Fat-Bottomed Girls...

...you make the rockin' world go 'round!

Anyone who has been in my presence for 15 seconds knows that I love Queen.  Queen is one of my most favorite bands of all time, if not THE most favorite. 

I recently had the pleasure of seeing the Queen Extravaganza perform (in Oh-Little-Town-of Bethlehem, PA).  I cannot say enough about how incredibly good the show was.  The show was 3 hours long, with only a 20-minute intermission period.  The rest of the time was pure entertainment.  Unbelievable vocals from 5 different singers, with insanely good accompaniment on guitars, keyboards, drums, etc.  The feel of the show was definitely something any Queen fan could appreciate -- it was ALL about the music.  They performed songs that I don't even think Queen themselves did in concert very often, if at all: March of the Black Queen, and Lap of The Gods I and II.  If you can catch the show, I highly recommend it.  I screamed and sang myself hoarse.

My sister and I after screaming our lungs out for an hour and a half.
\m/ \m/










I own every Queen album on CD, which is not a great feat, by any means.  But seeing the Queen Extravaganza motivated me to revisit my Queen music library and reacquaint myself with their awesomeness. One of my favorites is Jazz. Jazz is the follow-up album to Queen's HUGELY successful News of the World, which produced a couple songs you might have heard of: We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions.  Jazz, though not as widely or wildly successful as its predecessor, has some fantastic songs on it (as the title of this post suggests), and other songs that did not make it to radio play but are no less great. Leavin' Home 'Aint Easy comes to mind.  Some will remember Don't Stop Me Now as the hilarious zombie-fighting theme song from the movie Shaun of the Dead, which hails from the Jazz album as well. 

Anyway, Jazz has one of the most interesting and artistic album covers I've ever seen.  And I think it's particularly unique when compared to their other covers or to the covers of their contemporaries in 1978.

Because of all of the above, I decided to design a scarf based on Queen's Jazz album.  It's a super long, funky, textural piece of modern art, if I may be so bold.  I enjoyed designing it and knitting it.  The pattern is available for free on Ravelry.  If you don't have Ravelry access and still want it, comment and give me your e-mail address and I'll send it to you. I'm too dumb and lazy to figure out how to make PDFs available from my blog. Heh.

Some photos:

Various and Sundry

Ok, I don't know why, but I kinda LOVE this.

http://stitchmana.com/pattern/spoilt-for-choice/

It's a free pattern called Spoilt for Choice. The designer's little story about how this garment came into being is quite amusing. There are about 15 ways to wear this thing. I just think it's super chic and unique. I might make one for Amy, my friend and colleague here at work who is super fun and funky and appreciates artistic quirkiness. Then I really want to make one for me. Although, I don't know if a very busty chick, like me, could pull this off.









Other things:

The scarf for my boss is done. But he's been all weird lately. My friend Amy (same one I mentioned above) and I tried to take him to lunch at the end of July (for which event I furiously knit away to complete that scarf). And he made some weird, cryptic remark (what a surprise) about how "no lunches will be had until September." What. Ever. Here's the scarf:


















Back at the end of April, my mom and sister got together and ordered a set of "Darn Pretty" Dyakcraft needles for me as a birthday present. Well, given that they were inundated with orders (because their needles are amazing), the folks at Dyakcraft could not manage to get them out to me until around 8-9 weeks later. But I did receive them around July 4, and the needles are pretty freakin' sweet. Pictures to follow.

I got the 3.5" set (sizes 4-10) in Hazelnut wood. The set also came with 4 stoppers and a beautiful, hand-sewn needle case in a brick red color with a chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon closure. Really pretty. I ordered the shorter length cables. Super smooth wood, but not lacquered. So there is no threat of something rubbing or flaking off. Joins for the cables are quite good, as are the cables themselves --- not too thick (like Denise) or thin as fishing lure (like Hiya Hiya). I think they are the right combination of flexible and thin. I will definitely order more cables for my needles. I am also very tempted to order a set of 5" needles. Maybe for Christmas or next year for my 40th birthday (GAH).

Now I see that they have sets of sock-sized DPNs for $40. You get FIVE sets of needles (US 0, 1, 1.5, 2, and 3). That's a REALLY good price for 5 sets of hand-turned needles. I hate being broke. LOL

Anyway here are some pics of the 3.5" Hazlenut set:


































I apologize for the quality of the photos. They looked better on the iPhone.











I am so pleased with the depth and variation of color in this set.













Anyway, I really like these needles a lot! And if you are in the market for a set of quality, interchangeable, wood needles, then these are definitely worth the $140 price tag.


Let's see what else? Oh, the Helix scarf. Done. Here's a picture:



















I also started knitting a February Lady sweater. I know several people who have knit this sweater. And there are over 11000 (yes eleven THOUSAND) knitters who have the February Lady sweater among their projects. I've been tossing around the idea of knitting this sweater for a couple years. I just wasn't sure how good the style would look on me. But, wanting to finally knit a sweater for ME, I decided to just go for it.

I'm using Valley Yarns Colrain. Very lovely, soft merino/tencel blend. The color I chose is called "Gray Teal." This is the most absurd color name for this yarn because it's neither gray NOR teal (which I hate, as you know), or even remotely close to one of those colors. It's more of a Nile green or even a jungle green. I mean seriously, just look at the swatch color. Gray Teal? Nope. Anyway, the label calls it heavy worsted, but it's really regular to light worsted. I'm knitting on size 8, which it what the pattern calls for and I seem to be getting gauge with no problem, albeit, the gull lace pattern seems pretty lacy already and I haven't finished yet (so no blocking yet).

Here's a picture:


Coming along nicely, I think! I'm knitting the 41" size. I tried it on (ah the beauty of top-down raglan construction) and it seems to be fitting pretty well. A little closer around the bust than I maybe like. But again, this is pre-blocked and it's still on the needles, which makes the measurements a little smaller.








I also got the MOST gorgeous buttons for this from etsy. Check THESE out:




The seller is LiDDesignsSupplies in Hoboken, NJ. All her buttons are super nice and unique.








Speaking of etsy, I've encountered some really nice sellers on there (and some freakin' idiots). One super nice person in particular is Rose over at Cakewalk Yarns. I saw this yarn on there the other day and flipped over sideways. HAD to have it:

It's 463 yards of sock yarn and the colorway was called Hero Squad. It got it's name from an episode of Arrested Development, which I thought was just too hilarious.
Here's her description:

Color: HERO SQUAD
Another yarn inspired by my favorite (albeit canceled) TV show, Arrested Development. Buster got distracted by the claw machine game in the bus station & missed his bus to the Army base. Forgetting all about boot camp, he arrived home with an armful of stuffed animal prizes. Buster (suddenly realizing his mistake) explained to the family that these were awards & that the army had assigned him to Hero Squad…mistaking the children’s cartoon for an actual military program. This yarn is inspired by the Buster’s imagination – it is a very bright green, speckled with many, many colors.

It was $21 for the skein plus $2 to ship. Not bad, especially since it's hand-dyed and on etsy (which tends to be uber expensive for sock yarn). So later that day I saw a convo from Rose. She said she re-skeined the yarn so that it didn't look exactly like the picture. But that if I was a yarn "collector" (oh how she knows us knitters!) she'd send me a re-re-skeined one. So I told her that I'd love to have one that looked like the picture, if only to admire (and show off!) for a little while before using it. This just HAS to be knit into something. But here are the rest of our convos:

Rose: Ok-I sent it off this afternoon before I got your note so I will get another one out to you in the morning. Not a problem! --Rose

Me: OH that's ok! Don't worry about it! Since you've already mailed it!
Gina

Rose: I insist! I should have asked you beforehand, I was just in a hurry to get to the post office before they close. You keep both, please. I think you are going to love Hero Squad & that way you can knit someone a gift.
Thanks very much—Rose

Me: Oh my gosh! That is so nice of you!!! Thank you so very much!
Gina

So now I am getting TWO skeins of this incredible yarn. I can't believe how generous and thoughtful some people are. Thank you, Rose from Cakewalk Yarns, for resorting my faith in humanity just a teeny bit!

A Public Service Announcement

If you are in the market for a luxury yarn --- particularly cashmere or a cashmere blend --- then I HIGHLY recommend ColourMart.

They have truly beautiful yarns in nice, lovely, natural, workable colors for extraordinary prices. I just got 420 yards of light worsted cashmere for $36, shipping included. Colorway is called "dust." The best way to describe the color is that it's a light gray beige.



It's even nicer in person. I plan on using it as the main color to make the Folk Art Scarf. Link is to free Ravelry pattern.


Now I'm being tempted by a luscious plum-colored aran cashmere...$32 for 330 yards, shipped.

Commence sitting on hands in 5...4...3....

Lots to Tell

Let me update you all on what's been going on over the last few days.

First of all, here are pictures of 3 pairs of the socks I've made!













Hope you can see the tubular cast-on in the second photo. Time consuming, yes. But also, SO worth the effort!

More!













More!











These striped kind of weirdly, but whatever. The balls were from the same dye-lot, so I have no idea why they look so different. I still like them, though!





Saturday 4/4: Awesome Pysanky Day at Beth's

Saturday was a super day that started with learning how to make Pysanky, Ukrainian decorated eggs. Thanks to Beth's excellent instruction and vast variety of supplies, my very first pysanky was a success. Here are a couple photos of the finished egg. Note: my digital camera is NOT cooperating at all. I took these with the Photo Booth application on my MacBook.











This is an oak leaf and acorn pattern. All aspects of the egg's design I drew on first in pencil, then again in the WAX. OMG I was so nervous when I applied that wax for the very first time. I think this went through 6 different waxing and color dipping processes. First was yellow, then green, orange wash, orange, brick, and black. It was so cool to see the egg come together at the end with the final black dipping. I still need to apply some sort of clear high-gloss sealant. I'll get around to it...eventually. Again let me apologize for the craptastic pictures.














Sunday 4/5: Sakura Sunday

An extremely fun day with may friends in Fairmount Park at the Japanese House and Garden and the Horticultural Center. The weather was absolutely fabulous, too. Here's a picture of me that Katie took.

Come on now, you know I HAD to have one of those hats....


Tuesday 4/7: A Heartwarming Surprise

First of all, I had my weigh-in on Tuesday and I am happy to report that I am down another .8 pounds. So this brings the total to almost 12 pounds. S.L.O.W. but at least it's coming off, right?

It also happened to the first Tuesday of the month, which is one of our scheduled knitting nights at the Barnes & Noble in Exton. I hadn't been at one of these meetings in quite a while. In fact, I think the last time I had seen anyone was back on Groundhog Day! So I was really looking forward to knitting with my friends.

Once a nice group of us had arrived, Pat announces that they have a little gift for me --- a sort-of "fuzzy hug" from all my friends. My lovely knitting comrades noticed that I've been a little sad as of late, particularly since the loss of Mr. Chesterfield back in November. When I opened the bag I was greeted with a divinely gorgeous hand-knit scarf made from Noro Silk Garden and a card signed with a sweet personal message from each person. Every one who signed the card knit a part of the scarf! I think this is the most thoughtful gift I have ever gotten. I love handmade things and this fantastic scarf really was knit from the heart from all my dear friends.

And I have been more than a little down in recent months. This scarf was truly a testament to the power of real friendship and how important it is to never forget those who really do care about you. Some photos:




This is probably the best representation of the colors.






I wore it today (all day) at work and received many compliments, naturally. It is absolutely stunning. I really enjoyed telling everyone how all my friends made it for me.

The Sweet Smell of Accomplishment

It's a scent that I don't experience all too often, I'm afraid. However, I recently finished TWO knitting projects, both of which I am very proud of!

Ok so remember that scarf for the professor that I told you about a few posts ago? Done! I am really pleased with how it turned out. I hope he likes it too. I mean I don't want to insult him or anything. He's a nice person. So I just hope that my giving him the scarf doesn't send the message: "I think you look ridiculous wearing that crocheted nightmare as a scarf." Although he did give me a freakin' CAN OPENER for Christmas last year. Not kidding. Come on, I couldn't even make that up if I tried. Granted, it's a nice can opener, but still....

Anyhoo, here are some pictures:



Here's a close-up so that you can see the yarn. See all those colors? The depth of color in this yarn is amazing. It looks like Black Watch plaid in yarn form.

I knit this scarf lengthwise. The yarn didn't come with any label of any kind. But it seemed to be aran weight. So I cast on 200 stitches on size 9 needles. I got not quite 4 stitches to the inch. So overall, the scarf is about 52 inches long. The pattern is just out of my head; made to look like 3X3 ribbing. I worked in a purl row in the middle of the garter rows to help prevent curling. It put a knit channel on the WS, thus helping break up the fabric of the knitting on the back, which did help prevent curling. So much so, that I didn't even need to block it. Hallelujah! Here's the "pattern" if you are interested:

CO 200 stitches
row 1: Knit
row 2: Knit
row 3: Knit
row 4: Purl
row 5: Purl
row 6: Knit
row 7: Purl
row 8: Knit

Knit until desired width of scarf. End with row 4. Bind off.

That's it! It was a very fast knit.

Next, there is the Simon Tam. (Firefly fans will know that this is a delightful pun.) So, I made one of these as the donation for KDO back in September. I had used this boucle yarn, which I absolutely DESPISED knitting with. It was a total pain in the ass. But the pattern is sublime. So I made another one. This time I used alpaca yarn from Berrocco. Very nice to work with. I bought tons of Cascade 220 to make several of these hats to give out as Christmas gifts. They are fast to knit, only take one skein of Cascade 220 or any other worsted-weight yarn that comes in 200ish-yard skeins, and look fantastic. My only complaint is that the last 2-3 rows of decreases punch me in my SOUL. But the end result is well worth it! In fact, on this hat, I bagged the last 2 round of decreases because my hands felt like they were coming apart. So I just cinched the top.

Some photos:






Here it is (below) around a dinner plate. I would have modeled it, but I didn't want to frighten anyone.


Now, this hat calls for a tubular cast-on. When I knit the first one, in the awful boucle, I was like "WTF is that? Whatever!" And I just did a regular cast-on. The hat looked fine. At KDO, in one of my classes we actually learned the tubular cast on! Now hear this: the tubular cast-on looks AMAZING. So I did a tubular cast-on for the second tam (the one above). I couldn't seem to find where I put the hand-outs from KDO on doing a tubular cast on, so I went on-line a found a very helpful tutorial here.

Now, the only disappointing thing about that tutorial is that it didn't explain what to do about getting this cast-on done on circular needles in the round. Which is kind of important when you are knitting a hat! So I improvised and came up with a fairly decent method:

With waste yarn, cast on half the stitches, as usual.
Join project yarn. Place marker.
Join in the round and knit 4 rounds. If the cast-on is a little too tight to join, then purl one row first, then place marker and join in the round and knit 3 rounds.
Work the tubular pick-ups as in the instructions.
When done, remove the marker and purl one stitch. Then replace the marker. Turn work so that the RS is facing and then begin K1, P1 ribbing. The cast-on/join stitch is nearly invisible and there is no seam this way.
I started another hat and here's the tubular cast-on I did for it:



Ooh, sexy! Believe it or not, the cast-on/join stitch is in that photo. Can you find it?

Oh Yeah...KNITTING

So despite the lack of photographic proof on this blog that would indicate such, I have been knitting --- a lot, actually!

First of all, I finished my Steam scarf! WOO! I had started this back in January. A knitting friend of mine (Elizabeth) found the pattern online and shared it with me and my other knitting buddies. It looks great on paper. But, when you see it knit-up in person. WOW. It just is amazing to see in the flesh (or in the yarn?). What I like best about this pattern is that it's ALL cables. It's total cable-on-cable-on-cable action! A menage a trois...but with cables. There's no space between them. That's part of what I don't like about cable, that weird, flat area between the cables. I think too much, I know.

Anyway, to knit it, I used this absolutely luxurious but affordable (for reals!) 100% cashmere yarn that I got from Cashmeres by Kate (an ebay store) in an ivory/cream color. I just cannot say enough about this yarn except GO GET SOME. It feels gorgeous and has an incredible luster. It seems to glow from within. Here's a couple of photos:




Now I am trying to find the perfect hat pattern to match. I might try to go out on a limb and create a pattern based on the Steam pattern for a hat. A lot of work, but it might be worth it!

Also, I have just finished a Simon Tam (yes, that's the name of the pattern--it rocketh!) to give as my "hat donation" for Knitter's Day Out (KDO). What's Knitter's Day Out? You can read all about it here. So it's this weekend. And I am really looking forward to it! It turned out really nicely, despite using crazy-ass yarn that I hated (Wool in the Woods Pizazz). Here are a few pictures:



It might look a little small on me, but that's ok because I think the hats are meant for kids anyway.

I like the pattern so much, I bought lots of more-suitable yarn to make a bunch of these to give as gifts for Christmas. They knit up really quickly!

Now I am knitting up a scarf for the Red Scarf Project. This is one of those things that you always mean to do and want to do, but you just never get to budget the time for it, and then suddenly it's too late you feel all bad for having pushed it onto the back burner of your life, you know? Yeah. So I buckled down and got this awesome yarn and cast on the other night. I am using Rowan Plaid yarn in the Hearty colorway, which I got UBER CHEAP at Smiley's. I think it was $2.99 a ball! It's a very nice yarn to knit with.

The pattern I chose is one that I actually printed out like 4 years ago when I had just learned to knit. Simple, yet visually interesting. It's a quick knit and it looks really nice with the Rowan Plaid yarn.

What else? I am knitting a Dream Swatch Head Wrap. I'm using the bamboo yarn that my Dishcloth Pal gave me from the last go-round! Lovely stuff to work with. So soft and smooth! I'll try to get a picture of this in-production too. Oh, and I cast on another pair of socks. This time, I am trying it cuff down. The first two pairs that I knit were toe-up. So far, I like the toe-up process better, but we shall see when the time comes to turn that heel....

Um, Yeah, Knitting?

I figured it high time I put some photos on here of some recent knitting that I've done. For one thing, I mentioned that I finished the socks, my first pair ever. Here they are:

Overall I am happy with how they turned out. Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but they are WAY too big for me and I imagine that they'd be big for most average women's feet. So I gave them to my dad! I think he really liked them.

While I was in North Carolina in December, I knit up a 45" long by 7" wide strip---just plain old garter knit---for a charity blanket project that someone in our knitting group (Elizabeth) was kind enough to administer. Afghans for Afghans, I believe it's called. It was super nice to be able to just crank out this strip. Nothing fancy, just all wool, colorful yarn. I like the strip a lot! Would also make a funky scarf too:

This was knit with Patons Classic Merino in the Autumn Harvest colorway, I think. With Panda Woolbale in Grape as the purple parts.

While visiting Todd's family over Christmas in Illinois, I started my second pair of toe-up socks. I got pretty far before having to ask for help. (Pat, you are awesome.) So far, I have turned the heel on one sock and am ready to go up the leg. Well, actually, I DID start to go up the leg, but I picked this screwy pattern that was meant for straight knitting and it just didn't translate properly to knitting rounds. So I have to frog the rows on the leg---not many---and work in the new, improved pattern (again, Pat, you are awesome)! The second sock needs to have the heel turned. I need help, again, figuring that out. The wording in the pattern is a little confusing to me, so I like to have some reassurance before I dive in. Skinny yarn on tiny needles scares me a little, still. :-) Anyway here they are:


So far, so good. These are going MUCH faster and seem a lot easier. Only a few snafus. :-)

Then I decided that I wanted to make a luxurious scarf for ME. So I got some lovely cashmere yarn from a woman in New Hampshire who has an e-bay shop. Fantastic price and the cashmere quality is superb. This is the softest most decadent stuff I've ever touched. Anyway, her e-bay store is Cashmeres by Kate. I highly recommend her yarn. So I picked an aran weight cream-colored cashmere. I decided to use the Steam Scarf pattern, that my kitting friend, Elizabeth, found on the internet. Here's where it stands so far:



I guess I have about 15" done so far. I'm absolutely loving the pattern and loving this yarn IN this pattern. I recommend trying this pattern too!

So I've been busy! So busy that I haven't had time to take pictures and talk about all the stuff I've been doing!