yup. there are male knitters. more than i thought.

on the subway on the way to work today i had out this blanket that i'm working on. full of cables and about 3' long. so it was slightly conspicuous. and rush hour.

so i'm happily listening to music and knitting when this rather large and agitated gentleman approaches me. he holds out his hand and says something. i fear for my life. and then i pull out my earphones.

KnittenNinja: "wha?"
RatherLargeStranger: "i do that too, man."
KnittenNinja: "awesome."

then i shake his hand. 'cuz it is awesome.

you and the duke of winchester

[please read all OlderGentleman lines en voce michael caine]

OlderGentleman: you and the duke of winchester
KnittenNinja: what?
[pulls headphone out of ear]
OlderGentleman: you and the duke of winchester.

** apparently, the duke of winchester is a male knitter **

KnittenNinja: at least i'm in good company.
OlderGentleman: it really is wonderful what you're doing.

[time passes. the person next to ninja on the back of the bus leaves and the old man sits down next to me]

OlderGentleman: that really is wonderful, what you're doing.
KnittenNinja: i think so. i quite enjoy it. gives me something to do to pass the time in transit.
OlderGentleman: it's really a shame, in these days of machine processed things, that no one takes the time to make things anymore. and there's a difference you know.
KnittenNinja: indeed.
OlderGentleman: one can look at something and just know it was handmade.
KnittenNinja: quite true.
OlderGentleman: it's nice to see that anyone still does that these days.
KnittenNinja: knitting has actually had quite a resurgence in these past few years. there are quite a lot of us.
OlderGentleman: but still...it's nice to see...

i am still unsure of whether the gentleman in question was hitting on me, or thinking of when he was young and his mother used to knit, but i shall assume the latter.

there's more to life than acrylic

i have heard these words, but not believed them. acrylic. so bright. so friendly. so soft. so cheap. but the time has come for this ninja to branch out. boutique yarn shops in manhattan tend to be hella expensive. sometimes, they don't even price their yarn. and that always means you can't afford it.

so i resorted to the interweb. i've ordered from herrschner's before, which is where i picked up a few cones of sugar 'n cream pound o' cotton cones. i've made scarves and wristwarmers out of it, and quite like it. sturdy, washable, natural fiber, easy to knit, and you'll never run out. ever.

so anyway, i ordered some self-striping sock yarn. it's awesome. i may even have a mid-project pic post, as i'm excited about how it turns out. here's a preview:


regia self-striping sport granite

it's amazing. i give it many ninjas of awesomeness.

oh, and i realized the cheapie yarn site is run by the herrschners folk. i support then wholeheartedly. shop there now.

headgear

so a friend of mine wants a unicorn hat. i find this a surprisingly reasonable request. so i went off on my googling to see what was out there. came up with this: which is, obviously, absurd. the hat was requested to look like this: which is less so. so i'm happily knitting a hat in stockinette in the round. i've got the earflaps and about one inch of hat. however soon i must worry about eyes, ears, and horn. for the mane i was thinking of doing my decreases in the back every row so i could use the holes to tie in the ends. but the others. hmm... any thoughts?

wine bag

i decided it was time to knit with something other than yarn. while on one of my semi-regular dollar store trips i came across a spool of jute. this, i thought, would be awesome. so i sat down with a 350ft ball and a set of size 10.5s and went to work. here's what happened:



nifty, huh? i thought the jute (like twine, by the way) would be stiffer. but in this stockinette stitch it's more like a rug than like cardboard.

side panel (three times):
cast on 14st
even rows: slip1, k13
odd rows: slip1, p13
46 (RS): slip1, k3, k2tog, k2, ssk, k4
47 (WS): slip1, p3, yo, p4, yo, p4
48 (WS): bind off
this makes little holes for the handles.


here she is in action. notice the nice 3-panel craftsmanship.

bottom: cast on 14st
all rows: slip 1, k2tog, knit to end
keep going until you can't anymore (due to either tension in jute or lack of stitches), then bind off.



i thought this was pretty neat. it would be neater if the sides were stiff, but such is life. maybe garter next time? seed stitch?

seams:
i used shoelaces, stitching up the large holes near the tops of the panels left by the slipped stitches. it looks kinda crappy so i might braid together a few lengths of black yarn instead.

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

neckwear

i made a necklace. the pattern was from knitty.com. well, basically it was. i decided a couple of things from the get go.

i did not want it to look like yarn

i wanted it to be black

i was impatient and wouldn't spend more than an hour on it

so this was the result: wanted lacy, got goth. i still think it's kinda sexy. here she is on a different background.

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

claws 'n paws

wristwarmer time once more. i know i said i'd kick the habit, but i lied.



these were a quick knit. like the candy warmers half a dozen posts back or so, these were made casting on 30 st on size 10s. knit short rows in tiger print for 16 rows. then knit in black for 13. join together leaving a hole for the thumb. do the second one in the opposite direction, so the same side faces out (that is, do the black bit first).



i fear they might look a little too halloweenie. but will settle for them being only kinda awesome.

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS: