development corrupts

I'm very gleeful right now *_* Close friend of mine has asked me to do a pair of mittens for her. I still get a bit squirmy when making things to give, because I'm not sure the victim recipient will want it, so I'm stoked that she actually asked! And not in a way that's incidental and all "hey I heard you knit now why don't you knit me something" in a way that's clear that they're going to forget about it even before I start a project for them? She's all enthusiastic about it which makes me all enthusiastic *G*

I'm a bit meh about the vest for my grandpa because (and I just realized the difference) this one is my mom asking me to make something for him, so it's got all these strings of familial obligation, and importantly, I don't know if he even wants it or anything like it. So I'm stuck on this project :(

I'll give it a go soon-ish, but first mittens. I have never knit mittens before, only fingerless gloves :D I'm EXCITED.

OMG OMG OMG. So my mom is encouraging me to make a shawl for my grandma, for me to finish in time for her yearly mother's day visit. She doesn't see grandma so much, because of our being in different countries and all, so she really tries to make these visits count.

Anyway, mom wants the shawl to be in cashmere because it's warm and really really light, and on our recent trip to Hong Kong, she went and bought the yarn for me *_* I wanted to save up the experience a bit because I can't afford to work with cashmere unless it's my mom paying, but with the deadline coming up, I knew I'd need to start soon and tonight I took it out and chose a pattern (hello Travelling Woman ♥ And, BTW, the paid PDF is worth all the money and the hassle).

This yarn -- it is so soft and light, it feels almost weightless in my hands. It is like knitting kitten whiskers, or soft fluffy clouds. Unicorn manes! Puppy paws! The soft down on a baby's cheek! Soft and tender hopes and dreams! I know I sound ridiculous, but somehow when I touch this yarn I don't really care *_*

A bit more about the pattern: I'd been looking for something that would showcase the softness of the cashmere without overworking the yarn. So no cables (though I guess I see those more in scarves than shawls!), and nothing too lacey, because I want to retain the plush feel of solid knit sections.

The pattern didn't leap out at me until my mom pointed it out to me, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked it. It has a nice broad swatch of stockinette at the top which will just be ultra soft and warm when my grandma lays it against her shoulders , and it ends with a nice broad swatch of lacey border which makes the shawl interesting in a pattern which is not too delicate, not too structured. I am excited, and I hope this pairing of yarn and pattern will work as well as I want it to.

Clothes:

Packing for a hot weather country is a lot less stressful than packing for a cold weather country. Probably because the Philippines has hot weather, so I just pick clothes that I would normally wear :D

Whenever I go to a temperate or a cold country, I have to prepare my packing at least a week in advance, because I may not have enough tops / sweaters / jackets / shoes / socks / scarves / gloves / whatever. And then there's the stress of figuring out where all my old sweaters / thick tops / scarves / thermal etc have ended up (somehow about a third of them always manage to get lost, no matter how carefully I packed them last time). This time, it took me barely thirty minutes to pull stuff out of my closet, roll them up, and toss them into my suitcase.


(Ridiculous confession: half a week before packing for any overseas trip, I wear all my crappiest clothes, so that I will be sure to have all my better clothes clean and dry and ready to go *g*)


Books:

Oh man, I am loving tech right now <3

Used to be that I'd have to spend a lot of time going over my library, to decide which books to bring (definitely not the second book, but should I bring trilogies, or standalones? If I bring trilogies there's the risk that I'll hate it from the first book so I'll be bringing along three books that I don't want to read, but if I bring standalones maybe I'll finish them too quickly. Maybe I should bring one trilogy and two standalones. And maybe I should start on the first book of the trilogy right now, so I can tell whether the series agrees with me...) I mean it's a pleasant way to spend time, but sometimes I don't have time to spend! At least, not until I'm on vacation *g*

Now, I have approximately a gajillion books loaded up on my iPad and phone, and I don't need to worry about additional weight when I add an additional book. I am still bringing along two paperbacks (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and some standalone by Garth Nix), in case I run out of battery, or I'm in a situation where I won't want to bring out a gadget.


Knitting:

About a week ago, I spent some time putting together several knit kits, and tossed them onto an empty shelf by my bed. I noted down the names of the patterns on the outside of the bag, and saved the patterns on ReadItLater (yay Ravelry).

Then a couple days ago, I picked out one (Grounded by damned_colonial), and started it on a pair of bamboo needles. I got as far as one repeat of the pattern (for later reference), before making myself stop so I would have something left to do *g*

I like it: the pattern is easy to memorize, so I don't need to consult a chart or instructions. And since it's a scarf, the gauge isn't important. I thought about making a hat or sock, but I was worried about what I'd do if it turned out my needles were the wrong size, and I had no other needles on hand.


Work:
I meant to zoom through the review queue, but I got held up trying to finish the Atom API Publishing Protocol patch, and setting it up on my 'hack for public testing. Unfortunately, it's not working on my 'hack, though it's working on my local dev env, so I feel like I should have gone with the queue instead. Frustrating!

(Y'all will still be here when I get back, though, right?)

Frogging is the most unpleasant part of knitting by far. It's slow, it's tedious, and picking out your stitches one stitch at a time, the way I usually do it, just emphasizes that you're spending time undoing your work (and you'll need to redo this work again).

I have tried just ripping out the stitches many stitches at a time, and then picking up the free stitches below, and it feels faster, but it's a lot more scary. Also, I suspect that any time I gain in ripping out the stitches, I lose immediately when I miss picking up one of the free stitches, and have to fumble around that area.

It is possible to correct stitches without undoing whole rows, but (especially when it's a missed yarnover), sometimes there's just not enough slack in the area to fix it, without everything else looking weird.

Right now, frogging is doubly/triply painful, because I'm doing a baby blanket (don't ask which baby! I guess I'll store it until someone I know needs one), and a three hundred fifty stitch row is not fun to undo.

But! I'm excited because I just stumbled across a much faster way of frogging, by using a smaller needle to pick up stitches in the first good row, and then ripping back to it quickly. (Instead of ripping first and then picking up later).

One small tweak I've done is to pick up the stitches two at a time: through the right leg of one stitch and the left leg of the next stitch simultaneously. It means I'll need to pay attention to which leg I'll be knitting when it comes time to redo the row (always the right most leg, but the leg on the right might be either at the front or at the back), but the increase in speed is worth it.

I have seen people mention it before, but it just now hit me what they meant. It's like making a lifeline, but doing it after you've made the mistake. Most tutorials that talk about lifelines, which secures your knitting at a certain row so you can rip back to it quickly, also emphasize that you need to prepare your lifeline beforehand. (Kinda like committing at a known good point in your code, before going on to do riskier things!)

If you're anything like me, you will probably have been too lazy to make a lifeline, and then regretted that decision several rows later, when you're picking out stitches one at a time. v.v

I don't know if this technique works with more intricate lace knitting; I suspect that a lifeline might be safer, but for what is mostly simple stockinette, this works fine. And ripping out stitches is now fun :-D

I've decided to leave off the last two sets of pattern repeats, and now I'm on the last three rows. ~1000 stitches to cast off!

I am so over this scarf/pattern.

So, I thought when people said that they knit two socks at the same time, that they had the socks on two different sets of needles, and they'd knit on Set A with yarn ball A, then after reaching the end of the round, they'd knit on Set B with yarn ball B. That would be a pain, and also what if you forgot to knit a row on Set B after doing it on Set A?

Today I decided to figure out what that was all about and discovered that I was wrong (as often happens; this time quite happily so because I think I will be able to use this technique!)

It turns out that doing two socks at once usually means you'll need two balls of yarn (one for each sock), but just one set of needles. You cast them on as two separate projects, work on them as two separate projects, just, both are on the same set of needles so you aren't putting down/picking up all the time, and there's no risk of unsynchronization.

I found a lovely tutorial for Two Toe-Up Socks on One Circular Needle which describes how to do it using circular knitting via the Magic Loop method. Let's call this one method 1.

I don't think it works for DPNs. You'd need a separate set of DPNs for the other sock which could be expensive, and also means that you'd need to put down set A and pick up set B after each row. However, I'm pretty sure that there's nothing stopping you from being able to use two circular needles.



I found another method which described how to do it using double-knitting, and it's neat.

Problem:

a.) I just did a double-knit colorwork project, and I hated holding two strands at the same time, to the point that instead of knitting/purling on alternate colors, once I got to an area of solid blocks of colors, I worked each row twice, once for each color, slipping the other color, so that I'd only need to be holding one strand at a time.

At some point I will need to learn, because all colorwork (except mosaic) requires you to be able to handle two strands of yarn at once, but that day is not today. It probably will also not be tomorrow.

b.) The tone of the piece turned me off completely. I don't knit to show off! I don't learn new techniques to show off! It was all meant jokingly, and yet ugh. Just completely turned off.



However, what caught my attention is that it's basically the same thing as the first method, except that instead of having two projects strung on the cable of a cable needle, you have two socks, one knit inside the other, and done by knitting yarn A then yarn B then yarn A then yarn B. This technique works for DPNs; It would also be good for if you have circular needles that are just too short to accomodate two socks at once.


A variant on method 2 (which was double-knitting) is to knit one sock inside the other, but only need to hold one color at a time. You'd knit one row at a time, by knitting yarn A, slipping yarn B for one row, then re-knitting the same row by knitting yarn B, slipping yarn A. This would still yield two separate socks, and it's basically the same way that I "cheated" on the double-knit colorwork project once the pattern was such that I needed only one strand at a time to knit each fabric, only one color at a time.

Problem:
You may end up with some loose stitches from slipping the stitches. It didn't matter so much in the hat I was making, but may make more obvious differences in a sock. Any unevenness will probably even out with blocking, but still something to watch out for.



Of all the methods, method 0 (my initial idea of knitting two socks at a time) and my variant on method 2 both suffer from not enforcing a sync of the state between the two socks -- which is probably why I haven't seen them in any tutorial! *G*

Method 2 looks interesting, but is really not for me at this time, and method 1 looks promising and flexible, makes knitting two socks not that much more painful than knitting one (especially since you'd be able to carry across the rhythm of the row from sock A to sock B). I'll probably try this out next time I'm tempted to do a sock (or a glove? *g*)

I've been doing the Nereid Gloves, and they are fascinating. The lines are formed by 1x1 (ktbl, p) ribbing, and the rounded shape is caused by judicious use of lacework. It is ingenious! I have no idea how anyone could have come up with anything like this *_*

The 60 stitches cast-on are just about right on me, which means they're going to be too small on most everyone else *rueful* I originally meant to send it to one of my friends overseas, but assuming it's as tight as I fear it shall be, I'll have to reconsider.

I needed something easier so I could knit while reading though, so I decided a simple stockinette stitch scarf would do the trick, while I read my way through the Vorkosiverse on the weekend (I've finished up to Young Miles :-DD This series is addictive).

I used a novelty yarn: N.Y. Yarns Twinkle, which is a ribbon wrapped in rough loops and gold thread? The effect is interesting, and I'll be happy with this scarf when it's done, but it's rough on the fingers. I don't think I'll be getting more of this yarn to knit with.

Just stockinette stitch was boring, so I switched to using ktbl (on front side rows)/ptbl (on back side rows), instead of straight knits and purls. I rather like the effect :-) I should see how well it pictures once I'm done.

ktbl = knit through back loop
ptbl = purl though back loop (not in the Nereid Gloves, but needed it to maintain the same effect across purl rows on my scarf. It's not as intuitive a concept as ktbl, but easy enough once you get the hang of it)

Both end up with a twisted stitch which doesn't look very different from a regular stitch on its own, but it has a very nice effect once strung together in several rows. It's hard enough not to be too boring, but easy enough that I can concentrate on my book rather than my knitting.

The twist in the stitch actually looks similar to the one you get when you slip the first stitch in a row. (Plan to investigate that at some point later)

This was supposed to go in the previous entry, but then I realized that the entry was locked. It's public now, though, so! *g*


From doesanyoneelse:

Does anyone else enjoy odd flavor pairings?

I've commented with my own sweet-savory combination: french fries + soft serve ice cream. There's a bunch of other interesting combinations* mentioned there as well!



--

Also, I spent a chunk of today cleaning out the freezer. We are horrible at keeping it clean. The frozen foods that were a month over the "best by" date we still judged okay. The frozen raspberries and blueberries that had a best by date of six months ago, I turned into a shake. The restaurant leftovers from the beginning of July, the can of yeast that expired three years ago, the jar of plum sauce that expired five years ago? I threw away.

And on one of the magnets on the outside, I saw a tiny wasp's nest O_o We are horrible horrible horrible at noticing these things.


--

Things that give me hope: the government started celebrating the end of Ramadan as a national holiday. First year they started, a bunch of people were all like "O_o why is Ramadan a national holiday? Isn't it only relevant for Muslims down south?"

And this year, at least among people I know, it's a lot more matter of fact: "Oh, September 10? End of Ramadan? K."

--

I wish to learn colorwork, so I picked up the Maze beanie pattern (requires Ravelry account). Researched fair isle knitting, studied the video over at knittinghelp.com, tried to figure out what this "wrapping" thing was for the yarn you're carrying is all about (and how I might be able to do it! I haven't seen any instructions for my chosen technique -- continental with both strands held on the left hand)... and about two stitches into the color part of the pattern, I realized that you only need to carry one strand of yarn per row for this pattern. Dur.

I shall figure out fair isle one of these days, I swear! (Or well, any kind of stranded color knitting that works in the round ;-))

--

I spent some time last night queuing up Ravelry patterns. So many adorable hats :D I found a beanie with pi on it, and an illusion Linux scarf. And also so many pretty shawl patterns *___* Oh to have the time to do them all.

--

I am trying to figure out Christmas knitting. I want to give something to at least one person in my family, but who, and what? Hm. (Also want to send things to people overseas. Not all for Christmas, either -- some of my closest friends don't celebrate Christmas for one thing!)

--

While chatting with aveleh, I said, "I finished a lace scarf!" What I meant to actually type was "I found a Linux scarf!". Hey, correct every other word isn't so bad!

--

I meant to type something else here, but I've forgotten what :D

Oh man, I was hoping to be done with this scarf I am knitting, but it is just a tad too short. This makes me glad that I went back for a third ball of the yarn. I'd just bought two of this color on that first trip, and then bought a third "just in case" after some hemming and hawing on my latest trip.

Because, I could probably have blocked out the scarf a bit as it's a lace pattern and this one I think needs to be stretched to be seen at full potential, and hey, it's a scarf so there is plenty of room for interpretation, but I would have hated to have had to undo after binding off and blocking and then try to continue from there. Hated.


So in more finished news, I just finished my first pair of socks :D I got them to just about knee high, with a little yarn to spare. Yay!

( socks pics )

Knitting has become my go-to place for relaxing *G*


I love Ravelry, but I don't know the etiquette for responding there. If someone comments, should I comment right back on the project? Or should I reply to the message privately? Right now I haven't replied to any of my messages at all, because I'm convinced that somehow doing the wrong one will mark me as being rude and uncouth. But then silence is
also rude. Um. I will figure something out at some point.


(Also ahhaha I clicked on the random icon button... and it chose my knitting icon for me. DOH)

Some pictures of loot I've hauled home from June through to August. Some are long overdue. Most involve yarn *g*

All of them were taken using a phone camera, so please excuse the quality!

( yarn - Australia )

( yarn - USA )

( yarn - local yarn store (Dreams Yarnshoppe) )

( books, tech, etc )

So all in all, I have enough to keep me busy for the next six months or more. *purrs*