Knitting ADD...

Broke down and started playing around with the Colinette. After a couple swatches, I decided to make my scarf in herringbone stitch. Man, this thing is dense. I've ended up using US15/10mm needles. Recommended size is US9/5.5mm. I think this is going to end up being a pull-through scarf because it's so thick. Also, I don't know if I'll have enough for a full scarf. We'll see. If this does, indeed, end up being a pull through scarf, I have three options: horizontal hole (easiest given it's hand-dyed), vertical (colors might end up wonky because it's hand-dyed), or pick up stitches and knit a little loop. The loop thing I've never tried. I know that SnB Nation has a scarf with a loop thing but I didn't bring any of my books to the UK with me. Also not sure how picking up stitches will work on herringbone. Anyway, I think what will happen is on the ends will be a 5x5 inch block in Peaches & Cream, 2.5 inches in Moss, 1 inch in Peaches & Cream, and everything in between Moss.

Still working on the first sleeve of the Sirdar sweater, but doing stockinette for so long and so much gets really boring. Hell, I even learned how to knit continental while working on this thing. I found that purling this way will probably be easier and fast once I get used to it. Knitting, however, is still really frustrating since I keep dropping stitches and my tension gets way off if I get into a rhythm.

Clan arans...

This is really cool. Makes me wish I were Irish.

Continental knitting...

I've finally figured out how to purl using the Continental Method. So far, Continental has proven to involve less hand/wrist movement for me. However, it's also way awkward and fairly slow-going. I think I have a severe lack of coordination in my left hand or something. I'll stick to the English Method for the most part, but it's good to know Continental for the times my right wrist goes wonky. Ahh, childhood injuries. At least my tension is pretty good either way, so far.

The Sirdar sweater is more than halfway done. The front and back are finished. Just need to do the sleeves and seam. I'm a tad worried, though. My first sleeve so far looks HUGE. I checked the pattern and it doesn't look like it'd be a big deal if I made the sleeves for the smaller size instead. Would just need to smoothly switch back to this side when shaping the raglan.

So just when I thought yarn shopping in London was going to be a lost cause (I swear, everything is Rowan or Jaeger in this country) I found my way to Loop in Islington. Not as big as what I'm used to but the variety is there. Frog Tree, Blue Sky, K1C2, Colinette, Laines du Nord, and more. I found some Colinette Graffiti in moss but they only had one hank left. Not quite enough to make a scarf, so the lady there suggested I find another color and do either a stripe patter or a border with the contrasting color. This resulted in me getting a hand of the same yarn in Peaches & Cream. They look nice together side by side so far but we'll see how they knit up together. The best part was they were reasonably priced. £5.50 per 100g hank of hand-dyed 100% wool. Rowan and Jaeger, I believe, sell their 100% wools for more (although I still want to get my hands on some Rowan Big Wool Fusion--those colors are awesome but pricey).

Us crazy kids...

Monday at the local fabric shop as I was at the counter purchasing some yarn in heather (basically a shade of purple or violet).

Old lady next to me: *tsk* Young people these days. They always choose such wild colors.

I had to keep from bursting in a fit of giggles 'cause this young person was actually buying yarn to make a sweater for her mother.

Greetings and salutations...

I needed some way of keeping track of my knitting, knitting ideas, knitting experiences, etc. and figured, why not start yet another blog? In any case, I won't be boring anyone on my regular blogs with my weird obsession with yarn fibers and knitting stitches.

Obligatory info post...

Name: Kat
Age: Early 20s
Occupation: Student; job seeker; former library student assistant
Location: This is probably a longer-than-necessary answer but... Grew up in Idaho and it still is home in a way since I'm not permanently settled anywhere. Spent a few years in Seattle for college, lived in Brussels for a study abroad, lived in Iceland for an internship, currently in England for grad school, and after grad school who knows?

My grandmother, who lives in Hong Kong, taught me how to knit when I was wee but never taught me how to bind off. Either she never got around to it before the end of her visit or she just wanted to keep me occupied so that she could do her own thing. After knitting squares and rectangles on and off for years, I finally became a more serious knitter during college. A couple advantages to not knowing how to bind off until much later is that I was able to get my tension to near perfection and become an expert at frogging.

Quirks:

I rarely knit accessories. It's funny because I love accessories but unless they're scarves, I always forget to use them. As a result, I hold back on things like hats and gloves. They'll only sit around collecting dust.

Smiling in photos is an uncommon occurrence. I keep wanting to remedy this but it seems physically impossible. So for now, we'll just have to settle for me looking depressed or high.

I'm borderline obsessed with Scandinavian knitting, especially Iceland sweaters. Admittedly I only own The Best of Lopi and have only knitted one Icelandic sweater, but there shall be more to come.