Saturday, June 30, 2007

OMG I'm moving tomorrow! Eeeeep!
I won't have internet for a while, but I'll be back to yarn talk soon.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Camping Trip

Ben and I had to go to Silver Spring last Friday to sign the lease for our new apartment. Afterwards, we went camping at Point Lookout State Park. It's located at the mouth of the Potomac, where it meets the Chesapeake Bay. We did some swimming, saw some wildlife, all in all it was a good time. I didn't manage to get pictures of most of the animals I saw, but there were ospreys, great blue herons, really huge skates, crabs, fish, a muskrat, a tree frog, and about a zillion mosquitos. Those little fuckers ate me alive.
Here's an osprey nest in the marsh.

I didn't want to bring the tetris project on the trip- I didn't want the wool yarn to get dirty. So, I brought some cotton and made some dishcloths for our new apartment. The first one I made was dolphin cloth and the second was an experiment with crocheting patterns on top of a knitted base. Normally I hate crocheting, but this technique was pretty cool.





So this Saturday we move. I really like our apartment in Silver Spring, too. Although it's small, it's pretty and right near the metro.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Tetris

I've started the tetris project! In the end, it's going to be two pillows. Right now it's a bunch of cool-looking blocks. Each side of the pillow will have 100 blocks, so this may take a while. In the coming weeks, this blog will probably focus on the progress of the tetris project. I know it's boring, but at least it's colorful.



Yesterday I went to visit my friend Lizza in Edinboro, PA. There was an alpaca farm half a mile from her house! I want to raise alpacas and make yarn when I'm old.



Look at the cute little wool machines!
The alpacas made friends with Lizza's dogs, Jake and Parker.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Summer-ey Things

I just finished a couple of small projects: a pair of ankle socks and a cute little lacey hat.



Later today I'm going to finally start the tetris project! I decided on doing two pillows instead of a bag. It will be a nice accent to our new apartment. Last night I wound the Cascade 220 into balls and planned out the tetris pattern on graph paper. Today I'm going to the craft store to get some pillows to cover, then I'll decide what size I need to make the squares, and I can get going!

In non-knitting news, my porch garden is looking great. Considering that we're in the middle of a city, we did a great job greening-up the house.


My cucumber even has a flower!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Blanket and more socks

Growing up on Cape Cod spoiled me. The summers are more mild than anywhere else on the east coast- 80 degrees is considered "wicked hot" and even in the most extreme heat waves the temperature rarely exceeds 85. Now Cape Cod, with its readily accessible beaches and idyllic weather, seems like a distant fairyland as I feel myself melting in Pittsburgh's 95-degree heat.

So, I've put off working on the blanket. It's just too hot. Now I'm working on another pair of socks instead. They're cute and summery, as well as easily portable. I can work on them outside or take them to an air-conditioned coffee shop.



The blanket has expanded since I last posted a photo of it, though. Here's what it looks like:



I'm guessing when it's finished it will be about as long as it is wide, but that really depends on how much yarn and patience I have. Right now I'm using the leftover yarn from Ben's green socks.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Dishcloths and some new yarn

While I was at Ben's parents house about a week ago, I was sitting in the living room with Ben and his parents and working on my blanket. Ben's Mom mentioned that his recently deceased grandmother used to make the best dischcloths that anyone in their family had ever used. I had here lend me one of each pattern so that I could duplicate it. Here are the results:
These are the originals. One is seed stitched and the other is in garter stitch with a simple lace edge.


Here are my attempts.

The look looser because they have not been through numerous cycles of machine washing and drying like the originals. Still, I think I could've used a smaller needle on the seed stitch cloth. My lace edging is not as pronounced on the garter stitch cloth- maybe I should have used a bigger needle there. Also, one of the edges on the garter stitch cloth looks kind of smooshed.

Here are some close-ups of mine next to Ben's grandma's.




Today http://www.knitone.biz/ was having a huge yarn sale. I took advantage of the opportunity to buy some wool yarn for my upcoming tetris project. I also couldn't resist picking up a couple balls of sock yarn, some orange wool/alpaca to make Ben a new winter hat, and a cotton/synthetic blend that I'll probably use to make a warmer weather hat for myself.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Socks!

I decided to undo the socks I was making for Ben and start from scratch. The original yarn was truly hideous. I actually managed to get him to come to the yarn store with me and select a nicer yarn. We settled on Lion Wool Ease in Forest Green Heather.



My socks, which I made a few months ago, are made out of the same yarn in Camel.





Both pairs are made on size 3 needles. Although Ben and I have the same length feet (we can actually share sneakers) his are substantially wider so I had to alter the pattern a little bit to make the socks bigger.

The pattern, called Thuja, came from Knitty.