Yarn: Mission falls 1824 Cotton in green (7 skeins)
Needles: US 8 Addi Turbos
Pattern: "A Good Bias"
Date Started: 6.11.05
Date Finished: 7.1.05

(Ignore purple outfit!)

Yes that's right, I finally finished it! Just a few minutes ago no less. I don't think it really took me three weeks to knit, I mean, I knitted it off and on ever since I started it on KIP Day.

It's a pretty easy knit (lace knitting, not knitted lace!) and I'm glad I got to use mission falls. I got to use a little kitchener stitch and do some sleeve seaming, woohoo! Other than that there isn't much to say about the knitting. Oh, I did find that when seaming the sleeves I had to go beyond my markers to make it look right.

What do I think? Not so sure yet. I had fun knitting it so that's a plus. But wearing it? Well, let's just say it's not quite my style. Apparently I have very short arms, I thought it was suppossed to be a three-quarter sleeve! I measured it and it's right, but it's big on me. Maybe after blocking it will look better. What?! I seamed it before blocking? oooohhh yeah! I know no rules! That and the pattern said to, so there.

ugh a post without a pic, so boring. I promise I'll post one later tonight.

edit: here they are. The more I look at them the more I hate this thing. It's so frumpy! At least mine doesn't have that weird pointy thing I've seen a bunch of people end up with on theirs. Nope, no pointy thing here. Just a lot of lumpiness around my neck and it sort of does a folding thing on the lower back part. Now that I tried it on again I realize how hot it feels (grant it, it is a million degrees and humid outside). Nope, not a good bias at all.

Posted by bitter purl at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

"TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the yarn entered my stash; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Finished object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the patterns."

Ok I'm being overdramatic as usual, but I do hear the tank! It's in the basket and I can hear it calling me, tempting me. I've ignored it since the betrayal (otherwise known as my knitting mistake), not knowing when I will go back. Soon I say, but instead I start new things that will take up my time, otherwise reserved for the tank. I stuffed all the pieces in the bottom of the basket, underneath needles and yarn to muffle the sound. But I know it's there, I'm the only one that hears it's thumping, and I must get back to it.

What have I been doing instead? Oh, dear reader, let me share with you my denial:

This is the first half of the "good bias" shrug waiting patiently for its mate on a stitch holder. It's been fun knitting this up (so fun I took it to the shore with me), but I have also noticed how impatient I am with lace.




I started the tulle purse (instead of finishing the shrug you see) that's inspired by the one from Simple Knits With a Twist. I've found that I really enjoy knitting with unusual yarns (not novelty!). I'm already thinking up other projects with this yarn if I have enough leftover. Here's a closeup of the yarn:



Yep, that's tulle. It's not some yarn called "tulle" but made up of something else. It's black tulle with some sort of white rayon in the middle.




Last but not least, this is the never ending scarf that has become the bf's nightmare. Why you ask? Because I just won't finish it! I keep restarting it (and I think I will again) and asking for his opinion, which is basically to finish it. I'll finish it soon enough, when I damn well please.

Posted by bitter purl at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I finally have time to post again, well the bf is ignoring me while playing some video game so I figured it was time to post. And I have a lot to post about. :)

Yesterday was KIP day and somehow I saw no one knitting, other than Illanna. She doesn't count though cause I went to NYC to go knit and shop with her (so you see it was assumed we would knit, hence why she doesnt count).

It was her turn to take me on a yarn tour, and she took me to some great places. Im surprised we didn't melt walking around the city. It was so freaking hot and humid! At least I got a tan. Anywho, I finally got to see Purl, which was cute but I have Loop! I got some needles there and found out that they are having a Loop-d-Loop trunk show at the end of the month. Then we trekked up to Downtown yarns, where they had some (as in two or three) local yarns hidden between your bread and butter yarns. After this, we both realized that it's tough to find a unique yarn store that doesn't carry all of Manos, Blue Sky, Rowan, and Debbie Bliss. We went to School House products immediately after and at least we found some out there yarns. They have good prices on cashmere and wool, but if you don't have a specific project in mind you could be doomed. I ended up getting two skeins of black and white tulle that will quickly become a bag ( I think I got around 400-500 yds for less than ten bucks). I was extremely happy going to Habu, which is down the street, and looking at their menu-wall of yarn. Great prices on some things, but again, you have to have specific projects in mind to know excactly what you are getting. It can be overwhelming. I knew I wanted bamboo and some laceweight yarn, so somehow I ended up getting laceweight bamboo (was this a mistake?), over 4000 yds of it for less than 10 bucks. I wanted one ounce, which equals 1500 yds, but they only had a cone that weighed 3.6 ounces. So I can make three or four mystery stoles! (yeah right) I also got some of their heavier bamboo (this is why Im wondering if I should have gotten laceweight wool instead). Don't try to ask what gauge any of the yarn is, I learned this the hard way. I asked if the yarn was sport weight and all I got was stares and then some explanation that sounded like they had no clue what I was talking about. But now that Im thinking about it, I think I got worsted weight instead of sport. I'll have to check the wpi later on. All the yarn I bought was undyed, and the girl helping me said that I should soak the bamboo in milk or soymilk and dry it before dyeing it. Have any of you heard of this before? Do I rinse it before I let it dry? I was trying to get it out of her, but I failed. I also failed to figure out how to dye it, all she said was treat it like cotton. I bought some food coloring today so I may try that. If not, I guess Ill buy some RIT. But, when I use food dyes, is it anything like using kool aid? As in, do I heat the water or do I heat the yarn up after dying? I would love any clues. I think I will dye the laceweight stuff first so that I can cast on for the Mystery Stole (and I have so much of it, that I won't feel bad playing around with it). I must have been in some environmentally friendly mood, because after Habu and a sushi dinner, I bought some SWTC Phoenix (soy silk) at The Point. This is for the mesh tank (along with sport weight bamboo), which apparently is going to become an anti-acrylic statement of sorts.

Illanna and I knitted at the Point for a while, a las no pics, and then headed over to a Starbucks and knitted a while longer before I had to leave. I started work on a new shrug, the good bias from IK spring 05. I needed a break from the bias tank and this was a nice project to pick. The lace makes it interesting and it was refreshing to use non splitty yarn! No more evil Lion Brand for me!

Oh, that leaving part almost never happened! The train we took ended up going from local to express, or something else happened, but whatever it never stopped where we wanted to get off. We ended up in Brooklyn! Of course there were no cabs when we got out of the stop. I was sure I was going to miss my bus. A few minutes later we ran across the street to catch a cab and basically challenged him to get us on East Broadway in under ten minutes. I'm glad to say he was very proud of his accomplishment ('see eight minutes, no?! under ten yes!"). I think I had two minutes to spare!

Illanna and I may meet up again in two weeks to hang out at the renegade craft fair, so Im looking forward to that. I love meeting and becoming friends with crafty bloggers! I'm telling you, if you want to go to stitches east or just meet up let me know. Today I just relaxed with the bf and only got a few rows of knitting done. I'll probably knit some more tonight and then figure out what to do with the bias tank.

Posted by bitter purl at 08:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)