http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/ Always up to something. Copyright 2008 Fri, 09 May 2008 15:39:06 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The right tools make all the difference. Yes? I know I've mentioned this before - in my opinion, knitting needles can make or break a project in an instant. Grabby wood needles with a sticky synthetic yarn? Ugh, I'm ready to give up before I even begin! Fine lace knit with implements closer to chopsticks than knitting needles? Not now, not ever! Many of the projects in Knitting New Scarves have common traits when it comes to the knitting process. For the most part, the scarves are narrow but spatially complex, which means only a handful of stitches are being... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/05/the_right_tools.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/05/the_right_tools.htm Fri, 09 May 2008 15:39:06 -0500 Working with other scientists has its pluses and minuses, naturally. One of the pluses: scientists' little babies are as cute as anyone else's, AND you can totally geek-ify them! Yes, I'm at it again! A colleague had a baby girl a few weeks ago, and I could not pass up the opportunity to make her some cute onesies. All the particulars remain the same (Craftster tutorial, Reynolds freezer paper, and Marabu paints), but the designs are new - specific to the particular geekiness of the scientist mom and dad. The DNA strand is definitely my favorite - I think it... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/05/at_it_again.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/05/at_it_again.htm Thu, 08 May 2008 17:17:44 -0500 In my knitting life, I can say some things with near certainty. One day I will knit another adult sweater. One day I will knit another Oat Couture Prairie Blanket, because I didn't at all appreciate the genius of the pattern as a beginner knitter. One day I will come across another pattern that's more error than instruction. One day I will use another yarn with improperly set dye. (Want to see something truly, ridiculously scary? Don't tell me I didn't warn you! I photographed that on myself just so you know I didn't "invent" the color in Photoshop :))... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/05/with_near_certa.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/05/with_near_certa.htm Mon, 05 May 2008 20:54:28 -0500 http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/05/connections.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/05/connections.htm Sat, 03 May 2008 19:27:26 -0500 Dear friends, please allow me to share a series of wonderful tidbits with you: 1. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Grumperina is back in stock! Also, to answer some of your questions, this colorway will be a permanent fixture in the Lorna's Laces line-up (pinch me!). But remember, you'll need to visit Birds-n-Yarn to stash-ify (stash + satisfy = stash-ify). In addition to Shepherd Sock, you can currently purchase this colorway in Lion and Lamb, Shepherd Worsted, and Shepherd Sport. I'm certain that Linda will be happy to take special orders if you want yet another weight/fiber variety (birdsnyarn at... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/good_news.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/good_news.htm Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:34:45 -0500 Dudes. Almost 1000 comments. That's simply nuts!!! It's really a testament to the talent behind Lorna's Laces - they make it just right, every time! The story behind the Grumperina colorway is as follows: the stripey socks came first. With this specific project in mind, I selected navy, natural, lilac, and blackberry LL Shepherd Sock from my pile of Lorna's Laces leftovers. these were my options The creative mind behind Lorna's Laces, Beth Casey, mentioned that if my chosen colors worked well together, it might be fun to blend them into a special colorway! I was floored and flattered by... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/can_winners_be.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/can_winners_be.htm Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:38:08 -0500 And if juggling four balls of yarn isn't your cup of tea, the folks at Lorna's Laces have your number! What a gorgeous combination of blackberry, navy, natural, and lilac: all the colors I'm using in the stripy spiral socks! And wouldn't you know it, this new colorway is named after me! Grumperina colorway, hehe! When Beth at Lorna's Laces first mentioned the idea to me, I was like, really?!? Never in my wildest dreams! At the same time, of all the different yarns out there, I couldn't be happier to see my nickname on a hank of Lorna's Laces... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/a_moody_medley.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/a_moody_medley.htm Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:06:26 -0500 I DID a heel flap! I made the flap and heel turn of one color, then just picked up stitches with whichever color was in the right position. It was a little nerve wrecking, but it went OK. I'm cruising down the gussets now... --Diana Girl, you've got it! Knitting your spiral socks with a flap heel is rather intuitive, and certainly not more complicated than inserting a short row heel. In fact, you'll notice some copy 'n paste action in this post, because the two heels are fundamentally inserted in the same exact way. Let's take a look, step... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/little_socklet.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/little_socklet.htm Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:11:58 -0500 I thought of another way to illustrate the helical path of stripes: I wound a length of stripy grosgrain ribbon around a roll of paper towels. Think of your vertical color repeat: if you're using two balls of yarn, it's two stitches high; three balls, three stitches, and so on. If you're playing with grosgrain ribbon, it's the thickness of the ribbon. As you knit your sock, your vertical color repeat wraps around as one entity - the stripes never cross one another, and the edges abut. Where I sliced my ribbon at a shallow angle - that's where you... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/as_you_were_com.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/04/as_you_were_com.htm Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:24:43 -0500 A friend's bridal shower registry contained all kinds of foreign-to-me objects: a trivet, a plate stand, pot and pan handle grips, an avocado slicer, a probe thermometer, a microplane grater (actually, I know what that is, if only because dark chocolate shavings on top of everything is a life necessity)... you get the idea. Clearly she's into cooking, while I'm into... crafting! We all have our different skills and passions ;). It would have been perfectly fine if I got her some of the gadgets on her list. But I decided that putting a crafting touch on some kitchen linens... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/a_winwin_gift.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/a_winwin_gift.htm Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:56:48 -0500 My working table: My coffee table: Incompatible, or is Kleenex in left, rotary cutter in right a-okay? Sidenote 1: While I arranged the goods on the working table a bit so you could see everything, the coffee table is honest-to-goodness "as is." Sidenote 2: Today I'm loving: my Clover bias tape makers, Machine Quilting Made Easy by Maurine Noble, and Patchwork Puzzle Balls by Jinny Beyer (though I wish I could sew them by machine, hmmm).... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/incompatible.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/incompatible.htm Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:21:58 -0500 Yeah, okay. I definitely owe you some better photos of the fabulous color combinations, courtesy of the artists at Lorna's Laces. Now let's see if I can show by example how to get there, without any jogs. Note: The Knitter's Handbook has diagrams as well - it always helps to look at things from two different perspectives (pages 160-161). I know it's hard to see what's going on with the stockinette wanting to curl outward and all, so the labels are there to help you. Also, isn't the reverse stockinette of this fabric gorgeous?!? When knitting in the round, attach... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/dont_worry_keep_1.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/dont_worry_keep_1.htm Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:15:58 -0500 The thing about "knitting in the round" is that it's a bit of a misnomer. In actuality, when we knit continuously around an imaginary (or real!) cylinder, we are knitting "in a spiral." Forgive my stinky-ass diagram. It's certainly better than Plan A: using a drawing of a coil generating a magnetic field, and superimposing stitches on top of it. But it's not quite Plan C: begging TECHknitter to make the diagrams for me (how does she do it?!?). Anyway, the blue stitches in the back would obviously appear as purl bumps from this angle, but I hope you get... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/spiraling.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/spiraling.htm Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:44:25 -0500 The current state of my brain: scheming. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock leftovers (for the most part) From left to right, LL SS in natural, peach, cranberry #1, lilac, cranberry #2, blackberry, navy, and cedar. I won't use them all at once. In fact, because of the way I knit socks, I will choose exactly four colors for this project. Which colors? What project? Any guesses???... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/lornas_laces_sc.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/lornas_laces_sc.htm Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:49:49 -0500 From my last post and the (very helpful!) comments that followed, I conclude the following: In a crafty family, no one ever eats at the dining room table. If Mr. Sweetness and I are ever lucky enough to have a dining room in addition to an eat-in kitchen, we will stop the charade and arrange it for its proper purpose (office, craft space, etc.) from the get go. Above-desk (or couch, or bed) shelving is an awesome idea. I will have to make sure my next landlord allows wall-mounted shelves (the current one doesn't). I must have this sewing/craft cart... http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/propelled.htm http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2008/03/propelled.htm Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:15:36 -0500