The Blogless Wonder

In case it isn't obvious

2007-11-27T20:35:00.000-05:00

I'm not very fond of blogging.

I am however very fond of ravelry so the two minutes per six months that I was devoting to "blogging" are now being spent over there. Come check out my latest projects there, including the Bias Shell from the new veronik avery book that I'm convinced is not actually going to work. (username "shireen")

Ask and ye shall receive

2007-08-16T22:52:00.000-04:00

My sockpal is a much better person than me. Not only does she give me beautiful more-than-knee high socks, but also two skeins of incredible sock yarn AND perfectly crafted stitch holders. Thank you Michelle - it is all truly wonderful!!

Look how high they go! I hope she wasn't cursing me as she knit higher and higher . . .

over the knee!!

That is one looooong sock.

Pattern: Canyon Hiking Socks from "Greetings from the Knit Cafe"
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotten

I can attest to how comfortable they are!

And what gorgeous sock yarn - my feet will be happy for years!

I've decided that these are boysenberries. Why not??

I am very very happy.

Mission Completed!

2007-08-11T13:26:00.000-04:00

I'm sure the few people that were once reading this random blog are no longer, BUT I had to show off the finished Sockapalooza socks. Just a few days late which I blame entirely on the fact that I chose a too-difficult pattern. Which meant this was not a mindless knit. But I'm so pleased with how they turned out and now I just hope that my sockpal likes them!

Photos courtesy of the Subway Knitter. That's The Point in the background.

Pattern: Twisted Flower Sock Pattern by Cookie A

Yarn: Claudia's Handpainted Yarn - colorway "Walk in the Woods" - also courtesy of The Subway Knitter (wow! she's great to have around . . . )

I LOVE this pattern. Though I had many nights filled with cursing of the little cables, I love how it turned out. In retrospect, though the distinct pattern would have probably had more pop with a solid color, this variegated yarn also suits my sockpal's color preferences so I'm happy with that. Not evident in these pictures (see Cookie A's pictures for a better shot), is the beautiful back of the heel.

Phew. Now i just need to handle the extra challenge of making my way to the post office sometime this century.

I Get by with a Little Yarn from my Friends

2007-05-14T21:26:00.000-04:00

I've made some progress in the Sockapalooza world- I have achieved yarn!

I was detailing my sockpal's preference for deep blues and purples to the Subway Knitter a couple of weeks ago and she informs me that she has the perfect match. One week later, and Voila!, some Claudia Handpainted Yarn with all my sockpal's preferences for color.

Colleen, you're the best! Now i'm in search for a good pattern. This will clearly be a darkly variegated yarn so I don't want anything with intricate stitching that will get washed away. My pal is also in a warm climate so i think knee socks would be impractical. I've been enjoying seeing everyone else's choices on the knit pligg so I may be stealing some ideas soon. Unless the Subway Knitter wants to do this for me as well??

The Last Baby Blanket I'll Ever Make?

2007-04-24T20:25:00.000-04:00

It's the same old story. I decide to make a baby blanket for a dear friend. I obsess over the yarn type and color. I excitedly start the project.

Then . . . about row 10 . . . I get bored.

And from then on, I count the rows and inches until I finish.

Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK, rose color
Pattern: Fiber Trends, Ruffled Ridges

Next, I anxiously mail it across the country, worried that it will get lost in the mail or damaged in some way. But look at the cute little card!

Finally, a couple months later, I get the photo that makes it all completely worth it.

Little Esme is the sweetest thing ever! And she looks so great in pink!

Alright, I'm ready for the next one.

Update-a-rama

2007-02-20T19:26:00.000-05:00

After hearing from some of you that you were tired of seeing my last post, I have finally decided to bite the bullet and post an update. But I'm tired so this update will be mostly in pictorial form. And I know most of you don't read the words anyway . . .

So what knitting projects have I done since last I posted? Well, first a couple of pairs of baby booties for a colleague and Alison.

I finished Violetta's Shawl for my sister:

Then, of course, the holiday sweaters.

The niece:

And the nephew:

Phew. If only I could add these projects to my resume.

Connor Meets George

2006-11-05T08:38:00.000-05:00

What to do when there's no new knitting to report? Go to the babies! Yesterday, I received some pics in the mail from my friend Erin in Vancouver. She had her baby in August and I had sent her the George Sweater. Look at how charming this baby is! I really like the red on him.

One of the reasons there's no knitting update is that I had to go on a trip to Little Rock, Arkansas this past week. I actually purposely made the decision not to bring knitting with me because I didn't want to distract myself from preparing the workshop that I was giving over two days. But, due to scheduling, and the fact that there is nothing to do in Little Rock, Arkansas, I had a lot more time on my hands than I would have liked.

But I found this particularly interesting. This sign was posted on the back of the bathroom door:

I have never seen anything like it. And what does it mean exactly? Flush after use? Well, that's different than saying "flush frequently", no? And why do Arkansans (or visitors to Arkansas)need such reminders?

I couldn't let it go so I asked the front desk guy when I was checking out. He said that "even though the building had been completely renovated, there were still old pipes." I asked if people needed the reminder and he told me, with a bit of a grimace, that yes they did.

I was very happy to come home.

The Truth Revealed

2006-10-28T08:44:00.000-04:00

(Did I catch your attention with that dramatic title?)

Last night, I visited the lovely Spiders (so nice to see you all again and to meet some of you) where I was also reunited with Colleen, clearly the only Knitsmith who cares enough about me to pay me a visit. But there, I was forced to admit a serious error. Turns out I'm not as blameless as I made myself out to be in my last post regarding the abrupt color change in the Violetta shawl.

What's that, you say? Could it be the start of a new skein? Well, not exactly. I'm still using one giant quad skein from Morehouse. But those of you who were witness to my unskilled yarn winding might remember that the yarn broke once and I had to wind two balls. Silly me- I didn't even remember this when I saw the color change until several days later, I happened to see the yarn end sticking out. oh well.

In other knitting news, these make me very happy:

On the right, another quad skein of Morehouse. This time it will (eventually, maybe a few years?) turn into a Melody shawl for me. In the center, my Debbie Bliss silk yarn patiently waiting to be turned into a cardigan. And introducing, on the left, some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in "Watercolor", purchased on my first visit to Purl a couple of weeks ago. Along with this pattern:

Isn't it the cutest? It will be my niece's annual handknit Xmas sweater. After working on shawls and scarves for so long, I forgot how pleasant and quick it is to knit up child-size stuff.

Do you see what I see?

2006-10-21T14:43:00.000-04:00

I've been laboriously working on my sister's lace shawl. A couple of weeks ago, I crossed the halfway point (where the diagonal line changes direction) and kept plodding along. Today, I decided to stretch it out and see it all laid out. And look!!

What the hell is that?!?! How did the yarn just dramatically change color like that? A dyelot issue? Nope, this is all one big skein. Instead it appears to be just a stroke of bad luck.

Kim, I'm hoping you think this is one of those charming anomalies that happen with handmade knits. There's no going back now.

Ruffled Again

2006-10-01T15:16:00.000-04:00

A friend's trip cancelled at the last minute plus the recent acquisition of DVR meant that I had much time on the couch last weekend. I was getting tired of my 2nd Ruffles scarf and so I was determined to finish.

Tada!

(Did you all notice the lovely exposed brick wall? In case not, here's another shot.)

So here's the problem. I'm not sure I like it and part of me thinks I look like a complete dork wearing it. When I made the first one for my friend Christina, I made it out of an amazing light green 100% bamboo yarn. I really liked the way the ruffles hung with that yarn. And within 10 minutes of presenting it to C., she got two compliments from random strangers. So of course I thought "I gotta get me one of those!" For mine, I decided to go with the Classic Elite as specified in the pattern.

Here's Christina in her Ruffles.

I need honest opinions- no holds barred. Will I look like an ass on the streets of Manhattan wearing this scarf? (and by this, i mean, will i look like more of an ass than most people?)

Such fine models

2006-09-19T19:54:00.000-04:00

Well the knitting hiatus continues here in the big city. It's amazing how the work thing gets in the way. I haven't been watching enough crap television which means my knitting time is way down. BUT, I'm happy to report that I've recently received pics of some new additions to the world, modeling some of my knits.

From all the way out in Seattle, introducing Isabella, just a couple of days old, swaddled in my buttery blanket.

And remember that hat I made a few months back that I couldn't help but name the "McDonald's Hat"? Well, it looks much less like Ronald McDonald on this little sweetie Miriam. And don't forget to check out the booties.

Meanwhile, I have a Ruffles scarf and my sister's shawl to complete, at least two Xmas presents to get started (and finished of course) and a silk cardigan waiting in the wings. It may be time to quit my job.

I am alive!

2006-09-12T21:18:00.000-04:00

Not that you all were worried.

So here I am, in the big city, hardly knitting at all. Would you believe that my Debbie Bliss silk is just sitting here, collecting dust?? It's a crying shame.

I did get a chance to meet the very nice and very hip Spiders on Friday at the Point and hope to get back some time when I'm actually knitting.

Dina may have inspired me with this photo from a yarn shop in LA. What do you think? Can you see me wearing this on the streets of New York?

I actually finished something!

2006-08-19T12:11:00.000-04:00

Pretty sad, but true. My first completed project in more than two months. I give you my Lorna's Laces socks (colorway Seaside) on their new proud owner, Kathy:

Don't they look cool with those shoes?

These were a belated bday gift for Kathy. Only a couple of weeks late and finished during my last day of work (you can see Kathy sitting in my empty and depressing office). And I couldn't resist also giving her a framed picture of this:

I recommend seeing Miss Ritchie next time you're in P-town.

Veni Vidi Vici

2006-08-08T21:00:00.000-04:00

First, an apology for the delay. The amount of brain space that I've been able to devote to anything except freaking out about moving has been very, very small.

But now that I found an apartment (!), I've managed to free up an iota more and can post for the first time in a month.

Back in June, I told you about my foray into toe-up, two-at-a-time, magic-loop socks. I managed to make it past the heel just fine. As evidenced here:

But then I began to notice a disturbing pattern. This is how it would go:

1. Work one row across both socks.
2. Sigh.
3. Rest.
4. Turn the needle around, push it through the stitches on the other side.
5. Sigh.
6. Rest.
7. Repeat steps 1-6.

As you might imagine, this takes longer than one would like. So, I considered the magic loop method conquered and went back to this:

Ah, much better.

Remember This?

2006-07-04T14:59:00.000-04:00

Yeah, me neither.
But there it was, stuffed in a bag behind a chair. Which I happened to see when I decided to actually do some cleaning today. Looks like I've started to "forget" about projects right when they hit the finishing stage. BUT, i'm motivated to finish it up for no other reason than being convinced by Alison and Dani to start a (super expensive) project in Debbie Bliss Pure Silk. I'm determined to not have more than 3 projects going at once. (well, determined might be kind of a strong word . . . )

And in other news, i'm about 1/3 of the way done with my sister's shawl. Now, if she would just be more patient . . .

And yes, Wil Wheaton rocks.

Not one, but TWO challenges

2006-06-19T20:13:00.000-04:00

Having now done 4 pairs of socks, I was ready for a new sock challenge. First, I wanted to learn the magic loop method. Second, I wanted to learn how to do toe-up so that I wouldn't have to be paranoid about running out of yarn and thus make yet another pair of too-short socks with tons of yarn left over. So why not do the two together? Thanks largely to Johanna, the result is:

Falling off my left foot there, but you get the idea. So as to not completely blow your mind (and mine!), I've decided to stay simple on the pattern and just do stockinette. Having worked just a couple of rows, I'm having a bit of awkwardness about managing the needle but I'm hoping that I'll get used to it shortly. For now, I'm not missing the double-points.

It's Like Buttah!

2006-06-11T20:48:00.000-04:00

Despite feeling like it took forever, I realized today that it was only about six weeks of not-much knitting to complete this wonderful baby blanket for my bestest friend from grad school.

And look! The sun shined down upon the cape to provide an outdoor picture for sizing purposes. Never mind those ends- I was so excited that it was done that I took the "finished" photos before I actually wove them in.

Close up on the diamonds.

The details . . .
Yarn: Rowan Soft Baby in Butter (sooooo soft)
Pattern: Fiber Trends Easy Knit Baby Blanket - Diamonds
Modifications: I made it slightly smaller and did only 11 diamond repeats across instead of 14. I then modified the length. Ended up using only 4.5 skeins of yarn which means, of course, some Butter booties!

Bored with Butter

2006-05-24T20:44:00.000-04:00

I know what you're all thinking.

Shireen starts a blog and then she stops knitting.

You wouldn't be wrong.

What can I say. I've been spending too much time in Red States and have lost my creative spirit. I'm "working" on two, very large projects. A baby blanket that has started to bore me and a lace shawl that seems endless (and I'm only about 8 inches in).

But so there is proof that there is indeed yarn on my needles, here is the in-progress blanket. The pattern: Diamonds from Fiber Trends. The yarn: Rowan Soft Baby in the color "Butter". The color is actually fabulous - there are more subtle variations in-person that make it really interesting to work with. If i actually knit these days, that is.

Why aren't WE on the Today show?

2006-05-20T17:00:00.000-04:00

The Boston Courant, fine newspaper that it is, greeted me on my front stoop with this headline today.

A quick perusal indicates that the Greater Boston Knitting Guild will be featured on a story about how knitting "has shed its old-lady association for a hip new image". The story is scheduled to air on Friday, May 26th.

The best part? This is the tentative title:
"How Granny is Getting her Groove Back"

HA!

We Interrupt This Rain to Bring You . . .

2006-05-16T19:12:00.000-04:00

. . . very mopey flowers.

Too much rain and not enough sun makes for very sad looking spring flowers.

All Wound Up and Nowhere to Go

2006-05-15T21:19:00.000-04:00

First, let me just say now that for THE LAST TIME i'm going to apologize for the poor lighting in all my photos. It's just the way it's going to be for the next few months in my little apartment with crappy lighting. Add to my list of desirable qualities in a NY apartment - decent lighting with which to take photographs of yarn. No problemo.

It's not very exciting to blog about a baby blanket. (it is fun to write that however) What would I do but update every day to say "yep, three more rows. wow.". Meanwhile, my knitting monogamy was pushing the limits of tedium.

So I wound this:

My Morehouse lace merino (which I actually wound up at Knitsmiths in a crazy action photo!) and this peachy argentinian yarn that I bought in Barcelona. I was itching to get started on my sister's morehouse shawl but my size 8 needles were being hogged by the baby blanket. So what's an intrepid knitter to do?! Buy more needles of course! Thank goodness- monogamy is certainly not for me.

And how does one wind yarn when one only has one thingie (thanks to Thea) and not the other thingie?? This way of course!:

What a kind friend.

Silver Lining

2006-05-10T21:11:00.000-04:00

First, I have to give sincere thanks to all of you for your kind words and condolences. I really appreciate it. This week has been obviously difficult but it helps to know that I have the sympathy of many.

Second, an apology to my poor sockpal for taking so long to publicly thank you! You were smart to send the socks by UPS but unfortunately I was out of town on all three of the delivery days. So it took some extra pleading on my part to get it delivered on Monday. And here they are!

Just when I thought that the only pair of Jaywalkers I was destined to see for eternity was Dana's . . .

Now I have my own pair! Thanks to Karen. I love the red and apologize that these photos do not do the color justice.

Throughout all of sockapaloooza, i had actually sort of forgotten that I would get a pair in return. Now I feel spoiled.

In Memoriam

2006-05-08T16:47:00.000-04:00

Temba

?1995? - May 8, 2006

Lover of yarn, people, and affection.

And they're off!

2006-05-01T16:25:00.000-04:00

Have to send my Sockapaloooza socks off a day early since I'm heading out of town tomorrow.

Oh wait. You can't see the cables very well in that one. Try this:

That's a little better.
Pattern: Broken Cable Rib Socks from Interweave Knits (modified only that I did short-row heels instead of traditional heel flap)
Yarn: Socks that Rock, colorway Alina.

I'm pretty happy with this yarn. My sock pal had requested anything but pink, which is funny because I had requested the same, and I like how this yarn has so many colors that are so NOT pink.

And to try to distract my sock pal from the fact that the socks came out fatter than I would have liked:

A postcard of Beacon Hill and some candies from my last trip to Barcelona complete with a New York Times review. Yummm. (I have some for knitsmiths too but keep forgetting to bring!)

Off to North Carolina for a few days for work. Too bad my sock pal doesn't live in Salisbury. I could have made a delivery. :)

The Lament of the Too-Small Sweater

2006-04-29T09:55:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, an ambitious aunt decided that she would hand knit a sweater for her niece and nephew on each of their birthdays. So far, given that her niece is 2 and her nephew just turned 1, this has not been too much of a struggle.

Witness:
Niece Year 1

Niece Year 2

Nephew Year 0 (modeled at 7 mos)

Which brings us to Nephew Year 1. And my great hopes for this beautiful sweater called George. I chose Cashsoft which makes me happy. A gorgeous red to break out of my green rut. And had to do the pockets 4 times to get them right. And, given that my nephew is on the short side, I thought making the 1-2 year size would be perfect for him for the next few months. Unfortunately Jaeger has a different idea of sizing and their land is full of midget babies. (Colleen is much smarter than me and actually realized this sizing problem along the way and made adjustments.)

It's WAY too small. My sister-in-law was gracious enough to offer to stuff her son into it but I didn't think the torture was worth it. So it will go to a pregnant friend and I will have to accept the fact that i'm a bad, bad auntie. Better start working on next year's oversized sweaters now.

From shapeless to shapefull

2006-04-27T19:04:00.000-04:00

Tivoli completed!

I call this "Self-Portrait with Horrible Lighting".

Here is a better one:

Pattern: Grumperina's Tivoli T-shirt
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay

I LOVED knitting this. It was very easy to do, completed in about 3 weeks while I was suffering 4S (Sockapaloooza Second Sock Syndrome). And it's one of my few knits that I actually think is flattering and that I'll wear more than twice. And the best part (besides the beautiful yarn and shaping)?? NO SEAMS!!

I have no memory for where or when I found this pattern. I think she updated it as Picovoli which adds some extra steps that I did not want to do. Luckily, Norah is doing it so we can compare when all is done. Hurry up Norah!

Clever Ruse or Complete Overkill?

2006-04-26T20:15:00.000-04:00

I will admit that my primary motivation for starting this thing is to make sure the Knitsmiths do not forget me when I leave. An additional bonus is that, since once I move, I can no longer rely on Alison to generously post pictures of my projects, my sister and other knit-tolerant friends have somewhere to look at my progress. Or lack of progress. I consider it a small miracle that I figured out how to link when i wrote "alison" just then. i don't know how to do cute buttons or anything else. Help?! what have i done?

SO, to inaugurate my first legitimate post, I thought I would go back to the beginning. Don't worry- this won't take long. I learned the knit and purl stitches from my "Grandma" Wilma as a child but I don't remember doing a real project until sometime in college. And this is it:

The yarn? No clue. The pattern? I think I have it here somewhere. The result? Can anyone say "oversized"? There is a reason I haven't worn this in years. I do have to say, that although my seaming techniques leave a LOT to be desired, I havc improved since this sweater. I remember buying green thread to sew this altogether. Oy.