Looky-looky

So in one month we've had 3 visitors. That's a personal record. That's a month in which I have limited computer access, since our computer room IS our guest room, and vice versa.

Also, visitors means YARN PRESENTS! My visitors are all very skilled in this area, and brought fun and lovely things. We've already seen what dear brother-in-law brought (Cherry Hill Sock Yarn, yeah, baby!) and the lovely socks that came straight from that.

My mother-in-law brought fun yarn -- all kinds! I can't wait to see what I'll do with it -- perhaps some fun poncho with ribbons, or using that ribbon yarn for fringe. Can't tell yet!


THEN, my brother came last week -- and yippee yahoo, he brings several skeins of sock yarn and a new Addi Turbo. Truly manna from heaven. These are all skeins from the article about favorite sock yarn in this season's Interweave Knits.


See these? One is a wool and bamboo mix -- how cool is that? And another has aloe in it -- now that's fun knitting. (Yes, I do amuse myself sometimes.)

Now this one below -- THIS SOCK RAN A 5K.

Yep. Well, okay, actually it WALKED a 5K. Somewhere in this world, there are pictures of me crossing the finish line WHILE KNITTING. This is perhaps the "coolest" or "most loser-like" knitting thing I've done, depending on your point of view. My husband was moderately amused. I give him serious points for walking right next to me as if EVERYONE knits in a fun run.

The sock in this picture has since been finished, and its mate has been started. And let me tell you that I'm a little concerned about whether or not the orange vertical stripes on the first sock will come out similarly on the second sock. After all, this sock has been dubbed the "Finding Nemo" sock, given its orange and white vertical stripes, its deep blue ocean stripes, and the yellow and white flecked part, which my son has deemed "the sunshine." I'd better go and knit some more and see how it comes out.

Tank-o-rama

I've picked up last fall's WIP, and finally attached the straps -- I wasn't sure if it would fit at all, and was dubious...and VOILA! It does!




This is the Lotus Blossom Tank in bamboo from the Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. I still have to do the finishing touches (do you like the necklace of the Addi Turbo needles visible at my neck?), so it should be finished tomorrow.

Knit Geek?

I haven't posted in a week -- perhaps it's because it's lonely out here in blog land, perhaps because I've been busy having visitors, running around gaining consensus for fundraising, and maybe it's because I've been too busy finishing the second sock!!!

Check it OUT! A PAIR of socks!



Not only that, it's a pair of socks that FIT. It's a pair of socks custom designed with the wearer's individual feet in mind, socks for large women's feet. Thank goodness there was enough yarn. There was some serious math involved.

After the first sock was finished, I weighed it on my kitchen scale, which I think is accurate to +- 4 grams. I knew that the weight on the ball band was 4 ounces. I knew that was about 120 grams. The first sock weighed 58 grams. The remaining yarn weighed 62 grams. I breathed an early sigh of relief, figuring that I would be okay, especially when my brilliant husband asked if I had factored in that the sock I just knitted may be heavier that the yarn used to knit it because it might have absorbed moisture from my hands. BRILLIANT! I was so impressed. Still am.

Lo and behold, I had enough yarn to finish the second sock, and I wore them all evening. Mind you, it was a very sunny day, and we have south and west facing windows. Mind you, the air conditioning is not on. Imagine how warm the apartment was. Imagine my nice toasty feet. I was putting the kids to bed, tucking them in, and I kept asking them, "Aren't you too hot for all those covers?" It was a while later before I realized the socks were doing a slap-bang job of keeping me extra warm.

So, if the math and the discussion on the effect of moisture on the weight of the item wasn't geeky enough, I actually sent a picture of my socks as an attachment to an e-mail on a totally different subject to a group of people who don't really know about my knitting fanatacism. Before I sent it, they probably thought I was an almost normal expat mom, and now I've proven that I'm a secret nutcase -- who in their right mind would knit a pair of wool socks in the early summer in Tokyo? Who would knit a pair of socks at all?

I'm going to go knit a clock vest next. Provided that I can find the right needles. (They don't sell Addi Turbos in Tokyo, at least not officialy. I've heard tell of one renegade shop owner who sells them from her personal stash in secret under the counter. We are talking coded password secret spy stuff here. Very exciting.)

Sock-o-rific!

Okay, who laughed at my theory that if only I had ENOUGH sock yarn I'd be able to knit socks like a madwoman? Well, I'm doing the laughing now. Just a week after my brother-in-law's lovely gift of FOUR, count 'em FOUR hanks of sock yarn, I have finished the first child's sock, and turned the heel of the second. It's simple knitting from here to the toe, and they'll be finished before his feet grow any more! Then, MY feet get their turn.

The Evidence:
April 14 (not changed since Oct 06):


April 17:


April 19:


Bring it on!

Giving my hands a break from the fingering weight and the size 1 needles, I also worked on (and quickly finished) this:

My dear husband is a happy enabler of my knitting, and is a great sport about hunting down LYS wherever he might be. This lovely skein, assembled from a variety of different novelty yarns, was purchased at Needlepoint and Knitting in Boston, and the owner's directions are so simple that she wrote them down in a tiny space on the ball band for my husband. "Cast on 180. Knit, knit, knit." I think she assumed that I would know enough to cast off.

I did end up writing her an e-mail -- believe it or not, I had a question about the "knit, knit, knit" part. I was unsure if each row should be only 1 type of yarn, or if I was meant to continue throug until it ran out, meaning that I could potentially have two rows of a certain yarn on one half of the scarf, and none of that yarn at all on the other end of the scarf. I was told to just keep going. I guess that should be explicit in "knit, knit, knit," but then again I'm a bit obsessive and that perfectionist thing was coming out. In the end, I decided that I LIKED the unevenness of the colors and yarns.

"It's a FEATURE, not a BUG."

One sock down, one to go!

One sock is finished!!! Yippee! My first "real" sock! (Not including the big Christmas stocking I knit last month.)

The model is our rather timid cat named Mousie. We also call him Skitter Kitty. He tends to flee at the unknown. Putting a sock on him and then taking a flash picture had about a 50/50 chance of success. Still, the room was dark, and I needed a light background for the sock -- Mousie was my only option.



Luckily, he was pretty relaxed, and even posed when I put the knitting needles on his paws. I thought that this would send him running for sure. Nope, he actually purred. The cat knows good knitting when he sees it.



(See, I followed the instructions that say to cast on the second sock if you ever want a matched pair.)

Purple Angora Shawl has a home!

I've been musing about the likelihood (or unlikelihood) of anyone actually wearing a purple angora shawl. A thin purple angora trim on something fun -- yes. But a whole shawl (albeit a small one) of purple angora? Shedding little purple angora fur all over oneself?

I tried it on. I liked the color. However, I already have a purple pashmina shawl that I wear all the time (just look at my pic on the right). It seemed a little over the top to add the angora.

I could think of a few people who might claim to want it, and only afterwards realize that bright purple was just not their thing. The answer came yesterday, as I had finished fiddling with it, and left it momentarily on the dining room table.

I came back, and Purple Angora Shawl was no longer on the dining room table. It was in the kitchen, and it was coloring. It was happy!



Know who will wear a purple angora shawl? A seven-year-old. And she'll love it!

So, what is the deal with socks?

Sock yarn -- my new passion. And why? Not because I knit socks up like a storm. No, it's much simpler than that. It's that:

Somewhere deep inside, I believe that I WILL BE ABLE TO KNIT SOCKS UP LIKE A STORM *IF* I have enough sock yarn.

Have I been knitting socks long? Ummmm...that depends on if you expect me to actually finish a pair.

When I was in the US this summer, I stopped into a lovely LYS in Rochester, Minnesota called Kristen's Knits. The employee there happened to be knitting a sock on 2 circulars, and I asked, "What is the deal with socks? Everyone keeps raving about knitting socks. Is it really that great?" Being a particularly excellent salesperson, teacher, and just general great woman, she proceeded to walk me through the store, picked out Cat Bordhi's book Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles, two kinds of sock yarn (actually, she picked one to start me off, and I asked for a second), and two pairs of circular needles. (I also purchased enough bamboo, linen, merino, etc to come very very close to filling up a punch card.)

Here is the very first sock I ever started -- on those same circulars and the yarn that she started me on. I found that using Cat's "simple sock" pattern I needed 1s, not 2s or 3s. I began the child's sock. I got this far last October, and finally convinced my son (4) to let me put them on his feet. It took a while, since he didn't want "the needles to poke his feet." Understandable. I got them on him -- and realized that the sock was too narrow. (Fast forward 6 months to this week, and I yanked them wider and got them on his feet without a problem. In 6 months, he's realized that I've knit him a "Lightning McQueen" vest, a hat, and a blanket, and socks have got to be great. He has willed them to fit!)



After I realized that my yarn was perhaps thinner than what was required in the pattern, and I had no access to the kind specified, I wondered if I should knit a Christmas stocking -- only ONE sock, big stitches. I started in March -- understanding that it had to be done by December. Two weeks after starting, here it is (minus some embroidery). By the way, the fuzziness where the name would be is where me, the privacy freak, has erased out my kid's name in the picture.



With that under my belt (and intarsia in the round is NOT for the weak), I began a new sock, this time for ME! Unfortunately, I realized that a 3 is totally not the right needle size for the combo of this yarn, this pattern, and my knitting style. The yarn is not wound very tightly, and I figured that it knit much smaller than I had supposed.






Luckily, my brother-in-law arrived, bringing goodies and beautiful sock yarn with him. I cast on again (using 3s, I must be a VERY slow learner, but the 3s were the only ones not already in a project), and found that it knits like a dream, but I do need to use 1s or 2s.



That brings us back to my FIRST sock, which is holding said 1s. Now I have to finish his socks before I can start mine. It's a very very good incentive.

Oops -- update. I couldn't wait. I finished the first of his socks, cast on the second, and....I couldn't wait. I cast my own socks on in the beautiful Cherry Tree Hill on dpns. Just to see what my gauge is, mind you. I have to finish his first -- his feet are still growing!

Blockhead

Blocking is very new to me. I blocked a lace rib scarf I made for a friend as a test, and I was amazed at the difference it made. (Yes, I know the books all say that you'll be amazed by how professional it suddenly looks, but somehow I was still surprised.)

So, when I blocked my purple angora shawl (and again, I ask, who is going to wear a purple angora shawl?), I was THRILLED to see the arrowhead pattern (Interweave Knits staff projects, Summer 2006) appear so nicely!




Same thing with a baby poncho I made for a friend. The garter stitch edge was not holding the stockinette properly, and it was curving to the back, and I blocked it -- VOILA! It looks awesome. (Yarn is a Japanese one with 10% mohair, 90% wool called "make, make". Not kidding. Make make yarn. I'm gonna make make me a poncho.

The Knitting Bug, and how it infected me....

So, why knitting? Because it's portable, it's relaxing, it's rewarding, and I can choose to knit something spectacular and complicated, and I can choose to knit something simple and repetitive.

I started knitting (again) in January 2006, after a 17-year hiatus, and taught myself from the "Stitch and Bitch" I checked out from the library. I decided NOT to purchase anything, but to get a library book, and use the pink wool and needles I purchased in 1988 when I had almost no extra cash, and not enough money to buy an additional pair of knitting needles so that I could Knit To Gauge.

Since I am by nature a confident and ambitious person, I began (in 1988) with a sweater (one with a cabled ribbing, no less). I was also confident enough to ignore gauge, I just bought what the pattern said. I ended up with a front and back of completely different sizes, and it would have fit a wrestler. A wrestler who liked pink cabled sweaters, that is. I've kept this 19 years thinking that I'd finish it someday. I know better now -- but just CHECK OUT the difference between the top piece and the bottom piece! Egads. This is what I frogged to practice anew.



My initial foray into knitting in 2006 was just to busy my hands. I played with the yarn, tried it in my left hand. I went to the knitting store and just "looked around." Really. I found some squeaky acrylic in the back of my closet and knit a square. I went back to the knitting store, and this time bought fuschia pink and black-and-white fun fur yarn, and knit the keyhole scarf in SnB. Then I knit 2 more, for my mom and daughter. Matching 3 generation fuschia, white, and black scarves!

Then I bought a circular needle, and began making baby hats. Did I mention I also bought 15 balls of Zara (all different colors) and 2 knitting books?

A little over a year later, I have a stash worth hiding, purchased all over the US and brought back home to Tokyo because "I just don't know if I can get this in Japan." (Note to self: Zara, Rowan, Anny Blatt -- all available. Sock yarn? As rare as a rainbow zebra.)

Doin' the Happy Dance -- AGAIN!

I'm a-doing the Happy Dance!

The Auction Quilt is FINISHED (I know I said it was finished before, but now it has the hanging sleeve, so it's REALLY REALLY finished), and is hanging in the school! It will be auctioned off April 20 -- can't wait to see the bidding! My heart is pounding with adrenaline already.

Here it is:



AND, as if there wasn't enough joy in my life with the completion of THAT project, we also finished our class project: the Chinese character for PLAY (asobi) done in washi paper. It's amazing.




Since I'm on such a roll with finishing projects, I also managed to finish my shodo (calligraphy) monthly submission and begin the annual "test," ** AND ** I finally managed to block the purple angora shawl and the pink baby poncho. Look out baby, I'm on a roll!

The best visitors come armed with PRESENTS!

Look at these presents! Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn and a beautiful Rowan Kid Silk Haze! These are what my delightful brother-in-law brought for me!! (Granted, I did send a list, along with a map of a LYS in his immediate area -- Stitch DC, which is (not surprisingly) located in DC.)



How gorgeous is that stuff? So gorgeous that I couldn't wait to start a pair of socks on the jewel tones of the Cherry Tree Hill skein.

Blogorama?

First post: so new, so bewildering. Where to start?

I'm an American living in Tokyo, with some serious craft-itis.

The Tokyo part: It's cherry blossom season, the perfect image of Japan. This is what you see when you aim your camera carefully:





What you don't see are 300 other people taking the exact same picture, either with their huge digital SLRs or their tiny pocket digitals, or else their phones.



Craftiness? Isn't this about STITCHING for goodness sake?


Right now, I have 4 knitting projects on needles, one getting frogged, 2 waiting to be blocked, and several in my head.



A few months ago, I made a toddler hat (modeled by the doll with the biggest head). The pattern is of my own making, and the hat is knit in Zara merino. I was particularly pleased with my ability to decrease so neatly and evenly while keeping some sort of pattern. I got so excited that I forgot to write down exactly what I decreased, and in what order.


I love the stitch definition in the Zara.








Recently I made the same hat using a gorgeous Malabrigo yarn (yum) in autumn colors, mainly to see if I could re-create the decreases and this time write them down (I met with moderate success). The Malabrigo is a totally different feel, not much twist to the yarn, and a much thicker feel. It's incredibly soft and yummy merino. I found it at The Knitter's Nook in Minocqua Wisconsin, and Linden Hills Yarns in Minneapolis and The Yarnery in Saint Paul carry it as well. (I like to buy yarn wherever I go, supporting the LYSs all over the place.)

I'm also working on a queen sized quilt that will go into the school auction getting its binding on now (I took a break), a twin top finished, and a wall quilt nearly finished.


School quilt pic -- be very impressed, and no, this is not all my work (hardly), but our school quilting group's work:

Next: more pictures of school quilt as it continues, and hopefully pictures of our class washi project!