tightknit

Election Day

2008-11-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

Guess what I did yesterday: made a wristband to show off my Obama pride for the election!

Pictures:

Tribe Pennant

2008-10-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

Felted William and Mary Pennant
Written By: Meghan Brown
This summer I decided I wanted to apply early-decision to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. The essay had been stressed as one of the most important parts of my application, and as an out-of-state applicant, I knew mine had to be the best it could be. So, I sat and thought what I could write about that would describe me outside of school. The stress of the decision made me reach for needles, and the idea for my essay was born. I wrote over four pages about one of my best friends and how knitting helped me cope with her unexpected death. That wasn’t enough, however. I needed an extra submission. I could send them anything smaller than a regular sheet of printer paper, so I decided to knit something for the school, and started drafting a chart for a W&M pennant. Several months later, after my essay was written, and my transcripts were finalized, I finally felted my creation. I put it in a padded envelope, and sent it off to Virginia.
Now I’m going there next year, and I’d like to share my design with all fellow Tribe members, and W&M lovers out there.
Please enjoy creating this one as much as I did.
Before You Start:
1 pair sz. 6 straight needles
Dark Green Wool
Gold or Yellow Wool
Tapestry Needle

Pattern:
With green CO 56 sts.
Rows 1-4: Work in garter st
Row 5: Start logo chart, and be sure to decrease at the beginning and end of this row
For the next 53 rows follow the chart, decreasing 2 stitches every 5 rows as you go.

Logo Chart

After the logo is complete just work stockinette in green. Remember to decrease every 5 rows until you get down to 4 sts.
Then K 1 row
P 1 row
K2tog. K2tog.
BO off remaining 2 sts.
Finishing:
Weave in ends
Felt in washing machine or by hand.
It will curl, so be sure to block it.
And that’s it! You’re all ready to show your Tribe pride (feathers and all)
=)

Prom?

2008-03-29T20:49:00.001-07:00

I finished my clutch today, except for the lining, and I'm pretty happy with it. It's on my ravelry, but I need to take a good picture.

About those blankets, though. I'm at a standstill. i can't make myself pick up the first scarf in Megan's blanket, and I had myself slotted to finish it by last week sometime.
ughhh!

Success!! Well... Part way at least

2008-03-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

I finished the first blanket! That means I only have..... five more to go...
Ah well, that's like making twenty scarves, and if I'm lucky I'll be able to commission out at least five to my grandmother. That means I have two months to make... fifteen scarves.
Crap. What am I doing on here again? Pink yarn, here I come.

The Stitches Fall Slowly

2008-03-12T18:04:00.001-07:00

Molly's blanket will not finish. I just want to finish it so I can work with another color. .Two more cable repeats and I'm done. I keep saying that to myself over and over and over, and yet the blanket will not grow. *Sigh. And I need to make Square Cake for prom, 5 more blankets (Though I've enlisted my grandmother's help), and I'm dying to make the Mosey legwarmers in the new knitty.
Two more cable repeats and I'm done.
Yeah Right

I'm lost

2008-03-11T04:43:00.000-07:00

Wherefore art thou spring Knitty? The beginning of March was 11 days ago, and I think I'm going through withdrawl. I need fun new patterns to distract me from my current WIPs.
...Maybe I should be grateful it's not up yet

The Blankets are Coming

2008-03-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

My first dorm blanket is almost done. It's the one I'm making for my friend Molly, and I can't wait to finish it and do something more exciting than straight cables (yes, I know that's an oxy-moron). I finished the third strip on Monday night, and sewed it to the other two. I decided to make the last two together, because I'm a lazy bum. =) After I finish this first one I'll probably get the yarn to make the fun strip for the next blanket, and then work on something else for awhile. I have an eight how conference to go to this weekend, so it''l make for goood knitting.
In other news, I dyed my first skein of yarn ever tonight. It's a pretty pink-ish orange color that matches my prom dress. I'm going to use it for my wrap, which is going to be Jeannie from the fall issue of knitty. Mmmm, I can't wait to start making it out of my soft thin little wool.

I'm one-hundred days away

2008-03-03T18:42:00.000-08:00

In exactly one-hundred days I will be graduating high school. What does that mean? I have to finish these blankets in the next two and a half months.
I've completed, blocked, and sewn together 3 strips of the 5 for Molly's blanket, and am about a quarter of the way through the last strip (which is actually the two strips I'm making together). After that I think I'll make my friend Megan's because I am absolutely positive of her color. It'll be hot pink. Then I'll do either Kaitlyn or Sam, which will be red and light blue respectively. The last two are still kind of works in progress, because I want to make my friend Emily's in purple, but don't know what yarn to use. Likewise, I know what color I want to use for my friend Brittany (Kelly green) but can't find a cheap suitable yarn.
I also want to embroider a little heart on the corner of each blanket just to remind them of the love I have for each of them.

What is this thing called "Graduation"

2008-02-23T21:29:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, I have to give out presents for that don't I? I have six close friends, don't I? That means six large presents, doesn't it? Oh dear.
I go big or go home, which means that I'm going to be knitting cabled scarves from now until the day that I graduate. Lovely. Simply lovely.
And my best friend in the world likes a different blanket than everyone else. Figures, doesn't it, that the one I'll be most careful with will also take me the longest to make.
Ughh
I should be finished the Caitlin pullover in the next week or so. In the meantime I'm going to start the blankets. I have straight needles that should do. I can take the "scarves" to school, since I'm not trying to cart a seamless sweater around with me.

Oklahoma!

2008-02-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

I'm in my school's musical, which is Oklahoma! by the way, and I want to make a shawl for my character to wear on stage. It'll be nice for me backstage too, since my director enjoys leaving the door open, and I'm going to freeze my bum off. I'm basically in love with Jeanie from the winter Knitty, and I want to make it soooooo badly. Problem is thus: I'm in the middle of the Cailtin pullover, and I need to start on a birthday present.
The pullover first. I love this pattern, but the stockinette does get boring after awhile. The waist shaping is in groups of ten rows, and when your rows are 80sts long, thhe shaping takes forever. over 640sts in the shaping alone. I've made the front, and I started the back today. Then I've got two sleeves to make, and the yoke. I can't lie, I'm dreading the yoke and the 200-some sts in each round. Luckily that decreases after only a few rows. I'm very excited to wear the sweater when it's done, though. I'm hoping for next week sometime.
The birthday present is an earflap hat that my friend asked for. I'm making it with a pound ball of Bernat chunky, which means it's even less portable than Cherie Amour was when I was almost done it.
After those projects, though, I'm definitely making Jeanie for myself, because I lovvve it.

Ribbit

2008-02-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

Uh Oh. That nast frog came leaping into my house this morning and gave me frog fever. I couldn't stand to have my size fives, and two cords from my interchangeable needles set used up on the sweater dress that I probably wouldn't finish, and wouldn't like if I ever did. So, this afternoon I pulled it off the needles, and pulled all the stitches out.
Frogging is such a therapeutic exercise most days. I really enjoy it when it's necessary.
The yarn was taunting me after I did this, however, and I couldn't let it just sit there all wrapped and lifeless, so I found quite a cute sweater pattern, and started work. I'm now about thirty rows into it, and hope to finish it within the week.
The best part about this sweater is that it's dark blue, so no one will protest to me wearing it at work.
=)

Cash Money

2008-02-04T20:20:00.000-08:00

I just got my first commissioned hat the other day.
I was at musical on Saturday, and I didn't have anything to do because I wasn't in the scene they were blocking, so I was just sitting in the wings knitting Everlasting (Which is done, by the way), and one of the girls asked me to knit her a hat. She said she's pay me, and I was like, "Sweet, of course I'll knit you a hat." I'm going to make Unoriginal Hat by the Yarn Harlot. I cast on tonight, but there's a problem with her chart (or with my reading of it) so I have to add ten stitches and go down a needle size.
But Katherine (the girl who wants the hat) asked me if I would seriously make her a hat today, which basically confirms that she was pretty serious about wanting one. I'm supposed to look at her coat tomorrow, but I already made up a swatch based on what she told me. Her coat's red and brown, so I just did three repeats of a 3x3 cable with a two stitch purl, 1stitch garter border, in caron simply soft Autumn Red and Chocolate. I held them together, and the effect is really lovely. I just hope she likes it.

A Designer, Moi?

2008-02-01T15:51:00.001-08:00

Yep. I finally got my pennant pattern into a pdf, and onto ravelry.

Here's the ravelry link:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tribe-pennant

I can smell summer breezes

2008-01-31T19:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, not really. However, the inside of my car was warm this afternoon after school, which means the sun is getting stronger, which means spring is coming. I'm so excited!
Even more exciting: I finished Lelah tonight. Well, I finished the body of the shirt. I need to put the elastic in, and find an appropriate ribbbon, but other than that it's done. I have it blocking now. More accurately, I have it damp and laying flat right now, because I really don't know how to block straight knitting, let alone anything knit in the round. (After 11 years I should know this)
I have a few projects I need to make now:
Tonight I cast on for Everlasting Bagstopper (1) I hope to finish it soon. I'm just making it with some extra orange and pink Sugar 'n Cream.
Then I need to make and earflap hat (2) for my friend Emily, because she asked for one for her birthday.
After that I'm probably making dishcloths (3) for another friend for college; in her school's colors, too.
Then I want to make part of a spring cardigan (4) I've seen, but I'm only going to make the bust area, and I'm going to shorten the sleeves to make it a cute little shrug.
For some quick knitting I'm going to make the Flying Spaghetti Monster (5) eventually for my philosophy class.

Quit a list. As always

Project Links:
(1) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/everlasting-bagstopper
(2) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knitted-toque-with-earflaps
(3) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/back-to-school-2
(4) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/printed-silk-cardigan
(5) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/flying-spaghetti-monster-2

I wish it were summer!

2008-01-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

And as such, I'm only knitting with cotton yarn. I've given up on the sweater dress until I finish the Lelah top. I just did two pattern repeats tonight while watching a movie. It's probably about five inches long now. I can already see that I'm going to need to do more repeats than stated in teh pattern. I like my tops slightly longer. Who knows, maybe I'll just keep going and make it a tunic. That way I can wear it as a cover up at the beach, and a top for the clubs.
Actually, I don't think I have the patience or the yarn for that. I've done five repeats total, and I think I'm going to need to do atleast seven more, and that it just blowing my mind right now, because,as strange as it sounds, I don't want to knit right now.
I think it has to do with Christmas. All I did for months before Christmas was knit and knit and knit. I made presents I hated (which was my first mistake) and didn't work on anything for me. Then in that post-Christmas excitement of getting interchangeable needles I cast on more projects than I can deal with at once and I'm just overwhelmed. I'm hoping that by finishing Lelah I'll get some confidence back, and I'll be onto working on the sweater dress again in no time.

Bye Bye Darcy

2008-01-14T12:05:00.001-08:00

I frogged it the other day in favor of Lelah, because who doesn't want a knitted, lacy, empire waisted, cotton top for summer?
The only problem? I can't start knitting in the round to save my poor little life. I twist my stitches everytime, no matter how hard I try not to.
So it's also been frogged three times.
I spent last night in recup. mode knitting a garter stitch scarf on sz 13 needles. The colorway is gorgeous. It's purple and brown, and green, and yellow. It's so earthy, and matches my peacoat perfectly. I have another skein of the yarn, and am currently trying to decide what to do with it.

Pacing=Key

2008-01-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

I can't decide between the DROPS dress and Mrs. Darcy, sooo I've decided to do both. I'm going to work on Mrs. Darcy at school, and the dress at home. Problem solved? Not really. But it satiates me for now

A Post Chirstmas Lull

2007-12-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Belated Christmas everyone.

Since the happy holiday is over, I don't have the necessity make anything right away (except a striped bookmark, but it'll take five seconds). Since I haven't made anything for myself in over a month, I've decided to start a large undertaking. Yep, that's right, I'm going to make myself a sweater dress. Well, it's actually more of a sweater jumper, but you get the idea.
I've only done 3 rows of it since there are 171 sts in each row, but I'm hoping to get several inches done tomorrow.
After that I'm making myself the "square cake" purse from the winter knitty, and a sweater vest for my friend's birthday in early February.

I must say I enjoy being able to focus on a few projects for long periods of time, instead of tons of projects that I have to finish in two days.

Virginia!!

2007-12-11T20:12:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned yet that I'm going there for college? I am. William and Mary next fall. I wrote my essay on knitting, and how it's taught me a lot and helped me through even more. My extra submission was even a knitted item. I'm on cloud nine right now, and I can't help but beam even more widely than normal whilst knitting.

(The only time I'm not smiling is when I must work on that stupid entrelac scarf. It has to be done by Thursday night, and I ran out of yarn yesterday. Uggh.)

Ahhh, Entrelac

2007-12-05T18:29:00.001-08:00

I'm at a bit of a standstill when it comes to the scarf I have to make for secret santa at work
I've only knit two squares of the thing since last Friday, and I really should finish is by next Friday. Basically I have a week to get it done. The problem is thus: I have presents to make for friends still. I feel like I should finish them before I even think about coworkers. But, I have put a great deal of effort into this scarf. Maybe if I just suck it up I can be done in two or three days. I've only got about a foot or two left to make. ughh. Entrelac is a fun technique, but I think I'll be done with it for a while after this WIP.

Finished!

2007-12-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

I finished "Cherie Amour" last night! And then I finished "Hearts" this evening!
Annnnddd I got into college! It's been an excellent day!

Photo Time!!

2007-11-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

I finally uploaded pictures of finished Christmas Presents!

A hat::

A harry potter scarf::

That's all I've got for right now.

Oh dear

2007-11-23T14:41:00.000-08:00

That scarf I'd started has been changed from green wool to grey acrylic. It's easier to get out of the skein, and much smaller, so I can take it to school and such. I was doing really well with the entrelac until this afternoon. I screwed up, I think, and now my stitches are facing the wrong way. Ughh. I don't know what I'm going to do with it if I have to frog the triangle. The technique is easy enough, but I can't really back track. I'd probably have to start the whole dang thing over again.

Needles off limits??

2007-11-20T19:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, I got grounded from something that most teenage girls don't get grounded from. This evening, my dad had a serious mood swing, and took away my needles. Yeah, I was amazed too.
So I have copious Christmas presents to make, and very little time to make them. Little does my father know that there is a pair of needles in my purse, and several skeins of yarn under my bed. I can start on my "secret santa" scarf, at least. Somehow I pulled my boss. I decided to make him a modified version of "Danica" on knitty. I'm only going to use one color throughout the scarf, a forest green. It's a fantastic wool that I used to make a pennant. I think he'll like it. I don't know really. I'm not even sure how I got roped into Secret Santa, since I just went back to work today. The only thing I'm sure of is that I'm going to be working on Danica for several days, since I only have one pair of needles and a few skeins of yarn, and I have to knit in secret.

I feel like such a rebel.

Road Block

2007-11-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

I'm a little distracted. I've finished a hat and a scarf for Christmas presents. Now I've got to make another mitten and a scarf for a friend. After that, I still have no idea what I'm going to make for my last friend in my close group. Besides all of that, I'm a selfish knitter really, and I started making a pair of mittens for myself today.

I'm an awful person really.

And besides all of that I'm still waiting very impatiently for my Ravelry invite.
I've been to the waiting list three times in teh last two days. Uggh.

Ahhh! Christmas

2007-11-17T23:12:00.000-08:00

Okay. There are 38 days left until Christmas!!
I'm already going slightly stitch crazy and that is not a good thing.
There are about a hundred projects on needles around my house right now, probably because I have the shortest attention span of anyone I know.
I knit a really nice hat for one of my friends in a bulky variegrated yarn (cream, light blue, and brown). I made it on really small needles so the stitches are close together and it's really warm. I added a row of yarnovers after the ribbing just to make it a bit more special.
Then I'm working on a pair of dark purple mittens for one of my friends. I finished one, and I started the second, but they're sized kind of oddly, so I might have to remake them.
Tonight I started working on a Harry Potter inspired scarf for the only friend of mine who is as obsessed with the book series as me. It's made with (gasp!) red heart on size 15's. I was loathe to use that yarn, and now my fingers feel like crap, but it's not that itchy and I'm planning on doing some major work on it to soften it up.
I also got some really pretty white and grey twisted yarn to make a scarf for a friend. I figured that the grey streaks would make the cables in the scarf stand out. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

I'll get some pictures up tomorrow as soon as I take some.
=)