denise’s blog

My socks:

Knit 5" before starting the heel flap.

There are the knitters who lovingly organize their yarn stash, very carefully so, everything is labeled, in plastic bags, they save the ball bands, some even inventory their stash. Those knitters know exactly what yarn they have, how much of it there is, and what kind of project they can knit at any given moment.

Well. I'm not one of those knitters. Most of the time my stash is tangled up, I've lost the ball bands just as soon as I cracked open the first skein, and well... who knows how much yarn I have? Not I.

So, today I wanted to figure out how many yards I have of this purple chunky merino stuff I have. I didn't have the ball bands. This yarn used to be half a sweater, so it's not even in nice, tidy little skeins like it used to be. It's a bunch of little balls. Some of the yarn I sold, and that was a long time ago, so I can't remember how much I sold and how much I still have. Lots of missing information, here.

I started out by making a list of what I DID know.

• The yarn is Chunky Wooly Yarno.
• The gauge is 14sts/4"
• Each skein is 50 meters.

Now what can I do? Well, I do have this food scale. I realized that I could weigh the yarn, and then some how figure out how many yards I had by dividing the weight by yards, and come up with a general idea of how much yarn I have.

Yes, this requires math. It's not that hard, I promise. Grab a scale, a calculator, and your yarn and give it a shot.

First, I headed to Yarndex to tell me how many YARDS I get in 50 grams. The answer is 55 yards. In case your yarn gives you meters, and you want yards, simply convert buy multiplying your meters by 1.09. For example, 50 meters x 1.09=54.5yards. Interesting, that the manufactur has chosen to round UP my yardage, isn't it? Stick with metrics whenever you can, people. There's just no reason not to.

Then I weighed my yarn. The weight came out to be 13 ounces. The manufacture didn't give me an estimate of yards per ounce, so I needed to convert the ounces to grams. Easy enough, I multiplied 13 ounces x 28.3. That gives me 367.9 grams of yarn. I could round up here, and say there are 368 grams, but I won't. Tell you why later.

Now what do I do with this 367.9 grams? Well, for every 50 grams, says Yarndex, I'll get me 55 yards. Or 54.5, says my calculator. So, I divide my 367.9 grams of yarn by 50, to get me down to BALLS of yarn. Mr. Calcie says I've got 7.358 balls of yarn. Fair enough. Now we're getting somewhere, finally.

All that's left to do is take my balls and multiply them by my yards: 7.358 balls x 55 yards = 404.69 yards of yarn.

Now, how about the right number? If 50 grams REALLY gets me 54.5 yards of yarn, will it really make that much of a difference, in my total yardage? A bit, yes. The real amount would be 401.011 yards. That's 3.58 yards less yarn. 128.8 inches less.

Hope that you've made it this far. Remember, your calculations are only as good as the accuracy of your scale. My scale is a basic food scale that can be found in any store for $7. It's pretty accurate. I'm sure if you want you could spend $50 on one of those fancy schmancy scales, but, why bother? You can always sweet talk the folks at the PO into weighing your yarn for you, so long as you pretend that you plan on mailing it at some point.

Also, remember to zero out your scale! Don't think that the weight of the dish or container you rest your yarn in won't make much of a difference... my container weighs 4 oz, yet feels light as a feather in my hand. Had I not zeroed out my scale, I would have added a 124.52 yards of yarn that are. not. there. 

Next time, I'll tell you what to do if you don't have any flipping idea what kind of yarn it is you have.

xo

 Many thanks to the ladies of Knitty for their help in writing this post.

Garterlac dishcloth

Learn to Crochet

Seaming

Sweater for Josh

Log cabin for Josh

OSW for Abi

More dish cloths

Absorba & ballband rug

Stuff to sell

Melanie says that I should write about this, and not to worry about those who might be offended by it. If I do offend anyone, well I'm sorry but maybe you can be a little open-minded and bear with me until the bitter end.

Since Rhinebeck happened (it being an event, events happen), I've been thinking about something that's really come to a head since I started knitting the Central Park Hoodie (CPH). It's really sticking in my crawl, and one of the things I'd like to change about myself and maybe shed a little light on a subject that's often talked about, but much more often ignored for many reasons, mainly one of politeness.

Even as Rhinebeck was still going on, bloggers round the world were posting photos. They took their laptops, their digital cameras and through the super powers of the internets remote blogged and uploaded photos for us poor fuckers who can't zip to NY for a fiber frenzy that goes on for days. I sat here, at my computer, starved for pictures, wanting to know each and every thing going on at Rhinebeck, who was there, what was bought, the sights the sounds and even the smells. Hours and hours were spent looking at the photos. It got to the point I didn't even read the posts, only looked at the pictures.

At first I was of course, jealous that I wasn't there. Thankful that all of these fantastic bloggers took so much time to make the rest of us feel included. I was at one point desperate to see a certain knitted item in action. After a while, the novelty of Rhinebeck wore off, but I kept looking at the pictures. Of course, the inevitable happened, when you do the link swapping with your friends and poke fun at the 100th crapotee (those would be the horribly in bad colors ones, not the original, thanks very much) and then the things you can't imagine why somene would knit it or what went horribly wrong. Saying these things out loud isn't bad, we all think them sometimes, and we've all been there, right?

And then, something else started to happen that's never happened to me before. Not once, in all the blog stalking I've done since I found out there was such a thing called a blog. All of the pictures of Rhinebeck started to wash together in my brain, like a circus side show. 

 I started to see knitters for what they must seem like to muggles. Frenzied women standing in lines for hours for a few scraps wool. Wool that's been peed in, rolled in the mud, never washed. Women who finished up items to wear to Rhinebeck in the car on the way there. Some even swapped the duty of driving with someone else just so they could finish. Altogether, I bet there were at least 10,000 man hours put into the knitted items worn at Rhinebeck. A strange thing, if you look at what the REST of some of the knitters were wearing. Mom jeans. Jeans that were too small or too big. Old shoes. Purses that may have been on sale during the Nixon adminsitration (not vintage, just old and shabby). Hair on heads that haven't seen a stylist in a year or more. Knitters so driven to finish their knitting they neglect what the muggles do every day. Very strange indeed.

Now, of course, I can say these things because I am a knitter. I haven't hesitated to spend $40 on yarn for a project, but put off a $12 hair cut because I "can't afford it". I tell myself, I can wait another week for a trim. Those weeks turn into months, and I have split ends up to my eyebrows. I know very well that I need bras and jeans that fit and shoes that don't pinch, but instead, I buy yarn. I could use some makeup that matches MY skin, but instead, I buy yarn. Or needles. Or the Latest Greatest Knitting Book that I just have to have. And I'm even the type of knitter who will knit something instead of buying something that I could knit. Like a swiffer cover, a wash cloth, a water bottle cozy, mouse pads, rugs, etc. But a pair of jeans that cover my ass crack when I sit down? Well no, I'll just knit a longer sweater.

All of this is quite scary to me, really. The pictures of the women older than me at Rhinebeck, and the pictures on blogs I see every day is like the future of what I could look like in 20 years if I keep this up. I mean, really. We as women complain that knit wear models tend to look nothing like real women, but what effort do some of us put into looking like real women? Is this what I will become? Maybe I should get a hair cut, buy a new pair of jeans, and put a little bit of effort into looking like the models!

I was telling much of this to my muggle friend Jeff, the poor bastard who knows all my secrets and has to listen all about knitting with no real picture of what I'm talking about. I was getting very specific about Knitters Hair, and ya know what he said?

He said "That's why you knit hats".

What will I do about all of this? I'm taking a stance against the Knitter Frump. I will try to be less frumpy. I'm going to get a hair cut and buy bras and a new pair of jeans before I buy one more scrap of wool, needles, or anything else to do with knitting. I'm going to put on make up more often, and do other things to care for my appearance just a little bit more. They just don't have hats that cover the butt crack, ya know?

I am not the sort of person who believes in New Year's resolutions. Not for me, no thanks. I'm too much of a Libra.. too much of a muse... play by the rules sort of person. I see the beauty of the rules in everything else as clearly as some of you might see black and white, but rules for myself? I just can't seem to follow them. There's no idea better than a new idea.

I had one great "resolution" that's already sort of failed. Let's say it's gone in the wrong direction. I enlisted the help of Mr. Tie Dye to carry out a plan that I'd come up with a few days before the New Year. Not knowing that it was Dec. 31 until half the day was gone, and then life just got in the way, I found myself yanking things out at 11:00 trying to get it done. This is how things usually go around here.

The plan? To rip out ALL of the UFOs and untangle all the yarn stash that's tangled and start fresh this year. We'd also planned to make use of a bottle of champange that we've had kicking around since last year. All went well the first hour, as we sorted yarn, he untangled and I bagged and tagged. I used ziploc baggies and index cards to label everything. The ball dropped, and we opened the champange. 3 or 4 glasses for him, 2 glasses for me and well, I'll tell you what. Sorting and untangling yarn is about the hardest damn thing to do when you're not completely sober. We had to throw everything in a basket before stumbling to bed and there the basket sits.

All spare time has been used to knit on the Central Park Hoodie... and trying to recover. Not only did I get a hangover (from TWO LOUSY GLASSES), but I also got sick. Lots of laying on the couch and not doing much.

Another plan I had was to try to blog every day. See how that went? Here I am 25 minutes away from Jan 3 and writing this here post. I realize now, just as before, I'll probably not feel like writing something every day, even though sometimes all I want to do is write and get all this shit out of my head onto paper or virtual paper, if you will.

Yet, here we are.

Some things I DID accomplish... I've almost finished the back of CPH with no problems as of yet. I'm still on one ball of yarn, a few rows to go and I'll add another. So far it's pretty easy, but of course the back is always the easiest part, ain't it?

Now I'll go finish the back and watch some TV.

I've rewritten the ball band dishcloth for smaller hands. The base of my hand, at the widest part, is only 3.75" wide, making the ball band dishcloth just too big to use for doing dishes.

If you alternate colors, you can get 2 or 3 cloths out of 2 balls of yarn, maybe 4 depending on your gauge and how tightly you knit.

Materials:

Lily Sugar'n Cream Cotton 00046 Rose Pink (CC) and 01712 Hot Green (MC)

Size 5 or 6 needles, OR SIZE NEEDED TO OBTAIN GAUGE

Gauge: 4.5 sts/1" in GARTER st, 4.75sts/1" in St st

Using long tail cast on method, CO 37 sts.

Row 2: Purl all stitches

Row 3: Attach CC, *k3, sl 1, k5; rep from* k3

Row 4: *k3, sl1, k5; rep from* k3

Row 5: *p3, sl1, p5; rep from* p3

Row 6: *k3, sl1, k5; rep from* k3

Row 7 & 8: Using MC, work 2 rows in St st

Row 9: *sl 1, k5; rep from* sl 1

Row 10: *sl 1, k5; rep from* sl 1

Row 11: *sl 1, p5; rep from* sl 1

Row 12: *sl 1, k5; rep from* sl 1

Repeat these rows until your dishcloth is as long as you like. I prefer my cloths to be square, some knitters prefer them to be rectangular. Bind off on Row 8.

Notes:

Be careful to slip all sts as if to purl. Hold yarn in front or back as needed, so yarn does not cross slipped sts. These cloths should be knit tightly to maintain shape as much as possible, because cotton stretches when wet. I put mine in the dryer for quite a bit immediately after use, since they do not air dry quickly. If left to air dry (especially if you live in a humid climate as I do) they will mildew long before they air dry.

To make your cloth wider or more narrow, CO a multiple of 6 + 1 sts and work as written.

Savvy knitters will notice this stitch pattern is different than the original ball band pattern in the Mason Dixon Knitting book. I found this stitch pattern in a Mon Tricot Knitting Dictionary Stitches Patterns.

Enjoy. :]

Very late on xmas morning: finished quicko/cheapo. neckband fits, kid likes it

disposable coffee cup cozy: picot edges in the round

log cabin potholder, set of 2 complete now

swatched for CPH... before washing gauge 4.25-4.5 sts/1

started ball band cloth:

casted on 37sts, k3, sl1, k5 to end.. sl1, k5 to end from st dictionary in pink and green

attempted more practice at english knitting

thinking of crocheting a tissue cover for practice

http://www.crochetcabana.com/tutorials/index.htm

to match face cloths/dish cloths

Since I started the color work part of quicko cheapo & a little research from Knitting Without Tears, I've come to the conclusion it's time to learn to speak the language of knitting English style. Well, it's been an interesting journey so far (all 8 hours of it).

I didn't notice much of a difference while carrying yarn in both hands, but after trying a quick potholder while carrying my yarn in the right hand, I notice a marked difference in my knitting. The stitches are much tighter and compact, even though I'm holding the yarn & needles loosely and trying my best not to tighten up the yarn as I pull the the new stitch through the old. I'm also noticing that it's not as slow as I thought it would be, and it's actually kind of fun. And a little ironic that I'm always struggling with going down several sizes in needles when other knitters seem to be getting gauge on needles 3 or 4 sizes larger.

 Of course, we know that shouldn't matter, oh but it does in the long run, especially if you're thinking of socks that are knit up at seven stitches to an inch. Some knitters are going at with size 3 needles, I'm going at it with a 0 or 00. Makes you think if I want to knit something at a gauge of 11 or 12 stitches to an inch, someone will have to invent new needles just for me!

OR, I could just switch hands!

Since I started the color work part of quicko cheapo & a little research from Knitting Without Tears, I've come to the conclusion it's time to learn to speak the language of knitting English style. Well, it's been an interesting journey so far (all 8 hours of it).

I didn't notice much of a difference while carrying yarn in both hands, but after trying a quick potholder while carrying my yarn in the right hand, I notice a marked difference in my knitting. The stitches are much tighter and compact, even though I'm holding the yarn & needles loosely and trying my best not to tighten up the yarn as I pull the the new stitch through the old. I'm also noticing that it's not as slow as I thought it would be, and it's actually kind of fun. And a little ironic that I'm always struggling with going down several sizes in needles when other knitters seem to be getting gauge on needles 3 or 4 sizes larger.

 Of course, we know that shouldn't matter, oh but it does in the long run, especially if you're thinking of socks that are knit up at seven stitches to an inch. Some knitters are going at with size 3 needles, I'm going at it with a 0 or 00. Makes you think if I want to knit something at a gauge of 11 or 12 stitches to an inch, someone will have to invent new needles just for me!

OR, I could just switch hands!

Remember the evil magician in Frosty the Snowman who runs off screen yelling and jumping "I'm going to be busy, busy, busy!"? Well, that would be me this week.

Tonight, I have to make gingerbread cookies for scouts with the eldest. I have to finish up rolling out pieces for our gingerbread village and make more royal icing (the first batch didn't turn out so good). Tomorrow is a doctor's appointment, the first round of Christmas shopping, and a den meeting. Saturday is Christmas shopping round 2. Then a pack meeting. Then finding time to spend with The Man. We have some kind of plans, but I fear I might just collapse in bed and fall asleep. Sunday will be full of hurried boxing up gifts. Monday is the pack meeting, and trying to get things mailed at the post office. Tuesday I will be volunteering for the PTO at the school all day. By the way, my tree isn't up yet and there are are many decorations left to make that have been started, but not finished, including decorating the gingerbread house. I haven't sent out Christmas cards, either!

And a bit of hardcore cleaning.

And then there's knitting. I've made serious progress on the girlies sweater. I've finished the body and one sleeve, and hope to knock out another sleeve tonight. I'm not sure at this point how much other Christmas knitting will get done, other than finishing up Josh's hat, and maybe a quicko sweater for him.

So, I must go, now because I'm gonna be busy busy busy!