swatch1

swatch1,
originally uploaded by sundaykofax.

You do have to weave in the ends? Noooo! I thought it said to not weave in ends unless it specifically asks for it, and the only one that does is swatch 16. Crap. I bet I can weave those ends in post-blocking without a problem. I'll just have to be cautious.

So where's Inky, yo? She hasn't posted to her own blog in, like, a week. I guess she's working all night and knitting all day!

I've blocked all of my swatches. Yes. They're done. I've darkened the photos so you can see the stitches better. I'm going to send them off like this (but with ends tucked in) unless any of you think I should redo. You have until Saturday!

My swatches are done

I went to a knitting retreat this weekend, and finished the rest of my swatches. I used some of the yarn I had koolaid dyed, since it was WOTA, for my contrasting color in swatch 16. The owner of Crazy Girl Yarn Shop (the store that created the event) had completed level one, and I asked her a couple of questions as I went.

The only thing I'm stuck on now is the realization that swatch 16 is supposed to have the ends woven in, but not the rest. Am I correct in that? It sounds shady, but I'll rejoice if I don't have to weave in more ends.

Swatch critique

swatch7,
originally uploaded by sundaykofax.

I finally got around to shooting my swatches, and I've loaded them onto my flickr site. If you click on the link you'll be taken to a gallery of my lovely knitted bits.

Would y'all be so good as to leave a comment if there's anything you want to point out about them? (Other than they're not blocked, and the ends aren't woven in...)

Um, I just realized swatch 7 is kind of upside down, since it's a decrease. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Hitchhiker's Guide, day 2

I'm about to leave work early to go watch Hitchhiker's Guide again. Have y'all seen it yet? Have you seen the knitting in it?...

Champagne swatches

Champagne is light colored, and won't stain either :)

It sounds totally decadent, but here it is, four o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and I'm drinking mimosas and have just finished swatch 7. These are going really really fast. I guess I'm winging my way through them, and figure that I can critique them later. I've tugged at ribbbing and scruitinized tension on the first couple, and I think I'm doing OK.

I have the end of a ball of Wool of the Andes (WOTA) and I think I'm going to koolaid dye it. I'm not going to use it for a swatch, because I DO NOT want to have to tie on a new ball in the middle of a swatch. Totally. Not. Worth. It. So I'll try some koolaid on it, and report back.

I'm off for a walk and some dinner. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Three down!

I've finished the third swatch, and I can comfortably review the Wool of the Andes yarn I'm using. Nameless asked if it's lifeless (pre-blocking) or if it's the best yarn ever. (I'm really not a blocker, so I'm going to have to buy an iron or a spray bottle or something. I would love a few posts on your blocking technique.) I haven't blocked anything yet, but I can tell you that yes, the yarn is a bit lifeless. From what I hear, it will perk up in the blocking process. Now, knitting it up has been juuuuuust fine. I'm using my Denise Interchangeables, and the wool going over those warm plastic (dare I say slightly bendy) needles is wonderful. I was able to knit a good, not too loose stitch. I'm even going to blame the pleasure of the actual knitting on why I didn't read the directions, even though that's a complete lie.

Here's my question: How do you weave in ends? If you mention the book you use, I can look it up. (Rather than reinventing the wheel and trying to describe it.)

For the increase swatches, how many rows do we knit between increase rows? The way I interpret it, it's:
inc row,
p row,
k row,
p row,
inc row
etc.

I'm going to go search the forum for this answer - I know it's been discussed. I'll post what I find if there's any doubt.

I think one tip we can offer the world of knitting is yes, red wine is delicious, but drinking clear liquids may be the way to go! Martinis, tonics, gimlets, have at!

YARN DAY, YARN DAY!

Um, it's yarn day. I got my Knit Picks yarn in the mail last night. It took a mercifully short amount of time to ship. My mom also ordered some of the Nap and Crayon, and I think the Crayon may be my new favorite soft yarn. (Sinsation be damned.)

So I curled up with a brand new ball of yarn (in a bag, to minimize cat hairness) and a DVD of Six Feet Under. I figured the best way to have correct tension would be to not get too tense about it (an ironic name for it, eh?) and so I knitted my first swatch the way I knit most everything - watching something on TV. (Although to be utterly correct, the DVD was playing from my computer.)

And you know what? No rowing out. It was beautiful.

Today I had to run home and wait for the cable guy to come and install cable and internet. I've decided that I'll forgo Netflix for a few months and rock the HBO-style cable and internet instead. There's a really good deal right now, and I'm moving in August, so if it's brain rotting, at least it will be a short time.

So I knit swatch 2 while I waited. Um, that's when I realized that I knit swatch 1 in stockinette. This is par for the course - I never look at directions. I calmly unravelled it and have begun again.

My k2,p2 ribbing looks a little hinky, but I think a good tug and some blocking will help. I plan on photographing the little suckers this weekend (db has the camera) and posting them, for a fair critique.

So tonight I have the last two of my Netflix (goodbye, dear friends!) and cable to persue. Cable while cabling?! Wait, that's level II. Cable and swatch 3. And maybe a gin and tonic. Can't be too relaxed when dealing with tension!

Another day, another day closer to yarn.

I ordered the Vogue knitting book, since I couldn't get it at the library, and well, I had this Amazon gift certificate ...

I also did a little googling to find out if Champaign (IL) has a knitting shop. It does! They don't have a Stitch n Bitch, and their Meetup seems defunct, but I emailed the owner, and she said that there is usually someone hanging out knitting every moment of every day. Joy!

How is everyone doing with their swatches?

Countdown to Knit Picks package

As I am going to be waiting for at least a week for my swatch yarn, I spent the weekend combing the library for ref book and started looking at the questions. I think my usual overanalytical self will end up going cross-eyed before figuring out that "increase evenly" is really not that hard to answer. Here's what my brain was saying on Saturday:

"OK. Swatch 1. I can increase evenly across a row."
"20 stitches, 5 increases, that means increasing every 4 stitches, right?"
"Yeah - oh, except if you start after the first four stitches, you end up increasing on the last stitch. Is that a good idea?"
"I have no idea."
"Bah, let's move on to swatch 2. AHH! Same deal!"
"Calm down. Someone on the blog will know."


So that's the deal. Should the increase be k2, inc, *k4, inc* to last two, k2?

Willkomen, I'm Sunday

The nickname is a long story, and one that is only really interesting to myself, but succinctly, it's my hired killer name.

Where do you live? Waukegan, IL
How old are you (gasp!)? 26
Who else lives with you? My cat, "the cat".
Continental or English? English, for now. I guess starting the MK program really doesn't lend itself to starting a new style, eh?
How long have you knit? Oh, maybe 9, but I started seriously in high school - 10 years ago
What type of needles do you use? Just got some Denise, and I love circs.
Favorite online knitting store? Knitpicks and Yarn Market
Best aspect of your knitting? I use frogged sweaters from thrift stores.
Worst aspect of your knitting? Self taught, so I suck at weaving in ends. This will be a problem.
Most-used knitting reference book? SnB has done me well, although I'm still just learning how to do thing correctly. Mattress stitch? Learned it last year.
What's your stash like? Kind of paltry, and with mostly orphan skeins. I did freak out when I thought Lion Brand microspun was being discontinued, so I bought a bunch on ebay ... but mostly I buy for the project.
Then get down to business - anything else interesting that you'd like to share? I'm moving to Champaign, IL in August to start the Library Information Science graduate program. My boyfriend (Jason, 26, programmer, can't purl) and are renting a converted school building loft. I'm excited for August to get here!
Are you afraid of the master knitting program? I just don't want to be one of those "my tension is fine unless I'm knitting a MK swatch" people.
Are you excited? Can I say "fuck yes" or should we stick to appropriate language? I'm really really excited.
Have you started the swatches/questions/paper, and how long ago? Yeah, no. I don't even have my yarn yet. It will probably be another few days before I can start in ernest. I think I'll start doing the swatches in waste yarn to figure out what I'm doing, though. I'm that excited.

Oh, and as of now, I don't always have internet access on the weekends. Depends on if I'm at my place or at the techy boyfriends. If you don't hear from me, you'll have to wait until Monday. Yeah, sucks.

Resource for uploading images

How to upload an image:
PC -
Download "Hello BloggerBot" which is a very user friendly virtually idiot proof program. You use this by clicking the little bitty photo icon next to the spellchecker on the posting view - it will give you a link to the download. I don't know if there is a limit to the file size you can upload or not.

Mac or for those of us at work that don't get to download stuff -
Go to Flick.com - From the homepage, click on the pink "sign up now" button. Come up with a screen name, add your email and a password. (You'll log in with your email address.)

At your homepage, click the 'upload photos' link on the lefthand side of the screen. Hit the 'browse' button, and it will allow you to naviate through your computer's files. You can upload more than one photo at a time, which is nice. Leave the privacy setting alone. Hit 'UPLOAD' (blue button at the bottom) and it will give you a chance to add keywords (in case someone is searching for "master knitter", swatch, level I, or whatever you enter. Hit 'save'.

Once you have your files stored on that website, you can click the image, and above it will be a "Blog this!" button, which will give you a chance to write the text that will go with the picture. When you hit 'post entry' it sends it on over to [badknittingpun]. At some point you'll have to set up which blog to send the image to. It's a Blogger blog, you put in the login name and password you use for [badknittingpun], and you're off.

FYI, you have to view the actual blog page (www.badknittingpun.blogspot.com) to actually see pictures.


key drawback is that you can only upload 20MB a month.

Hi, I'm Inky!

Yay for more blogging!!

I like the idea of kool-aid dying the 2nd color - I saw that when I first read over the paperwork and wondered what I'd do. Or perhaps another dye in a more tan shade of beige?

so here's my stats:

Where do you live? San Diego, CA/USA

How old are you (gasp!)? I'll be 45 on May 23.

Who else lives with you? My Husbandman (age 32, go inky!) and 2 cats, Boo and Noel.

Continental or English? English

How long have you knit? I learned around age 15, fiddled with scarves off and on until 2004 when I started knitting more often obsessively.

What type of needles do you use? I prefer Crystal Palace Bamboo or my new WEBS Bamboo Interchangeables.

Favorite online knitting store? knitpicks.com and yarnmarket.com

Best aspect of your knitting? I really like to work through a problem until it's resolved so my work is as good as I can get it with my current ablities.

Worst aspect of your knitting? Tension, definitely. I plan to try using a smaller needle for the purl rows on my swatches.

Most-used knitting reference book? Sally Melville's Knitting Experience - Book 1 & 2S

What's your stash like? Fairly manageable 3 large ikea storage boxes, and 2 bamboo chests posing as accessories. I'm on a yarn diet right now.

Then get down to business - anything else interesting that you'd like to share? Please visit my blog for the latest Inkyknits news

Are you afraid of the master knitting program? Not so much afraid as overwhelmed. When the packet came I was petrified but the more I read, checked out a half dozen books from the library and practice the less stress I feel.

Are you excited? Constantly. Oh wait you didn't mean it "that" way did you?

Have you started the swatches/questions/paper, and how long ago? My Wool of the Andes arrived a few days ago, I have all the binder, page protectors, reference books at the ready. I think I'll have to wait til the week after next as I started a new job and am still in training into next week. Then I can knit at work in a cat free quiet zone.

Questions for everyone

I thought a good post for everyone would be to answer some questions about yourself so we know where everyone is coming from (both literally and figuratively).

Where do you live?
How old are you (gasp!)?
Who else lives with you?
Continental or English?
How long have you knit?
What type of needles do you use?
Favorite online knitting store?
Best aspect of your knitting?
Worst aspect of your knitting?
Most-used knitting reference book?
What's your stash like?
Then get down to business - anything else interesting that you'd like to share? Are you afraid of the master knitting program? Are you excited? Have you started the swatches/questions/paper, and how long ago?

Answers, ho!

After asking Inky about Wool o' the Andes (one is not enough, nor is it ever enough), I went ahead and ordered Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, ala natural. Now it just has to get here. In the meantime, I'm going to finish up a few pesky projects that are looming (finish a sweater for the brother, scarf for a friend, commissioned iPod cozy). It's like the wait time for a gun. I probably would hurt myself at this point.

Master knitters, ho!

Here are my first questions:

Wool of the Andes seems to be a solid choice for the Level 1 swatches. How much of the stuff will I need? I though I read that it would take more than one skein. We'll need a contrasting color for swatch, does WOTA have another 'light' color? They don't seem to. Maybe I could koolaid dye some? Oh, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

How do you want to tackle the questions? I don't want to 'cheat' by just asking on the blog, but if you've found a good source for an answer, maybe that would be an appropriate response.