Rahardjo-Knits

hiya I’m fine. Some of my friends are wondering whether me and my family is fine from earthquake at West Sumatra, Indonesia. Yup we’re fine. Though I feel so sad to know that many people have lost their houses and even worst their lives. Be thankful of what you have because you never know when something dangerous unexpected coming at you.

Hi all.

sorry for the late update. I was busy packing to go home for 1 month to attend my bro’s wedding. Packing for 1 month shouldn’t be too bad right? Well not really. As much as I try to not overpack, I always do quite the opposite. You see I have been packing for 1 month and during that month, it’s always the same ritual over and over ie unpack and then pack, unpack and pack. I want to utilize the space that I have in my luggage to maximize efficiency and my Mom is one of those people who can pack very efficient but I doubt I have that particular gene from her

Someday I want to pack light for travel however I don’t see that in my future. Maybe I feel more comfortable to bring my usual daily stuff like my stationary case filled with pens, pencil, staple, highlighter, etc. Of course portable steamer for clothing, zip lock bags for security regulations, organization and for those whatever I might need for something. The problem is once I get to my destination, most of the time I don’t need the stuff that I thought I needed. Bah…

Knitting wise for travel, I tend to bring 3 knitting projects for travel: 1 easy project that doesn’t take my attention too much, 1 long term project like sweater or shawl, and 1 rather difficult project to entertain my brain. They happened to be my plain StSt socks, Emma Jacket and 1 GAAA square.

This GAAA square by Patt Taton Hewitt really baffles me the fact that this square is not at the top 5 of most advanced squares rather than Janet Martin’s square (fish in net square). Patt Hewitt’s square requires me to have 3 different cable needles to knit some of the cable patterns. At first it was kind of confusing, but after knitting some of her cables, they were OK to knit. While fish in the net was so easy for me anyway to knit and encountered no problem knitting the square.

photo taken while I was at Narita Holiday Inn, Japan.

I really was against bringing my laptop for travel. Though my laptop is 13in laptop but lugging this baby around for 12 hours or so is just too cumbersome. All the time while I was carrying my laptop my mind is having infidelity thought of another laptop of 10in or smaller. Sorry baby… 4 years being with you I love you so much but for travel-wise, you’re too heavy T_T

Here’s a view from my seat on the airplane.

I’ll report again once I get to Indonesia. See yaaaa

I have this Denise tool bag that I bought from 3 kittens. At first glance it looked like it was the perfect knitting tool bag because it could hold so much. I call it my first aid tool kit. The problem is the bag is big. I mean it takes so much space of my knitting bag and sometimes I even forgot about bringing the bag thus made me worry knitting without my essential tools.

After several times forgetting my tool bag, I’ve decided to make my own. Of course I did sketched it out and stuff like that. What made an ideal tool bag for ME. Yeah.. in reality I’m not that good of a sewer which ends up in headache and disaster.

Hey simple is better right? Usually anyway

I am beginning to be comfortable with my sewing machine which is an E20 Husqvarna that I bought 2-3 years ago. My first thought was I just wanted a simple sewing machine that does straight, zigzag and button holes and affordable around $200. This machine exceeds my expectation to the point I don’t mind to buy another sewing machine from Husqvarna though of course my dream machine would be Bernina. Yeah that would come someday if I win a lottery ticket. As my quilt teacher said “if someone says Bernina sewing machine, people start seeing $$$ sign everywhere”

Speaking of quilt, did I ever talk about a quilt class that I took a year ago? Maybe not. Another post then.

I have some FOs to show you though I’m sure you can see them in ravelry but I have a blog and.. why not show them.

Argyle Knee High
One of my most proud FOs is the Argyle Knee High socks by Knit1 magazine.


start: Feb 15th, 2009
end: May 15th, 2009
pattern: Knit 1 magazine Fall 2007
yarn: KnitPicks Essentials in grass, cocoa, and pumpkin
needle: US 0 circ 24in and dpn

I keep hearing people don’t like to knit argyle. It’s actually not that bad. I kind like the look of argyle due to geeky looks and something sexy about geeky look. Granted there were so many… many I tell you many ends to weave. Generally I don’t like to weave ends until I’m done with the whole piece and sew the pieces together. But the ends on these argyle socks were too many too count, I couldn’t hep but weaved the ends for the second socks to reduce the stress and distractions. If I ever want to make another pair or another argyle, I would use bigger bobbins for sure. Thus hopefully create fewer ends to weave.

Handspun Sienna Cardigan


pattern: Interweave Knits Fall 2006
start: May 4th, 2009
end: June 22nd, 2009
yarn: own handspun
about 2lb shy. Ashland Merino Bay in Fuschia color. 2ply. heavy worsted
needle: Addi Turbo US 8 (5.00mm) for body and US 10 (6.00mm) to CO and BO

This is definitely one of my treasured and proud FOs. I bought the fiber from Creative Fibers in Minneapolis, MN before the owner moved in 2007. At that time I took a beginner spinning class and made a spinning goal: to make a sweater from my own handspun. And it came true!!! After I was done spinning the fiber, choosing a pattern for handspun yarn can be tricky. Since the yarn is 2ply, it’s generally a good all purpose yarn and for lace while 3 ply and above is good for hard wearing garments and color work. I honestly never spun more than 3 ply because I find 3 ply is enough for me to make the yarn sturdy and round-ish look like commercial yarn.

handspun Bella Mittens


pattern: Bella’s Mittens
yarn: own handspun
needle: US 6 KnitPicks Options nickle plated
method: magic loop
start: June 8th, 2009
end: June 14th, 2009

About a year ago MIL took me to this Llama farm called Calrsons Llovable Llamas in Waconia. They were all so cute and amazing. And that’s when I discovered natural color fiber which turned out dark chocolate happens to be my favorite of natural color fiber.

Japanese crochet pouch bag



pattern: http://item.rakuten.co.jp/keito-zakka/c/0000000175/
yarn: Mirasol Yarn Samp’a
hook: 3.5 mm (E) and 2.25 mm (B)
start: April 29th, 2009
end: May 3rd, 2009

It’s always been my dream to knit or crochet from Japanese patterns and this pattern happens to be one of those patterns that I can make out of. The diagram was ok to understand though I do have some complains on it. The way the bag is designed makes the pouch dangerous of falling out. I didn’t know much on how to apply zipper and make the bag still neat. Next time maybe when my sewing skill is advanced enough I’d like to redo the lining and add zipper. But in the mean time the pouch really can’t hold much other than wallet and cell phone.

Monkey Socks

yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock
needle: US 0 dpn
start: May 15th, 2009
end: May 30th, 2009

This photo really doesn’t do it justice. The socks are so beautiful in terms of color and texture. They are just so pleasingly calm to watch and enjoy. Too bad I had to give these away to my SIL which she appreciates. Nothing pleases a knitter when someone appreciates your gift. I think it’s just one of the best feeling there is. The st pattern was easy to memorize and kind of addicting actually.

Very belated sock surgery tutorial
What I am going to show you is about cutting off the cuff and pickup the sts and reknit the cuff again.

This is for you Jackie. I am so sorry it took me 1 year to post it. She’s probably thinking it’s about time damn it.

If you go to the flickr set of this tutorial, you’ll see notes and captions underneath each photos. Hopefully it’s clear. If not ask me questions, no questions are dumb.

Health update
I haven’t told you but… some of my friends know about it. I was detected hyperthyroidism on my last physical check up. The level was quite high so the doctor suggested I need to be treated. Of all the treatments I chose radiation. Which basically means to lower down my T4 level with radiation. It happened in around March but I didn’t feel the result until recently. I noticed that I gained weight incredibly fast and feel like I was a complete unaccomplished person. Ooo plus the muscle cramps were so much in pain. All these side effect affected my mood in a way that I feel so anxious. Of course having no job does throw alot of effect, however that shouldn’t be too much of mood throw over. I have been out of job for so long and yet this is the first time that I feel like I need to feel accomplished.

Once the daily hormone drugs were finally ready and consumed everyday, the mood is definitely getting its way back to “normal” and the pain-in-the-arse muscle pains were getting lesser and lesser. Right now I feel good. Still sad with no job thing, but what can you do?

A lot of my friends that has this hyperthyroid say that you will see a definite change in your weight. Ooo believe me I can feel it in my clothes. I hope I won’t be too over weight that I will start developing other problems *knock on wood*

So I hope I can discipline myself to excercise everyday at least by going on the treadmill. If not doing that abs excercise at least. I must. If I want to stay healthy. Of course there’s always this slip up like snacking… like..ooo the biggest problem of all, laziness. I think I need to find a reason and stick to excercise. Any ideas to get disciplined to stick to excercise?

Cats are doing fine as always. Still quirky in their own little ways. Still cute. Can you believe they’re 2-3 years old already?

It looks like I’m back to ground zero again Yeah I was pretty much sad but it’s reality. So I took my good friend Vita and went to United Noodles, and Rosedale mall. There’s nothing better than favorite snacks and good-deal-sale shopping and friends’ support can’t fix a heartache.

I don’t want to share the details but be positive. Even though I have this job for less than a month, it was a good experience. Therefore for that I must be thankful for the experience and just be positive that another one will come by to me.

So in the mean time I am back to knitting more (and other hobbies), back to my Wednesday’s night knitting group and chatting with friends from back home. Yeah my job was a night shift.

And it looks like I may be able to visit home this year. Yeah been feeling a little homesick too.

Sorry for the late update.
I didn’t meant to abandon my blog, but everything has been so busy since I got a job. Yes a job finally
I don’t want to tell the details since I’m still in training and audit. I am hoping I can get out of audit.
Wish me luck.

I love cherry blossom. They are so pretty when they bloom in spring and when they fall like snow. Think of snow but in pink petals.
This is my neighbor’s tree and I wish my back yard was full of these trees.

I suppose Spring did come to Minnesota finally. Ha ha. Some of my friends didn’t believe that we had snow in April.

more sock surgeries
I knitted some pair of socks for my in-laws, 3 pairs so far. They all told me that they wore my socks at home, and one particular in-law told me that she wore hers until they have holes in them. I, from a country where sarcastic is rarely in used, thought it was a sarcastic comment believing that she wore them alot. She said she wore them like slippers and very comfy. Let’s just say she wasn’t joking. She literary wore the socks I gave her and they have 2 big holes at the sole.

My reaction when I saw the socks with holes was a smile. Because that means she loves wearing them so much. What else can a hand knitted gift want other than… “wear me”

My friend ClickingSticks told me that she used to darn socks for her brother. I asked her why people darned socks in the past. This is her reply.

Because people did not have money to buy new socks so it was better to make your socks last as long as possible. And people didn’t have this “throw away” mentality. They made things last a long time. Now people are very wasteful…but that may change with the new economy.

Back then people darn sock to save money. Nowadays people just throw away socks. Of course back then people know how to do other crafts like sewing, crocheting, etc. Crafting was popular and relatively cheap. Now… sadly. Making a sweater is more expensive rather than buying one at a store. Likewise with socks. Why even darn socks if I could just make another pair. Well I could make another pair for my SIL, but darning takes 1 hour and making another pair takes 2-3 weeks.

I am one of those people who likes to make stuff and wants to know how to make stuff. Craft I believe sadly is a dying art. However when I do craft I feel like a piece of me is being recorded in my craft and people remember me in those hand made things that I made.

Anyway so here I am with a pair of socks and 2 holes and no clue how to do it. Fortunately the internet shows me how to darn socks and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It was fun actually. I’m sure with practice it’ll look flawless, but right now it does the job just fine.

So I’m making her another pair of socks using ShiBuiKnits sock yarn in Chinese Red. It’s a lovely red. Very vibrant.

Another pair of socks that I darned.

These socks have been darned before as seen on this post. But my husband somehow loves these Japanese socks made with Lion Brand Babysoft rather than another pair made with KnitPicks Essentials. Which is fine by me. I just wish he prefers other color than black. Seriously knitting in black color is not fun.

I have a sock surgery tutorial post in progress. I feel I need to write up one due to many sock surgeries I have in my knitting life. It’s more like an answer for Jackie’s comment in this post.
Sorry Jackie. It took me this long to answer you.

Hiya it’s a long post today. However you can just skim and go through the photos That’s what I usually do. Look at photos first then read. Ha ha. One thing I learned from my Type class at school is people tend to look at photos first, then the title, then the sub title, and last text body. It’s like human nature or something.

Oriental Jade Merino/Silk 80/20 by Louet
One of my goals in spinning is to spin lace weight. At the time and maybe even now my hands are not trained enough to spin lace weight on my wheels. So I decided long time ago to spin lace weight on drop spindles. It is finally finished. After 7 months of on and off spinning this merino/silk, it is done. Unfortunately 0.5oz of the fiber was ruined by Iori (yeah.. again). Iori is such a trouble maker but she’s very cute and luckily for her. She got a new nick name now, the 9-lives cat. A friend says that she is a 9-lives cat because of all the things she’s done like chewing my spindles, chewing my wheels, chewing my yarns, ruining my lace project, dragged my yarn, etc; still surprisingly she is not at the shelter.

(The photos go chronologically from corner left top and go clockwise)
1125yd / 1029m for 3.5oz / 99g.
fiber: Oriental Jade merino/silk 80/20 by Louet
bought: Knitter’s Palette, MN.
spun single on drop spindles: BGD 0.5oz, Bosworth 0.5oz, and golding 0.5oz
ply with Pocket Wheel

I am still shocked that I got 1029m for 3.5oz. I hardly go over 350m for 4oz let alone 1029m. So I’m hoping my homemade yarn counter is correct. Ooo I must have not posted about the homemade yarn counter.
Hubby and I made a homemade yarn counter for about $40. Since I spin, I would like to know accurate yardage for my handspun.

I searched around online and found this on ravelry. Which lead us to make a simple yardage counter. Thanks Coral for posting that on ravelry.

So here’s mine.

To see more photos of the yardage counter here. Mine is technically not a yardage counter more like a meterage counter because my wheel measurement is in meter.

I have several patterns in mind for the handspun lace yarn. However the one that calls my name is Paisley Lace Shawl. The pattern calls for same yardage as my yarn does. And it’s a square shawl which one I never try to knit. It will be an interesting to see how the handspun yarn will look for the shawl.

Yarn Over 2009

I don’t think as far as I remember took a fiber class except a beginner spinning class at Creative Fibers when the store was open. I meant in terms of knitting class I never took one until Yarn Over 2009. The class that I took was Explore Japanese Knitting by Donna Druchunas. She was an awesome teacher. Thanks Donna for teaching us that class.

When it comes to Japanese knitting, I get so weak to resist their books. I even have some non-knitting-or-crochet-related books like sewing. So when I knew that there would be a Japanese knitting class, I signed up for the class the first thing in January. The class was worth the wait and money.

me and Donna.

I have never been to Yarn Over either. It was alot of fun. But the most fun of the Yarn Over is the classes that they offer, so I’d like to take another one next year.

people at Yarn Over 2009.

what I got at Yarn Over 2009. Bohus Sticking Lace Lace Collar Cuff and Kollage needles.

FO: handspun Calorimetry
I spun this Targhee in Northen Lights color on a whim. The yarn is very pretty but when it comes to handspun especially with colors has difficulty to find a pattern. Safe bet for multi color handspun are StSt, ribbing, and garter.
So I thought Calorimetry from Knitty Winter 2006 would be great for this handspun.

fiber: Targhee in Northen Lights color
bought: Fiber Studio, MN
spun on: Mach 1 on 1:5 ratio.
draft: backward semi-woolen
yardage: 136m for 96g

pattern: Calorimetry
yarn: Targhee in Northen Lights color. handspun
needle: 4.5mm
duration: 2 days
modification: added elastic thread on the wrong side of headband so the headband will bounce back to original shape.
future modification: will reduce amount of short rows so the headband’s width is not too big.

That’s what I wanted to post so far. This weekend hubby and I are attending the Festival of Nations 2009. I didn’t attend last year so I’m hoping to see fun dances especially the Taiko Drum and eat good ethnic food this year. I also would love to see the vendors and ethnic demos. Ooo it’s going to be so much fun.

I believe I told Limedragon (my long time reader) long time ago, at least in her comment, that yarn diet was overrated. Yarn diet is basically trying to reduce your yarn stash either by using your yarn for project and not to buy new yarns or give up your yarn away to someone who will use it. Well I tried this yarn diet during my blog absence including giving away my sock yarn leftover to a friend whom needed in Canada. Even after all that I failed at this yarn diet. I’m sorry Limedragon, I didn’t know that yarn diet is hard.

I for some reason don’t mind buying tools because tools are tools and likewise with knitting/ spinning books because I can always learn something from books. However I try to buy books or magazines if I like more than 10 patterns inside that book or magazine.

How did I failed at this yarn diet? I blame my spinning and unexpected KALs. Because I spin, I produce yarn. The problem is I sometimes don’t know what to do with that handspun yarn which is contradictory with my yarn buying policy (only buy yarn for a project). I would love to someday to spin specific yarn for a project so I don’t have to search pattern for my handspun. Yeah.. I’m not there yet. So right now I have handspun yarn here and there with unassigned projects. How sad is that?

However thanks to Ravelry, I can search patterns for my handspun specifically by yardage and weight. And Ravelry will list all patterns that have my criteria. Isn’t Ravelry best invention since slide bread? At least for fiber lovers.

Anyway. I have an FO from handspun.

FO: handspun basic hat
fiber: Tequila Sunrise, 4oz, coriedale, bought from Fiber Studio
produced yarn: 2ply in DK weight-ish
needle: 3.5mm
pattern: the knitter’s handy book of patterns by Ann Budd
duration to knit this hat: 1 week (not including spinning the fiber)

I like my hat big so I can put my hair inside the hat plus I like to have my ear covered.

New found fiber tools:
I made st markers. It was actually fun to make st markers and kind of easy I think. This would be a fun project during raining and the end result is so pretty!

Ha ha. I’m having too much fun with this fd’s Flickr Toys. As you can see, I moved my photo system to flickr, and it makes my blogging easier especially inserting photos and no more I have to resize and all that stuff. Plus flickr has lots nice features.

Ever since I started knitting GAAA (Great Aran American Afghan) blanket, I carry circular needles from 3.5mm to 5.5mm in my knitting bag. The problem was I didn’t have a circular needle case, so I carry my circular needles with their packages. That was fine until I got disorganized inside my knitting bag. Then one day I found my old CD case in a closet. The light bulb went on; my CD case is now a circular needle case

Isn’t that neat?

Well I hope you have good weekend and hopefully spring will come which I’m afraid we’ll have very short spring.
Iori was looking outside on the first day of April or so. Thinking “snow again???? Noooo I want go to outside and rolls around the concrete”