Boy, did we have a busy weekend! We (finally) got around to having a party Saturday. I say finally because all summer we said we were going to have people over, and every weekend ended up being booked by us or someone else. . .so our summer BBQ turned into early fall. . . . oh well! It was wicked fun, I love having people to the house, and we got to see some folks we haven't seen in quite a long time.
Because of the massive house cleaning and preparing for the party, I didn't get a lot of knitting in, but I did manage to swatch for the Endpaper Mitts. I finally got my KnitPicks order Friday, I'm using KnitPicks Essential. I ordered 4 colors because I couldn't decide on the combination I wanted. I settled on Pine for the MC and Fawn for CC. Of course, right? Who was I fooling thinking I wouldn't use green. . .
Unfortunately, by swatching, I mean FOUR TIMES! I always start with the 'recommended' needles, so I had to finish the first Seeded Rib sock to get my Sz 2s free. Sz 2 was way too tight. .. and I'm not normally that tight a knitter. I felt like was knitting pretty loose being my first time working with two colors, I found it hard to hold the yarn tight. It didn't pucker, so I can't explain it, but I went up to Sz 3, still too tight. . Sz 4, just a little tight. . Sz 5, WAAY to big! Since the pattern says they are supposed to be snug, I'm going to work on the 4s and hopefully they will fit. The two colors isn't as tricky as I thought it'd be. I wanted to try the 'knit one color continental and the other English' method, but it just seemed really natural to me to hold both colors in my left hand and alternate them knitting continental. The only thing I'm finding tricky is keeping the tension on the yarn consistent on both colors. Try as I might, the yarn on my middle finger just stays looser. I suppose it will get better with practice. Now I'm on to learning the tubular cast on to get really started!
Finally, in online yarn store news, I discovered Lambikin's Hideaway. (the URL makes me chuckle because for some reason I read it as lamb-bikini). Anyway, I was looking for the best price for Malabrigo online (Christmas gift scarves!). I knew I could call Imagiknit to order for $10.95, but I wasn't in the mood for chit chatting, I just wanted to order online and Imagiknit didn't have any colors I wanted in the online store. So I googled and checked around. Most places are $13-$15 for Malabrigo, and then shipping, but Lambikin's is $10.95 like Imagiknit and very reasonable shipping ($4.60 for USPS Priority Mail). So I chose 3 colors and placed my order. The best part. . . . honest to gosh. . . . one hour and 4 minutes after I got my order confirmation email. . . I got a 'Your order has shipped' email. That fast!! Talk about responsiveness! You should check it out :)
Sorry for the long post with no pictures :( I'll post my Better Sweater, finished sock & Mitt progress tomorrow.
Here's to a great week!!
Monday, October 15, 2007
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2 comments:
yeah the colorwork tension will get better with practice just like your tension when you first learned to knit. you'll get it. (Not that I have a lot of experience here... I swatched several projects but the squirrel and oak mittens were actually my first official colorwork and they are recent and not all that great. so maybe my telling you is also my telling myself *shrugs*)
I'm glad you posted that link because by the time I got home I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.
we had so much fun at your bbq. We stayed way longer than I thought we would, but Nathan was having so much fun. I hope we get invited to your next party. Will be nice when you guys get to meet Justin.
~Jessica
More malabrigo....yummy!!! I know, I have to make a few more of those wavy scarves before December rolls around!
And for future yarn enabling, check out jimmybeanswool.com for Malabrigo at $10.50 and $4 priority mail shipping (or lucky me when I drove home from Tahoe I stopped by and bought some malabrigo myself!).
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