hands up, they’re playing my song

sweaterfolded, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

When I finished the body of my Garter Yoke Cardi, back in the middle of June, I knew that I wanted to set it aside for a while.

(Originally, this was because I thought I’d need my 4mm circular needle for other projects – namely, both my Ishbels and the Featherweight Cardigan. Since sitting down and organizing my circs, I’ve discovered that I actually have seven 4mm circular needles, in a shockingly wide range of sizes and materials. Oops.)

Uh, I don’t know if you know this, but worsted weight yarn on 4mm needles goes super, super fast. I am pretty sure I did not think this was the case when I first started knitting several years ago, but after working on fairly fiddly, small-gauge projects for the past few months, this was like heaven. Instant-gratification heaven. I can’t believe how little time it took for me to take this sweater from just one more unfinished project to very nearly done.

Song of the Entry: Miley Cyrus – Party in the USA (Listen)

tutorial time: circular needle organization for power nerds

IMG_8255, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

This post isn’t knitting, but it is knitting-related: I sat down this afternoon and turned a binder into a circular needle organizer that suits me perfectly.

I’m a big fan of productivity blogs (I subscribe to Lifehacker’s RSS feed), and repurposing easy-to-shop for things to suit my needs, so when I took a look at my knitting shelf and thought “How the fuck am I going to get my circular needles under control?” my first thought was, “Why don’t I go to Staples?”

I picked up a few things, looked through my apartment, and ended up with these supplies:

(From left to right: 1” binder, package of 25 heavy-duty sheet protectors, ruler, kitchen scissors, white-out pen, Sharpie, pack of 60 mini (9/16”) binder clips)

Then, I used the ruler, sharpie, and scissors to trim the sheet protectors down from 8.5” x 11” to 8.5” x 8”. After that, I went through of my circular needles. I wrote the needle size and length on the bottom right corner of a sheet protector for each needle:

I tucked the needle into the sheet protector, with the original packaging if I still had it. I sealed the tops of each sheet protector with two mini-binder clips, so the needles wouldn’t fall out if I dropped the binder or flipped it upside-down, creating chaos.

And there you have it. I’m very proud of myself.

hopped off the plane at LAX with a dream and my cardigan

IMG_8249, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

Finally. The body is done.

(Well – it’s not actually done, I still have to pick up 124080 neckline stitches and knit that, but I’m repressing for now.)

This doesn’t look like that much knitting, but it took forever to finish – laceweight yarn on 4mm needles feels phenomenal, and it’s knitting up into the most beautiful, gauzy fabric, but that took me a solid month to get through. (I have knit full-sized cabled aran cardigans in that amount of time. That is very slow.)

However, the point is not that. The point is that the body is done, and now I get to start the next big adventure for this sweater: the sleeves.

Song of the Entry: Miley Cyrus – Party in the USA (Listen)

there’s not a lotta diamonds in this crowd

fireworks02, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

(this looks cooler bigger)

As you may have noticed, I took a bit of a break from blogging – I went to visit family for a bit, didn’t bring my regular computer with me, and keeping up with the blog while I was gone just didn’t seem worth it.

I’m back, though, and I did get some knitting done while I was gone. In the meantime, enjoy these photos – I took them during the Celebration of Light in Vancouver, during my trip.

(bigger)

Song of the Entry: Ashley Tisdale – I’m Back (Listen)

opposite of fun, till you turn the power on

IMG_8151, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

I suppose I should blog this, since progress on my cardigan is going, but not as dramatic as I’d like. These are the socks that sprung from the Knitters Without Borders yarn, a few weeks ago.

They’re – actually, having put them away and taken them out after a break, they are not as bad as I remembered them being. But the pooling is pretty vicious, and I don’t think there’s really anything to be done about that.

However, the yarn itself is fantastic. This is my first time knitting with BMFA Socks that Rock, and I am really enjoying working with it. It feels nice in my hands, and I’m hoping it holds up well to washing and wearing, because it’d be lovely to have an excuse to work with it again.

Song of the Entry: Cash Cash – Party in Your Bedroom (Listen)

lights, camera, freeze

IMG_8149ps, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

I’m going to talk about this project, first, even though my socks are far closer to being done, because is is much, much, much prettier.

This is my Malabrigo Lace, being knit up into a Featherweight Cardigan. I’d like to modify this a little bit – I’m thinking maybe a hood, and definitely long sleeves with thumb-holes, because I am nothing if not predictable in my dream sweaters.

I wish photos did this justice, but they really can’t – the stitches look big, because I’m working it on 4mm needles (which is what I use for a “normal” sweater), but because the yarn is laceweight it’s working up into this light, fluffy, gauzy fabric that I honestly want to just rub against my cheek, it’s so soft.

Song of the Entry: Hannah Montana – Ice Cream Freeze (Let’s Chill) (Listen)

and now we’re going to roll.

IMG_8141ps, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

Since finishing my socks, I have – not startitis, per se, but a couple of different projects started this weekend that I’m hoping will get me through the next few weeks and a trip home at the end of the month.

The yarn above is Socks That Rock Mediumweight, in Knitters Without Borders. Which, tragically, is turning out to be one of those colourways that looks much, much better in the skein, but whatever. I kind of saw that coming, and it’s kind of a cool idea – a couple dollars from the proceeds of this colourway go to MSF.

I’ve also started something with this, and I’m very excited about it – that’s Malabrigo Lace, in Azul Bolita, and it’s exactly as blue as it looks in that picture. Expect a lot of Tobias Funke jokes.

Song of the Entry: Mest – Cadillac (Listen)