Briar Fiber

Fresh off the needles this morning! I maded this for me ma. She was so worth the stabbing pains in my wrists.

Pattern: Crystalline Shawl by Jade Sapphire
Needles: US sz6 Addi Natura
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Moose Creek colorway (about 1 2/3 skeins)

Full shawl laid out after being unpinned.

Close up of upper portion.

Close up of lower portion with edging.

Notes:

I started this shawl about two weeks before school started (about the end of August). I zipped through the first half in one weekend, and then I just sort of picked it up here and there when I thought about it or had time. This is a painfully easy pattern. Nonetheless, I still managed to fudge things here and there. My biggest mistake made was forgetting a yarn over now and again. As long as I caught it on the next knit or purl round, it was simple to pick up a YO as if it were never missed.

The only alterations made to the pattern were the dropping of the last 4 rows of pattern on the wide bottom edge. Reason? After knitting back and forth on 300+ stitches for what seemed like fricking FOREVER I was just sick of the damned thing and wanted to be done with it. The edging as written did contain two mistakes, and that was remedied by placing an extra decrease on the rounds where it was SUPPOSED to be decreasing to make the points (or I suppose valley).

Blocking this thing was a pain in the ass. It took about 4 false starts before I was finally able to get everything where it should be. Despite the few quibbles this was still a fun, slightly mindless pattern to knit. I’d definitely suggest for anyone that was just venturing into lace and wanted something more challenging than, say, Branching Out.

My, my, my–where the hell did the last few months go?! For those of you out there paying any attention, I am still alive. Working + School = NO LIFE, though I’m sure you’ve already heard the gripe before. Knitting? A scarf. Yes, in three months I have knit A scarf. The only reason I was even able to knit that scarf is because I did it while sitting with my gramma at her death-bed. (Is that supposed to be one word?) I did the same thing with my grampa, only that was a pair of socks (first socks, in fact). Anything to keep my mind elsewhere, I suppose. So yeah, a couple of weeks ago my gramma also passed. It was a very, very peaceful passing though, so there wasn’t quite the upset like when my grampa died.

SO yeah, I’ve been mulling over the fact that two seemingly permanant fixtures in my life are now gone. Really, together they made one big fixture, so it’s even more awkward. How random and depressing, I know, but there you have it. I’ve been up to nothing fun. School, Work, and Death (and Life too). What have the rest of you been up to?

i give you this pic of me spinning. That’s it. I know I havent been around, I’ve just been busy as hell. SO busy I havent even been knitting really.

ps anyone have any clue what the fuck the “world renound” triple lindee patern” is thats being left as spam everywhere?

Guess who’s not dead? Me!! I’m making a bulleted post because I’m frigging tired and lazy as hell. If you’re looking for pictures, then I’m terribly sorry to dissapoint, but there arent any.

• There has been knitting! Heathers sock is on the grow (I’ve been knitting on it when I can in class and on breaks at work), and becaue I hate myself I’ve started that other scarf that I’m pretty sure that mentioned a post back. Or maybe I didn’t. It’s gonna be hawt when it’s done!
• Being a retail slave isn’t as terribly as I thought it would be, even if it pays jack-shit. The minimum wage in WI goes up to 6.50 on the 1st of June so here’s hoping that I get to see a pay increase! I”ve been working eleventy billion hours, but it’s my own fault. Training is sparse in the land of retail apparently, so I would have to ask to come in on my days off so I could work and learn new things. I hope you all get to enjoy your holiday weekends, because I have to work all of mine.
• I hate myself for it, but I may have to drop out of the Sweaters From Camp Knit-Along. Fair Isle just wont be happening for me at this point in my life, unless its something smaller. I’ve decided that if I don’t get everything cast and readied within the next week or so, that I’m going to concede and use the yarn I havent dyed yet, along with the Celtic Knots charts to make me some kick ass socks. Certainly not a sweater, but much better than having the materials and doing NOTHING with them.
• I need to get my hands on a copy of Elizabeth Lavold’s Viking Patterns for Knitters. I specifically want to see how she did mitered corners with cabled patterns, and then I want the book to go away. It looks as thought it’s trapped in my library system until the end of time, and I’m too impatient for that. I may just buy the damn thing, but I just don’t know if it’s worth the $15 I can get it for. Anyone out there with this book have anything good to say?

Pictures of something soon, I promise.

And there you have it. I have become the most boring person in the universe. I need a drink!

I know it’s not a word, but it’s sooo how I feel right now. Nothing new to show and tell. You all may feel free to pelt me with stones for not responding to your comments in a timely and polite manner. I suck, I know. Truth be told, I don’t know my head from my ass anymore! Finals are this week, which means lots of cramming and relearning info that I’d previously only remembered long enough to pass a single exam. You know what I’m talkinig about. Hmm? The point? Oh, it’s that I sincerely appreciate your comments, and they are not going unnoticed.

Knitting Front

Heather’s sock will not grow. I’ve decided that the laws of physics are eating the yarn, or something. I’m half tempted to throw a tantrum and mail poor Heather one finished sock and one barely finished sock still on the needles. I’m thinking that she’d hire someone here in the states to harpoon me with dpns, however, so I won’t be doing that.
I’ve, fortunately, convinced a friend of mine that fug-fur is indeed fug, and that Riattro is really as novelty as anyone should ever get. This pleases me to no end as she commisioned a scarf from me and she wanted “classy novelty yarn”. And by “classy novelty” she meant fug-fur. *shivers* Yeah, I don’t know where I’m going with this. I’m not knitting fug-fur.

The new Interweave came to my house today. I’m sure plenty of you have seen the preview already. I have mixed feelings on this issue, as I did on the last one. I don’t know what’s going on over at IK, but the picture quality has really been going down the hill. It seems they’re going for more of the artsy blurry shots than anything clear and usable. It’s hard to tell whether I like half of the patterns or not! Hell, Vogue uses models that are painted to look like cracked out dryads in fucked up geometric scenes straight out of a Seusian acid trip, and yet they manage to provide clear photos of the knitted pieces, so why can’t IK? That being said, I think that I like the Cambrige Jacket. The picture sucks, but it’s easy enough to see what it looks like. I have 8 skeins of Cascade Sierra floating around that might work quite well for that piece. I just not sure… Maybe if the picture weren’t taken in the broom closet of a coffee shop I’d be able to tell better. Whatever.

Well, I’m off to study for finals. Good luck to those who are in the same boat as me, final-wise.

WARNING: Terribly disjointed post following. Forgive lack of proper continuity.

Lordy it’s been too long. I’m sure I said it before, but I had always thought that the people whose knitting blogs that I came across that always went on hiatus when school was in session were just being silly. Oh how wrong I was! It’s odd, the little free time I do have now, I just don’t really want to spend doing anything. I want to do NOTHING. Who knew that thinking and learning could tear you up so easily.

It appears as though I will definitely be failing trig, which is terribly disappointed as I KNOW it(trig I mean), so therefore can’t understand why I’m doing so poorly. I’ll chalk it up to being rusty and take it over this summer. I’m almost thinking this is one of those cases of a student’s learning style clashing with a teacher’s teachng/test style. IF I were tested on what we actually did for homework, I think I’d be okay, but as it is the tests are on hypothetical advanced equations that are briefly looked at here and there during lecture.

But yeah, there has been a little bit of knitting going on around here. I finally started Heather’s other sock, though I’m stuck in one of those “knit for 3 hours and still only have 2 inches” type time tears.

I swear, it’s going to be done before summer hits. These socks are so meant for spring that I HAVE to finish them before then.

I also randomly decided to knit a little purse thingy (for no discernable reason) out of some Daria Multi.

Sorry for the asstastic shot. I could not get this thing to photograph well at all. I don’t know what I could do to make it do what it’s supposed to, but there it is. All I have left to do to finish it is sew on a button, and weave in the ends. This will likely sit unfinished until I find a groovy button to go with it. I’ve no idea who’s going to be getting the bag when it’s done, though.

That birthday I mentioned? It was my mom’s 50th. I appreciate all of the belated birthday wishes none-the-less, however. It was the usual affair, family members every where, dinner blah blah blah, but I made the cake! Her favorite cake in the world is a white cake filled with strawberries with a whipped cream frosting (no, not cool whip). Considering that I made this cake with far from professional tools, a limited ammount of time, and while hung-over, I’m very pleased with the way it came out.

Most importantly, my mom loved it, and that’s all that really matters. By the way? If you ever get the chance, DO make your own whipped cream. It kicks the shit out of Cool Whip any day of the week.

I received a super fabulous package in the mail from the wondrous Mrs M. This is too delicious, and yes, you should be jealous.

Folk socks by Nancy Bush (as you can plainly see, and once again, I cannot recommend this book enough) two delicious skeins of Footpath sock yarn(this stuff is simply delish, and coincidentally in one of my fave colours) and a delish ball of Guernsey 5 ply. And as if that wasn’t fabulous enough, check this out:

She had Folk Socks inscribed for me by Nancy Bush herself! Too cool, huh? It’s hard to adequately show the appreciation that such a gift deserves through typed media, but rest assured, I am glowing inside (still). Thanks again, M!

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about this already, but last month I went up to Viroqua to visit Kindred Threads. I happened upon them while looking for places that actually selll spinning wheels that may be close to me (I wanted to meet a few in person), and I have to say that it’s quite a lovely shop. Though the spinning wheel selection wasn’t fabulous, I now know that I definitely don’t want a Louet or Schact. The fiber selection, however, was fantastic. Most of the fibers to be had were locally grown and processed (local anything always pleases me to no end) and dyed there in the shop itself. There were plenty of lovely handspun yarns for sale as well, along with the usual high-end yarns you’d expect to see in a decent yarn shop. I would definitely tell anyone that’s visiting this area to head on over. The owner (whose name escapes me at the moment) was very “earthy” and a delight to speak with. Though I drooled muchly, I only came away with two balls of roving.

The one on the left is hand dyed merino (about 6 oz, I believe), and the one on the right is a delicious natural brown corriedale (roughly 3.5 oz). The prices are rediculously cheap ( I believe I payed $17 for everything I got), and Tipper? They have TONS of alpaca. Just another reason for you to come back this way, babe.

Okay, I think that about covers everything I need to say at the moment. As everyone else seems to be shitting themselves over daffodils pushing their ugly little yellow heads out of the ground, thus heralding spring I think I should share the bit of spring that I have occuring in my kitchen.

This sweet little thing went to sleep for the winter and is now awakening for the spring. What is she, you might ask? Deadly Nightshade.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

It’s been almost a freaking month since my last post! There’s been knitting, and living, and failing and tests, and not-sleeping, and baking, and a birthday, and fabulous packages recieved, and more (oh my!).

But, this is one of those not-sleeping 72 hour periods, so I’ll be arsed if I can keep my eyes focused long enough to tell you all about it. I have 2 exams coming up, but I swear there will be a post before friday.

Oh, and a PSA before I head out:

If you aspire to do magical things with socks then you NEED Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. NO really, you do. It’s magically delicious in every way you can possibly think and then some!

Crazy title, I know. It’s midterm week for me here at Chez Briar and one of my exams is in chemistry. I woke up from a nightmare last night because I was an elemental silver atom and Mark was trying to steal my electrons to make me into an ion, that bitch! Maybe I’m studying too much? In any case, that’s what I’ll be doing all week, so little to no knitting for me.

I was surprised to see that many of you liked the Dirty Dishrag yarn! I mean, I personally like it, but as it was a mistake I was really expecting the “I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it!” types of comments. So what have I learned? You all have awesome taste as I really like Dirty Dishrag myself. In any case, I’ve accidently taught myself how to make variegated-ish yarn. I’ve only had the time to dye 2 more skeins of needed yarn (both brown, and both too boring to show), and actually no knitting has gotten done. None. Can you believe that?!

An aside to Maria–I emailed you from a different account, did you get the email? If not just ask your questions in the comments and I’ll answer them here as soon as I can.

That’s it folks. Spring break is next week and some REAL knitting is going to get done around here!

–throw a major tantrum in which you throw things across the room and scare every small animal within miles away forever. Or you can just realize that you just can’t deal with what you have on your plate at the moment and move onto another dish entirely. I’ve done the latter even though I sorely wanted to do the first.

Observe:

I’ve decided that I am NOT going to do the Celtic Knots Raglan. Oh, I’ll do it in the future, I just don’t want to futz around with it right now to get it to such a state that I want to look at it. For now, it’s forever (forever being a time relative to my fickle and ever-changing mood) on hold. The yarn that was reserved just for it will not go to waste however. What you see above is the beginning of the dyeing process. I will dye my yarn (I suppose it’s really over-dyeing) until I have enough colors to make the Afghanistan Rug Jacket. That pattern requires little to no futzing, and I wanted to make it anyway. I’m just being super frugal and dyeing instead of spending more.

The skein on the left is the very first skein of yarn I’ve dyed-ever. As such it didn’t turn out as I wanted, but I like it anyway. My friend Bobby aptly named the color Dirty Dishrag. The second skein is where I figured out what I was doing. That’s exactly the color I wanted out of it and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. So there you have it. Celtic Raglan out, Rug Jacket in. Oh, and yeah, that’s a baby swatch for the rug jacket on the bottom. Woot.

Christ, it’s been 11 days since I’ve last posted and I havent gotten anything done, it would seem. I managed to dig up the other ball of koigu* for Heather’s sooper seekret sock, and its now being inched closer and closer towards my project basket. Eventually the needles will meet the yarn there and something real will happen!

I’ve started my Celtic Knots Raglan for the SFCKAL twice, now. I ripped it out the first time because I followed the instructions and got something ugly, and now that I’m ignoring a couple instructions, it’s still ugly, but I’m not ripping it out. Either I’m completely fucktarded, or the creator of this pattern is the sort of person that enjoys taking candy from children while kicking puppies. I’m only 4 rows into the damned pattern, but they’re 4 rows that are hard won with lots of increases literally on top of increases (ugly and holey) and wonky short rowing instructions that I now wish I’d had the good sense to ignore and substitute my own not-odd-and-full-of-holes method. Or maybe I’ve completely and totally misread the instructions and I’m not as talented a knitter as I thought.

Though it’s not much, it took far more time than I care to admit (the damned purl rows!). You will, at this time, kindly ignore the uneven tension. There is a great possibility that I’ll be ripping this out and starting over. The pattern as written is just frigging weird, and I’m not liking the results. I know there’s another person knitting this sweater, so I half want to hold out and see what she does.

Anyway, here’s my problems thus far. I’ll give you a fabulously (zomg its so bad) made image of where shit is so you can understand what I’m talking about, and then slap me if I’m just being dumb. Ready? Okay!

All of those little dashes are markers that I was supposed to place as I worked the very first raglan increase round. Super kosher and easy. That horrific pink blobby marker is the starting marker. 4 sections of 5 are the raglan strips, the two sections of 16 are the arms, the section of 48 is the back, the section of 24 is the front neck, the two sections of 8 are where the short rows are to take place, and the 2 sections of 4, well they’re just part of the front. Now you know what everything is.

After you place the markers all the way around, you’re supposed to drop the beginning marker. No biggy, except it sorta tells you where the short rows begin on that side. That was my first mistake. Then you’re supposed to knit across the shoulders and back to the first marker of the 8 stitch section on the opposite side. You drop the marker, knit one in pattern, slip one, replace the marker, and wrap and turn and purl back to the other first marker (you know, the one we just dropped) and do the same. Rinse, lather, repeat. Am I maybe misreading that somehow? I’m assuming that when you knit back that you’re supposed to knit up the wrapped stitch from the previous turn before you wrap the next. I mean, the short row placement in such a way makes sense for symetry, but damn does it look ugly when you knit those wraps up.

I’m trying to decide if it would look bad if I worked the short rows starting with the stitch at the end of the 8 stitch section (on the neck edge), and worked out from there, then knitting up all of the wraps in on fell swoop like you normally would. I’m having a hard time picturing it though, so I’ll likely make a swatch. I’m also wondering if maybe that was what she really wanted me do, but if that was the case, why move that marker around at all? Meh. Someone tell me something!

Do be brutally honest. I don’t learn by people sitting idly by and clucking to themselves while leaving me in the dark. If I’m being a fucktard, let me know!

Oh, for those that asked about the sock pattern–yes I’ll be writing up the whole thing when I’m done. The pattern stitch is called Open and Closed Fans, and can be found in Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns, if you just cant wait and want at least that.