a wee bit of knitting

things have been busy here so i haven't been doing much knitting. or much watching of tv series on dvd, in spite of the fact that my coworker lent me the first two seasons of the wire. i'm going to need to get watching if i want to get it finished before moving. but i digress.

there is one project i've been working on. it doesn't look like much yet, but i think it will be quite nice when its finished. its the cotton yarn i bought in asheville, nc. i'd never worked with cotton before and its definitely a different feel than wool, but its nice and light.

a big white blob

and, after i finished the last wrap i bought myself some yarn in a color as far away from orange as i could get. its a beautiful purple laceweight purchased on etsy.


the color is so vibrant it almost shines. i don't know what i'm going to make yet, but i can't wait to see what it looks like when its knit up.

so many crafts, so little time

for once i actually had a hard time deciding what to blog about. true it helps that its been a few days since my last post. knitting, sewing, craft shopping, wedding... about the only thing that wasn't a possibility was the next photography installment, primarily because i haven't done any sample shots for the next topic.

but while we're on the subject, i've only really gotten feedback from one person. if there is anyone that's come here for the photography explanations, i'd love to hear what you think. i'm trying to keep them from getting too bogged down in technical details while still actually explaining how it works. is it too confusing? would you rather have less detail and more tips? more camera specific stuff? i'm open to talking about whatever, really. i do actually plan to talk a little about lighting and composition once i finish with all the exposure stuff, so if that's what you're after, stick around. its coming, i swear.

but anyway, i decided to go with knitting today, both wedding related and not.



This is Soft Wave, a 100% cotton 1-ply from Queensland Collection. It has sort of a nubbly texture that knits up quite nicely. We shall see how it is to work with. I bought it from Purl's, a really nice little yarn shop in Asheville, NC.

see what i mean by "nubbly?"

We were in town for an evening wedding so we had all morning to kill. My mom and I left Mr. Z and my dad on a bench in the sunshine while we wandered around petting the yarns and chatting with the woman who ran the store. There really is something magical about sticking your hands into giant piles of soft fluffy yarns in all the colors of the rainbow. i have a special thing for teals and greens. but this time i refrained, and in the end only bought this (albeit 10 skeins of it) for a very special project.

and this, of course, is the fourth and final wrap... just in case the orange didn't give it away.

not my most artistic photo,
but in progress shots are hard to make pretty

the Cheshire Stole, while pretty, just didn't keep me interested. So, while at Purl's I also found a pattern for Fiber Trend's Estonian Lullaby Blanket. I modified the stitch count to make it into a wrap, which consists of making it narrower and longer, and so far its worked out nicely. I think the stitch pattern fits better with previous wraps as well. It does have a knitted border on both ends though, which meant that I had to learn a new trick and do a provisional cast on. hopefully that doesn't bite me in the ass when i try to take it out later.

i will say i am surprised that i don't hate this yarn, or lace knitting, yet. i'll be glad when i'm done, but i really enjoy the lace. and luckily this one is knitting up really quickly. that may have something to do with the fact that i have watched the entire first season of Lost over a matter of days. you can get a lot of knitting done watching 17 episodes of anything. i have to admit though, i'm a little bit in love with Charlie... in spite of the heroin addiction. oh wait, what?? he's not real? damn.

yarn cake

I don't really have anything exciting going on at the moment. The next wrap isn't even long enough to warrant taking a picture.



For a little knitting variety, to break up the wrap monotony, I have picked the pinwheel sweater up again. I blocked it to see how it looked and to get a feel for how much bigger I needed to make it. In doing so, I discovered a dropped stitch that had gone too far to be easily picked up. And since I was ripping, I figured I might as well make it worth it and ripped all the way back to lose the tiny green stripe that was in there as a result of my waiting too long to splice my yarn.

I would post a picture of it, but as Mr. Z points out, you can't really see the stripe in the photo. Actually, it was pretty subtle in the sweater itself too. But I knew it was there, and being slightly OCD, it bothered me. It means more knitting, but I feel better now that its gone.

The yarn is ArtYarn, in a colorway I no longer remember. I can't even tell you the composition of the yarn as the entire label is in some Scandinavian language [edit: the label is actually in Estonian... oops!]. It came from an online store in Norway, the only place I could find it after seeing Rippedoffknitter's version (thank god for the internet... and for Rippedoffknitter, who helped me find it) and deciding I had to have it. Its a bit scratchy to work with, but softened up a bit after blocking. I'm hoping it softens more with a few more washings.


The colors are gorgeous, and blend into each other beautifully. It sure makes a pretty yarn cake no? That's about half a skein. Each skein is so long the colors repeat twice. It took forever to wind and is the reason I convinced Mr. Z and my mum that I needed a swift and winder for Christmas.

I'm not using the green in there at all, just the orange, red, and dark gray-ish brown. There will likely be enough leftover for another project.

fiber-y goodness

This past Sunday we spent the day at the Ohio Expo Center at the fairgrounds perusing lots of furry beasts. That's because this weekend, Columbus hosted both the Ohio State Rabbit Breeders Show and Sale, and the Buckeye Alpaca Show.

Our original plan had been to meet my future mother-in-law at the rabbit show. She raises angoras and would have been there, had a family emergency not mandated that she stay home instead. We did still meet up with one of her friends, who was carting off some rabbits that she had just purchased on behalf of Mr. Z's mum. They were NOT angora, so apparently she's expanding back into having other breeds.

I realllllly wish I hadn't forgotten my camera. There were so many adorable different rabbits! I had no idea there were so many uniquely different breeds. It has renewed my persistence in pestering Mr. Z for a house rabbit. I will not, however, be getting an angora rabbit, despite the fiber potential... that hair is WAY too much work. You can see a few of the rabbits we saw, including a fully fluffed angora, on knittycrafty, as she joined us on the expedition.

After the rabbit show, we moved on to alpacas, by far my favorite part of the day. They are all woolly and funny looking, unless they've been sheared. In which case they look delightfully gangly. Mr. Z and I have been discussing the possibility of having some sort of large-ish animals once we buy a place in Lubbock, and we were both really impressed with the alpacas. Not too big, easily managable, and far cheaper than a horse. I think we both agreed that they are a definite possibility.

Not that any of you are probably interested in getting an alpaca, but I will plug Land of Legends Alpacas. There was a young kid (ok, he was probably like twenty, but still) that was very informative, and friendly without being too pushy. We had a very enjoyable chat with him, and he even gave me some advice as to which type would be best if looking for fiber to spin. Speaking of fiber...



...the best part was the yarn! Unfortunately there was no angora at the rabbit show, though we did get to try some bunny jerky. But the alpaca show didn't let us down. There was lots of yarn and knitted goods. I got a skein similar to j's but in a different color. You can hardly turn down 600 yards (!!) of pure alpaca for thirty dollars. Well a non-knitter could maybe... but not us.

Baby knitting

I finally have a knitting project to show. I must say, I'm only moderately pleased with it. The pattern was quick and easy and I like the idea of the final product. My problem?? The yarn. I am officially a yarn snob, methinks.

Its a baby blanket/hoodie combo, and it is actually quite cute. I knit it for a friend who is not pregnant, but has another friend who is. This friend of a friend is actually have twins. So I also have a pale sage green to knit a second one, as well as enough to knit a hat and some booties for each baby.



In the quest for something affordable and baby-proof (ie washable) I went with acrylic. The original yarn in the pattern is a cotton, but all the reviews said it pilled terribly. And I was afraid anything superwash would stretch out all wonky after reading The Book of Yarn. So I went with an acrylic. Its Vanna's Choice from Lion Brand (I feel dirty just typing that). But it had the colors we liked and it was washable... and it got fairly good reviews.

In all honesty, it was fine to knit with. I didn't have any problem with the yarn splitting really, and it did soften up a LOT after a trip through the washer and dryer. And odds are the recipient will never know the difference between that and any other yarn. But I know. It just didn't feel quite right to me, it wasn't the same as knitting with wool. Don't get me wrong, it turned out fine, nice even. But I don't know if I'll ever use the Vanna's Choice again. I'm just too spoiled.

One thing I did not count on with the acrylic. Or rather I did count on it and shouldn't have, had to do with weaving in the ends. With wool, the scales catch each other and you can weave in a few inches of tail and it will usually stay put. Not this stuff, they wiggled loose a bit in the wash/dry cycle, just enough to be noticeable and had to be woven back in. But there was one join, roughly in the middle of the blanket that wouldn't stay so I tied a knot and cut the tails. The shit won't even stay tied its so slippery, I'm afraid its going to come undone and unravel itself!! I'm going to send it back through the wash once I finish the second one to see if it will stay put or if I'm going to have to reknit the second half of it...

at last...

...something knitting related. really, i did start this blog mainly for my knitting. right now its sort of a knitting blog cleverly masquerading as a wedding blog. but i finally have some knitting pictures to share.

first off is some knitpicks essential in meadow multi for some saartje booties. i really like this color combo, but variegated yarn can be weird, so hopefully i still like it once its knit up.


this is the Reynold's Whiskey for Mr. Z's Koolhaus hat. We've sort of run into a dilemma with that project, hence no progress shots still. While my gauge is now better on the smaller needles, the yarn is lacking the soft fluffiness it had when I knit it on the larger needles. Soooo, i may frog it yet again and put it back on the larger needles and just adjust a bit for the gauge difference. i know the two will work, i just need to get the yarn and pattern to play nicely together.


and a finished object that has actually been finished for a while but i don't think i have blogged its completedness. shooting a decent picture of a wrap without an assistant is very difficult.

Pattern: Feather and Fan (co 164 stitches and work in pattern until desired length)
Yarn: KP Shadow in Campfire Heather, just under 4 skeins

And here is the progress on the second wrap. same yarn, but a slightly different pattern. I am almost through the second skein of yarn. it will probably use up four skeins since it is a bit wider than the first one.

Pattern: Fishtail Lace Scarf free pattern from Knitpicks.com (cast on 180)
Yarn: KP Shadow in Campfire Heather

We've also settled on our wedding invitation design and even figured out how to print them on cardstock that has already been cut to size using Mr. Z's work computer. Now I just have to finalize the RSVP card and the sheet with all the location information on it, but knowing that we really can make it print the way we want to has been a real relief. And I've found some fabulously unique jewelry on etsy.com that should match my dress. One of the jewelers has agreeded to make me a necklace to match the earrings (that were already in her shop) that i really like. YAY! I'll share pictures when i get them.