The One With Frogging, Flogging, ...

Scarf is currently just sitting there staring at me. I had to frog it a little. And now I have to figure out how to get the stitches back onto the needle correctly. [It is, apparently, a good idear to read the book on how to do things you don't know how to do ... before you attempt to do them.] I am also toying with the idear of putting stripes (of seed stitch) every so often. Before I pick up the needles again, I have to figure out a) if I want stripes to break up the ribbing, and b) the ribbing-to-stripe ratio.

So instead of figuring that out yesterday, I went golfing. If you can call it that. Driving range first, where I first noticed that a back/side muscle was aching, then three (or was it four?) holes of play. I think I did okay. [Translated to mean "I didn't lose any balls." Although I think I walked a lot more than the marked yardage on the different holes. Which is a whole different story.] I am now rubbing lotion in that my massage therapist gave me for tight/sore muscles. And I will put a call in to her to see if she has room to schedule me in a week earlier than I am already scheduled...

And the happy news of the day? I ordered myself a fountain pen. I've wanted one forever, and I broke down today while browsing through Levenger. I'm such a pen slut. But I will have Amethyst coloured ink to go with it...

Oh happy day!

Ribbing and "In Other Art News..."

I've been plodding away at Scarf. I'm enjoying it, which accomplishes Objective One. It's looking, overall, like what I intended for it to look like, which accomplishes Objective Two. I didn't see it until I looked at the picture, but it looks like the colours go in a diagonal checkered pattern, which is neat.


In other art news, if you can call it that, I couldn't decide what colour to paint my toenails. I normally stick with bright colours. Blues, purples, pinks, red/oranges. I simply could not decide on one colour. So, I decided on five. Truthfully, I do this all the time, but I normally keep the colours in the same order when doing both feet. This is the first time I didn't do that. Oooh, the boldness. I'm sharing a picture of my feet because I'm a dork. (My lotionless white feet, gripping the sandals. With mosquito bites. Aah, summer.)

The One With The New Scarf

I've started (and re-started, and re-started) my new yarn. I think I've decided on this 4x1 ribbing. It's going okay as long as I pay attention. We had a bit of a rocky start, but we're doing okay, considering I'd only done about two inches of ribbing before this point. I wonder how long this scarf will take me? I wonder when we're going to have cool weather again so I can wear my new creations without sweating to death?

Holy Crap, Batman!

I ordered my first order from Handpaintedyarn.com on 5/13. I was told it was shipping on 5/20. So I was expecting it on 5/27.

Well, I received it TODAY! I'm so excited! But now I have to hurry up and figure out how I want to knit it! It's going to be a scarf, but I don't know yet what kind of scarf. The colours are fun, I like them.

This is "Cuarenta" in Bulky Merino.

The One With The Other Art

I am an art person in general. Most people don't know that I'm in heaven with a pencil and a blank sheet of white paper. I almost chose, in my first year of college, to double major - Math and Art. (Thankfully, I did not do that.)

I don't normally work with colour but would really like to. I colour my mandalas with colour, but I want to be able to draw freehand with colour. At the urging of someone in my circle, I bought some coloured pencils that I had been longing for for years. I have the 48 count box of these, but I wanted more.

Here's what came in the mail to me a bit over a week ago...



I actually let them sit there for awhile. I opened the shipping box, opened the tin that the pencils live in, and looked at all the wonderful colours. Ooooh heaven!! So, taking a break from knitting today, I sharpened all 120 of these pencils. Only one pencil had a crack in the grain to make life a little difficult, but I made it work, and I am thrilled to bits!

I did use my birthday gift certificate to Amazon.com to lessen the pain of the cost a little. I don't think I would have purchased them otherwise. But they will give me years of entertainment and joy!

The One With The Ribbing

Well, I think I did it. Knit the scarves, purl the nooses. If I lose track of "knit, knit, purl, purl", that is. So I hope it's right. The picture is without the flash, because the one with the flash didn't show any depth (i.e., you couldn't see the mountains and valleys of the ribbing). Oh, in case you're curious about backgrounds... The red is a plastic binder, and the green is the faded felt of the pool table. Not a pretty combo, but there it is.

Now I want to go sharpen all my new coloured pencils. They've been calling my name for a week now!

The One With The Purling

Yes indeed, I finally did it.

I purled.

Since I finished Red, which was done all with the knit stitch, it was time to learn the Other One. I found it rather easy, and ended up doing the stockinette thing so I could just purl an entire row, then knit, then purl, rather than trying the ribbing where I had to worry about yarn position. That was just too much for my poor brain to handle last night.

But that's next on the Knitting Agenda.

For now, I offer for your viewing pleasure (ha, sounds like it should be something super fantastic, but I assure you it's not), my Practise Piece with about two inches of stockinette...

The One With Photos

I did my weaving of the ends, I survived (it seemed as easy as I was hoping I thought it looked), snipped the overage, and snapped some pictures with the last bit of oomph the batteries in the camera had.

Here is Red on my model. (Model's name is Morgan, and he's a black lab.) I had to include two pictures. One shows the scarf better, but the model isn't sure about whether or not he's being punished for something. The second picture shows the model in a better mood. (Bribery with food tends to do that.)

[Waiting very patiently for photobucket to load my pictures...]

Ah! Here we go.

The One With The Almost

I almost have a finished object! Woohoo! Red Scarf, aka First Knitting Project Ever, appearing to be 54" in length and 8" in width, is now off the needles. Binding off was interesting. Must learn to leave more yarn for this process (I have 3.5" remaining...). Now I need to read the section on weaving in the ends, so I'll do that tomorrow, and get a picture of Red Scarf on my model. Model is sleeping right now, or else I'd get a picture sans ends being woven. After a frantic 2 hour CSI (which meant frantic knitting!), I am happy to give my poor hands a break. I am also happy to be done with this shedding yarn. I have red poofs of fuzz everywhere.

The One With The Progress

By golly, it's looking like a scarf! I just completed one, um, ball / roll / thing of yarn, so I will pause here and take a breath before I read in S&B how to tie on a new roll of yarn. (Knitting terms are not my thing.) This puppy is about 26", so I think the two total rolls of yarn will be perfect. I'm guessing it'll be about 54" total (I know, you're thinking "Good math, Kalah. 26 and 26 is 52, not 54.") Right you are! BUT, I lost two inches at the very beginning of doing this scarf because I had to find out how fragile the yarn was. Read: The yarn broke when I tugged it too hard.

It is really a darker red than this picture shows.

The One With The Scarf

My current project is a scarf with a nice blood red coloured chenille yarn.

I learned early on in my first attempt that this yarn breaks easily. Lucky me! But hey, it'll teach me to be more gentle with my knitting. So, this picture is of my second (and current) attempt. It's 7.5" wide, and looks like it's going to be perfectly thick for the chilly winter days.

I think it'll be done by winter, anyway.

(must find better background for picture taking...)

The One With The Knitting

Well, I did it. I have started learning to knit.

And I think I actually like it.

Tracy said it was time to turn my blog into a Knitting Blog, so I've deleted my other rambling posts and am starting anew. Knitting it is! Though I think what I'll do is keep it mostly about knitting, maybe really making it about arts 'n crafts in general (with the occasional off-topic post about, oh, my nephew or my horse or some other equally joyful thing in my life).

Stay tuned. Pictures and more posts coming soon. (As soon as I sign up with an online picture host place, so I can put pictures here of, you know, knitting.)

Current project: Red scarf out of yarn that sheds a lot.