Kimmish Knitting
Knitting... Kimmish Knitting... Is there really any more to say?

Monday, July 31, 2006

The Cops Took My Pictures..

I would love to show you my most recent finished project.. I really would.. but I can't.. and I won't be able to for probably over a month.

I know that sounds very strange.. but it gets even stranger.. lol.

I've spoken about it before a few times in passing.. but I actually settled down this past weekend and finished the Bobbi Bear I started for my Aunt Nelda. My grandma commissioned me to knit it for her.... I don't even remember when.. but her birthday was in April (I know.. I'm SO LATE!) and it has been a long trudging kind of project.. Mainly because I hated the yarn.. I really just hated it.. it faught me every step of the way.. My boss at work kept laughing when he'd see me at my desk fighting my way out of tangles with this stupid yarn. And ofcourse it doesn't help that I was knitting it double stranded...

..Never again.

No sir.

I will not be buying any more Austermann Mayfair. Even though it is seductively cheap.. I will resist.. because this yarn hates me.

But at any rate.. I was motivated to finnally finish because my dad was going to leave for a month long trip on his motorcycle and his first stop was to be my grandma's house..

The last time I knitted a gift for one of her sisters she didn't get to see it.. and that really tore me up.. so I decided that this bear had to be on the back of my dad's bike before he left for an entire month.

So I finished it.. finnally.. and when I was done I didn't like how bland and naked he looked.. so I took the last ball of mayfair that was dark blue and started a tiny miniture ribbed scarf for him.. and it was going pretty well..

The night before my dad left we went to his work to pick up his car because he won't be needing it ofcourse.. and.. it has air-conditioning.. and our car does not. So we went to get his car and he gave me his Ziplock bag-o-bills (I kid you not.. his filing cabinate is a gallon ziplock bag.) and I showed him the naked teddy and he said it was very cute.. but then I took out the scarf and I said "But.. it's not finished yet.. do you have time? I can finish it now."

Some of you may or may not know.. but my dad is a policeman.. which means he has a police car (Not the car we took off him. LOL.) and he needed to show Brad where his post-office is so we can pick up his mail while he's away..

So... I finished the mini-scarf.... in the back of a police car.

Which I find so entirely hillarious.

I knitted in the back of a police car.

Oh.. and let me just tell you... it wasn't comfy.... it was very hot... and weird feeling... and it kinda smelled..

But just being able to say "I knit in the back of a police car" is quite cool..

So dad is gone.. and he did take the bear with him.. but unfortunately I didn't get to take a picture before he left.. so dad has promised to take a picture of him before he leaves for the next leg of his journey. Otherwise I'll never get a picture of it.. ever.

Which would be sad.. because he is quite cute... I just hate the friggin yarn.. and I'm ashamed that it was so late.

So.. this being done I have no other choice than to sit down and crank out the directions for the Right Front of the TCC... I actually sit down to do it right now.. but as you can see.. I'm blogging.. not pattern deciphering....

......Some things never change.. LOL. I will be a procrastionater to the very end. More than likely the last minute.. lol.
-Kim-   12:46 AM
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Friday, July 21, 2006

Nope.. It's Not A Jaywalker.

Actually I haven't even started them yet.. *sigh* I have been abandoned. Left alone to wander the jaywalker sock path by my self. (Yes, April.. I'm trying to guilt you. lol.)

But I do have some other progress instead! YAY!



I finnally got my yarn free, and did try out what I had written out for the Right Front so far. If you look close enough you might be able to see the two out of three button holes I have completed. I think they're pretty good.. Hopefully I can find some nice buttons to go with this thing.. It would be a crime to put soooo much effort into it and then tack on some crappy buttons. lol.

I'm so glad I only need three.

I still have more direction writing to do.. which is why I've stopped knitting where I have. I'm hoping that the effort in writing it all out properly will be useful for someone else.. (Or possibly me.. later.. after I've forgotten everything. lol.) Because I think I could possibly.. maybe.. make it the rest of the way without it.. but it would be a little slower I think.. but then again writing it all out takes lots of time.

I don't know.. but I'd really like to knit on it again soon. It might be a case of writing out a few rows... then knitting them.. then going back to the writing.. but I'm not sure. I don't think I have that many left really..

Oh boy I'm sounding wishy-washy..

Some more good news is that I just earned 10 dollars today for completing an online survey.. which I have offically deemed yarn/knitting money. I believe I will be buying some more KP needles with it.. because I want them so! I'd especially love to have them before I tackle the TCC sleeves.

Tommarrow my dad and I are planning to go hunt down some Homasote so that we can build a blocking board. He said he would do it probably over a year ago and we're just now getting around to it. Hopefully we will also be stopping by Yarns 2 Ewe, which would be really really nice.. I haven't been there in ages. I'm thinking of taking my camera with us so that I can do a photo-blog entry about the trip.. It sounds like a good blogging opportunity to me : )

But we'll see what really ends up happening..

Meanwhile I go back to the grindstone of writing out those Right Front directions. (Note to pattern publishers: I do not like spending money on a pattern only to have to spend my time writing out more coherent directions!!)
-Kim-   11:44 PM
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Sunday, July 09, 2006

It's Like A Shot in the Arm!

Just because I don't blog as much as I used to doesn't mean that I don't read blogs every few days.. and also doesn't mean that I don't try to keep up with the new knitting news.. and when I heard about the new Knit Picks knitting needles I got all hot-n-bothered about them!

So... given the thoughts of sock knitting (Jaywalkers) that have been going through my mind.. I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to order some Knit Picks.

I was looking through their sock yarns and really noticed that I hated all the colors they offer.. I mean.. ew... I don't really get why they can't make some nicer stuff.. but I guess other people must like it.. For some reason.....

But I kept looking.. and I've also been concidering lace, as yall know.. so I looked into their thinner yarn in general and I found one that I just had to have.. They call it Memories and this color Yukon is just.. wonderfulness in a hank.

So I ordered two hanks of it, and a set of size 3 DPNs.. And I know you're probably thinking "Socks, on size 3s? She's NUTS!".. But I ordered them anyway because I know I'm a tight knitter.

So ofcourse I stalked my order status page insanely because I can't stand the thought of a package out there waiting for me and me not knowing where it is and when it would get here.. Although I wasn't quite as obsessed with it as normal because I kept reading that any orders with KP needles would be shipped late.

But it did finnally get here.. and it got here sooner than I thought it would.. but annoyingly enough even though it got here on Wednesday I didn't get to have it until FRIDAY.. which is SO annoying.. because the apartment office recieved the package and put a note in our mailbox for us to come and get it "PROMPTLY" (In big nasty bold letters no less.) So when Brad got up the next morning I sent him with our water payment and to get my package, but ofcourse no one was in the office. So we waited a while and then when we were heading out to work I asked him to go check again.. and he did.. and they STILL.. WEREN'T.. THERE. And their little sign on the door said they wouldn't be there until 3:30! And ofcourse the office closes at 5pm so there would be no way to go and get it after work.. So I had to do without. The office was holding my package hostage. But finnally on Friday afternoon Brad got to actually take it from them..

And I opened it : )



First I touched the yarn.. and suprisingly it's REALLY soft.. and really lovely.. and then I opened the needles.. and if you've read anything about them.. yes.. they are really really pointy (To the point of pain if you push your finger on the tip.) and suprisingly to me was that they're kinda hefty for their size.. but in a nice way.

To add even more excitement to all this... Having new yarn in hanks meant... I got to use my swift! Finnally!



And it really did work.. and I didn't even make a huge tangled mess like I thought I would. I'm really pleased with it and it was SO FUN to use it with my ball winder..



Almost immediately I cast on for a swatch so that I could see what gauge I'd get with this yarn and the size 3 needles.. I was a little worried that the yarn would make my hands itch.. but.. suprisingly enough.. nope. No itching at all. So I'm getting less timid of buying wool yarn. (YAY!)

So by the end of the day I had my swatch done! (Super fast... holy moly. Especially for such tiny stitches.)



I really like how the colors change with the yarn.. I'm going to be really interested to see how it goes with the Jaywalker zig-zag.. I looove the shades of blue with the bit of grey. Oh.. and my gauge was 31sts to 4 inches. Told you I'm a tight knitter.

I really really like knitting with those needles.. If I had money to spare right now I'd probably order more of them.. I'd really like a set of 7s right now so I can knit my TCC on them.. I might end up ordering them before I try tackling the sleeves.. I want to do them in the round with the Magic Loop Method.. and having a thinner cable than my Denise would be wonderful for that.

The pointyness of the needles makes knitting REALLY easy... almost entirely efortless.. I never thought I could like metal needles so much.. but then again all I ever had before were Boyes. (Eww.)

Speaking of the TCC.. Some of you have been asking how that's going.. and well... it's going.. slowly. The pattern is not charted like most of you think it is.. All of it is written out directions, so when I said I was going to write out the directions for the Right Front.. I really meant it.. I did start that but then I had a sudden fear of "I think I might be doing this wrong" and I knew the only way to find out was to cast on.. So I finnally did.. last night.. and for the most part from what I can tell my directions are accurate.. but I just didn't flip the bits in between the * *s like I should have. But that's easy enough to deal with. When I get into the harder part of the pattern (Curving cable lines!) I'll have to come back and finish the directions.

I got 14 rows completed last night.. but... I had to frog some of them this morning because I.. forgottoknitthefirstbuttonhole. *Sigh.* But I have my button hole now.. I had to look up the directions again on how to do it.. I always have to look it up even though it isn't that hard.

Hopefully it'll be smoother sailing for the next few rows.. I think I'm going in the right direction though.. (Heh.. RIGHT direction.)

Hopefully April will be back soon to help me shrink down the Jaywalker pattern for my tiny Kimmish feet.. I really want to start them to see how they come out!!

So.. As you can see.. I'm excited.. and excited means lots to talk about and blog about.. I guess all I really needed to fix my blogging slump was a nice new yarn order.. It really had been a while. Go figure.
-Kim-   3:40 PM
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