Cables, Cables, and More Cables

Apparently, I'm into cables lately. It wasn't a conscious thing, but my two current projects have 'em. First is the shrug I started back before Christmas, which is now looking more like a wide scarf. I grossly underestimated how much cables pull in. Other than that, it looks okay. I can't seem to correct my issue with gappy stitches to the left of the cables, but I hear that it's a common problem and should even out with a few washings and wear. There's also twice as much done as you see in the picture- I'm working both ends at the same time. I do have some concern about running out of yarn. If that happens, it will suck, but I plan on just finishing it with what I have and moving on.

Then there's my new project: a sweater for little Spencer. I keep reading (on Ravelry) about how tough it is to find a sweater pattern that will fit a pug. So I decided to try to make one. It's got sort of a raglan thing going on, with a cable that will travel up his back. If it works out, I'll post my half-assed pattern here- but don't get your hopes up. My projects tend to take a horrible turn for the worst towards the end. There's still a pretty high probability it will end up in a bag in the closet.

Since the cables are smaller, I'm not having that gap issue after the cables. The pattern for the cable is from Super Stitches Knitting by Karen Hemingway. At first it seemed complicated, but after a couple rows it clicked, and things got easier. I really like cables. They have a lot of bang for their buck, meaning that they look so freakin' complicated... but really it's a simple technique. Well, wish me luck!

Decisions Are Hard

I've been thinking a lot about my knitting room, and what I want to do with it. The first thing I did was poke around the forums in Ravelry, hoping for ideas. But I quickly learned that most people's idea of a craft/knitting room is just a place to store things. Almost all the photos I saw were all function, no form. I want my room to be a knitty oasis... I want it to be a room that I really love spending time in- not just a place to dump my yarn. Besides, my stash deserves nothing less than the best accommodations.

I decided to start with a few ground rules.

Rule #1: No plastic storage. None.

Rule #2: No fucking laminate furniture. I can't stand it- especially if it's white!

Rule #3: No furniture painted black (this seems to be a trend). I don't like it.

Then I thought a little more, and decided that it would probably be helpful to choose some sort of general "look" for the room. So I listed some things I like in decor: Warm tones. Deep, rich, stained wood furniture. Soft lines and edges. Muted colors.

I lean towards antique, traditional, and such. But the word country makes me gag. Hard. Shit, I can barely type it. I hate it that much. Anyway, in thinking about all those things combined with the room's purpose (knitting and spinning), I felt that a sort of Colonial look would be nice. Or at least my version of Colonial- with simple, clean lines and a New England feel. Now we're getting somewhere.

I needed to start thinking about furniture. I need a small table for my sewing machine, a bookcase, and a place to put my yarn. There also needs to be a space for the spinning wheel I plan on getting one day. And I have my rocking chair, too. I measured the room (10'2" x 7'8") and thought about where things could go. Eventually I made a little sketch, which I have reproduced for you here with MS Paint:

Awesome, no? The top is a bit cut off, but oh well. The doorway is in the upper right corner, and the other door leads to the closet (which is already pretty full). The thicker line at the bottom left represents the window, in front of which is my rocking chair. Those four tiny green dots represent outlets, and the big orange dot is where I will likely put a floor lamp, if needed. The other areas (green, blue, red and pink) represent available furniture areas. And you can see my chosen wall color at the bottom, a soft muted blue.

Here are my problems: The room is small. Really. Small. The initial plan was to put a buffet/cabinet in the green spot, a bookcase in the blue spot and a sewing table in the red spot. And hopefully I can find a good wheel that would fit behind the closet door (which I'd keep closed but don't want to block it). All this furniture might not fit in the room. So now I'm thinking that I'll have to combine the bookcase and yarn storage. The other problem is that I can't find a sewing table that doesn't suck. Everything is either way too big or a total piece of crap. Guess I'll be spending a lot of time searching local antique shops for the perfect pieces! If I find anything good, there will be pictures.

A Very Knitty Birthday

Well, today is my birthday. Typically, I don't like my birthday... but friends and family are making that harder for me with every year that goes by. This year I received a couple monetary gifts, and treated myself to some yarny goodness.

First I went to Borders, and picked up Lace Style and the newest Interweave Knits. I've been wanting to start working on lace, and I found a couple of yummy patterns I liked in both (like that Cobweb Lace Stole in Interweave).

Then today I drove over to Eleganza Yarns- which is now only ten minutes away (squee!), and I gots me some yarn!

Mmm... that's some lovely Schaefer Lola in the colorway Toni Morrison. I actually have some more of this colorway in Schaefer Nancy, and always had thoughts of doing some sort of jackety-cardigan type thing with the main body knit up with the smooth Lola, and adding the cuff, collar, etc. with the slubbier Nancy. I don't know if I have enough Lola to realize that dream (840 yds), but maybe it could work. We'll see. I should also remember to see how a swatch reacts to washing- the Lola is superwash, Nancy is not. Hopefully just handwashing will be okay, but you can never be certain.

After looking through the lace book, I decided I needed something that is sportweight, smooth, a solid color, and has a nice sheen. So I picked up 5 balls of Classic Elite Cotton Bamboo. But with all that stitch definition I'll have to be extra careful with my tension... gah!

My brother- and sister-in-law sent some goodies for me too! They have a knack for finding awesome stuff... like this:

Top view:

And I couldn't get a good photo, but on the side it says, "I need a half gram of wool and quick! I'm starting to come down..." Who hasn't felt like that?

With my Stash Bank, came a magnet-

I find the combination of the bank and this magnet to be utterly hilarious, as I am (in reality) much too elitist to ask for knitting lessons. I will, however, start saving for some Qiviut right away...

There was also a witty air freshener in the package, but apparently cellophane doesn't mix well with photography, and I'm not ready to open it and let out all the smelly goodness. I'm waiting for the day when it can properly scent my knitty room.

Speaking of the knitty room, I'm still at a loss as to how to decorate it. I can't decide on one damn thing. Carpet or Pergo? Curtains or wooden blinds? Or maybe shutters? What color should I paint it? Do I want open or closed yarn storage? What sort of lighting should I get? There are just too many decisions! I suppose the first thing to do would be to set some sort of budget, but I don't even know where to start with that! Maybe that will be my weekend project, as I'm sure a budget will narrow down my options.