Sunday, August 28, 2011

TeachStreet featured blog!

Howdy, Internet!

So apparently I'm featured on the TeachStreet Knitting pages? Awesome! Thanks, TeachStreet!

Welcome to new readers, if there are any! I haven't been posting a lot lately because I've been busy with work and school, but I plan to get into a better knitting/blogging groove once the semester gets going. Feel free to read some past posts and please comment, even if its just to say hi!

This blog is about my knitting adventures, and sometimes about my life adventures. As a college student who knits, crochets, and spins, I feel I have a unique perspective on yarncrafting. I've been knitting since I was 10, but re-discovered the magic of sticks and string only 4 years ago, so I still have a lot to learn. This blog documents my learning experiences, successes, and failures for my own sake, but also just in case others read it and might learn something from my experiences.

Will definitely post an actual crafting update once I'm done with my seemingly infinite pile of Japanese homework (darn the mundane call of homework and real life when there's knitting to be done!). Thanks for reading!

Yarny love,
~YoungKnitter

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Sweater progress


My first sweater is going REALLY WELL!!!



I finished increasing for the sleeves and they're sitting on scrap yarn right now while I'm busy knitting away at the body! I took this picture just after dinner, but have made immense progress between then and now because I just finished watching the 3rd Lord of the Rings movie with my parents. I have this hilarious tendency, while movie knitting, to knit faster the more exciting a movie gets. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is 3 hours of straight EXCITEMENT, so I got a good 3 more inches done on the body. WOW.

I'm a little worried that I made the sleeves a bit too wide, but I'll worry about that when I go to knit up the sleeves. Or maybe I should go ahead and do that now? If I go ahead and finish the sleeves, then I'll know exactly how much yarn I have left to give the body a little extra length. Hmm.... I shall look into it.

That's about all the news here.

Yarnylove,
~YoungKnitter

Sunday, August 7, 2011

FIRST SWEATER AHHH

Breaking News: YoungKnitter attempts a sweater!!!

Yes, you heard it folks, our very own YoungKnitter cast on her very first sweater mere moments ago. And she couldn't be more excited!

It all started with what was meant to be a routine, casual stop at my LYS. However, Stitching Mantis in Cape Elizabeth, ME is GOING OUT OF BUSINESS. Which is tragic, because how on earth am I supposed to get my close-enough-to-walk yarn fix when SM is gone?! But, everything is 35% off right now cuz the owner is trying to get rid of everything. So I snagged some lovely sock yarn because who can resist? And a wonderful Harry Potter knitting book called Charmed Knits which turns out to be full of wonderful patterns I can't wait to try! But then I thought "Well, I've been wanting to brave making a sweater, and when else will I get such a cheap opportunity to buy sweater yarn?"

So I got 9 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK. It's GLORIOUS. It still cost a pretty penny, but I have a few theories about sweater yarn. 1) It's a big project. I need a yarn that I'll still be happy with eleventy-bajillion stitches into the project. 2) It's my first sweater. So I need something scrumptious to encourage me to work on it, even when I get frustrated. 3) It's my first sweater, but I want it to be something I will wear and enjoy. This yarn is a lovely dark green, and luxuriously soft, so I think I'll be really happy to work with it, and happy to wear it once it's done. That being said, I figured my first sweater yarn was worth the splurge.

The pattern I'm using is the 5$ in Paris (Ravelry Pattern page). It's a simple top-down raglan sweater with a pretty boatneck collar. I do plan on making the sleeves full-length, but other than that I'm gonna stick pretty close to the original pattern. I'm using a DK weight yarn, when the pattern calls for worsted, so that might cause a little bit of trickiness when it comes to sizing. But my gauge is very close to the designers, so I guess I'll try it on as I go and figure it out from there.

I realize I haven't blogged in forever, so here's a summary of what I've been up to and what I'm working on right now:

1) I finished the Sharf, but I still have to block it.
2) I bullied my Socks for Soldiers socks out of hibernation to knit on the plane and stuff.
3) I started a pair of armwarmers, and I got to the hand increases when the pattern stopped making sense. So I'll pick those back up when I'm less mad at them.
4) I have about a bajillion projects in my head for starting soon. More news on those when they get farther along in planning.

I have about 1.5 weeks before I head back to school, and less than 3 weeks until classes start. Yikes! So excited about the upcoming semester. Definitely gonna try my hardest to fit in more knitting (and hopefully) blogging time, but we'll see.

Before I leave, here's a pic of me with my new super-short haircut approximately 2.5 rows into my sweater. My friend Cassidy made those stitchmarkers for me for Christmas and I can't get over how adorable it is to have cute little butterfly and rainbow star beads dangling off my work.


Happy Knitting!
~YK