I am dying for this pattern. I think I’m going to buy it. I try to avoid falling in love with sweaters because it’s SO MUCH EASIER and SO MUCH CHEAPER to just knit little things, but I think this might be my first. It’s so sexy but also totally casual. I like the cap sleeves, but given that I live in Canada and Canada does not have a spring or fall (well, for now), this will have to be adapted for winter use because I refuse to sweat glow all over a handknit. I’m musing about a long ribbed sleeve with braided cables down the side. Guys, I’m totally jonesin’ for this sweater. You have no idea.

(I found it here, by the way. Danke!)

I’ve been busy the past few days getting started for a study I’m conducting for my honours thesis. No knitting news today; I still can’t find my camera battery charger, so you’ll have to settle for an ad for my study. If you live in the Kingston area, give me a shout!

The study I’m conducting is about humour comprehension when reading comic strips. You would either have your eye movements monitored by an eye-tracker, or be asked to talk about the comic strips. The study will also involve filling out some questionnaires about your personal background, but none of this information would be connected to your name. All of your answers will be kept completely confidential.

Please pass this message on to anyone you believe would be interested in participating.

Y’know that book various bloggers have been talkin’ ’bout that’s hard to find and really expensive to order? Guess what I’m looking at right now! Oh yeah baby, those two previous sentences describe the very same delicious book of mitten patterns. Mostly Mittens by Charlene Schurch. Boom shakalaka.

Remember when I couldn’t find my camera a few days ago? I’ve been doing lots of knitting (version 2.0 of my Dad’s Rule 30 scarf and a few cute hats), but now my camera’s batteries have run out and I can’t find my charger. I will find it again! Hopefully. For now, you’ll have to settle for pictures of Pokemon.

I’ve been thinking about how to make Yarnival! easier to navigate, and I have decided two things:

1. I’ll be keeping a master list (not available yet) of every Yarnival issue on this blog. It’ll appear on the sidebar somewhere; I’ll figure out where to put it later.
2. The next issue and all forthcoming issues will include a rule (nay, strongly suggested guideline) that if your post is accepted into an issue, you must either a) post a link to the carnival issue in question or b) repost the carnival links in their entirety (by that I mean the entire body of the current issue). I like the second because the reposting means there’s one less click between the reader of a blog and the carnival articles, but some editors may not like this option because it distributes their content and no longer drives traffic to their site. I like the first option better.

Anyone have any opinions?

I borrowed a book from my aunt that teaches you how to knit and make hilarious mitten puppets. It’s pretty comprehensive for just a few pages. Teaches you how to cast on, knit, purl, cast off, as well as things like joining yarns and fixing dropped stitches. And of course the mittens are hilariously comical. Enjoy!

Read the rest »

I didn’t know how to modify that Anchorman quote without including the last line. I think it’s because of my affinity for the word “belly.” Anyhoo, on to the subject of books! I am in the midst of reading these bad boys:

And so I have not been able to read this one:

This baby was sent to me by a guy from penguin because I run a blog and blogs are the new hip way to advertise. It makes me feel special because it means that people actually think it’s worthwhile to advertise their product by sending me a free book and having me talk about it. It’s like getting honked at by a car when you’re walking down the street. You feel sorta used but also flattered. I got a regular copy (not a limited distro pre-copy) because it ended up being sent to the wrong address at first and I only received it last week. I hear it’s really good, so I actually want to read it. I had the same misgivings as Aija did (that it was an attempt to cash in on the knitting craze), but her commentary has given me hope. I don’t usually read chick-lit but I liked Bridget Jones’s Diary*, so if it’s similar to that, I think I’ll enjoy it. Once I get all these books read (hopefully the first two by tomorrow, and the second two by Friday), I’ll be able to jump into it. It went on sale two days ago, so you should be able to pick up a copy on Amazon if it hasn’t shown up yet in your local megastore.

* I went on a trip to Hawaii a few years ago and took a bunch of my friend’s chick-lit with me because I thought it would be hilarious to read trashy novels while tanning by the pool and on the beach. I did dilute the chick-lit with A Clockwork Orange, though, which is an incredible book and everyone should read it.

I love you, Cute Overload.

I’ve always wanted to grade papers the way my professors do. That is, to throw a bunch of paper down a flight of stairs. So that’s how I eventually decided to “grade” the contestants for the Pretty in Pink contest: The paper at the bottom of my stairs wins.

Read the rest »

I’ve been looking through various mitten patterns to find THE PERFECT PATTERN, and I ran across these hilariously cute patterns for babies / children:

• Buggy Mitts
• Safety Mittens
• Kitten Mittens
• These ones don’t even have thumbs! Caaaa-yute!
• The Lilley’s Maine Mittens

I also found this cute little pink dress.

It started with Tvåändsstickning. Then I found these Norwegian baby mittens, which a) made me look at Rauma patterns for 3 hours, and b) made my uterus grow by at least 3 sizes. It got worse when I rediscovered the largest repository of Norwegian patterns ever. But now I’m done for, girls; just a tiny glance at this post made me scream (in my head) Selbustrikk! Selbustrikk! Where do I get this Selbustrikk! And I’m looking at the booklet and there’s Herrstrumpa and Damstrumpa and the Herrstrumpa look like they should be Damstrumpa and I think I’m going to DIE OF HILARITY AND ALSO NORDIC KNITTING.

“She died happy,” they will say.

(PS: Here are some other mittens I just found. Yet another reason to buy into Zimmermania.)

The mitten above isn’t exactly Tvåändsstickning because it uses two colours, but it’s similar. Tvåändsstickning is Swedish for Two End Knitting (or Twined Knitting). It’s a technique that uses two strands (both ends of the ball of yarn) to create a denser, more wind-resistant fabric that would be perfect for a windy city like Kingston.

I tried to use this method for my cabled hat, but it didn’t go so well. (I’ll post those pics later, I’m too lazy right now.) I’m sorta doing Tvåändsstickning for my current mittens (see above); the ribbed cuff is in two colours and it’s K1P1, so every stitch is in a different colour, hence a different strand. Whereas with ordinary fair isle you’d be keeping one stitch on the bottom and one stitch on top, I decided to twist them to get a dense, Tvåändsstickning-like fabric. They’re coming out so pretty! My contrasting colour is variegated, and it looks like little jewels peeking out from the grey.

Here are some neat Tvåändsstickninglinks:

• Knitting from both ends without going mad: a very neat way to detangle your yarn!
• Twined knitting in Knitty: Techniques with Theresa
• A book on Amazon by Birgitta Dandanell
• This post from Knitting in Color shows how some different stitches can be done in Tvåändsstickning.