Yarn Belt Buckle

Several weeks ago in Vogue Magazine, I saw an ad for a handmade, glass belt buckle that featured a ball of yarn. I had to have it and placed an order two weeks ago. And today it arrived!! I requested custom colors of opaque gray glass and red ink because the orginial glass color was opaque ivory. I'm not a fan of white. The maker is local to the Chicago area and you can find the website at http://www.kiku-co.com/. There are loads of other really cool buckles. If you're a sewer, there's a great buckle featuring a vintage sewing machine. That might be my next purchase. The other buckles I thought were interesting were the Camera buckle, Underwood buckle, and Robot buckle.

Like Magic

"It's like magic," I tell my husband as I continued to darn a hole in my mom's handmade sock. I had made the sock out of 100% wool - a slight failure on my part - and they were suffering from a lack of nylon. The woman loved them so much she couldn't deem them to be special, napping on the sofa/chair socks. Oh no, she put them to work walking around the house (thankfully she did not wear them with shoes) and they worked the best they could. After a few months the heel developed a hole and it was in need of a mend. I used my brand new darning egg and the instructions on darning I found at Knitty (Summer 2008) to fix them. The darning egg came in my possession when I was buying my TKGA Master Hand Knitter Level II Program yarn at Knit Picks. I was completely astonished at how nifty it worked and felt quite handy/self-sufficient at the accomplishment. It's not that I don't look at knitting as an accomplishment but there is really something to fixing a hole that is well...more impressive. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of before or after. I'm sure she'll continue to wear them and more holes will develop, which couldn't make me happier. Thanks, Mom.

Drop-Stitch Tank

I'm tackling my most difficult project to date, the drop-stitch tank from Fitted Knits. So far, so good. It's been really awesome. I had to go to a training all of last week, which included an hour-long commute in the morning and evening. I made a lot of progress. But my picture is pre-training. I'm converting the pattern to circular knitting, from flat pieces. I haven't exactly worked out how to leave an opening for arm holes or for the split-neck. I'm not even up to armholes at this stage so I'm not terribly concerned. And, from looking at photos from other people on Ravelry, I'm going to start on the split-neck further up on the chest. I'm not a fan of low-gaping shirts. In fact, I even stitches up a shirt from Banana Republic because I didn't like the gaping effect it was having.

I'm using Cascade Pima Tencel and it sheds as much as people say. But my goodness is it soft. This is a very pleasant cotton to touch, which is not something I can say of some other yarns. I speaking of you 20 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cotton, sitting in my closet - sigh. I do hate that I'm covered in navy, cotton fur after I've knit a few rows but I'm willing to accept it if it means I can bare to have it against my skin.

Leaf-y Scarf

I finished the Backyard Leaves Scarf featured in ScarfStyle. Had I to do it over again, I'd use a nicer yarn. Cascade 220 is scratchy and this really calls for merino wool. But merino wasn't in my price point when I envisioned making this scarf, which was more like 2008 and less like 2010. This made me learn don't buy stash yarn you'll later regret. Just wait (i.e. save) and be happy with the product.

As for the project itself, I didn't enjoy grafting the two ends together but I did it and it doesn't look half bad. What doesn't look great though is that it looks a bit puckered and I imagine it's in part because the edge is both the cast-on and at an angle. Or perhaps I cast-on too tight. There's a lot of variables to try and narrow down what the issue(s) might be.

Cast On Anniversary Issue

The highlight of participating in Level 1 of theTKGA Master Hand Knitting Program was having my name published in an issue of Cast On as a Program Graduate. Better yet, was when I showed my mom the issue and she beamed with pride.

Progress...I guess so.

I finished the second cable sock yesterday. I'll now have socks for the fall. It's way too hot nowadays to even think about wearing socks. Since May, I've been in sandals.

The majority of my knitting time has been devoted to Level 2 of the TKGA Master Handknitting Program. It's really not easy. So if someone out there is looking for easy, pass this up. I think I finally have my lace and cable patterns written and will start knitting them soon. I didn't want to start knitting until I had a better idea of what the pattern would look like on paper. I had begun a swatch without doing this and had to cut it. Ripping wasn't an option because the yarn just clung to itself. I'm thinking of starting the mitten while continuing to work on the swatches.

I have knit the material for six swatches - they need to be blocked and seamed. But one of them it turns out will need to be reknit so it's really just five (5 out of 22). I didn't read up on seaming before knitting the K2P2 and made an error that won't allow for seaming - dammit.

But I also want to make my husband a pair of socks. The only knitted item I've ever given him was a K1P1 ribbed hat when I first started and well, I cast on an odd number without realizing that this would give me two knit stitches at the end of the row. He got an imperfect hat. I'd like the socks to come out better.

Cable Sock

Only one sock...it still needs a mate. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted Multi.