Rogue Knits

No.
Did she die?
No.
A terrible car accident which left her hands crippled?
Close.

It’s county fair time in East Tennessee. Thusly, I’ve been working my fingers to the bone (literally in some cases. Tatting with thin – size 80- thread cuts my fingers to ribbons.), and I only have *CENSORED BECUASE MY COMPETITION MIGHT READ THIS* more items to go in 18 days.

I think I can do it.

At night though, i have to sleep with duct tape around my hands, becuase I think they are about to start rebelling from the 16-18 hour crafting days I’m putting them through right now.

Expect a very large, photo filled update, with little text, on August 9th or 10th.
Expect my obituary, from being murdered in my sleep by my own hands, sometme before then.

Till next time, Kids!

Morning in East Tennessee

This morning is quiet. Not the normal flurry of activity that most people experience between the hours of 6:30 and 10:00 AM. Of course, I never have a flurry of activity at this hour, I’m usually still asleep. But with dad heading off to work early, and mom staying up all night with an injured furbaby, I figured I coud get up early and let her get some sleep this morning. So now its just me, the sleeping furbabies, Breakfast -

And my Works in Progress. 

Remember the sweater I was knitting? The green one? I finally finished the body, and I’m working on one sleeve. Really!

The yarn is double stranded Vanna’s Choice, in Olive. In reality it’s a little more gold and mossy. Pattern is “Topsecret” from knitty.

I tried to finish this before the FCE thing 2 weeks ago, but no dice.  I got partway through the skirt before I quit for the night, not to pick it up again till today.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I was lacking in having a project to work on saturday. Sooo I dug through my book ollection, and my yarn stash. Pattern + Yarn =

Yes its a blue knitted tie.

So?

Also, FCE Prizes.

Tatting – First place.

An apron I did – second place. This was made from bluejeans.

And the tawney owl hat and mittens.

Now I need to get shit done for the fair.

EDIT: I just wanted to add this, cus I forgot earlier.

You can read all the naughty details of this top on the Islands In the Sun Shawlter page.

So, Today I was planning on blogging about how I had a finished sock and had a good portion of the second sock done, and everything would be fine before this competition on the 28^th, and no problem, I can get a pair of socks done in less than a month.

And then I remembered: I’m not Antje Gillingham (although she is a nice lady, and I love talking with her.). I’m not Cat Bordhi. And I’m damn sure not Stephanie Pearl McPhee, who can knit up a pair of socks in a week, if she is so inclined.

So what have I done, instead of knitting socks?

I finished a hat for a KAL on Ravelry. This hat is called the Flower Center Slouch, and it was crocheted with Patons Brilliant. In about 4 hours, on a Wednesday night. That’s my mom modeling it. The theme of the KAL is “April Showers/ May Flowers.”. Do one hat in a “rainy” yarn, and another in a “springy” yarn. This has metallic threads going through that look like raindrops, when the light hits it.  

So that took up 4 hours of knitting time. WHERE THE HELL DID THE REST GO?

Ravelry. And the AntiCraft. And more Ravelry. And a little bit of Omegle. And a whole crapload more AntiCraft.

But the good part is that if I bust my ass working on this sock, I’ll have it finished by today. All that’s left is ½ a chart repeat, 5 rows of ribbing, and the bind off. About 25 rows all total. I I REALLY bust my ass, I can get it done by 2 PM and have half the first chart done on the second sock by bedtime.

Yeeeaaahh…about that…

So instead of actually working on the stupid thing, what am I doing?

Making a new header (which is a close up shot of the patterning in said socks.), re-doing the layout, altering pictures, eating a bagel, drinking coffee, obsessively checking ravelry, the anticraft, and cakewrecks..

The usual morning ritual.

As a precaution, I de-fuzzed my tawney owl mittens & hat, and if all else fails, those suckers are going in the comptetition. They were made for that anyway, damnit. No one else has them, or me wearing them, so screw you all. The socks are still going in the county fair though.

Bagel, anyone?

Do you know how the hell someone can make boiling eggs FLAME?!

Becuase aparrantly, my mom can do it.

Don’t ask me how. I’m still not sure.

All I know is that dad and I were sitting in the living room, basking in the yarny goodness of a well organized stash. We heard Popping coming form the kitchen, and dad shouted at mom that her freaking eggs were exploding again and she needs to be int he kitchen with them, not on the computer.

When she cam eback through, dad asked how many exploded. Mom replied that she didn’t know, becuase the POT WAS FLAMING.

How do you make fire from eggs + water?

Someone explain this to me.

Oh, and about the yarny goodness?

One of dad’s jobs was to break down these 2 peice sets so Trula (the dept mngr) could sell the peices individually. The 2 peice sets (game controllers & memory cards) came on a 4′ endcap Corrugate. Which is a facy way of saying it was a cardboard cubby-holed display.
Breaking down the items (I helped) I looked at the corrugate.
“Wow,” says me “This would be great for yarn.”
“Trula would give it to you, but the store wouldn’t let her.”
Trula, She doesn’t take shit from anyone, but she’s sweet as candy.
“I can has?” I says to Trula.
“Take it!” She says. “Throw it on a cart and you can have it.”

A well organized stash sparks my creativity.

Now I don’t know WHAT to make.

I swear I haven’t! See! I still exist! The proof is in the text that I’m typing right this very freaking second!

I’ve been meaning to update for a while, but lets face it, I’m lazy. And busy. And I’ve been playing a scary amount of zombie-fied videogames, like Resident Evil 5 and Left 4 Dead. Okay? Sue me. I haven’t got a whole lot of knitting done. 

But I did get photos of my “important” stash. You know..the wool stuff. The stuff that isn’t acrylic. The niiiiiiiice stuff. You’ve already seen part of it. The Moda Dea Silk n’ Wool, and the Lion Brand Sock Ease. 

Behold, Yarn Porn. No touching please, and don’t drool on your keyboard, if you can help it.

 First, Moda Dea Silk N’ Wool, colorway – Wasabi.

Next is LionBrand Sock Ease, Colorway – Toffee.

Now, Hobby Lobby’s Bamboospun, Colorway – Naturals

I kind of went on a sock yarn binge at my last trip to the LYS. Picked up 2 skeins of Patons Stretch Socks, Colorway – Olive

2 skeins of Regia Tweed, Colorway – Red

1 hank/skein of Classic Elite Yarns Alpaca Sox, in a Green/Blue colorway. This was bought specifically for use with the “Shur’tugal” sock pattern.

On my way out, I saw a yarn I HAD TO HAVE. I lusted after it with my very soul. In a fit of “OMG SOFFFFFTTTT YUM!”, I picked up 3 skeins. What I would do with these, I have to idea, but it’s nice to have and pet. The yarn is Berroco Pure Merino (worsted), in a teal-y blue color that cannot be captured by my camera. 

Also, my mom gifted me with some yarn that she picked up, but decided against using. 3 skeins of Lion Wool in Winter White.

I have no idea what to make, but I’m thinking something felted.

You may notice two new things on the siodebar. One is my Knitting Badges, and the other is my knitter’s geek code. I’m really super lazy, so go google it if your curious as to what they mean.

Since the last update, I’ve found out that my sister is going to be having a baby in the fall. This was cause for much celebration, and stash digging. Here’s the result of stash dig #1, a baby blanket. The pattern is “Beth’s Little Star Afghan”, which is searchable on Ravelry. If you ar enot a member of Ravelry, GO JOIN. NOW. IT’S LIKE KNITTING AND CROCHET CRACK!

For comparison, that blanket is laid across a baby blanket that my aunt crocheted for me before I was born. The yarn is Red Heart (in the middle), Caron Simply Soft, and Caron SImply Soft Eco, in Real Teal, Blue Mint, and Aqua Mist, respectively.

I’ve also finished a hat. For mom.

Pattern is called Kublai Khan Splendor.

Yarn was Bernat Softy Chunky, in red & black, held double. On size 17 needles. The whole thing took roughly 4 hours to knit.

Last thing, I forgot to mention. I made a trade with a woman I know, I gave her some remnants of yarn that I happened to have, and she gave me this:

2 balls of SWTC Amaizing (100% Corn Fiber) yarn, in white. Yummeh!

I’ve also started a scarf from the leftover Bernat Softy Chunky (along with 2 other skeins that was stuck in my stash..). It’s a Sampler Scarf, and all I did was pick the yarn & whatever needle size tickled my fancy, and cast on 30 stitches. Then, I find stitch patterns in one of my stitchionaries, and work them into the scarf, just to play with texture & lace, and whatever else tickles my fancy. Pictures to be posted next update.

Happy Knitting!

(Edited to Add: I have joined Twitter. You can find my tiwtter-update-thinger on the right hand side of this blog screen. See it? Good. Now follow me, jerks!)

Today is the day to start spring-cleaning. My choice is the corner in the living room where all the books & junk have accumulated over the past 2 years. That one corner next to the woodstove, where we throw everything when we don’t know where to throw it. Mom and Dad decide to start with the porch, which hasn’t been cleaned off since we moved in, 7 years ago. A tangle of weeds, old camping gear, trash, and broken flowerpots.

The pile of junk in my corner has been growing for two years. Books, tools, and most recently – my knitting supplies. My huge blue lidded box has been thrown haphazardly on top of the books & trash in that corner, and now it’s the time to claim it as my own.

I start by taking all those cardboard boxes and pulling them out. Leaving the rest of the junk to fall in the middle. Dusty books, many of them old textbooks from the 1950s, and stacking them into the cardboard boxes. Notebooks are searched through for important information.

It’s at this stage that I find it. An old brown spiral bound notebook, with a price of $.25 on the cover. I had come across many of these in the past 2 hours, and I figured it was another one of dad’s Dungeons & Dragons notebooks, filled with character sheets & spell lists. I balance it on the pile growing on my knees, getting ready to be put into another box, when I notice that the text-type on the cover looked older than the other notebooks. The pages are more yellowed around the edges.

I open the notebook gingerly and half-scan the pages. “Knit next 2 Rows” pops out at me. I start at the top of the first page.

Handwritten in pencil, in beautiful cursive that I don’t recognize as any of my family’s handwriting, is a knitting pattern. I turn the page. More patterns.

On the inside covers are rows and rows of small Xs, presumably to indicate rows.

In the back of the book is a pattern for a children’s hooded poncho, and a small pencil sketch of a young girl twirling around while wearing it.

Two other patterns fall out of the book as I turn the page. One is a very old photocopy for knitted slippers; the other is for knitted & crocheted Christmas stockings. It’s clear from the terminology used “2 balls of Knitting Worsted, Needles to achieve gauge listed.” That these patterns are from the 1950s.

The question now becomes, who’s notebook was this? No one in my family (save for my grandmother, who knew HOW to knit, but never actually knitted.) practiced the craft. I called for mom, who was cleaning up flowerpot shards in the front yard. I showed her the notebook, and she reminded me of two aunts (who I had never met) who knitted. Aunt Faye, and Aunt Bea. All my Afghans that I use were crocheted by Aunt Bea just after I was born.

As I looked at the patterns, I felt tears well up behind my eyes. Finally, a connection to someone in my family who is like me. Someone who takes two sticks and string and turns them into usable items. After 4 years of knitting, and believing that I was the only one in my family who enjoyed this way of life. And now, to find that not 1 but 2 people in my family do the same, and that one of them designed her own knitwear..It’s enough to make me cry for hours.

Now the only problem is figuring out which aunt wrote these patterns.

Also, I have to say that I now have too many needles to fit in the mason jar I had been using to store them. So I dug through the kitchen shelves, and came up with these two containers for holding my needles. Both are antiques that my dad had.