the Akamai Knitter

In which the obsession continues…

And, in which I have figured out how to knit the thumb! I knitted in a piece of scrap yarn where the pattern indicated.

Once I was through with knitting the main body of the mitten, I carefully picked out the scrap yarn and then picked up the stitches that were left onto some DPN’s. I used a DPN that was several smaller and that helped quite a bit. Then I just started knitting away!

I’m rather unhappy with the way there are these huge gaping holes left on each side of the thumb with this method, which Roseann says is the Afterthought Thumb. When I googled for the technique I got a myriad of hits, but nothing that really showed me how to do it. Just as well that I figured it out on my own. I hope I explained what I did a little better here, if not please let me know in the comments or email me (opal AT akamaiknitter DOT com) and I’ll go a little bit more in depth.

Another big helper with the project was my friend Lisa who showed me this tutorial* on two-handed Fair Isle knitting. This enabled me to weave in my floats as I knitted along so that the inside of my work looks more like this:

I’m not terribly proud of my insides, but I think it’s good enough. There aren’t any extra long floats for fingers to get caught in when pulling the mittens on. So with that I’m happy.

Here in Hawaii, people usually bring in the new year with lots of firecrackers and that usually entails a lot of smoke. Especially since for some odd and eerie reason New Year’s Eve typically has very light winds. This is great for firefighters but is not so great for those with respiratory problems like my mother. So my New Year’s celebration will be pretty quiet as I stay indoors with my mother and make sure that she doesn’t go into a full asthma attack.

It will ensure lots of knitting time so I hope to finish these mittens within the next couple of days. So Kung Hee Fat Choy everyone! I’m not planning on doing a year in review or anything like that, so I’ll see you next year and I wish you all safe and joyous New Year’s celebration!

*Note to Firefox users: For some reason I couldn’t get the plugin for the video to work on that page with Firefox, but I was able to get it to work in IE. JFYI.

After much hilarity and camaraderie at the weekly Aloha Knitter’s meeting, I came home too wired to sleep. I tried to work on my second Shifting Sands scarf and I even tried to work on my Here Be Dragons socks that I haven’t even blogged about yet, but neither really captured my attention.

Since the yarn came on Wednesday, the only thing on my brain have been the Pirate hat and mittens. I’ve tried to reason with myself and I do love the Dragon socks. I finally gave in because if I wasn’t going to get any sleep and if I was going to be too stoned from Novocaine from the dentist appointment I have this afternoon then I might as well get some intelligent knitting done now rather then later. Besides, knitting is supposed to be a joy. Not a chore and knitting anything else at this point was becoming a chore.

So I give you my first attempt at Fair Isle with the beginnings of the Pirate Mittens.

It is lovingly placed atop a new bag that has been dubbed the Pirate Bag of Knit that I just purchased thanks to the KnittyBird. I’m using size 3US Inox needles and Knit Picks Telemark wool. This wool is really crisp and seems to hold the stitch definition extremely well, which seems to be what is most desirable in a Fair Isle yarn.

I’m not sure how well this piece is knit as I haven’t really seen any Fair Isle in person, but I’m happy with it. I mean there’s not much there but the floats aren’t dangling overly much in the back. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of the guts yet. It shall be forthcoming.

I would have gladly gone without sleep last night just to see how the next row would turn out, that’s how much fun I’m having with this and that’s what counts. At the end of it all I also hope to make one young boy in Oregon happy with a pair of his own pirate mitts.

I am worried about the thumbs though. The directions just skim the whole thumb experience. Can anyone direct me to more explicit directions as I have never knitted up a pair of mittens before in my entire knitting career. I would be so grateful! I think all I do is put some scrap yarn to mark the thumb placement then leave them alone to be picked up later. I’m still quite confused though. Help!

Finally Done

I’ve been busy knitting over the past few days. I finished these:

With the blustery winds we’re having today, they sure are keeping my toes warm!

And here’s a gratuitous detail shot of the cables.

The details:

Yarn: Opal sock yarn

Needles: I used size 1US needles until I reached my ankles then I switched to 0US, Knit Picks Classic Circular

Pattern: Braided Cable with Garter Bead from Sensational Knitted Socks with modifications*

*I made the following modifications: I omitted one row between cables; I used the eye of partridge heel stitch instead of the heel pattern found in the book; I twisted the stitches when knitting the gussets.

All in all this was great fun to knit. The pattern was easy to memorize and it was a very satisfying knit. I really liked the yarn. I decidedly used a cable needle because I didn’t want to chance losing any of the tiny stitches.

Next up, Here Be Dragons!

I hope you all had a marvelous holiday! Despite a run of bad luck, I sure had a lovely time, but before I get into that let’s time travel back to Thursday, December 21st and look at what Veronica was doing at the Aloha Knitter‘s meeting.

Does she want the sock or the sandwich?

The sock! The sock! The delicious sock!

It was just too delicious to pass up. And what was Kim doing? She’s working on the Rosedale from Knitty.

And KnittyBird was working on her gorgeous lime green sweater from Loop-D-Loop.

What was I doing while all this was going on? I was plodding along on my second Shifting Sands scarf, which has become my exclusive KIP project. It’s just the perfect KIP project!

As for the run of bad luck, it goes as follows:

1. My debit card debacle, which you all might recall from an earlier post.
2. My printer has died and gone to hardware heaven.
3. One of my fillings has fallen out and my dentist takes Wednesdays off, so I won’t be able to get it fixed till Thursday at the very earliest. Ouch!

I’m almost tempted to add in the fact that the Dallas Cowboys got trampled by the Philadelphia Eagles on Christmas Day, but that really isn’t my personal bad luck. It was however extremely disappointing. Oh well. It’s only a game. Haha.
On the whole though, my Christmas was very merry. Colt Brennan of the UH Warriors kicked arse in the Hawaii Bowl and I got a lot of knitting done, more on that in my next post. I wasn’t depressed this year. I wasn’t overly stressed by the holiday season. I got my all holiday knitting done, even though I didn’t mail any of it out in time. I did get the knitting done in time. Next year I’ll have a better plan on how to avoid the crush of the Post Office.

Most of all, I handled my little run of bad luck without a lot of drama. I didn’t go running around like a headless chicken screaming that the sky was about to fall. (Okay, that metaphor needs some work, since a headless chicken has no mouth to scream with.) I didn’t bust out a bottle of brandy to make the season easier to cope with. I didn’t have any personal drama flying around like I normally do. No flashbacks, no unreasonable panic attacks.None of that. And let’s not forget that nobody died around me this year either.
So all in all, I feel like this was just one of the best Christmas holidays ever. Things can only get better from here is what I’m thinking. Okay. Meandering done. Carry on! Time to bring on the new year. I’m ready. Are you ready?

Finally Done!

After much fussing about fiddly fringe, I finally bound off the scarf for my great-aunt and attached said fiddly-foo-ments. Many thanks to my friend Wendy M. for her patience on the phone with me while I cursed at the little bits of string that would not obey my instant wishes. One thing’s for sure, the Yarn Goddess above was surely smiling upon me as I worked the finally magics on this scarf as I used every last bit of yarn for the fringe.

Pattern: Shifting Sands by Grumperina

Yarn: Andean Silk from Knit Picks in Hyacinth

Needles: size 4.5mm or 7US

Start Date: December 3, 2006

End Date: December 18, 2006
None of the pictures above portray the actual colour of the scarf, try as I might my camera decided to get fiddly with me today as well, but I love the colour of this yarn and the feel of this yarn. It’s buttery soft and silky to the touch. It was wonderful to work with and I think the recipient of this scarf will love it.

Also, my scarf doesn’t much look like Grumperina’s scarf either, but I’m happy with this stitch pattern as it gives an interesting texture and it’s fun to work. I got to try a new technique by cabling without a cable needle and it was a lot of fun to try. Though I doubt I’ll cable without a needle in finer gauge yarns, I do think it’s good to know for heavier yarns.

I’m already making another scarf in this pattern with sport weight wool so obviously I think this pattern deserves two thumbs up! Her instructions are clear and concise. The graph is easy to read. If you’ve never tried a cable pattern, then I would give this pattern a try. You’ll definitely get your practice in as I believe there are over 2,000 cables in this scarf. It sounds tedious, but it’s really a fast knit.

Sticks & String!

To help you get through your own tedious holiday knitting, if you have any that is, I recommend a new podcast that’s on the scene. It’s Sticks and Strings by David Reidy. My friend Jeanne told me about it in the comments and so I wandered on over there today and I’ve already listened to about 3 of his shows so far.

David has some great insights on knitting from the male perspective as well as knitting from a brave and unfettered point of view that I admire greatly. His first project was the Torino 2006 sweater and anyone who is undaunted by a sweater such as that for a project, much less their very first project, deserves admiration and kudos all around. So take a listen to him if you get a chance. His Australian accent is certainly enticing and does not hurt the ears. *grin*

Speaking of Fair Isle knitting, I have ordered yarn for the Pirate hat and mittens from Hello Yarn’s Free Pattern section. I am excited as a kid on Christmas eve at the thought of these projects being offered up to me and I can’t remember when the last time I was this thrilled with the prospect of a knitting project.

Bah Humbug!

The only thing that dampens my mood is an unauthorized charge on my debit card for a ridiculous amount to some ridiculous place online that I’ve never heard of. I’ve started the dispute process with my bank, but I will not be refunded the money until their investigation is concluded. It’s a damn good thing that the yarn for the hat and mittens were only $1.99 a ball. I shan’t mention the name of my bank’s name in case of liability issues. I’d hate to be sued by them for defamation of character because I’d like defame their character all over the Internets, but do be careful when shopping online. I’ll be looking into getting a credit card tomorrow for my online purchases instead of using a debit card. If not I’ll be looking into a new bank. I’m very tempted to say bah humbug to the rest of the holiday season, but I’m trying to keep the faith.