Showing posts with label yarn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yarn. Show all posts
Monday, February 22, 2016
At the Beep.....
Hi,you've reached the blog of Ka'a Christian. She is currently trying to spot river otters in Yosemite and knitting on top of rocks in the middle of rivers. Please leave a message at he beep and she'll get back to you on Wednesday. Till then enjoy this picture of her last trip to Yosemite with the girls:
Friday, February 19, 2016
Random 10
So I have nothing planned for today and since I leave tomorrow for Chinese New Year and then a girl's trip to Yosemite this is going to be a quick and dirty 10 random things about me.
1. I just got back from the salon and my nails are whore red (though the label said Red Apple) for the Chinese New Year tomorrow, and I'm typing carefully as not to screw them up.
2. My best friend Anna is Chinese and we go to the festival in San Francisco every year. It is the largest celebration of the Chinese New Year outside of China.
3. I'm supposed to make and bring a casserole for our trip to Yosemite. I'm always known for bringing something tasty. Currently I have no idea what I'm going to make.
4. I'm only 5'1", and a little on the dumpy side, however I can squat 250 pounds and run half marathons regularly.
5. I had asthma as a kid and told I would never be able to run. I also have been hit by a car and had a skiing accident that caused permanent damage to my knees when I was a teen.
6. I was born the year of the Rabbit and collect bunny stuff like jewelry, paintings, shirts, pillows, ect. Currently I'm looking to make Louise's hat from Bob's Burgers.
7. I didn't know how to knit well (could only knit and knew 1 cast on) till I was 22. I'm now 28.
8. I hate mint and avocados. I think this year I might be able to get over avocados, but I shall always hate mint.
9. I used to work at Kepler's Books as a Children's Specialist and Author Host. I have met many authors and have tons of signed and personalized books by them. My favorites are my matching hardbound Game of Thrones set, my collection of Francis May's books, and Ben's and my Patrick Rothfuss collection that we got signed on our 1 year anniversary.
10. I can usually tell where you know me from by what name you call me.
1. I just got back from the salon and my nails are whore red (though the label said Red Apple) for the Chinese New Year tomorrow, and I'm typing carefully as not to screw them up.
2. My best friend Anna is Chinese and we go to the festival in San Francisco every year. It is the largest celebration of the Chinese New Year outside of China.
3. I'm supposed to make and bring a casserole for our trip to Yosemite. I'm always known for bringing something tasty. Currently I have no idea what I'm going to make.
4. I'm only 5'1", and a little on the dumpy side, however I can squat 250 pounds and run half marathons regularly.
5. I had asthma as a kid and told I would never be able to run. I also have been hit by a car and had a skiing accident that caused permanent damage to my knees when I was a teen.
6. I was born the year of the Rabbit and collect bunny stuff like jewelry, paintings, shirts, pillows, ect. Currently I'm looking to make Louise's hat from Bob's Burgers.
7. I didn't know how to knit well (could only knit and knew 1 cast on) till I was 22. I'm now 28.
8. I hate mint and avocados. I think this year I might be able to get over avocados, but I shall always hate mint.
9. I used to work at Kepler's Books as a Children's Specialist and Author Host. I have met many authors and have tons of signed and personalized books by them. My favorites are my matching hardbound Game of Thrones set, my collection of Francis May's books, and Ben's and my Patrick Rothfuss collection that we got signed on our 1 year anniversary.
10. I can usually tell where you know me from by what name you call me.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Dear Smokey Orchid,
You and I were meant to be, that I'm sure of. I bought you while visiting relatives in Petaluma, and you were the only yarn I wanted at Knitterly. You were a little expensive, but I knew in my heart that your purples and browns where just what I wanted to warm my frozen little toes.
Recently you saw a harsh purge of the yarn stash. Three actually. I know you were worried when you saw the sweater yarn that matched you get tossed into the bag, but that was only because it was scratchy and the sweater knit from it was too small (though I got gauge and went up a size, it would have fit my 8 year old niece). You have been always saved due to your lovely colors, softness, and I knew you'd be perfect for socks.
You knew your number was called when I was halfway through my 2nd Santa Cruz socks, and though I can't find my ball winder, I hand balled you in the car, on the train, and cast you on as soon as my needles were free. That is where the trouble started.
My Cup of Tea has lovely lacework down the front, and working on US1, with my normal number of casted on stitches, you pooled only on the lace panel. Now I knew this was a risk, but I kept knitting you for FOUR WHOLE INCHES. I knew that I wasn't giving up on you and ripped out all the work (sorry for swearing, it was due to anger at the printer that had decided to become a paper holder). I read up a little on how to prevent pooling, I grabbed US0 needles, though they're sharp and kind of hard on the hands when knitting sock yarn, but You Still Pooled.
You've got one more chance to straighten up tonight when I not only change the gauge, but also the number I cast on. Otherwise there is still plenty of room for you in the purge bag.
-KC
Recently you saw a harsh purge of the yarn stash. Three actually. I know you were worried when you saw the sweater yarn that matched you get tossed into the bag, but that was only because it was scratchy and the sweater knit from it was too small (though I got gauge and went up a size, it would have fit my 8 year old niece). You have been always saved due to your lovely colors, softness, and I knew you'd be perfect for socks.
You knew your number was called when I was halfway through my 2nd Santa Cruz socks, and though I can't find my ball winder, I hand balled you in the car, on the train, and cast you on as soon as my needles were free. That is where the trouble started.
My Cup of Tea has lovely lacework down the front, and working on US1, with my normal number of casted on stitches, you pooled only on the lace panel. Now I knew this was a risk, but I kept knitting you for FOUR WHOLE INCHES. I knew that I wasn't giving up on you and ripped out all the work (sorry for swearing, it was due to anger at the printer that had decided to become a paper holder). I read up a little on how to prevent pooling, I grabbed US0 needles, though they're sharp and kind of hard on the hands when knitting sock yarn, but You Still Pooled.
You've got one more chance to straighten up tonight when I not only change the gauge, but also the number I cast on. Otherwise there is still plenty of room for you in the purge bag.
-KC
Friday, February 12, 2016
An Outing of Ladies
My family is full of artists. We have fiber artists, painters, gardeners, sculptors, designers, musicians, and wood workers. For this reason we visit museums a lot. Oddest thing is that we never go together as a group, until now.
Early yesterday morning, my grandma, my mom, her best friend, and I all piled into a car and headed up to the Legion of Honor, and have lunch there.
We saw Raphael's "Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn"
We saw Raphael's "Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn"
But the real gem of the Legion right now is the Bonnard exhibit. It was amazing, breathtaking, and I went through it twice to just stare in wonder at his use of color and peaking into his world. I'm rather a fan of impressionistic work and the works that came out from 1880-1920 are my favorites. I bought several postcards to put around my desk at work.
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I brought my current socks in progress to work on while walking around the museums. It's my own hand dyed yarn and I'm in love. The colors remind me of Bonnard's Southern Landscape with Two Children, 1918. All the yellows and blues remind me of the ocean. I named this colorway Santa Cruz when I dyed it, and it makes me want to hit the beaches.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
What hat?
The hat is having issues and therefore is not complete. Actually the hat is in a little time out as I had plan on only using one ball of my Pioneer yarn that costs $26.00 for 50grams. It's pricey because it's grown by sheep here in California, milled in the US, and then dyed in small batches at the wonderful A Verb for Keeping Warm. I've knit an entire short sleeved fair isle sweater from it and adore this yarn for all it stands for (though I would love for it to be 3 ply instead of 2), and am using the leftover yarn to knit a matching hat. It has plowed through the first ball and while in the second ball my increasing and decreasing math left something to be desired.
I have been knitting these instead:
This is my take on the Dublin Bay Socks knit with Malabrigo, bought at Knitterly, in a colorway I cannot name because I lost the label a while ago when it was destined to become another pair of socks that went the way of frogging. I grabbed this yarn because it reminds me of rain and since it has been raining recently I thought is was appropriate. I'm a simple kind of gal.
This year I have a goal to knit myself 7 pairs of socks so that when Ben and I go to the cabin on the lake I will not freeze like I normally do. Wool socks are a must there as there are no carpets, and it's not heated unless someone is there, which is never during the winter. We love going in the winter as not many people are in town. We spent our anniversary there and went to the country club nearby for a great dinner. It really is the best way to vacation. I'd honestly live there year round if possible.
I have been knitting these instead:
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| Currently on the heel flap of the second sock |
This is my take on the Dublin Bay Socks knit with Malabrigo, bought at Knitterly, in a colorway I cannot name because I lost the label a while ago when it was destined to become another pair of socks that went the way of frogging. I grabbed this yarn because it reminds me of rain and since it has been raining recently I thought is was appropriate. I'm a simple kind of gal.
This year I have a goal to knit myself 7 pairs of socks so that when Ben and I go to the cabin on the lake I will not freeze like I normally do. Wool socks are a must there as there are no carpets, and it's not heated unless someone is there, which is never during the winter. We love going in the winter as not many people are in town. We spent our anniversary there and went to the country club nearby for a great dinner. It really is the best way to vacation. I'd honestly live there year round if possible.
Friday, January 29, 2016
A Hat
I'm knitting a hat. I started on Tuesday night and was reading the poorly scanned pattern on my phone (computer was too far away and I was using my nook to watch Netflix).
The pattern is one that I found while looking for a hat to match the fair isle sweater I'd just completed. I wanted something that matched, had some leftover balls of Pioneer (which is a rather nice but expensive yarn), and decided that no pattern but this one would do.
The Katie Beret is a lovely fair isle pattern that reminds me of golfing in the 1920's. The colorful fair isle sweaters were made popular by then playboy Prince Edward VIII.
There were a few problems that I ran into however when I decided to knit the hat.
First was getting a hold of the pattern that was published in 2009. It's currently supposed to be available online, but the website had been redone and I hit a deadend there. Rather then give up on the hat I began to message people that had knit the pattern and asked them for a copy of it, explaining that the website no longer had it posted. More then a few got up in arms over copyright issues (and a couple of them also proved that they hadn't read my message fully when they told me to go find it on the website), but one blessed person understood the problem and got me the pattern within a couple days.
The lovely Althea from Australia copied and emailed me a scan of the page from her magazine. I was off to the races now right? Wrong.
The pattern is blurry and hard to read, also after knitting the ribbed band I found out that the hat is knit flat and then seamed up the back. Think about this.
Fair Isle
Hat
Seamed up the back
Who does this designer think she it? Who does fair isle flat? Why knit a tam flat? This is insane.
With all this running through my head I'm knitting it in the round and we'll see if I have a had come Monday.
The pattern is one that I found while looking for a hat to match the fair isle sweater I'd just completed. I wanted something that matched, had some leftover balls of Pioneer (which is a rather nice but expensive yarn), and decided that no pattern but this one would do.
The Katie Beret is a lovely fair isle pattern that reminds me of golfing in the 1920's. The colorful fair isle sweaters were made popular by then playboy Prince Edward VIII.
There were a few problems that I ran into however when I decided to knit the hat.
First was getting a hold of the pattern that was published in 2009. It's currently supposed to be available online, but the website had been redone and I hit a deadend there. Rather then give up on the hat I began to message people that had knit the pattern and asked them for a copy of it, explaining that the website no longer had it posted. More then a few got up in arms over copyright issues (and a couple of them also proved that they hadn't read my message fully when they told me to go find it on the website), but one blessed person understood the problem and got me the pattern within a couple days.
The lovely Althea from Australia copied and emailed me a scan of the page from her magazine. I was off to the races now right? Wrong.
The pattern is blurry and hard to read, also after knitting the ribbed band I found out that the hat is knit flat and then seamed up the back. Think about this.
Fair Isle
Hat
Seamed up the back
Who does this designer think she it? Who does fair isle flat? Why knit a tam flat? This is insane.
With all this running through my head I'm knitting it in the round and we'll see if I have a had come Monday.
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