Myrna pics and FO: slippers!

Just a quickie update;
Myrna is finished and has buttons. I used the skein buttons I ordered from Knitpicks. I really like how the cardy looks on, though there is a bit of a gap with the buttons-yay large breasts, I may have to tighten up the button hole a little bit. Unless someone out there has a suggestion?

 It is very hard to take pictures of oneself. I used the timer setting, but our place has terrible lighting (and it was early evening) I should go outside in the daytime and have someone take pictures of me-but I'm not patient and if I didn't do it now, I'd probably never do it. So, here, have some lousy pictures. I feel like I should put a warning on the blog somewhere "here be crappy pictures", instead of constantly apologizing for the crappy picture. Anyway pics:

Yesterday I knit up some slippers, leethal mary janes.  It's another great free pattern that I found on Ravelry. I wanted to do some stash busting and I've had a couple of balls of Swish Bulky, lying around. I love Swish, it's a superwash Merino, vry vry soft next to the skin and comes in lovely colours and made by knitpicks.  I have made these slippers before but the first time I made them, I didn't trust the sizing so I added a few more rows. I didn't do that this time and was pretty dismayed after finishing the first one to find that it didn't fit. *sad face* I made the second one anyway, figuring I'd offer them up on facebook. Minutes after posting the picture of free slippers, P (who's in town for B's b-day-5 today!!) poked her head in the den and asked if she could have the slippers.
To make these slippers, I used 3 strands of bulky yarn, one black, one called Aegean (a blue-ish green) and the other called Planetarium (which is one of my favourite knitpick colour and is a lovely dark blue). They knit up on US11's so they go fast! I'm so so sad they don't fit! They came out so nice. Lucky P.

Next up: I'm going to choose between two shrugs, one a short sleeve (sport weight, I have some Knitpicks Galileo that I bought last year because it was so pretty but never used), one a long sleeve knit with bulky yarn (that I can use  leftover berroco vintage bulky I've had for a couple of years)...and then maybe make another pair of slippers-making sure to knit a few extra rows this time.

FO:Myrna

I finished Myrna last night. I looove it. It came out (in my opinion) as close to perfect as my knitting will ever be. I took some pre-blocking pictures of the cardy on a hanger which I will share here but I don't have any pictures of it actually on. I have to wait for my buttons. So of course, now I am especially impatient for my buttons to get here, I want to wear my cardy! I'm pretty pleased with how it looks on, and I'm glad I went down a needle size,  as it's meant to be fitted.

 I will definitely make this cardy again. I'd like to use a more luxurious yarn for my next Myrna. I have some Malabrigo Rios that is earmarked for a future Myrna, but at some point I'd like to get some Miss Babs Yowza  (the yarn that Andi Satterlund used for her Myrna) At the moment I'm coveting the colourways  Arya, Lurch, Coventry, Jonquil, Bruin and Beachglass. I'm going to end up with a dozen Myrna's in various colours :)

front: (using a shawl pin in place of buttons)

back:

close-up of the keyhole:

I don't know what my next project is. I can't make another Myrna just yet-doing socks has taught me I cannot happily knit the same project, one after another, I need to do something different. I want to knit a hat with the leftover Cascade 220 but not only do I need to do a different project, I also need to knit with a completely different colour!

Fixing mistakes.

It didn't take long for me to pick up Myrna and re-start the sleeve. The very next day, I started picking up the stitches around the armhole again. This time making sure I started in the right place. I knit the first row,  set up the markers and did about 4 short rows. Then I put the sweater down.
The next day, I knit all the short rows.
The day after that, I decreased, did a row of eyelets, and started ribbing.
And the day after that day, I finished the ribbing and bound off.
 Sleeve:

The sleeve looks awesome. It's not upside down, it's not wonky in any way and as soon as I finished the BO, I rushed to the mirror and tried it on. It looks sooooo cute. I cannot wait until this cardy is done! I'm really excited about it, I feel like this will be my best knitted piece yet. So I'm slowing down and taking my time on the last sleeve and then the final ribbing/ button band. slooooowly. And then I will wash it and wear it ALL.THE.TIME!

 I've not really made anything that I've been completely satisfied with, and I'm so self critical that when wearing something I've knit, I feel very aware of the mistakes that I've made. Logically I know that no one is even really looking at what I'm wearing, and if they do look, they're not going to know it's knitted by me.


I ordered a bunch of buttons from Craftyful:

 Obviously, I have a thing for wooden buttons. As I ordered, I was thinking "M picked up a little box for me and I was wondering what to do with it? OOOH! I'll put my buttons in that pretty little box".

 I may have gone a little overboard, but I figured if I bought a bunch A) I  would qualify for free shipping B) I have other sweaters planned that will need buttons C) it seems kind of silly to order just one 6pack of buttons online D) I can hold up one of each button to the cardy and see which one suits it beast! <--- that typo stays.
I did qualify for free shipping, YAY.  The button selection is pretty fantastic. I perused the rest of their stock, and I'm glad that I couldn't come up with a reason to buy ribbons and fabrics and charms. I could very easily spend way too much money there. In fact, looking at the fabric had me wishing I could sew. I could make my own super awesome dresses! with POCKETS! The last thing I sewed (and first to be fair) was a horribly wonky black sweat shirt that was made for my Home Ec class. It had white at the neckline and sleeves (which I hated, I was not a fan of contrast). I remember hating every minute of sewing, threading the needle, something bobbins something something. Needle getting stuck all the time. Material bunching up. And then it was ill-fitting. Ick. I much preferred the cooking portion of Home Ec. I'm a pretty good baker (except for that time I tried to make gingerbread and had to guessed which of the unlabelled spices were the correct ones-I guessed wrong. Vry vry bad). I seem to recall my mom wearing that weird home ec sweatshirt when she was cleaning up around the house for a couple of years. I should ask her what happened to it.
Anyway, all that money to invest in a hobby that I may suck terribly at? Just meh. Perhaps if I inherited a decent sewing machine and bunches of fabric? That would be the only way I could possibly start sewing. Getting my grandmother's old stuff is what really pushed me from just being interested in knitting to actually trying it.

So later, when on a forum (where I had asked for button shopping ideas) someone suggested I check knitpicks for buttons, I actually went and bought more bloody buttons!

How adorable are those skeins though?  I had to order them!  It was like my mind had completely blanked on my previous purchase. "buy me" they whispered.
Treacherous buttons.

The dumbass post (or the cursing post)

As the title suggests, this is the dumb-ass post. I am the dumb-ass. The dumb-ass to beat all dumb-asses. I've been knitting Myrna, I think I've been doing pretty well, it's coming along quickly (for me). I'm pleased with it.
  Until I hit the first sleeve. last night, I pick up and knit the called for number of stitches. Realize I started in the wrong direction-and the RS of the work is coming out purled. Oops.  So I rip out all the stitches and start again. This time, I'm knitting in the right direction. All is going smoothly. I'm banging out those short rows like nobodies business. Stay up later than usual so I can finish the sleeve up, but midway through the ribbing, I'm nodding. Not wanting to make any foolish (hah) mistakes due to being tired, I put the sweater down and go to bed.
   This morning, as I was getting ready to meet my mom for an early lunch, I had decided to bring the sweater with me on the subway and get some more of the ribbing done.  I go to shove the sweater in the bag when I spot it. It's the first time I had looked at the sweater since putting it away the night before. Something looks...off. Very, very off. "no" I whisper to myself. I rush to the computer, check Ravelry to see other Myrnas-in-progress. And then I have to admit it to myself: I have knitted the fucking sleeve UPSIDE DOWN. Fuckety fuck fuck. The short rows, which were to be knit up at the top of the armhole, have been knit at the bottom of the armhole.
I almost cried.
I threw the sweater across the room.
I ripped out hours of work.
Now I can barely stand to look at it.
Some day I'll find this funny right?



  

Sheep, Myrna and needles!

Browsing on reddit last sunday morning, I came across the cutest thing- so cute I squee'ed out loud. someone had made a mobile! The cutest mobile ever; little knitted sheep and  fence posts that were made from popsicle sticks that had been stained. Just super adorable. I knew I had to make some sheep. Sheep needed to be made. On to Ravelry to spend an hour looking at sheep patterns. Decided on Moss the Sheep by Amanda Berry (which happened to be the pattern the person who made the mobile used iirc)
It is a very easy pattern to follow, comes in two sizes and I did not mind paying for this pattern one bit.
Look at my wee sheep!

 Sheep next to fattycat for scale

Sheep with other knitted toys

If I could find a free llama pattern, my life would be complete. 


After the sheep, I was able to return to Myrna.
I'm really enjoying the construction of this cardy. I've been following the pattern the way it's written so that's a change for me. Generally, when I make cardies, I knit the front pieces first or the sleeves (using those as my gauge swatch-and figuring blocking will help me when finished haha). I'm knitting Myrna on my interchangeables, which is convenient when it comes to putting stitches on hold, I just take the needle tips off the cord, cap the ends, get a new cord and go!
Some pictures of Myrna in progress.
Back on hold:

 Back and right upper front on hold:

 Back and Front on hold...accidental fallopian tubes!

It's coming along nicely...I did have some issues with the shaping at the left arm. I was off a couple of stitches and realized I had a series of increases that I missed and I had to tink back 6 rows. Argh. I've been watching a lot of documentaries lately, and when I made the mistake I was watching Thin (2006) It was so engrossing, i'm surprised I didn't mess things up worse!


Needles:
Knitpicks was the first online knitting store I discovered. Up until then I had been using my grandmothers's old metal needles, or the cheaply made bamboo needles from walmart that were not making my knitting any easier, so I took to the internets! Not just for purchasing but to get an idea of what everyone else used.  I thought the Harmony needles were so very lovely. I asked for and received  a set of straights for xmas. I liked how sharp the points were compared to those cheapy walmart needles, butthey were so long they were hard to knit with. I used to stick the ends under my armpits, which was fairly uncomfortable.
Once, after knitting a big piece on a long straight needle and feeling like it was taking a long time, and being hard on my wrists and shoulders, I got the brilliant idea to move the piece (i think i was knitting a pillow?) to some cheapy circs and knit as if the circs were straight.The cord actually seemed to take some weight off the project and my wrists and shouders didn't hurt anymore!  But the cheapy circs had terribly blunt points and the cord kept popping off. Back to the knitpicks site to look into their circulars . And it was then that I discovered interchangeables! it was like an epiphany. Buy the tips I need, a couple of cords and no need to buy anymore straights, or the many different sized fixed circulars with their many different length cords. Over a couple of years, I've purchased (and had some purchased as gifts) all the sizes of interchangeable tips-I now have a full set plus a couple of doubles (in the sizes I use most) I have some Sunstruck, some Harmony (before they were made in China) and a couple of the Caspians (too pretty to resist) but I also have some interchangeable tips made by Knitters Pride as they are interchangeable interchangeables (hahaha).  I've read on a couple of forums that people have had problems with the knitpicks interchangeables, but I've been lucky with mine. I love them, and they are all I knit with now.  Unless of course, I'm knitting small items in the round, then I prefer DPNS.

Now off to bed!

FO! Silky Drops socks

It's difficult taking good pictures of yourself wearing socks.  So a refresher, this sock is  silky drops and I knit it in Kargil by Couleurs Mouton in Girolle. It's a nice yarn to knit with, easy on the hands and very soft. I didn't notice much splitting. I would definitely buy this yarn again. It really does feel lovely on.
 I finished the second sock about 10 minutes ago. Just in time to give them to my daughter A for her birthday. Today.  I sent my older daughter, P, the Garter Waves socks for her birthday a couple of days ago. 

So now I have two socks still on the needles. And no desire at the moment to finish them. The only reason I finished Silky Drops was because A mentioned how much she loved the finished sock. 

The reason I don't want to knit anything else at the moment is because I just started knitting the Myrna Cardy. I love the look of this little cardy, and I really hope I can do a decent job on this one. I'm using Cascade 220 in Dusty Rose. Not a colour I've ever owned or worn, but I have a couple of dresses that I think would compliment this colour cardy. (or vice versa). I sort of did a gauge swatch, in a very lazy way and went down a size from US8 to US7 needles. So, fingers crossed. And if it doesn't work out, the next time I will definitely do a gauge watch.
 The construction of the cardy seems pretty straightforward. There's a nifty keyhole detail at the back-that was pretty cool to knit.

I also learned something new-how to do a proper M1. I know how to increase by doing a cast on, and by doing a KFB (knit front and back). But I always thought a M1 was a way of saying increase however you want. But because I really want this cardy to turn out well, I looked up anM1 by chemknits M1. I watched this video chemknits M1 tutorial  (I generally prefer video tutorials over written because I'm a visual person) How simple, how effective. I can't believe I didn't know this. Anyway, I rocked it.

The Cascade 220 is the yarn I picked up this past weekend at my LYS. Cascade is already pretty affordable, but add a 20% discount? I'm kind of mad I didn't buy more.  I also picked up some Malabrigo Rios (which was 40% off-sweeeeet) I've never knit with Rios, only Malabrigo sock and Worsted. If my Cascade 220 Myrna goes well, I'll probably knit another one in the Rios. The colour way is Plomo and it's a rich grey-like the sky just before a thunderstorm. Which would also look lovely with my dresses and jeans.

Cascade 220-Dusty Rose:

Malabrigo Rios-Plomo:

Oh, and before I go off to wrap presents, some pictures of One Skein Wonder on:

'

Til next time!

Wow!

My blog has had 500 views since I started writing in January. Thanks to any and all who have been reading!

To celebrate I went to my LYS and bought some yarn! It's nice when a reason to celebrate coincides with a yarn sale ;)

FO: One Skein Wonder

Tuesday (or maybe it was Wednesday) I started knitting Stefanie Japel's  one-skein-wonder. I finished it this morning.  It wasn't a one skein for me,  if you're on the larger size, I'd recommend having a little extra yardage. It was, as advertised, a quick and easy knit. 
EXCEPT  the seed stitch. I've said it before, I hate seed stitch. I like how it looks, and technically speaking I know how to knit seed stitch. Invariably though, I end up with ribbing. I've watched numerous videos. I've knit seed stitch swatches. I can "read" my knitting. Ive kept track in a notebook...I start off okay and then i notice I'm ribbing. Or I've got little patches of ribbing in between seed stitch.  It doesn't matter if I'm not distracted, or if I'm talking with friends, or watching tv, seed stitch just doesn't happen for me.  If I could find a friend willing to do any and all seed stitch and then let me knit the rest, I would.

Anyway, the seed stitch on OSW is minimal and I still messed it up, so I had to tink back. Cursing all the while. Fuck seed stitch, I'm going to do ribbing. Easy peasy!

 Pretty MadelineTosh in Georgia O'Keefe:

 Starting OSW: 

Close up of the colours:

A little seaming and some sleeves!

All around ribbing and then binding off:

Back view: (bonus: unkempt toes!)

Front view:

I'm letting it soak in some Eucalan at the moment. After it dries I'll take a picture of it on-it's very cute. I may make some more in different colours.

I'm not sure what to start knitting now. Maybe I'll take a break for a couple of days, decide if I feel like knitting anything. I still have socks on needles to finish and lots of stash yarn. I've been eyeing  miette for months but it doesn't come in my size and i'm not confident enough to adjust the pattern. I wish wish wish someone would come along and add just one size up!
After some casual looking on Ravelry, it seems as if the woman who wrote Miette also wrote a pattern called myrna. Very cute little cardigan and it comes in a wider range of sizes. hrmmm...would need to do some yarn shopping though. I'd like to have a little cardy in either a very pale pink or a deep cerise-not fuschia or cotton candy.


Oh! I almost forgot, pictures of yarn brought back from Scotland and Ireland:

Isn't that grey yarn just stunning? It's very soft. I'm going to try and find out what kind of yarn it is through ravelry. The blue yarn looks to be an aran weight, so maybe a hat and mitts, or double (or triple) it up and make some slippers. The grey yarn looks like a dk weight, or very light worsted-and I have no idea what to do with it. It's very lovely.