monster mash

Generally, originality is something that’s valued in the craft world… to make a totally new, “you”, project and have it come out fabulous. Sometimes though, a project is so undeniably awesome that it inspires copycats– same yarn, same pattern, same great results– something you just “have to have” when you see someone else has made something incredible. That’s what happened to me when I saw Sam’s Frances monster knitted out of Zombie BBQ sock yarn. When I had leftover scraps of yarn from the RPM socks, I knew just what to do with them. Shameless copying? Yes. Still awesome? Oh yes.

There is one thing about knitting monsters I hadn’t realized until I made my own version. They’re totally addictive! I have loads of sock yarn leftovers and who couldn’t use a small army of ferocious softies decorating their shelves, pencil cups, etc? The kicker is, I had to buy a whole 8.5 x 11″ sheet of craft felt to make the teeth. I used less than an inch of it! I have enough felt leftover for a serious amount of monster teeth. So I have a feeling there will be monster knitting in my future!

Full pattern, designer, modification, size info is here on Ravelry.

zombie BBQ

Now here’s a project I wish I’d taken “before” pictures of, although I do believe the finished pictures speak for themselves. I knitted some special skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in “Zombie BBQ” into these flamin’ hot socks for a friend of mine.

The reason I should have taken photos earlier in the process is that I cast-on and tried four different needle/stitch number/pattern variations in order to get the perfect spiraling-stripe pooling. I hate to re-do knitting and I rarely rip, so the fact that I ripped these out three separate times is pretty big news. But I knew just how awesome this colorway could work up, and I wanted to make it a reality!  I think when the stripes of color line up just right, it really does look like “zombie bbq.” Glowing black and red coals, a few different sickly green shades of zombie flesh, and the striping even reminds me of grill marks. ;-)

The magic combo I finally settled on was the RPM pattern, adjusted to fit a 72-stitch circumference, knitted on 2.25mm Square Kollage needles (metal). I really like these needles, I feel good about pulling tight for a firm gauge and not risking bending the needles (all my bamboo ones are quite crooked at this point!). I took some liberties with the pattern to get the finished result I wanted (…does that surprise you?), such as inverted the spiral motif to flow the other direction on the second sock, using my own version of the “mini-heel-flap short-row heel” to give a good fit while minimizing pooling over the ankle, and continuing the spiral motif onto the toe. All these details, and all the swatching, were totally worth it! I’m very happy with the way this pair turned out.

blue moon

Happy New Year! This post will engage in activity fairly unpopular for New Year’s Day: looking back into the past. Well, only into yesterday, when I had the extreme good fortune and pleasure of visiting Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ open house in Scappoose, OR! It was a delightfully terrible day for a drive… I absolutely love the wet winter weather here, and yesterday was almost the definition of gray. The visibility was very low, with low-hanging fog and mist everywhere. It was raining which made the leftover snow at that higher elevation very slushy and mucky. The perfect day for a drive in the countryside! I’m not kidding– I loved it.

The warm welcome and yarn overload I was treated to when I arrived definitely helped with my enjoyment of the day, let me assure you. Even as someone who has logged many hours at the inner workings of Lorna’s Laces, visiting Blue Moon was a total treat and a complete yarn-overload. They had covered or moved most of their regular dye and packaging equipment out of the way, so that they could cover every available surface with yarn! There was yarn everywhere, and lots of it, and much of it was SO beautiful.

I was a good girl. I spent within my budget, and I only picked out one little skein of Socks that Rock for myself. I have a ton of sock yarn, all of which I am dying to knit with, so I really didn’t need to go too crazy in that department! I also picked up two bumps of spinning fiber, which are totally gorgeous. I also already have too much roving, but buying more of that is easier to justify since I’ve been going through it so voraciously of late! I had a great time sifting through the “rare gem” mill ends, looking for the perfect one-of-a-kind skeins for a friend. It’s fun when you get to spend other people’s money!

I will have to save the pictures of the yarns and fibers I picked for another post. They are hiding in my Flickr if you want to take a sneak peek. I just really wanted to share this experience– too bad my afterthought phone pictures can’t show the fun I had getting to know the BMFA yarnistas and other knitters there. They also don’t show the lovely rural setting and homey countryside atmosphere! It was a delightful moment with donuts, snow on pine trees, and the chance to pet yarns that I’ll only ever dream of affording. (De-vine? It’s DIVINE!)

Apparently this “once in a Blue Moon” sale was the first time BMFA has opened to the public.. and the odds of it happening again seem pretty slim, when you consider the next blue moon isn’t until August 2012! It’s really is a shame, because their studio is such a gem in the middle of the woods, an ideal destination for a day trip. I wish I could have taken knitterly friends with me, and I wish that more people had been able to share the experience! And I wanna go back! It was a fun trip with great yarn.

dreaming of steeking

I’ve had a good number of non-bloggable projects to work on in the past few months, and I’m psyched to finally be able to share pictures of one of my favorites. I took on this project as commissioned sample knitting for Knit Picks, and among the terms of that arrangement is that the project musn’t show up online until it has appeared in their catalog, or in this case, online. The project is a little girl’s cardigan, all in colorwork, from Color By Kristin:

I enjoyed working on this project, partially because several aspects of it were challenging for me. Because it was a paid knitting project and the recipient is such a big figure in the industry, I wanted the garment to be as close to perfect as I could get it, and that meant a LOT of finishing details. The whole project was a lot of swatching, blocking, measuring, sewing, and just general fussing. The good type of fussing, though. I love a good knitting challenge, and this project definitely provided one.

I reinforced the steeks with my sewing machine before cutting them. At first I was reluctant to do a steeked project in superwash wool (Knit Picks’ Swish Worsted), but I didn’t have any problems with it or complaints to report. I covered the raw edge of the steeks with blanket stitching, and sewed the zipper in by hand. I’m really pleased at how all those details came out! I worked hard on getting them just right, but in the end I had a sweater to send back that I was proud of. I even had to learn how to do the embroidered french knots that were the final detail of this piece! (The pink dots in the flower motif.) The project was a lesson in details, start-to-finish.

My one disappointment with this project is the way it appears in Knit Picks’ materials. The model is too big for the size I knitted, or the sweater is too small for her, or both! The sleeves look very tight, which I’m sure was no fun with the long floats within them. The neckline looks like it is pulling, too. If I were planning this sweater for a child I know, I would plan for a little bit of positive ease, instead of the tight fit they are showing on the model. I swear I sent away a sweater whose zipper laid flat! The original version of the sweater from the book looks a lot sweeter with some comfy positive ease to grow into.

Photography troubles aside, the best benefit of knitting this project (besides the paycheck!) is that while I was working with the new skills and heightened detail work, I was totally inspired to knit more garments with this level of complexity and finishing. I had such a good time concentrating on all the details, and it was so satisfying to create something to complicated that I could be so proud of! I really want to do a full-fledged steeked colorwork garment for myself, all in fingering weight. I’m thinking about maybe this one or this one (Rav links), but I haven’t found just the right combination of modern motifs and shaping with all the finishing bells and whistles. I may have to get creative and hack together elements or design my own! Unfortunately, I’ve got so much going on, knitting-wise, that I haven’t had the time to start this pipe-dream project, nor will I for the forseeable future. So I will just keep dreaming of steeking until the time is right!

murphy’s law

It’s good to have knitterly friends. I was running full-steam-ahead into making the same blogging blunder I always do, namely getting so excited about starting a spinning project that I tear up the roving before taking any pictures, but Heidi totally had my back because she had taken a “stash” picture of the fiber before gifting it to me. Nevermind the fact that the gift of the roving was what caused the frenzied need to start the spinning project, that’s irrelevant because the day was saved by a preemptive “before” picture! Without further ado:

The fiber is Maude & Me merino in the color “Lost at Sea.” There’s this authentic feel to working with merino from a New Zealand artist… like it would HAVE to be the good stuff, coming from a source so renowned for bountiful sheep! And this fiber feels THAT good, too– it was an absolute joy to spin, and the resulting yarn is wonderful.

I didn’t start out with the intention of making sock yarn, but the finished yarn resembles it pretty closely. It’s 350 yards of fingering weight, and smooth in texture. Ordinarily I would plan for a 3-ply (round) yarn for socks, but I’m tempted to go ahead and knit socks with this yarn, anyway. I’m just so certain they would be lovely! The fiber isn’t superwash, which should help with the durability, and I generally hand-wash my knitted goods, anyway.

I’m actually a little bit TOO tempted to make socks with this. I have another pair of socks on the needles right now, and it is awesome looking and fun to make. Between that and the other knitting commitments I have this month, I have no business starting a new pair right now! To help keep my paws off of it, I’ve been considering listing this one in my Etsy shop. That would make it “reserved” out of my regular stash, and give someone else a shot at making the lovely knitted item this skein deserves. But then again, that would mean *I* wouldn’t get to play with it! I’m still trying to decide, haha.

We’ll see. Handspun generally takes forever to sell on Etsy, so I could probably list it and then remove it if I get around to knitting with it, I would only lose 20 cents that way. However, if I planned on that, it would probably be the one “Murphy’s Law” instance where the yarn sells right away! Wouldn’t that just be my luck.