two things i love: yellow and shamrocks!

two things i love: yellow and shamrocks!
Originally uploaded by dead redhead

my girly Cobblestone sweater has finally come to fruition.

It took me a while, but I finally beat this yarn into submission. I'm so happy with it!

Pattern: Cobblestone by Jared Flood
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Stone, 5 balls/ 1035 yards
Needles: US #6s/ 4.0 mm
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/JessSacto/cobblestone-pullover

Mods: I totally re-did the math for this. I read some other places that some ladies had got the pattern to work as-is in the smallest size, but with my gauge it just wouldn't work. I got out my copy of Vogue Knitting, and used the formula they have for bottom-up yoked sweaters. I was a pain in the ass, but 100% worth it. I also didn't do any of the yoke shaping in the pattern, which if I remember correctly is to make it longer/higher in the back than the front. There are short rows, I think. I probably could/should have, looking back. The neckline is a little wide, which should be ok. I also added waist shaping. Nothing too dramatic, but it is a must for a form-fitting sweater for me (otherwise they bunch/ride up around my waist).

I don't understand how this was designed to be a men's sweater because it is SO flattering on the female form. The garter stitch panel down the side is so figure-flattering.

I also feel compelled to say: THIS YARN SHRUNK IN THE DRYER. I know. It's cotton, of course it shrunk. It didn't shrink a lot, but enough to notice. Look at the difference in the first two pictures. First is washed, second is pre-wash. The main difference is in the length. I'll be hanging this to dry from now on.

Some incarnations of this sweater before everything got fixed:



And the horrible Molly Ringwald top that this yarn was before:

sock thoughts

I hate turning heels. It is absolutely my least favorite part of knitting socks. I dread it, most of the time. I hate picking up stitches. I started doing short-row heels for a bit, but with my fat feets, I need a gusset. Thankfully, I’ve found a way to do toe-up socks with a gusset and flap that doesn’t require picking up as many stitches as a normal one would, and works the way I always thought a heel should. (It’s from this tutorial, which I highly recommend.) Anyway, I’m only complaining about this because I’m currently in the process of knitting a flap and then will be turning the heel. Frankly, the only reason I’m typing this is because I don’t want to work on the sock. I tell myself all the time that I’m never going to knit another top-down sock, but I end up falling in love with patterns and doing just that. This pair is Clessidra:

I love them, and can’t wait to wear them. I’ve got one completely done, and yet I’m stalling. I just don’t want to knit this heel. I also need to frog the toe of the first one and add about half an inch to the foot because in my haste to finish them, I made it too short.

Now I’m contemplating churning out some socks for the boyfriend for Christmas. They’ll be toe-up at least, I know that much! And certainly not knee-high.

And if you’re wondering, I haven’t made much progress on my girly Cobblestone.

yarny destiny

There are often times I wonder about yarn and whether it really wants to "become" what I have planned for it. Yeah, I know. I'm weird. But when it takes me five tries to get past the cast-on and bottom edge of a sweater, I think of things like that.

Meet some gorgeous, girly versions of Cobblestone:



I liked the pattern from the moment I saw it, but theboy declared it "too much" for himself. I can see what he means. Then I saw one of these, and fell in love. I knew it would be a perfect sweater for me, and might be perfect for some yarn I had laying around: a sweater's worth of the new LB Cotton Ease in Stone.



I swatched for it months ago, and (of-fucking-course), forgot what size needles it was on. Side note: I remember knitting the swatch and thinking about the trick where you make YOs in the same number as the size of needle being used, and decided not to do it. Bad decision! Based on the swatch, I guessed that I used a US #8. WRONG! I ended up with a sweater with ten inches of positive ease. Which is twelve inches too many. I realize I did the swatch on #6s. Frog. Cast on again, and knit a few inches. Realize it's still too big. Frog. Re-think it, and decide to add waist shaping, but use the same numbers. Do my waist decrease math incorrectly. (I forgot that you decrease in four places in the round, not just two like you would flat!) Realize that, and frog. Re-do math, and divide incorrectly. (19/4 does not equal 3.75!) Cast on again, with wrong number of stitches. Knit for about four inches. Realize it's now going to be way too small. Frog again.

Then I thought the whole thing through again. Almost re-designed it from the top-down since I think bottom-up sweaters are silly. Give up, because I don't want to do another shit-ton of math and just do simpler math to make it still bottom-up. I've cast on for the FIFTH time, and this will be the last. If this doesn't work, I will chalk it up to the fact that this yarn does not want to be Cobblestone. (Did I mention I already knit another top with this yarn and decided I didn't like it and frogged? Yeah.)




Cross your fingers for me. I'm just about to start the stockinette portion of the body.

[365.2.11]

[365.2.11] surveying
Originally uploaded by dead redhead

we all spend a lot of time just looking out at the lake and watching boats and animals (there was a family of otters out last night! so not usual) and whatever is out here. it's pretty relaxing. it's really neat that at night you can see the headlights of the cars coming into town across the lake. last night we could see a fire burning on a hill out of the frame to the left. we could also see the red lights on the fire trucks going to it. we've also watched an osprey fishing (he got one!) and an egret/heron catching minnows. no one has caught a fish yet, excepting the neighbor guy who lives here.

i went on my first jet-ski ride today. it was fun. what i really want is a water-proof camera for times like that.

2008 finished knit and croched projects

2008 knits and crochets
Originally uploaded by dead redhead

they were mostly small things, and there were many that were not even photographed. (i have a huge to-photo list.) but overall, i LOVE all of them.

and hi! i can't believe you still read this blog. i've been gone for so long. i really need to start making an effort to post here.

wordle. really?

wednesday, july 23

I'm watching a show on the History Channel about the history of jokes. George Carlin is one of the (many) comedians featured, and it makes me a little sad. Maybe more melancholy. I really need to read his books, but I keep forgetting to pick them up. Maybe they will be my gift to myself for my upcoming birthday. This show is hosted by Lewis Black, who I cannot stand. Brian Posehn is also on here, and I love him. I love the show Mission Hill, which is currently on [adult swim] and he does one of the voices.

I'm turning 21 on the 7th. Pretty exciting.

I'm trying to stay up all night in an effort to help my ridiculous sleep schedule and actually get some things done. Hopefully that will happen, because if I fall asleep now I will wake up at around 2:30 in the afternoon.

My blog has really suffered in the past few months. I think it's because I have had a hard time concentrating in general. My attention span is terribly short. I am going to try to start reading again in the hopes that doing one thing consistently for long periods will help me get back to normal. And in the last few years, I really feel like I have been getting less intelligent. I don't know if community college really is sucking the life out of me or what. I don't write letters as much as I used to, so I wonder if that may have something to do with it. I used to write letters every day, and it was essentially like having a diary that someone else read. A diary with a dialog. Shit, maybe I need a pen pal.

I'm also trying to drink more water. This has been a battle for me for years, as I really drink entirely too much soda. I just love soda, and have a hard time not drinking it. So instead of trying to cut it out, I'm just going to try to drink more water, and see where this takes me. I recently read the "rule" that you divide your weight in ponds in half and that's how many ounces of water you should drink during the day, i.e. 200lb person should drink 100oz of water every day. That scares me. I probably don't drink that much water in a month. Not that I weigh 200lbs, either. Still! That would mean I should drink somewhere near 75oz of water per day. That seems like A LOT! I just really don't enjoy drinking water, and I have to force myself to do so. Soda, on the other hand, I could drink like ... well, water!

I'm working on a snood for my sister. Her birthday was yesterday. I hate this freaking thing. The current round is around 500 chain sts. Thrilling work! And this thing is going to need to have the hell blocked out of it. I just hope it turns out well and that Claire likes it. She told me she wanted a snood, and she'd better not have changed her mind. And really, I just like saying the word 'snood'.

My tattoo is healing, and itching like crazy. It woke me up the other morning because it itched so much. The old slapping trick really does not work. I do love the big flakes of color and scab coming off. Yummy!


I did  a bunch of yard work today. It really needed to be done. Pulled some weeds, and started to dismantle my sunflower that is fallen over and just laying on the ground. I didn't have enough room to fit the whole thing in the bin at once, so I'm going to put as many leaves as I can in each day. They're big leaves, some more than a foot across! I'm also putting a bunch of vines that grow through the fence from the neighbors, so the composters (did I mention we have three?) are easily filled. I'm not sure there will even be room for grass clippings after the gardeners come today. Hopefully I can finally harvest one of my bins that had been going unharvested for almost three years. I also stuck some four o'clock plants in the ground in the front yard. They'd been in a pot and were really overcrowded and root bound. They should do well out there, and they have some room to spread. Anyone need four o'clock seeds? There are a million around here! I've got pink, yellow, white, and magenta. I've also got purple morning glory seeds out the ass. In a month or two, I'll probably have a bunch of sunflower seeds. I just need to keep getting outside every day and I need to keep the compost bins moist. I haven't been maintaining or regularly adding to a couple of them, and they're really not even very active. 

There is really nothing to watch at 8 in the morning on a Wednesday. Geez.

Snood is being blocked. I have a little more work after it's done, but this makes me happy. I still have a shawl to finish and one more to dye. What I wear to a wedding in early August is going to depend on which shawl I like better.


I'm on day 22 of Project 365. I'm really enjoying it so far. I think twenty-two is the last day I did on my first 365 try earlier in the year. I have a ton of ideas for those boring days when I have nothing better do to (which happens more often than it should), which is a good thing. Having "nothing" to take pictures of is a big reason for me to not even turn the camera on. I really love looking at everyone else's pictures and they are a constant source of inspiration. Plus, I am nosy and I love seeing what the rest of you knitters have going on in your daily lives. It's also really interesting to see how people change over the course of a year. 365 is the reason I'm getting myself (or having someone get me, if I'm lucky) a new camera for my birthday. I can't afford anything fancy, but my old Kodak shit out on me a couple of months ago and I would rather buy a new camera than try to get that one fixed. (So if you have cheap point-and-shoot recommendations, I'd love to hear them!) And if all goes well, I am planning on taking a film photography class this semester, using my mom's sweet 70s camera. I've never used an SLR or developed my own pictures or anything, so it would definitely be a learning experience.

I kind of hate having plain white wool in my stash. I swear it is whispering "Dye me!" over and over, all day every day.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Pay It Forward

When I saw Cher's post about Pay It Forward, I really wanted to take part in it. I love giving (and getting!) fun stuff for no good reason, other than fun. I am one of those people, that when it comes to holidays, gives really crappy gifts. I really need inspiration to strike me. The best gifts I give are the kind that I randomly find somewhere and think, "Oh, this is so perfect for _______!" The other kind of best gifts are ones given for no good reason.

I received Cher's amazing package a couple of weeks ago, and my lazy ass kept forgetting to photograph it. (I had it on my to-do list, which I would forget to look at. Every night I would go to write down what I wanted to do the next day and realize I forgot. Again.) So I finally sucked it up and broke out the poster board and made the most of the late night light I had.




I didn't take close ups of the dishcloth or cup cozy because action shots are always better!

Thank you so much, Cher! I love all this stuff, and felt so special that you looked at my ravelry queue and knit something from it! The day I got this stuff I was sick and really feeling like crap and it really cheered me up.

And now it's my turn to send you some awesome stuff! Just leave me a comment and the first 3 of you to do so will be getting great packages of your own. I don't know how long they will take me (I'm poor!) but I promise you'll get them eventually  and I will try to fill them with awesome stuff you will like. Especially if I already know you and what you like. Just make sure that you do the same once you receive yours. (Post it on your blog and mail 3 handmade gifts to people, that is.)

Pay It Forward!

Pay It Forward!
Originally uploaded by dead redhead