Needled By Doubt

Quick Update

Miss Twitch — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:51:06 +0000

Two of my recent projects: a bone for my parents’ weird little dog…

..and anklets out of an awesome yarn color called “Toasted Blueberry.”

Behold! (Sort of): Sock with Lattice

Miss Twitch — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:19:42 +0000

The yarn, Ivy Brambles in Black Raspberry, is gorgeous, and I wanted to undertake a project with smaller needles than I had ever used.

In retrospect, however, the size 1.5 DPNs may have created a somewhat…dense fabric. What do you think, sock?

Staging a walkout.

Hey! Don’t you run away from me!

Enemy Mine

Miss Twitch — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:23:03 +0000

My nemesis of late: Baron Lace von Secondsock.

Bwahahahahaha!

See his terrible (but very well done!) hat!

How he smiles at me beneath his blond mustache as if he hasn’t already murdered two size 1.5 DPNs!

He’s a monster, I tell you.

Socks Appeal

Miss Twitch — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:12:36 +0000

I’ve been on a sock-knitting streak. More posts and pics soon!

Sock’er!

Miss Twitch — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:44:00 +0000

A funny thing happened at the craft store this week.

While browsing around for beads and DPNs, I took a stroll through the yarn aisles: my mother has recently started making hats on the loom, so I was keeping an eye out for a nice, thick chenille.

What I found was sock yarn. Yes, knitting aficionados, you read that right. Not a nice worsted that could be socks, but actual, honest-to-God, in some cases self-striping sock yarn. It looks like the revolution has reached A.C. Moore and friends–and at around $4 a skein, some of this yarn looks pretty good.

I didn’t even know Red Heart made sock yarn!

Ain’t That A (Something-That-Rhymes-With-Kick) In The Head

Miss Twitch — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:44:24 +0000

I finished Mom’s hat, but every time I tried to take a picture of it on me, it made my head look like… well. As a wise man said when told of this conundrum, “Once you go black and metallic with a little pompom on the front, you never go back.”

So expect new sock pictures soon, and join me in hoping the hat will look better on my mother.

In Progress: Belated Christmas Hat

Miss Twitch — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:27:59 +0000

When I took my mother to the yarn store for my birthday last year, she was scandalized by the prices–as am I from time to time–but she did see something she thought was pretty. A few months later, I took the plunge and bought a couple of balls of the black Filatura di Crosa Tokyo . And finally, approximately eight months later and past two deadlines (this could also be known as the Belated Mom’s Birthday Hat), it will be done in the next day or two.

It’s also my first actual successful attempt at knitting on a circular needle, which should hammer home an important lesson about beginner knitting skills: everything goes better if you start with big, dumb needles and big, dumb yarn!

...big, dumb, PRETTY yarn, however.

Behold! Sleeves Of My Own Design

Miss Twitch — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:40:23 +0000

Here they are! I’ll be refining the design so they don’t flare quite as much and are a couple of rows longer at the hand end, but on the whole I’m quite pleased with these, knit flat on size 7 needles in Ultra Alpaca:

The sleeve in repose...

...and keeping my hand warm.

After A Long Absence…

Miss Twitch — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:15:58 +0000

I’ve started knitting again after a couple of months off from playing with sticks. Pictures to come soon if my next mad scheme, Sleeves Knitted Flat, should turn out to be viable!

Knitzilla!

Miss Twitch — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:28:19 +0000

I’m still at loose ends, no pun intended, and came upon the idea of knitting a very simple pair of slipper socks for a Christmas present. My usual chaotic approach–no real pattern, just plain dinking in yarn until something emerges that (with any luck) looks like a sock. Since no one but me is willing to handwash socks, I went to Jo-Ann fabrics and picked out a skein of their Angel Hair yarn in the black/multi that looks like stained-glass colors. Angel Hair is one of my favorite synthetics; in fact, it’s the stuff in my header image.

Socks, however, are a different ballgame.

The scale of this is just boggling my mind. Thirty-six stitches, cast on 10.5 needles I bought to finish up a hat I haven’t started (Hi, Mom! Yes, Christmas is coming!) and it looks… a little big. Pretty, though.