Jon's Knit Blog

Gone Fishin'

I'm in Ohio this week. I'll try to post but I am not makin' any promises... I'll be back Friday night, so look for news on Saturday morning. I am taking two scarves with me, I hope to finish them both.

Have a great week!

Good News and Bad News

The Good News:

The Bad News:

That, in case you can't tell, is a lightbulb. A $24.95 light bulb. An Ott light bulb. A broken Ott Light Bulb.

The other bad news? He charged me $1 each for the eggs. Highway robbery, I tell ya! But at least I got them. Hooray for that! And they're sooooo delicious! And they're eggs, so they're packed with protein and good for you, right? Right?

Coming Out of the Closet

So in my last entry, I told you I was working on a secret project. But people seemed upset that I wanted it to be secret.

So here's a picture of the yarn:

It's Takhi Cotton Classic which is the same as Butterfly 10, 100% mercerized cotton. Lovely stuff to knit with. Same yarn as PPD. Different colors, obviously.

And here's the exciting part:

Holy crap, Jon's knitting lace! Yes, boys and girls, that's three out of the sixteen reps of the 12 row lace edging pattern that is part of the cutest baby sweater.

The pattern is from Lace from the Attic which I'd rather you buy from your LYS if you're going to, but it's a pretty book of antique lace patterns. And on page 77, there's a lovely baby sweater and hat.

And I'm going to make them both. Only I, thanks to a brilliant suggestion from Miriam, Queen of Knit New York, am going to use more than one color! (The lace edging is in the lighter shade, and the body of the sweater is in the more purple-y shade. And there might even be a surprise that I haven't told you about yet. So... you've been warned. But it's going to be cute and fun and hopefully a rather quick knit. I very much enjoyed the first 16 reps of the edging. (There will be 5 more for each sleeve, 12 for the collar and 13 for the hat, so more to come in that department), but I'm rather looking forward to PLAIN stockinette for a chance of pace. Honestly, I should really be making something like a stockinette sock... something about miles and miles of stockinette sounds thrilling to me right now.

In other news, my quest for Cadbury Creme Eggs continues apace. The evil overloads of CVS have taunted me, however, so they must be dealt with apace. You see, I went into CVS to see if they had any eggs. They had a whole box of them, up on a shelf. Only when I looked into the box to get some out, I was stunned to see that there were, in fact, no Cadbury Creme Eggs inside. False Advertising: they were using the box to hold other, inferior Chocolate Eggs.

I found ONE at the cash register. But it was unsaleable: the wrapper had partly pulled back, so the chocolate had been sitting out, exposed to the masses. And I don't chocolate from just anywhere. So we're still Creme Egg-less. (Though I did have a rather enjoyable substitute in the form of a Reeses Peanut Butter Bunny. Mmm!)

Kind Words

Yay, thanks, everyone, for saying such nice things about the Rosetta blankie. I did sew in a few more of her ends yesterday, but I did not knit on her.

I did knit on my green scarf, and I *gasp* started a new project. A lace-edged cotton baby cardi. It's not really worth photo-ing just yet (8 or 9 reps of unblocked lavender-gray lace edging doesn't really look like anything...) but it will be lovely when it's done, I think.

What else... well, still no Cadbury Creme Eggs, but I guess I need to look at this as a good thing. Right? I mean, I could stand to lose a couple pounds anyhow. So this is not a bad way to start... But it is nice that everyone wanted to help.

And guys, you won't see me at Boyz Night tonight, either... I have to work the morning shift today and tomorrow, which means no going out.

Wow, that was not an exciting post, was it? Sorry. Damn.

I'll Show You Mine...

I figured I should show you what's inside the box. And I ate one, so now it's not quite like that. (FYI: Leonidas is on Madison between 51nd and 52nd. At least, the location I went to is...)

I'm also going to show you my backside:

See how much nicer it is after a few hours of sewing? Too bad I only got through maybe a third of the ends I have so far. But there are three huge advantages to getting the wrong side done as well.

1: It's easier to manage without all the dangly yarn
2: It'll be something closer to immediate gratification at the end
and
3: The squares actually look better on the front side when the yarn on the back side is neat and clean. I don't quite understand it myself, but I was not the only one to notice this today. (I did the work at KNY.)

I have two more shots of the front, just to show you what's going on, and because I really love showing this off and also because I especially love my camera.

I'm really please with the progress I'm making as far as my intarsia skills are concerned. I'm sure you can see how much better it looks now than it did in the swatch. I just feel like my fingers are starting to really get where each piece of yarn is supposed to be and how much tension is supposed to happen at each join. It's pretty cool.

I'm probably going to go back to Knit NY tomorrow to work on this some more. It's a lot easier there than at my apartment. Largely because they have tables. And maybe some nice people will show up with Cadbury Creme Eggs? (Hint: I'll probably get there after 3:00pm) And because it's fun to watch people be amazed and astonished when they see this:

Mmm! I forgot to tell you. Last night, just before I fell asleep, I renamed the blankie. It is now, henceforth and evermore to be referred to as the Rosetta Blankie. Partly due to the fact that the baby's middle name will be Rose. And partly since the Indy Blankie of Doom theme relates rather well to the Archological Gem that is the Rosetta Stone. And the Rosetta Stone has been plundered and is now, like the babe for whom I am currently knitting, in London. So Rosetta Blankie it is.

Not The Same

Well, since I can't find any Cadbury Creme Eggs (and I checked another Duane Reade on my way to work), I stopped and got this during my dinner break.

It's not the same, but I think it will be an adequate substitute!

Have you ever had Leonidas Chocolates? They're my favorites. Aside from freshly laid Cadbury Creme Eggs...

The Horror!

I have gone to no less than three local drug stores, all of which used to have them, but no more. That's right, dear knit friends. The New York City Drug Stores (at least, the ones in my neck-o-the-woods) are out of Cadbury Creme Eggs. And it's not even Easter yet!

I guess I'll have to content myself with knitting.

Tonight I finished the fifth row of squares of the Indy Blankie. So it's almost 4 inches long now! Oddly, the squares are not square. They are wider than they are long. I should probably sue... But it's really OK, because I love how the blankie looks. It's already time to cut more pieces of yarn, though. Even though I knew that this project would be a massive undertaking, I'm already rather astonished by how much work it is shaping up to be. They better love it!

Weekend Update

So Friday night I went to Boyz Night at KNY, which was fun as usual. But it was particularly nice to get to hang out again with the guy I met there two weeks ago. He's a good knitter and a nice guy; I hope we're going to become good friends.

And I got to see Flames, as Mark was there, showing off his handiwork. Mark was starting a bobbly cowl, and it will be interesting to watch that progress...

As advertised, though, I didn't think that taking the Indy Blankie would be a good idea; there's just too much going on at Boyz Night to be able to pay attention to that detailed of a pattern (plus, the next row was a color change row, and that messy event should not be occuring in public, at least not to that level!), so I bought some new yarn, and started a new scarf:

Pretty, ain't it? Instead of telling you what it is, I'm going to see if you can guess. And, of course, anyone who was at KNY on Friday night is not allowed to answer... because, well, what fun would that be?

Four In A Row

Now that I finished the fourth row of the blankie, I'm starting to really love it! I kind of can't believe how fun all the colors look, even though they're sort of being placed rather randomly.

And I found out today that the Mom had an ultrasound and found out that the baby's a girl! She's really happy about that. I hope she's even happier when she gets to see the blankie!

I, however, am not happy when I have to look at the backside of the blankie and contemplate how much work all the ends are going to be. See?:

But as they say, where there's a will, there's a way.

And if you want to hear a few odd factoids about the blankie: Each square is five stitches and six rows, and gets made with a 32" piece of yarn. A row takes about 15 or 16 minutes - except, of course, for the color change row, which can take quite a bit longer, especially because I'm trying to make sure that the color repeats really appear random and yet somehow balance. There are twenty colors of yarn. I have completed 4 "rows" of blocks (24 rows of knitting) and I expect that the finished blankie will probably be 48 rows (of blocks) long. Sadly, that means about 70 more hours of knitting this blanket, and that's only allowing 16 minutes for the color changes rows, and it doesn't even account for the weaving of the ends... Actually, I am weaving some of the ends in as I go, so they merely need to be "verified" and then trimmed. And I hope that the whole process will get faster at it as I go along.

I don't think I'm going to take it to KNY for Boyz Night tomorrow, though. I'm kind of thinking that I'll start some sort of scarf as an alternative knitted gift for the would-have-been recipient of BCG, seeing as how he's sad that he ended up not getting the sweater, which is currently in Sweden.

Oh, and I wore my Mercury scarf yesterday, and got tons of compliments! That was nice, particularly since it is one of only two FO's which I actually wear; all the others have been gifted.

Nothin' But Blue Skies Do I See

I've been RAOK'ed! Jon, from Colorado Knits. Yes, that's right, boys and girls, it's four beautiful balls of Blue Sky Alpaca. Natural, Gray, Blue, and Maroon. Mmmmmmmmmmm!

I think that this is going to have to become a manly striped scarf which will be knit longways. Lately, I've had a thing for longways scarfs. Here's the question, though: Should I do two rows in each color, and then repeat, so that they are skinny stripes? Or shall I knit a bunch of rows in each color so that there are like four or six fatter stripes? What do you all think? Regardless, this will be a fun scarf in a simple stitch pattern to distract me, from time to time, from the Joy of Intarsia that is the Indy Blankie.

Jon and the Amazing Technicolor Yarn

I spent more time tonight cutting up pieces of yarn than I did knitting them. I got two rows of the next set of squares knit, though. It takes a lot longer than you'd think, because you have to plan each color, and with each additional set of squares, there are more colors to relate to... but I'm having lots of fun playing with colors! I also need to start having lots of fun weaving in some of the ends, because it's a mess on the wrong side!

I think I also need a mindless project for interim knitting, so that not every night is a madness of intarsia. I guess I need to make a fun garter stitch scarf or something. Or maybe I should find that sock I started...

PS: I'm trying (with a friend's help) to make the site look a little bit cooler... so bear with us during the construction phase. OK?

Maura and I Work Together

Well, I knit the second row of squares, and Maura (with help from her friend Nancy) shot this lovely photo of it. Although I had to brighten it just a tad on the computer; it looked kind of... underexposed.

So here's row two:

Now, I have to cut lots more 32" pieces of Zara. And I have a lot of ends to start weaving in. But that will have to wait, as it is bedtime. And I have lots to do tomorrow, including dinner with a gentleman. And not just any gentleman, he's a gentleman knitter!

PS: That square sort of in the center of the photo is not black; it's actually Hunter Green.

A F.O.

It's actually a finished scarf, even though you can't really tell from this photo. And, well, it's not totally done, because I do still have the ends to weave in. But it was my garter stitch rebellion from BCG. And it was fun!

It is: One skein of Colinette Giotto. I cast on about 180 stitches on a 10.5US needle and knit in garter stitch until it was like 5 inches wide. Then I cast off. I picked up stitches along each end (one end at a time, duh), and then knit each stitch Front and back, knit another row, another row KFB, knit 3 rows, another row KFB, knit a row, then bound off. (I didn't have enough yarn for the second end to have quite as much flounce, but whatever.) It's fabulous, and it makes me wish I were a little girl. Almost.

But I've been a bit happier since I found a woman who likes BCG as a boatneck. I'm waiting for her to snap some photos, but she likes it. And it fits her, pretty much. I still feel bad for my friend for whom the sweater was intended. But he's sort of OK with it. Particularly since the woman who likes the sweater and can rather wear it is our boss. And now he's merely asking for a scarf. I don't think I'll give him the Pink Giotto Flounce scarf.

I've also gotten off to a (slow) start on The Baby Blankie of Doom, even though a lot of people think I need to rename it. I'll probably refer to it as the Indy Blankie, but I guess we'll see. I know that I don't plan to refer to it as BBD. I just don't. But I have finished the first row of squares:

I took another photo which shows off the knitting a little bit, and I think it's a kind of cool, artistic photo. So since I have no cats to photograph and show off, here's another gratuitous shot of my intarsia:

There are those among you who will note that there are many more colors here than there were in what I previously described as the swatch for the blankie. Well, that's just the way it goes. I think it looks rather fabulous like this. You will note that the colors which were in the first swatch are all in this row. Along with 17 other colors. That's right, boys and girls. There are 20 fun filled shades of Zara being used in this baby blankie. That's one baby who better not be color blind!

Craft Corner Deathmatch

It can't be! This is just wrong.

Blue Cable-y Disappointment

Wait, how did BCG turn into a boat neck? I thought we were making a crew-neck sweater here.

Damn that yarn store girl who doesn't know how to help create a proper neckline! (No, I'm not talking about you, if you're reading this, Jocelyn.) I'm talking about a yarn shop on the Upper West Side which shall remain nameless.

Aside from the neck, the sweater looks pretty good; I'm very happy with how the seams came out. I think that the body of the sweater should have been about two inches longer, although the would-be owner (who is pictured in the photos) said he thinks it'll be fine to wear with jeans at this length. Although not with this neck.

To enhance your schadenfreude, here's a close-up of the evil neck:

A girl tried it on (I did not take her photo in it), and it looked OK in the neck area but much to wide elsewhere.

I'm not sure what to do. I mean, clearly, I have to take the whole thing apart, rip the front out to the neck, and redo it. And here I was, thrilled that I was never going to have to knit this yarn again. And even more thrilled that I wasn't going to have to find any more yarn with which to finish the project. But seeing as how I only have a half a ball left, and there's clearly more neck left to cover than we can get out of a half of a ball here, well, we're in for more kinds of problems than I want to talk about. Not the least of which is undoing the 10 hours I spent seaming this sweater. They're LONG seams, and I'm not much in the habit of seaming.

Anyhow, I rebelled against BCG tonight, and against "responsible" knitting by casting on a pink scarf. In Giotto. In garter stitch, cast on long-ways, so I get to knit mindlessly through 180 stitches of pink ribbony fun. And prepare myself for sleeping tonight, where I'm sure I'll have blue cable-y nightmares.

Done???

Well, I just bound off the neck-band, or at least the first version thereof. Tomorrow, I will take it to the recipient, for the ultimate test: fit! Stay tuned. Photos within 24 hours.

A Day At A Yarn Shop

I spent most of yesterday at Knit NY. I met lots of cute boys, especially during the "Boyz Night," and I had dinner with a very nice gentleman who was making a beautiful baby blanket. Very nice conversation.

Oh, and I finished seaming BCG. I picked up the neckband stitches and got about three times around before the hour struck 1:00am and we all promptly turned into pumpkins.

Thanks to all yesterday for the kind words on my blogiversary. It's been a really fun year, and I hope it continues to be fun. Because if it stops being fun, well, you know...

What I Did Today

Today was wonderfully productive. I used the big table at Knit NY to start seaming up BCG. And aside from doing it wrong and having to do the shoulders and part of one sleeve over again, it went really well. I fixed the shoulders, and have one sleeve entirely set-in. Tomorrow, I will be going back to set in the other sleeve and sew up the sides.

Today at KNY, I also bought the yarn to make the baby blanket. It is based on a Kaffe Fassett design, so I have named it Indiana Jones' Baby Blanket of Doom. Just because it's going to be so difficult to get through the thing with my sanity intact. Not that there's any doom at all involved with the baby. The baby is going to be quite fabulous, I'm sure. In fact, I'll be referring to it as the Indy Blankie, so that we're not mentioning doom all that often.

Tonight, I actually started the blankie. It was great fun to work the two stockinette rows at the beginning (cream yarn, 175 stitches, all in lovely, plain, simple, easy, joyous stockinette. Now, we're onto the main body of the pattern, which means that every five stitches, there's a new length of yarn to wind around another length of yarn, and although I think it's going to look fantastic, it's also going to be one great big huge giant cumbersome lesson in the evil art of intarsia. Right now, it looks like a great big mess-o-yarn, so it's not particularly worth a photograph.

Tomorrow, though, I hope that there will be something to photograph: Blue Cable-y Sweatery Goodness.

Anyhow, one other topic: Does anyone realize what today is in the land of Jon's Knit Blog? Someone's gotta know... it's pretty exciting!

The Ends Are In Sight

I have woven in all the ends, and cut off all the extra yarn. It took three and a half hours, but that was probably because I was watching TV at the same time. (And remember, there were 80 ends to weave. That's not even three minutes per end, and when you factor in bathroom breaks, Cadbury eggs, fast-forwarding through commercials, and so forth, it's a pretty decent speed, methinks. Regarding what to watch while doing this? Word to the wise: "Mr. Wrong" is a really stupid movie.

So the seams and a neck band, and then BCG will officially be a sweater. And then I can knit something else!

Eek, It's Wednesday!

Well, I was going to knit after I got home from work last night. Well, technically I was going to sewingly weave in the ends on Blue Cable-y Goodness. But I called a friend of mine just as I was getting out of work, and he was just getting out of work, too, so that ended up in a lot of wine and a mediocre dinner.

And getting home, rather inebriated, after 1:00am. So I decided that it would not be a good idea to mess with yarn, so I just surfed the 'net instead for a bit, then went to bed. That was nice...

I'm going to get started on those ends, though. Any day now, I can just feel it.

Actually, I think there's a decent chance the sweater could be done by Monday, and maybe even sooner. We shall see!