The Decorator Crab

Back in the saddle

Okay, so it took me a couple of weeks to get my shit together and get online.  Sorry 'bout that.  We are working on the house so that we can list it for sale, and I'm trying to tie up some loose projects at my (second) job before we move to Oregon.  So, I've been super busy.

Photos from the cruise can be found here, and photos of Socks that Rock at Sea can be found here.  Enjoy! 

My days on the cruise were quite busy, and night-time hours were spent either working up data, flopping out and watching movies, or very rarely, knitting.  I was usually so tired by the end of the day that sitting idle on the couch was about all I could handle.  Not surprisingly, I didn't get as much knitting done as I had hoped. I finished another Short Row Hat (still not blocked, FO post will be forthcoming), and one complete four-miter block with my new yarn. Observe.

There was another reason that I didn't get more knitting done on the miters.  I am secretly disappointed with the blocks. Still.  The pattern isn't doing the yarn justice.  The yarn is beautiful and soft and drapey, and the miters are crap.  Total crap. My eye for color needs more development, but even I can see that the stripes blend together and that the amazing colors aren't popping.  I need more contrast, maybe?

I am broken-hearted about it, and I don't know how to proceed.  Maybe a random log cabin with a few more colors of STR?  Maybe I should dump the Carbon Dating colorway and stick to the semi-solids only? *sniff*  What I should do is cry uncle and call Tina at Blue Moon to ask for advice on colorways that I can add to the bunch.  Any words of advice from the peanut gallery?  Time for lurkers to sing out in the comments!  Please!

In other news, I started an entrelac scarf.  I've enjoyed the Short Row Hat so much that I figured it was time to see how entrelac compares as a technique to create blocks of color. Inspired by this post on Craftster, I got a couple balls of Patons Soy Wool Stripes at JoAnn and got started. I've been wanting to try SWS for a while, so this scarf was a good excuse to go for it.

I don't find entrelac any more or less difficult than the short row technique that Veronik Avery came up with, but picking up stitches is kind of a pain.  Not really, I guess, but it does slow me down. I need to figure out how to do reverse knitting, and then the entrelac would probably gain an edge over short rows.  It's been a fun project so far, but I am starting to submit to the urge to revisit...crochet!

I've been hankering for a bit of the hook since I saw these coasters over on Streets and Yos.  And then, of course, Ripple, Babette, and the Larger than Life Bag. The bag put me over the edge because I knew that I could never finish one of the afghans while working on my STR  blanket, and I could always use another tote bag. I also really like the block pattern. I stopped by my LYS and they had both issues of Interweave Crochet that I was looking for (Spring 2006, Summer 2007).  Score!  So, I've been reacquainting myself with the hook over the last couple of nights, and will have something to show for it soon.

In the mean time, brainstorm some ideas for the STR - what should I do with it?!

Blue Moon Rocks My Socks

Hello lovelies,

There has been a lot going on, so this post is going to wander a bit.  Hope you can make it through to the end...

Thing 1. I am leaving for another research cruise in a couple of weeks, and I am trying to plan ahead for what yarn I will need and for which projects. This is quite a departure from my last cruise, when I was literally shoving yarn in my bag as the taxi pulled up in the driveway.  Well not this time, suckas!  Anyway, I decided that stripes are very necessary in the mitered square blanket, so then I faced the challenge of locating some STR before I go.  I stopped into the only yarn shop in the Seattle area that carries STR (viva Churchmouse!), and looked for some heavyweight shaded solids that would match the Carbon Dating colorway.  We all know how that worked out, right?  Bupkis! 

I want to pick three more colorways to create the stripes: Jasper (purple-ish), the blue color that I boxed on the left, and another one that I haven't decided about quite yet (Obsidian? Blue Moonstone? Something more taupe-y like the color to the right of the band??  HELP?!). Anyway, I emailed Blue Moon for help and what do you know - the lady herself, Tina, wrote me back!!  I didn't even know what color I wanted, just "that bluish one in the photo," and she kindly informed of its name (Spinel), and gave me the blessing to special order it.  I shouldn't be surprised - everyone has been raving about Blue Moon since forever, but I was really impressed with how well they treated me!  So I happily forked over the cash and will have my rockin' stash before I go.  You can see both of the colors, BTW, on Cara's blog here.  If you have an opinion on the third color I should choose, do not hold back.  I know which way I am leaning, but I knit in a vacuum and appreciate feedback on this here blog.

Thing 2.  Two weeks ago I was wearing my Short Row Hat in Home Depot (Grumperina is not the only one who shops there), and a woman approached me about it. 

Her: Where did you find that hat?!
Me: <proudly> I made it. </proudly>
Her: Does it come in blue? 
Me: pause... Uh, I could find blue yarn, I suppose. 
Her: How much would it cost for you to make me one? 
Me: I don't know - I've never made a hat for hire before. 
Her: Well, if you ever make one, contact me and I will buy it. <Hands me a business card>

How about that?!  It turns out that I don't knit for charity, but I sure as shit will whore out my services for a few bucks!**  I sent her a photo of the colorways that AmiAmi's Faith comes in, and she loved one of the blue ones. I ordered the yarn, it arrived yesterday (isn't it gorgeous?), and I'll start on the hat soon.  I think I said yes both because I was flattered at the idea of it, and because it was a really fun pattern to knit the first time around. I am looking forward to knitting it again.  I'm toying around with the idea of trying to turn it into a scarf because I have a bunch of yarn leftover from making my hat. Could be pretty simple, actually.

Thing the Last: I swatched for Central Park Hoodie instead of Camellia. I've been putting off making a whole sweater, but I'm not sure why. I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and do it.  So I got out some KnitPicks Swish and went to it. I got stitch gauge after blocking, but I am one row off on row gauge. I was going to have to adjust the pattern for my Amazonian arms anyway, so making changes on the number of rows is no big deal. The Swish both softened and fluffed up after blocking, and I think it's going to make a nice sweater. I went with 'Red Pepper,' and it sure is RED! This is not very apparent in this photo, but you will see. I wanted to spice up the wardrobe a bit, and we all know that I'm not afraid to wear a little color. NOTE: I didn't machine wash the swatch b/c I don't plan on machine washing the sweater, but I've heard that the row gauge does change quite a bit if you put it in the dryer - be warned! 

So that's all of my "things."

**ETA: Since the pattern of this hat is copyrighted by Interweave Press, and since it would technically be illegal (thanks Margaret!) to sell the hat, I am going to make the hat and give it away as a gift. As far as I can tell, this is not illegal (otherwise - cancel Christmas!).

Odds and Ends

I've been knitting more than blogging lately, but even the knitting has been sparse. I've been traveling for work/school, and now I've come down with a head cold. I don't trust myself to knit while I've got mucous on the brain. Before falling ill to demon, non-resident bacteria, I finished another miter block for the Mitered Square Blanket ('miter' as in a block of four corners knit seamlessly). I've verified that I can get two miters  out of one hank of STR, with a little left over. Good to know. At this rate a finished blanket, sized according to the pattern, will cost over $200.  A-hem.  Well.  Gulp!  Maybe I can fudge a smaller one! You may remember from my conceptual drawing that I did plan on having fewer squares than the pattern, but maybe I should think even *smaller*. (BTW: That's STR heavyweight in colorway Carbon Dating, not Carbon, which is a different color combo).

Another issue: I don't know if I'm all that wild about the blocks.  Seriously.  I love the yarn, don't get me wrong, but I don't know if I am crazy about the blocks. I think I would like them better if I could mix in a coordinating semi-solid, instead of having the whole block in one colorway.  I have to buy more yarn to finish the blanket anyway, so maybe it's not a big deal to rip back a couple of blocks for the better of the project as a whole. Any thoughts on that? This has been a lingering concern since I bought the yarn - the shop didn't have any semi-solids in stock at the time, and I was fiending for some STR.  You can't blame a girl for that, am I right?! 

So, the MSB is in a holding pattern until I can get over to the yarn shop and look over my options.  I've knit up a couple of small hats in the mean time, but failed to get any photos, of course. I've also been working on a super cool scarf pattern that Sky found, but it's kind of slow-going.  A free pattern for the Woven Cables Scarf can be found at Knitty Gritty Thoughts. I'm using some spare Knit Picks Elegance that I had in the stash, and this will be one soft, fluffy scarf when it's done.  Who knows when that will be?!

I've been in a sort of knitters Purgatory for the past week or so. You know, in between projects, not quite sure how to proceed.  Inspiration struck in the form of an instant message from Sky about Camellia, one of Glampyre's newer patterns.  I haven't seen it on the web much, but it's unusual and I have some yarn that will work for it in the stash (didn't you notice my "Knit from your stash '07" button?!). There is a knitalong on Craftster for the pattern, but there hasn't been very much action on the thread, yet. Mostly trying to figure out which yarn to use and what the hell the schematics mean (I wondered the same until I read the pattern). I was a little confused by the sizing, so I am taking it on faith that she sized the pattern by bust size, as usual. 

This has the potential to come out like a granny sweater, but if I get the sizing right it could be really cute. I'm going to swatch with Knit Picks Sierra tonight (during Survivor and Grey's!) - it should work.  Stay tuned...

Two Steps Forward...

...One step back. Finished the first square of the Mitered Square Blanket, and I love it. It's not what you expect when you think of a mitered square blanket, what with the lack of true stripes and all.  But the colors, which are not well represented on screen, still blow me away, and I think my vision of the end result is still a good one. The only problem is that the first square is huge. HUGE. I got one square out of the first hank, and maybe only have one or one-and-a-half left. (I think). At this rate I will have to purchase an unreasonable amount of yarn to finish the blanket, and I make less-than-reasonable amounts of money as a grad student (your tax dollars at work!). Maybe I won't worry about it until it's a real problem, but the issue of running out of yearn is a serious one.

Next thing next: swatching for the Cardi w/Cabled Yoke (CCY) continues. I moved up to size 8US needles, blocked the swatch and realized: I am hosed. Required gauge: 18st/4inches. My gauge: 19st/4inches (7US) or 17st/4inches (8US). I completely bookend the required gauge. WTF? Maybe I can use the smaller needles (I like the stitch texture better) and go a size up in the pattern??  Is this crazy?  But, then I [likely] won't have enough yarn in the stash to finish the sweater. Do I have to give up on this yarn/pattern combo??  I know that I can adjust the pattern for gauge, but I'd like to keep the insanity at a minimum for my first sweater project, know what I mean?  Also worth considering is the fact that my actual bust measurement, modest as she is, is only like 32". If I make the small size (35"), it might fit just fine even with the gauge I'm getting. Sigh. This is too complicated already... 

So, to lighten things up I give you Goose (AKA Gooser, little kitty, and fatboy). Isn't he handsome?! Also: I never knew that I had algae growing on the underside of my porch bench until I saw this photo. Despite the fact that the wee beasties are living on my decomposing outdoor seating, I think they're pretty amazing!

There's a whole lotta nothin' goin' on

"Nothin'" meaning "not actually finishing anything," not "nothing is actually happening." There has been plenty of knitting, swatching, and scheming going on at Casa de Crab.  Weekend before last I managed to de-stash ten pounds - no that's not a typo - TEN POUNDS of yarn for charity. It felt so good to rid myself of the guilt of having so much yarn that I would never use! Plus, I got a buck a pound to spend at the yarn shop that was hosting the event, and I aslo had a gift certificate to said shop.

After getting much inspiration from Cara over at January One, I headed into the shop on a mission for some heavyweight Socks That Rock. I had hoped to find some "solids" to bring home, but Churchmouse only had the variegated colorways in heavyweight. Undeterred, I bought three hanks of "Carbon Dating." It is very difficult to describe, or catch in photographs, the amazing colors in this yarn. The depth and richness of the blues and purples are absolutely gorgeous. I can't even use regular color names to describe the colors. The blue isn't blue, or teal, exactly, but it's...something in between. And the yarn itself? Soft and squishy, but with definite heft. The yarn seems solidly spun, made to last. (It better for that price!!)

I went to knit up swatches not knowing what to expect. Would the short stetches of color make a log cabin-ing impossible? (is that a new knitting verb? As in "I've been log cabin-ing all weekend and my fingers are tired"?) Well, without buying coordinating solids to mix into the block, yes, I think it's a no-go. I love the contrast and colors in the yarn itself, but the log cabin sections get lost in each other. The complimentary colors in Cara's log cabins are a much better fit for the pattern than this yarn would be. A let down, but I can deal with this. I didn't like the log cabin block in progress, so I never finished it. 

Maybe a miter square blanket would work instead? Can I use "self-striping" yarn instead of manually striping?  Yes! They're not stripes, per se, but I really like the block so far. The pictures simply do not do this yarn justice. The stockinette stitch shows off the colors much better than the garter stitch in the log cabin square. Also, the miter was so much faster to knit than the log cabin!

I think that a bunch of the same blocks sewn together would be, I dunno, maybe overwhelming and a waste of yarn. So, instead I am imagining a blanket of blocks where each block has a border in a coordinating solid (that luscious blue?), and maybe another coordinating color for the blanket border (the purple that defies being named?). It'll take me a good long time to finish all of the blocks, so I have a while to figure out the details. If you have any ideas, sing out in the comments!

ETA: I am using Kay's No-Sew Mitered Square Tutorial to create my blocks. It's so easy, and really, no seams! Pics of the first completed block coming soon.