Hmmm. You may be right, but I thought they looked wider than that. When I have a spare minute, I’ll have to try a swatch.
I have been experimenting with toe-up sock patterns. The short-row toe drove me c-r-a-z-y–I used the free instructions from wendyknits.net. Trying to purl a stitch and its two wraps just wasn’t happening. I just did a figure-8 toe, though, and I’m pretty happy with it. I will still have to short-row the heel, though. Grrrrr.
Yeah, I saw that. It’s close, but not the same – the one I’d prefer has no loop on top and a different style to the mitten top.
lightbulb OOOH. Yes indeedy it does! Oooh. Thankee kindly – I usually skip the articles and go straight to the pretty pictures. 
I’m about done with Ivygirl’s blanket, then I’ll start on the pillow for my dad’s RV.
I love going to Michael’s. I adore the smell of that place.
I finally went out and got the silk sari yarn tonight. I looked around on Crafster, and they advised doing a double strand of that with something else like wool or acrylic. I bought some 2-ply shetland wool in bright friggen turquoise. I think the constant turquoise will also give a kind of uniformity to all of the panels. I didn’t start Unbiased for a long time because I wrote it off as being too hard for me without actually even reading the pattern. That sari yarn was definitely a bitch to wind, though. I’m glad to be done with that.
Ever since I arrived home from school last week, I’ve been going crazy with the knitting. I finished my first non-swatch thing last week: a long, thin self-patterning scarf. The self-patterning yarn was pretty crummy compared to other stuff I’d seen, but my mom bought it so I can’t be mad.
I started on a seafoam stitch scarf with Berocco Glacé, which I love. It’s perfect for warmer weather. It has stripes of light blue and sage green. It’s the perfect mix of dainty and casual and sophisticated and fun and what-have-you…not too little-kid-ish, not too adult. I underestimated the amount of yarn, so I ran out and I need to go back to the yarn store for more. Since I’m doing stripes, I’m hoping that I can get away with the dye lots not being the same. I also don’t care that much, since it’s just for me.
I’ve always been attached to scarves as jewelry, and I hope I can keep up my knitting fury. I have two hats in mind, plus three more scarves, plus the two scarves I promised for some faithful blog-readers, plus then I want to branch out and do something tangy, as Knitty puts it.
Where’d you buy the yarn from?
Just a local shop. I wanted to be able to pick out my color variations.
I have fininshed one side of the pillow for my father’s RV. The last time I made this pattern, I knitted 101 rows, but I was looking at it last night and realized that 101 rows was going to make a humongous pillow, since Lion’s Brand Easy Plush Yarn is bulkier. So, this one’s only 85 rows. It looks really cool, too.
I started Unbiased today while I was in the car (I’m spending many many hours in the car over the next few days). I’m allergic to all the fuzzies in the yarn–my nose was going crazy. But I will suffer for my art. The designer suggests putting your bag in a pillowcase and drying it on the no heat cycle to remove many of the fuzzies. The yarn is so thick, and I’m doing it on the recommended size 8 needles, and I understand why it has to be so dense, but damn do my fingers hurt. Again, suffering, art, etc.
I’m excited, though. It’s starting to look really cool.
Hey AwSnappity you will post a photo when it is done won’t ya? 
I just finished one ofthese little guys
They are REMARKABLY easy to make. I’ve started on my second already.
What is it about yarn and the need to buy yarn, even if you are not a knitter or crocheter? I do crochet, but really want to knit…but the yarn is soooo purty…
It’s gotta be covered in crack.
Even worse…I’m starting to learn to spin my own!
There’s a reason they call it a “drop spindle”, btw…
I really, really want to make this sweater in greens instead of pinks. I lurve it so much.
I’m nowhere near capable of making this now, but how good do my skills have to be to make this?
Well, knitty calls it “piquant,” which is a 3/4 on their difficulty scale. It’s quite fitted, meaning that if your gauge varies as you work, you’ll run into trouble, and also it might require some improvising to get it to fit your frame properly. Also, it’s mohair, which is a little more challenging to work with because you don’t want to be unraveling and reworking it a lot or it’ll start looking ratty. And expensive yarn can be a bit unnerving to work with when you’re just beginnning, because you’re afraid you won’t do a very good job with it, and you’ll end up with a very expensive sweater that you hate (sob!)
If you can make a basic sweater with some basic yarn and have it come out the way you like, with a consistent gauge throughout, and all the increases and decreases and whatnot. Finishing your first sweater always leads to a surge of confidence.
Someday I’ll make a real sweater! My real issue is that I don’t like a lot of the “mellow” sweater patterns, at least those on that site. Many of them are boxy and/or oversized, which are two things I never wear. I don’t want to make a sweater I have no chance of wearing! I’m going to go exploring the other patterns sites in this thread, to try and find something pretty simple that I will actually wear.
Actually that could totally explain my desire for alpaca - the Andes mountain connection… why did I not put that together before?
::squeee!:: They’re adorable! The bunnies and alpacas at the same site are very cute too. Are they really that easy?
I have absolutely no idea what I would do with a bunch of little sheeplets, but I want to make some anyway. They’re so cute!
I clicked on the link and there was only a photo on the page! (And a mighty fine photo it is!) Where can I get instructions to make them?