Knitty Malaise

Did you check out Interweave's hurt book sale yet. I don't mind telling you all to go on over and check it out now that I already placed my order. My rather large order. Now I have to figure out where the hell I'm going to put the new books. Oy!



I'd love to be showing you a pair of finished socks today but I still don't have pictures yet - 2 weeks later. I'm hoping that this weekend the schedule and the weather will cooperate. Maybe I'll finish the current socks too and make it a double photo shoot. Wouldn't that be nice?

I wish I had other things to share but truthfully I'm feeling a little knitty malaise. I bought this very pretty and soft Debbie Bliss Rialto DK to knit a certain small sweater but now that I'm ready to cast on for that sweater, the pattern(#1) no longer appeal to me. So I found another pattern(#2) that I love but it takes more yarn... which I don't have.

So I got different yarn, Berroco Comfort DK, for the newly chosen pattern and it should've worked but I had a bad feeling about it. I did a gauge swatch for once and I'm Right! The gauge is off and knitting on larger needles wouldn't give a pleasing fabric. Humph!

So I went back to trolling Rav and found yet another pattern(#3) and while I don't love it like pattern #2, I think it's a winner. Even better it's been knit before in the new yarn. Now I'm waiting to get my hands on the book that the pattern is in and I'm thinking that there may be an even better pattern out there. Or maybe I can force pattern 2 to work with something I already have. Or I can get another yarn that will work with pattern 2. Or...



Anyway, my knitting is stalled but my crocheting isn't. The pictures in this post are of the second potholder I made for the potholder swap and it's going to be on it's way to Canada today. A little late because I forgot to block it but I think it's worth the wait. The colors work well, especially on the swirl side which really pops. It's also not wonky at all although it looks that way in the picture. The pattern I used for that side is Stir Me Up and I love it. Really I do.

Now I'm ready to start the 3rd potholder for the swap and I feel inspired. I've got another pattern in mind to try and I think it's gonna rock! If only I could get as excited about a larger knitting project like the Que Sera that still needs a sleeve. Maybe I'll just cast on some new lace instead.

Swapping Potholders Again

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was feeling the pull of crochet again. For a few weeks I carried around my hooks and yarn and crocheted at odd moments. Below is the result and the one thing that is clear is that I am so rusty!



The purple one was the first one and, although it probably looks the least wonky, it's the one that I screwed up. I was doing one of the stitches wrong throughout. On the other 2 I got the stitches correct but I think that I was having tension issues because they are seriously wonky. Perhaps blucking would help but I think it's just about practicing. As with anything you need to get the feel of a thing and then it flows.

Happily I have a reason to practice my crochet a lot more because the Potholder Swap is back. You can check out the Rav group or see what everyone is making on flickr. I can't wait to start testing patterns. I think I may need to get more yarn too. I'm pretty excited because last year I got 2 crochet books, Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs by Edie Eckman and 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton. There are so many pretty patterns to try in those two.

Count me in!

More Potholder Prototypes

I really did intend to post yesterday but it turned into a really crazy day. I was serving 18 for the first night of Passover and I forgot just how much work it can be. Aside from the usual cooking and cleaning there is the added task of unpacking all of my Passover dishes which I only use once a year. Whew!

Thankfully, with quite a lot of help from my girls, we pulled it all together and it all worked out just fine. We fulfilled the requirements of the holiday and everyone left feeling quite full.

Back to the parade of potholders.

There were quite a few potholder patterns on the web that looked interesting to me. The first was the Tumbledown Trivet by Julie Bolduc. What appealed to me about this pattern and also the next one I worked, her the Cool Flames Potholder, was the crochet acrobatics required. In each of these patterns there is a certain amount of crocheting into stitches from previous rows behind chained stitches. I found this to be a lot of fun. I also love the dimensionality that the layers of stitches creates.

The Spiked Hot Pad pattern (also by Julie Bolduc) was similarly fun. In this one the nifty trick is going back a row or two and creating a super-long spike. I like this effect a lot.

One thing I noticed as I worked these potholders is that I'm a very tight crocheter. Because of that, all of these are a little smaller than they ought to be. They also hurt my hands after a while. I'm working hard on loosening up a bit. Crocheting is too much fun to have to give it up due to tight stitches.

The Wild Granny Square is by Julie Bolduc again. I liled it fr the same reasons as the others but I think that the end result is not as neat and tidy as I'd like it to be. Perhaps wild isn't what I go for in a granny square. It's a perfectly nice pattern but just not for me. Tis one is efinitely out of the running.

The last prototype is the Crochet Flower Hot Pad. I love this one! It was weird while I was making it because it looked like a big, floppy, octopus but at the end when you flip the flaps and pin them down it's just magic. I could be very happy crocheting a lot of these but it seems like a bunch of other folks are using this pattern so I won't.

After the post on Tuesday I got a bunch of comments here and there saying that Willow is theway to go. I'm definitely leaning towards Willow or the Tumbledown Trivet. I'll work each again to see if being looser will make a difference. I also want to see how they look in the Sonata. Thanks for all of the input!

Crossposted to the Swap blog.

Hooked by Another Swap

I signed up for a swap recently because, ummmm, I didn't have enough to do. Right? Anyway, it's the Hot Pad and Potholder Swap and it just sounded like too much fun for me to resist. You would think that after my huge kippot crocheting project, I'd never want to see a hook again. Not so. I kind of miss it but not enough to dive into a really big item like a sweater. This is actually perfect.

I was so excited. I went online and ordered up a bunch of Elann Sonata right away. It's such a lovely yarn. Great colors and a nice smooth finish. I also bought a few new crochet hooks that are more comfortable to use. Then I borrowed 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton from my library. This is a book I'd definitely love to add to my collection. It's got great blocks and I find the other information in it very helpful as well.

Finally I started testing potential patterns using random scraps of Sugar 'n Cream yarn and I just couldn't stop. I started with the block that really caught my eye. This is from the book and it's #35 Tricolor Square. Both DQ and Stinkerbelle have tried to claim this one for themselves. No matter which other pattern I try, this is the family favorite. Sadly it doesn't meet one of the criteria that I am looking for. I need a pattern that I feel I can really execute well and I think that this one is beyond my skill set.

Briar Rose (#78) was the second one I tried. I try not to let the color choice influence my impression of it but I just can't help being distracted by the crazy. I also think that the hook I used was not the right size. The stitches are a little loose which is odd because I've found that I'm a tight crocheter in general. It's something I'm working on.

The Gothic Square (#94) looked terriffic to me when I saw it in the book. It also worked well for me. The stitches and combinations were ones that I felt totally comfortable with. I just don't love this square even though I really want to. I'm not sure why but it's just not "The One".

I really enjoyed crocheting Willow (#189) and I thought it was a winner but the family disagrees. They're just not feeling the love for it. I like the shapes and I think it could be a good potholder if I added a solid or textured back. I just think that it could get tedious repeating this pattern again and again.

Since none of the patterns in the book were jumping out and screaming at me, I kept trying more. Tomorrow I'll share more of them including a bunch I found on the internet. I tried a total of nine patterns last week.

Cross-posted to the swap blog.