Neither Hip Nor Funky

Brace yourself, it isn’t pretty:

The pooling is driving me up the wall, but P-funk just wants the finished socks and says he doesn’t really care what they look like. He just wants more wool socks. So I am going to finish these. That is love people.

I’m a bit late on them because this is my third attempt. I changed the stitch count on the second attempt, and it worked. However, the sock would have been too big. I like the way that STR knits up for me on US1, so I didn’t want to change needles. So I went back to my original stitch count with the Charade pattern, which I think mixes variegated yarns up quite well. Well this one faked me out. Look at that spot near the bottom of the photo. It looked like it was going to spiral, but it zagged instead. I kept going, but I did force the colors to switch sides after awhile

Same yarn, same pattern, different stitch count

For me, the magic number for STR is 64. 64 stitches and it behaves. Try 72 stitches and it is the spawn of Satan.

1. Resistance is Futile Kelly Green, 2. Squeep, 3. Resistance is Futile Navy, 4. Resistance is Futile

I’ve just updated my etsy shop. It now has more sizes in unisex and the “classic girl” cut. It is set up so it is easier to chose the size that you want in the note to seller section.

If you have questions or want a custom design, just email me: neitherhipnorfunky AT gmail DOT com.

I’ll have some actual knitting content in the next couple days.

Mustard Wine 900MHz bought from Yarn Nerd (with money from my in-laws)

Local pottery from the Outer Banks and Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK in Potluck from my sisters

Black Pearl Yarns Cashmere DK in Polynesian Plum from Julia. My first cashmere experience. I’m so excited, and I’m envisioning a Professor Plum scarf. No, I’m not sure exactly what that is yet, but I will figure it out.

Raspberry Sherbert 900MHz bought from Yarn Nerd (with money from my in-laws). I originally bought this for a sweater trim, but I think I will make some thick cabled socks for around the house this winter.

Cascade Sierra #39. Currently becoming my Apricot Jacket. This was bought with money from my Grandma. I knit most of it while I was visiting family, and she kept joking that she didn’t know that she was talented enough to make me such a pretty sweater. (My Grandma doesn’t knit.)

Rowanspun 4ply for Joy from Rowan Vintage Knits (bought with money from my in-laws). I was orginally looking at a deep green for this, but I fell in love with this color. I think it will give the sweater a nice old Hollywood siren vibe.

From Ashley. It is currently in my knitting bag, holding my swatches for my current projects.

A thank you/birthday gift from Amanda. She is a glass blower and makes the beautiful beads herself. I love them. I’m excited to use them on my Salina since the colors go together so well.

My parents got P-funk and I tickets to Spamalot. My mom even wrapped up a can of Spam for me to open, which later led to this email from my oldest sister after I had returned to Oregon:

“You left your can of spam behind. I can only assume that this was a serious oversight and that you are currently distraught at not having your Spam. I have wrapped it in bubble wrap to protect it on its journey and will be sending it to you.”

In all the birthday blogstravaganza and yarn gluttony, I missed my blogiversary. My little blog is 1 year old now. I will be celebrating by updating my sidebars, changing the look of the blog a bit, and making my archives much easier to navigate. So if things start looking different, don’t worry, it’s still my blog.

Also, please don’t hate me and my yarn gluttony, everything that I purchased was on sale. My Grandma may not have taught me how to knit, but she did teach me how to shop.

(Avert your eyes, Ms Frick, avert your eyes)

I don’t think that I have mentioned my addiction before. Oh, yes, the knitting addiction is obvious; I’m referring my Harry Potter addiction. It waxes and wanes, but it’s there. (I’m just going to hope that P-funk keeps mum on this post, so you don’t find out quite how high it waxes. I’ll fly my freak flag high, but I still want it to actually appear to be earthbound.)

Before the book came out, I had been actively avoiding much of the wide, wide world of webs because I knew that the whole book was online, and I didn’t want to see it until it arrived on my doorstep.

Knowing this, P-funk sent me spoilers throughout the Thursday and Friday before it came out. Here is some of what I found out before I got to read the book:

1. Harry is actually the secret love-child of Dumbledore and Professor Trillawny
2. Lily Potter is the mother of Hagrid’s half-brother and a tall-dark-and-handsome Giant named Ortred
3. Cedric didn’t die of the AK curse, but really died from syphilis. That’s why Cho was so sad over his death, since she killed him.
4. The dramatic ending is Voldemort pulling off his latex mask to reveal Tom Cruise, a la Mission Impossible, rather than Ralph Fiennes. Harry then pulls off his mask to reveal… Lindsey Lohan.
5. Voldemort dies by slipping in the shower, with blood running down the drain a la Psycho. It turns out that Neville was the one who removed the non stick pads from the tub.

Thank, P-funk, thanks a lot. You ruined the whole book for me

Why am I invoking the name of Harry Potter now? Because I recently received a great swap package from jupiterjessica. I loved the way that she wrapped it in layers, so I will present it that way:

The suspense:

Something for the sweet tooth:

Something for my needles and eyes:

Something for my reading pleasure:

The Koigu is such fun, vibrant colors; I’m sure it will make an appearance in some fiberlicious photos soon. And I definitely smell a Weasley sweater for my niece. (That and I definitely smelled those yummy candles…pumpkin spice, mmmm.) Thanks so much Jessica, it was so fun to receive.

And you, P-funk….well, you’re on my list. Watch your back! I might just pull out my emo stylings and retro dancing to seek my revenge.

I am one among many lusting after Eunny’s Autumn Rose Pullover. This should come as no surprise, given that the colors of the cardigan are my favorite to use. However, I want to try my hand at steeking and fixing my colorwork tension on a smaller, quicker project first.

Enter Eunny’s Deep V Argyle Vest.

Nope, just a gauge swatch, not the colors that I am using

Eunny recommended wearing it with a bit of irony, and I am going all out. In fact, I’m going a bit wild, a bit….dare I say it?….funky with my color choices. (Don’t tell, I really don’t want to have to change my blog title)

Although I am still using the amazing color changing camera, it apparently decided that it liked these colors and kept them accurate. I’m using Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK in Lime leaf and Cheer.

I realized partway through my stag bag that I was not holding my yarn correctly to get the right dominant color. It kept the brown stitches from connecting to each other as they should have. I didn’t worry to much because I was still happy with the way it looked. My forest just looks like it is autumn weather instead of having lush summer foliage.

However this was something that I wanted to tackle before starting an intricate garment. I had read Nona’s excellent guide before, but it just didn’t sink in until this time. She states that the dominant color should be the one that comes underneath the other color on the back side. Since I use both hands for colorwork knitting, this means that I should knit with the dominant color in my left hand.

You can see the difference in the above swatch. On the bottom, below the aqua stitch marker, I held the Cheer in my right hand and the Lime Leaf in my left hand. On the top, I held it correctly. I held the Cheer(dominant color) in my left hand and the Lime Leaf in my right hand. You can see that the Cheer stitches connect on the diagonal in the top half and are much stronger visually. (Ignore the stitches that are out of pattern. It’s a swatch, and I was not going to rip back to correct).

Tonight I am curled up with some pizza, wine, knitting, and my favorite tv lineup: Antiques Roadshow and History Detectives (I am bit sad that Simon Schama’s Power of Art is over and no longer part of the lineup. It did really annoy me when the fake Van Gogh talked, however, other than that, it was a great series).

So while I was forced to admit a bit of funkiness, I stand by the “not hip” part.