As of last night, raglan seamed, chibi for scale…

I seamed the raglan before I stitched the hem down, this way I could be sure to match them up at the neck. I have one side and one sleeve seam to go, and as I suspected, the fit is perfect for layering underneath, but the sleeves are indeed too long. Good thing I did not knit the hem up in the sleeve! Some minor surgery, aside, I’ll have this sucker done tonight!!
It’s pouring cats and dogs up here right now. Most of the weather on this trip has been awesome! No Snow!! I love summer….. I can’t wait to be home tomorrow.

Filed by Julia at 5:31 pm under Seaming
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My brother turns the big 2-1 today! It’s all downhill from here Mikey!

This is him just Wee, and about 3-4 days old….

That’s my post pardum Mumma holding him, Shannon in the middle, and Me, all smiles on the end there. My dad’s behind the camera.
My poor Mum, this kid was a 10lb baby, a forceps birth, and he was two weeks late to boot.
I remember his first birthday, he was covered head to toe in icing and cupcake, I remember Shannon and I laughing our little butts off, and my grandma was hysterical, Michael was her special little guy.
These photos crack me up, he always had a sweet tooth, to this day no Ice Cream is safe….
“Don’t worry, I’ll just get my own cupcake”

“Damn, that was some good cupcake”

Mike was prolly 18 months or so in this photo, I showed it to him today, and he’s like”I was never a blond! When was I a blonde?!”

Mothers, go get your sweet baby boys and hug them lots, cause someday, they’ll be crazy, use foul language, be way taller than you, and have tattoos too….

But they’ll still be cool. Happy Birthday Mike!!!

Filed by Julia at 3:04 pm under Family
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Louie would like to say Hi to everybody, and that he is very happy to have his favorite Auntie home for a visit.

Filed by Julia at 5:41 pm under Family,Louie
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I got my Dye-O-Rama Yarn yesterday! My dyepal is Jessica from KnitFit. This yarn is gorgeous, I’m drooling over it right now. I’m trying very hard not to ditch everything else and start knitting with it right now.That never happens. Nope. Not here…..

Want to see a closeup?! You know you do!

I love it, LOOK at the turquoise! And the PINK! Beautiful! Thanks Jessica!!

Jessica asked if I was going to show some photos of the yarn I’m dyeing for my pal. I said what the hell. I dyed this yesterday, handpainted it. I’m not the most practiced at handpainting, but I really should do it more often, it’s great fun! This yarn began it’s life as 3 skeins of cream Koigu.

I splashed dye around for awhile, hung them to dry, and decided it needed more brightness, and less yellow. I am not a person who enjoys yellow.
I was a little Meh on the colors while they were drying, but now that they are dry and reskeined, I LOVE them!

Pretty Pretty Pretty!

I’m driving up to Michigan tomorrow, my little brodder turns 21 on Tuesday. I’m not generally a big drinker, but I must do the sisterly thing and help him get wasted. If my sister has anything to say about this (and she does), it will not be a problem.
I’m a little not wanting to go away, cause look at what the UPS man done brung me!!!

Poor little cones, they’ll just have to wait til I get back…..

Filed by Julia at 10:04 pm under Dyeing
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Did you know I sew? Not well, but I pretend. Not often, either, for that matter. But once in a long while I’ll get the bug, and whip something up. I’ve been really entertained by everybodys “Sew? I knit!” projects. The other day I was over at Amy’s Blog, and she had made a skirt that I knew I just had to try. So off to Joann’s I went! I used a nice, soft, and just a bit stretchy 40% off cotton shirting material. I wanted a madras plaid, but Joanns was clearancing everything for new stuff, so no plaid.

I’m very happy with this though! Summery. I didn’t like trying to follow the sewing directions. They may as well be written in Japanese for all I understand what they’re trying to tell me to do. Good thing they use photos. I kind of half followed them for the zipper install, after that I just used the common sense I was born with. I’m very proud of how clean the zipper looks. I have plenty of zipper installation experiance under my belt, I shudder to think what would have happen if I didn’t. Sewing machine in pieces across the room comes to mind.

I also didn’t line it. I was lazy. Sue me. Seeing as I don’t have a serger, and I didn’t want raw seams, I used what my mom described to me (Over the phone. From Michigan) as “french seams” where you sew the pieces together on the right side first, then turn it inside out and sew them from the wrong side, so you get a nice little tubey seam.
My mom’s a smart one. She used to sew most of her clothes in high school, using my grandmas sewing machine with one stitch setting and a pedal thingy, so she was always in fashion. I think I’m better at this than I think I am. I come from a long line of seamstresses, and quilters, and people who are amazing needleworkers, so it’s in my blood. Even my dad can sew, I think. He’s great at fixing sewing machines, anyway! My sister, though, can’t even sew on a button. I’m not kidding. Really.

I finally choked throught the last few rows of my sunrise jacket! Man, that was rough. I just wanted to be done, already! I knit it in a bigger size, since it’s a jacket, and I want to layer under it, I have a sneaking suspicion that the sleeves will be too long, so I am prepared to cut a row out and knit a new cuff, if that should be the case. Won’t know til I seam it.

I’ll be having a seaming party tonight! I love to seam. I know most Knitters can’t stand even the thought, but I love love to seam! That means I’m finished, and care in seaming really makes a differance in the finshed garment. So if you need me, I’ll be stitching down miles of hem facing………

Filed by Julia at 2:32 pm under Blocking!,FO!,Sewing!
17 Comments

I’m a swatching mad woman this week. I decided not to start another sweater til I finish the Sunrise Cardi, the one I haven’t worked on in two weeks and am only 60 rows and a lot of finishing away from being done. I’ve found a way around startitis though, and that’s swatching! Swatchitis!!!!!!!

I really love the Deep V Vest. This swatch is done in Heilo, which I haven’t worked with before, but really really like. It shows off every stitch, and is a pleasure to knit with. I knit it with US 5′s, because I knit tightly, especially in fair isle, and you know, my gauge is still smaller than pattern gauge, so Us 6′s it is! Yay!
The swatch on the left is knit with 5′s, the one on the right with 4′s. Another differance, I knit both in the round, but the tan one I knit on the inside of the tube. My manager swears by this for more even knitting, and I always raised an eyebrow to it. So I experimented. I figured it might help the 5 st long floats, but this swatch is very lumpy, even after blocking, the floats were actually tighter than in the teal swatch. Knitting on the inside? Crock of shit. Don’t waste your time.
These beautiful blue swatches are for Jodi’s Mariah.The yarn is rowan calmer in a great icey shade of blue. Again, I got gauge with needles 2 sizes bigger than called for, US 9′s. I usually don’t like knitting with needles bigger than 8′s. So I’ll have to so some math, and see what I can work out. I’ve seen it knit in calmer, and I really liked the look. I do loves me a good zip up hoodie, I do.
Swatches are great, I never underestimate the knowledge gained from them. I also keep all my swatches. Someday when I start having kids, I’ll join them all to be a baby blanket. So knitting a few is fun, and almost instantly gratifying. A swatch technically is a FO, after all.

Yesterday I was wandering around Barnes and Noble, looking at the knitting books I haven’t seen yet, and I bought one.

Usually, I really have to like and obsess over a knitting book, I rarely impulse buy them. I looked through this one, put it back, and then went back for it. The more I read through it, the more I like it. Knit Cafe looks like a great place, I need to get back to California. This pattern stood out
Actually, it was the guitar motif I really liked. I may have to put it on a sweater….

Filed by Julia at 2:26 am under Knitting
23 Comments

Clearly, this gentleman has some identity issues. I get a big kick out of half nekkid llamas. I wonder if they always shear them like that, leaving the head unsheared. Curious.

Maryland was great, I met lots of Awesome peoples, and saw a ton of Awesome fibery goodness. I’m very glad this wasn’t my first fiber festival, I would have severly overloaded.
The Haul:

I love this:

Sparkley Pink fluffs from Stefania.
Corridale, naturally dyed with cochineal, and full of sparkley pink stuff. I bought almost 6oz, and spun half into a light DK two ply, 176 yds-

Most everything I bought I bought on Saturday, and on sunday I went over the “what I wanted to spend budget”, because I found these two books, which I’ve always wanted-

from Susan’s Fiber Shop. and I also bought a Skeiner from Carolina Homespun, which is like a vertiaclly mounted swift with a crank on it, to make winding up dyed skeins so much more efficient. I have Mama-E to thank for that Grand Idea. Seriously, the woman is a genius. I got a chance to chat with her, she’s great, I also walked all over the place and back with Jenn, and Norma, and the notorious Rachel H. I met the lovely knit blogging sisters,
Claudia, and Silvia, and Mrs Etherknitter herself, Laurie. Stood in the swag line with Cara, met the Dallas knitblogger posse while buying Socks that Rock yarn, that’s NanC, Chris, and Good Girl Purl. Hung out on the grassy knoll next to the main barn, and met Lolly, and Anmiryam, Amanda and her her mum, Jane, whom I recoginized by the sock she was knitting. I’m sure there’s more, but I’m all linked out.

This whole last week I’ve been so tired, I’m finally feeling motivated again. I just had a marathon dye weekend, to be followed by a marathon dye week, and another marathon dye weekend. I got a big order from Kpixie right before Maryland, so I’ve been working on that, and I also have a small amout for Etsy, which I will post probly tomorrow evening.

Filed by Julia at 2:11 pm under Maryland,Socks!
14 Comments

People, I am IN MARYLAND.I am thrilled beyond all belief, and so fustrated that I have to wait another 15 hours for the show. I want me some fiber now. Dammit.
I’m in Frederick, the drive was beautiful, the hotel is clean, I’m about to go exploring. If any of you are here already too, and want to do something, leave me a comment.
I decided that on my way here, I had to get a photo of the “Maryland Welcomes You” sign. So I pulled over, got my photo, and continued my drive. Traffic was light. Wouldn’t you know, with the no less than 5 battery chargers, miles of connector cords, and all the other crap I packed for 2 days and probly won’t use or need, including the 4 pairs of shoes or more I threw in the car at the last minute, I forgot the cord to connect my point and shoot Pentax to my powerbook. Why o why can’t any of my cameras have the same cords and/or chargers? For crying. out. loud. I’m smart, and efficient, and I will not be detoured.

Damn I am resourceful.

Filed by Julia at 5:27 pm under Maryland
25 Comments

I’d like to thank Julie for being my sock pal and knitting me beautiful socks. These are the Embossed Leave socks from Interweave Winter 2005. They are super soft, knit in Taj Mahal, which feels and looks very much like baby cashmerino. I don’t even want to walk on the floor in these, they’re so nice. I want to frame them and look at them.

Not only that, but she made me a beautiful project bag and DPN roll. I love the matchy matchy, I do.

They’re green and leafy, to match the socks.
I get all wrapped up in knitting for my pal that I forget I have someone knitting for me too. I was expecting a few things from ebay, so when I looked in the mailbox, and there were two packages, I didn’t even think it would be socks. I was so surprised, and floored, and delighted.
I’ve also been working on that Sweetwater heel, I swear I’ve ripped and reknit this sucker so many times. I finally found a patterning I like. It matches the striping on the rest of the sock. That’s the Libran in me.

Unfortunately, there is a down fall. Let’s just say it was a cut and paste job.

Now I really like this heel. A few of you asked how it was done. Whelp, I always knit toe up, and I wanted to try a short row heel, rather than my usual afterthought. So I stole the basic constuction from another pattern. I cast on, and increase to 68 St, then work the foot, then increase about a third of the total number of st. I got to 88 St, the back half of the knitting will have many more st on it then the front, those are the st you work short rows on. They are decrease short rows, so I decrease to 64 st, then work the rest of the leg. Ta Da.

Filed by Julia at 8:30 pm under Socks!
19 Comments

I’ve been chuggin along on my Sweetwater socks. I knit the first heel on the first sock. Progress. Everything else I’m knitting is pretty much in the same place. In an effort to knit a heel as I go, I tried out a toe up gusset and short row heel. I like it alot, but I feel it’s better suited for not self striping yarn.

See how funny the short row section looks? I knit the whole section in blue, thinking it might make a nice little corner. Not so much.
I’m thinking I might go rip back and rework it in stripes instead.
This is a differant short row thing than the Pricilla Gibson-Roberts heel. This one is all decrease short rows, due to the gusset. I definately like the process of it.
I also sent out my sockapaloooza sock today! A day ahead of schedule, but she lives pretty far, and I wanted her to have them this week. Yay.

Filed by Julia at 3:45 pm under Socks!
11 Comments