Another dyeing session - this time venturing into handpainting. There’s an extremely useful tutorial at All Buttoned Up - go check it out. I had a few skeins of the Knitpicks dye-your-own yarn that we used - I must say, the superwash sock yarn was pretty damn soft. Softer than the 100% wool laceweight. Amy snapped up the laceweight and dyed it the same peacock color as last time, and was happy (no photos, though).

I’m calling this colorway Punched in the Eye. As soon as I mentioned that on Thursday, everyone started reminiscing about bruises. Great. I used a mix of red and dark blue dyes, and it turned out much darker than I intended. Water down the dyes a bit next time, Kelly. I also dyed another skien using the leftover dye from Amy’s peacock color, which is absolutely impossible photograph accurately.

Mo also joined us, and it her yarn turned out AWESOME. The colors looked crazy bright when she first dyed it, but the reds spread out and darkened/toned everything down. And look at how happy she looks at the results!

We’ve been in Houston a year now (!), but never really visited Austin. The YH thing doesn’t really count, since I saw no more than a yarn store, a baptist church, and a restaraunt. Last weekend a friend of ours was driving through Austin (and we have a couple of other friends living there), so we finally made the trip.

We were going to check out the UT campus, but as we drove by there were a large number of people in orange tshirts. Oh, it’s game day, stay the hell away from campus. Instead, we checked out the capitol building. Like everything in Texas, it is large and Texan. Even the drain was a big Texas star.

Bats everywhere! Lots of bats leave the Congress bridge every evening, and we were totally there, man.

I got to see Sarah on Sunday, and it was her birthday - the big 3-0! As a gift to herself, Sarah indulged in some gorgeous cashmere-silk yarn. I was a good little kelp and only bought a couple more skeins of this Claudia Handpaints sock yarn. I had purchased some back in July, but I didn’t think that I’d have enough for my planned project - the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. If I have a ton leftover, it will likely become socks for an xmas gift.

The scarf is flying by - it’s so nice to see noticeable progress when knitting (unlike a certain Sarcelle…). However, I was getting some major pooling issues. I was alternating between two skeins (which are noticeably different dye lots, despite both being in Lot 003), but they would both wind up in sync, so a third of the scarf was the same medium blue color. I fixed this by joining the second skein on the opposite side of the scarf as the first skein. The color progression of each skein goes in opposite directions, and no more obvious pooling. The colors are still shifting oddly (I’ve knit a bit more of the scarf, and the bottom part is much whiter than the top), but I can live with it. The Claudia Handpaints is less tightly-wound and sproingy than Koigu, but it is very, very soft, mmm.

Now that the Baudelaires are complete, I’ve moved on to some new and exciting projects.

Sarcelle. Oh dear Sarcelle, I appreciate the simplicity of your lace pattern. It was exactly what I needed when I was feeling bad a few weeks ago. However, I have recovered, and now you are bor-ing. Boring! Same old, same old!

I’m constantly attracted to triangular shawls (like the Shetland Triangle and Lace Leaf Shawl, both of which I WANT), but I have exactly zero opportunities in my life to wear them. Therefore my lace ends up in rectangular stoles (It’s a stole. Wait, now it’s a scarf. Excitement!). Sarcelle is interesting because it’s knit on the bias, but still! I’m bored!

I’m using the handdyed yarn from this adventure, which is looking pretty hot. There’s very, very subtle changes in intensity, which was exactly the look I was going for. The yarn isn’t terribly soft - I’m not sure if it’s a result of the dyeing, or if it’s just non-super-soft yarn to start with. Perhaps I’m spoiled by the uber-soft merinos and slinky cottons I’ve been using as of late.

I’ve also started a robot from Jess Hutch’s booklet of cute-ass toys. It’s a gift for Rob for his recent robot thesis. I’ve totally showed it to him already, because I can. not. keep. a. secret. I’m using Lamb’s Pride and some leftover Louet from the Target Wave Mittens. If you have this booklet, I totally recommend knitting up these guys on size 6 needles (rather than 8’s) - it definitely prevents holes when you eventually stuff them. I also decided to knit the robot in the round (the pattern calls for knitting flat) because I hate fake grafting! Ew! I’m a kitchener-stitching champ!

I hear it’s rated ARRRR!

I am twelve. That joke never fails to amuse me. As Meredith pointed out in the comments yesterday, today is official International Talk Like a Pirate day. Yay, pirates! In honor of this holiday (and the upcoming Socktoberfest), I decided to wind my Yarn Pirate yarn. The skein was about a foot too long for my swift. You mean I have to wind 480 yards of yarn off of the backs of a couple of chairs? Shit! I don’t mind if I have to hand-wind yarn, but not using a swift drives me crazy.

However, in the name of all things pirate, I persevered. Yummy!

Ooh, I just heard on Knitty D and the City that there’s a Northampton Wools knitting book. Interesting - Noho Wools was one of my old lys’s, and I’d love to check out the book. Also, you should be listening to Knitty D and the City - super fun!

The Baudelaires are complete!

Pattern: Baudelaire
Yarn: Koigu KPPM
Notes and mods: Made the largest size, worked 2×2 rib at the top, did a short-row toe.

No rocket science here - I knit this pretty much to-pattern, with only minor mods in the toe and ribbed top. The top-down heel flap shaping is neat-o. I loved the yarn and love the way these look. Yay!

Times at which Rob was supposed to arrive this evening in Houston:

7:30
11:00
1:30
3:30
2:45

Awesome! And so I wait, trying to decide whether or not I should take a nap before I pick him up (it’s currently midnight).

For the Project Runway fans out there: The final 4 showed their collections today. Getty photos here - I personally liked Jeffrey’s collection (ETA: Laura’s - ick. Uli - the prints are beautiful, neutrals eh, Michael - safari?). Also, Nazri was one of Uli’s models, drama!

Today is the first day in awhile that I haven’t felt like poo. Yay! I spent some time with Staci and her Basengis yesterday, and I think that really helped!

My camera is still on vacation in Arizona (it arrives back in TX on Friday!), so no photos. I’ve finished Baudelaire and started Sarcelle, so there will be lots of flash and excitement next week. I leave you with one thought:

Knit Converse.

kelp! vs Garter Stitch, in two rounds.

Round 1: In the round.

kelp!: La de da, I will knit garter stitch in the round until my eyes glaze over. An eyelet row or two will be thrown in there for excitement.
Garter Stitch (GS): Go ahead and try.
…
kelp!: Hmm, there’s this ugly seam here where the rounds begin. I was not anticipating that. Ick.
GS: Fool!

Results - GS: 1, kelp!: 0

Round 2: Knit flat.

kelp!: I have learned my lesson from Round 1, but not enough of a lesson to do a test swatch first. I will switch to knitting flat, back and forth 4-ever, and that will cure the ugliness.
GS: Bring it.
…
kelp!: Oh, wow, that looks worse than knitting it in the round. And now I have this big ugly seam, too.
GS: Ha!

Results - GS: 2, kelp!: 0

I’ve never really knit garter stitch on anything until I made the Prairie Blanket. It seems that garter stitch and I just don’t get along.

Oh yeah, the Basalt Tank is done!

Pattern: Basalt Tank, from Knitting Nature
Yarn: Jo Sharp Soho Summer, color Currant. $28/bag at Webs.
Notes: My gauge (especially row gauge) was off from the pattern, so I knit a larger pattern size.

Modifications:

1. I knit half-hexagons on the sides. I think this is a lot more wearable.

2. I doubled-up the garter edging at the top of the sweater, because otherwise it would have been a tad indecent. I also mirrored the garter edging on the bottom for additional length. I probably could have gone with half the garter edging at the bottom, but that would look weird with the top doubled.

3. Waist shaping. Totally and absolutely recommended if you have a waist. Very, very, very easy to do. You basically just have to cast-on less stitches on the side hexagon chunks. I ended up doing 5 inches of waist shaping, so the side hexagon pieces were smaller by 2.5 inches (which means I cast on 14 less stitches for each of them). Then I figured out how to evenly space the decreases so that this hex chunk would have a smooth rate of decrease (I basically did this by writing out which rows the decreases are normally at, then crossing out 14/2=7 of them). Very easy, and worked wonderfully.

I definitely thought that this sweater would be too large. When I first tried it on, the center of the front and back hexagons stuck out in a truly unflattering way. A trip through the dryer shrunk the whole sweater a bit, and it fits pretty well now.

I feel that I was a bit fast-and-loose with the construction of this sweater - I don’t think that I picked up the stitches quite evenly, and the garter seams are already bothering me. However, the thing fits, so I just may wear it out of the house. Yay!

I have felt like poo lately. No fun, not at all. I spent the labor day weekend in Buffalo, visiting family and friends. It should have been fun, but the poo-factor kept me feeling blue. I did get the top score in Run 21 at the Pink, yahoo!

Rob is in lands far, far away with the camera (for two weeks, boo!), so there’s no photos today. I’m going to have to hit up Amy for a photoshoot with her shiny new Canon. The Baudelaires are almost (all but ribbing) done. After that I’m a clean slate, no other projects going on. There will likely be lace in my future, stay tuned.

Did you see that there’s a new Magknits up? The stitch pattern on the Snowflake Socks will be mine. Also cute: Honorine.

Yarnival! Go check it out - you may recognize this disaster (which fixed up nicely!).