Tephie's Personal Bombshelter MarkII

Too much to do and it's taking far too much effort to get moving on any of it. :P

I need to get that hat pattern written up and the rest of the photos taken. And I had a *d'oh* moment when I realized that I had knit a solid color hat specifically to take a photo of the top detail and then forgotten to take that photo. The hat is with Mom and thus nearly 1000 miles away. There is no digital camera over there for them to take a photo and have my brother (the one with the PC) try to email it to me. *head!desk* I guess I'll knit the top of a hat again in a solid just for a photo. :P I have reached the point where I am utterly SICK of knitting the pattern. And I still need someone with a 20" head to test the small size on. I need to know if there is enough depth in the small, there wasn't in the medium when I first knit it and I had to revise the pattern.

Actually, I need to call Mom. I might have someone I can knit a hat for over there if their head is the right size, and I suspect it is. If I make it pink she'll wear it at least long enough to see if it fits.

That aside, I've been looking at Ravelry's pattern sales system and setting myself up as a designer to use it. I'll have to get my business PayPal account into shape first, then go through the Ravelry system. Hopefully the feature to offer sales outside of Ravelry with Ravelry handling the delivery of the PDF is up and running, or will be when I need it, so I don't have to futz around setting up a delivery system of my own for people that aren't part of Ravelry.

Anyway, I had started this post just to post one link. I want this book. This is the book that has the superimposed knitting charts in it. I have an idea for another pattern using superimposed knitting just because the technique is delightfully geeky fun but first I need to get the hat, and possibly the sock, pattern(s) done. And probably the sweater and the shawl. And maybe that shrug pattern that I was thinking of and actually have the yarn for already. And all that non-knitting stuff I need to do.

And I've slept so I can post. :)

The cats got FAT while I was gone. I know they tend to overeat when I'm gone but, wow, they are pudgy. :D They'll lose it in short order if the pattern holds. I think they boredom eat (or maybe comfort eat) when I'm not around.

I'll be writing up a knitted hat pattern soon and I think I'll put it up for sale. I need to set a price though, I suck at that. Time to research what knitted hat patterns tend to sell for.

By the way, anyone on my friends list have a noggin that measures 20" around? I've test knit the 22 and 24" sizes but I don't have a convenient 20" skull to try the small size on. I'll post a photo of some of the hats I knit later and if you have a 20" head and think you'd wear one we can talk. :)

More knitting related updates to come later.

Now to get to the unpacking and assorted post-trip chores.

Hmm, it's been a while.

Sweater Progress: 4 rows. :( I have been slacking off on this something awful since I started the shawl. I'm taking it with me when I go visit family so I hope to get at least through the armscye shaping if not complete the body while I'm there.



Shawl: Section 3 complete (and it seems I never updated here when I completed section 2). I've also been slacking on this. I have problems sticking with works in progress and start playing around with new stuff. So far I have managed not to allow myself to start another sweater or shawl at least but for smaller things....



Berry Swirl Cap: A pattern I'm working on, I may offer it up for download when I finish. This is the first attempt and there are some things I'm going to change. At first I didn't like it much since it wasn't what I had been working for, but it's grown on me. I wore it all of Anthrocon.



Winterberry Swirl Cap: And this is take two in progress. So far the work is the same but when I get it out to the right diameter I'll be into the first set of changes for it. Winterberry being the colorway of this yarn, not an indicator of fitness for winter wear. Both are 100% cotton.



Cables -n- Fans Sock: Another pattern I'm working on. This one is probably of limited utility to people with less than huge feet, though I think just a yarn and gauge change could make it usable for those with average feet. Mostly I just wanted to play with Judy's magic cast on and a stitch pattern than someone on Craftster reverse engineered from an Old Navy scarf. I seem to have lost what little skill I had on working wrapped short rows, the knit side pick ups on the heel are horrible. I'll touch them up later with some duplicate stitch fiddling but I really need to work on that for the next sock and any future short row projects.

Hmm, seems I never updated with photos on Kris' mitts either. Well here's the one I have a photo of (Kris, model for me please?) and the one I made first for myself and hooked me on the pattern.



And lastly, something that I made a while back (in the last six to seven months I think) and never photographed:



Obviously embroidery, at least on garter knitted fabric, is not my strong suit. If any of you want to learn to knit this is a really good first project, it's small and all garter stitch (just knitting, no purls) with only a small amount of shaping (k2tog on the head) and unwrapped short rows (the tail). The pattern is here on LJ.

*rummages around*

Ah, yes, I also knit a tiny swatch:



It's about two and a half inches wide. I was looking to see how stretchy, or not, linen stitch would be in this yarn so I would know if it would make a decent band on a hat. As it turns out it has more stretch than I would like sideways but I adore how this yarn is working up. Unfortunately the effect is dependent on the fact that a row is just a bit sorter than one half of the run of any color. I feel the urge to continue this strip but what would I do with it? It doesn't stretch much vertically so maybe the strap on a bag or something?

Set to Tool's Lateralus, loaded with series spoilers for Fullmetal Alchemist.

A biking (bicycle, not motorcycle) jacket with LED turn signals, and it's a DIY project!

Left Wrist is exercising the right to veto and knitting is off the list of approved activities for a while. It has chosen to do so just 23 rows from the end of the second mitt for Kris, and because I seem to be incapable of leaving a small project out in plain sight and not picking it up and working on it I'll be putting that in the bin with the lace shawl. The sweater I can leave out because the combination of long rows and a heavy project deters me. If I give in all it takes is picking it up to make me put it back since it lives to the left of the PC and Left Wrist rejects it immediately.

This really sucks. The fact that I woke up in the middle of the night because my wrist hurt so much that I strapped on the brace to get to sleep sucks even more. :P

Is this:



Patons' Heirloom Shawl/Lovely Lace Shawl. This pattern is somewhat well known in the knitting community for the staggering amounts of errors in both the free version instructions and the paid version that has charts. I'm working from the free, all text, pattern as part of a KAL on Ravelry with knitters that knit a lot faster than I do so I'm pretty sure most of the errors will be pointed out and fixed before I get to them. :D

I just finished the first of 8 pattern sections and am now a grand total of 5% done with the pattern. I may opt for a different edging when I get to the 8th pattern, but I have a while to think on that before I get there.

As for the sweater, well I did finish those last two rows, so here's two pattern repeats:

I want to knit today but none of the projects on my needles appeal. Ultimately that's probably good since I've resorted to medication because my hands and wrists hurt too much today. Right now they're just mildly sore but I know that's just because I took the painkillers.

Knitting status report in brief:

( A cut to spare the non-knitting friends list. )

Non-knitterly stuff:

Despite the pseudo-jossing I'm still poking a bit on my last NaNo, mostly fleshing out side characters and trying to make the set of common technologies make sense with each other. If they have the technology available to accomplish some task and don't use it I have to have a logical reason why. Fortunately, things like "it costs too much" and "they find it morally repugnant" are "logical". Of course, for anything that is not used for "moral" reasons there is bound to be some group somewhere doing just that....

In a vague attempt to clean up part of my hard drive (HAH!) I dug around in my old writing files. Some of those ideas and story fragments are from twenty years ago (having moved from notebooks to my first PC and then traveling from PC to PC) and, well, they show it. I may have to find something that can handle Works files from Windows 3.1 days if I want to actually use some of those.

Anyway, I found some old characters that I might revamp for future NaNo attempts. I have a set of nearly seventy original characters from a Fanfic That Will Never Be Written (can we say Mary Sue tendencies?) that could have their fanfic origins removed quite easily, though some may not survive the operation. A slight tweak of the Childhood Trauma and the Morgan family would be good to go. One side character actually has a pretty good universe built around her so just shifting the lead to her rather than the matriarch of the family could even supply some sort of plot starting point... should I decide I want to write a modern/near future werewolf novel.

Alas, I'm still in the fandoms for the other FTWNBW character sets so it makes it hard to pull them out. They're also tied into the original worlds and character sets tighter than the Morgan set so it might not be possible. It's a pity since some of them are pretty interesting, but it's a multi-generational sort of set the grandkids might be salvageable.

I should draw.

I'm just six rows from the end of the second pattern repeat on the sweater and I can't knit. My right hand is not happy today, at all.

Of course, even after those six rows I still have about one more pattern repeat (thirty two rows) before I do anything interesting but it would be a landmark and I could photograph and update my Craftster KAL (that no one has joined *sigh* ) and my Ravelry projects page.

Thirty eight rows from now I will be starting the armscye and venturing into the real modifications for this sweater. My total stitch count will be cut by one third. Things should speed up, potential screw ups excepted. About sixteen rows after that the front piece will have another reduction by about one third as I shape the neck (I may add some neck shaping to the back too, but that would be about ten rows later).

Then the body would be done.

The sleeves of course will be a bit less exciting. They'll start with short rows of sixty two stitches (as opposed to the body pieces which started at two hundred and two) and increase by two stitches every few rows until they reach one hundred and thirty six or so. But then they too will have a drastic reduction as I shape the sleeve cap. It's sort of like the long slog up a gentle slope until you reach the crest of the hill and can coast down the steeper back side. :)

At that point it's done but for the seaming and the knitting of a few rounds of ribbing around the neck. :)

You can fucking MAIL ME the page you seem think think I need to read concerning my domain. DO NOT fucking call me from INDIA and ask for a fax number so you can "fax me a single page" about my domain. If it's important, MAIL IT, if it is not - FUCK OFF!

This message brought to you by Tephie's "do NOT fucking FUCK with me" mood of the day.

*head!desk*

Way too close to my last NaNo for comfort. While the dolls weren't the focus of my novel, they were pretty significant, and while Elyza technically isn't a doll there are too many similarities for comfort. :(

Shit. I liked my novel in progress.

Jossed and I wasn't even writing fanfic. :P

And with that, 99.99% of my potential readers have skimmed right past this post. :D

Finally completed the first full pattern repeat on my sweater!



Just click to embiggen, and embiggen it will. The full size is 1033 by 683.

The color is pretty danged close to accurate for a change.

( Details of the knitterly sort. )

You know, technically this is my first sweater...

( Personal knitting history behind the cut. )

So, if anyone of you have found this post via Ravelry or Craftster and were thinking that this sweater was too much for a first project... well I don't think so. :)

Just do like RapidShare and use a "prove you are human" code like this one:



I managed to get it right that time.

My left wrist has been acting up so I decided to wear my brace today. But I really want to get going on this sweater so I just tried knitting wearing the brace....

I didn't know I rotated my left wrist that much while knitting. It's awkward and slow and I don't think I'll actually finish this row while wearing the brace. Maybe I'll try it later without the brace if the wrist feels up to it.

"It" being my all over cable sweater using this free pattern. In reddish-purple.

I'm going to be making some changes:

1. I'm only doing about an inch of ribbing, it feeds directly into the cable pattern and I rather like the look of "weltless" sweaters.


2. I have hips and a butt so I'm adjusting the gauge to give me some more room (if I hadn't there would be -2" of ease at the hips, which means skin tight sweater where I definitely don't want it that tight). The pattern repeat is long enough that doing just one repeat with the larger needles will get the sweater to my waist I think, if not I'll do another half repeat to get there.


3. I'm going to fudge the length so I stop either at a full pattern repeat (probably 3) or on half repeat to start the under arm shaping. Just because I like things orderly.


4. I don't like the folded collar. I shall knit about an inch and then use a stretchy bind off rather than knitting for three and folding it to the inside to sew down. I don't have much neck so there's no point in bulking the sweater up and hiding more of it than necessary.

Also, I am insane and am knitting the front and back at the same time, but not in the round, just two flat pieces on the same needles at the same time. I did consider knitting it in the round, but frankly, sweaters in my size are heavy beasts and I think the side seams might provide needed structure.

And I really can't keep avoiding seaming things. Besides, setting in sleeves is a bitch when you have to do them in the round.

I'm a slow knitter that gets bored easily too, so doing both parts at once makes it more likely I will finish. I generally knit two rows (a cable row and a resting row) and set the piece aside, no matter how long the rows are. Doing both at once means I'm effectively doing four rows and I will finish quicker than if I were doing the pieces separately. That's just the sort of knitter I am.

So it follows, both sleeves at once too. But not while I'm doing the front and back, I'm not that crazy. I'll need to revisit figuring out the increases anyway, once I have a better idea about how much I'll have to adjust the sleeve length. The shoulders are dropped so I'm pretty sure I need to shorten them. Or alternately, narrow the shoulders on the sweater and redraft the sleeve cap. I have some time to ponder that still, at least 100 rows of time.

The swatch is of sufficient size that I feel the urge to find something to do with it. It would make a good gauntlet, it goes from wrist to elbow. I'd say that I'll pick up from the cast on and knit a glove but I'd really like to take the cable down onto the back of the hand and I'm not sure I could do that well with the cast on there, it cuts across the middle of a medallion. It is giving me ideas for gloves though, if I can still stand the cable pattern after knitting the sweater.

It's been a while since I posted about my knitting with photos, so if you're curious, click the cut.

( In order of completion, oldest first. )

I heard they had Lion Brand Magic Stripes sock yarn for $1 a skein so I figured I'd check ours and if they had some I'd buy one skein. With that one skein I would make something that I could wear (with the yardage in one skein that might be one sock or fingerless glove) and find out if I'm really allergic to wool or just sensitive to the rough scratchy kind.

Well our Big Lots didn't have the wool/nylon sock yarn, but they did have twenty-one skeins of Lion Brand Suede in the same colorway (I have not yet checked the dyelots) and six skeins of Lion Brand Thick & Quick Chenille in a really nice purple.

All those skeins came home with me. I left the novelty yarns, though I was a bit tempted to grab one or two of the furry ones to make some more knit kittens. There was something really soft and squishy that sort of looked like terrycloth made into yarn but it was a color that, combined with that terrycloth impression, reminded me of dingy light blue towels badly in need of washing. The highway orange boucle tempted me for a few seconds since my brother is (was? I need to find out if he got that job he was looking at) highway superintendent, but I had no immediate ideas for it.

Now I need to locate some yarn storage space and figure out what the heck I'm going to make with this stuff.

In related news, my Japanese knitting book is here! *HAPPYDANCEOFKNITTERSQUEE*

Edit to *squee* more: The dyelots match!!

Thanks to this post by CraftyHippie on Craftster I now have a source for $5 casual summer shoes.

Most people have no occasion to be aware that those cheap White Stag shoes at WalMart often run up to size 12. I generally just check the bins of the Keds knock offs (with little luck) but the ones with the elastic gores frequently have at least a few pairs of 12s. Until I read the above linked post I never paid much attention to that since the elastic gore made them impossible to wear with my very high instep.

She's right, the gore comes right out clean with just a seam ripper.

Pity they never seem to have 12W shoes in those bins, but so far these seem comfortable enough with thin socks. :) And if they only last a summer, well they were only $5.

*contemplates the things she can do with a supply of cheap black, white, and sometimes navy, kakhi, or red, canvas shoes*

I used to be a bit puzzled by people that get depressed about their birthdays. I'm not anymore.

But I ordered myself a birthday gift with birthday cash. Namely Knitting Patterns Book 250. Yes, it is Japanese.

Now I just need to find a good source for cheap, yet nice, summer minded yarn so I can make myself some lace tees.