The Road to Salt City Steamfest - Day 25

Ladies and Gentlemen, last night I promised you costumes. Tonight, I deliver.

This is the costume I will be wearing tomorrow. That is the second blouse I made, my favorite skirt from Clockwork Couture, a belt from the same place, a handmade corset, and various and sundry jewelry pieces. 

This costume is almost entirely handmade by me. That's the first blouse, the skirt I made, and the aforementioned corset. 

This is for the Saturday night ball where we'll listen to Vernian Process and Unwoman. I went a bit more old-fashioned Romani styled for this one. That's an ugly white broom skirt I bought at a thrift store (I wasn't costuming at the time, so I don't know what I was thinking), the first blouse, another alteration on Christine's Corset, a lace overskirt I designed and sewed myself, and a reticule I sewed as well. There's also the Icarus Shawl I made ages ago. There's an interesting bit of jewelry attached to the corset as well. 

I leave tomorrow morning for the convention, and I am so excited I could explode. 

But not so excited I'd forget to post tonight's song. Tonight we'll be listening to "One White Lie" by The Aeronauts.

While there's a version of this song on YouTube, it doesn't have particularly good sound quality, so click on the song name to go to the song on Bandcamp. 

The Road to Salt City Steamfest - Day 9

Okay, last night I promised you guys I'd show you a knitted thing for the convention. Well, here it is!

I know. It doesn't look like much. A random rectangle with stuff on it. But rest assured, it's a very cool piece. What you are looking at is a bodice. It's my version of a corset, but there's no boning (because adding boning to knitting is very, very hard to do and can result in your corset disintegrating - go ahead. Ask me how I know), and it will lace up in the back. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Amalfi in what I believe is "apple." It's left over from a sweater I made. 

Using some shiny, brassy fabric, I cut out little gears and appliquéd them on with embroidery thread. There are little small ones and half of some large ones. I used a brown embroidery thread for the small gears and some gold metallic embroidery thread for the large gears. 

I then found some lovely, shimmery, sheer, wired ribbon in the clearance bin at Wal-Mart (there are very few places to buy ribbon around here), and I weaved it through some yarn overs I knit into the garter stitch panels. 

I will also note here that this is a heavy modification (read - I started with that, and then completely bastardized the thing) on a free pattern called Christine's Corset. That's a link to the flickr page with the actual pattern. You'll note that it is very, very different looking, except for the edges where the lacing goes through. I used a thinner yarn, made it fancier, basically turned a utilitarian costume piece into an artsy one. It was a lot of fun to make, and I'm glad I did. 

Tonight I will introduce you to a song that I personally think has elements of an alternate theory behind Jack the Ripper. The primary theory is that Jack the Ripper was a man - either a doctor or a butcher and may have had syphilis. One of the many alternate theories is that Jack the Ripper was actually a Jacqueline - the famous Murderer of Whitechapel was a woman. 

The song is The Surgeon's Widow by Escape the Clouds.

I won't be writing tomorrow. That task will be left to the inestimable Dr. Tabitha Clarkwell, my steampunk persona I pretend to be while in costume.

The Road to Salt City Steamfest - Day 6

Hey guys! I'm back.

Before I give you the song of the day, I'm going to review a very cool steampunk book. It also happens to be a knitting book, so even better! It fits with the blog's name (for once in my life).

The book is by The Ladies of Mischief and it's called Needles and Artifice. The book has two main parts. The first is a rip-roaring adventure story involving the ladies. The second part is a series of absolutely stunning patterns. They have beautiful sweaters,

feminine, lacy tops,

and my personal favorite, a double knit, fingering weight scarf with a non-repeating pattern. I'm making one of my own (but I won't post photos until I'm a bit farther along).

If you're into knitting and steampunk, you absolutely need this book. No, you really do. Now stop arguing with me and buy it. 

For today's song, we're going mystery solving with Abney Park again. The song is Victorian Vigilante and it's one of my absolute favorites. 

See you tomorrow, steamboys and steamgirls!

All images are from the book, are by Jessica Glein, and are displayed on their respective Ravelry project pages. 

In Which, Some Explaining is in Order

Ladies and Gentlemen of the blog followers, I have an announcement to make. It regards the reason why I haven't been blogging so prolifically as of late.

I have quit knitting, and this blog will now be entirely about various types of porn.

No, totally April Fools. Really? Me? Quit knitting? That should have been your first clue, lol.

But this blog might start filling up with pictures of handknit, lace edged handkerchiefs. Because that's kind of all I can think about right now. Seriously:

I've made two in the last two weeks, and I'm starting a third. I may not be able to stop.

When Growing Up Goes Awry

My mom recently asked me why I don't want to change the name of my blog.

"It's too specific," she said. "You're only appealing to knitters and not to everyone else. You write about a lot of really funny things."

She's technically right. I don't just write about knitting (even though it is the most used tag on my blog). I write about soup, or flash games, or any number of other things. But that's the thing: Knitting has become part of me. I don't just knit, knitting is part of my personality. It's helped make me me.

The thing about growing up is that when you're in school there's a certain way you're supposed to be so you try to be it and the vast majority of us fail and think "Wow. Everyone else can do this but I can't. I must really suck!" We fail to realize that most of us feel that way, but we're not allowed to tell anyone. We have to pretend that we're actually getting it and running with the pack and it's all because we're just so cool like that!

Really, there are some of us who simply weren't cool. I mean, I was really into reading, and I really had a thing for trying to understand quantum theory (don't ask). In high school, quantum theory is one of those things you just don't tell people you're into. My sense of style verged on the... um... conservative. To say the least. I really liked button down, collared shirts and cardigans. I still do.

In high school, you really have to try hard to fit in. Yes, there were those "counterculture" people who tried really hard to be different together in exactly the same way, but still.

The thing about growing up is that it can be easy to forget that no one cares as much about that anymore. Guess what - there are whole sections of department stores devoted to women's button down, collared shirts and pretty cardigans. If I want to wear corduroy, I can. If I want to have a deep affinity for tweed and think about trying to understand quantum theory, I can.

Even better, being a grownup means I can keep writing a blog about knitting because I am knitting, and I am someone with a mildly sentient stash and growing up has gone a little in the awry department.

I am my blog's title. I am growing up, and I will still be growing up in 10 or 20 years from now. We're all growing up that way.

And I thank you for taking the journey with me.

An Indulgence

I want more yarn. I really really want more yarn. In fact, I am willing to buy a whole sweater's worth of yarn, even though I have two sweaters on the needles, a shawl, an afghan, a pair of socks, and the hexipuffs. Oh yeah. You knew that already. It's that none of those are the sweater I really want right now. What I want is grey cotton. 

Last post I mentioned that a machine made sweater had become my favorite, and it was also falling apart. Well, I've been looking at mill ends again. I freaking love mill ends. It started with my Raindrop Cardigan. If you don't know what mill ends are, allow me to explain.

When a yarn company makes yarn they have a bunch of leftover bits that don't fit into the balls and skeins they sell. However, throwing this yarn away can mean a huge loss of money since it can be yards and yards of little bits of yarn. So what companies do is sell mill ends. They tie these leftover bits together and sell it at a discount since there's more knots and occasionally variations in the color where one bit of the dye ran out and changed the color of the yarn before they could stop the machine and put more dye in. This is, incidentally, where the term "oddball" comes from since sometimes you can get an entire ball in the dye lot that is a different color. 

So, yes, there's drawbacks to mill ends. However, there are also some pretty awesome benefits. Like that fact that you can get yarn for a quarter of the usual price. Usually this is really freaking fancy yarn. Yarn that sells for $10 and $12 a skein for $3-$4 a piece. Same yardage, same yarn, same quality. But it's mill ends. It's like a perpetual sale on yarn. 

And now that I'm saying it to myself, I'm on my way online to get more yarn!

Letters to My Ratty Grey Sweater

Dear Grey Sweater:

Remember the day I got you? You were just hanging there in that consignment shop. I'd been looking for a casual sweater to wear to class and you were perfect. I could wear you over a pastel tank top with my hair in a clip and a pair of jeans and look like a million bucks. Okay, maybe not that good but at least I didn't look like I'd fallen out of bed. You draped perfectly over my shoulders and around my frame just so. You didn't look too baggy, or too tight.

You were, in a word, the best sweater ever.

-Me

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Dear Grey Sweater:

Remember the day I first wore you to my job at the cafe? That was not our finest moment. You were covering up my shivers since it was late spring in the mountains and it was chilly out. I only owned khaki shorts and the boss lady had problems with blue jeans. So it was shorts and work t-shirts in the cool mornings and you were the right color to cover up my cold arms with.

That day I showed off my impeccable klutziness. I'd accidentally spilled an entire tray of coffee all over the two of us. We both smelled like old coffee by the time we got home. It took you a week to wash out.

-Me

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Dear Grey Sweater:

That first hole in the seam near the hood was a warning sign. I'd been taking you for granted. I pinned you up with a safety pin and went about my fall day. I wasn't working in the restaurant anymore. I was working at a desk from home. Those were good days, remember?

-Me

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Dear Grey Sweater:

Maybe the camping trip to Estes Park for the Wool Market was a bad idea. You snagged on a pole on the tent. That was worrying, but you appeared to be okay. I'm sorry I left you at the campground. I was going into a room full of other, more accomplished knitters than I and I simply couldn't bear the embarrassment of wearing a machine made sweater instead of a handknit one.

You were so resentful you managed to drag into a puddle that night when I tried to put you on. I'm still sorry about that.

-Me

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Dear Grey Sweater:

Going back to college was wonderful, wasn't it? We were almost inseparable in some of the classrooms. Those lecture halls are over-airconditioned, even in the wintertime. You fit nicely into my jackets - especially the lightweight canvas one you looked so nice in. It was just a little warmer in the elements, but not so warm as my winter coat. You made that winter so much more comfortable.

-Me

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Dear Grey Sweater:

The bagginess is unbecoming of you. Why would you do that? Especially on a day like this? I need you to pull yourself together and be a decent sweater, please. I'll put on something else and we'll talk about this later. I'm late.

-Me

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Dear Grey Sweater:

You never used to fall off my shoulders in public.

-Me

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Dear Ratty Grey Sweater:

It's time. The rifts in our relationship are simply to wide to bear. Just like a couple who fights too often, I find myself growing tired of you. I keep looking at grey cotton yarn online and perusing hooded cardigan patterns on Ravelry.

The holes in all of your seams are too large for me to even attempt to sew closed anymore. I tried in the past, but you've started making new holes before the old ones are even finished closing. The fraying in the cuffs is no longer something I can ignore. You're baggy and saggy in the sleeves and along the bottom where you weren't before. You no longer make me look like I didn't just roll out of bed, but now you make a point of emphasizing my unflattering parts. I no longer look lean under you, and while I have gained some weight that doesn't excuse the insult.

You have button loops that are coming apart, and one of the button's strings is fraying. I thought that was such a sturdy string, but I guess it wasn't. In fact, the sturdiness you showed me at the beginning of our relationship is gone now. You're a limp pile of threadbare cotton, and I dread coming across you in the closet.

In fact, I don't even know why I've been talking to you as if you were a person. You are a sweater. An inanimate object. If my wits were about me, I'd simply throw you away since you probably wouldn't hold up for five minutes in the donation bag.

So this is goodbye. I shall be saving up for some lovely Katia Pima Cotton in a fitting grey and knitting something more suitable for my needs.

-Me

The Great WIP Roundup!

Yeehaw! Git along little doggies! It's time for the Great Work-in-Progress Roundup! In this post, I round up all of the WIPs I'm knitting, take photos of them, and show the whole world just how short my actual attention span is. I'll post Ravelry links to the pattern and any links I can to the yarn used.

To start off the call out, we'll go with Diana's Cardigan! Knit in Debbie Bliss Amalfi. 

That's a shot of all the pieces up top. The bottom is showing that I have half of the second sleeve to knit. You know what that means, right? It means I have very little knitting left to do in the body and all I'll have to finish if I were to just get the rest of that sleeve knitted. Really, there isn't much left. 

Next up: The Dirigible Ground Crew Socks. My own pattern. Made with a discontinued, handpainted sock yarn.

I started these in December. I still have the foot and toe to knit of the second one. Apparently I got a nasty case of Second Sock Syndrome.

The Beauty in Ashes Lace Wrap. Knit from some alpaca handspun I got for my birthday last year.

This one is especially sad. It's a beautiful pattern, knit on one of my favorite pairs of knitting needles (a Christmas gift from my friend Tasha a few years ago), and did you see that ball of yarn attached to the stole? Yeah. It's the last of three balls. I'm almost done. This thing is going to block beautifully and I just keep setting it aside. 

Lochinver: The Sequel! Knit in MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino.

This deserves a bit of a back story. When I first started knitting I really didn't have much of an understanding of gauge. My second year I started knitting things that really required a working understanding of it, and I never knit a swatch! So when I started Lochinver the first time, I used inexpensive yarn that was far too thick (supposed to be sport weight, not worsted), and needles that were too big. So, if both components were too big, what do you think happened? I got a multi-room, wooly tent that fit my 200 lb, 6 foot 4 inch stepfather, that's what. Plus it pilled like crazy within about a day of finishing. 

The Aforementioned Sunburst Stole. Knit in - oh, just click the pattern link. It's from a previous blog post (that might actually be on the same front page).

Since I've already spoken at length regarding this lovely little slip of lace, you get no further description here.

Fire on the Waves. Knit in KnitPicks Swish Worsted. 

I took easily a dozen pictures of this. Inexplicably, they all came out weirdly blurry. This is the only one that looks decent. 

In my own defense, this sucker has gotten so big and unwieldily that I have to pick it up about ten times a row, and therefore do ten bicep and tricep curls a row. It's halfway finished. It's huge. I'm still mustering up the courage to do more work on it. 

Anouk. Knit in Cascade Bulky Superwash.

This is meant for a baby. I don't know any babies. I don't know why I still have it on the needles. But there it is. Ta Da!

The Beekeeper's Quilt. Knit in whatever leftovers (and some lovely mini-skeins from a raveler!) I have laying around. 

I have photographed the hexipuffs this quilt requires with my tennis shoe for size comparison. In order to make a king sized blanket, I'll need to knit literally 1000 of these. 995 to go. I'll be done in roughly... five years. Oh well. They're a good train project, at least.

And lastly... (ZOMH we're actually at the last project!)

The Raindrop Cardigan! Knit in Aslan Trends Pima Clasico mill ends. 

"Now wait just a second!" you're likely shouting at the screen, "That looks an awful lot like a finished cardigan!" you say. And you'd be right. I finished the knitting and blocked it last night. I hung it on a broom handle which was set on top of the shower curtain rod and the corner of the shower's ceramic wall. I pulled it off this morning. 

However, it isn't finished. 

It still doesn't have any buttons.

Really Didn't Think This Through

About two years ago I bought a beautiful yarn from Wolles Yarn Creations called "Sunburst." What makes all of Wolles' yarn interesting is that she makes what she calls "Color Changing Cotton" or CCC. CCC is four strands of thread that slowly transition from one color to another. She literally starts with all of the thread in one color, and then changes out one thread at a time to the next color as you knit, giving it stunning color transitions. I absolutely love everything she makes, but of all of them I've decided that the stuff I got is my favorite.

If I love this yarn so much, however, why has it taken me so long to knit it up? Because I haven't been able to figure out exactly what I want this yarn to be yet.

Then, last week, I discovered three lace patterns that worked together perfectly. And I love all of them. They fit with the yarn beautifully and they're fun to knit. This is how much I've knit so far:

See? Isn't that pretty?

Only there's one tiny problem: That section is almost into the completely yellow part. There's only four major colors, and I only have two balls of this yarn. I have no idea if I'm going to have enough. The odds are that I won't, and I'm going to wind up with a seriously truncated stole. Or, worse, have to completely rip this thing back (I have ripped this poor yarn back so many times so far) and redo it as a kerchief or, horrors, as a scarf. I really don't need another scarf. I really don't need a scarf in cotton, either. 

That or I could find a yarn that is similar in color (or even slightly darker) than the center yarn and knit that for the middle bit. I'm opting for that. What do you think?

Because really, this yarn is too beautiful to be anything else.

Knitting Proof 2

Premesses:
1. All you need is love.
2. You can't knit love.

Q.E.D. 
All I need is yarn. The rest is secondary.

Post inspired by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "At Knit's End."

Knitting Proof

Premisses:

1. You are not smart enough to knit socks if and only if remaining premesses are false.
2. Socks are knit using a formula. True
3. 8-year-olds in Denmark are making better socks than me using aforementioned formula. True
4. Uneducated people all over the world are making better socks than me using aforementioned formula. True
5. You are highly educated and older than 8. True

Initial conclusion:

You have the capacity to knit socks.

Q.E.D.

You simply do not want to knit socks.

Please don't confuse the two.

Best Laid Plans and All...

I had planned to write a blog post about a certain Food Network celebrity and his Twitter flouncing, and why his followers were becoming increasingly exasperated with him and his lack of social media knowledge. (We will not discuss how I feel he needs a social media overhaul of all his sites, but I digress.) I planned to give you a whole blog post on how to create an effective social media plan and how not to use Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and a whole host of other social media sites.

However, he grew a pair, apologized and took the advice of someone who knew what they were talking about the next morning.

This means that I won't post something scathing or use him as an example. It also means, however, that I have no blog post planned, and the last post was on the 4th.

So, I will give you an update into the world of my knitting!

I finally have a yarn budget. Yup, I'm getting paid at work now (and loving it!) and now I have enough money to buy nice yarn. So, without further ado, the tweed vest:



It's completely free-formed, meaning I have an idea of what I want and I'm knitting it without a pattern.



So, yes, a post about knitting! On a knitting blog! How novel.

And it's also Pioneer Day weekend! Enjoy your Utah founder's day!

An Actual Post About Knitting

For a blog that's supposed to be about knitting, there's surprisingly little about it posted. Instead, I'm posting about my vacuum, Sushi Cat, and nekkid people.

So here's a change of pace:



That's the front of the Olivier Pullover from Interweave Knits' "Weekend Knits 2010." All of the pieces of this sweater are blocking in my bathroom.

All of them. My bathroom smells like wet wool. What's weird is how much I love that smell. It reminds me that another sweater is almost finished.

A Finished Cardigan!

Extra special thanks to the amazing and wonderful Sarah May for taking the pictures for me!

So, Brunello is finished! I've got a lovely purple sweater, and it's perfect!

Me being silly

Bowling

Showing off the bottom edging

Front Edging

For more pictures, check out my Ravelry Project Page.

I loved making this sweater. It was one of those projects where there was always something interesting going on.

Too much awesome!

There isn't much more entertaining than a funny song. Double points if it involves knitting!

It's That Time!

Oh, you don't know what time?

I think you can guess!


Here's a hint...


It involves Malabrigo Sock in Boticelli Red.


I can hear you all screaming at me to tell you!

The winner of the sock yarn is jenifra! Congrats! You just won the sock yarn! (Extra special thanks to Blazing Needles in Salt Lake City for the help picking out the yarn)

Thanks to all of you. Moral of the story is don't get between knitters and their yarn.

What do you think?

Quick, Emergency Contest Post!

I cannot accept any more entries!!!! Thank you for those who have entered, but I desperately need to get these cataloged so I can choose a winner! You'll find out who before the end of the night!

If you didn't get to comment or otherwise win, I apologize. I hope you win future contests on other blogs (or on mine! Look for one around the holidays).

I'm being enabled...

My dad and stepmom are huge yarn store enablers. What I mean is, no matter how many times I may tell them "I'm over my yarn budget, and I don't need more yarn," they still encourage me to get some.

And me, being helpless in the face of tweed, cannot help but give in. I am the proud owner of 1050 yards of purple, worsted tweed. I'm making Brunello.

Of course, this is after I knit almost a foot of random, stockinette strip to make a too short poncho that I'd probably wear maybe once or twice. No, this is a much better decision. Thank goodness the Knitty First Fall Surprise came out when it did, because my gauge is perfect and I have plenty of yardage.

I think I'll cast on right away!

Curses! Frogged Again!

So you remember that nice eyelet blouse I've been working on? Well, despite the removal of the lace panel, things still went wrong. I planned four inches of ease. Somehow, I wound up six inches shorter than I remember measuring, and three inches wider.

Once something like that happens, there's nothing you can do, except reclaim the yarn. There's cotton drying in hanks in my shower.

Sigh. Back to the drawing board. Maybe I'll try seaming the sucker this time. Even though I hate seaming with a passion.

I'm also working on a lace stole, knit side to side. Can't say much more than that.

To Add, or Not to Add...

I've been working on a pattern called the eyelet blouse. It's driving me nuts. I'm finally (really finally!) close to the end... and I've hit a snag.

My design calls for a bit of lace to be worked on top of the bust, with little gathers underneath it. The gather's aren't hard to work. I knit a row of purl stitches along the front where I wanted the panel to start, and I picked up and knit a small portion of them. This creates little gathers where I skipped over stitches. Unfortunately, this also means that I simply don't have enough fabric for the bust. I'm tempted to ignore it completely.

I mean really, is stockinette that bad? It has lace sleeves and will have lovely ties at the back with ribbon around the top to pull the neckline in, like a peasant top. Does it really need that extra lace?

I don't think so, and it's MY pattern! I think I can change it whenever I want.

Thanks, blog, for listening!