And by then, I'll be in Mexico

Hey, is there anyone out there? *tapping glass* If you're still with us, leave a comment! I feel like I'm talking to myself here... lol! :)

I have cast on for something new. I know, you're (considering there is a "you" out there...) really surprised, but I thought, hey, let's do something unexpected and cast on for something. But, before I did that, I did finish the knitting for the baby dress. It just needs to be seamed and edged. So there. :P

I started "Waves of Grain," from Knitty. It was written for lace weight, but I really wanted to use this yellow sock yarn I had, so I am. It's Artyarns Ultramerino 4 in some yellow color (no clue where the ball band is...). It's so... deliciously yellow. I love it. See how yellow and yummy?

In other news, I bought some baby yarn today. Last week, my friend Jen gave me some baby yarn. I think I have a problem with the baby yarn. This is the yarn that is baby yarn specifically that has no intended project.

Yeah. I have a problem. Speaking of problems, P is for Pens!

My husband is like, obsessed with pens, and pencils, and highlighters... this is just on my desk. You should see his bag, and the hallway, and HIS desk... they're everywhere!

Off to work on something baby perhaps. :)

No, you can't chew koolaid

Hey there guys. I haven't been blogging much, mainly because I just haven't been doing much exciting in the way of knitting. All I can do is knit garter or stockinette stitch. Which usually makes for pretty boring blog fodder. I am making a baby dress (ravelry link) out of the Bernat baby Jacquards, in the Berries n cream colorway. I love this yarn, and I LOVE this color. So pretty. I got the whole back done...

And half of the front. I'm not taking a picture of that. It looks exactly the same. Use your imaginations. :) But I've been doing so much just plain knitting that my hand has been hurting. Yesterday, I couldn't knit anymore, so I decided to crochet. I know right? Me?? Crochet??? I needed the practice so that when my friend Ibby's pattern, Pretty in Pink, comes out I can buy it and make it. I made an "Oh so soft baby dishcloth," only it's not for baby lol. It's not soft enough. I love the pattern though. It was super easy, and really fast.

I kinda messed up a couple times but I don't really care. It works. The yarn is peaches n creme, and color is peppermint. It's very blotchy lol... my husband said it looks like there are patches of blood on it. :) Look, a close up!

Ok, off to play monopoly online with my Angie. :)

No! The scrubbie things will hurt me!

Alright, I promised you all a simple pattern, so here ya go! Make a dishcloth. They're super fast! You can even be cool like me and use Halloween colors. It gets it's name because it looks like garter stitch but you're knitting and purling. Sound confusing? Try it! It's easy. :) If you have any questions, please ask! See it on ravelry!

Not Garter Stitch Garter Stitch dishcloth

Matierials:

• Worsted weight cotton yarn in two different colors. I used peaches n' creme because it's cheap.
• Size 8 (or 7) CIRCULAR needle. It has to be a circular for this to work. The length doesn't really matter.
  
• Tapestry Needle for weaving in ends

Gauge: Not important; you can adjust it to suit your needs.

Pattern:

Cast on 25 (or however many you want for an appropriate dishcloth) stitches in MC.

Switch to CC but do not cut MC; k 1 row.

Now, slide the whole project to the other end of the circular needle and switch to MC; you must slide the stitches down because that's where the MC working yarn is.

P1 row in MC.
P1 row in CC.

**Slide the stitches to the other end of the circular;

K1 row in MC.
K1 row in CC.

Slide stitches down;

P1 row in MC.
P1 row in CC.

Repeat from ** until it's as long as you want it to be.

Slide the stitches down; BO all sts in MC.

Weave in ends and go wash some dishes. Someone wise once said, "Until you wash something with it, it's just a swatch."

And hey, now you have a reason to wash the dishes!

I hate knitting boobles too

Wow, it's been 10 days since I blogged! Yikes!

I haven't been blogging at least for the few days because there's not much to blog about. Well, first, I lost my electricity because of Ike (the hurricane, not a person) so I guess that's blog worthy. I feel bad complaining because I only lost it for a few days and some people still don't have power, and some people lost everything, but... it's completely unfair. I mean, if I wanted to have hurricanes, I would live by a beach. I don't live within 500 miles of the nearest ocean. If not more. That's just... irritating, ya know?

Anyway, we have power now, but all I've had the brain capacity for is garter stitch. Seriously, just want to knit. That's so unlike me, you have no idea. But I did start and finish this in the past few days.

It's a preemie baby blanket. That picture is taken with the blanket laying on my computer chair. No WAY that's big enough for a baby. Poor little babies. OSU Medical Center is in desperate need of them, so if anyone lives in the area, you can make one and give them to the Yarn Shop in Columbus or Reynoldsburg and we'll take them there for you. Just needs to be DK weight and 15 inches square.

The yarn is Bernat Jacquards in the "Berries and Cream" colorway. I LOVE this yarn. Can not get enough of the squishiness. I'm about to wash it, so I'll let you know how it does.

I also made two Halloween Dishclothes in a weird garter stitch pattern that I sorta made up, though I'm sure it's been done. I'll post what I did when I post the pictures. Meaning after I weave in my ends.

Everyone make it through Ike ok?

I look like I have some sort of hairy octopus on my head

Hello there! I have some pictures. I was doing good on my new socks, the Snicket socks?

But... well... I hit a snag. It turns out it's REALLY HARD to do this pattern two at a time. So, I'm going to pull one of them off the needles and put it on stitch holders, and just plow through one at a time. It's sad but... the pattern is a little bit... well, it just doesn't work. Here's some detail though.

Pretty cool. I actually LIKE this yarn. Big surprise there, because I hated regular Noro Kureyon. But the socks... it works up all velvety, and it's a little scratchy, but that'll wash out. It's not even hard on my hands. So I'll probably use it again. The thick and thin thing really annoys the crap out of me though. I'm afraid the thin spots are going to break. And look!

Mmmm Malabrigo. I'm going to make it into By Starlight by my friend Knitasaur! I'll be fun. Really.

Oh yeah, and I made a baby bootie. I'll show pictures later. But it's a little bit... big. I guess I'll get over it... lol now to work on MS4.

I'm all mmm brains if I try anything else

Wow, I can't believe it's almost been a week since I posted last. That doesn't seem normal. Huh. Anyway, Wednesday I finished the Porphyria's. By the way, P is for Porphyria!


Interesting story. Porphyria is actually a term for a group of disorders which cause, among other things, sensitivities to light and blood problems in which you need blood transfusions to replace the hemoglobin in your blood. There are some rumors that it was actually where the myth about Vampirism started.

These ones, however, don't make me think of that. They actually make me think about a sunset, and I'm not sure why. A sunset right before dark when there's a lot of purple in the sky.

I like them. A lot. They're short, meaning they don't go high on my knuckles, which is perfect because then I can wear them while knitting. They were super fast too! I started Saturday and finished Wednesday.


Anyway, Thursday, I got lots of work done on the log cabin baby blanket. I just need to do the edging and it'll be DONE! Yay for UFO Thursday! Then, we went to my husband's parents house over the weekend. I got lots of knitting on the baby blanket done (the one that's not the log cabin). I'm very very close to halfway. I decided to make halfway at the end of one ball, so it'll take exactly two balls (in theory). I also started a pair of socks two-at-a-time, they're called Snicket Socks. I'm using my Noro Kureyon sock yarn, and I actually like it a lot! It's a little scratchy but it works up so velvety. I may be in love, strangely enough. Surprised? Me too. I'll post picks once they get a little father along, they're only to the end of the ribbing right now.

I ALSO started the mystery stole 4, and I LOVE it. I want to work on it all the time but unfortunately can't work on it a lot because I NEED NEW GLASSES so much. I'll be making an appointment tomorrow. I mean, first my old glasses interfered with night driving, which was ok. Then football, which was not ok. Now knitting? Definitely not ok. At all.

Oh yeah! I also went to the yarn store in Salem, Ohio, where his parents live. It was HUGE for the size of the town. I didn't have a lot of money to spend, but I did score some Malabrigo. I don't think it's enough to make a scarf, but that's what I really want. I may start one and then add some more later. Unfortunately, due to the fire, I may not be able to get some more for a while. According to the lady at the shop, she won't be able to get any until at the very least January. :( So... hopefully I can work something out so that I can get more before then. The color is Oceanos and I LOVE it, it's so gorgeous.

I'll have pictures later! How was everyone's weekend?

Stick people shouldn't poke each other with sticks

Ok, here's the deal. Lots and lots and LOTS of people have questions about the fingerless glove pattern "Fetching." We're talking, lots. So, I am doing a tutorial. I am going to go on to assume you know how to knit, purl, cable, cast on, and use dpns (or your preferred method of knitting in the round) and am just going to get right down to the parts that confuse people.

1.) Modifying the pattern to fit you. This is something lots of people want to do. I'm going to make it really really easy, but in order for it to work, I need you to do something. Check your gauge. In pattern. So that you know exactly how many stitches you get per inch. Now. in the original pattern, you cast on 45 stitches. That's with a gauge of 5.25 stitches per inch. Which is fine if your hand is bout 7 and 3/4 inches around (allowing for 10% negative each, so they're not floppy) but it doesn't work for a lot of yarns. So if it's too big? Take out stitches in sets of five. Meaning if your gauge is 4.5 spi, and your hand is 7 nd 1/4 inch around, then you need to cast on 35 stitches.

2.) The thumb, part one: waste yarn. I actually don't need to do a tutorial! There's already one. Go here and click on "help" on the left side, and then click on "fetching/dashing thumb." It shows you how to do the waste yarn but not how to put them onto the needles. I'll show you that below. Here's a little pic I made on the computer to show you what the stitches will look like with the waste yarn in.
3.) The bind off: keeping it from rolling. If you don't mind about whether you have the picots or not, then I would suggest binding the whole top off in purl. It keeps it from rolling. I would also suggest going up a needle size for the cast off row so there's a little give.

4.) The thumb, part two: Picking up the stitches from the waste yarn. Ok, I like to start out on the left side, but you can start from the right side, just do the exact same thing. This is what your glove should look like:

Pull the waste yarn out of the stitch on the bottom of the opening, and then the one on the top, so it looks like this:

You don't need to put a needle into those stitches yet. *Then, pull the waste yarn out of the next stitch on the top, and then put your needle through that stitch while the waste yarn is still in it, so that it looks like this:

Then put a second needle into the stitch on the bottom of the opening that the waste yarn end is coming out of (on the left) so that it looks like this:

Pull the waste yarn out of the two stitches you just put on the needles.

Repeat from the * for the next 5 stitches. At this point, your glove should look like this:

Go ahead and pull the yarn out of the stitch on the top of the opening. Then the yarn is just going through what looks like one stitch on the top, and one stitch on the bottom. The stitch on the top, however, doesn't need to be on the needle. If you look at the stitches, the waste yarn isn't the only piece of yarn going through that stitch. So, you can pull the yarn out of that stitch. Now, put the needle on the bottom through the final stitch on the bottom of the opening and pull the waste yarn out. It will look like this:

With 6 stitches on the top needle and 7 on the bottom.

Now, just follow the directions for the rest of the thumb, which read as follows:

Attach yarn and k the 7 sts on lower needle; using a second needle, pick up and k 2 sts in space between upper and lower needle, k first 3 sts from upper needle; using a third needle, k remaining 3 sts from upper needle and pick up and k 2 sts in space between this needle and lower needle. 17 sts.

This is very simple. Just knit the stitches on the first needle, and then with a second needle pick up 2 stitches as follows - put the new needle into the stitch directly to the left of the stitches on the bottom needle, like this:

Knit that stitch through the back loop, and then repeat that step with the next stitch up. K 3 stitches from the top needle onto that needle, then with another needle k3 and then pick up two stitches in the same manner on the other side of the opening. Ta da!

Then, just finish the thumb directions. Easy as pie, right?

If none of this helped you, and if you're on ravelry, then check out this group which is all about fetchings, or go to this thread in the techniques section on the topic of the thumb, or search for your problem in the techniques section.

Leave me a comment to let me know if I helped you or not, ok?