I got rhythm!

May 7, 2007 By

Who could ask for anything more?!


Sock modeled by my own personalized Leggy Creations Sock Blocker!
A fabulous birthday gift from Margene!

I finished my first Monkey Sock, and I’ve got to tell you, this could be my new Jaywalker. It’s got everything I love in a knit – especially in a sock. First off, it’s FAST. The repeat is only 11 rows so by the time you’ve knit four rows you’re like oh my god I might as well finish the repeat. And there are only six repeats for the cuff so you can polish them off and be ready to split for the heel in no time at all. The pattern lulls you into the perfect rhythm that makes you knit faster and faster. Like the Jaywalker pattern. Like miters. Apparently, I like to be hypnotized by my knits.


STR Lightweight, Rare Gem Colorway

While there is purling in the sock (I actually like to purl very much – but I HATE purling in a sock – I think, really, I hate ribbing in the round and on such small needles. Actually, I hate ribbing ALL the time.), for some reason it’s not bothering me. I love how they fit – nice and tight. I did the twisted rib and the first two repeats on size 2s, like the pattern calls for, but then I went down to 1s for the rest of the sock. They’re a little tight getting over the heel – but just like my Jaywalkers – they’re nice and snug and they stay up GREAT!

The foot is actually a smidge long – but otherwise I’d have to cut out a whole repeat and I’m not doing that – so they’re a smidge long. No biggie. I’m already lining up all of my old skeins of STR (in the 325 yd put up) to make Monkeys! I think if I drop one of the repeats out of the cuff I’ll be good to go. When I held them up to a pair of my Jaywalkers, the length is perfect with five repeats. I’ve got JUST the yarn to try too. WHOO HOO! Time for some sock knitting yessireebob!

As soon as I finished the first sock, I cast on for the second. In no time at all, I have five repeats under my belt.

I’m gonna have a pair of socks before I know it! Just in time for Summer! 😉

Filed Under: Monkey Socks, Socks

Introducing…

May 4, 2007 By

a collection of 12 notecards

four distinct images – celebrating fiber and color

Box of twelve press printed notecards, three of each image. 5″x7″ glossy card stock. Blank inside. Envelopes included with each box. $27.50 per box. $5.00 shipping and handling charge added to each purchase. Shipped by USPS Priority Mail. Please allow up to two weeks for delivery. (Further shipping charges may be added when you purchase more than three boxes, or you live outside of the Continental US.)




Filed Under: For Sale

Be True

May 3, 2007 By

When in doubt, always, ALWAYS – and really – I can’t stress this enough – ALWAYS! – go with what you know.


Socks That Rock, Rare Gem Colorway

KT hit it right on the head with this comment yesterday: “Aren’t you the one who was just telling me that you only knit for yourself? My world is in disarray. I’m confused.” YES!! YES!!!!! I ONLY KNIT FOR MYSELF!

Why did I forget that? There are many EXCELLENT reasons that I basically knit for myself. It wasn’t always that way, but more and more and more it’s become my reality. A reality I’m very happy with. I wanted to try linen and handtowels and maybe I’ll still make a few for myself – but for now this project is deader than a door nail. I’ve never duplicate stitched and I don’t want to rework a chart and I tried this thing and it didn’t come out the perfect way it would need to come out for me to present it to my cousin in front of all the women in my family and besides, I can’t give a gift that’s not perfect, handmade or not. There was ALWAYS another gift – my sisters and I were ALWAYS going in on something off the registry – this was going to be my little side gift. No harm, no foul. What a relief!

Once I came to my senses, I did what any sane person would do and went trolling through my considerable STR stash. I’ve got stuff in there I don’t even remember. Collector’s Items at this point. I knew the pattern I was going to knit – I’ve been wanting to knit this sock for awhile – and I knew the type of yarn I wanted (something with a lot of colors and short repeats) so I went diving and came up with this:


MONKEY SOCKS! By Cookie A! YAY!

I cast on late afternoon yesterday. I started the socks on Addi Size 2s – I like to do my ribbing on a bigger needle – and actually continued on 2s for two repeats of the lace pattern. (A lesson I learned from this sock.) I then switched to Addi 1s and did another two repeats. The pattern calls for six repeats – only 22 rows and I split for the heel! Now that’s a sock I like! I love this yarn, it goes without saying, but I really love this colorway. Mostly because it’s MINE ALL MINE! Rare Gems are mistakes gone gold in the STR world – no two Rare Gems are alike so no one anywhere will ever have this colorway EVER. MWHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The pattern rocks – it’s easy – not too much purling (for some reason I have an aversion to purling in sock patterns. Actually it’s just that I abhor ribbing.) And I’m loving the effect. I’m thinking it will be nice with some of my other handpainted coughnotstrcough yarns. What? Did you say something? What?

Honestly, I really would’ve loved to have gone back to the Katharine Hepburn Cardigan – but I have to read my knitting and figure out the pattern again and where I am and what I need to do. I was just about to finish the back and I was doing some alterations to the pattern and I need to check my notes (fingers crossed I remembered to write everything down.)

In the meantime, it’s just like riding a bike.

Some random stuff to talk about:

— Mark your calendars! WE HAVE A DATE! Spin Out will be Saturday, September 29, 2007 – Central Park, Cherry Hill Fountain, 11-4. Much more information to come in the next month or so, but thought I should mention this now. I received the permit last week or so and wanted to get it out there.

— NEW SOCK CLUB! Linda LaBelle, owner of The Yarn Tree in Brooklyn, NY, let me know about a new sock club she’s started: A Sock Club For All Seasons. What makes this club stand out from some of the others is the talent she’s got lined up – Cheryl Shaefer, Darlene Hays, Nancy Finn, Lori Lawson and others. These are PREMIER fiber artists and for some of them, their yarn is very difficult to get your hands on. There are lots of other goodies that come along with the yarn. Check out The Yarn Tree for more information.

— RAVELRY! Generally I’m one of those “wouldn’t want to be a member of any club that would have me as a member” but this one is to good to pass up. The brainchild of Jess and her husband, Casey, Ravelry is a place to share project information, pattern information, yarn information, stash information – basically anything that has to do with knitting, spinning, crochet – anything FIBER related. Right now it’s still in it’s beta testing stages so membership is by invitation only – BUT you can get on the list for an invitation. Use the sign-up on the right hand side of this page. BE PATIENT! Ravelry is for everyone and it’s exploding as we speak so get on the list and get your pictures up on Flickr (even I opened an account – something I’ve been holding back on FOREVER) and pretty soon you’ll be stuck in the time suck as well. 😉

Have a GREAT day!
L, C

Filed Under: Monkey Socks

Hit or Miss

May 2, 2007 By

Last night we had the first thunderstorm of the season. I didn’t realize how much I missed thunderstorms until the first rumble of thunder. One of my greatest pleasures is standing by the window waiting for the lightning to hit the Meadowlands and breathing deep the smell of rain right before it falls. Spring really is here.

My forays to the window were respite from my new project. I haven’t strayed far from my roots though. You know how sometimes you get a knit in your hands that’s a winner from the start? And some, well, some that aren’t? I’m decidedly in the latter category with my new project.

Before the miters took over and I blinked and a month and a half of my life had passed, there were other projects – being knit and being planned. This weekend I’ll be attending my cousin’s bridal shower and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try some new things. My plan was to be wearing a gorgeous completed Katharine Hepburn Caridgan, carrying four gorgeous linen handtowels as my gift. Two of which were monogrammed.

It TOTALLY could have happened. Dudes. You know it’s true.

But, alas, we all know what really did happen. When the end was drawing nigh on the knitting of the miters, I knew I’d have to have something new to throw myself into – sort of trade one obsession with a slightly less obsessive obsession to wean myself off. The ever present in my life Kay (which is a GREAT thing) talks about linen yarn almost as much as she talks about cotton, and I never really believed her about the cotton, and do we really have to talk about what happened with that? Time to try the linen! Euroflax, to be precise. Sportweight variety.

I started off with 80 stitches, a seed stitch border and plans for a monogram. I found these letter charts and mapped them out on my knitty graph paper (which I made in Excel) and set to work. I’m knitting knitting knitting away on US Size #4 addis and I don’t know – the stitches seem kind of lose. But I don’t think that I can go down to size 3s and Kay has assured me that the fabric will look great once it’s been through the washer and dryer. So I knit knit knit and I finish the letters. I’m unsure. Sometimes, if I hold it in the right light, you can tell what it’s supposed to be. But most times? Not. G comes home. I ask him to look at it. He’s tired – it’s been a long day – he’s not feeling well – and he says, “You know I’m not good at this stuff, but um, I can’t tell at all.” Can you?

It’s supposed to be a J, a K, and an M.

The shower is on Saturday – and don’t you worry. I’m not planning on cranking four of these out. If it all works out, I will take one finished one and tell her others are coming. But I not convinced it’s working out. I could finish off the handtowel – wash it, dry it – see what it’s like and call it an experiment – I did want to knit with the Linen. Or I could rip it and maybe try to knit the letters a different way. I thought maybe if I made a square of reverse stockinette and knit the letters in stockinette against the rs square? Margene wanted me to use seed stitch, which was my first choice too, but then I have to rechart everything. Which I don’t feel like doing. What would you do, if you were me? I don’t have to worry about a gift so this handtowel can disappear with none the wiser. Would you finish it or rip it and go on to something else?

I’ll tell you – what I really want to do is cast on a sock in the gorgeous new yarn I bought. Sort of an “I’m finished knitting cotton let’s go back to super soft super fabulous merino for a while because you deserve it damnit” kind of gift to myself.


Artyarns Ultramerino 4, #227

Thanks again for all your comments on the miters. I really do appreciate it.

Filed Under: Linen Hand Towels

Madness Deconstructed

May 1, 2007 By

– 120 miters, 30 squares, 85 different colors of yarn

– The first miter was knit on March 15, 2007. The last miter was knit on April 29, 2007. Forty-six days. 2.6 miters per day.



– Each miter starts with 72 stitches. Knit with US #6 needles.

– Four main miters, one background miter from a skein of Tahki Cotton Classic.

– Only one color used two skeins. I used it to make two background colors, and then wanted to use it for a main color. I needed to break into a second skein.





This project has completely consumed me. Knitting these miters was an extreme labor of love and I’m so glad I got to do it. All of the squares sat on my floor for at least a week off and on – I would leave them out there and keep adding squares to the mix as they came off the needles. Yesterday I decided on a final layout. I photographed it and lifted the squares off the floor and mixed them all up. I think I sort of want to erase the layout from my mind while I’m seaming the squares. I will be referring to the photographs for the seaming, but it won’t all be together. Plus we need room to walk around the house.

Basically I had the squares down on the floor and every now and again I’d move some around. Then I’d stand on the arm of the sofa overlooking the squares and squint my eyes. (Quite the scene, I must say.) Yesterday I was DETERMINED to get this all down – don’t ask me why but it became incredibly important for me to say THIS IS IT. I would move squares around and take a picture. Then I’d put the picture up on the computer and change it to black & white. I wanted there to be a somewhat even distribution of value throughout the blanket. Then I’d go back and move stuff around – take a picture – look at it in b&w – move more squares and on and on until I got what I wanted.

When I saw this combination up on the screen – I knew that this was it. I stood back in the doorway – away from the computer and looked at it and it was good.

I leave you with another bunch of pictures, because that’s what I do.





I don’t think I’ll be blogging about the miters for awhile – it’s time to put the project to rest a bit and move on to other things. My mind can’t take it anymore. I don’t know when I’m going to start seaming – maybe my next free weekend – which doesn’t come for awhile. Or maybe I’ll start seaming and it will overtake me and I’ll become obsessed all over again. Have no fear – this blanket will be seamed. A border will be knit. This project will be finished.

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm for this project. It means so much to me that I can share my madness.

Filed Under: Madness

The Final Four + One

April 30, 2007 By

First, send out a hearty congratulations to Margaret! She won the contest with a guess of April 29, 2007 at 12:53 PM. She was ONE MINUTE OFF! Way to go Margaret! Just a leetle scary how close you came. (By the way, check out Margaret’s GORGEOUS new sweater while you’re over there.)

It turned out that by Friday, both jobs I had this weekend had rescheduled (that’s what happens when you work with kids – something always comes up and I’ve made it my policy to be very flexible.) So I had plenty of knitting time. And Georgie took me to a FANTASTIC dinner to celebrate – screw the sushi – hands down – best steak in the city. Seriously.

Without further ado, since you’ve all waited so patiently, I give you the last five squares:


Square #26

This square was based on this picture:


Kay called this next square my ode to Lilly Pulitzer. I really love this one.


Square #27

My kindergarten square:


Square #28

And the blue square:


Square #29

Last, but certainly not least, is the square based on the picture of my finger:


Square #30 – THE LAST SQUARE

I’m thinking this square is my signature square. It’s got the one red row to symbolize the blood spilled (so DRAMATIC) and also, I want this square to anchor the piece. The border will probably be dark-ish – I’m hoping this square will blend with the border – just like a signature.

So. I finished knitting the squares. I haven’t cast on for anything new, but I do have a bridal shower coming up this weekend and a planned project for a gift that I haven’t started yet. If I can get yarn today, I’ll start on that. The squares are all laid out on the floor and I’m moving them around all the time and hopefully I’ll have pictures of what will be the final layout tomorrow. I don’t plan on spending too much time on laying things out. I want to take a picture and get it off the floor so I can start on the seaming. I have no idea how long it will take to seam this baby. I’m sure it will go a lot slower than the knitting. That’s all right with me. And I’m undecided what to do about the border, but I hope that will reveal itself as I sew the thing together.

This has been a marathon and to say I’m sad to be finished the knitting is an understatement. This project really has taken over my mind and my heart. I’m so glad to know you’ve enjoyed it too. Thank you!

Filed Under: Contest, Madness

Pencils Down

April 29, 2007 By

I finished knitting the last miter of this project at 12:54 PM, April 29, 2007. Details tomorrow.

Filed Under: Madness
April 28, 2007 By

My eye will not stop twitching.

https://januaryone.com/blog/post_13/

Filed Under: Madness

Tease me, tease me, please!

April 27, 2007 By

It’s killing me to not show you miters. And I know at least one other person misses them as well. But I’m waiting to show you them all finished. So here are some miter macros to tantalize!

It’s become clear to me that it’s going to be VERY difficult for me to STOP mitering. Extremely difficult. The fallout has already begun: I was on the phone with Ann this morning sitting on the floor amidst the yarn piles and four colors jumped out at me SCREAMING to be knit together. The only problem is that if I were to miter them, they don’t really fit with the scheme of the blanket, which may or may not be finished already. Immediately my mind jumped to an entirely OTHER blanket. Maybe not miters at all.

Hold me. I’m scared.

Filed Under: Madness

The Dangerous Poet

April 26, 2007 By

I wanted to bring to your attention an incident that happened last week on a college campus here in the United States. It didn’t involve murder or guns – but it certainly involved fear. The poet/professor affected was a classmate of mine when I was in graduate school. I am extremely confident that this man could not hurt a fly, let alone inflict the danger imagined.

Poetry is Dangerous, by Kazim Ali.

This issue is very, very complicated, especially given the world we live in today – but I thought it was important and I felt I needed to share it with you.

Filed Under: Life, politics and other crap, Protest
« Previous Page
Next Page »