of working on the Monkey Socks last night I finished the hat and then, under the urging of Sarah, I wove in all of the ends and now it's done.

I did get a little bit of work done on the socks and now I've got the gussets decreased and have just over half of the foot left before I can decrease the toe. They should be completely done by the end of tomorrow.

Yarn 1, Knitter 0

I went to the Yarnery tonight to get back my German Stockings and to pick up extra yarn for my Bohus hat which currently looks like this



I had every intention of finishing it tonight but then I managed to lose the small ball of yarn they very nicely gave me. Now I'm not quite sure what to do. I'm going to keep an eye out for it but if I can't find it I'm going to have to go back an see if I can get more. I' be more than willing to pay a small amount for it at this point because I'm so close to being done. It's just so frustrating to be this close and to have so much of most of the other colors from the hat left over yet not having enough for the last 5 or 6 decrease rounds.

Ravelry Stuff Has Arrived

When I got home from work today there was a lovely plastic envelope in my mailbox. It contained my Ravelry beta shirt and buttons.

Now everyone can know that I'm a knitter that likes to know how to say "no" in a lot of different languages.

Tonight was the last night of the bohus class. I'm done with all of the colorwork and am now decreasing the top. Picture of completed project should be up tomorrow unless I wimp out on weaving in the ends.

More Bohus History

To answer Lisa's question from the comments yesterday, I'm going to try to explain more about Bohus Stickning. Pretty much all of this info comes from Poems of Color by Wendy Keele. Bohuslän is the province of Sweden that the industry began in. Some women approached Emma Jacobsson, wife of the province's governor, to create a product that women could produce in the home to be able to generate income during the depression of the 1930s while caring for their families. Eventually knitting was settled upon, with plain, sturdy garments being produced.

Jacobsson commissioned a few women to assist her in creating the designs that are most associated with Bohus knitting. There are a few things that distinguish Bohus designs from Fair Isle patterns. One thing is the inclusion of purl stitches to add texture to the design. In some places on the pattern there are more than two colors used in the same round which is avoided in Fair Isle knitting. Although the hat I am knitting is knit in the round, the yoke on Bohus sweaters is traditionally knit back and forth whereas Fair Isle is exclusively in the round.

While Bohus Stickning began as a way for women to generate extra income many women began knitting for the company in order to be able to knit the intricate designs. The Bohus patterns were highly protected and Emma Jacobsson stipulated that they not be published for the public until 40 years after her death. They were high fashion by the 50s and 60s worn by no lesser icon than Jackie O. It is possibly one of the most beautiful examples of unintentional female empowerment I have seen.

P.S. - I'll bring the book to knitting on Thursday. It explains it way better than I have here. I really just wanted an entry for the day.

Bohus Class

I've been taking a class to make a Bohus hat at the Yarnery for the past few weeks. This Wednesday is the last class and I'm almost done with the colorwork portion.

We're using Poems of Color by Wendy Keele for the patterns which is an interesting read all on its own. It gives the history of Bohus Stickening which began as a way for women to earn money from their homes during the depression of the 1930s and lasted as a cottage industry through the 60s. Someday I may even get up the nerve to get a kit for a sweater but until then I'm really enjoying the hat class.

Work + Batteries need to be charged = No pictures

I figured I'd do a bit of a knitting update even though I can't share any photos right now. I've got about a third of the motif of the second German Stocking completed and have begun decreasing for the calf shaping. I haven't been knitting on it much and I want to finish it by the end of the month for The Yarnery's sock KAL. I've been taking a bohus hat class there the past couple of weeks and it's been a lot of fun. The color work is fun and I enjoy the inclusion of purls which add a nice texture to the fabric.

The main thing I've been knitting on is a log cabin afghan out of Simply Soft using the tutorial in Mason Dixon Knitting. It's already over 2' x 2' and I'm trying to decide if I want to make it into a full sized afghan or keep it to baby blanket size. It goes pretty quickly since it's all in garter stitch so it makes really good mindless TV knitting. I've even been a good knitter and have been weaving in my ends occasionally so that I don't pull my hair out later when the blanket is done.

That's all for now. I'll try to get the camera going next week so that I have pictures to talk about once NaBloPoMo begins.