Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Happy Blogiversary!





Today is my 1 year blogiversary. So much has happened in that time knitting-wise. In chronological order here are events I attended or other things I accomplished:




1) Started UES Knitters on Yahoo groups (July/August '06)
2) Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival (September '06)

3) New York City Knit-out (September '06)
4) New York Sheep and Wool Festival (October '06)
5) Won jar cozy contest with tuxedo jar cozy co-designed with JF (November '06)
6) Got my sock pattern "Arrowhead Socks" accepted for publication (November '06)
7) Went to WEBS up in Mass (Ok, it's just a yarn store but it's an experience in itself!)
8) Got my sweater sweater pattern "Retropolitan Cardigan" accepted for publication (December '06)
9) Started making stitch markers and opened my own Etsy shop: Code Purl (Feb '07)
10)Yarn Harlot's book launch at FIT (March '07)
11) Adopted a cat (Hey, that's knitting related...sorta; April '07)
12) Radical Knitting and Subversive Lace exhibit (April '07)
13) Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (Noticing a pattern here? May '07)

14) Broke the sweater curse! (May '07)
15) Secret Feet Exchange (June '07)
16) Moved UES Knitters to Meetup.com (July '07)
17) Stitch 'n Pitch (August '07)

Of course I knit a bunch of stuff in between all that running around! Excuse me for tooting my own horn but, hey, it's my blogiversary and I'll brag if I want to :-) I'm looking forward to doing so much more in my second year of blogging. Stay tuned...

Monday, August 27, 2007

Holey Increases!



I'm designing a baby sweater and figured I'd try to save time by knitting the sleeves in the round. I don't know if I was doing something wrong but I noticed that all the stitches that were increased were looking stretched out. For some unknown reason I just kept on going deciding I was being too critical of myself and, if anything, the uneven stitches would smooth out with blocking. Keep in mind I was also trying to be fancy by doing the sleeves 2 at a time on 2 circs.



I was off work one day and had gotten several inches done before JF came home and gave me a reality check. These sleeves just weren't up to par with my usual work. Part of the problem was the ladders that were created where the 1st needle left off and the 2nd needle began. Sticking increases in the same area didn't help things any. I did try periodically to move the stitches around on my needles so the join wasn't always in the same place. However, since I was doing both sleeves at the same time one sleeve became trapped in the middle and I was only able to move the stitches from one needle to the other if I removed it completely from the needle and put it back on in another spot.

I finally gave up on my experiment and admitted I just needed to do the sleeves flat and probably one at a time. The concept of doing both sleeves at the same time is so that you are certain you have done the same number of rows on each sleeve. This is more exact than simply measuring 8 inches or however long your sleeve is. I tend to get confused with this method and end up increasing where I shouldn't or continuing to knit Sleeve #1 when I should be on Sleeve #2.

Anyone out there in blogland have similar problems? If you have any tips on how to deal with this problem I'd love to hear them. I hate having to sew sleeve seams!!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

A New Toy!



I ordered yarn from my new favorite website: Jimmy Beans Wool and couldn't help ordering this cute cake tape measure from Lantern Moon.




Of course it's not like I really need another tape measure since I have the Lantern Moon sheep amongst at least 5 other cute ones and a few plain ones. Yet somehow I can never seem to find one handy when there's something to measure!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Stitch n' Pitch!



I had a great time at Stitch n' Pitch last Wednesday at Shea Stadium. The day got off to a rocky start when a freak tornado hit NYC and flooded the subways during early morning rush hour. I couldn't make it into work at all as my subway line was down the whole day and the traffic was a nightmare. People commuted for 3-4 hours that day!



I had to contact everyone in Upper East Side Knitters who was going to the game to have them meet me right at Shea instead of at Grand Central as we had planned. Fortunately the 7 line was still running since it was above ground and I was able to get a bus to pick it up at Roosevelt Ave. As you can see above the stadium was packed.




We received these knitting goodie bags full of free yarn, patterns, and the summer issues of Interweave Knits and Knit.1 magazine! Debbie Stoller, Nicky Epstein, and Lily Chin were at the table greeting people.




It was really exciting sitting in the stands and spotting knitters throughout the crowd. The last time I knitted at a baseball game everyone was looking at me like I had two heads!




Here's Aruni stealing sideways glances at Alex's pattern.




Alex's friend Megan was working on the kick-ass sock you saw in the pic above.




Megan was whipping up a pair of wrist warmers in Mets colors with help from her friend Amy.



Here's a zoomed in pic of a woman in the crowd who apparently had crocheted a hat in Mets blue and orange just for the occasion. As for the game itself the Mets were down a few runs to the Braves about halfway in then rallied back to win it 4-3. As if being at a baseball game with hundreds of knitters wasn't exciting enough!

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Stitch n' Pitch: Here I come!

I'm going to Stitch n' Pitch at Shea Stadium tomorrow with my group The Upper East Side Knitters. We have 9 people going-boo ya! Here's a version of that popular 7th inning stretch song I wrote for the occasion:

Take me out to the ballgame,
Count your stitches out loud.
Buy me some Koigu and Noro yarn,
I can't wait 'till it's time to cast on!

Let me knit, knit, knit for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three dropped stitches you're out,
At the old ball game!

Stay tuned for pics...

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Baby Fever



When I was coming off my sock phase and starting on a mittens jag last winter I announced, "Mittens are the new socks!" Well lately all my knitting has been baby related. Are babies the new mittens?

I made the above hat for my friend and former co-worker Rachel's baby. I knew she was pregnant back in December and even bought the yarn soon after. It wasn't until July I realized that the baby would arrive soon looking for his hat!

It's the same yarn (Louisa Harding's Kimono Angora) and basically the same pattern I designed for A-M's baby's hat. I used brighter yarn with more male appropriate colors and ix-nayed the bow. After I finished it I realized it might be a tad impractical for a summer baby but all babies need hats when the AC is blowing, right?





She delivered the baby in the same hospital I work at so I was able to visit her when she was first admitted for observation and then once she had delivered. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the baby in person or try it on him since there were some minor complications and he needed to stay in the nursery. But I saw the pics her husband had taken on his camera and the baby was really cute. I think my friend was actually more upset than I was that she couldn't show me and my co-worker her new baby.

In other baby Knitting Knews the Feather and Fan Baby Blanket is nearly ready to be bound off. The baby cardigan with matching feather and fan trim has the body and 1 arm completed. Good thing because my niece is due in October and the baby shower is next month. Wow, time really flies. My future sister-in-law is requesting a sweater for her two year old this winter since the one I made a couple years back was such a hit. The baby knitting never stops!