Tuesday, August 21, 2007

No Knitting

(en Español aqui)

I'm currently visiting my family in Juarez (and taking care of some health issues) and sadly...I have nothing to knit, worst? It was my decision.

I learned to knit when I was around 11, my mom and I went to a yarn store and if you bought the yarn and needles there, they would teach you how to knit. I never thought anything about my style of knitting until I moved to the US, long story short, I discovered (thanks to Annie Modesitt) that I was a combination knitter *.

As with many other things, I succumbed to peer pressure and about a year ago decided to start knitting through the front loop, the purling was a whole different story. I don't really know how "regular" continental knitters purl (I guessed I could've google it or something), the thing is that the yarn is on top of the needle and instead of wrapping the yarn around the needle (is that how you do it?) I started pushing the yarn downwards with my index finger, which meant and extra movement and stress on the articulation. My finger started hurting and swellign about 2-3 months ago, but that did not stopped me from knitting (it doesn't hurt when I knit), then the pain became more severe, it hurt when I put lateral pressuare on the top half of my finger, that meant that I had trouble tying my shoes, pulling my pants up (I do it by grabbing with my index fingers the belt loops) and doing other simple things. I'm pretty sure I have tendonitis due to the repetitive motion of pushing the yarn downwards as I purl. I decided to give my finger a rest and take a break from knitting, at least for a couple of weeks. As you might've guessed by now, I'm going to start knitting the old way again and hope for the best.

*I've checked with other Mexican knitters and that's the exact same way they knit.


Me not knitting doesn't mean no knitting post.

Last Saturday I bought 2 pairs of hand knit gloves.

















Knitted in Alpaca, these were made in Peru. I didn't notice that one the fingerless gloves doesn't have the ends weaved in and the other has a big hole on the side ( the knitter missed the side seam), I think finishing them off will make them feel a little more personal (yeah, keep telling that to yourself).

The fingerless gloves are for me, I have small hands, so they're a bit large, but I love the alpaca motif. The other pair is for my husband. Now that I think about it, I might go back to buy some more, they were $50 pesos each or less than $5 dlls!


>----ESPAÑOL-----

Advertencia: Esta no es una traduccion literal, pero la idea es la misma.

Ahorita estoy visitando a mi familia en Juarez y aproveche para ir al medico, gracias a Dios todo salio bien. Lo triste es que no tengo nada que tejer, ya que decidi darle un descanso a mi dedo indice de la mano izq. Hace como 2 o 3 meses que me duele la articulacion y yo le hecho la culpa a la nueva manera en la que tejo. Asi que, despues de mi periodo de reposo, volvere a tejer como antes.
Bueno, pero el que yo no este tejiendo no significa que no va haber fotos de tejidos.
Estos y estos guantes los compre el sabado pasado en un muestra artesanal en Misiones. Estan hechos con Alpaca y tejidos a mano en el Peru. Ademas de guantes habia gorros, bolsas, joyeria y demas, de muchos lados de America Latina y todo a muy buen precio (creo yo). Los morados son para mi y el par para Robe, y no, no voy a tratar de pararme el cuello con ellos y fingir que yo los hice, aunque quien le va a decir? ;-)

Nos vemos luego!

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Before I leave...

I'm supposed to be packing, but instead I want to post my latest FO's. This are my first -completely-done-for-me items and I'm OK with how they turned out.

Se supone que debo de estar empacando, pero en vez de eso voy a mostrarles mis dos ultimos projectos terminados.

~This is the Sleeveless Top from the cover of VK Spring/Summer 2004





















I used 7 balls of Classic Elite Bam Boo in Flamingo. I started around March (I think), at first it went pretty fast, but then I run out of yarn and had to order an extra ball from WEBS and I lost momentum and didn't get finished until today. I had forgotten how soft the yarn was! that almost makes me forget how much it splits.

Use 7 madejas de estambre de bamboo (muy suavecito!). Este projecto lo empece por ahi de Marzo y tuve que dejarlo imcompleto porque se me acabo el estambre y de aqui a que lo mande pedir y me llego por correo, ya habia perdido el vuelo.

Mods? Besides the yarn I think I made the front a little bit shorter so I wouldn't be as low cut and I did a 3-needle bind-off instead of grafting the shoulders to give it a little more stability. I made some mistakes with the increases and decreases in the back, but overall I like how it turned out and I'm glad this is out of the "Basket of shame".

El patron no lo segui tan a la letra, modifique el estambre, lo hice un poco mas corto del frente (para que no fuera tan escotado) y en vez de hacer el punto Kitchener en los hombros, desmonte usando 3 agujas. Me equivoque en la parte de atras, pero con todo y eso me gusto el producto final y me alegro de que ya por fin este terminado.

~Short-sleeve lacy Cardigan from VK Spring/Summer 2007





















another picture...




















This is my second attempt at set-in sleeves (the first one is still unfinished) and I didn't like them! I think I could have done better, but I just wanted it to be over with. It's a little short for my taste and I like it better unbuttoned. This was my "moving" project, I cast-on as we left El Paso, Tx and casted off about a week ago, pretty fast for my standards!

Este suetercito me dio muchos dolores de cabeza! empezando con las mangas estilo "set-in", no me gusto mucho como quedaron, a lo mejor algun dia lo descoso y las vuelvo a hacer. Tambien quedo un poco mas corto de lo que yo esperaba y me gusta mas como se ve abierto que cerrado.
Este projecto lo empece cuando veniamos en camino de El Paso y lo acabe hace apenas una semana.

This was knitted in Omega Sinfonia 100% cotton. I used almost 6 balls of yarn using 2 strands held together. I had a little accident while blocking it... I had made sure to use a colander to wet the piece for blocking, but somehow it still made contact with the bathroom fixtures and it stained the back a little.
Use estambre Omega Sinfonia 100% algodon, casi 6 madejas usando 2 al mismo tiempo. Mientras hormaba el sueter tuve un pequeño accidente...al parecer al mojarlo en el baño se mancho con cloro o limpiador y la parte de atras se mancho.
















I don't know what to do about them. Should I use a permanent marker in a similar color or
just leave them be? Besides the stains, in this picture you can see my un-even stitches and the mistake I made while picking up stitches from the back.

Next time I'll knit something from the top down in a more forgiving yarn...that's what I learned.

No se que hacer, las cubro con un marcador permanente o las dejo asi? ustedes que piensan? Ademas de las manchas en la foto pueden ver que las puntadas estan un poco chuecas y que me equivoque en el cuello...moraleja, la proxima vez voy a tejer un sueter de arriba hacia abajo y en algun estambre mas elastico.

Next post will be from Juarez, Yey!


Nos vemos en Juarez!