Trish Knits.com

Tag: Yarn

  • New Knitting Toy

    Today the Brownies left a box with this in it on my porch:

    Singer Spool Knitter
    Singer Spool Knitter

    It’s the Singer Spool Knitter! I got it because I really, really want to make one of these, which is the Spaghetti Scrap Scarf by Circé Belles Boucles. Her blog is in French, but the images are amazing. Have a look.

    I admit that my motives for doing this scarf are a bit more macabre than that beautiful, funky design would suggest. I want to use mine to make grey, black, and dark purple cords along with one cord of my eyeball yarn that I recently acquired from Insubordiknit. I see that the product is sold out, so I do feel lucky to have some. How creepy would that be, a black and grey snaky scarf with stringy eyeballs popping out now and then? I think it is the perfect Halloween costume.

    So anyway, I bought this Singer gadget hearing on one of my knitting lists that it does heavier yarns than some of the other spool knitters do, so I thought it would be worth a try. We’ll see. The yarn in the photo isn’t anywhere near worsted weight, and it took me a while to get the hang of it to do this one bit of cord that I have so far. We’ll have to see how far it will go. I’m pretty lazy about knitting cords, and the thought of doing them all by hand doesn’t excite me, but the scarf itself does, so we shall see how it goes. Of course I don’t expect to be able to knit the eyeball yarn on my little spool gadget, but if I could knock some of the others out that way? I’d be really, really happy.

    Gotta run. It’s Leno’s last night, and I’m watching. When it was Johnny’s last night, 17 years ago, it was the night before my husband and I moved in together, thus, a major turning point in my life. Nothing so earth-shattering this time around, but I gotta wonder if something’s not looming.

    **Update**

    Guess what??? While watching Leno I did try to use the spool knitter with Wool of the Andes yarn, which is worsted weight. Guess what?? It WORKED. As long as I went really slowly and made sure that my previous round of stitches would drop below the latch on the hook before the hook picked up the next round. Yes, I mean REAAALLLLLLYYYYYY slow. But it’s still faster than knitting it myself. I think it’ll be good. Yay!!

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • Random Friday

    It’s been a crazy long week here and I’m tired. I haven’t knit much this week, so there hasn’t been much to blog about. I haven’t even gotten to the second buttonhole on my February Lady Sweater yet. How lame is that? I am hoping somehow to be there by tomorrow. We’ll see.

    So, I thought I’d post an update on another project I haven’t shown in a while. I haven’t actually touched my mitered squares blanket in a couple of weeks, but it’s been a long time since I photographed it. So, here it is:

    mitered squares blanket in progress
    mitered squares blanket in progress
    In case you’ve never seen this before, I’m doing mitered squares a la Vivian Hoxbro, but for the layout of the squares I’m using the diagram from the Babette Blanket as a guide. I figured out that if I make the squares sized so that the stitches along the sides are some multiple of a common number, that it all works out and they fit together nicely. So, this will be my “go-to” project for probably years to come, for those in-between times when I’ve just finished a project, or lost my knitting mojo. I like it so far. It really has filled the void that often creeps into my knitting downtime.

    Thinking Ahead

    Last weekend the yarn bug bit me really hard. Thinking of course that I ordered from three different vendors, all with different customary normal shipping times, I didn’t think it would be too hard explaining it to the hubster when it trickled in in drips and drabs. No such luck! It ALL arrived on Wednesday. (gulp.) Here’s the first thing I got:

    Dream in Color Classy yarn in various colors
    Dream in Color Classy yarn in various colors
    This is a pile o’ Dream in Color Classy yarn with which I plan to make the adult version of the Tulip Sweater. I know, that’s probably crazy, given that I’m less than three inches into my current project. But it’s a bad habit of mine. When I sit and knit, I’m constantly letting my mind wander about what I want to knit next, or next-next, or even way into the future. Maybe 2009 will be the year of the sweater.

    We’ll see…

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • February Lady Sweater Week One Report

    Sweater after one week of kntting
    Sweater after one week of kntting
    So this is what my February Lady Sweater looks like after just one week. On the one hand, it might not look like much, but on the other, you gotta remember that I am the self-professed slowest knitter in the world. So actually, this measly couple of inches is a huge feat for me.

    Have I mentioned how nice the Tess Yarns raw silk feels in my hands?? Oh gosh. It’s cool like cotton, but squishier. I just love it. Perhaps that’s why my progress has been so good this week. I can’t get enough of holding this yarn in my hands. I’m still not taking bets on how long it’s going to take me to get this sweater done. Probably many months. Maybe I’ll wear it to NEXT year’s Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. (You know? I’ve never worn one of my own hand knit creations there. Someday I’ll have to make something appropriate for warm May weather, with the festival in mind.)

    My first buttonhole
    My first buttonhole
    So here’s my first buttonhole. See? It looks a little funny. But I don’t think anyone will really notice, especially since the buttons themselves will be likely covering the buttonholes up.

    This morning I got up early, donned my “knitting uniform,” which today consists of my Ravelry hoodie and a mint green-colored t-shirt (Ravelry colored!), and prepared to sit and knit while listening to the new episode of Cast On. DH and Her Highness the Tween went to skating lessons and BoyZilla had a breakfast date with the grandparents. I was so looking forward to having the house all to myself. Next thing I knew, they were all coming home! Dang. I fell asleep and missed my “me” time. It’s pretty gray and icky today and I’ve been having trouble staying awake all day. Oh well, I guess some days are just like that.

    So, what are YOU doing this weekend? Anything fun planned?

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • Victory!

    Can you believe it?? It’s DONE!

    Trish with navy blue yarn all balled up
    Trish with navy blue yarn all balled up

    I spent nearly all week working on the first of three balls of navy blue silk yarn, and I finally felt like I hit a breakthrough late last night, so stayed up way too late winding yarn. Then, by this afternoon, with help from the kids (who find my ball winder to be most fascinating) the first ball was done. Then this afternoon my good friend Steve came over and asked me why my ball winder and swift were out, and I showed him the remaining two hanks. Next thing I know, he had the twisted mass of yarn all straightened out and ready to go on my swift, and so the second ball went much quicker!

    Trish winding yarn
    Trish winding yarn

    Once Steve got it all figured out about which end was which, after a few times of untwisting the yarn from around the hank it was actually pretty smooth going. I sometimes wonder if it’s my eyesight and perhaps I can’t see where the yarn is going, so I set it up wrong in the first place? I don’t know… but Steve was able to get it all sorted out, so the rest of the yarn got balled up today! Yay!

    Yarn on jumbo ball winder
    Yarn on jumbo ball winder

    I actually love my ball winder. It’s the Jumbo Ball Winder by Strauch. I got it last year at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and I have loved it! It was so worth the money to have something so sturdy. I got it because even though it comes with a clamp to clamp it to a table, it’s not 100% necessary to use the clamp, as long as you don’t wind it at breakneck speed. All of my tables have aprons under the table top so none of the ball winder clamps work on my tables anyway. So this one is good and sturdy and as you can see, it winds HUGE balls!

    After I did the second ball, my mom and Tony showed up and prepared dinner, so Steve settled on the floor to tackle the third ball:

    Steve winds the yarn
    Steve winds the yarn

    Next thing I know, BoyZilla wanted to take a turn on the ball winder:

    BoyZilla and Steve wind the yarn
    BoyZilla and Steve wind the yarn

    So, the yarn has been conquered and tamed into balls, and soon it will be on its way to becoming the February Lady Sweater.

    This week… I swatch.

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • It Always Gets Worse…

    navy blue silk yarn in a big heap of a mess
    navy blue silk yarn in a big heap of a mess
    I’ve been balling this yarn for three days now, and I have two small balls of yarn to show for my efforts. Sheesh! At this point my February Lady Sweater might never see the light of day. I love this yarn and I so want to begin! But alas, this hank that’s giving me all the trouble? It’s only one THIRD of the total amount of this yarn I have. Hopefully the other hanks won’t be such a disaster. But I have such terrible luck! I must be doing something completely and totally wrong when setting up yarn on my swift.

    But that’s not the worst of my problems tonight. I have a hot wire on my chair so it’s out of commission until I can get it fixed. I have a backup chair, but that chair feels so clunky and uncomfortable. Something tells me it’s going to be a long week. Being in the wrong chair makes me grouchy, so if you’re someone who encounters me in the real world, you might want to stay away this week! I have an appointment next Thursday to have my chair worked on.


    pinky orange laceweight yarn
    pinky orange laceweight yarn
    Perhaps this will make me feel a little better! I purchased this beauty from New York Yarns on Etsy. I love the pinky-orangey colorway that sort of reminds me of sherbet! It is superfine merino laceweight with silk. Now, if you know me, you know I’m not a lace knitter. But this ball of wonder totally called to me. There’s 1300 yards in here so I think maybe it has to be some sort of wrap for me. Someday.

    Maybe tomorrow will be better. After all, it’s only yarn. It shall be a sweater. Someday.

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article

  • Doing Battle with the Yarn

    navy blue silk yarn being balled up from a swift
    navy blue silk yarn being balled up from a swift
    You’d think I’d learn, but apparently not. Never ever try to ball up a hank of yarn you’ve had in storage for three years unless you have a lot of time on your hands. Or when you’re really too tired to do it. Either of those two factors are a sure bet that the hank will be a twisty, loose mess. In fact, the more rushed and the more tired you are? The worse it will be. Trust me. I know.

    The mere mention of the February Lady Sweater last night got my heart all a-flutter. I could not stop thinking about the prospect of starting that project all day. But I know enough about myself to know that I just dread winding yarn. Every time I try, it never cooperates. I even thought maybe I should wait until a weekend when I can have a friend over to help me.

    Patience, however, virtue that it is, is something that I lack. Not just lack. Patience? I no haz it. So there was no waiting for the weekend, no pleading with some poor sucker one of my good yarny buddies to help me with the winding. So, start out on my own, I did, and this tiny ball, representing maybe one tenth of the yarn yet to be wound (from this hank; I have two more) is all I have to show for an entire evening’s work. I am not surprised by this, but I am nonetheless disappointed. I wanna knit! And I have miles to wind (literally) before I stitch.

    My fingers are blue with navy yarn dye. It is the mark of a battle not yet won. I do so love this yarn, and the color, and the way it feels in my hands. I can’t wait for it to become something more than a pile of stringed frustration. Someday this beautiful yarn will be transformed, and perhaps I will forgive it for the trouble that it gives me now.

    But it’s a long way before I’m there. For tonight, UGH!

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article