Jennifer Knits

My Sockapal-two-za Socks Have Arrived!

2005-09-26T16:26:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much to the lovely and talked Dawn for the fantastic socks and gifts she sent all the way from London!

That's the postcard - "Look kids, Big Ben... Parliament" (my lame reference to National Lampoon's European Vacation) and the knit sheep - isn't it cute?

My Socks! They are from Interweave Knits - the Making Waves pattern knit using Lorna's Laces Poppy.

Look - they fit perfectly :-)

Hand knit socks and chocolate. A recipe for a perfect weekend.

A special thanks to Alison for her hard work in organizing this exchange.

Updated to add: Looks like my socks fit my sock pal too. Woot! Laurie was very gracious in accepting my fumbling attempts at socks. This experience has definitely given me incentive to keep practicing socks.

How I Spent My Month Off from Blogging

2005-09-23T13:43:00.000-05:00

To my two or three readers: sorry for my abrupt absense! I have no excuse except that I was working on a couple of larger projects that weren't very interesting to blog about while they were in-progress. I also had a couple of weeks in a row where I had visitors come to town involving many days tromping through NYC doing some touristy and some not-so-touristy stuff.
I'll post some fun pictures of these activities when I get a chance, but first some knitting related content:

I'm proud to announce that I have completed my first sweater for myself.

Sorry for the shoddy image but I wore this sweater to work today (yeah!) and I had to take it off, snap a pic quickly, and get it back on before my colleague came over to ask me what I am doing ;-)

Project Details:
Pattern: Fiery Bolero from Interweave Knits Summer 2005
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay (red). Just over 5 skeins.
What I Learned: How to do short rows, How to do a crochet cast-on
What I Would do Differently: The sweater is a little big on me. I should have made a medium. I definitely should have checked the sleave width partway through.
What I Liked: Overall, a really easy and enjoyable pattern. The yarn is nice and forgiving with uneven stitches, although it does split a bit.

Coming next: Details on the second big project from the last month. And How I Spent My Month Off from Blogging Part II.

Here's a hint on the second project:

Disco Knitting

2005-08-18T07:58:00.000-05:00

Last night, I attended a concert in the park below my apartment building. With the long-awaited break in the hot weather finally here, it seemed like the whole neighborhood was out trying to enjoy the outdoors.

The concert was great. The band was supposed to be disco, which I don't like much, but it turned out to be closer to Motown, which I LOVE.

Here's a photo of the bandstand:

This is the lead-singer who kept leaping off the stage to croon at single women in the audience. He was singing to the woman sitting next to me and I couldn't stop laughing.

And just to keep up my rep as a knitting blog, here is proof that I have started on a new project:

I am working on the Fiery Bolero from Interweave Knits Summer 2005. I know, summer is almost over and I am just getting to starting a summer cotton sweater. But I am hoping, since summer has been so hot, fall will be mild and comfortable - perfect for a light sweater!

The concert turned out to be perfect for knitting. I am already now 20 rows into the project. I hope to have it done in the next few weeks. Then it's back to the Harry Potter scarf!

At last - Sockapal-two-za - the "Unpadded Footlet"!

2005-08-16T07:26:00.000-05:00

Well, after several months of procrastinating and two froggings, I present to you, my socks for Sockapal-two-za:

The socks look a bit big, but my sock pal has bigger feet than me. I still need to finish weaving in the ends and apply a bit of light blocking, but at least I know I will make the deadline now.

Project details
Pattern: Padded Footlet from Interweave Knits Summer 2005
Yarn: Kiogu KPM
Modifications: I basically followed the pattern except I omitted the "padded" part of the footlet, since I thought it was pretty confusing. Also, this way my sock pal can wear the socks both in the house and under shoes. The other change I made was to cast on an additional eight stitches because my pal has swollen ankles. I decreased these stitches at the botton of the ribbing becausee otherwise, the sock was gigantic (this accounted for one of the aforementioned rip-outs).

The tops and the back of the socks have a lace pattern, which aren't showing up well since the socks are so big on my feet. Overall, I really liked the pattern. I might try it again, but not before taking a bit of a break from socks :-).

For those of you who can't stop making fun of my Western NY accent

2005-08-15T09:09:00.000-05:00

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

10% Upper Midwestern

10% Yankee

5% Midwestern

0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Finally - The Birthday Shawl is Complete!

2005-08-10T18:16:00.000-05:00

I finally finished the Miracle Shawl - a birthday present for my mother-in-law & also a thank you for all of the knitting paraphenalia that she's given me.

Here are the project details:
Yarn: Classic Elite Miracle in Lady Slipper
Needles: Size 10
Pattern: A pattern I received when I bought the yarn from a knitting shop while on vacation in North Carolina.

I loved the yarn. It's very soft and great to knit with. Creating the shawl was pretty difficult for me, since it's the first time I attempted any type of lace pattern. I also got a bit bored in the middle so I took a break to work on the Harry Potter scarf. As a result, the whole project took me two months.

I gave the shawl to her last weekend and I think she liked it, although SHE ASKED ME IF I COULD MAKE IT RECTANGULAR. I ~~yelled~~ told her I'd make another for Christmas.

Rewards part II

2005-07-28T19:32:00.000-05:00

The other fun knitting-related items that were uncovered in the last few weekends were hilarious patterns from the 1970s.

Reward for helping Mother-in-Law move

2005-07-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

While cleaning up the rooms of my Mother-in-law's old house, we uncovered more knitting goodness! First up, yarn to create several sweaters:

Yes, the second to last bag contains velour. I am thinking pillows maybe???

Which House Are You?

2005-07-18T10:22:00.000-05:00

I'm a Ravenclaw!

No news on the knitting front, I spent the weekend helping my MIL move. While we were cleaning her house, she give me a bunch of patterns from the 1970's (hilarious) and a huge box of yarn that I haven't even had time to go through yet. (Pictures to come!) Since the moving was so physically tiring I wasn't able to make any progress with either the birthday present or the Harry Potter scarf all weekend.

I did appear at the door of Borders at 8:30 in the morning on Saturday expecting to wait in line for the store to open so I could pick up Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I was surprised to see that they were already open and there was no line at all! As soon as I had it, I retired to a cafe so I could greedily read the opening chapter. I know this is completely foolish since my A*mazon order will be here on Wednedsay but I am frankly not that patient. I'll figure out what to do with my A*mazon order when it arrives. I had planned to return the book but it they say that they are giving me $1 off for complaining about its lateness and now returning it just seems peevish. Perhaps I can give it as a gift...

Another Diversion

2005-07-15T12:37:00.000-05:00

I promise that I have made progress on the shawl for my mother-in-law. I am now almost 3/4 of the way through. I've finally gotten used to the lace pattern and have been making far fewer mistakes now than at the beginning. Hopefully she won't notice the random holes at the botton of the shawl where I kept missing the yarn overs. Pictures to come this weekend - really.

MIL's birthday isn't until July 30th so I have been switching between that project and work on a new project. Can you guess what it is?

It's my second knit-along! The scarf from Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban. Thanks to Alison for the idea. This scarf should take awhile to complete - right now I am only 1/6 of the way done (there are 12 stripe pairs in all). It is knit in the round with the ends to be sewn up at the end so it is double-thick. Good mindless knitting for watching television, although it is tough to stick it out with wool when it's 90 degress and humid outside. The goal is to finish the scarf in time to wear when the next movie comes out in November (I'm such a dork).*

The scarf looks a little wrinkled because I have been carrying it around in a birthday present from my sister:

Thanks Marie for the beautiful knitting bag! It has lots of pockets on the inside for carrying around needles and patterns and stich markers with enough left over to conceal the rest of the detritous I carry around every day. This present will be getting much use.

*Somewhat related rant: I ordered book #6 from A*mazon over a month in advance in order to have it delivered on Saturday, the publication date, and YESTERDAY they sent an email saying that it won't be here until next week. I am so bummed. I will be waiting at Borders when it opens on Saturday morning and A*mazon will be getting a piece of my mind - along with the book returned.

Night on the Town

2005-07-08T13:32:00.000-05:00

Last night I went out with some good friends for yummy French food in the West Village. Since we weren't meeting until 8pm, I took the opportunity to visit the newest knitting cafe in NYC - The Point.

The store has a beautiful, varied selection of yarns and so even though I am on a yarn diet I bought one small skein of Lorna's Laces Grace in Sunshine, which reminds me of a baby chick and some lovely stitch markers. I hope that I can fashion a bucket hat out of Grace from Anne Marie's fantastic pattern.

After spending time and money at The Point, I met up with my friends at Le Gigot where we proceeded to eat our weight in delicious French food.

As you can see, we had a great time. Here is Michel and Christine:

Man Yen and Michel:

... and Me and Christine:

Not a particularly flattering picture - I think you can see my tonsils. But you can also see we were having fun!

What's that around my neck? Can it be? A finished object?

Yes, I have taken a break from Mother-in-law's shawl and the practice sock to make something from the lovely Lang Venezia I picked up on my trip to North Carolina.

Here is a wide shot:

...and here I am attempting to show the color details. Sorry for the poor quality photos but I am still learning how to take pictures in low light.

Project Details:
Lang Venezia yarn
Size 15 needles, knit in garter stitch.
I wanted a simple scarf that is lightweight enough for summer and that would show those gorgeous colors.

Sock in progress

2005-06-24T08:52:00.000-05:00

Just to put my sock progress in perspective, here is my first attempt at knitting socks. These were knit using Kiogu and the Tiptoe pattern from knitty.com:

These socks are a gift for my mother, who I will be seeing this weekend. She has bigger feet than me so maybe they could fit, but I am not holding much hope. I will probably end up ripping these out for another try after I finish my current pair.

I am making progress with my second pair of socks. After ripping it out three times, I think I finally found a pattern that didn't result in giant-sized socks. Here is the sock on Monday:

... and here it is today:

Heh. The obligitory partially-finished-sock-on-the-foot shot. I lost the ball band for this yarn but it is fun to knit with self-patterning yarn.

I think the reason I like this pattern so much better is that the dutch heel is much tighter giving the ankle more shaping. Either that or I am getting the hang of socks. Just in time because Sockapalooza has started and I have this summer to turn out a really fantastic pair of socks for my sock buddy. Right now, I am thinking of making this pair from the Summer 2005 Interweave Knits magazine:

I'll keep you posted on my progress there. The padded bottoms might be too challenging for my knitting abilities so if I cannot get the hang of it, I may switch over to Alison's newly posted footie pattern.

A Present for my Mother-in-Law

2005-06-22T13:21:00.000-05:00

My mother-in-law and I do not have ~~anything~~ much in common, so when I started knitting I was happy to try to find some common ground. When I started my first scarf, I immediately brought my first efforts to her house so that she could give me some help. She used to be an amazing knitter who designed clothes for her kids and for all of my sister-in-law's dolls. Now she is getting older and knitting is too tough for her hands but she was very kind in teaching me how to make knits and purls, how to tink back my mistakes, and how to do some beginner patterns.

At the end of the night, she presented me with all of her old knitting gear. She brought down this toolbox FILLED WITH NEEDLES of every size, both circular and straight, some old pattern books, and some leftover yarn. It was a great gift, because starting out knitting can be quite expensive when every new project requires yarn plus a new set of needles.

Since then, I have wanted to find a way to show her how grateful I am but was too shy to knit her anything because I wanted it to be really great. Her birthday is coming up in July and I finally have gotten up the courage to try something new: the Miracle Shawl.

It's made with Classic Elite Yarn Miracle and a pattern that was provided by the yarn shop, but it's my first attempt at lace knitting. So far, I love the color and texture of the yarn and the pattern is pretty forgiving in covering up some of my mistakes. The picture above shows I am 1/4 of the way done. Wish me luck in finishing this before the end of July!

First Ever Blog Post!

2005-06-21T18:00:00.000-05:00

I have been toying with setting up a blog for awhile now. I am a relatively new knitter (started last winter) but already it is taking up so much more of my time and thoughts than I ever expected. My knitting history is the same as most peoples' beginnings, I suspect. I started with lots of Christmas gifts (scarves and hats). I have some photos of these efforts that I will post in my FO section.

I have since moved onto attempt more complex knitting. I have almost finished one disasterous attempt at a sweater that I intend to rip out because I don't like it at all and it seems a waste of yarn to keep something that I will never wear. I have another sweater that I have completed knitting but it has been waiting for seaming for six months.

Last month, I completed my first sweater, a gift for my cousin's honeymoon. I plan on giving it to her this weekend so hopefully it fits!

My favorite completed object is Clapotis. Since this is a must-have among bloggers, I hopefully have earned my street cred with this object. I love it. The color is bright, which is an anomoly in my wardrobe and it is perfect for keeping warm in my air-conditioned office.

Currently, I am trying to tackle socks. I have completed my first pair, a gift for my mother. They look pretty good, but they are quite baggy on me. She has larger legs, so I am hoping they fit her. I am trying to now complete a pair for myself, which I have ripped back three times. I am trying a new pattern this time, so I will keep you posted on their progress. My hope is to complete one perfect pair before I attempt my socks for Sockapalooza. More on these plans at a later date.

Thanks for stopping by!