Quick knitting update.

Just an update about my knitting. I have not been good with posting. I am currently 12 weeks and 3 days pregnant, and have been so tired it is a miracle when I get anything done. So my blogs and knitting have been suffering here lately.

I have been doing some knitting in the evenings when I can manage to stay awake, lol I scrapped that gray pair of socks for my husband and restarted with a much more stretchable stitch pattern. I am done with the foot and heel, and have a couple inches of progress on the legs. I think they are looking nice so far and hopefully I'll manage to have them done in a week or two.

I started an over sized sweater for my 7-year-old daughter recently. I think I talked a little about converting a poncho I didn't really care for into a sweater for her. I actually started on it! It is a pinkish hued (the color name is Parfait) LionBrand Homespun yarn, which will be good for a little girl who loves everything pink. I am almost done with the body and will split for the arm holes in a couple more rows. I am using size 10 needles so it will go a bit faster. I was going to use my size 11 needles, but the threaded part on the cable broke off inside of my needle (wasn't using anymore force than normal to tighten it) :( So much for that cable and set of needles :( Next time I make an order to Knit Picks I will buy a replacement. I was pretty upset over it, as I love my nickle plated Knit Picks needles. Thank goodness their needles aren't expensive.

The orange dress is done. I finished the knitting a while ago. I crocheted around the edges a couple days ago, and just finished weaving in all the ends last night. Feels great to have it finished! I think it turned out pretty nice. Now comes the hard part though, blocking it. The skirt is huge! I have no idea how I am going to block it unless I just do sections at a time. I'll post pictures after I get it blocked.

I have a ton of projects planned for the future. My baby is due in May, and I have a huge stack of patterns already. I have patterns for hats, blankets, leggings, pants, wool soakers, rompers, sleep sacks, bibs, washcloths, and anti-scratch mittens. Besides the stuff for my baby, I will need to find a pattern specially for my niece's baby that is due in March. I usually make blankets for expectant babies of family and friends, and I never make the same one twice. To make things harder (in the area of gift giving anyway), the couple is waiting until birth to find out the gender, so whatever I make will have to be gender neutral. It may be tricky finding a gender neutral pattern and yarn that is still unique and pretty. I will be doing a ton of knitting!

That's all for now. This is my 3rd blog post today, and frankly I am all blogged out, lol Hopefully I'll remember and post a picture of those socks later today. :)

Needle catastrophe.

A picture is worth a thousand words indeed. As you can plainly see, I am in need of new knitting needles. I wasn't putting very much stress on the needle, just holding it and pulling the yarn along the cable so I had sufficient room to work. Guess I will be making a knit picks order. At least I ought to get good progress made on the socks now (trying really hard to find a silver lining, lol).

This picture is just to show my current progress, though I will obviously be taking a break from working on this until the replacement needles get here (I paid extra for faster shipping, so hopefully I can get back to work in a couple days).

I have never had a wooden Harmony needle break before, and honestly I was pretty surprised when it happened. I almost considered getting a nickle plated needle to replace it, but I got wood again and will try to be more careful from now on.

Knit Picks order!

Hooray! My knit picks order just came! That means I can start working on MoH Mandarin dress again. Those 60" cables are going to make working on this project so much nicer. Hopefully I will get enough progress done this evening to post a picture.

The 24" cables and size 5 needles are for when I start working on the bodice of the dress, just so I don't end up doing a last minute order again.

Latest Knit Picks order.

My order from Knit Picks came yesterday. No pictures :( Just haven't felt like bothering with pictures much. The yarn is spectacular and will make a very handsome scarf. I will no-doubt make the scarf with the jade colored yarn once "Skullface" is done, however long that may be.

Also included in my order were two sets of sock blockers, one large set and one medium set. They work quite well and seem plenty sturdy. You can see a picture of them in my recent post on the Tribute socks.

I have mixed feelings about the fixed circular needles I ordered. The 2.5mm looks great, but there is a weird problem with the 2.25mm size needle. One tip is considerably sharper than the other. I am a bit perplexed how something like this could happen. I would assume that the needles are all shaped the same way and would be identical to others in the same size. I am also a bit baffled by the lack of quality control on needles at Knit Picks. Everything else I've ordered from them thus far has been exceptional in quality, except for their needles. Remember that one Harmony needle tip that was separating in the grain of the wood? I did fix it with clear nail polish and it seems fine now, but I am wondering if I will get a messed up needle with every needle order I make; it is 2 for 2 so far.

Should I complain and return the needle because the ends differ so much, or should I just keep it and see how much it really effects the effectiveness of the tip? I am torn on what to do. I would like a perfect set of needles and to have consistent tip sharpness, but on the other hand there would be a considerable amount of time I would be without a 2.25mm needle while waiting for the exchange. I need that needle size for the sock patterns I have for Christmas gifts, and my time to complete those gifts is limited. The needles aren't very expensive, and I'm not sure I can afford the time it would take to return them. I need to see if the needles are usable as is, if so I will probably keep them. I don't feel like messing with them at the moment though. Maybe next week I will test them out.

Knit Picks Needles.

My order from KnitPicks.com came on Monday. I would have posted earlier, but didn't have time with all the knitting I've been doing ;p Yarn haul later :)

I have been using the new needles to make a double knit hat, and so far I love them. The cables are exactly the softness I was looking for and the tips are sharp, sharp, SHARP!! They are fabulous, and these are what I will be buying a full set of (eventually, piece by piece no doubt). I ordered the wood (birch) Harmony line in interchangeable circulars. I got sizes 4 (3.5 mm), 8 (5 mm), and 10 (6 mm) as well as a set of 40" cables (two cables, a key for tightening, and four screw on ends).

The needles are very light weight, sturdy, smooth, and pretty. The joins are smooth and the tips sharp. I have had one problem, but don't think it is worth returning over. I am using the size 10 needles, and there is a rough spot that has snagged a couple of times. I am not sure what caused it, but a piece of the grain of the wood has came up and been broken off at some point. It is small, and not super noticeable, so I will try to fix it with a tiny bit of nail polish to stop it from snagging. Not a big deal to me, and I am still really enjoying using them.

I also ordered a size 0 (2 mm) fixed circular in nickle. I tried several times to take photos comparing the needle tips between the KnitPicks and the Addi Turbo needles, but my camera just wasn't able to get a good picture that showed the difference. The sharpness of tips is a huge difference. Because of wanting sharp tips for knitting socks, I will be ordering a full set of the smaller range of sizes of the fixed nickle needles from KnitPicks. The tips are way sharper than the Addi Turbos, even a good deal sharper than the Lace needles which are supposed to have special sharp tips for lace knitting. The cables are softer (very nice for magic loop method) and they are cheaper. The Addi Turbo needles were $13.50 each plus $4 shipping, while the KnitPicks fixed needle was $5.99 and I got free shipping for ordering more than $50.

So far I really love the KnitPicks needles. They are everything I was looking for and they feel great in hand. I would definitely recommend these needles, especially since they are affordable!

Pictures of the needles fresh out of the box, still in their packaging :)

Click on the picture for larger size as usual :)

Addi Turbo Update.

I used the Addi Turbo Lace in size 1 (2.5mm) to make the socks for my husband. I liked the needles well enough, but did run into some common issues that I had hoped to avoid by buying "premium German needles." The main issue I noticed was the cable. The cables are soft, and I soaked them in boiled water to release the coil memory, but ended up fighting with them while working anyway. Casting on was downright unpleasant because the cable just wasn't soft enough to make a nice loop. It wasn't as much of an issue once I got the cast on over with, but it still felt a bit stiff at times. I also noticed the join snagged a tiny bit. It wasn't bad, but it did annoy me when it happened. Lastly, the tip while nice, just wasn't sharp enough.

I used the smaller size 0 (2 mm) needles to cast on and knit the toe portion of the Tribute socks. The bluntness made it difficult at times. I switched to the regular Addi Turbo size 1 needles, and found it nearly impossible to work with. I could not do the k2tog and the ssk stitches without a lot of struggling. I switched to the lace tip needles and it is going a lot better now. I am frustrated by the bluntness of the needles.

I do think the Addi Turbo needles are good quality, but I will not be buying a full set of them or any of the interchangeable sizes. When I made my recent yarn order from KnitPicks.com I also ordered some needles. I got a size 1 fixed circular in nickel, and sizes 4,8, and 10 in the interchangeable Harmony needles (as well as a cable of course, lol). I bought sizes that I will be using for Christmas knits, so I should be able to get a pretty good feel for them. I would like to get some more nickel tips in the future, I love the way yarn slips on metal and that I knit faster on them.

I can't wait to get my KnitPicks needles and try them out. I have high hopes for the needles and the yarns I ordered. The package should get here end of this week or sometime next (hopefully sooner though!) Expect lots of pictures when the box gets to my house!

Addi Turbos!

My new needles just came! On first look, they really don't look like anything special. They also look different than I was expecting. I ordered all needles with 32" cables, a size zero, and two size ones with one of them having lace tips.

The first thing I noticed is that the Addi Turbo Lace did not have a red cable, but a light blue cable similar to the regular size one needle. Also the size zero is very different from the other needles. It has a golden cable and is much more blunt tipped. Also the size is not stamped on the cable, only a "2" on the needle portion (the 2 would stand for 2 mm I am assuming). All the packaging looks exactly the same except for noting the different needle sizes. It seems weird that the packaging says the size is stamped on the cable, yet one needle has the size on the needle portion. Is the size zero really an Addi Turbo? I won't be sending it back even though it doesn't seem like it is out of the same series. It would be too much hassle to return it, and the needle seems to be high quality anyway.

What I am looking for most in a needle is a soft cord and a nicely tapered tip. These needles fit the bill perfectly. I do think the Knit Picks needles had slightly softer cables, but I have not yet worked with these and that may make a difference. I plan to start a pair of socks for my husband today, and before I do I will soak the cables in some hot water to see if they soften up some more. I don't need to soak them, as they are quite nice already, but I will do it just for curiosity's sake. As for the needle tips, they seem nice. I am a bit disappointed that the size zero is blunter than the size one, but it is still sufficient. The lace needle has a nice long fine tip that looks perfect for working with small sock yarns. I suspect that I will fall in love with the Addi Turbo Lace.

 From left to right - lace #1, #1, #0.

 Here you can see the difference between the size 1 and the size 0. That solid gold cable is about the same pliability as the blue one, but it doesn't feel quite as slick.

Here are the tips. The tip difference between the lace and regular tip isn't that huge, but dang! Look at that nice sharp tip on the lace needle on the left! You can see how blunt the tip on the size 0 is. I realize it is a small needle, but I was hoping for more of a tip than that. I have yet to see how it knits, so maybe it will be fine in the end.

I will post again about these needles once I've worked with them. But so far, so good!

Diamond Waves Sock progress, and a needle order.

I powered through sore finger tips and aching hands to get the heels completed on the socks yesterday. My hands are so sore, but I'm loving every minute of it! I had some trouble with the heels in all honesty. Remember this is my first time doing either toe-up or two-at-a-time, AND I decided to use a new wrapping technique on top of it. I used Alice's Shadow Wrap, and actually I much prefer it to the standard wrap-&-turn I've used previously. The tutorial for the Shadow Wrap here.

 See, I really did complete the heel!

I am really liking the pattern so far. It is easy enough to do while I watch tv, and it is quite pretty without being too feminine. This would make a great sock pattern for either guys or gals.

So far I am pleased with how the socks are turning out except for one thing; the yarn color. I made sure to get yarn out of the same dye lot, but they are wound differently. One has more prominent contrast threads than the other and I swear the shade is much lighter. I am still torn whether to gives these as gifts or not. I was leaning towards giving them as gifts, but now I am thinking I may just end up keeping them. I think the socks are beautiful, but the whole not really matching thing bugs me to no end. I don't know what I'll end up doing in the end. It may depend entirely on how much time I have and how many projects I can get completed before Christmas time.

Now to get to the exciting part; the needle order! I stated previously that I was trying to decide which needles to get. I would like to get an entire set of needles that I love, but I need to find which needles I love first! I will be getting at least one circular needle of KnitPicks Harmony line at the end of this month, but wanted to try something else out in the mean-time. After several searches I discovered that the number one knitting needle preferred by the majority of knitters are Addi Turbos.

I placed an order today on Amazon.com for 3 Addi Turbo fixed circular needles. I ordered all of them in 32" cords with a size 0 and a size 1 in regular tips and a size 1 with lace tip. I wasn't going to order a lace needle, but figured heck, I am trying to find my perfect needle after all. The needles are nearly twice as expensive as the KnitPicks needles at $13.50 each. I think that is probably as high as I am willing go pay for individual needles. The KnitPicks Harmony needles are $7.49 each for the smaller size. My order of Addi Turbos should come by the end of next week. Once I am done with the Diamond Wave Socks, I will work on my husband's jacket until the new needles come. I am really looking forward to using them!

While ordering my needles I do believe I may have stumbled across a nice online yarn store. I bought my needles on Amazon.com, but it was through a third party vender named FabYarns&Knits. I went to their website out of curiosity and was pleased by the premium yarns and tools that they carry. I have had a hard time finding luxury yarns on the web, but they have a pretty good selection at FabulousYarn.com It is nice that they also do discounts. You can sign up for their newsletter and get 5% plus they give a 10% discount on every order. The 5% off stacks with their other discounts too. Orders over $100 get free shipping on top of the percentage discounts. There is even a crazy 30% off if you order over $1,000. It would be awesome to get that much luxury yarn, but good heavens that is a lot of money! I can't deny it would be a great deal to get $1,000 worth of yarn for only $700, but that is like my yarn budget for the whole year, lol Their discount page here.

I will probably end up making a $100 order from FabulousYarn.com either end of next month or early November. It would be a great place to get luxury yarns for Christmas gifts from. 100% baby alpaca hat anyone? That would make one dem fine gift :) I will no doubt get the yarn for my husband's jacket from there if I end up making a nicer quality one for him. Oh the yarn I would buy if only I were rich! lol

I believe that is all for now. I will be posting again with pictures when the socks are complete.