Yarn Pr0n: Silk is the Bacon of Fibers

I'll get back to the title later.

Being single and living alone means that I live my life with a certain degree of selfishness and abandon.

For example, yesterday I got paid and decided to celebrated by going to the Mr. Gatti's pizza buffet for dinner. I arrived 45 minutes before they closed. (Hey, they had enough stuff out for me.)

I was so stuffed that I didn't eat much for breakfast (except a nibble here and there) but by about 2:30 today, I was ready for another meal. And what really sounded good was, well, Mr. Gatti's pizza. If I lived with someone, they'd probably say "we just had pizza last night." But I don't live with anyone.

So I went to Mr. Gatti's pizza again for lunch. This makes two meals in a row, and two trips in less than 24 hours. (Fortunately, I don't think any of the staff from last night was there today.)

Being all pizza-ed out, I decided to make my second trip to Gauge in less than 24 hours. Last night I picked up some stuff that was on sale. Today I returned for something that called for a waiting period.

This is Handmaiden Silk Cotton in "Paris." You say you didn't know Handmaiden made Silk Cotton? Until last night, neither did I. In fact, I suspect much of the knitting world is not aware of it. No one on Ravelry has cast on any projects with it, there are no pattern recommendations and it has only been stashed five times.

Gauge also has Sea Silk (the same stuff I'm using for Strangling Vines) and Double Sea Silk, a DK version of the original Sea Silk. I don't think Double Sea is even listed on the Handmaiden website, and there are only three projects listed for it on Ravelry.

It was a hard deciding what to buy. The Handmaiden stuff wasn't on sale, but I knew it would go fast. And because it's hand dyed, it takes a long time to get a shipment. The Handmaiden that came in at Hill Country Weavers last summer went fast and to the best of my knowledge, hasn't been restocked since. Also, Carly said the store has already sold out of a couple of colorways.

Both of the Sea Silks came in some great metallic colorways that I found myself gravitating towards. (Which is unusual, because I normally go for brighter colors.) However, I finally decided to get the Silk Cotton because:

1)I'd never seen anything like it. There are other cotton silk blends, but none quite so....silky.
2)I could only afford one skein, and the next time I buy Sea Silk, I want to buy two skeins for Hanami.
3)I decided I could blaze a trail and be the first person on Ravelry to cast on Silk Cotton. In fact, I plan to design something for it. (Of course, now that I've posted this, someone will probably beat me to it. But I'm ok with that.)

Speaking of silk blends...
When I came home and checked my mail I had a small envelope that baffled me. It was too small to be my Knitters Scavenger Hunt package. And who did I know named Becca?

I remembered when I opened it.

This bit of orangey goodness is 8 yards of Artfibers Kyoto.

Nicole from Stash and Burn started a post in the Stash and Burn Ravelry group entitled "Would you like to try..." The idea was to offer up your little leftover bits for others to swatch. I jumped at the chance to swatch some Artfibers yarn, since it is only sold through the Artfibers store in San Francisco. After hearing about Artfibers on Stash and Burn, I want to visit San Francisco someday, just to go to there. I hear they offer up a few swatch-sized bits of yarn there for free. (Don't quote me on the free part. I may have that wrong.) You can buy some yarn "samples" online, and someday I intend to do that.

But now I can get a head start with my free little bit of Kyoto. I've learned something new about it already. I thought it would be an even blend of wool and silk, like Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb. But in person, I can clearly see it's one ply of silk and one ply of wool. Thanks Becca.

And back to the title, I read on the J-Walk Blog about the Atwood Tavern Bacon Eating Contest. In the video of the contest, a contestant says "Bacon is special. Bacon is sacred. Bacon is the kind of thing that you wrap other food in to make it taste better." I think that's what silk is. You wrap it around other fibers to make them taste better. Or to just make them better. Not that I licked my new yarn...much.

Swatching Sunday: Vogue Knitting Stitchionary, Volume One

This is one of my New Year's Resolution's (which I will eventually commit to my blog.) I want to swatch on a regular basis, just for the practice. I was listening to Janey Szabo on Stash and Burn talk about the hours she spends swatching for her patterns and stitch dictionaries. She said that's what it takes for her to write her books. I already know from reading No Sheep For You that I should spend more time swatching to get to know yarns and fiber. So I decided I will spend time every Sunday swatching for the sake of learning.

I have a (very overdue) copy of Volume One of the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary that I borrowed from Gauge, and I decided to use it before returning it. (Hopefully sometime this week.)

All of these were made using cheap acrylic yarn I had lying around, along with size 7 aluminum needles from my Boye Needlemaster. All are unblocked.



This first one is the "Simple Slip Stitch (#4)." At least it is on the bottom. I had been reading about how slip stitches work well with variegated yarn, and I wanted something different than the brioche rib that I have used a lot lately.

The top part was where I tried to stagger to slip stitches. It didn't really work. It just made the fabric look wonky.



I tried to use a staggered slip stitch with a variegated yarn to see if it showed up better, It didn't really work.



I edited this photo a bit, but the stitches are still hard to see. I should have made this bigger.

This is "Woven Tile (#174.)" I think this stitch has potential for...something. I would adjust the extra wraps on the purl side rows to make the edges neater. Also, this is a "one-sided" stitch. I wonder if there is a way to make it reversible.

Playing Catch Up

Here is my current WIP, Knitty's Back to Basics socks in South West Trading Company's TOFUtsies, color 725, "Foot in the Door."

And yes, these socks are my sister's Christmas gift. And yes, I gave her a partially knitted toe to unwrap. The good news is that she likes the yarn (as I suspected she would.)

I'm still catching up from the holidays and Jules' trip. I had didn't knit or crochet much. I missed having something to work on, and it put me "off my game" for a while. These socks had frustrated me at first. I started with US size 000 dpns (the size I had used for previous socks in a similar weight.) It was actually too tight. So I started again with US size 0. Then I thought it was too loose. Then I couldn't find my US size 00. Then I ran out of time and just wrapped what I had.

(My previous journalism professors would be so proud of those last three sentences.)

But then I realized that US size 00 would probably be too small. However, given the low elasticity of TOFUtsies, I was worried about them being too baggy if I knitted them on size 0. I finally settled for US size 0 and made some real progress.

The basic concept of this pattern is inspired by Cat Bordhi's new New Pathways for Sock Knitters, which I got for Christmas from my parents (as well as a gift certificate for The Knitting Nest.) I'm looking forward to exploring her architectures.

In other news, I have a sweater planned.

The day Jules went back to California, Hill Country Weavers was having their biggest sale of the year. I went to console myself, and I was pretty proud of my selections. Instead of buying a little of this and a little of that like I normally do, I bought a sweater's worth of yarn.

I found the Araucania Atacama (left) over in the "blue house" next door to the shop. They sometimes open the house up for sales and special events. During this sale, the house was where they set up all the clearance yarns, which were marked down more than the the rest of the shop. It was a good deal for 100% alpaca. This is color 503

Berroco Ultra Alpaca (right) is one of my all time favorite yarns now (I need to post a recent FO that I made out of it.) I could only find one skein of this particular colorway, 6259 Beet Root, with no label. Fortunately, the staff was able to match the color with their sample book and get more skeins out of storage for me. It was a good thing, because the other shades of purple didn't quite match the Atacama.

I've decided to knit Candy from Knitty. I fell in love with the pattern after discovering this version while listening to the Stash and Burn "Sweater Love" episode. (There is a better picture of the sweater here.

I think the Austin Meetup is planning a "sweater-along" starting Thursday. (I saw something about it on Ravelry.) I think it's the daytime group that I can't attend, but I'll probably cast on with them anyway.

Speaking of meetup, I'll have more coming up on their recent yarn swap, as well as pictures of the fiber festival, more FOs, my buys for the handmade pledge and my new year's resolutions.

In the meantime, I'm slowly uploading pictures from Jules' trip to Flickr. You can see what I have so far here.

The Funeral: FO-ish: Sock Wars II Socks

With as late as the post is, is it any wonder that I died in Sock Wars II before I even finished my first pair?

I'm actually surprised I lasted as long as I did. I was out of town on a church retreat when they e-mailed our assignments. There were pictures of completed socks already uploaded when I finally got the pattern off my friend's laptop.

I had planned ahead of time, and used valuable packing time swatching to get gauge. It took US size 1 needles to get gauge in Claudia Hand Painted Yarn Sport (color: Circus Dancer. Part of me wishes I had kept this yarn for myself.)

I really like the pattern. It incorporates "smocking" (or at least that's what Lyndsey said it was.) It inspired me to use smocking in future designs. I think it looks especially good on handpainted yarn. The two lines of smocking are supposed to be battle scars. The Scar Rib Pattern is available for the general public now.

You can see multiple Scar Rib socks on the Flickr Sock Wars II group.

(FYI, I had gotten to round 17 of the scar rib of the second sock when I died.)

Can you really call incomplete sock wars socks an FO? Put it this way, I am. I even entered these in the Stash and Burn Socktoberfest Contest.

I got my socks one week after the wars began. Right now, I can't remember my assassin's name for the life of me.

But, as you can see by my picture, I have an excuse. By mid-week, I was as sick as a dog. (You can see I still had antibiotics left when this picture was taken.)


I missed my usual knitting groups that week. I stayed home from work that Thursday and slept all day. I never even touched my knitting on my sick day.

I missed the Meet Up Yarn Crawl to attend Maker Faire with Peter and Lyndsey. It was awesome, but because I was sick, I didn't really get into it. I was dragging myself around like a zombie most of the day. I didn't even bring a camera. (Although Peter has pictures here.) The socks did make an appearance at Maker Faire, on Peter's camera. (I don't have a picture of it right now.)

Anyway, after going for Pho with Lyndsey, I headed home and decided that I could knock out this sock before the weekend ended. After all, knitting required little movement. But lo and behold, I checked my mail and there they were, the socks of death.

I'm unsure of the yarn or fiber, but they are a pretty color. And they fit.

Did I mention my target has bigger feet than I do? And that I was I out of town when I got my assignment? And I was sick the first week of the wars.

I know. Excuses, excuses. But all is fair in socks and war.

FO: Ribbon One Skeiner (w/"Pattern")

I'm just now posting my last Stash and Burn One Skein Contest entry, and I already I didn't win the contest. But I did have fun.

I've done this "pattern" a couple of times. I bought two balls of Crystal Palace Party Ribbon a while back at the Knit n' Knibble in Tampa. I had already done the drop stitch scarf everyone does with ribbon yarn, and I decided to do something different. I tried all sorts of stitches. Finally, one day I walked into the Knit n' Knibble and saw someone making a mesh shawl with ribbon yarn and giant needles. It took me a minute to figure out that it was just plain old garter stitch, on giant needles.

I've done this scarf a couple of times. I've also used Moda Dea Ticker Tape. I think it will work with just about any ribbon yarn.

I used US size 17 needles. This scarf is in Crystal Palace Party Ribbon in "Ultra Blues." It was one of the two balls I bought from the Knit n' Knibble.

The key is to cut the fringe first. On this one I cut 30 pieces, each about 10.5 inches long.

After cutting the fringe, cast on 15 stitches. Leave a tail that is at least as long as the fringe.

Knit until you run out of yarn. The first time I did this, I tried to keep the ribbon perfectly flat on the needles. It's not worth it. Just knit. Trust me.

Bind off. Make sure you have enough yarn left to bind off the whole row, and leave a tail the length of the fringe.

Add fringe on each stitch. (There's a good tutorial here if you've never done it before.) Tie the tails in with the fringe.

Depending on the yarn you choose, you may want to put clear nail polish or Fray Check on the ends of the fringe to prevent unraveling.

FO: Pinky-Purple Boogie Time

I planned to make several Boogie Time watches for the Stash and Burn One Skein Contest, but I only got in two. One is for me, this one will be a gift.

I used a bit of leftover Claudia's Hand Painted Yarn Sport in "Just Plum" leftover from a "mystery" project. I settled on size US 2 bamboo dpns after unraveling it a few times. The watch part is from Jo-Ann.

I also didn't really follow the pattern, just the basic concept. I cast on a number that seemed right, and then knit until it was a length that seemed right.

I did it in one day, the second my second to last entry for the one skein contest.

FO: Skinny Lengthwise Compromise Scarf

Once upon a time, there was a ball of dyed wool on eBay that didn't have a name. A knitter named Sally saw it and decided to buy it because she liked hand dyed yarns and because it was dirt cheap. So cheap, the shipping cost more than the yarn.

But when the ball arrived, she had no idea what to knit with it. So she set it aside.

Then, months later, the new Knitty came out with a lengthwise scarf with fingerless gloves on the ends. The pattern was called Entwined and Sally had to knit it. The yarn with no name was perfect for it.

But there was something with the pattern that didn't seem right. The gauge was awfully loose for worsted weight yarn, even with Sally's loose gauge. Sally decided a quick rewrite was in order to adjust the gauge.

So Sally did the math cast on the yarn with no name with size 6 needles. She was knitting merrily along, when something else didn't seem right. There did not look like there would be enough yarn to finish the scarf.

Sally didn't know what to do. She kept knitting hoping she was wrong, but eventually, she had to admit the truth. Knitting the scarf at a smaller gauge required more yarn than she had. And because the yarn had no name, she couldn't buy more of it.

However, the scarf was coming along quite nicely, so Sally made a decision. She bound off before making the fingerless gloves, added some fringe, and made a regular skinny scarf.

So the yarn with no name was finally knit into a project, and Sally still had another entry for the Stash and Burn One Skein Contest, as well as something to give as a Christmas gift or sell on Etsy or a at a craft show. Not tomentioned that it matched her last FO.

And what about Entwined? The pattern was happy too, because it knew it would be knit another day.

And they all knit happily ever after.

The End

(PS - It just occurred to me after I finished this entry that it has an odd resemblance to a recent blog entry by Persistent Illusion.)

FO: Foliage: Lime, Version One

I'm behind on my blogging my FOs. The Stash and Burn One Skein Contest ended yesterday. I'll never get all four left done tonight, but I can at least do one.

Yes, I made another Foliage from Knitty, and it's another Version One (the chunky version.) I used the Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande in color 1310 and US 10.5 needles. I bought that yarn at the Knit n' Knibble in Tampa when I lived in Florida. It was the big spring sale, and I bought two skeins to give to my Mom for her birthday, and one skein for myself. They asked what I was going to do with just one skein. I said "probably a hat." I knit this with yarn to spare.

I don't remember how long it took. It's been more than a week of one skein projects since I made it. No more than two days. I plan to make more of these. I think it'll be one of the great Christmas gifts of 2007.

I like this one, but not quite as much as the first one. I think the Malabrigo made the stitches a little crisper and gave it more stretch. Also, the subtle semi-solids added a nice touch.

I'll be making more of these for gifts. I want at least two more in Malabrigo Chunky, probably in jewel tones. I have a decent amount left over after each one, and I want to combine the leftovers for a striped scarf.

I think this one was a little bigger than the first one, but the stitch pattern has a bit of stretch, so I'm sure it will be fine.


And yes, to whoever receives this hat, my hair was clean when I tried it on.

PS - Anyone noticed that some of the "Plymouth" yarns in Ravelry have been changed to "Indiecta"? Apparently Indiecta is the distributor, but I think everyone still calls it Plymouth. I hope they'll change it back.

FO: Foliage: Red, Version One

I titled this FO in pretty specific terms, because I suspect there will be more of these.

This is the Foliage hat from the recent Knitty. As I mentioned before, I love this pattern.

I used 1 skein of Malabrigo Chunky in color 102, "Sealing Wax." (I finally figured out why the colorway is called Sealing Wax. I kept thinking it was something you bought at Home Depot to seal a deck. And for some reason I always think of this type of sealing wax being purple.)

The needles I used were US size 10.5, which is amazing because I used the needles recommended in the pattern and got gauge. (You may know by now, I am a loose knitter.) I even used the US size 9s recommended for the ribbing.

The main problem I had was "missing my exit" in a manner of speaking. I thought I was supposed to repeat the lace pattern three times on the body of the hat. However, once I had done the pattern three times, I re-read the pattern and discovered it was three times for the worsted version, but only two times for the chunky version, the version I was making.

So I should have finished Thursday night, but it ended up being Friday night. I was talking to Jules on the phone while I was working on it. I think it took longer to tink it than it did to knit it. I was so frustrated. We would be talking, and I'd just suddenly break into "I can believe I did that!"

Anyway, all that aside, I love this pattern and plan to make some more. I'm thinking trying it with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky, Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande and maybe Jo-Ann Sensations Angel Hair. I might also get some more Malabrigo Chunky. I love the semi-solids.


I also went unblocked, and it looks fine. The pattern said it could go either way.

Yet another entry into the One Skein Contest is complete. Some lucky person will be getting this hat for Christmas. If it ends up being you, I promise that I had clean hair when I took these picture.

And forget that you saw this.

Is there life after Knitty?

Yarr...Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day, me hearties. Why not check this shawl from Monster Crochet, or get some booty from the Yaaarrrrrrrn Pirate.

So It's been about 48 hours after finally submitting three patterns to Knitty, and my brain is finally recovering. Everything had been building up to that deadline. I realize now I tend to think of my knitting in terms of knitting deadlines. Now that this one has passed, I can start some new stuff.

As you see above, I got some free Moo cards with my Flickr account. Of course, you can see all these pictures at a larger size on my Flickr page.

Also, I got my cube that I won from Schrodinger. Now I need to start some socks to put in it.

Actually, my focus for now is the Stash and Burn One Skein Contest, which is also a running start to Christmas knitting. It's a shame that the Knitty submissions have to be secret (although I understand why.) One of mine is a perfect one skein pattern, and I've made several since the contest began.

One of the projects I want to make is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Spiral Hat. The Opinionated Knitter seems to imply that they still make this yarn (The original pattern was written decades ago.) I need to do some research before I cast one. Last time I checked, I couldn't find it on Ravelry.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed, so I decided to just cast on something. So I started with Foliage from the new Knitty. I used Malabrigo Chunky in 102 "Sealing Wax."

I love this pattern!

The chunky version is going very quickly. It has a fun top down construction. Also, the designer took the time to include both charts and written directions. I have very little chart reading experience, but when I started looking, I realized there wasn't really anything to learn.

The most amazing thing happened with this pattern. The pattern calls for US #10.5 needles. During my break at work, I cast on a swatch on size 9's, knowing that my gauge is usually really loose.

This evening, when I arrived at Bluebonnet, I measured the swatch and realized the gauge was too tight. That was unusual. So I got out my size 10s. It was still too tight. So I bought some 10.5s. And it worked! I don't recall any other time I've gotten gauge with the needle size recommended in the pattern! I guess the designer and I must be gauge soul mates or something. I think I'll be making more of these. I also have some yarn for the worsted weight version.

I love the yarn. The semi-solids are beautiful.

And I love this pattern!

FO: Rubber Vomit Moebius

When life, gives you lemons, make a moebius.

I was going to turn a lone skein of Bernat Galaxy into a skinny scarf for the Stash and Burn One Skein Contest. However, if I really wanted a scarf of a decent length, I should have cast on 12 stitches, not 15. It still may have not been long enough anyway.

So Wednesday night when I was at Bluebonnet, I ran out of yarn. I wasn't about to frog this thing. There is just enough mohair to make that nearly impossible. I figured I had two options, either find another yarn to add onto one or both ends, or make a moebius. After consulting some other knitters, decided to go with moebius.

The lumpy yarn made sewing it pretty difficult. I didn't have my Chibis, so I decided to wait until I got home. Of course, tonight when I wanted to sew it up, I couldn't find them, so I grabbed a large plastic tapestry needle from my Knifty Knitter. And then, not long after my finished, I was rummaging around on my end table and found the Chibis.

Like I said, sewing it up was a bit hard, but I managed to get the lumps of fiber through.

I consulted with Jules about the whole "snot scarf" thing, and he said he thinks it looks more like rubber vomit. I think that is more accurate and less disturbing (after all, it is fake vomit.) So I renamed it.

The last time I took my picture in the mirror, I don't recall it being so I hard. I took several creepy looking pictures. I think this one is the most disturbing.

I used one skein of Bernat Galaxy in "Neptune" and size nine needles. The whole thing is garter stitch. It's not the cool Cat Bordhi moebius like this one or this one. It's just the traditional strip, twisted and sewn.

I haven't decided what to do with it yet. It will either be a Christmas gift or sold on Etsy. Despite the rubber vomit jokes, it is a nice yarn.

WIPs and stuff

I'm behind on my blogging, so I'm just going to start with some WIPs.

I've been both inspired and overwhelmed by Stash and Burn's One Skein contest. I have so many ideas and I'm debating how to match them up with yarn. I started to cast on Calorimetry in Artful Yarns Fable, then decided the cotton silk blend was a) not stretchy enough for this pattern and b) too nice for a headband. So now I'm debating what do with the yarn and what to use for Calorimetry.

I went back and forth on the bits of Dancing Fibers Serendipity leftover from my Mardi Gras scarf. It ended up being itchier than expected, so I decided felting was the best choice. I finally settled on the basic potholder, thinking that there wasn't enough for a set of four coasters. I think I was wrong. I still have some yarn left.

I also had debates about my Bernat Galaxy, and finally decided to use one of the skeins for a simple garter stitch scarf to see how it knits up, then use the other skein for something more creative. It's nicer than I expected. Too bad it's discontinued. Actually, it's probably a good thing, because then I'd buy more, and then wonder what to do with it all over again.

Someone on Ravelry called the scarf she made out of it a Snot Scarf, and I'm trying not think of it that way. But in this colorway, it looks even more "snotty." What do you think?

The scarf was also a good chance to pull out the Knit Lite needles Mom and Dad gave me last Christmas.

Now I want to go to the movies and see how well they really work.It's not like you can see your entire project in the dark, but if it's the type of this that you can almost do by feel (like a garter stitch scarf,) you can manage in the dark. It's also good for novelty yarns, as a way to see through fuzzy yarn.