Knitapalooza

Well, my poor little blog has been much neglected - but not for a lack of stuff to talk about, that's for sure.  I'm actually writing this blog from my new iPad. I got me a bluetooth keyboard and I'm raring to go.  My photos may not be as gawgeous as they would be from my big camera, but it's better than nothing, right? 

I have a bajillion finished objects to show, but it's been tradition to do WIP's first, so here's what I'm working on.  Romi had what can only be described as a pattern explosion, and there has been way too much to choose from, so I have been knitting like crazy trying to keep up. (why do I have to keep up? I don't. But I like to.)

Currently on my needles is Desert Peach in Iridaceae Colorworks um...something.  I think it's a BFL silk blend, but I can't remember. The colorway is Figgers, I know that much.  I started working on this one and then cast on a second project, and though my intention was to alternate between them, well...this one hasn't gotten much love this week.  Turns out I am being forced into knitting monogamy by time constraints.  I just can't manage to make progress on two projects at once at the moment.

I am also working on Fiori Autunnali, which is a beautiful combination of Madrona and Fiori di Sole.  Romi's offering this pattern through Craftsy.  It's the first Craftsy class I've ever taken and it's kinda neat.  

For this one, I am using 100% silk from No Two Snowflakes in a OOAK colorway called Palomino.  I actually bought it for Madrona, but when I ended up making Madrona in white for my wedding shawl, it went back in the closet.  This seemed like a great time to get it out again.  It's a beautiful coppery color with lighter areas in it, though it looks a little orange in pictures, so you'll have to use your imagination.

This shawl has beads!  I chose Silver-Lined Smokey Topaz.

Like Madrona, this one is V-shaped and starts in the round, and then you bind off half of the shawl and divide the remaining stitches to knit stole-like wings.  I took the pictures below right after binding off the lower edge.

More beads, yay!  I've actually knit most of one wing, but I came to the conclusion that I was going to run out of yarn, so I ripped back one wing repeat.  It's still going to be a nail-biter.  I'll let you  know how it goes.

I also have a Saxifrage sock on the needles, because sometimes you just need something small but all-absorbing.  This is Allison's yarn as well in Rhuberry, and it's lovely.  Shows the pattern really nicely.

This sock reminds me of something.  Now that I have an iPad, I have experienced the wonder of Knit Companion.  I love it very deeply.  As with all software programs, there are little things that I wish were different, but overall I am convinced that I will knit things I otherwise would never knit because of fiddly (or even just poorly done) patterns.  I am notorious for losing 1 pattern page and then coming to a screeching halt on a project because I need that page, and then having to go print another one (or worse, being stuck in a situation where there is no option to go print it and being unable to knit at all).  No more problems with that!

But, the thing I like the most about knitCompanion is the ability to combine chart patterns.  Often, a large lace pattern will spread across several pages that you  have to print and tape together.  Or, as with this sock, you have 3 or 4 charts and you have to knit pieces of them in a separate order - knit row 1 from chart A, row 1 from Chart B, row 1 from Chart C, and row 1 from Chart A again.  knitCompanion let me set up the charts for this sock so that everything was lined up and in the correct order, and I could put my legend into a bar at the bottom, which is such a blessing - I love having the symbols and stitches right down there where I can check on them (oh, how many times has that 1 page lost been the one with the pattern key on it....)

Anyway, I love it and you should take it out, and definitely take one of the free webinars offered, which is very helpful in de-steeping the learning curve.  Back to the knitting.

So, those are the WIPS...now for the FO parade. There's a lot here, and I have a shamefully large pile of shawls awaiting blocking.

When last we met, I was knitting the Mystery Shawl, ultimately revealed as Cactus Flower.  This one was Iridaceae Colorworks Crocosmia (merino/silk and one of my favs) in Emerald Isle and an exceptionally black version of Crow - usually you see more blue in the Crow colorway but I liked that this one was really thoroughly black with some hints of bluish purple in it.

I finally blocked Zephyr Cove, just recently, which is sad given how long ago I finished this one!  This was Dye for Yarn in two colors that I can't quite remember (next time I will know what I used a little better, but I don't want to go look it all up just now).

Next up is River Walk, a recent release, in Sanguine Gryphon/Verdant Gryphon Eidos.  I am amused at myself on this one, because I had a skein of blue (polimarchus) and I thought I was being virtuous by using stash.  Then I couldn't decide what color to get to go with it, and then ended up ordering two skeins, and it didn't even hit me until days later that I had very effectively negated my virtue.  Darnit.  I ended up going with iSkein as the second color.

I've been dying to knit Misselthwaite for ages, and here it is in beautifully squishy (and thematically appropriate) moss stitch.   I owe Allison an apology for these terrible pictures that show her yarn off so badly...sigh....but it really is exactly what I wanted it to be, a misty grey-green that calls to mind the passage where Dicken and Mary are in the garden and Mary sees that a green mist is creeping over the grey vines that she thought were dead.  I believe I did this one in her Ferraria base.  Love it.

This shawl is finished but not blocked - it is my Yosemite shawl that I knit during our vacation this year.  I chose a half-circle shawl to pay homage to Yosemite's Half Dome, and after looking at a bunch of (much too fancy) options, I chose the Half-Circle Shawl as a good, simple, mindless pattern.  Then I went to Iridaceae Colorworks (you may be noticing a pattern here) because Allison is a lovely person and good friend, and she lives in California, and Yosemite is in California, and that was all the justification I needed.  I picked Marine Layer (a nice blue-grey for the sky and the granite formations), Emerald Isle (for the grassy meadows), Turnip (the color of the lupine flowers that were blooming when we were there), and....I forget what I used for the last one.  Hmm.  Anyway, it's a great color for capturing the various other flowers that we saw, and I used it for the shawl edging.

Also not blocked is Winter's Moon, and I finally bit the bullet, bought another stinkin' skein of yarn, and finished Galadriel's Mirror.  It's not blocked yet either, though.  Oh! One more!  Romi's Dusk into Twilight in - well, guess.  Yep.  Colors are Irisberry, Turnip, and the breathtaking Blue Charlotte.  Not blocked yet either.

Whew!  Catching up is exhausting!  Hopefully I won't let it go so long next time.