Posts in category 'knitting'
Knitting Update
Given that I’m part of the Men Who Knit webring, it seemed like a good idea to write an entry about, you know… knitting.
First off, I gotta thank Lenore for a lovely christmas present. I’d on occasion eyed the Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needles. This set, which comes in a nice, folding case (with the name Denise stamped on the front in gold embossing… did I mention I really dislike the name ‘Denise’? And gold embossing?), comes with a large assortment of needle tips (ranging from 5 to 15US) and cables ranging from 5” to 19”. In addition, the kit comes with joiners, so you can join cables together for larger pieces, as well as attachable stitch holders (of which I’ve already lost one), so you can transform a cable into a flexible straight needle or a stitch holder.
The result is an incredibly compact, yet very flexible kit, which is particularly handy if you tend to knit on the go, as I do. And at ~$50 bucks, the kit is a huge bargain, as it easily replaces a very large needle collection. Highly recommended!
On the project front, the baby blanket continues unabated. All the components are finished and blocked, so all that remains is to sew it together. Yeah… that’s all. I just have to assemble a blanket from the ~30 parts I’ve made. Oh, and did I mention I’ve misplaced my tapestry needles?
Additionally, in my spare cycles, I completed a new toque for myself from some very cool, chunky yard made from part lambs wool… let me tell you, this sucker is warm. And it’s actually long enough to cover my ears! And with that done, I’m working on another Yellow Goofy Toque for Lenore, though this time slightly larger and in the same yarn I used to make Lenores Mittens and Lenores Scarf.
See? I knit. I’m just too busy to write about it. :)
Knitting Miscellany
So blanket construction continues unabated. In fact, in the three days I was in Regina for Thanksgiving, I completed another 4 1/2 panels, which brings me to a total of 9… over one third of the way there! On the hex components, anyway. ‘course, I still haven’t blocked them out, but I’m sure I’ll get around to that eventually.
On a separate but related note, quite a while ago, I embarked on a rather ambitious project: to start a knitting wiki. Unfortunately, as often happens with my projects, I made a reasonable amount of progress in secret before life got in the way and it ended up on the back-burner. However, the recent discovery of another knitting wiki project on Wikia (a Wikimedia-powered free wiki-hosting service) has brough the project back to life. For now.
See, apparently someone else had the same bright idea I did… and the same amount of dedication. Thus, the Wikia site had been languishing for about a year, just waiting to be populated. So I’ve decided to try and adopt the project. I’ve already ported all my content over there, boosting the site from a measley 9 pages to a whopping 31, and I’ve started the process of lightly re-organizing things before generating new material. My ultimate goal would be to generate an all-encompassing repository of knitting knowledge. A resource that could rival those found in traditionally expensive (and difficult to find) knitting books. Of course, we’ll see how long it is before I get bored of the whole idea. :)
Of course, by now, you’re probably wondering where it is. Well, feel free to head over to KnitWiki! And in case you’re wondering, yes, those shots with the green yarn are pictures of me knitting. And yes, taking them required some rather odd contortions…
Return Of The Knitting Bug
It’s been quite some time since I’ve worked on a major knitting project. I suppose this isn’t surprising… it’s pretty hard to convince oneself to sit indoors and play with yarn when you’ve got the beautiful sun shining outside and a deck begging to be built or a lawn crying out to be mowed. But, the time has come again for knitting and purling, hence my newest project (yes, another one… and yes, my Squeak project is still ever so slowly rolling along :).
But, before I tell you what it is, I must first warn Jori not to read any further or even glance down the page! Not that she’s likely to be reading my blog, but I’d hate for her to spoil the surprise. See, I needed an excuse to knit something. I mean, Lenore and I only need so many hats and scarves and so forth. And I’m not quite ready to start on a sweater project (or better yet, my Jump Suit). So I wanted a project I could foist on someone else, but something that was complicated enough to be interesting. Hence the Mountain Laurel Crib Counterpane (aka, neato baby blanket).
Pretty nice, eh? It will be a challenge, though. I have to make 25 hex motifs, 6 half hexes and 6 edge triangles, and then sigh sew them all together. Good times! I figure it’ll take me two solid months of work. And my progress? Currently, I have two hex motifs done, one of which you can see below (note, it hasn’t been blocked, yet, thus the details aren’t fully visible and the stitching is a little more cramped than in the final piece):
I think it turned out fairly well. It’s a very fun pattern to work on… lots of variation to keep me focused. :) And the beauty of it is I can work on it while riding the bus, as it’s composed of lots of small pieces that are easily transported.
Mostly Male
So, I was browsing around on Men Who Knit, a community site for male knitters (yes, apparently there are enough of us that a dedicated website is warranted), when I came across a few posts that I absolutely had to share. Someone came across a publication called “Brunswick Mostly Male” and posted some pics from patterns therein. And trust me… the name fits:
I think the jumpsuit is my favourite. I gotta gets me one of those!