But I’ve at least been busy!

In the past month I knit myself a sweater (Rogue from The Girl from Auntie)

I was a bit overwhelmed looking at the pattern, since it is 19 pages, but it’s all very clearly written out and detailed - which is wonderful when you’re knitting complex cables (especially for the first time - I’ve done cables before but nothing like these).  The charts look confusing at first, but if you follow along it all just makes sense when it needs to.  I thoroughly enjoyed knitting every bit of the sweater (well, except for maybe the last half of the second sleeve - I was ready to be finished by then!) and I can’t wait to get started on Eris, another pattern she has written.  I actually bought the Eris pattern back in June, and was promptly discouraged as I flipped through all 40 pages of the pattern… but now I realize that it’s not really that the pattern is that difficult, it’s just that Jenna is so great at making each step exceptionally clear.

I finished what may be the last pair of longies I ever knit for my kids.. since we’re not cloth diapering anymore and they’re pretty much only for the “cute” factor, I think I will be saving the rest of my “longies” stash for sweaters, hats, and other cool weather woolens.  The yarn is my own, dyed in the Red Mountain colorway - I absolutely love how they colorway knit up, and I have more than enough yarn left for a hat to match… or maybe just for a hat for me

I made my daughter a simple dress to wear on Christmas (and have plans to make many more with my fabric stash), it’s really simple, sort of an adaptation of my twirly skirt with a pheasant top bodice (similar to this tutorial but I cut my peices only about 7″ long to match the 6″ teirs of the skirt)

I’ve been working a lot on my sock machine too, I made about a dozen pairs of socks in December alone for gifts and as some custom orders, which for the most part went fairly well.  I didn’t photograph all of them since I was usually in a rush to get them sent off.  I have even set up the 1923 Gearhart I added to my collection in August up and have it knitting finally (I needed needles for it), and I even tracked down a 50 slot dial to match my 100 slot cylinder (which is not shown, that’s the 40 slot in the image with the 100 slot cylinder in the machine).  It’s in remarkable condition considering it was an ebay bargain, and while it has a few quirks, mechanically it’s in very good shape as well.  It makes the weirest sound while knitting though - a solid clicking due to the way the uplift cams are spring loaded, which is mildly amusing.

So far I’m still working out some kinks with the ribber timing and I’d like to find a solution to keeping count of my rows more easily, but I hope to soon be able to make some really fine gauge socks on it.

My two year blogaversary is coming up soon - I might just give away a pair of custom socks and possibly some yarn, so watch for that in the next week or two

The bars are coming along.. I’ve fixed a few bugs that I had found, as well as a memory hogging issue, and I’ve got a few people signed up to test them.  If you’re interested in testing them too, please PM me on Ravelry with your email address and API key, and I’ll email you a code snipped to use.  The flash display is somewhat customizable - you can change the color of everything as well as which type of projects are displayed, and I’m working on the ability to change some other things as well.

I got distracted from my Lizard Ridge by a super cute hoodie pattern I’m testing.. I have about 2″ of plain knitting to go on the skirt and then I can do the lace part, then finish off the sleeves and work on the hood.  The test knits I’ve seen so far look impossibly cute - I can’t wait to get a little bit more done with mine.  If i like how it turns out, I’ll probably make a bigger one for Kaia

(excuse the lensbaby shot, it was already on my camera and I didn’t feel like swapping lenses to get a quick progress shot)

All this week I’ve been working on a Flash widget version of the Ravelry Progress bars - it’s currently displaying my FO’s in the sidebar.  I’ve got a few more tweaks to do, and I want to add a few more features and I need to clean up my code a bit (okay, a lot) and add some more error handling, but it’s a huge step towards enabling those who can’t use JavaScript on their blogs to have access to Ravelry’s JSON output and add their WIP’s or FO’s to their sidebarstoo. I’m hoping that Casey will officially adopt it for Ravelry (and host the SWF file) when it’s completely finished.  Right now since I’m hosting it and I don’t want to unleash a can of worms, it’s not available for use by anyone else yet.  I will also release my source files when it’s all finished, for any Flash developers out there who want to play/tweak on their own

As if learning Flash and Actionscript 3.0 this past week wasn’t enough, the day before Halloween I decided to start on a *second* Lizard Ridge!  I’ve had the yarn for a few months and I was originally considering another blanket pattern, but the appeal of doing another LR was just too great, and I got started.  I’m knitting it all in one peice - no blocks or panels, and one week later I’m exactly 25% finished (6 pattern repeats in), and making steady progress.  I’m hoping to knock this out fairly quickly so that I can move onto some other smaller projects I’d like to get finished before the holidays.

I am absolutely loving how the colors (colorway #183) have been working out.

Celebrating Colleen at TLC was a resounding success, raising approximately $12,000 for Colleen’s kids.  I am just in awe at the generosity of all who were able to donate items for sale/auction/raffle, as well as those who spent freely to help show her family just how much she was loved, and will be missed.  I did my part by bidding on and winning the Vespa Handspun, which was spun by Sara from fiber dyed by Colleen.  This yarn is beyond beautiful.  I’m not quite sure what I’m going to make with it yet, but I figure I have a little while to decide - and even if I just stare at the yarn for a while, that’s okay to :)  It’s kind of hard not to - like I said, it’s GORGEOUS!

I totally had a blast. Lost of people stopped by to see us, and Shelly and I were super busy the entire weekend! I managed to crank out one pair of socks Saturday morning in about 45 minutes, which I then took off the machine but left attached to each other, so Shelly and I could show what a pair looks like fresh off the machine. That worked REALLY well for demonstration purposes - quite a few people commented that I must not know what a foot looks like, since it was hard to make out just how what came off the machine became socks, but it was great to be able to show them all the parts of a sock, and how it all comes together when you separate them and close the toes. Most people were surprised that there was very little difference structurally between the socks we make on our antique machines, and the new ones you can go pick up at any store.

Shelly and I both have a lot of ideas on how to make things go a little smoother next year (or for any CSM demo, really).

sock knitter

Originally uploaded by yi
Yeah, that’s me - I was putting tags on socks!

I’ve been MIA a lot lately since I’ve been so busy, but I just wanted to post that I’ll be at Maker Faire in Austin this weekend with civilbitch demonstrating our sock machines