February 2010 – Knitting Mayhem

….And on the Nth Day, Robin Rested.

16. February 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized

It is done.

The Noro scarf for my sister is finished. And it is beautiful. I know that several of my posts here were a little frustrated, but it was more with my learning curve, and much less with the scarf itself. I’ve learned a lot:

How to create a neat, finished, slip stitch selvedge
How to finish the edge of a 1×1 rib so it doesn’t look wavy
How to get around Noro’s occasional sudden color change by knot
When to tell that the color play really needs to be pulled out and fixed. Clearly, the more contrast, the better the scarf.

I love the colors, I love the look, I love the warmth, and I love the nom. I hope my sister loves it too. I’m really glad she trusted me to knit her $$$

nom into a beautiful scarf. I’m now ready to step up to the plate and knit my own.

After Ravelympics, of course. Let’s not get carried away here.

Thanks to @iAudrey for getting out her amazing magical camera and making this scarf gorgeous in the pics. You can see more of her pictures in my Noro Nom Flickr set. I can’t wait for my sister to get it!

Ravelympics. It begins.

12. February 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: 2010 ravelympics teamknitpistols knitpistols event

>I’m a fairweather Olympics fan at best. Better in winter than summer, but if something interesting’s happening elsewhere, I’m gone. This year, however, I’m beside myself with excitement. Ravelympics 2010 begins tonight. Team Knit Pistols will be sitting down together, simultaneously watching the lighting of the torch and casting on the first of our #teamknitpistol projects. We then continue through the night, only stopping to nap if the time is right. With this much excitement, and that much sugar, I doubt much sleep will happen. The food! The drinks! The desserts! The drinks! The cupcakes! The drinks!

Oh my giddy Aunt. I am, indeed, a #knitpistol.

Ravelry Repost: That’s right I said it…

10. February 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: humor, knitters, men, ravelry

I’m reposting something that was originally posted on a Ravelry forum, and I cannot begin to itemize the number of ways this boyfriend got it right and made me LOL. So whomever you are, girlfriend, you have indeed trained him well.

I am not a knitter. I joined Ravelry to see where my girlfriend spends her time on the internet lol. In the 10 or so months that she’s been knitting I’ve been secretly/overtly observing and documenting this crazy thing called yarn and what it does to people. These things I know to be true.

Yarn is NOT string and should not be referred to as such.

Knitting needles are not sticks, stix, or styx.

Casting on is NOT a fishing metaphor.

Yarn comes in different weights, colors, styles. Kind of like drugs.

People dye their own yarn with varying degrees of success.

Knitting is taken everywhere. No exceptions are to be made.

Fun fur is frowned on by “real” knitters.

“Lemme just finish this round” is a lot like me saying “Lemme just finish this round of video games.” Fair enough.

A collection of yarn is a “stash” much like drugs.

Yarn barf is actually a thing.

Ravelry has a weird economy of bartering. Yarn can be exchanged for other goods not related to yarn. ????? Weird.

There are knitting groups, where other like minded knitters knit together and (this part is an assumption) talk about how knitters should rule the world.

Do NOT sit on or around yarn left on the sofa. This will cause knitter in the other room to jump up and rescue said ball of yarn from your evil ass.

Thank goodness there are no shows about knitting on Primetime TV.

Stitch markers are NOT earrings.

Lots of knitters have kittehs. You know who also had them? Witches.

If I want something, “Did you want to go to the yarn store?” are the first words out of my mouth.

Yarn stores are populated by alpha knitters. Some stores are better than others. Michaels is not a suitable substitute for a yarn store.

The needles that are attached with wire to each other, do not make good nunchuks.

Kitteh won’t chase a ball of yarn no matter how many balls you throw at his head.

These things I know to be true.

Muddying the waters…

09. February 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: 2010, scarf, snafu, Uncategorized

So, the Noro scarf is merrily rolling along, and I’m well into the second set of balls (!!!). However, as smoothly as the first set went, the second has seen a couple of snags along the way. First, there have been two knotted points where somebody in the Noro factory said, “Hmmm. I’m tired of this color. Let’s change….NOW!” and tied the beginning of an entirely different color to the end of your lovely progression, thus messing up the color flow. Do I think anyone besides me is really gonna see this? Probably not, but it does drive me crazy to see it happen (k)not once, mind you, but twice. Who can guarantee it won’t happen again before I reach the end? Right. Me neither.

My second snag is that, odd though it might be, these two balls have similar colors in them, and I get green against green, pink against pink, and orang against orange. This is crazy talk, as they really are different dye lots, but I see that it usually happens after these surprise knot situations, so I guess they figure you’ll just play the skeins your dealt. So I’ve found myself knitting about four inches, finding far too much similarity, then unraveling back to where the knot is and, instead, picking up the other end of the skein to try incorporating a new color flow. Why would I be insane enough to do this? Because, my good friends, this picture shows you precisely what it looks like when you don’t. I must admit, I probably should’ve pulled out sooner (wait-what? THAT’S not manly!), but I was hoping against hope I might juuuust make it. Clearly, that didn’t happen. So once again I frogged back to the knot, and swapped ends, and so far it seems to have taken the hint to behave.