Craft Ninja

Freeeeeeedom!!!

2012-02-08T11:40:00.004-05:00

Three or four weeks of silence deserves a bonus post, don't you think?

I've finished Madrona! No pictures as yet, but she's finished. And that means - I'm free to knit other stuff again! This excites me greatly as I am pretty far behind on all of Romi's beautiful creations. So, the question is, what shall I knit next?

1. Caliz - this design came out several months ago, and was originally a club pattern for A Verb for Keeping Warm. I've heard nothing but good things about AVFKW so I'm excited to try out their yarns. I wasn't in the club, but I picked up a skein of AVFKW Metamorphosis that's been all wound up and ready for this pattern. The buzz is that this will be a pretty quick knit, which will be perfect while I wait for yarn to arrive for...

2. Erato - The newest muse from Romi is out, but after reviewing my stash and thinking about the person I want to give this too, I've decided I need to purchase yarn for it. I've picked Fleece Artist Woolie Silk 3-ply in Rose. It's a heavier weight than called for by the pattern, which I hope will result in a slightly larger end product. This shawl is flirty, feminine, and sweet, and I knew immediately which of the wonderful ladies in my life I wanted to give it to. She's been a wonderful support and friend and I'm excited about surprising her with this shawl. But, since I'm not using stash, I have to wait for the yarn to arrive, so I will fill my time with Caliz until it does.

3. Pulelehua, Pins & Lace Winter 2012 - I'm really excited about this gorgeous shawl. I love butterflies in general, and my first memories are of Hawaii, so this shawl speaks to me on multiple levels. I tossed around a few stash ideas for this, but Jennifer at Spirit Trail Fiberworks had extra club yarn available, and I had to go for it. There's just no more perfect color for this pattern, and the pictures are absolutely gorgeous. I'm really excited to start this one (and what a gorgeous splash of color to break up the bleakness of winter - even an unseasonably warm winter), but, again, I will have to wait for the yarn to get here.

4. Galadriel's Mirror - Honestly, I can't think of anything I would rather knit less at this point in winter than a grey shawl, but as this one remains unfinished, I'm keeping it on my to-knit list. I have 2 charts to go, and although the rows are incredibly long at this point, the knitting itself is getting simpler, so if I can just hang in there a little longer, there is a chance I will actually finish this one in my lifetime.

5. Permafrost - I also owe this one some attention. I began it during a bout of startitis when none of my other projects were at a particularly happy place, and it's been stalled for sometime, so it's time to get the motor revving again.

Ergh, that list actually looks pretty daunting, doesn't it, especially when I have lots more wedding planning and moving stuff in my future? My priorities are the Romi projects. It's easier for me to help others on the forum when I've worked on a shawl myself, and to be honest, it's just so much fun knitting with others!

AND, in two weeks Romi is releasing two more muses at Stitches West. I don't know how I'm going to keep up! (Answer: I'm not. There's just no way.)

Oh well, it's a beautiful place to be in, isn't it, having more beautiful patterns and yarn than you know what to do with? Nothing to do but keep calm and knit on!

Look! Knitted Stuff!

2012-02-06T10:46:00.001-05:00

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post, but sadly, all of the posts I would have made would have been the same. "Still here, not much to show, work and wedding are taking up all my time!"

BUT, today I do have some things to show! After an incredibly grueling couple of weeks at work, I finally got some time to relax a bit, and work on my Madroña wedding shawl. One wing is now complete and I am well into the second! In fact, I took this picture a couple of days ago, so it's a bit out of date. You repeat the wing chart 12 times for each wing and then knit one more chart, ending in the bind off. At the time of this picture, I had only about 4 repeats complete on the second wing. I'm now up to 9 repeats. It's funny how much faster you can get at knitting a chart after you've done it 16 times already.

Unless work or some other fact of life interferes, I'm hoping I can be finished by the end of the weekend. I can get about 1 chart repeat done a night - 1 and a half if I get home a little early. I was hoping to get to 10 repeats over the weekend, but I decided the superbowl was too high risk to have this around, what with the jumping and the cheering and the food everywhere. So, I started a little side project!

Everyone has been saying what a super quick knit Romi's Gothic Tam is, and they did not lie. The hat consists of 4 charts plus the ribbed brim. I got through 3 of the 4 charts during the game (plus some post-game commentary). I actually attempted to start this hat a while ago but got a case of the stupids regarding the Emily Ocker cast on, despite the fact that I've done it several times before, so I had to go look up a video tutorial for a refresher before I started yesterday. But, once I got going, it was really quite an easy knit and a fairly intuitive pattern - easy to catch your mistakes on. To be honest, it's calling me a bit - I could totally finish this tonight if I tried - but the wedding shawl comes first. You can bet I'll be finishing up this one as soon as I get the chance though.

I'm actually hoping I'll have enough yarn to make two. A dear friend sends me yarn every year for Christmas from a local farm fesitval. I never know what she's going to send and I always love getting it because it's one of a kind. This year she sent me two skeins of undyed alpaca. I'm hoping I can make a hat from each skein, and then I'll have one to keep and one to send back to her. The only snag is, she's not a knitter, and I worry that when I send her back things made from the yarn she gave me, she thinks I don't like it. This year she asked if I was tired of getting yarn. I said, NO PLEASE KEEP SENDING ME YARN PLEASE PLEASE.

As I sit here typing this, I'm remembering that she sent me two pretty hefty skeins of yarn naturally dyed yarn last year too that would make really cute tams...hmmmmm...

How many knitted hats do you think one Texan needs?

Small Victories

2012-01-18T10:53:00.002-05:00

I have only this to show today:

The hands of my beloved, clad in wool to guard against the bitter cold. Finally. This completes the set of gloves, hat, and scarf I promised to make him sometime last year. He made the mistake of asking right as it was getting warm, and also of asking for a Scarf of Unusual Size (not really, but still) so it took a while. Then I got kind of stumped on the second glove because gloves are boring. But it's freezing outside and he refused to wear the other pieces until he had the complete set, and I felt guilty about his cold hands, so I overcame my second glove syndrome and lo, he can now go forth into the cold swaddled in red wool.

I also got the additional crystals I ordered and finished the bind off on the bottom section of my wedding shawl, but I haven't gotten any farther than that. I had to work over the long weekend (woe) which put a serious damper on the stuff I had planned to accomplish that weekend, so the only thing I have to show are a bunch of caligraphied invitations that I can't photograph without putting people's addresses online. I can't waint until I have time and energy to knit more - lots of 'want to knits' piling up while I try to deal with all this mess!

Reckless Optimism

2012-01-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

Here is the list of knitting I took on my Christmas vacation:

1. Galadriel's Mirror
2. Second fingerless glove for CodeNinja
3. Yarn, needles, and pattern for a Gothic Tam
4. Permafrost

Here is the list of what I actually worked on during my Christmas vacation:

1. Galadriel's Mirror

Even with two plane flights and a total of 16 hours in the car, I worked on nothing but Galadriel's mirror and still didn't get anywhere close to done.

Still, it went from looking like this:

To looking like this:

...Yeah, still doesn't feel like much progress. However, I've now finished Chart 3, which means I only have two charts to go, and at least they're different (charts 1, 2 and 3 were very similar). And, even better, it doesn't have any bobbles. I have come to loathe the bobble. I don't mind fiddlly knitting, but I don't even really care that much for the final effect, so that was kind of frustrating. I could have substituted, done something else, saved myself from bobble hell, but I decided the bobbles were integral to the texture of the shawl so I did them as written.

I solemnly swear I will never bobble again.

I did actually lose quite a bit of knitting time on this trip. I don't think I knit at all once we got off the plane, until the day after Christmas when we left for the first 8 hours of driving. Even then, it took me a while into the trip to pick it up.

I have, my friends, discovered that it is possible to be too tired to knit. I was sick for the first part of my vacation, which accounted for some of it, but really, I wasn't feeling so lousy that there should have been that big of an issue. It wasn't the illness - I was just too darn tired. I always have a lot of commitments in December, and I really think I just overdid it. The end of 2011 was totally consumed with the Great Revamping Of My Life, and for once, I didn't have any energy left to create.

I'm starting to get my mojo back a little bit. There's still a lot to do and many, many demands on my time and energy, but I'm trying to make time - if for no other reason than I won't have a wedding shawl if I don't! (That's a lie. The members of Romi's group on Ravelry are awesome and I have had tons of offers to knit a shawl for me for the wedding, so I'm sure if I got worried, I could pass it off and have a finished version back in a week.)

Speaking of which, I've now arrived at the point in my Madrona shawl where I bind off half of the circle I've been making, and as planned, I've been adding crystals to the edge.

I have to admit, it's a lot of crystals, and the yarn in the shawl is already sparkly, so I was afraid of it being overkill - but oh, they're so pretty. When I pick up the shawl it glitters and shines, and compared to the crystals, the metallic thread in the yarn is downright subtle. I feel good about it. Except I miscounted the number of crystals I would need and I ran out before the bind off was finished. I have more on order, but this shawl is officially stalled until I receive them. Shipping is usually pretty quick, though, so I expect that by the time I have dedicated knitting time again, I'll have crystals. So many crystals.

Finding the Time

2011-12-15T15:29:00.002-05:00

I feel like a broken record, coming here week after week to say "I haven't had time to do much, but here's what I have," but sadly it remains true! I'm cramming knitting time in between other things, and there are times when I'm just too tired to knit. But, I leave for my Christmas vacation next week, and there will be plenty of plane and car time for knitting, so I'm hoping I'll catch up some then!

In the meantime, I'm still managing to make progress in small spurts. Exhibit A - my wedding shawl.

I'm into chart C. This shawl is sort of like a diamond with rectangular panels attached to its top two sides. To achieve this, you start out in the round, and then cast off the bottom half of the diamond, put half the remaining stitches on holders, and knit the wings side to side. (I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I haven't gotten that far yet.) The cast off is done with the same crochet loops that Romi has used on some of her previous designs like Fiori. I've ordered some teardrop-shaped pendant crystals. I hope to put them on the little crochet loops - although examinations of the FOs posted to Ravelry at this point seem to suggest I might want to lengthen the chains slightly to accommodate this. I have two concerns with this plan: 1) Will the crochet chains fit through the holes on the crystals? 2) Will I look like I plundered a chandelier? But, there is no way to know except to knit, so the crystals are ordered. If I'm really lucky they'll get here in the next few days. I haven't decided whether I'm taking the shawl with me on my Christmas trip - I have some concerns about it getting dirty or messed up, or that the crystals won't arrive and I'll be stuck. Maybe I'll take the second skein of yarn with me and knit the lace strips I'm hoping to make to go on the bouquet on the trip. We'll see.

It's finally gotten cold here (mostly. the cold is very indecisive.) so I've been trying to finish out the third part of the matched set CodeNinja requested all that time ago.

Fingerless gloves. This pattern is Urban Necessity, which I have knit many, many times. I had the first glove all the way to the fingers when I decided it was too big and ripped the whole thing out to do the next size down. I'm not exactly sorry, since the fit is much, much better now, but - well. If I hadn't had to do that the gloves would be done. As it is, they are not done.

But I'm almost finished with the thumb gusset on the second one, so the end is in sight. Once I make it up to the fingers, the rest is fiddly, but quick. I did make one modification to the pattern this time around, which was to rib the ends of the fingers so that they don't roll back as they have in gloves past. It's a brilliant idea and I feel dumb for not thinking of it four pairs ago.

My office had a potluck and "dirty santa" exchange today, and though CodeNinja kindly took care of the potluck part for me, I failed to plan ahead on the dirty santa thing. So, last night at 11:30 p.m. I was sitting on my bed, frantically threading beads on metallic yarn to make this:

I would have started half an hour sooner but somehow the metallic yarn didn't end up with the rest of the yarn when we unloaded and sorted the craft room, so I was frantically dismantling the carefully sorted piles of stuff in my basement trying to find it. It was a risky move. I'm already tired and overall short on sleep, and to add to that, I stabbed myself rather brutally with the needle I was using to thread the beads while trying to dislodge one bead with a particularly small hole from the eye of the needle. That could have impacted my knitting capability for weeks, but it seems to be doing all right now, and I was able to solider on and complete the ornament shortly before 2 a.m. I'm somewhat consoled for my loss of sleep by the fact that the ornament hit the maximum three swaps in the dirty santa exchange, and, after a hard-fought battle, the winner was my boss.

I'm also slightly tickled by the fact that, out of sheer, blind coincidence, because the only thing I was thinking last night was "which ornament pattern has the fewest beads" and "anything but red, I'm so tired of red," I managed to do the ornament in our company colors. I was totally floored when someone congratulated my company spirit over it!

The Best I Can

2011-12-07T13:23:00.001-05:00

Readers may find this somewhat difficult to believe, but preparing a wedding, preparing for Christmas, preparing for the merging of two households' worth of stuff, showing up at work everyday, and managing all your normal activities, is rather time consuming. I reviewed The List yesterday and emailed CodeNinja the following:

"How is it that we've done all this work and yet I can't find anything to cross off The List?"

He replied, "Clearly The List is flawed."

I let pass his impugning of The List, sighed, and repeated my mantra of late - "Oh well. We're doing the best that we can."

I lost most of this past weekend to the picking of china patterns and the beginning of the wedding registry lists, so I was bound and determined last night to finish off the reorganization of the yarn stash and to get it loaded back into the craft room. I have mostly succeeded:

The yarn stash and the cross stitch stash have now been reviewed, purged, put neatly in bins, and loaded into the craft room closet in the most accessible manner I could manage. Really, I didn't do much with the cross stitch stash, except consolidate it into a single box. It doesn't take up much space and cross stitch will always have a place in my heart as the first craft I ever attempted, so it stays. I did sort a couple fairly large bags out of the yarn stash to donate, mostly of stuff I got very early in my knitting career before I knew what I liked. One of the small bins in that picture is entirely full of leftovers that I can't bear to get rid of for some reason. It's too much yarn to throw away, not enough to donate, and I occasionally have delusions that I'm going to make one of the many 'leftover' blankets out there (yes, I have seen the beekeeper quilt).

Although, this still remains:

This is my pile of WIPS - smaller than when last posted, to be sure, but I don't want to put these back in the closet where I can forget them, so I need to find them a home that is relatively in sight and accessible. Also in that pile, finished cross stitch projects I've never framed, which I would like to steam and have framed so I can hang them up, in the craft room and/or office.

Determined to do some knitting after all that work, and trying desperately not to think about exactly how much Stuff is left in the basement to be sorted (I have far more stuff for scrapbooking than for any other craft), I worked on what I hope will become my wedding shawl, Madroña in JulieSpins Glimmer lace.

You can't really see it in the picture but there's a thread of stellina that makes it sparkle. It's not much to show, but you know - I'm doing the best I can.

Wait, what happened?

2011-11-28T21:44:00.001-05:00

Well, no suffering from a lack of content here today! I'm not sure what happened - one minute I had no knitting projects, and now I have suffered a minor project explosion.

I needed some Thanksgiving knitting, so I took my nearly complete Melpomene with me. I knew that wasn't enough knitting to get me through the whole day, but in the midst of everything else that was going on I failed to plan ahead adequately, and couldn't lay my hands on anything that had the right level of mindlessness and portability. I finally stuffed some yarn and pattern pages that I had lying around in a bag, and voila.

I cast on this Urban Necessity glove to complete the matched set for CodeNinja. I've really been pretty negligent about knitting these and they don't take very long, so I really ought to be ashamed of myself. In my defense, though - it hasn't been very cold. Anyway, I got this started in the car and then put it aside, since the 1x1 ribbed cuff was something I could knit in the dark on the way home. I kept knitting on it later in the weekend when we went Christmas tree hunting, and now I'm almost ready to put the thumb stitches on a holder. I need some time to finish it now with CodeNinja nearby so he can try it on and direct me as to the length of the fingers.

For the football viewing portion of Thanksgiving, I cast on this.

Permafrost by Jared Flood in his Loft yarn, colorway Snowbound. I don't know what I was thinking, this is going like lightening now, but as the number of stitches increases and increases - this is not going to be a quick project! I still have Galadriel's mirror hanging around, sad and neglected, if I needed a big project, and of course as soon as I figure out what I'm going to do for a wedding shawl, I'm going to drop everything else like it's on fire. But, oh well, it's started now, and I'm most of the way through Chart 2. I'll try to catch up on the knitting over my Christmas vacation.

And now for something completely different! Every year, the ladies' group at my church does an ornament exchange, and almost every year I've taken some type of handmade ornaments. A few years ago, before I started knitting, I bought a kit from (I think) Bead Sphere for netted ornament covers. There were three covers in the kit. I made one for that year's ornament exchange, and the rest got shoved inside something somewhere. I uncovered the kit while I was working through the stuff from the craft room and, as the ornament exchange is this coming Friday, decided that if I just went ahead and made the ornament covers, I wouldn't have to figure out somewhere to store the kits! (Genius, I tell you.)

Everything I needed was still in the bag, including all the beads, the needles, and even my little square of Thread Heaven. So I plopped down at my desk and got to work.

It's easy enough - pick up this many beads, thread through this bead on the prior row, etc. etc. Quite simple, though these are size 11 beads, so very tiny. I finished the first one...

And went ahead and started the second.

It takes about 3 hours to do one of these, so I had to quit the second one in the middle and come back to it later, but I finished it on up and it's even prettier than the first one.

I did have a problem with both, however - despite the fact that I was SURE I pulled out enough string as directed, I ran out. This is sort of like running out in the middle of a long-tail cast on - one you've spent the last two hours working on. There's not really a good solution for it and taking all that netting out and starting over would NOT be easy. So...I did a Russion join. It doesn't work quite as well as it does in knitting, but as you can see above - it does work. I'm especially bitter that I ran outof yarn on the second one, though, since I made doubly sure to pull out extra.

I'll pop these over a couple of plain ol' spherical ornaments and they will be gorgeous, perfect for the ornament exchange. This is the best kind of purging.

And now, only one thing remains - my finished Melpomene!

New Beginnings

2011-11-23T20:52:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Knitting content is a little slim (yet again), but I have begun a project that is relevant to this blog - that is, the demolition and reconstitution of my craft room.

This blog rarely sees anything but knitting, but I do actually have a lot of crafts that I like to do. I scrapbook, I make cards and other paper crafts, and I have been a cross stitcher almost as long as I can remember. Knitting has kind of taken over, but at least part of that, I believe, is because my other crafts were so much less accessible. Since I moved into this house, I had grandiose plans for my craft room (which, to my mother's horror, had been in my living room up until then).

Unfortunately, none of those plans really came to pass. I had too much stuff, and not enough space for it. Plus, I am not by nature a neat and organized person, and my crafting process is rather manic. I make a big mess tossing things around until I get the effect that I want. Plus, since I had no office space, my computer stuff and office files and all that stuff were also crammed into the craft room. Essentially, I ended up with a room that was basically a complete junk pile, and my guest room was not much better, being used largely for storage of all the stuff that didn't fit in the craft room and that I didn't otherwise know what to do with.

Times are a-changing, and with my brother moving out, freeing up the basement bedroom to be the new guest room, and with CodeNinja moving in (and bringing all his stuff with him), it was time to do something about this "stuff" situation.

I have never spent any time in the craft room, and have never wanted to, it was so unpleasant in there. When I wanted to work on my paper crafts, I hauled all my stuff down to the kitchen table, made a mess, left it there for a week or so, and then took it up and piled it all back in the craft room. The room just wasn't pleasant to be in, despite being, in my opinion, one of the nicer room in the house. It's quite a good size, but it's long and rectangular. It has a recess with two large windows that face the front of the house, and it probably gets more light than any other room. There's no reason at all why it shouldn't be a perfectly lovely place to spend time in.

But, it wasn't, so I had to put some thought into figuring out why. One answer was obvious - it was too cluttered, cramped, and messy with all the stuff I had in there. Step 1 - we (by which I mostly mean CodeNinja) hauled all the stuff out of the craft room and into the now-empty den in the basement. I asked him to take a 'before' picture but he forgot, so here's all the stuff in the den and basement bedroom:

Looooooots of stuff. The goal is to go through this mess and sort out the craft from the non-craft, and also to purge as I go, getting rid of stuff I don't need, don't want, or don't use. Then, everything will be reorganized and reloaded into the craft room and the former guest room, which will now become an office. The office is really going to be CodeNinja's space; I'll have a desk in there, but I'll try to keep my stuff to a minimum, so we each have a retreat when we need some space.

The craft & guest rooms were very cold-looking before, so we picked a beige paint color with a bit of a pinky-peach undertone to warm the walls up a little bit, and the result is so much massively better than the color that was there before (a color I generally refer to as 'Old Dried Toothpaste'). I've already started rethinking where I put the crucial pieces of furniture and put some of the stuff back in there.

It's hard to get a good picture - the room is really about twice as big as it looks in most of these photos. The entrance to the room is a little odd, naturally closed off because the closet sticks out into the room in front of the door. I had the long table on the wall where the bookshelf is now, and the bookshelf was at the end of that table nearest the door, making the entrance even more closed. Lesson learned - I've cleared up that wall considerably to make it less overwhelming to walk into the room. There will have to be some more shelves & storage on the near wall, but I will take much better care this time to avoid getting that cramped feeling when you walk in.

I've also decided to use that computer desk as a working surface, and use the long tables only to hold supplies and lay things out that I want to look at. Before, I used the long table to work, but in order to have my tools on the table where I wanted them, I lost a huge amount of workspace and got frustrated very easily. This way, I'll have to do a little bit more moving back and forth, but my work area won't be cluttered with supplies, and I can use the keyboard tray to keep tools I really need to have to hand, like my paper cutter. I had developed a habit of cutting paper in my lap anyway, which was not very effective and, sadly, led to the demise of my paper cutter (leverage issue - snapped a piece off of it).

So, I have a long row to hoe, and a lot of time is going to be devoted to this, but I'm determined to have a working craft room at the end of it. Ideally, I would love to find a place in here for a chair and my spinning wheel, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. My biggest issue here is storage; I have spent a lot of money in the past on storage tools that just weren't really effective, so I'm trying to be very critical about buying new supplies.

This won't, of course, be the only area of the house where I'm purging, and CodeNinja will be responsible for purging on his end as well before we try to pack everything into this house.

I have been knitting, however, and I'm on the downhill slide with my Melpomene.

I had a bit of a set back the night before last when I apparently went temporarily insane and hauled off and knit my twists on the wrong side. It's not like it's easy to mistake, either. The front side looks like this:

Twisted stitches right there. The wrong side looks like this:

No twisted stitches, just something that looks kind of like 2x1 ribbing.

AND YET, not only did I knit a section of twisted stitches on the wrong side - after I fixed that, and knit merrily onward, not more than an hour after I took those pictures, I had to take another picture before I posted, so I could show you that I did this:

This time I started my short rows on the wrong side, and so while every other scallop faces the bottom of the shawl, this one faces the top of the shawl. Argh!!! Feeling rather red-faced over here. It's easy to fix, just one of those things that you can't figure out how you could not notice that. Especially having made a similar mistake so recently!! It boggles the mind.

I've also started my Madroña in my JulieSpins Glimmer Lace.

But, I've had another thought for yarn, so it's on hold until I get my second option and can swatch it.

I actually had several issues starting that shawl, not from any flaw in the directions, but because I have never used DPNs before, and I was dropping them all over the place. These are Chiaogoos, but they don't have the sharp lace tips, which is also a tad frustrating for me, addicted as I am to sharp tips. After a few rounds, I had enough stitches on the needles that I wasn't dropping them (as often), but it's still a bit awkward. I was hoping to avoid the ladder stitches I had on my Evenstar circular start, where I used two circs, and so far I haven't had that issue, but it definitely was more difficult than just doing things the way I was used to. (Speaking of which...I did the Emily Ocker cast on instead of Romi's recommended bellybutton cast on, because I was too impatient to figure out a new method).

That's really it on the knitting front. I owe CodeNinja some fingerless gloves, so that's on the horizon, as soon as I can tear myself away from my lace!

Musing

2011-11-14T17:06:00.001-05:00

Another week managed to slip by without a blog post. Mea culpa, my dear bloggees!

Sadly despite the lateness, I don't have much to tell. The newest muse is out and, consequently, on my needles.

I've barely started. This is Melpomene by Romi and the yarn is Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock in Black Pearl. This yarn is a little crisper to work with that the other incarnations of Djinni I've used, but that's not very unusual for yarn that is mostly black, in my experience.

And, I finished my Buttonwillow!

But she's not blocked yet.

Other than that, my time has largely been taken up with wedding planning and stash enhancement. I picked up some lovelies in light of The Sanguine Gryphon's - reorganization? Shut down? I'm not sure what to call it, but I cashed in.

3 skeins of Gaia lace in Memoirs des Arbres, and beautiful rich dark brown.

A skein of Skinny Bugga in a puzzling colorway called Sooty Dancer. It photographs as kind of a dark green with black mixed in, which is what I expected when I bought it, but when you're looking at it in real life, it's pretty thoroughly black.

And one skein of Eidos in a color I can neither remember nor properly pronounce. I think it started with a P, and I did all manner of unnatural things to this photo to try and get the color to turn out correctly. I got close, but it's still not really accurate.

I also snagged one skein of Metamorphosis from A Verb For Keeping Warm, whose yarns I've been meaning to try for ages, in anticipation of the imminent public release of Caliz, a pattern Romi originally designed for AVFKW's shawl club. The color is Transnational Fury.

And last but not least, the Great White Yarn search. I looked all over for white-white yarn to go with my wedding dress, and had trouble finding it anywhere in a blend I was happy with. Finally, on the advice of some dear Rav friends, I contacted Julie at JulieSpins on Etsy, who prepared some of her glimmer lace (mostly wool, some silk, and a tiny bit of angelina) for me in her "Here Comes The Bride" colorway - a beautiful white-white. I'm thrilled. I'm going to take a crack at making the October Pins & Lace pattern, Madrona, in this yarn, and if it works out the way it is in my head I'll be over the moon!

Triumphant

2011-10-31T17:45:00.001-04:00

I didn't blog yesterday because I was determined to finish this:

My Umaro blanket is done, and none too soon, for cold weather advances upon us. This project hit the stage where it infuriated me greatly that it wasn't finished, and I spent just about every spare knitting moment on it for the last week and a half to finish it. On the advice of others I added a repeat, so it is not only long enough for me, but for my soon-to-be-DH. Although he is hardly ever cold. In fact, I'm marrying him for his heat-producing capabilities, as I'm chronically cold.

I have exactly one ball of yarn left over, untouched, unopened, unloved. I'll find a use for it. Maybe it will be reincarnated as felted slippers.

I was forced to take a brief hiatus from knitting on the blanket with the single-mindedness and intensity of a marathon runner in her last mile (or a madwoman, however you want to look at it) to go out and socialize with people. I took my naughty, color-shifting buttonwillow with me, only to find once I got where I was going, that I'd made a mistake somewhere and had an extra column of stitches that wasn't supposed to be there. Now, I like to think I'm good at fixing mistakes but mistakes on the edge of a row have always been my downfall, so I gave in to the inevitable, ripped back almost a whole repeat of Chart A (which is only like six rows, but they're getting kind of long at this point) and managed to get it set back up so that when I return home tonight, I can attack it with renewed vigor. I'm in a serious finish-it-up mood at the moment, and I'm riding with it. I'm even starting to think about that cozy sweater from French Girl Knits that's sitting abandoned upstairs.

But, let's not get carried away. The October Pins & Lace shipment is due in my mailbox any day now and we all know I'm going to drop everything as soon as it gets here! (Depending on whether I have to buy needles and yarn.)

Oh, I almost forgot - I also blocked (finally) the Scarf That Would Not Die. I think, despite all my frustration that it was forever short of six feet...I overachieved.

That's a lot closer to seven feet (if not eight) than it is to six. Oh well. He'll wear it, and he'll like it.

Catching Up

2011-10-23T15:00:00.000-04:00

Sunday may become our new regularly scheduled blog day. I prefer to spend Sunday knitting and take pictures at the end of the day, since I usually make pretty good progress on Sundays, but I'll just have to make do.

I've been working on my Buttonwillow but progress has been slower than it could be, because it's getting cold here, so I keep reaching for my big squishy Umaro blanket.

As I laid Buttonwillow out to take its picture, I realized something disturbing.

There is a very distinct color line where I changed skeins. Now, I've been very fortunate with this kind of thing in the past, so I guess it was inevitable that I would have this issue eventually. But I'm feeling a little grumpy about it. I didn't alternate rows, obviously, but I didn't really think it would be an issue. I'm not ripping it out. my buttonwillow will just have to be striped.

Sigh.

I also finally got some long overdue blocking done. This prayer shawl has been laying around my house for ages waiting for me to get around to blocking it, and at last, I have done so.

This yarn is a wool/microfiber blend. I'm not even sure what it is now - I know I got it from LittleKnits but--time for a rav check. Please hold.

...

Okay, it's Rowan Cashsoft Aran, and the pattern is "Prayers of Love" by Carla Willingham.

Anyway, so instead of soaking and pinning, I put it in the washer on my 'hand wash' cycle, and then took it, still damp, and ran wires through the edges and pinned it out. Then I took a towel and my iron and, keeping the towel between the shawl and the iron, and without putting my iron down even on the towel, I puffed steam all over it and steamed it really well, until it was damp(er). Then I left it until it was dry, at which time I unpinned it and took it to my prayer shawl group to turn in, immensely pleased with myself for having finally gotten off my butt to do it.

I also blocked my Kleio, since the person for whom it was a gift was in town this weekend. I gave it to her on the condition that she modelled it for me, so here she is!

With a Romi pin:

I adore the edging on this piece, it really just makes the look.

Love, love, love. Again, this is Kleio from Romi in Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock, and the whiter colorway is "Luna," and the more colorful one is "Dobby." Appropriate, as my friend is a big Harry Potter fan!

We've been best friends since middle school and Kleio, the muse of history, is just so perfect for her, and the colors are so exactly her colors, that I really couldn't be happier with this project. She loved it, too, which really made my day.

Now, if you'll excuse me, dear readers, it's very chilly today, and I feel the need to knit a large squishy wool blanket!

2011-10-11T22:02:00.000-04:00

Gasp! A real blog entry! With real pictures!

Again, desperately sorry for the hiatus, folks. I'm going to have to work out a new blog schedule with my new job. The hours are a little different from what I'm used to and I have plenty to fill my time, so no down time to blog in.

On with the WIP report! Here's what I've been up to:

1. Umaro
It got cold outside and I went running for this blanket. It's so squishy and it will be so warm, I'm looking forward to wrapping up in it. I've got almost three repeats done out of seven, so I still have a long way to go, but it's coming along nicely.

2. Galadriel's Mirror
I picked this one up for a little while, but it kind of got sidelined when my life became a swirling vortex of chaos. I just didn't (and really still don't) have the mental energy for it just at the moment, but I did make some progress.

3. Buttonwillow
Of course I have to have a Romi on my needles, and this is her newest design, Buttonwillow, released today for Ravelry purchase. This design debuted at Vogue Knitting Live and then was available as a kit only. I got the kit so I've been working on this one for a few days already. Road to China light is gorgeous and oh so soft, very nice to have in your hands. Mine is in the Grey Pearl colorway. This is really a good knit for me right now, it's pretty simple and it just feels nice.

So that's it for the works in progress, other than a sock I've been working on in Neighborhood Fiber Company Capital Luxury Sock. When I did my stash organization I found that I had bought a whole bunch of this yarn in different colors, but had never actually knit with it! I decided it was time to fix that, picked out one, wound it up, and it's my mindless, carry-around knitting.

Many of my finished objects are languishing waiting to be blocked. Kleio is in that pile, sadly.

Lovely, finished, and unblocked. I've got some new blocking wires on the way, though, so I'm waiting for those to come in before I worry too much about this one. I do have a lot of ends to weave in on this one before it can be blocked anyway.

I did, however, finally block my Katanya (also by Romi):

So there you have it, and hopefully I will return in a more timely fashion next week!

Still Alive!!!

2011-10-02T22:38:00.003-04:00

Deepest apologies, my much beloved blogees, for my extended absence! I hope to be back to blogging shortly, but there has been a lot of upheaval chez Ninja of late. Here's a brief synopsis:

--I finished Kleio
--I got a new job
--My brother also got a new job in another state, which means he is moving out of my basement in rather short order
--We took a quick beach vacation between the end of the old job and the start of my new one AND...CodeNinja and I are engaged! We're hoping to be married in the spring, and there is soooo much to do!

With all of that going on, I just haven't managed much knitting, and I haven't blocked Katanya or Kleio. I have done some work on my Umaro blanket and some on Galadriel's Mirror, plus I started a boring plain vanilla pair of socks, as that's all I seem to have the brain power for. I have not knit in four days, that's how crazy it's been. I finally broke that unfortunate streak this evening thanks to the boring socks.

Of course the second (or third) question every knitter asks is, what, if anything, I'm going to knit for my wedding. The answer is - I have NO idea!! I don't even feel like I can decide that until I get a dress. I don't know that there is time or that I want to put myself through the stress of knitting anything. When I announced my engagement on the Romi Rav board I had tons of support and several offers for help if I did want a knitted item for the wedding. It was very sweet and I'm honored by all the attention. I'm just totally unequipped to decide at the moment. Part of me wants to do something crazy and knit a Princess Shawl or something of the kind in cobweb yarn to wear, perhaps as a veil. But, I don't know. Again, it depends on the dress. If I have something with a lovely back I might not want to cover it. If I have something with a simpler back then the shawl might jazz it up a little.

Also, I'm afraid CraftMama is not terribly knit-friendly and while I am sure if I wanted to wear a shawl she would not say anything, but I fear the Eyeroll of Doom. I know, it's my wedding and I should wear my knitting if I want to, and if I decide I want to, I will. I just don't know what to do yet. Obviously, if I decide to knit something myself I need to decide pretty soon to make sure I have enough time to actually knit it - although I feel like I am reasonably speedy at this point in my knitting career.

So, in light of all this, I hope you will forgive me for my radio silence. I hope to have pictures of knitting to show in the near future, as soon as I can face up to all the pins I will have to use to block either Kleio or Katanya. Blocking both at the same time is not really feasible - there is no way I have enough pins for that!

iPhone Fabulous

2011-09-07T10:12:00.005-04:00

It's been a busy and rather tiring few days (how does that happen on a holiday weekend? how?) so I was lazy and I have nothing but iPhone pics for the blog today. I don't even have the fancy iPhone, I have a 3. Not a 3gs, mind you. A plain old cheapy iPhone 3. Suffice it to say, the camera is merely adequate at best. Nevertheless! It will have to do.

I celebrated the holiday by laboring (get it?) on my Katanya shawl in utter determination to get it finished. There is this problem with shawls knit from the neck down, that by the time you are nearing the end, each row seems to take an eternity. I find this very discouraging when I'm knitting on weeknights and can't get through more than a row or two a night because it takes an hour or more to do a given row, so I generally counteract this frustration by working like a fiend on the weekends to get some visible progress. In this case, I was close enough to the end of this shawl that I had some hope that I could finish it over the weekend, saving myself from the tear-inducing weekday slog.

The bind-off for this shawl is supremely clever but also interminable and rather time consuming, so I was hoping if I got all the charts done by Sunday, I could do the bind-off on Monday. When that didn't happen, when I went into Monday with two rows of the chart to go (one very fiddly pattern row and then the endless WS purl row back), I thought, it's not going to happen. There's no way I'm going to get through these AND the bind-off. Especially since SOMEONE invited me to go to the yarn store and I lost knitting time to fondling some Neighborhood Fiber Company fingering weight silk that was to DIE for. The colors shone so brightly they practically glowed in the dark, and the yarn was so SOFT. Some of that WILL be mine someday. But I digress.

Anyway, I knit on the way to the yarn store (I wasn't driving, don't worry) and I knit on the way back from the yarn store, and then I ran inside and threw some laundry in the washer and sat down to knit some more. I knit and I knit and I knit and then I started binding off and I thought, I will NEVER get this done. Especially because I had some issues with the bind off at first. I don't do well with counting bind-off stitches, and counting was more or less required, so I kept getting confused and ripping back because I just had no idea where I was. Then I gave up on counting, figured out how I thought the pattern was supposed to line up (Romi is so darn clever it hurts) and just did that. I really didn't think I would finish. I thought I was going to have to quit before I even got to the halfway mark, but finally, finally, I hit a rhythm and got going and suddenly it was 10 p.m. and I looked at what I had left, and I was so close that I could not, simply COULD NOT, stop knitting. So I kept going and finished the bind-off at 11 p.m. (not as dramatic as finishing at 3 a.m., but I'm just as happy that way). And so, my Katanya is done. Sadly, since I finished it so late, I have only this pitiful little iphone pic of the crinkly, unblocked shawl to show you:

Expect something more spectacular next week. But do you see the edging on the shawl? So darn clever, I'm telling you, I can't stand it.

I did do one other thing this weekend, and that was, start my Kleio, and while I haven't gotten very far, I present to you here, the evidence of my infant Kleio:

I have been watching the Ravelry knitalong with a certain amount of envy for everyone that is so far ahead of me, but I had just hit that critical mass point on Katanya where I was so close to being done that I couldn't put it down. But now I am looking forward to some sweet, sweet garter stitch - at least until I get to the braids that separate the garter from the lace section. Should be interesting.

Oh, and here's at least a little proof that I did all that frogging I said I was going to do, although I forgot all about it the day I blogged and vowed to go home and do it that night. But, still! Frogging was done!

Frogging that hat specifically was a little difficult, I have to admit. It seemed a waste of all the work that went into it, but really, I hated working on the darn thing, the yarn clung to the needles like it had claws - I even had trouble getting the needle out of the darn thing so I could frog it! I didn't even particularly like the colors together. It would have made ABSOLUTELY no sense to keep it since I'm sure I would never have finished it. Frogging got easier the further I went, though, and the less it looked like a hat and the more it looked like a pot holder. After that, the frogging was easier. I was positively gleeful while I frogged the chocolate waffle scarf. I did get a little stuck on the KSH shawl. Mohair has a reputation for being really difficult to frog, and the reputation is well deserved. I gave up on it in frustration after a while, frogged everything else, and just sort of shoved that shawl on the corner of the couch to deal with later. Much later. But, as I was frogging it I did see more mistakes than I had originally thought existed in the shawl, so I feel much better about my frogging decision in that situation.

WIPs and UFOs

2011-08-31T11:05:00.002-04:00

Remember this picture?

Up until I did this stash organization, I would have told people rather proudly that I don't have a lot of WIPs and almost no UFO's. Everything in this pile I intended to finish 'someday.' I love that magical setting on Ravelry where you can say a project is 'hibernating.' That means I don't have to admit that I'm not going to finish it AND it doesn't count as a WIP. It's just...hibernating. Waiting for the warmth and daylight of that moment when I bless it with my attention once more, take it in hand, and finish it right off.

Well. Nothing like a little organization to increase your self-awareness. So, with no more self-deception...let's take a look, in no particular order.

1. Featherweight Cardigan, in KnitPicks Shimmer hand dyed lace. Started June 8, 2009

This one is just missing the sleeves. This was a fun knit for a while, although the miles and miles of endless stockinette did get to one eventually. There's always a place for mindless carry-around knitting, though, and this one qualified easily, so it got a lot of work as I trekked around to various things, and because it was laceweight it was easy to carry. I even got the stitches picked up for the collar and knit that out. As designed, the bottom band and collar of this cardigan are supposed to roll, but I don't like rolling, so I put a ribbed bottom band and collar on them. And then...I quit at the sleeves. Pathetic, right? Why did I fall out of love with this project at the sleeves?

I'm pretty sure what happened was that I put it on, and it didn't live up to my expectations. I'm not sure that's the cardigan's fault. It hasn't been blocked, so it looks lumpy and uneven, and the yarn is an alpaca silk blend, so it's all drape and no body, and I just...wasn't excited about it. So I stuffed it in a bag with the intention of finishing it..."someday."

Now, here's my dilemma. I don't love it, but that's a lot of knitting done and only a little knitting left to go, and there's nothing really WRONG with it (aside from one stitch that's a little wonky in the body, where I think I knit into the stitch below by accident). I don't know what to do. I don't feel any motivation to work on it, but it feels absolutely stupid to toss it this far in. A weekend would probably finish it off, and then I could block it and try it on and decide whether it was going to get any wear or not.

2. Umaro Blanket in Cascade Lana Grande, started Jan 29, 2011.

This one is a simple story. I started it, but I am so used to working with small needles that fumbling with giant needles and heavy yarn is just alien feeling to me, so progress was slow. If I worked on it too long, my hands hurt. I kept this one by my bed and worked a few rows before bed every night.

Then it got hot. End of story. It's been sitting in the basket by my bed for ages. It's hard to get the motivation to work on a bulky blanket when it's hot outside. I have confidence I will pick up speed on this one when the weather turns again.

3. Mystery Stole in Jaggerspun Zephyr, started...um...a long time ago. I didn't note it on my project page.

This stole is knit in two pieces and then grafted in the middle. I knit the entire first half, and then stalled on the second half. I got a little frustrated with all the beading in the first half, especially because I didn't like the way the designer had instructed to place the beads. The instructions were to knit the stitch and then place the bead on it, rather than placing and then knitting as I am accustomed to, and I felt like little holes were forming around the beads, so I decided just to bead the stitch on the wrong side row, so that the bead sat where it was supposed to but without the little holes.

This is really quite an old project, probably only the second or third big lace project I attempted, and I'm a lot more experienced at both lace and beading now. I'm pretty sure I could whip through this thing and finish it off no problem. I'm worried about the grafting, though. The only thing I've ever grafted is sock toes and I do those as tightly as I possibly can. The idea of having to graft lace and maintaining tension in such a way as the seam didn't show makes me cower in fear. I know I'll be upset if I can't make it look right. Still, that seems like a stupid reason not to finish. I don't want to rip this one; even though the design itself is not my favorite ever, the color is pretty and, again, it's mostly done. This honestly might have been finished before now if I could have FOUND it any of the times I got the urge to finish it.

4. Witterings Hat in KnitPicks Crayon, started July 2007.

Another very, very early project, one I took on before I learned that I hate knitting with cotton, especially at a tight gauge. It wouldn't be that hard to finish, but...I don't want to. I know there are mistakes in this project, I don't really love the colors, I HATED the yarn (I don't even think they make it anymore) - I really should probably just frog it.

5. Karen's Water Turtles Shawl started April 7 2009

This one is actually already marked as frogged on my Ravelry page, I just haven't actually done it yet. I don't think the marriage of pattern and yarn was really right for this one, the Jojoland Melody just didn't look right in it. I think I wanted something with more drape, and this was just too bouncy. The yarn is nice, though, I think it'll make a great shawl and I have four balls of it, so I just need to go ahead and frog this one and put the yarn back in the (newly organized) stash.

6. Simone pullover in Elizabeth Lavold baby llama, started sometime this year or last, I can't remember and it's not marked on my Ravelry page.

Another victim of summer. I love the feel of this yarn, I love the look of this cowled sweater, I've divided the sleeves from the body and all it needs is some time to knit down the stockinette section to measurements before starting the openwork panel on the sides. It just got too darn hot. This one will make good football knitting. I don't really like football but CodeNinja does. He is from the DC area. I am from Dallas. I like to mock him, but that really only works if you're paying at least a little attention to the game.

7. Veronique cardigan in Rowan Kidsilk Night, started May 23 2009.

(My camera appears to have eaten the picture of this one, so please accept this picture even though it is terribly out of date)

I was in love with the elegant model picture of this circle cardigan. I knit it happily - right until I sewed up the seams and put the things on, and did not look anything like the model. There's this weird bunching that happens down under the arms and a survey of the Ravelry projects quickly showed me it's not unique to my version. But, again, all it's missing at this point are the sleeves. I could just knit the damn sleeves, block the thing, and then decide whether it's worth wearing or not. I don't know, my gauge may be too tight for this airy circular shrug - I did block the pieces before I sewed them together so I don't know what to think. I may just have to designate a sleeve-knitting weekend to finish off these two cardigans so they can stop PLAGUING MY SOUL.

8. Chocolate Waffle Scarf in KnitPicks Swish Worsted Superwash, started September 2007

(picture also eaten, so this one is not recent - See the WIP pile pic above to see how much is done - this one is front and center)

Speaking of things that plague my soul. Seed stitch and stripes. I think I'd rather slit my wrists than finish this not-even-half-done scarf. Sadly, frogging it won't do much to reclaim the yarn, but I can use it for charity knitting baby hats and stuff. I don't know what I was thinking, but as you can see from the date, this is one of my oldest projects from back when I first started knitting, and my only excuse is - I didn't know any better. No pattern, I was just winging it.

9. Shawl in Patons Soy Stripes started in May 2007

No pattern for this one either, just cast on a bunch of stitches and started knitting this broken garter...rib...thing, because I thought the yarn was pretty. Not really wide enough to be a shawl, not narrow enough to be a scarf, and I kept running out of yarn. I think I'll frog this one and see if CodeNinja's mom (hereafter referred to as CodeMama) wants the yarn. If she doesn't want it, maybe somebody at my charity knitting group will.

10. Beginner's Lace Triangle in Fleece Artist Suri Blue, started December 2007

This was supposed to be my first lace project. I figured out, after working a chunk of the first side, that I was doing my YO's totally wrong, which is why the lace looks so closed on the bottom half of this photo and then suddenly opens up at the top.

Instructions for this shawl are to knit the increase chart until you are halfway out of yarn or bored stupid, and then start the decrease chart. Over the course of a couple of Christmas trips home I did manage to use up the first skein of yarn and start the decrease chart, but this has long been abandonned for other things. It was a good shawl that served its purpose, I learned a lot while working on it, but I don't really see myself coming back to this one any time soon. The cable caps actually came off it at one point and a bunch of stitches are dropped and would need to be laddered back and fixed - or I'd have to rip back and then put a billion stitches back on the needles. No thanks - this is good yarn, and I'll find another project for it.

11. Moonlight Sonata in Rowan Kidsilk Haze, started July 15, 2008

(again, an out of date picture)

This one is also already marked as frogged on my Rav page, but I've never gotten around to doing the actual frogging. I liked this shawl, and I think it's pretty in the yarn, but a) I was bored stupid after the third or fourth repeat b) there's a dropped stitch a repeat or two back c) I dropped it for Christmas knitting. Again, this was a fairly early project and it would probably go a lot more smoothly now that I'm more experienced. Maybe I'll frog it, but start over. It's awfully pretty.

12. Three Scarf Ruana in Valley Yarns Northampton, started May 11 2009

I'm not even going to bother with a photograph here. It's a big long grey scarf. This was intended to be a long-term project, so that I always had a garter stitch something to be working on if we, say, went to the movies or something like that and I needed to grab something. However, it's grown a little unwieldy for that kind of thing, and it's been sitting in a box for ages. I'm not sure - maybe I should just frog it and save the yarn for something else. There is kind of a lot of yarn.

13. Galadriel's Mirror in HandMaiden Silk Twist

This one was a combination of startitis and warm weather. I started it even though I had a billion other things already going on, and it just wasn't the most appealing thing to work on at the time. It's going to be quite large and it's fingering weight, so it wasn't really summer-appropriate knitting. I took this one downstairs and moved it to my active queue immediately, and I've already finished the first chart. It's the perfect project right now with that fall smell that's beginning to come into the air. Right now it's still small enough to work on even though it's warm, and by the time it gets big enough to be uncomfortable, the weather will hopefully have cooled down some. Plus, I really like this pattern. I did my first bobble on Monday night. I don't much care for bobbles, but they're an essential element of this pattern, so bobble I did. Still not a fan, but I'll live with it. The overall shawl is going to be lovely. It's awfully textured, and I worry a bit that the silk twist yarn has too much texture, but having looked at other peoples' beginnings, I think that's just the way it looks at this beginning stage. As it grows, the lines of the pattern will come together to look a little less chaotic, I hope.

And I think that's it. Besides these projects, the only thing I'm really working on is a second sock for CodeNinja (which I haven't actually started yet, since I somehow managed to end up with three needles in my bag, all of different sizes, instead of two of the same size) and Katanya. I finished Chart K last night and have only two charts to go, but Galadriel's Mirror makes a nice break from those superlong rows (for now...there are going to be a lot of stitches on that one before it's done too).

I have to admit I got a little depressed when looking at these unfinished projects. I have a reputation for starting more than I finish in all my craft pursuits, but I've been proud because I rarely do this in knitting. I finish almost everything I start, or so I thought. But then I took a look at my Rav page. 144 projects entered there, of which 17 are marked as hibernating or frogged. So, even though I have accumulated a fair pile of UFO's in the - what? Four years I've been knitting? I still think I can be pretty proud of my unfinished-to-finished ratio.

I vow that tonight I will go home and ACTUALLY frog stuff, rather than just marking it as frogged on Ravelry and then leaving the unfrogged project in a bag in case I change my mind.

Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here

2011-08-29T10:03:00.004-04:00

I skipped out on blogging last week because I really had nothing to show. I'm at the point now where the rows on Katanya, the July Pins & Lace shawl, are so long that they take a while to do, and I just didn't have much time last week at all. Between work, things that had to be done at home and just generally being wiped out once it was all finished, I was barely managing a row a night, and some nights I didn't knit at all. But! Thanks to the hurricane, I had a good excuse to do nothing but knit this weekend. I'm not really sure how that works, since the hurricane wasn't inside and so there was nothing to prevent me from doing all the stuff that needed doing inside, but hey, I needed a break, so I spent a lot of time knitting on Saturday and I got through the mesh section of the lace chart:

Two charts to go, I think. There are a lot of charts in this pattern! However, you only do each chart once, so I'm okay with lots of charts.

Friday night, I finished this:

That's right, The Scarf That Would Not Die is finally done. I haven't measured it, but I'm sure it's over six feet. How do I know this?

CodeNinja is 5'10". It'll probably lose some length when blocked as I expect the rib to expand considerably, so it'll be much wider than it is in these pictures. (Please excuse my messy house in the background. I apologize for shattering any illusion you may have had that I am a neat and well-organized person. You may want to take some time to recover before reading the rest of this entry.) I would have blocked it this weekend except that I weep when I think about threading wires through six plus feet of solid knitting.

Sunday, I became possessed. I'm not exactly sure it happened, but I have six pages of flickr photos to prove it's true. We went out to run some errands Sunday after church, and I was telling CodeNinja how I've felt like I'm in a bit of knitting slump lately and I wasn't sure how to get out of it, and maybe I should pull some of my old projects out and see if one of them excited me, and then I sighed heavily because my 'craft room' (otherwise known as 'the vortex of chaos') is in such a state that I was sure I wouldn't be able to find the project I was thinking of even if I tried. Then I said, maybe I should pull it all out and organize the stash.

I say this often. I really do. But this time was different. This time, I went home - and I actually did it.

First I tried to do it a little bit at a time. That was not very successful. Too confusing. So, I pulled all of my yarn out of the craft room and the zillion other nooks and crannies it was occupying in the house, and I piled it all in my guest bedroom.

After this I sorted it roughly by weight, tossing all my sock weight on the left side of the bed, all my lace weight on the right side of the bed, accumulating worsted or heavier in one corner of the room, and tossed all my DK/sport weight into one bag. I enlisted CodeNinja, sat him down with the computer and my Ravelry stash page, and we went through the stash from heaviest to lightest. I pulled stuff out, brought it into the craft room, CodeNinja verified it was in the stash, logged it if it wasn't, let me know if I needed a picture, and then once the yarn was logged and photographed I put it away, as neatly as possible. When I came across a WIP, I put it in the corner, along with all the yarn that was supposed to go with it, to deal with later.

I don't have all that much heavier weight yarn, but the heavier weight yarn was the least well documented, so it took us a while to get through the worsted-or-heavier-pile. The DK pile was even smaller so even though it wasn't all that well documented, it didn't take that long to deal with.

Then came the fingering weight. I sorted it by color first, in rainbow order, with all the neutrals and anything that made me go 'uuhhh...' at the end.

Then I carried it by color group into the craft room, where we verified, photographed if necessary, and I put it away. Though this is by far the most extensive part of my stash, it didn't take that much time to do, because it is also by far the most well-documented area of my stash.

When we finished the sock weight I did the same with the laceweight and now, I present to you...the stash.

The worsted & heavier corner, which I'm afraid, doesn't look all that neat. I need a couple of bins to put this stuff in. The cardboard box has all my Valley Yarns stuff and then everything else is sort of neatly stacked and piled and there IS one little basket in there but it's so buried in yarn you can't see it. But, even though it is somewhat piled, it is organized. All the like yarns are together with their fellows, at least until I need something at the bottom of this pile and start tossing stuff aside with no regard for my previous organizational efforts. It's only a matter of time.

And this, the pride of my stash, the sock & laceweight yarn.

CodeNinja bought these shoe thingies for me some time ago for the express purpose of helping me organize my yarn, and they work pretty well. Of course, as I look at this picture I realize I have made the classic organizational mistake of not allowing adequate room for expansion, but we'll get to that in a moment.

I didn't have quite enough room for everything so some items are hanging next to it using my old system, ziplocks clip ed in skirt hangers. It works when your stash isn't so big, but not so well when it grows as much as mine has.

Then, I turned my attention to my WIP pile.

Some of these items are much loved, and simply unfinished because of unfortunate circumstances or laziness. Some of these are what I like to call, Things I Started Before I Knew Better, and serve as sort of a timeline of stuff I have learned over the last three and a half years of knitting about my own preferences. Unfortunately, some of my photos from this sort seem to be missing, so I'm going to save that for bonus post this week when I can really get into the "WHAT WAS I THINKING??" and maybe that'll make up for having no post last week.

My stash organization hasn't been perfect, even since then I've found more yarn that I didn't deal with during the sort, and there were a few things in my ravelry stash that I know I still have but can't find - but it's a start, and now I can actually walk into the room when I need something, instead of doing this sort of fraught-with-danger hopscotch around the room to try and get to where I think the stuff I'm looking for may be hiding.

One thing this has shown me, as if I really needed evidence, is that I don't really need more yarn. I don't feel like I have an unreasonable amount of stashed yarn, either. It's manageable. But, there aren't a lot of colors that I don't have here. This doesn't really mean I will stop buying yarn, because buying yarn is fun, but I will try to go to the stash first. Also...I really ought to knit more socks. I've got lots of sock yarn now that I feel like is too pretty for socks and that I should save for a shawl, but I really ought to just suck it up and pick some of these skeins out to make socks out of. I'm eyeing some of that Neighborhood Fiber Company Capital Luxury sock for my next pair.

Of Bouquets and Butins

2011-08-17T10:21:00.004-04:00

Feeling like a hamster in a wheel the last couple of weeks! I'm constantly busy but never seem to be DOING anything...know what I mean?

No? Just me then? Okay. Moving on.

CodeNinja and I went to an out of town wedding this past weekend where he was the best man and I was - the best man's date. Also known as the Designated Nagger. "Did you remember to get a suit?" (he didn't), "Did you get the ring from the groom?" (he did, and then gave it to me to hold on to until the wedding) and my favorite, "You know you have to make a speech, right?" (He did, and despite dithering about it to the last minute, he did it beautifully. Then he sat down before actually doing the toast part and I had to hiss at him to get back up.)

I caught the bouquet, in the most bizarre fashion that is so laughingly typical for me. This was the twelfth wedding I've attended and I've never caught the bouquet, mostly because I can't bring myself to look quite so pathetically desperate as to be willing to SHOVE other women out of the way and take a flying leap to snatch up a good-luck symbol that has no actual bearing on reality. (Not that I am poo-pooing the tradition. I wanted that bouquet every time, I just didn't want anybody to know that I wanted it. Not because I thought it was some kind of magic charm, just because it has the same appeal as winning the lottery. Your odds are so bad that the idea of winning is exciting beyond the never-having-to-work-again aspect.) So, really, I was only going to catch that bouquet if it came straight at me and everyone else inexplicably fell asleep. Up until Saturday, that has never happened.

However this particular couple is rather nontraditional and the groom really, really wanted to throw the bouquet, so at the end of the ceremony (literally, as soon as they turned around and were announced at husband and wife), the bride handed the groom the bouquet and he lobbed it straight down the aisle.

Problem is, they forgot to tell anybody they were going to do this. I knew, as I had been at the rehearsal the day before, but I had totally forgotten about it, and so for an instant the entire room sat frozen and confused as that bouquet sailed up into the air and then down straight for the floor - as it happens, right next to me. I had my camera up and was taking pictures when some part of my brain realized it was sailing past me, and my hand shot out, I leaned, and snatched the thing out of the air before it hit the ground, depositing it in my lap quite coolly, thank you very much, as the entire room cracked up and applauded. I'm convinced all the knitting improved my hand-eye coordination. It was possibly the most calm and dignified bouquet catch ever - which did not stop certain people from teasing me mercilessly afterward, but what can you do? (To the inevitable question, "What did CodeNinja say?" the answer is, "Nice reflexes." One of our friends maintains that the expression on his face when I caught it was priceless, but I think he was just impressed at the catch. If that is not the case, he would be wise not to tell me.)

Anyway. You all came here to see knitting (though you will note I am wearing my Boutin necklace in that picture, so technically I have already shown some knitting in action).

As usual, WIPs first. I took my July Pins & Lace project with me but didn't actually work on it. I will tell you why in a moment. Thus, it remains in the same state it was in last week, but since I haven't bothered to take a picture of it until now, I am sure you will be just as amazed.

It's a bit scrunched up on the needles at the moment, but I spread it out so you could see one half at least. It's mostly stockinette at this point - I've just gotten to the point where the real fun begins. This pattern uses the same mesh as Sevillano but in a different way. I ordered a 60" Chiaogoo because my 40" ain't covering it. there will be a LOT of stitches before I'm done.

I think the edging on this pattern is so incredibly clever, as well as pretty.

And...that's it. That's all I have to show for WIPs. I still have The Scarf That Would Not Die, although I think it may finally be on its last legs. Everything else I have to show is done, done, done.

I mentioned my Butin necklace that I wore above. Well, Ms. Nelkin has now released Butin earrings, and I immediately ordered a kit to match the necklace (even though I made the necklace to match my copper earrings - and I am setting a record for parenthetical statements on the blog today). If you'll recall, when I made the Butin necklace it was so much fun that I immediately dug up my leftovers of Schaefer Audrey and got out my beads and made two more, one out of Nellie Bly and one out of...of...shoot. I always want to say the wrong monkey lady. Diane Fossey, that's it!

So I ordered up some earring findings and jump rings and set to making Butin earrings for all three necklaces. There is a note in the pattern that says "Wet block to shape. THIS STEP IS SURPRISINGLY IMPORTANT." and she does not lie. Here is the Nellie Bly earring, which has not been blocked. (Apologies that the picture is so dark, my laptop makes everything look lighter than it is and I sometimes don't compensate well.)

And here are the Diane Fossey earrings, which have:

They totally stay that way when I pick them up, too. I did not think it possible. I didn't do anything special, just soaked them and pinned them out.

It seems I forgot to photograph the first set I made from the kit, in the Elizabeth Kubler Ross colorway, but I'll try to show those off later. I still only have one Nellie Bly earring because I lost my little baggy of jump rings. I've looked everywhere for it and made CodeNinja look too and I can't find the darn things anywhere. It must be gnomes.

I had less knitting time on this trip than I expected, and even less knitting time in which I could knit something I had to pay attention to, so as I mentioned, the shawl stayed in my bag the whole time. I did have the car ride both ways, but I had taken three pairs of socks with me that needed finishing, and two were at the heel turn, so I spent my time in the car doing that so that I could get one sock to a point where it would be mindless, and the other sock to a point where I could start the foot chart. After that I only had snatches of time here and there, enough to work a sock chart but not enough to work rows on a big lace shawl. So, I got nothing done while I was gone but socks.

I finished the plain socks that I started a million years ago out of Dragonfly Fibers Djinni in Pink Hydrangea.

I finished the Serab socks from Silk Road Socks in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga colorway Arachne, so they are ready before their recipient (whose birthday was in March) returns from her travels. It's times like this I wish I had a sock blocker, because these just look weird with no feet in them.

And I finished one giant mansock for CodeNinja. This one had been an inch or two away from done for some time, I just needed some time to work on it where I had him around to try it on as needed. I don't know what this yarn is but I despise it, it is a single with some mohair content (I think) and it is an absolute pain in the rear to knit. The colors are lovely but sooooo not worth it IMO. How about a group shot for some size perspective?

Remember, girls, it is just as easy to love a man with small feet.

Sadly, this is only the first sock in the pair, which means I have to knit another one. I don't think I have enough yarn to make the stripes match up since the repeats are so long, but CodeNinja (because he knows what is good for him and where his socks come from) says he doesn't mind if they're, in the YH's words, fraternal rather than identical.

I also made some new yarn acquisitions from Calla Lily Knits & Gifts, mostly from Mountain colors. I got this skein of sock yarn in Turquoise:

And two skeins of lace yarn in Wild Horse.

I also got a bag of largely unidentified yarn and spinning fiber from the bride, who was happy to destash it to someone who will love it. And I always love free yarn. The fiber and yarn are from local farmers to their area. I haven't gone through it all but I think it is a mixture of wool and alpaca.

By the way, have you seen Puppy Snips from Hiya Hiya? They are the cutest tiny little scissors!!

Teensy weensy! The first time I used them they didn't cut that well, but I got out a piece of tinfoil and cut it up with the Snips, and that seemed to sharpen them up just fine. No problems since. I think they're adorable.

So, that should catch me up and I apologize for the radio silence. I am a bad, bad blogger. I will try to do better. Romi has finished the design of Muse #1 and it's now in the hands of the test knitters, so expect to see that as soon as the pattern gets into my hot little hands. I have two yarn combos I'm considering. Neighborhood Fiber Company in Edgewood and Sheridan Circle:

And Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock (the yarn the shawl was designed in) in Luna (the white) and Dobby (the multicolored).

Romi has announced that Muse #1 is Kleio, the muse of history. I'm thinking about knitting this one twice and just using both combos. Then I can keep one for myself, and give the Sunshine yarns one to my best friend. The colors are definitely much more her than me and since she is the person I have the most history with, and is a bit of a history buff herself, it seems appropriate that she receive Muse #1.

I will now leave you with a picture of the most inexplicable thing we saw on our trip, so that you may boggle this puzzle until I post again.

A Pause to Reflect

2011-08-01T15:40:00.003-04:00

Today is the first of August and it strikes me as a good day to look back over all the knitting I've accomplished this year. I really knit like a fiend for the first six months or so, always too many projects on the go and probably more anxiety than was really necessary about getting them done. Now here we are and the year's more than half gone, and I find myself feeling like I'm in a bit of a lull, knitting-wise. I'm definitely still knitting, and I love the things I'm working on, but I'm not quite as...hmm...I don't know. Excited? I hate to say that because it sounds like I'm bored with what I'm doing, and I'm not.

Usually this happens to me when I have a bunch of things on the needles, or when I'm working on stuff I feel 'obligated' to do - gifts etc. And while I do have a few things like that (The Scarf That Would Not Die), I actually don't have that much on the needles right now. So, I think, maybe I should just step back for a minute and look at everything I have accomplished this year.

So let's take a look at my 2011 knitting, shall we?

Bluebird (Romi Hill) was my first FO of 2011, though it was mostly knit in 2010.

It was swiftly followed by my Phoenix Rising (Sivia Harding) shawl, which I absolutely adored. It was absolutely the perfect combination of yarn, beads, and pattern concept, and it was absolutely volcanic. I adored it. Plus it was huge, so it felt like a real accomplishment to finish. This one was also mostly knit in 2010 so it doesn't count for the challenge, but that doesn't make me love it any less.

My next FO was on a much smaller scale, the Limestone One Skein Shawl that I did using a skein of cashmere yarn from Zen Yarn Garden. This was a fun, frothy little knit.

Then came the predecessor to the scarf that would not die, the hat for my darling CodeNinja, whose massive intelligence requires a larger than average container, so commercially knit hats don't fit him.

Right around that time I started to lose my head a little bit and I got a nasty case of startitis. I started Galadriel's Mirror even though I knew I didn't have the time to work on it.

It still languishes, I'm afraid. I still love the pattern and I occasionally consider picking it up, but it's a bit hot for it right now. This is quite a large fingering weight shawl and I'm afraid I would just roast alive if I made any significant progress on it. I'm really looking forward to picking this up again in the fall though.

I was really excited about the In Dreams shawl, as well, but...I never started it. I'm not totally sure why. It's a bit complicated, for sure, but I like complicated. I think I just can't make up my mind about the beads. There are SO MANY BEADS. I can't decide whether I want to bead it as written, not bead it at all, or bead only parts of it. I've waited long enough that the pattern is complete, the mystery KAL long over, so I could really make some decisions about where to bead and where not to if I liked.

I started the lovely Umaro blanket (Jared Flood)

Didn't get very far on that one either. It's in my bin, waiting for the fall to come again. I find I can only work on this a small amount at a time, as the huge needles hurt my hands if I use them for too long.

I took the shawl design class and started on my Sea Turtles shawl design.

I may not be cut out for designing. It was fun and I liked it, but - the shawl remains unknit. I only have a little bit of work left to do to finish off the pattern enough that I, at least, could knit it. I had grand plans for this one. I should really set aside some time for it.

I also knit Avira for the Light and Dark Lace Club run by PennyRose Yarns and Zen Yarn Garden.

And, during all this time, I was also knitting Sevillano (Romi Hill).

Love that shawl. This was the second time that the yarn and the pattern really just came together in that Perfect Storm of Awesome. I love wearing this piece.

Oh yeah. I'd also started this, The Scarf That Would Not Die.

They seem to go so quickly in the beginning, and then they hit a certain length and you just don't see progress anymore. Sigh.

I started Taygete (Romi Hill) before I finished Sevillano, as I recall. Projects were just coming thick and fast, and I was knitting like a fiend to keep up.

As soon as Sevillano was finished, I cast on for Fiori di Sole (Romi Hill). This is the third Perfect Storm shawl - perfect yarn, perfect pattern, perfect, perfect, perfect.

Immediately after Fiori was finished, I jumped right into Spanish Moss (Romi Hill).

Somewhere during all that mess I knit a prayer shawl.

And a second Taygete (still Romi Hill).

Alcyone (Romi Hill) was next.

Followed quickly by Sakaki (Romi Hill).

Then I went to Alaska.

As soon as I got back, I knit a bunch of Butin necklaces (Laura Nelkin)

(there was a third but apparently I never took a picture of it)

Asterope (Romi Hill) was next.

I finally finished Spanish Moss (I'm wearing it today and have received two compliments from nonknitters).

Then Live Oak (Romi Hill)

Which brings me pretty much up to date. I'm currently working on the Serab Socks from Silk Road Socks (excuse the out of date picture - pretend this is a whole sock).

I'm also working on the July Pins & Lace shawl, The Scarf That Would Not Die (in this case 'working on it' means I glare at it every once in a while as I walk by in the hopes that sheer intimidation will cause it to knit itself while I am gone) and....that's really it at the moment.

But, looking back at this list - no wonder I'm tired!!

Forward and Back, Hot and Cold

2011-07-27T10:41:00.003-04:00

When last we met, I hoped to have a new shawl to show this week! And I do! Except, I don't. The shawl is started but not photographed. The new shawl is the July installment of Romi's Pins & Lace club. Since I get the pattern and pin but not the yarn, I needed to go shopping, and since this past weekend was Fibre Space's birthday sale, the timing could only have been better if it landed on payday. Well, we can't have everything in life - I went anyway.

For the new Pins & Lace Shawl, I got this:

Photographed on my knees in the car with my phone, because I was that excited. This is Miss Babs Yet (65 wool 35 silk) in colorway Bog Berry. It's a slightly darker, more saturated color than what shows in the photo. I also got a skein of Neighborhood Fiber Co. Maisonette in colorway Hampden for the last Pins & Lace installment, which I didn't do when it came out because I was already buried in WIPs.

This pattern, Lisianthus, is now available to the public and people are jumping right into it on the Romi Rav group, which is making it a real temptation for me to cast this on right now! I'm determined to finish the new shawl first, though. I have observed that Romi tends to release something simple (Spanish Moss) followed by something complicated (Lisianthus), and the new shawl is no exception, being simple yet beautiful, easy to knit and yet - I've already messed up.

Last night I came home angry (first bad sign) and tired (second bad sign) and sat down to work on it (all signs indicate this was a bad idea). I finished the chart I was on and went to the next one, absolutely failing to notice that the repeat markers had moved and where I was previously simply knitting across the row, the YO's that had previously happened on the outer edges only needed to be distributed across the shawl according to the pattern directions. I was at least five rows into the chart before I figured this out, if not more. The discovery was not pretty. There was swearing, there was grumbling, I said things to myself that were not nice. Then I ripped. Except, I didn't really want to rip and have to get all those tight little stitches (that's me, supatight knitta) back on the needle, so I tinked. I tinked more than one row at a time. I've heard people talk about doing this but I've never attempted it before and needless to say, my first attempt was clumsy at best. It WORKED...sort of. But I'm not sure it was all that much faster than individually tinking. Regardless, I managed to undo everything I did last night, so that we can forget it ever happened and tonight I can start over. If only all problems in life were so easily solved!!

Here's another picture of the two yarns together that has better color.

And, lest I get a scolding from a certain someone who I know reads this blog, I also finished the first Serab sock. I plan to start the other one...um...this weekend. Yes. For sure. It's vaguely astonishing to me how much faster patterned socks seem to go than plain socks. I can only guess it's because I get the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing a chart, and also the sense of having a finite beginning and end. It's much easier to know exactly how many rows you have to knit than it is to have to knit to a certain measurement, where you're constantly stopping and measuring, and every time you measure you get a different result, and you have to fight yourself to keep from stopping too soon just so that you can move on to the next part. Or is that just me?

I actually enlisted CodeNinja to help me with the measuring of the foot of this sock. There is a chart pattern that goes down the foot, and then you simply repeat the last line of the pattern until the foot is long enough and you do the toe. See aforementioned issues with measuring. I didn't want my poor recipient to end up with a short sock because I was tired of knitting, so I made CodeNinja measure for me, figuring he was objective. Then I argued with him that he was doing it wrong and the sock had to be longer than that. "Look at it! It's huge! You can't be right, there is no way the sock needs to be this big." My smaller than average feet may have skewed my viewpoint on this matter further. If I had been knitting the sock for me, I would have done the toe immediately after the chart pattern finished. Anyway, we eventually agreed that the sock was long enough and I did the toe. I dearly hope it is not too long. When I measured the finished foot, it was a little longer than my book measurements said it should be. Still, a sock that is too long is much easier to fix than a sock that is too short. I vowed, as I do every time, to never ever knit a sock again if I can't force the recipient to sit by me when I get close to the end so that I can make them try it on a dozen times to be sure it fits. I expect this vow to be as effective this time as it has been in the past.

I have one other project on my list of 'soon to do' and that is to make a pair of thrummed mittens. Thrummed mittens in summer! That's crazy! Yes, it is, but so are my friends, who are going to be missionaries in Mongolia. Since I have always wanted to knit thrummed mittens (and because she is a dear friend and there is not much else I can do to help) I offered to make her some. Besides, she is the only person I know who will ever be anywhere cold enough to warrant thrummed mittens.

We looked at a bunch of different colors and kits and things and ultimately settled on black mittens with yellow or red thrums. I picked up some Cascade EcoWool at Fibre Space and pulled some wine red fiber from my spinning stash, and set the whole lot aside for a time when it's not too unbearable to knit mittens. I think I can do it once this heat wave passes, but I just couldn't handle it with the temps the way they were this weekend. And, you know. I had a shawl to knit. I'm thinking of also knitting her some Maia mitts or something to wear under the thrummed mittens, to keep her hands warm when she needs to take them off to do something. I can't imagine there is much you can accomplish while wearing mittens like that. If nothing else, she can wear them around the house or something. Maybe I'll knit a hat too. And a scarf. Lots of warm wooly love while she does the Lord's work. I should have bought another skein of ecowool. I wonder if I could do an Esplanade with worsted weight wool, or if that would be unbearably bulky? I'd have to improvise a bit on number of cast on stitches and the decreases...maybe I'll just stick to my old fallback, Kim's Hats. I suppose I could thrum a hat but that might be weird. Static nightmare with one's hair, I'd imagine. I should have bought more EcoWool.

I am quite taken by my Chiaogoo Red Lace needles, I have to say. And from the way they were flying off the shelves at Fibre Space, I'm not the only one. They are as sharp as the Knit Picks needles and much, much sturdier. The only thing I would change is that I wish the surface were slicker. It has sort of a velvety finish, and while it hasn't really impeded me, I'd be happier with something smooth. I've heard knitters say that they felt like the yarn was scraping along the needle and they couldn't stand the gut reaction they had to that sensation. I totally understand what they mean, but I'm glad I can put up with it. So far. I need to knit something in 100% silk to really test it out. Silk has a reputation for being a slippery fiber but I've actually found it quite difficult to move along the needle - perhaps because it IS so slippery, the stitches slide over one another and get all bunched up. Or maybe it is my supertight knitting style. No telling, really.

I tried using two Chiaogoos for the Serab sock, and I had mixed feelings about it. Knitting at such a tight gauge (especially because I was knitting with Bugga which is heavier than your average sock yarn), the lack of slickness is especially noticeable, and the braided steel cables are a little stiffer than the KP cables, so the needle that wasn't in use tended to stick out dangerously. I'm hoping they will soften up a little with use and dangle a bit more. In the meantime I've taken to sticking the ends of the needle not in use into the sock so I don't take somebody's eye out with them. On the plus side, the sticking out keeps the metal tips from clanking together, which always annoyed me.

Hoping to do lots of knitting this weekend, so I will have more than yarn to show you next week - although we do all like looking at yarn, don't we?

Block Party

2011-07-18T11:20:00.002-04:00

I didn't get the blog post in last week, but I'm making for it this week! When I'm done with this post it will look like I've been really busy, when really - I've just been lazy, letting FO's pile up and blocking them all at once.

But, in keeping with tradition, WIP's first. I owe some birthday socks that I'm long overdue on, and I finally got them started this week:

These are Serab from Silk Road Socks in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga, colorway Arachne.

I have to say I really appreciate that the directions for this sock told you what to do when your double-increase was the first stitch in the round. I always get so frustrated when those little details are left out of the pattern. It's such a small thing, but it really saves me personally a lot of aggravation. I don't like to guess.

Knitting patterned socks always seems to go much faster than knitting plain socks. I love the sense of accomplishment I get when I finish a chart. It's much less satisfying to knit to a certain measurement, in my opinion. For this sock, you're given the chart and then told to repeat the last row a certain number of times, and if you want to make the sock longer you can simply keep repeating that last row until you're ready to do the heel. I just did the number of repeats indicated, since I've never done this pattern before and I've never used this yarn before, so I didn't want to push my luck too much on yardage. I think I would've been fine to make it a little longer, but I didn't want to take the risk.

One thing I don't really care for in terms of making patterned socks is doing the heel according to the instructions given. Now, I could've just tossed out the heel indicated and done my preferred heel, but I'll try anything once so I did the heel as directed. The flap seems a little long to me, but I checked it against my foot and I don't think it's a problem. It's a teeny bit baggy on me but I have smaller than average feet, so I think it will be fine for the person receiving it. Anyway, for a Saturday afternoon, I feel like that's pretty good progress.

I haven't started a new shawl because the next shawl in Romi's Pins & Lace club is due to show up in mailboxes starting this week, so I thought I would hold off and see what she's cooked up before I pick a new project. Crossing my fingers it's something I can use stash yarn for, but if not, a trip to the LYS may be in my future. I was down at Fibre Space a couple of weeks ago and their lace yarn selection is pretty delicious. I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted, though, so I ended up buying only sock yarn. I got three colors of Capital Luxury Sock from Neighborhood Fiber Company:

Edgewood

Sheridan Circle

Kalorama Circle

I'm thinking the two greens together might be pretty for Muse #1, but we'll see. I want to see what the dyer Romi used has available before I commit.

I'm still working on the endless scarf for CodeNinja. I think I have about six inches to go. It'll just take a few dedicated hours to get through. I'll rent a movie or something, I guess.

My charity knitting group is working on baby hats this summer so I've been working on one of those too. They gave us some patterns for DK weight yarn, but of course I'm a glutton for punishment so I'm working a fingering weight hat from some yarn I had in stash that I decided was probably never going to get used for actual socks. It's Ty-Dy - is that Crystal Palace, I think? Something like that.

Anyway, I've blathered on long enough - time for the FO parade!

Alcyone, the final of the seven sisters from 7 Small Shawls to Knit Year One: The Pleides, done in Ellen Cooper's Yarn Sonnets in colorway Aqua Tide.

Spanish Moss, Romi's Pins & Lace Club January installment, in Yarn Chef Spun Sugar in colorway Wild Sage. I did, in fact, finish this over the 4th of July weekend as I'd intended, but I didn't get it blocked until yesterday. This is the first time I've used this yarn and it was lovely, not quite as tightly twisted and round as Schaefer Andrea nor as loosely plied and flat as either BMFA Silk Thread II or Sundara Silk. I thought it gave a nice balance between the soft hand of the latter and the crisp stitch definition of the former. Would definitely use again! I had only a small ball left over from this, but I haven't weighed it. The colorway was named quite appropriately, and reminded me both of the grey-green color of Spanish Moss in the south and of the wild sage that grows in Yellowstone. The leaf sections are beaded but they don't show well, unfortunately - the beads are transparent white with a pearlized finish and they look exactly like dew drops. I'm so thrilled with them, and they were from stash. I also beaded the points on the edge - in fact, on one side I apear to have placed some extra beads, so I may go back with a pair of pliars and crack off the extra ones. Or I may just leave it. More bling never hurt.

Live Oak shawl, newly released from Romi in the latest issue of Knitscene, in MadTosh sock in "Tart" - I did an extra repeat of Chart A to make it slightly larger and still almost got this done in one skein. I ended up breaking open the second skein for the last row and a half plus the bind off. This was a super quick knit - I think I finished it in less than ten days, if memory serves, and it's beautiful. The lace is done in three sections and each leaf point must be pinned out in three places to get the lovely leafy edging, so blocking this one was a bit of a challenge for me. I'm happy with how it turned out.

By next week, I'll hopefully have a new shawl to show (and, if I'm very lucky, a finished pair of socks).

Wool Therapy

2011-06-29T09:49:00.001-04:00

It's the middle of the week and I don't know about you all, but I could really use a break, so let's look at some yarn!!

First up, yarn from The Flying Skein in Seward. Highly recommend this little shop, they had lots of cute stuff and some good yarns, including these Alaska-dyed yarns:

First up, from Raven Frog Fibers:

Elegante in Colorway Stormy Sea. This one was probably the priciest yarn I bought (except for the quiviut) but it was so pretty that I couldn't walk away from it.

It's a 50/50 wool silk blend (you know I am a sucker for silk) in a light fingering weight, about 650 yards. I'm thinking it'll make a beautiful small shawl, maybe for one of Romi's year 2 e-book shawls.

I wish I had thought to photograph the tag where I could see it and quote it here, because I LOVE hearing about the inspiration behind the colors and this dyer had very elegant explanations for her inspirations.

From the same shop, and the same dyer, Bear Feet in colorway Alaskan Husky (no one who knows me is surprised that I insisted on getting the one named after the dog):

I got another skein of Bear Feet in a colorway called...uh...Russian Gown? Something like that. I knew it until I tried to type it. This skein's not for me, so it's not even in my Rav stash for me to check.

This dyer's definitely on my 'would buy again' list and I haven't even knitted with the yarn yet. Love the colors and the stories behind them.

On the advice of some Ravelers we also went to The Tangled Skein in Eagle Pass, where I picked up a couple of skeins of sock yarn, which I believe were dyed by AlaskanNancy.

One in colorway Dog Sled Team:

And one in colorway Grizzly Bear,

which I think are destined to become socks for CodeNinja - a nice souvenir for him.

Lastly, we went to Far North Yarn in Anchorage, where I bought quiviut for what I thought was a very reasonable price, considering. Sadly...I forgot to photograph it.

So that's it for my Alaska Stash Enhancement, but since I was photographing anyway, I went through a literal pile of yarn I had sitting at the foot of the stairs and logged in some acquisitions that never made it into the stash or onto the blog. These were from the Indie Artist Celebration that Eleganza Yarns had a while back:

Shelby B's Designs Sterling Silver Merino in Minister of Magic (I'm thinking Romi shawl for this one)

Crazy4Dying Squishy Sock in Mandarin

These were birthday yarn:

Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Tart

Mountain Colors Winter Lace (50 silk/50 wool, 600 yards) in Harmony Lake

And, this is the yarn I finally chose for my much-neglected Sea Turtles shawl design, undyed Tussah Silk from Dye for Yarn (I find it supremely ironic that I have drooled over the colorways on her site for ages, and what do I finally buy? Undyed yarn.)

Well. I feel better. Back to the grind! Gotta earn some money with which to buy more yarn.

Seven - The Number of Completion

2011-06-27T11:27:00.001-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I have officially knit all 7 shawls from Romi's newly-rechristened 7 Small Shawls to Knit: Year 1, the Pleiades. Let's take a little trip down memory lane.

1. Merope - Schaefer Audrey in Nellie Bly

2. Maia - Schaefer Audrey in Dian Fossey

3. Celaeno - Firber Optics FootNotes in Sapphire Batik

4. Elektra - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Silk in Mochaccino

5. Taygete (twice) - Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock in Pink Hydrangea and Dark Flannel Pajamas and Mirasol Tupa in Sapphire and...something else. I can't be bothered to look it up.

6. Asterope - Lisa Souza Cashmere & Silk in Peacock

7. And, finally, Alcyone - Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets in the impossible-to-photograph Aqua Tide

I probably should have waited until she was blocked to make this triumphant post, but I just couldn't wait. This has been so much fun, knitting through all seven shawls, and more importantly, it was the eBook that brought me to Romi's Ravelry group, where I have met so many friends and received so much encouragement. Little did I know when I started this journey that I would end up where I am, so thank you, Romi, from the bottom of my heart, and I so look forward to Year 2: The Muses. Where will I be this time next year, when I look back? I don't know, but I can guarantee you one thing - there will be a damn fine pile of knitting next to me. Or not - since I kept all 7 shawls this year, I am thinking seriously about giving away all 7 next year, about selecting a woman who inspires me for each muse, and knitting that shawl for them. I'll be honest, though - I'll have a real hard time giving these away!

In the meantime, that dastardly Romi has released a new design in a yarn that I just happen to have in my stash so - I guess that will tide me over while we wait for the first muse!

Now I'm feeling a little put out because I had all this eye candy to show you from my Alaska trip, of the local yarns I bought, and yet I feel like this post should stand on it's own. If I were a little smarter, I might hold that in reserve in case I don't have anything to post next week, but I'm impatient, so stay tuned for a bonus post this week! (Besides, this weekend is a long weekend and, God and the 4th festivities willing, I will have a finished Spanish Moss to show.)

Nada

2011-06-20T15:38:00.001-04:00

I'm afraid I don't have much to show today! Between heavy deadlines at work and personal stuff, including a visit from my BFF who was in town for the weekend, I didn't get a whole lot of knitting done, and I didn't get what knitting I DID do photographed. Nothing except a crappy iPhone shot of a sock that is serving as my current mindless knitting.

Thrilling, I know. I've just started the heel flap. I began this sock ages ago and it sort of fell by the wayside in favor of other projects (including SOMEONE'S pointlessly-six-foot scarf).

Other than that, I knit a washcloth during Green Lantern, which my dear friend wanted to see, and the fact that I went at all is a testament of my love for her. It's a simple garter stitch square, and somewhere I dropped a stitch in the middle of it and I noticed it during the movie, but there was no way to fix it in the dark and no way I was going to go without knitting during that rest of that movie (let's just say the reviewers are not lying to you in this case), so I tossed a YO in over the dropped stitch to get my count back up, and then when I got home, I dropped the stitch over the YO, and laddered back up from the original dropped stitch. Problem solved. The tension is a little wacky on the four or so rows I worked before realizing I had dropped the stitch, but the YO and the stitches above it left plenty of tension in the following rows. Very exciting stuff.

What little true knitting time I've had has been spent on Alcyone. I've finished the two repeats of Chart B and started Chart C, but of course I didn't take a picture. Hint: it looks just like the picture from last week, only bigger.

I plan to spend as much time as I can knitting Alcyone until it's finished, and then I want to finish up Spanish Moss. I have just one end remaining and then it's done.

And then - I have to decide what to do next. Here are the options as I see them:

1. Lisianthus - Romi's Pins & Lace shawl from April, which I still haven't started. I haven't been able to make up my mind on yarn for this one. I have some Shafer Andrea lace that I was thinking of using, but I just can't make up my mind if I like the color for this shawl or not. I'm thinking I might save this shawl to be my Christmas project, since I always take a big lace project with me to my parents' house over my Christmas vacation. Oooh, maybe I could knit it in red and have it be a poinsettia shawl...this idea has merit.

2. Romi's Pins and Lace shawl for July - as yet unreleased, but probably coming due right about the time I finish the ones I'm working on.

3. In Dreams - I pretty much missed the Mystery KAL in its entirety (which I guess I'm kind of okay with) but the yarn and everything is still sitting there and I still really want to make this piece. I'm not convinced as to what to do about the beads, though - the beading is very, very heavy on this shawl and I just don't know if I actually want to

4. Finish a UFO - namely, Mystery Stole 4. I knit the first half and not the second, and I'm pretty sure I could chug through this one pretty quickly if I just sat down and committed to it, and then it wouldn't be sitting there mocking me any longer. Down side - this one has to be grafted in the center. I've never grafted lace and it sounds about as much fun as (to borrow a YH comparison) licking a yak.

5. Get moving on my sea turtle shawl design!! I don't know that I will ever become a full time designer, you guys. I have too much fun knitting other stuff. However, I do really, really want to finish this project and I'm still enamored of the idea of the shawl itself. I was thinking I might sell the pattern when it was finished and donate part of the proceeds to the National Aquarium, but I may just put it up for free with a link and ask people to donate as they see fit. We'll see. That's assuming I can get the pattern written and tested and all that stuff that makes me woozy when I think about it.

Moving On

2011-06-13T15:27:00.002-04:00

Today's blog post is a perfect follow up for last week, wherein I gave you all the scoop on my recent Alaska vacation and showed you a bunch of pictures of me knitting in various picturesque places. Today, I get to show you the fruits of those labors! I dedicated this past week and weekend almost exclusively to finish my Alaska shawl. I love these vacation projects, but I don't particularly love for them to continue too far beyond when we get back. It just rubs the shiny off them somehow. So, I'm very glad to proclaim this one done, a scant two weeks after our return!

I used four skeins of fingering weight Merino from Fleece Artist in colorways Aurora, Forest, Glacier, and Ocean. The color is truest on these pre-blocking pictures, since they look much darker when the shawl is wet. I used the setup instructions from Sivia Harding's Phoenix Rising shawl to get the Faroese shape.

I think the colorways worked fairly well together. If I had it to do over again, I might rethink the Forest part - it's beautiful on its own and was even beautiful with the Aurora, but once I added the Glacier stripe, it looked a bit more yellow than it did before. Still nice, but lesson learned for next time. I have told myself that the sharp contrast of the Glacier is thematically appropriate given how a glacier carves its way through the land, inexorable and uncompromising.

I ended up using three total stitch patterns, all from "Arctic Lace." Five repeats of the North Star motif from the North Star Scarf pattern run down the spine. At the bottom edge, (after some math help from CodeNinja) I added the smaller North Star pattern from the North Star tam. When I finished those stars, I realized I would have to block a huge straight edge if I just quit where I was, so I dove back into Arctic Lace and found the Herringbone Scallop pattern. I had just enough yarn for a single repeat around the edge.

I'm thrilled with the final result.

The perfect souvenir.

Now, it's no surprise that after finishing this epic project, I needed something a little lightweight - a palet cleanser, if you will. A few days ago (yes, days - super fast shipping and arrival!) I ordered a kit for the Butin Collar from Nelkin Designs in Elizabeth Kubler Ross. I thought the necklace was cute but the colorway/bead combo really sold me - I have a pair of copper earrings that I've never been able to find a matching necklace for, and I thought this looked like it could be a winner.

So my kit shows up within days of my order.

Including a teeny tiny yarn bundle (the project only takes 20 yards)...

...and a little baggie of beads, plus a clasp.

And a little bit of dental floss threader that I forgot to look for and almost lost. The hardest part (and it wasn't really hard, just tedius) was stringing the beads. They have to be prestrung on the yarn in a certain order, and I counted feverishly to make sure I didn't accidentally string them in the wrong order, because I know me. Fortunately, I didn't.

A few hours later....voila!

Color's a little off again because it's wet (I didn't pin it, just sort of tugged and flattened it into shape) but there she is. Gorgeous and PERFECT for my earrings (which I forgot to photograph). The only thing left to do is, er - sew on the clasp. I'm a little intimidated by that part, truth be told. Sewing is just about the only craft I'm NOT into. I can cross stitch a bit but somehow I doubt it's exactly the same skill set. But, I'll give it a whirl, hopefully tonight because I really, really want to wear it.

Anyway, I was so delighted with the finished result that - well. I kind of lost my mind a little bit. Remember Merope?

Plenty of Schaefer Audrey in Nellie Bly left over from that project, so I hit up my bead stash, and...well.

(not blocked, so the color's truer but it's not as nicely shaped yet)

The beads are leftover from Elektra, plus some copper lined 'black diamond' beads I had ordered for another project and decided not to use.

It took me maybe an hour to make that second one, not counting bead stringing time. The whole necklace is a total of eight rows of knitting. Insane.

You want to know what's really scary? Remember Maia?

Yeah...I have leftover yarn and beads from that project too!! And I may or may not have strung the beads last night and left it waiting for me to get home to this evening. I'm not telling.

I'm back!!

2011-06-07T13:12:00.000-04:00

My dear, neglected blogees, I am back from vacation and newly recommitted to this whole blogging thing. We had the most wonderful time on our trip. Everything was perfect. The weather was amazing, the places we stayed were great (with one single-night exception, which I can live with), and we saw all kinds of wildlife.

To say I got home with renewed energy would not be entirely accurate (we left at 8 pm on Sunday and arrived home at 1 pm Monday), something about coming back from vacation fills me with the sense of a new start. I channelled this energy into my poor neglected Sakaki shawl. Before we left, I had knit almost the entire thing, and then I ran out of yarn just short to the end and had to rip it back. I didn't manage to pick it up again after that, but once I got home, I couldn't put it down, and I raced back through the lace portion and down to the end, and ended up with a very satisfying little leftover ball of yarn.

I also blocked my Asterope at last. I finished it ages ago, but for some reason I just couldn't get up the blocking mojo to get it done. It's no secret, I hate blocking - love the end result, understand it is a necessary step, but I absolutely loathe the process, and I guess I just couldn't face it before the trip. Now she's all done and sitting pretty.

While I was gone, the 7th sister, Alcyone was released, but I'm in the grips of some pretty strong finish-it-up-itis and there is one very important project that is still not done. And let me tell you, I knit that thing the whole time we were gone. And I have proof.
When I left, I was still on the first ball of yarn. I didn't get nearly as much work done on the shawl before we left as I had hoped. However, by the time we got to Seattle I was ready to join the second ball of yarn. I didn't get very far because my hands gave out on the flight to Anchorage and I really had to stop. I picked it up again the next morning, however, as we waited for an hour to get into the restaurant we had picked out for breakfast. I owe a huge debt to the knitters on the Alaska Knitters group on Ravelry, who were generous enough to give me a billion recommendations for yarn shops and places to eat. We sat in a little park and looked out over the Cook Inlet and I knit while we waited for breakfast. Then I knit in the car as we drove out to Potter Marsh, a protected bird habitat outside of Anchorage. We didn't see much, but I kept knitting as we went out to the Wildlife Conservation Center that's just a little beyond Potter Marsh. Sadly, it rained on us and so I mostly stayed in the car.

The next day we took the train from Anchorage to Seward, and did I knit? You bet I did.

In between taking pictures through the windows. I have to recommend taking the train. It's slower than going by car as the train doesn't move very quickly, but it's absolutely a beautiful view and it was much better for both of us to be able to enjoy the scenery instead of one of us being stuck driving.

When we arrived in Seward, we drove around for a while getting acquainted with the place, had lunch, did a little shopping, and then we decided to 'hike' out to Exit Glacier. I put 'hike' in quotes because, well. It's more like a really long walk. Not much effort to get there at all. I took the knitting.

I'm hiking in short sleeves here but as soon as we came over the next rise and were standing level with the glacier, the coat went on. Not surprisingly, the winds coming off that thing are FREEZING.

We hiked to the edge of the Glacier, and then down to the toe of the Glacier. The last bit was interesting because the trail ends at the glacial moraine, and you basically have to pick your way across shifting rocks and streams of melted glacier water to get to the glacier itself. Neither of us fell in, but neither of us escaped entirely dry, either. Fortunately the water wasn't that cold and the weather wasn't cold at all.

The day after that we went on a wildlife cruise with Major Marine Tours in the Kenai Fjords, and it was absolutely amazing. I didn't take the knitting since I had visions of it tumbling overboard or something equally absurd, but I had the camera up so often I wouldn't have gotten much done anyway, because we kept seeing things like this.

If it lives in (or visits) the fjords, it was out that day. The orca pod we saw were being studied by a science vessel, so our captain was able to tell us which orca pod it was. It's led by a matriarch named Aurora and I think I actually saw a Discovery Channel documentary about them at one time. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the science boat, though, and my searches aren't turning up anything.

Anyway, that was really the highlight of the trip. We saw otter, orca, humpback whales, sea lions, Dall sheep on the cliffs around Resurrection Bay, we saw glaciers - it was truly a wonderful experience.

The next day we drove until we found a promising trail head and hiked to Greyling Lake. There wasn't much to see in the way of wildlife but the forest itself was very pretty, everything covered in neon green moss. I found a log sticking out over the water and climbed out and sat on it to knit.

On our last day in Seward, we went to the Sea Life Center, and afterwards we spent some time hanging out outside the sea life center, watching a wild otter in the bay as well as a harbor seal that made an appearance or two. Of course, I watched while knitting.

We went back to Anchorage and I did some yarn shopping, and then we drove to Homer, where we took a quick cruise across the bay to Seldovia. This time I did bring my knitting with me.

Eagles and otter are what I will remember most about Homer. There were tons of both, everywhere. And the otter are so cute!!

And as it happened we arrived to see the annual Memorial Day Chainsaw Carving Competition in progress.

It rained on us a bit in Seldovia, but we stopped in a local shop/bookstore/thingy and sat on the deck under the trees with some hot chocolate to watch some eagles in the trees across the river.

I was sad to come home, but alas, we had to. The flight home was brutal but I knit pretty much the whole time, and I'd almost gotten through the third skein of yarn when we got home. I still have the last skein to knit, and I'm working hard on getting the shawl done so I can show it off here and have it to remember our wonderful vacation.

Once that's done, here I come Spanish Moss and Alcyone! There's so much I want to knit, and so little time. I haven't touched the April installment of Pins and Lace and the July installment is rapidly approaching, plus all the non-Romi stuff I want to knit. I still plan to do the In Dreams shawl, even though it's definitely not a mystery at this point. Lots of stuff I'm just brimming over to do - but I really want to finish what I have first!

Drive-By Blogging

2011-05-17T10:02:00.002-04:00

Oh dear, another long run of no blog posting, followed by another pictureless post. I'm getting ready for my vacation!!!!!!!!!!! and I'm so excited. Hopefully after I return we will resume our regular postings. In the meantime, here's the WIP report...which is, sadly, rather boring, because no time to blog means no time to knit, either.

1. Spanish Moss
I've been busting a move on this one as much as I could, since Romi is not waiting for me to finish one pattern before releasing another 'must knit' piece! I completed the center section and last night I bound off the first end. When I get back from vacation, I'll pick up the provisional cast on and knit the second end.

2. Sakaki
When last we left Sakaki, I ran out of yarn after carelessly tossing in an extra repeat. I haven't picked it up since. Before we leave, I plan to rip this back and take it along with me as an alternative project when I need a break from my Alaska shawl.

3. Alaska Shawl
No where near where I wanted it to be by this point, but that's okay. Our trip includes a lot of travel time, so provided the powers that be (I'm looking at you, TSA) don't interfere, I hope I will still be mostly finished with the shawl by the time we get home from the trip. I've never had my needles taken from me on a flight - but it would just figure that this would be the one time I do.

4. Matching set for CodeNinja
Despite the fact that I have knit two 5-foot scarves for the man that he was perfectly satsified with, he has suddenly decided he wants this scarf to be 6 feet. Why he feels the need for a scarf that is taller than he is, I do not know, except that his mother said she always makes her scarves six feet long and he is a big fat mamma's boy. When we get to Alaska and he has a hat and scarf but no gloves, he will be rethinking the wisdom of this choice (honestly, by the time we got through with the discussion about adding the extra foot, he was probably already rethinking it - I didn't take it well). I probably six inches to go on the scarf, maybe less, but I'm so bitter at having to do this extra foot that I'm dragging my feet on it. The gloves won't take that long to do once the scarf is finished, but I'm still not sure they'll be done in time for the trip. It's his own fault!! If I had been able to gleefully cast off when I wanted to, he'd have the whole set by now and it wouldn't be hanging over my head any more. SIGH. (Yes, I'm bitter. You would be too, admit it.)

5. Socks
I've been working on a pair of socks for CodeNinja for quite a while now out of a yarn I've never used before, and I'm not liking it much. Of course I don't have the ball band and I can't remember what it was, but it's a single and I think it has some mohair content, and I've had lots of trouble with snagging and splitting. The first sock is almost done, so as long as CodeNinja doesn't decide he wants me to smack an extra few inches on this I hope I'll have the first sock done shortly. Then I have to face knitting an entire second sock out of yarn I don't like, but I'm trying not to think about that too hard.

I have another pair of socks for me that are on the needles somewhere in my house, but that freaking scarf has taken up all my mindless knitting time, so my sock knitting has suffered.

That's pretty much it - no blog next week while I'm on my trip, but hopefully when I come back this will return to being the scintillating, picture-filled blog you all know and love.

Not Dead Yet

2011-04-25T12:15:00.000-04:00

My apologies for the radio silence over the last couple of weeks. Between work deadlines, illness, and other personal drama, I just couldn't muster the energy.

I wish I had a better post to make up for my absence, but all of the pictures I had taken are now out of date! So, here's a text-only status report and I will try to do better a little later this week. I just didn't want to go yet another Monday with no blog!

1. Asterope
Finished, and gorgeous. This really was quite a quick knit for me. People often comment on my knitting quickly, and it always makes me laugh. I don't knit quickly, I just knit A LOT. I don't have any children and I live alone, so nobody can fuss at me for neglecting my responsibilities to knit all day long - except my boyfriend the CodeNinja (he's a software engineer), who doesn't live here but spends enough time here that I grant him some latitude to criticize. But he doesn't. ;) Anyway, I digress - I started Asterope on March 31st and finished it on April 10. Not bad at all!! And now, fifteen days later - I still haven't blocked her. I'm lazy.

2. Sakaki
I hate admitting it when something is my fault. Sakaki should have been finished yesterday, but I ran out of yarn. I ran out of yarn because I was STUPID. Sakaki is knitted end to end and you are supposed to increase until you have 45 stitches. I wasn't paying attention and I got to 46 stitches before I realized I was done. Now, I could have stopped, frogged back to 45, and gone on, but I didn't. I just did another repeat and ended up at 55 stitches. I weighed my yarn. I knit the lace panel. I weighed my yarn again and concluded that I had plenty of yarn to finish. Aaaaand, I was wrong. I'm not really sure how, to be honest. In theory, I started out with 114 grams. After I knit the first side I had 68.8 grams left, meaning I used about 45 grams for the first half. After I finished the lace part, I had 55 grams left. Surely, I thought, that would be enough, even if the skein was a little heavier than 114 grams when I started (I didn't weigh it before hand - critical mistake).

It's not enough. I've got 15 stitches left on the needle and I have about 4 grams of yarn left. I can only conclude that a) I weighed wrong b) the skein was more than 10 grams heavier than advertised c) the decrease side takes more than 10 grams more than the increase side.

Ultimately, the reason doesn't matter - I don't have a whole lot of choices left at this point. I could stop where I am and claim the asymetrical effect is a design feature. I could shop around and see if anybody else has some leftover of the same yarn to give me, but this particular dyer's skeins vary so wildly that I can't imagine I could get anything that would match in the end. I could burn it and pretend it never existed - or I can frog back more than half the shawl and go forward.

Unless another option presents itself I will probably just frog back and reknit. I wouldn't be so bitter if it wasn't for all those short rows!! Once more my love/hate relationship with ruffles comes back to haunt me. I really thought the short rows were an innovative way to get the ruffle without making you knit rows that were billions of stitches long, but they really do require their own brand of suffering. Hopefully now that I've done it once, it won't be so frustrating.
I have to say I've also been a little spoiled by all of the silk or cashmere blends I've been using. Plain superwash just doesn't cut it for softness anymore for me (you know you are spoiled when merino is not good enough for you anymore). I wish I'd been able to get this colorway in the Djinni base, I'd be enjoying the knitting so much more.

3. Alaska Shawl
Our trip plans are firming up and I have started the knitting on my Alaska shawl, and now I really wish I had my pictures - I'd show you even an out of date one if I had it. I used the start of the Phoenix Rising shawl pattern to set up my Faroese shaping. I increased until I had 29 stitches in my center panel, and then started the motif from the North Star scarf out of Arctic Lace. I actually started it a little before I was at 29 stitches, once I was to the point where I would get to 29 stitches before the widest point of the pattern. The pattern is written for stockinette but I'm doing it in garter, and it looks fine. This first colorway (Aurora) is very dark, so the lace isn't showing up too terribly well, but when I smooth it out with my fingers it looks like it will show when blocked, and the shawl gets lighter as I move through the colorways I've chosen, so I think it will be fine. Again, I kind of wish I had gotten a slightly softer blend, especially because the Aurora has that somewhat stiff feeling that you get with very saturated dyes, but I expect that will soften up in the wash a bit (also true of the Sakaki yarn, actually). I'd like to get through at least the first skein of yarn before the trip, if not two skeins - I really like knitting while anticipating and then finishing the project very soon after getting home! I don't want to run out of knitting on the trip, though, so I'm not rushing toooo much.

That sums up what I've been actively working on. Here are the projects I'm 'behind' on:

1. Spanish Moss
No progress. I think this will be great summer knitting, though, so I plan to get back to it when I get back from vacation. I may even work on it some between now and then, since I don't have any other true laceweight shawls OTN at the moment.

2. Light and Dark Lace Club April
I bought in, I have the yarn, but I haven't started it at all - haven't even really looked at the pattern or the spoiler pictures! It's in the 'for after vacation' bin for sure. I may skip the next installment of this club just so I can catch up with other projects. That's the benefit of having a pay-as-you-go program!

3. Romi's Pins and Lace April
I'm not linking anything because packages are still arriving - I haven't gotten mine yet but I've peaked at the spoiler thread and the pattern is lovely. This will be number one when I get home from vacation - if I don't cave and start before hand! I don't have the perfect yarn for it, though (I get only the pin and pattern) so browsing around for it may save me. I can't decide what color is speaking to me for this project. The recommended yarn brings hydrangeas to mind, but I'm not sure those colors suit me. I'm thinking about something in a nice saturated coral. I don't have anything that color yet.

4. Scarf for the CodeNinja
When last we spoke of this scarf I griped because he asked me to make it six feet instead of five. I still maintain that it is silly to have a scarf taller than you are, but since he asked, he shall receive. I think I have about six inches of this thing to go. I have a couple eps of Deadliest Catch stacked up on the DVR. Maybe watching the fishermen out in the cold will give me the motivation it takes to crank out the last bit of this project. I swear, I hate every scarf I make by the end of it. Once this is done, I'm going to dedicate a weekend to making him the matching gloves so I can stop feeling guilty that this isn't done yet!

5. In Dreams Mystery KAL
I haven't even started this. The KAL will be over by the time I cast on! I'm okay with that, I think, but it is definitely on the list for when I get back. I have so much fun on Romi's group that I always push aside other projects for her patterns, but I have been peeking at the spoilers for this project, and they are all quite lovely. I'm going to have to get on this one.

6. Galadriel's Mirror
I may wait until fall to get into this one again. It's a large fingering weight shawl and that just doesn't say 'summer' knitting to me.

7. Birthday Socks
I owe someone socks for their birthday. Right now all my sock needles are occupied. I'm hoping I can clear a pair during vacation and come back and crank these socks out. Normally, I knit socks because they're easy, uncomplicated, and portable, so I don't often knit intricate socks. Because of that, though, socks take me forever to finish (especially when I am KNITTING A MINDLESS STUPID SCARF UGH) since I work on them a little bit at a time. Socks with charts get done much faster because they require dedicated knitting time, so I'm hoping I will be able to crank these out fairly easily once I get back.

Nothing to see here...

2011-04-07T10:44:00.002-04:00

Oh my, I am so late on the blog post this week. Things have been a little up and down lately, and the blog suffered. But! I am here now, and I know you all rejoice. Let the Weekly WIP Report commence.

Asterope has been released and I am FLYING along on it. It's so beautiful. Yarn is Lisa Souza Cashmere and Silk fingering, and the color is Peacock. I chose this one specifically because it's not one that I normally use, but it's a color that gets lots of compliments when I wear it. I'm hoping I'll have time to wear it this year. Winter just doesn't want to let go and I really hope we get some spring weather before we launch right into summer.

And...that's it for WIPs! I have Spanish Moss still on the needles, but I haven't been working on it. Despite that, I feel like I finally have the WIPs somewhat back under control. I actually hope to finish Asterope by the end of this weekend. Romi's Sakaki shawl will be coming out in the next few days, and I really want to knit that, but after that I think I am taking time out from other knitting to start working on my Alaska shawl. This will be tough - I just got the yarn in for the April edition of the Dark and Light Lace Club, and Romi's next club shipment will be shipping this month as well. But, I do want to get started! Besides, I have a bunch of books on Alaska sitting on my table to be read, and I will need simple knitting for that. I have developed this weird idea in the last few months that I have to knit everything I want to knit RIGHT NOW because there is new stuff coming up all the time, and I can't keep up! I really need to let go of that mentality, take a deep breath and realize that no matter what I do, I can't keep up, and I'm going to have to make some choices. I'll....let you know how that goes.

My second Taygete is finished. I feel like this was a pretty quick knit too. I knit to 60 MC rows (the pattern calls for 74, I think) since I was using a heavier weight yarn. Romi gave a percentage system to help with yarn substitution/resizing, and it worked great. I used up almost all of the darker colored yarn.

I actually intended to use the lighter colored yarn for the lace, but I changed my mind as I saw how the stripes were working up. The lighter color was totally overwhelming the darker, so I switched in the hopes that using the dark for the lace would help balance the colors out a little better. I think it did. The sock weight version is squishy and cushy, while this version is drapey, but still cozy.

Rallied

2011-03-30T12:21:00.001-04:00

I'm here! With pictures! Shall we go from least complete to most complete? Because that means I get to show you my new yarn first!

I went to the Homespun Yarn Party on Sunday and boy, what a madhouse! Confession time...I don't like crowds. I'm not exactly claustrophobic or anything, but I'm just not in to having to muscle my way through something. 99% of the time if I look at a booth or a store or what have you and it's clogged with people, I'll just walk away. So when we walked in and I looked around at the gobs of people crowding around the vendor booths - I almost wanted to go home. Eventually, though, we worked out a general system, were we sort of orbited around. Almost every booth had lulls, so when we passed one that didn't look too crowded, I popped in, took a look around, and left. But, I have to say I probably would have bought more if the idea of standing crammed together waiting for the register didn't turn me off so badly.

Well, I'm on a budget, so it's good that I didn't spend much. I wanted to take the entire Neighborhood Fiber Company booth home with me, but I stuck to these:

Capital Luxury Sock in Palisades (blue) and Kalorama Circle (pink). I like the pink one because it makes me think of cherry blossom season. There were a bunch of colors I coveted deeply, and I might have bought a couple more if money weren't so tight and the yardage weren't so short - only 375 yards per skein. This 80/10/10 blend (wool/cashmere/nylon) is one of my favorite yarns to work with but it is pretty darn pricey. I guess the yardage is pretty standard for this yarn, though, my beloved HM Casbah is in the same range. Just a little tight for a shawl, though, and I think the pink one especially would make such a lovely shawl. The blue one I am thinking may be destined for mansocks. We'll see - he has big feet and I don't want to run short.

This skein of Dragonfly Fibers Dragon Sock will make a stunning Sakaki, I'm thinking. Red is a color that protects from illness and demons in Japanese culture, so it seems quite appropriate for the shawl.

There is so much color depth in that skein and it is so rich and beautiful in real life. As stunning as the picture is, it doesn't do it justice at all.

I suffered from serious project ADD this weekend, some of it stemming from laziness and some from disorganization. I finally worked my shawl design charts out last week (I was having some problems), so Saturday, I started out working on my shawl design swatch and I got through the first chart, but then I couldn’t find my printout of the other two charts. Reprinting it would have meant carrying my big laptop from upstairs (because my files are in Word, and the netbook doesn't have Word installed) to the printer which is downstairs, and I decided...NEXT! I picked up my second Taygete and worked on that for a while. I ran out of yarn on my CC, but I thought I had enough of the MC that I didn't need to wind any more of that. So I wound the CC and not more than fifteen or twenty minutes later, I ran out of MC. Now, I could have just gone ahead and wound the second skein while I was up there, but noooo, I didn't, so rather than go back upstairs and wind another ball of yarn, I decided...NEXT! I started working on Spanish Moss. I did that for a little while, but there is so far left to go on that, and frankly I'm having a little trouble getting the yarn to slide across my needles (my beautiful new signature needles! why have you abandoned me? Because I am using the wrong size and refuse to admit it, that's why. Despite the tightness of my knitting and that the recommended needle size is a 5...I kind of thing I may need to go to a 3 for this yarn. which means ripping out what I've done so far. Apparently I would rather write a paragraph of parenthetical statements than plainly admit that I need to do that). My charity shawl was so close to finished, and I loathed the idea of having it sit there staring at me for another day, so I picked up that instead. And, in the process of all this switching around, I picked up at least three other projects but either couldn’t find the needles or couldn’t find the pattern pages. Organizational fail, for sure. So, end results?

My second Taygete (done in Mirasol Tupa) is in excellent shape. I finished Chart A of the lace last night, so I'm hoping I can maybe finish it this weekend, since I am anticipating the release of Asterope very soon (finished test knits are popping up on the Rav page), and Sakaki as soon as Romi can get it ready. I decided after the fact to switch my contrast colors and main colors, which means I had to fudge the end tip of the shawl so that I had the right color with which to pick up stitches, but I think it was the right call. The turquoise was so overwhelming before, and I think the lace is helping to bring out the darker color a little more. Of course, it doesn't show in this picture. But I think it will in the finished product.

I also finished the charity shawl I have been knitting for my shawl ministry group. It still needs to be blocked, which will be an interesting experience for me since I have never blocked acrylic before. This is a wool-microfiber blend and I'm honestly not 100% sure how to approach it. The ends will need to be woven in as well, and there are kind of a lot. I'm trying not to think of that part. I loathe weaving in ends.

I finally feel as though I have conquered my WIP list, a little bit. I cheated a little - put some projects in hibernation, etc. As far as lace goes, I have the Taygete, Spanish Moss, and Galadriel's mirror. Taygete will be finished soon. Spanish Moss and Galadriel's Mirror will still be around for quite a while, I expect. I still have the bulky weight Jared Flood blanket, Umaro (no progress at all), the scarf that's part of the 3 part manly set (I thought I was almost done, but he asked me to put another foot on it, because he does not love me at all, but since he buys me yarn, I agreed, even though I think that having a scarf taller than you are is silly), and a couple of pairs of socks in progress (which would get more play if it wasn't for the stupid scarf). I don't think that's terribly unreasonable.

Of course, when you add Sakaki and Asterope to the list, not to mention the April mystery shawl from the ZYG club, and my Alaska shawl...well...it still won't be too bad, right? Sakaki and Asterope will likely go pretty quickly, I'm still not ready to start my Alaska shawl juuuuust yet (must swatch), and I'll hopefully have Taygete finished not too much before those come out, so the net effect won't be horrible, I hope.

Bad Blogger

2011-03-29T10:08:00.002-04:00

My dear blogees, I am afraid the blog will be a little late this week due to terrible overscheduling and a madness to finish a project that had become so mind-numbing, and was yet so close to completion, that I couldn't stand to let it go unfinished, haunting me, for one more day. Happily, I finished said shawl last night. Unhappily, it was so late by that time that I staggered to bed without taking the bevy of photographs that I needed in order to blog all the stuff that I've been up to. Hopefully, the blog will return tomorrow with all the photographic goodness you actually came here to see.

On a roll

2011-03-21T13:58:00.001-04:00

I finished Fiori this weekend! As usual, FO pictures will come at the end of this post, but I'm feeling pretty good. This is shawl number 4 for the 11 in 2011 challenge, which makes me feel like I'm ahead of the game. I've been aiming to finish about one shawl per month to make the goal, and this is the second one I've finished this month, so I have a little bit of a buffer now. I'm not resting on my laurels, though. I know myself well enough to fully expect I will need that buffer before this whole shebang is over. But, I am nearly done with the Prayers of Love shawl I was working on for my charity knitting group, and I'm at the halfway point of the second Taygete shawl I was working on, the blue one made of the souvenir yarn. I think I may try to finish the Prayers shawl this week, and though it's made from a worsted weight yarn, I am well over the minimum yardage requirement at this point so it will count towards the challenge.

Meanwhile, with Fiori off the needles, I finally cast on for the January Pins & Lace pattern, Spanish Moss.

The yarn is Yarn Chef Spun Sugar in Wild Sage. It's really beautiful stuff. I couldn't find my crochet cotton so I used some leftover yarn from my Taygete to do the provisional cast on, and it goes so nicely with the Wild Sage! I've only got about two and a half repeats done out of 28, but I keep stopping to admire it. I know, I know, I always say I won't knit things with 8 billion repeats, but I can't help it. It's pretty. And you know how I like to knit rectangles after a long stretch of knitting huge things.

This also has the honor of being the first project I knit on my new Signature Needles. They were a valentine's day gift and I haven't had the chance to use them much, since I didn't want to change needles on anything in mid-project. I really enjoy working with them. I have the stiletto tips and while I was thrilled about the pointiness, I was a bit worried the longer taper was going to make my knitting even tighter (trust me, I do not need help knitting tightly). But, because of the way I knit I don't think it's actually going to be much of a problem. My stitches are definitely falling securely on the body of the needle, and not just on the tip.

My poor Sea Turtles shawl design has really been languishing. I still plan to get to it, I just got stalled a bit with some road blocks and really, I am feeling so satisfied with all my other projects that it may just take me a little while to get back around to it.

I also have some new deadlines to worry about.

We're going on vacation to Alaska in May, and I'm so excited about it. I've wanted to go to Alaska for ages and I'm really thrilled to finally be getting the chance to go. Since I was so happy with my Yellowstone Shawl project, I decided I needed some vacation knitting for Alaska as well so I could end up with similar memories.

The four yarns above will become my Alaska shawl. I went for Handmaiden/Fleece artist yarns again, but this time I got FA Merino 2/6 instead of the Handmaiden Casbah. I love the Casbah but it is pretty pricey and I don't want to spend all my trip money before I even get there. From left to right the colorways are Aurora, Forest, Glacier, and Ocean.

For the pattern, I plan to use the North Star motif from Arctic Lace as the center panel for a sort of Faroese shape. I'm planning to make the whole thing in garter stitch, so I have to swatch the motif and see if I like it in garter stitch, or if I'm going to have to change my plan and either make the center panel in stockinette, or do the whole shawl in stockinette. I liked having nothing but garter stitch to knit for the Yellowstone shawl because it meant I could knit away without having to look at what I was doing, so even though I was knitting through the whole trip, I didn't miss anything. I was also able to knit while doing my pre-trip reading, which I plan to do again.

I'm complicating things a little on this shawl by adding in this north star motif, but I think it's worth it. The center panel won't be all that wide, so I won't have to pay attention for very long at a time. There's also a large version and a smaller version of the motif, so I will need to see which one I prefer for this project. If possible I think it would be awesome to get some fingering weight quiviut to edge the shawl with, but that may be too much to ask. We'll see.

I'm not sure exactly when I'll get started on that. I'll probably do the swatching fairly soon, but I'm going to wait until April at least to get started on the shawl proper. I want to have plenty of knitting still to do when we go on our trip, which won't be until towards the end of May.

And now, may I present, Fiori.

Someone asked me on Ravelry whether the yarn was truly as golden as it looks in the picture. I think it is, and it isn't - if you look at the preblocking picture, it's definitely yellow.

But, stretched out and with the light from the flash reflected off it, it certainly does look gold. I'm expecting the end result to be a sort of combination of the two - it will be more golden than in its unblocked picture since it will be more sheer, but only where the light hits it at the right angle will it really look as gold as it does in the picture.

Happy sigh. It will make a lovely spring shawl, if only spring would make up its mind to hurry up and get here! I'm already thinking through my wardrobe to figure out what I can wear under it.

The end result is about six feet wide and maybe a little over 3 feet tall.

I've wanted to make this shawl for ages, it seems like, and the end result has surely been worth the wait! I can't wait to unpin it and see how it looks up off my drab grey blocking mats. They don't seem to play nice with the camera, so I will definitely be back with more pictures when it's dry and unpinned.

Derailed

2011-03-14T11:43:00.001-04:00

I planned to finish my charity shawl on Friday night.

Still not done, although it is much farther along than this picture shows. Somehow it got left out of my usual Sunday night photoshoot. There are now 7 hearts in the spine panel, leaving me with only the edging chart to do - one last row of hearts that goes across the entire bottomof the shawl as well as the spine. It's something along the lines of 30 rows. The group meets tomorrow, which means that if I really cranked tonight, I might be able to complete it - but I probably wouldn't have time for blocking & finishing. I feel a little bad, because I probalby could have finished it over the weekend if I'd tried, but - I had other plans. Not that those plans turned out to matter.

You see, I planned to finish Fiori this weekend, but instead I spent a large amount of time on Saturday working on this.

This is a second Taygete that I'm knitting out of Mirasol Tupa in Sapphire and Viridian. The rows on Fiori are so long, that I became convinced that my quest to finish it this weekend was futile, which depressed me and made me avoid it. Even though I have a billion things I want to knit and even though I have been working so hard to get some things off the needles, I hauled off and cast on anyway, and then I just couldn't stop. Romi provides a percentage system in the pattern for sizing, making it easy to sub yarn weights. Tupa is a DK weight and I'm knitting it on size 6 needles because - well, those were the only ones I could find. I may try to switch up at the lace section but for the garter the sixes are working fine. As of this picture, I have about 10 more grams to use up before I switch to the decrease side. I may use a little less, just to be safe, but I'm not too worried. I'm more concerned about the colors. This is souvenir yarn I bought at the beach during our vacation last October, and I had wanted to use the turquoise (it's officially sapphire but it looks turquoise to me) as the main color, but the viridian has been so totally overwhelmed by the turquoise, that I think I'm going to do the lace in the viridian in an effort to balance things out. The viridian is a weird color - depending on the light, it looks dark blue, grey, or purple. I love this about it and want it to show up more and I think using it for the lace will really help. Using the turqouise for the picot may bring it back into the limelight somewhat, but I don't think I'll mind. I am still, after all, shooting for a brighter shawl than the last one.

Sunday, I reconciled with Fiori and got this far.

This is about halfway through chart H (maybe just a bit shy of it - I can't remember). I'm impressed that I got so far and it makes me kind of annoyed that I gave up so easily on Saturday. I might not have FINISHED if I had kept working on Saturday, but I probably would have got through chart H and then there's only one chart to go. Sadly, I'm a bit booked up this week, but I fully expect to be done with this next weekend. (Wait. What was that. Did anyone else hear the sound of doom at those words?)

I'm exicted, Fiori is a big shawl and I will feel so accomplished to be finished with it. It's so beautiful, and in such a springy color, that I'm just going to die of happiness when it's done. The Man has instructions as to how to distribute my stash, just in case.

I planned to share my blocked Taygete earlier this week, but though I blocked it, I didn't get around to photographing it until yesterday.

It's 7 feet in wingspan, and something like two feet along the spine.

This caused me some issues in photographing it. It was a challenge to get all of it in the frame without showing too much of my messy house. The ant trap is a seasonal feature. This is right about the time they show up every spring, and now that I have no pets to worry about, I can put out the traps with impunity. They smell like peanut butter. Ella persisted in finding them even when I wedged them under the couch to try and keep them out of her reach. I had to resort to squashing every ant I saw and let me tell you, that is a time-consuming process and not at all good for one's shoes. I tried using black pepper once, but that didn't end well. It worked okay, but cleaning it up later was a total disaster.

But I digress.

The observant among you may note that this stitch pattern is the same one I showed in my sea turtle swatch before.

Clearly Romi and I are soulmates.

Many thanks to The Man for his photographic assistance. I assure you, I am just as tired as I look in these photos. I didn't do much else for the rest of the day. DST is not my friend.

Behaving

2011-03-07T11:09:00.002-05:00

I located the little towel from my last post and finished it.

It's the broken checkerboard pattern from the Vogue Knitting lace stitchionary with the daisy chain edging from the same book.

When I saw how much yarn I had left I was tempted to continue knitting it, but I just finished out the repeat I was on, added the edging, and put the rest of the yarn aside. I might have enough to make a small washcloth to go with it. But I feel better being able to mark this project as completed!

I finished Taygete. That's shawl #3 for 11 in 2011! It needs blocking, which I didn't get around to this weekend, but it's done done done.

Sorry, my fingernail polish clashes with the shawl terribly, doesn't it! It's not that neon in person, I promise, and it's more hot pink than orange (the polish, not the shawl, though the shawl is also not orange).

I moaned about the picot border but it was actually kind of fun, and it's easy to see your progress, which I like. Plus there are lots of little small goals to achieve - okay, I've made it to the center point! Okay, I've made it to the next corner! All that's left is the top edge! I left my safety pin markers in the center stitch on both the point and the long edge, so I was able to note when I passed the halfway mark of the top edge as well. It took me The Devil Wears Prada to get the first two sides done and then I finished the third while watching some episodes of Big Cat Diary. Love that show - if you have Netflix it's available on Instant Play.

I have been very faithful to David's scarf as my lunch and travel knitting, so progress is being made there too.

It's about 3 feet long and stalled, since I left it somewhere on Thursday and will have to go back for it.

I spent most of my knitting time working on the long neglected Fiori.

I am unreasonably amused by the egg crate texture on the back of the shawl right now.

Hee hee.

I'm halfway through my fourth repeat of Chart E. The pattern calls for 5 repeats, but I think I'm going to stop at 4. I like my shawls generously sized but the photos I have seen of completed Fiori's make me think I will be perfectly fine with 4 repeats. I'm also using less yarn than the pattern calls for, so that gives me extra incentive to stop early. I almost never knit things to the smaller options - given the choice between shawlette and shawl I feel like a wuss if I don't go for shawl - but I'm going to grit my teeth and make an exception this time. I'm hoping I can finish the last half of this repeat tonight so that I can go on to the next one and hopefully have something more interesting to show this time.

I feel quite virtuous, having stuck to my commitment to get some WIPs off the list before casting on for the sixteen million other things I want to knit. Once Fiori is finished I think I will be justified in casting on for Spanish Moss, which I would really like to get moving on before the April pattern comes out!!

The one thing I have not made any progress on, however, is my Sea Turtle Shawl design. I worked out the charts for the triangle patterns several weeks ago but I just haven't wanted to knit it. I've been a little frustrated with the yarn I had and so I haven't done my triangular swatch.

But, WEBS had a sale on Jaggerspun Zephyr this week and I got this.

It's, um...orange. The label says copper, but yeah - I pointed it out to David while it was lying on the ottoman amongst a pile of other yarn and he said, "The orange one?"

I keep telling myself this is okay because a) if you really screw with your camera filters sand is almost orange, right? okay, in the desert, not in the ocean, which is where turtles live, BUT IT'S STILL SAND OKAY b) Zephyr is a really common yarn that isn't hard to find and can be found at an economical price, so if I put the pattern out for sale eventually as I hope to do, people will not go crazy looking for this yarn c) it was on sale so I was able to get enough that I can comfortably swatch the yarn AND knit the shawl without worrying about running out of yarn.

But it is not really okay. I don't like it for this shawl (although I think it would make a great Tibetan Clouds shawl, so it won't go to waste at all). I AM going to use it to swatch, though, so I can decide if I like Zephyr for this project, and if I do I will look at maybe Mushroom or Suede instead.

It may be a little silly to fret this much about it, but I don't want to hate knitting the design because I don't care for the color, so I'd rather do what it takes to make sure I like it.

The non-lace items on my WIP list haven't gotten much love, I'm afraid, and they're all kind of a long way from completion so I don't have as much 'finish it up' motivation. I do think I need to find them all and put them where I can get to them easily so I can work on them when the mood strikes me. I have the Umaro blanket next to my bed and I'm working a row or two on it in the evenings, after I go upstairs but before I really settle down to sleep. I bet if I really put my mind to it I could finish the Simone sweater in a couple of weeks of faithful knitting, but that would mean putting down the lace. DON'T TAKE MY LACE NOOO. Besides...the weather is warming up and I probably won't get to wear it this year at this point. No need to hurry.

I still have Galadriel's mirror sitting here, barely started, and I'm undecided as to what to do about that. Should that be my priority when I finish Fiori? Or should I go ahead and get started on the In Dreams mystery shawl? I'm now three very heavily beaded clues behind. I've been looking at spoiler pictures and they're all absolutely stunning (you can check out Pink Lemon Knits, she's working on one) but oi...the beads.

Really, these two are not mutually exclusive, one being beaded and laceweight and the other one being nonbeaded and fingering weight, so I'm comfortable working both of them at once. I'll have Spanish Moss as my nonbeaded easy peasy laceweight shawl and between the three of them I should have my lace knitting bases covered, but not overwhelmed.

Of course, there is Asterope, the next installment in the 7 Small Shawls book, but those have been such fun, speedy knits, I'm not really worried about it. When it comes out I will drop everything I'm working on like a hot rock, knit merrily through it with the rest of the Rominettes on the Rav board, and then go back to what I was doing as if nothing happened.

Of a Tuesday

2011-03-01T10:22:00.002-05:00

I always try to post on Mondays because I usually make the most progress over the weekend, but I just needed an extra day to recover from my marathon of a weekend. Lots going on, not all of it knitting related. I've noticed lots of familiar faces from the Romi Designs Rav Group showing up on the blog - hi guys!! Much love to all my readers. It makes my day when comments pop up. For a long time it felt like I was just talking to the ether, and now there are real people out there!

But that's not what you came here for, right? On to the actual content.

I met Romi!!!!!

I am thrilled to report that she is as sweet and intelligent in person as she is on the internet. I took Romi's Shapely Shawl class on Saturday morning at Eleganza Yarn's Indie Artist Celebration. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot, and I can't wait to have a few minutes to study the handout, too. It has a list of additional resources that I will be excited to check out. If I ever manage to get my Sea Turtle Shawl designed, then I do plan to look at some of these other shapes for any future designs. I loved that Romi does not limit herself rigidly to working only with stitch patterns that fit into what she wants to do - if the shape and stitch pattern don't necessarily work together, she fixes it so that they do. I hope I have that kind of confidence some day. I will never have that kind of math skill, but I have Resources. Which is to say, I will make my man do the math for me, or at least check that I did mine correctly. I COULD figure it out eventually on my own (it's not that the little wimmins cain't handle them big numbers), but as he likes math and I don't, it works out just fine this way.

I also met lots of nifty people, some of whom I already knew from the Rav boards, and some that I didn't know at all. It was tons of fun. However, I am exactly as tired as I look in that picture. It had been a long week and Saturday was an early start. Totally worth it, though.

There was a market with Indie artists, with a large variety of stuff available (but only a few things I was really interested in - I'm picky). I bought yarn. There should be a photo here, but I forgot. That happened a lot this weekend. I carted my heavy camera around all day and I think I used it...once. If that. I bought a skein of yarn in a colorway called Minister of Magic, and it is one of the sparkly yarns with silver in it that I have seen used so beautifully elsewhere. I think, after some searching, that it was from Shelby B's Designs.

I also bought a skein of sock yarn from Wild Hare in colors I never buy. It's sort of a pinky yellow orange melon mix. It looks delicious, it makes me think of pink lemonade and other yummy summer drinks (Jeanne, I want you to know that my selection of this skein is entirely your fault). I feel like I have been in a color rut lately, working mostly with dark and muted colors, so I am trying to get a little bit out of my comfort zone and get some brighter tones to mix in. I think it's the influence of February. I'm tired of winter wet and dreariness and as beautiful as my yarns are, they are just not lightening my mood enough. This skein is definitely out of my comfort zone but it made me giggle, so into my bag it went.

I really wavered on a couple of other things but my yarn budget is limited (my car tires didn't pass inspection and unexpectedly had to be replaced, and I wept) and I don't really *need* anything at the moment, so I tried to be restrained.

I cast on Bitterroot in Romi's class with a mohair blend yarn from Kid Hollow Farms that I bought at MD Sheep and Wool a few years ago, but I didn't get very far before I decided that I just wasn't feeling it. I love the Bitterroot design and it's been on my 'to-knit' list for ages, but I just didn't like it in the yarn, and to be honest I liked Romi's sportweight sample so much I am thinking about trying it in something heavier. I ended up putting it away and pulling out Taygete to work some more on it.

I've been working pretty faithfully on Taygete. You see, there's this thing about knitting - when you work on something, it gets finished. Since I'm feeling a little bit of WIP overload, I'm concentrating on finishing some things, which means working on one thing at a time until it's checked off the list. It's been really easy with this project since it's so much fun (I know, I know, there were mistakes, there was ripping, there was fudging, but I'm still having fun). Last night I realized when I went to take a picture of my progress that I had made a slight tactical error. I finished the lace portion on Sunday, and then I spent yesterday picking up the stitches around the edge. The problem is, I didn't take a picture before I started doing that, and now that I have the edges all picked up and I am, essentially, working in the round, it's impossible to unscrunch the things on my needles so that you can see what it actually looks like.

Oops. I guess you will have to wait for the grand reveal when the whole thing is done. All I have to do is the picot bind off.

Yeah...that might take a while. This will be my third shawl for 2011. I have sort of had the mindset that I need to finish one shawl per month in order to make the 11 in 2011 goal (that leaves me a little wiggle room at the end of the year), so I feel quite ahead to have the March shawl finished this early (I mean, it's not done yet, but hopefully it will be done by the end of this week.

I plan to focus on Fiori next in my effort to reduce my WIP numbers. Although it has not escaped my attention that Spanish Moss would be a much faster knit...

I have been a little obsessed with Alaska lately, I would dearly love to visit there, and at the beginning of the year I got an Alaska calendar to hang on the cube in my office. For the last month I've been looking at this:

And now today, I turned over the March page, and I'm looking at this.

Ahhhhhh...much better. (The first picture is Barry Glacier in Prince William Sound, the second is from Harbor Mountain in Sitka Sound.)

Spring is coming (soon to be followed by the oh please kill me now heat of summer, but I'm still looking forward to spring, however brief its visit).

The Effect of Social Knitting on My Project List

2011-02-23T10:39:00.000-05:00

Otherwise known as, How I Got Into This Mess. This WIP report brought to you by peer pressure. If you can call it peer pressure when really it's just that you can't stand to see other people have fun without you.

1. Taygete

I have dropped everything every time one of the 7 Small shawls series was released, and this one is no exception. I don't mind so much, as these are mostly quick knits in sock weight yarn and are a great relief from lots of big lace projects. But, let's face it, I started it because I didn't want to be left out. If you're knitting these shawls and you're not on the @Romi's Studio group on Ravelry, you're missing out. We're having so much fun.

2. Umaro blanket

I'm knitting this one because the yarn was a great deal and one of the few knitters I know IRL is knitting it too. I've been neglecting it for some of the other things, so she is now way ahead of me. Since she intends to knit two, I figure I am still ahead if you look at percentage complete. Not that anyone's counting.

3. Fiori di Sole

I've been planning to knit this one for ages, but I started it because others in the Romi group were working on it, and as they've left me far behind, it's languished in favor of projects that I could giggle over with others.

4. Galadriel's Mirror

Okay, I have no one to blame for this one but myself. I knew I was too busy to knit it but I cast on anyway. Now it's sitting there with cable caps on because I needed the needle tips for Taygete.

5. Prayers of Love Shawl

Started for charity knitting group. Had immense fun at the group. Group only meets once a month. Therefore, it languishes. Bad knitter.

6. Simone

Poor Simone. It's a lovely sweater, not hard, enjoyable to work on. And I've dropped it like a hot rock for all these lacy shawls and social projects. It's going to be totally useless within the next month, as it will be far too warm for spring wear. Hopefully I can finish it in time for next year.

7 & 8. Socks

I have two pairs of socks OTN, one for me and one for my honey. Unfortunately I hate the yarn I'm using for his and I'm not sure I will ever finish them. I may frog them and hide the yarn in the corner of my closet that I hope the moths go for first.

9. #2 of the matching set, the scarf.

Slowly but steadily making progress on this one. It's my carry-around project. It grows at an impressive speed when I work on it, but given that it's a scarf, it still takes forever.

10. Cotton Towel
I could finish this in a day if I could find it. I just knit it as a little something to try out my new stitch dictionaries, and then I got to where I needed to put the second end edging on it, and put it down, and I just haven't gotten back to it. If I can find the stupid thing I may just go ahead and cast off without edging the other side. It'll make me feel good to mark it as done.

11. Follow the Leader Shawl

Does anybody even remember this?

I marked it as frogged, though I haven't actually done it yet. I need to just face it up and admit that I hate the color of this yarn. Anybody want to take it off my hands? It's Rio de la Plata sock yarn in Paris Rain from the Yarn Market Impressionist series. I have two skeins (one obviously already wound and partially knit from, the other in the skein). I'll send it to anybody who wants it, so for the love of wool, please liberate me from it. I would much rather see it go to a good home than have it hanging around my house like the proverbial albatross. In fact, I should really cull my closet and find a way to foist all my other bad decisions on others.

12. Sea Turtle Shawl Design

My design class shawl is obviously going to be a longer-term project since I have to do more than, you know, knit it. Right now, I am having issues because I'm just not enjoying the yarn. I'm trying to decide what I should use instead, and nothing is really striking me. I like the sandy color of the yarn, rather than the more traditional green color that everyone seems to like for turtles (if you look at the pictures - they're not really all that green), but I guess I'm open to more tropical colors. I want something that's not too dark or too variegated so that the lace will show up. I don't think I want to use 100% silk. I'd love to use Handmaiden Seasilk or something similar, but I haven't really found a Handmaiden color that I like (plus, $$$) and it seems like not that many people carry seacell blends. I was thinking maybe about Schaefer Audrey, I really enjoyed knitting with that, but I'd like to have two skeins just in case I needed the second, and that makes it a little pricey, though I do like their Almond color. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has them.

That's TWELVE active projects (Well, 11, since I have decided to frog the one, but as I will be casting on Bitterroot for my CLASS WITH ROMI on Satuday, we might as well stick with twelve). And I haven't even started the In Dreams shawl. That is a huge number of WIPs for me. And I do not like it. Clearly I need to quit my job and become a knitting hermit so that I can accomplish all that is set before me. I will wall myself up in a little cell and you can pass me yarn and pizza through a tiny window.

Fudge

2011-02-21T12:36:00.003-05:00

As usual, business first, fun second. I have been working along on Taygete and let me tell you, it has become clear that she does not love me as much as I love her. If I were the Yarn Harlot I would have a bunch of pictures to go along with my tales of woe - pictures of piles of spaghetti yarn, pics that show how high I soared, and then how low I was forced to go. But I am not the YH and I do not have the self-control to stop in the middle of my agony to document it through photography, so my tale of woe is entirely text based, up until the happy - well, middle. It might be nearer the ending if there was less woe.

As you recall, I made a happy start on Taygete last Monday when it was announced, and though work and life interfered and slowed my progress to a stall. I was full of happiness and enthusiasm, for what I would do with this wonderful, wonderful shawl.

I was slightly confused, however, because the pattern uses YO increases on contrasting colors for the shaping, and Romi's instructions for what to do at the end of this triangle contain the following:
Note: loops formed along the shaped edge of the shawl will be in MC, although the YOs have been worked in CC. The loops do not fall directly below MC rows.

My loops were clearly in my contrast color, but for some reason, I paid no attention and kept on going.

Then someone made a post on the forum that stopped me in my tracks. I didn't think much about that actual post, but it led to a discussion that revealed to me that despite the fact that Romi's instructions very clearly say to knit the first CC row and then increase on the second CC row - I had been doing exactly the opposite. Therefore, my YO increases were on the wrong side of the shawl.

Now, I am sure there was a way around this. I am sure that this situation could be fudged. There is only one problem.

I do not fudge. A fudged shawl is a shawl I will not wear, or even look at. A fudged shawl fills me with the rage of a thousand suns. I do not fudge. I frog.

And frog I did. The shawl starts at only a few stitches, and I had increased up into the mid-40's, but I frogged it anyway. I was pretty good humored about it. I had no one to blame but myself. It's simple garter stitch anyway, no big deal. I discovered this on Friday, so I had all day Saturday to make up ground. I'd be past that spot in no time, right?

So I knit merrily along and I was doing really well, back up into the low 40s. I was quite satisfied with myself, it wasn't even noon yet, and I was thinking about putting Taygete down when I got back to where I had been, and spending some time on the sadly neglected Fiori, when someone else posted a question to the Rav forum about the number of stripes v. the number of stitches you should have on the needles at any given time. Seemed like an easy thing to figure out, so I did the math. Already embarrassed by my previous foible, I went back to count my stripes and make sure that the answer I was giving her was correct and there, way down at the tip of my shawl, I saw - two sets of CC ridges in a row. My CC and my MC are so similar in this shawl that I have gotten confused a couple of times, but I thought I had already caught them all. Not so. I frogged again (this time with less laughter and more grumbling). This took me back down into the low twenties.

I knit like a woman obsessed, determined that this simple little garter stitch shawl was not going to beat me, not going to be the boss of me. I knit and I knit and I knit and I finally got back up to where I had been. Then I had dinner, took a break to block Sevillano (more on that in a moment), and sat back down, thinking I might be able to make it to the center point of the shawl before bedtime.

This proved to be a slightly ambitious goal. I had just decided to give in for the night when I stopped and counted my stitches and my stripes. Then I counted again. Then I gave them to my boyfriend and made him count. There was no escaping the sad mathematical truth. I had one too many stitches on the needles.

Absolutely floored, I stopped and looked at the shawl, desperately seeking the traitorous little yarnover that must have slipped in there somewhere, wondering if it was somewhere where I could just drop it or if I was going to have to frog back again. And there was...nothing. absolutely nothing. I could see no stitch out of place. Everything looked fine. Nothing stuck out. I couldn't find anything. Finally, waaaaay down the shawl, about the length of my hand up from the tip (the entire shawl being about the length of my forearm at this point and wider than the length of my hand), I saw a little jog, just a teeny little kick out in the previously straight line that was the non-increase side of the shawl. I felt a sinking in my stomach. I was sure that was it. I inspected the stitches and the row closely and came up with nothing. I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't see the extra stitch.

I went to bed. A few hours later, I got up and I went downstairs and I picked it up and looked at it again, and there, in the dark of the night, I made a decision.

I will fudge.

This shawl's construction makes it very important that you have the right number of rows. The right number of stitches isn't that important. I decided to continue, since there was no problem with my rows, and somewhere on the other side of the shawl I will just randomly decrease an extra stitch. The little jog from the addition/subtraction of the extra stitch will not be noticeable in the finished, blocked product (and probably really isn't noticeable now, except to me and the people I keep obsessively pointing it out to, and let's face it - they don't care). I mean, really - can you see it?

It's on the right hand edge of the shawl. I'm sure you can, now that I've said something about it, but otherwise, you totally wouldn't know. (Lie to me people. I'm a woman on the edge.)

I think part of the reason I'm having issues with this shawl is that the colors I picked match a little too well. Though they are distinctly different when separate, there is pink in the purple and purple in the pink, and as you can see from the picture below, there are times when they stand out significantly, and times when they blur together. I've decided I like the effect, though, it looks kind of antiqued. Not as graphic as the people who are doing more solid, heavier contrasting colors, but I've always been a low-contrast kind of person (I present as evidence - just about every beaded item I've ever knit).

It's very humbling to get my butt kicked by this simple little garter stitch shawl that I should be able to knit in my sleep. Fortunately, I now have this to remind me that I do not actually suck at knitting.

Pattern is, of course, Sevillano from Romi's pins and lace club - now available to the public for purchase!. Yarn is Schaefer Andrea in colorway Barbara McClintock. This was a match made in heaven - couldn't have been more perfect! I did two extra repeats of Chart D and had about 26 g of the yarn left over.

Oh, the Knits You Can Knit

2011-02-16T11:03:00.002-05:00

You guys. I'm having so much fun. Romi's 5th Small Shawl, Taygete, is out and it's a blast. You remember, I got this yarn last year in anticipation of the shawl release. It took a little longer than we expected for the release because Romi wanted to make sure she got the sizing instructions right, and we finally got the pattern on Valentine's Day. Despite the fact that I already have way too much going on, I started. I can't stand to be left out.

That's a crappy iPhone pic, I know. Colors are truer in this pic:

So just kind of use your imagination to merge the two.

I love this pattern. I normally hate stripes, but that's usually because I hate weaving in ends. No ends here! This is a two row stripe pattern so you actually carry the yarn up the sides of the shawl. Romi uses yarnovers at one end of the rows to increase and make the triangle. Those yarnover loops will be picked up later to knit the lace border. I HATE picking up stitches and I love that Romi has included this detail to make the picking up part absolutely painless.

And, here's the best part, to my mind - this thing is never more than 70 or 80 stitches wide. No huge long rows (at least, not until you get to the lace part)!! I'm so excited about this I can't stand it. I hardly ever knit anything twice but unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong, I think Taygete may be my go-to pattern when I need a quick gift for somebody.

I was thinking, too, that it would be awesome to get a skein of black sock yarn and a skein of Noro sock yarn and stripe those - wouldn't that just look fab?? Oh! Oh! I think I have some mini-mochi in my stash!! Oh, the possibilities!!

I love getting jazzed about a new project - even though I have a bajillion things on the needles. In fact, I started a new shawl last night for my charity knitting group. Somewhere I have a simple shawl that's almost finished, but I couldn't find it yesterday, so I just grabbed a bag of charity yarn, printed out a free shawl pattern (rav link), and threw my needle binder in my bag. But, I have so many things on the needles that I didn't have any needle tips in the right size available! I needed 9's and all I had was 8's and 10.5's. I cringed a little but went with the 8's, figuring the 10.5's would be overkill. Anyway, it's a cute, fun knit in worsted weight and I vow I will finish it by the next meeting in March. I go, I knit, but I never actually finish anything, because I am a selfish, selfish little knitter. Maybe I can make a few dozen Taygetes to donate!!

Check check

2011-02-14T13:38:00.002-05:00

It was a good weekend for the knitting to-do list.

I finished off Sevillano.

And Avira, the shawlette from the Light and Dark club.

This is the first shawl I've knit from the bottom up, and it was awfully nice to have the rows getting shorter as you knit rather than longer!! I was thinking it was going to be awfully small, but now that it's finished I can see that it's going to be a good size when blocked. The colorway is "Pussywillow" dyed by Pennyworth Yarns. The next installment of the club should go on sale soon. It will be a dark month dyed by Zen Yarn Garden. I can't wait to see the colorway choices.

I've been working on the swatch for my design class.

I just pinned it out a bit so you could see the patterns. The top pattern is meant to evoke the pattern on the back of the mother turtle's shell, and the lower section is meant to represent the baby sea turtles headed for the water. Can you see them?

I'm wishing I had used a slightly heavier lace yarn. The cashwool is super affordable with great yardage but I had forgotten that it was so very fine. I'm thinking if I went down a needle size and tightened up the fabric more, maybe my baby sea turtles would show better. I'm not sure but I also think I may have messed up the first repeat, and there are only two here. Anyway, since it's so tough to see I made you a cheat.

See them now?

I still have a third stitch pattern to swatch, and a couple of problems to solve. But, I feel pretty good about my overbooked February so far. (Famous last words, right?)

Changing Direction

2011-02-09T10:02:00.002-05:00

Well, my bloggy friends, I'm afraid I have lied to you once again. I didn't bind off Sevillano after all. I started on Monday, but the bind-off was coming off way too tight and I thought, I need to rethink this. So I set it aside, and I have no photos. I'm afraid I have been a little under the weather the past couple of days and the knitting has suffered a bit.

Yesterday, faced with the prospect of picking out the amount of the bind-off I had already done, I decided I had better get off my rear and get moving on my homework for my shawl design class. Some people are better at 'work at your own pace' than others, and I am definitely an other. The more structured the better, for me, when it comes to learning. But I digress. I'm going to try to describe my process without making it totally unnecessary for my readers to take Stefanie's class. Know that much more knowledge and many more tips are offered than I am presenting here.

The first step was, not terribly surprising, to conceptualize the shawl. Stefanie recommended sketching. I did it, although I felt silly, because I had already made some of the decisions she was asking us about. I knew I wanted to make a triangular (half-square) shawl and not a full square, and I knew I wanted to use laceweight yarn (completely disregarding Stefanie's advice, as it happens, but I already bought laceweight, so laceweight I shall use - besides, I much prefer the look of lace done in laceweight as a personal preference). I even had decided on a theme (which, incidentally, has since completely gone out of the window, but I'll get to that).

Anyway, I sketched. Badly. I'm not sure it got me anywhere, but I could see how it might be a useful process if you were just trying to figure out what you like. I attempted a stick figure on one of my drawings for scale - I generally prefer pretty good sized shawls that fall a little below my waist. I realize you can't tell that from my stick figure at all.

The next step was to pick out the stitch patterns that we wanted to use and start swatching. I thought this would be the fun, easy part of the whole thing, but it was actually quite frustrating. I went through making notes of stitch patterns that fit my 'theme' and found - none of them worked together. The stitch counts were wildly different, and nothing was coming together. In our class chat, one of the questions I asked was how Stefanie goes about choosing patterns. She said she usually starts with one stitch pattern that she really loved and then she looked for things that went with it. That made sense to me, although I didn't really get how anyone could design a themed shawl like all the ones I loved so much in this manner. But, I decided to toss my theme and try it that way.

So I got out my stitch dictionaries and picked one of the patterns that I had really liked when I was looking before, and I went through both books and then marked every single stitch pattern with a similar stitch count (the one I was looking at was 8+1, so I marked all the 8+1's and all the 16+1's, etc). I really didn't look at anything besides the stitch count at that point. Then, I flipped back through all the marked pages more slowly, looking at the stitch patterns themselves. And, gradually, a new theme came to me, based on the patterns that I was looking at, and I started to get really excited about the design process again.

I started a swatch but the Harmony Guide has no charts, only written directions, and they are written in what is, in my opinion, the most annoying way possible. So I wasn't even through the first row when I got impatient and went to KnitChart, where I charted out the pattern.

The other two patterns were in my Vogue Knitting stitch dictionary, which does have charts, but since I would need to chart them all out for my pattern anyway, I just went ahead and charted all of them. Besides being free, the program is very easy to use, and I just screen captured my charts and put them in a Word document, cropped, resized, and printed, and they are clear as day. I think I will have to redo the stitch legend, though, as I prefer different stitches from the default. It also lets you save the java code for a chart in a text file so when I'm ready to put my full pattern together, I can just load up my existing charts and copy and paste the symbols over.

All this took up so much time that I didn't even get through one repeat of my stitch pattern, so I didn't bother to photograph the swatch (I was sleepy), but I will leave you with a few images that are meant to be represented by the three stitches I intend to use. (Sadly none of these pictures, or the video, were taken by me, so click on the images to head over to flickr if you want to see more from the photographers themselves.)

Totally Under Control

2011-02-07T11:22:00.001-05:00

I haven't much to show on the blog today, but come back tomorrow and I promise to have something worth seeing. I had no time at all to take pictures yesterday since I got home so late, but I'll have some tomorrow.

I have been working pretty religiously on Sevillano, determined to finish SOMETHING before the madness of February did me in. Last night I completed the last set of chart E repeats and tonight I will bind off. I probably won't have the time to block but I can at least show you the unblocked finished project. I can't wait to see it when it's not all scrunched up on the needles.

After that's done I intend to catch up on the knitting for the Dark and Light lace club. I have about a third of the first clue remaining and the second clue, and then I will be caught up. I figure that may take me the rest of the week, and if so, I'll start In Dreams this weekend. Somewhere in between there, I hope to catch up on my design class and start swatching.

In order to meet my 11 in 2011 goals I have to finish a shawl a month. Sadly, Sevillano doesn't count because it was started in 2010, so I still have to finish a shawl in February!! I'm hoping Avira (the light and dark club project, which I can't link you to because, well, it's a mystery) will be it, but if not, the new Pins and Lace pattern, Spanish Moss, is a pretty good candidate. It's a rectangular stole so it should be a nice thing to have as 'break' knitting while I work on all these giant projects.

I feel a little bad neglecting Fiori so - but I knew my February was going to be nuts so I'm okay with sort of laying it aside for the moment. It's still there, and I'll still be working on it off and on, and it's going to be a stunning finished product. If I can wear it in April or May I think that would be perfect, so that's my goal for that one.

See, I'm not going totally crazy. I can definitely handle all this. It's all totally under control. You know. For now.

2011-01-31T10:59:00.000-05:00

My Stephanie Japel online shawl design class starts tomorrow. I am ~excited~!!

I am happy to report that my mail was finally liberated from the box.

The flat rate box is this:

Which now looks like this:

That's the first few rows of Clue 1 for the Light and Dark lace club. The cast on was over 300 stitches. It's bizarre to me to start a project with long rows instead of short ones, but I bet it will be fun when the rows start to get shorter towards the end. If they do. I'm not really sure, to be honest. It's a mystery, after all. Anyway, there's no real hard release schedule for these clues and Ruth and Roxanne have said they want it to be a nice, relaxed knitalong, so I haven't put in any real time on this one just yet. Just a taste, so I don't feel left out. I'll come back to it later.

One of the packages was from Beadwrangler containing the seed bead mix I thought I would try for In Dreams, but after looking at it I decided to stick with my original choice. The mix is gorgeous though and I'm going to save it for something in the future.

The small white package is the pin from Romi's pins and lace club, which is a really neat little design that I -- completely forgot to photograph.

The last package was from ArtBeads, and it did have some beads in it, but it also had these:

Romi recommended them and said they work on nickel as well as silver. As far as I was concerned this was excellent news, since I have been looking for a solution to this problem for some time:

Those are two of my KnitPicks Options nickel tips, and they are not exactly bright and shiny anymore. The tarnish makes my hands smell funny and the yarn doesn't slide nicely along the needles anymore, so I've been looking for cleaning methods. Googling for 'nickel polish' got me nowhere, however, and further searching got all kinds of suggestions that were variously plausible. At least one or two sites suggested oven cleaner. The polishing cloths cost only a few dollars and are neatly contained and easily cleaned up after, so I was really hoping they would work.

I used the pair of needles shown as my test pair since they were in the worst condition of all, and then I cleaned a second pair of the same size, and when it was done I had forgotten which pair I photographed so I included all four in the results photo.

Not perfect, but vastly improved. I immediately started cleaning the sizes I use more commonly (I had started with US6's because I don't use them that often, and if they melted in my hand or something I wouldn't be totally out of commission), including the pair of US4's I had in Sevillano. I am a much happier knitter. (K, I bought an extra for you but I forgot to drop it off this weekend).

Despite the little fits and starts I've made on other things, I've spent most of my time working on Sevillano.

I've completed 8 repeats (the pattern calls for 7) and I plan to do at least one more. I'm debating on whether I should do two more - that will take me just slightly past the 50% mark on my yarn consumption. I'm trying to stay as dedicated to this project as possible because I am so close to being finished. I do have rather a lot of things on the needles at the moment, and although I have enjoyed knitting Sevillano, it'll feel good to finish it. Plus, it's gorgeous and I want to wear it at the end of February when I ~meet Romi~!!

I also worked another half repeat on Fiori Friday night when I needed something a little less intensive than Sevillano. I feel like I'm suffering a terrible case of startitis right now and it's going to drive me batty if I'm not careful. I acknowledge this, and yet, I started a new project.

This is the beginning of Umaro by Jared Flood and I cannot stop giggling while I work it. I work with fine yarns, small needles. I use a 4 most often than anything else, and I rarely even get as large as an 8 or a 9. So this project, knit with Cascade Lana Grande on US15 needles, is downright comical to me. Right now this sits in a basket next to my bed and I am knitting one or two rows before bed. I'm surprised at how soft the wool is, my experience with Peruvian wool has been that it is, ahem, 'hearty,' but this is quite soft and I think the finished blanket will be wooly and cozy. It's not a project I would normally have picked for myself, but I think I'm going to get a lot of joy out of it. If I can figure out the weird cable thingy. I do wish designers would phrase their cabling instructions in such a way that those of us who prefer not to use a cable needle can figure out what we're supposed to do more easily. But, que sera. When I write patterns, I will do them my way. Mwa ha ha ha ha.

Finally, I decided to take K's advice on a scarf pattern from last week's blog comments and the scarf is working out much better now. It's about six inches long, so I have quite a ways to go. The pattern is sufficiently easy and mindless that the scarf might actually get done some time this century. It turns out that it is ridiculously easy to screw up a simple seed stitch rib, but I catch my mistakes pretty quickly.

Let Down

2011-01-24T11:57:00.000-05:00

I'm afraid after the flood of finishes and pictures in the last couple of weeks, today's blog post is going to be a little bare. I could show you the yarn for the Light and Dark Lace Club:

What? You can't see that? How about the beads I ordered for the In Dreams Mystery shawl?

Nothing, huh? Okay, how about a spoiler pic for the first shipment of Romi's Pins and Lace club?

Zip, right? Would you like to know why this is? It's because I CAN'T GET INTO MY MAILBOX. I don't know which of these packages is in there, if any, but there is definitely SOMETHING in there because my key will not turn the lock. The locks on our mailboxes are not exactly sophisticated. On the inside of the box there is a small metal lever that prevents the box from opening when the lock is engaged. When you turn the key, that lever simply lowers out of the way and allows the door to open. Whatever is currently in my mailbox is beneath the lever, preventing it from moving. I tried shaking the box, banging on it, everything I could think of to shift the stuff inside enough to let me turn the lock. All I accomplished was bending my mail key. SIGH.

I called USPS on Friday when I noticed the problem and they said they would 'initiate documentation' with my local post office, but whatever documentation they initiated didn't make it in time for the problem to be fixed on Saturday. This is a little inconceivable to me since it seems to me like the only documentation required is an e-mail to my postman asking them to either shift the stuff in the box or drop it off at my door, but what do I know? I thought about taping a note to the mailbox but I decided to wait and see if it gets fixed today. If it was warmer out I would have camped by the mailbox on Saturday until the mail carrier came.

Fortunately, I am not totally devoid of stuff to show. I have spent most of this week working on Sevillano.

I've completed 5 repeats of chart D and I'm well into the 6th. I'm trying to decide if I want to do additional repeats, and if so, how many. The version shown in the pattern took up about 600 yards, and I have 1000, and I don't really know what I would do with 400 yards of silk. My plan is to figure out how many yards I've used when I get through 7 repeats, subtract that from the 600, and estimate how many additional repeats I can do. It's taking me roughly three hours per repeat, and I wish I didn't know that, haha. It's much more daunting to think about in terms of hours instead of number of repeats. And once I knew I probably wasn't going to finish the sixth repeat last night, I...well.

I started Galadriel's Mirror. The yarn is Handmaiden Silk Twist and you can see how the little silk plies take the light differently.

It's a subtle effect in this colorway, at least, but I hope the effect in the overall shawl will be lovely.

I also wound my yarn for the In Dreams mystery shawl.

I'm really glad I did, because my feelings have been very up and down on this colorway. I like my work to be an artistic statement as much as a wearable garment, and I struggle sometimes to maintain a balance between the two. I keep swinging from feeling like I made the right choice, to maybe I could have done better. Winding the yarn did wonders for me, though. I always find that caked yarn gives a much better idea of what the knit-up yarn will look like than skeined yarn does. And as I was winding, I could see that the light skein had notes of emerald green in it that I didn't see in the skein, and it was just lovely and enchanting and much more in line with what I like.

This weekend I went to Star's Beads and looked at a bunch of different bead options, including several that I had almost ordered online but thankfully didn't, since they didn't really work in person. I brought home three options, but I think, unless the mix that I did order from Beadwrangler changes my mind, I'm going with the ones shown, Toho gold-lustered green tea. I really had my heart set on something gold for this shawl, since the inspiration is Galadriel's crown and I very much associate Galadriel with gold rather than green, but I wasn't sure gold was going to work, especially with the dark end of the gradience, which has enough grey in it that it seems like it really ought to be matched with a silver bead. I tried several different gold-lined beads against the yarn and just really didn't like them, so the gold-lustered green tea is a compromise. These beads really are both gold and green, so they were my pick.

I'm waiting to order all 5000 until I can get into my stupid mailbox, just in case I like the bead mix I ordered from Beadwrangler more, but I'm 90% sure these will be the pick.

I do have one finished object to show today. Piece 1 of 3 of the matched set for ma honey is complete.

Ain't he handsome?

I started the scarf for him last night using Jarod Flood's Pavement pattern, but something wasn't working for me. The pattern didn't look right and the cabling was hurting my hands, so I think I need to either try it again earlier in the day and/or with different needles, or select a different scarf pattern. I cannot seem to reconcile myself with giving the man I love a garter stitch scarf. What would other knitters think?

On A Misssion

2011-01-18T12:00:00.001-05:00

I don't know where to start today. I put off blogging yesterday because I had the day off, and I figured I could make some good progress, so if I took photos it would all be out of date as soon as I showed it. Lots of good stuff to blog today though! I have been a woman on a mission - really, on several missions.

Okay, we'll do WIP report first, new projects (mostly projects-to-be, really) second, and FO last. This week I really set about working on my two lace shawls. When last we left Fiori, she was simply a ball of beautiful silk yarn. As of yesterday I am halfway through the first repeat of chart E, which means I have finished the beautiful spreading petals/leaves motif at the top of the shawl, and am ready to get going on the main body.

The stitches are already a bit crowded on the needle so a good photo is a bit difficult. I planned to work on this shawl all day tomorrow, to get through as many of the repeats as I could. Just to get a realistic expectation for how much I could get accomplished to the day (my brain knits much faster than my hands), I timed the first couple of rows of Chart E...and determined that I could do about 1 repeat every 3 hours. This did not at all fit my vision of getting through the majority of the repeats. I kept going for a while, and about halfway through Chart E I decided that 3 hours was realistic and I...switched projects.

Because I thought I could get a lot more done on Sevillano in that time, since this is knit from the tip up, so despite the fact that I was probably farther along on this one than I was on Fiori, I had fewer stitches on the needles.

I love this design. It's so stunning, and I just think it's ingenious. It's also, and you know how much I hate the h-word...it's hard. It's really intense. I work on this and I'm exhausted when I'm done. However, when I got to Chart D, I felt like it was getting quite a bit easier. Chart D repeats 7 times. I had to work Chart C first so I only got through one and a half repeats of D, but I definitely felt like I was having less of a difficult time with D than I did with the previous charts. By the time you get to D, you've worked the majority of the stitch sequences several times already, and that - is it ring lace? That yarnover section in the middle is a fairly mindless repeat (not totally, but comparatively, it's a peace of cake) so there's a bit of a breather there.

I found that, with the last tip-up triangle I did, I had the same issues - the charts that I had to get through in order to set up the point were far more difficult for me than the repeated charts containing the middle and the edging. So, if you are thinking of knitting this pattern and my use of the h-word has intimidated you, take heart. If you can get through Chart C, you're in clover.

Interestingly, I'm knitting both Fiori and Sevillano with 100% silk yarn, and it's really quite striking the difference between the yarns. The Sundara silk lace is very soft and smooth and almost kind of flat feeling. The stitch definition is more clear than it would be with say, 100% merino, but it's still fairly - I can't think of a good word. Indistinct? Perhaps it would be better to say it makes a very cohesive fabric. The Schaefer Andrea I'm using for Sevillano is much more tightly spun, much more rounded, and I can feel the texture of the plies as it moves through my hands. The stitch definition is very crisp, you can easily identify the individual stitches even in the stockinette portions. I noticed a similar difference in the silk lace I used for the Evenstar shawl versus the silk I used for the Aspen Shawl. One was very loose, soft, and drapey, and the other very crisp, rounded, and firm.

Because I am me and therefore very rough on everything around me, I kind of like the tighter spun silk better, because it's less easy to snag or stab through a ply, but in this case I certainly think both are quite suited to the project at hand. I like the softer silk for Fiori, which I envision as very light and airy, and I like the sturdier, stronger silk for Sevillano, with its beautiful patterns and textures and the olive-tree theme. Plus it's uncanny how well the colors fit the theme of each shawl. But I digress.

I've also been working on the big giant hat for my honey. I left it in the car and wasn't minded to go out in the cold last night and get it, so we'll have to make do with an iPhone pic for this one.

That's what it looks like with the brim folded up. I think I have about two and a half, maybe 3 inches to go before I start the decreases. I have to check my pattern to be sure.

The influx of yarn continued this week as the results of my mad early January ordering spree continued to trickle in.

Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in Arachne

I was planning on this for Alcyone, but I'm really having second thoughts. I have a skein of yarn with lots of blues and greens in it that would go really well with the wave motif in Alcyone. I'm just a little concerned about the difference in weight, though, Bugga is a comparatively heavy yarn, listed as a sport weight instead of a fingering. If I use a true fingering weight, will my shawl be too small? Since this is several shawl releases away, I'm not worrying about it too much for now.

Lane Borgesia Cashwool in Sand

This is my yarn for the design class I'm taking in February.

Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Silk in Black Plum

A friend gave me a Zen Yarn Garden gift certificate for Christmas and I immediately knew I wanted to get a kit to make the Astilbe Feathers Shawl. I actually ordered a different color (also purple, but lighter) and then Roxanne posted a whole bunch of new colors, and was kind enough to switch my order for me when I fell in love with the Black Plum kit. I think this kit is super cool because Roxanne actually got the beads first, and then used the bead color to inspire her yarn dying. How awesome is that? You can get your own kit here (enable, enable, enable). If you want just the yarn and beads without the pattern, and the colorway you want isn't listed on the yarn/beads only page, you can e-mail Roxanne. She is very accommodating and not at all scary. Although she is, herself, a shameless enabler. One can forgive her for being so, as a purveyor of yarn, but she is a pattern temptress as well, so beware. Just the other day she posted in her Ravelry group about Silk Road Socks, on the flimsy excuse that her yarn is used in the book. Now the only thing stopping me from ordering the book is trying to decide whether I want the digital/print bundle or whether I want to try knitting from my Kindle. I'm leaning towards the bundle - I have the older Kindle that doesn't let you switch the orientation, and I like to write on my patterns. Normally I avoid complicated socks - socks are my relaxation knitting and I get mad at socks that make me think too much - but these are just too beautiful to pass up. (I am dooming myself by posting this since as soon as a certain someone I know sees these socks she will be shamelessly campaigning for a pair.)

I will still be dancing attendance on the mailbox all week, though, because the first shipment of Romi's 2011 Pins and Lace club is shipping this week, and the yarn for Roxanne's Light and Dark lace club will also be shipping in the very near future. I also got an e-mail from the Unique Sheep saying that my gradience yarn for the In Dreams mystery KAL has shipped. A picture of it popped up on their flickr stream.

I am super excited, although I am having to occasionally fight off a case of yarn envy as everyone on the Ravelry group is sharing pictures of the gorgeous colorways they got. I have a bit of a delimma, though. The designer has published the swatch and bead count and this shawl will have 5000 beads. Some dizzyness as you read that is normal. Now, I love beads, I love bling, and I love beaded designs, BUT...I am really unsure about this. That is a lot of beads and I do believe there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. So, I am debating. To bead, or not to bead, to partially bead even though I know I won't see the whole picture until the thing is finished, so I will be flying a bit blind when deciding where to bead and where not to.

I'm also really undecided about which beads to use. This colorway is very similar to the colors I used in my Maia shawl so I had been thinking I would use the same beads. But, as I have done more thinking on the theme, I have really gotten attached to the idea of having some gold in the shawl. I love the idea of having little gold flecks here and there - but 5000 beads is not here and there. It is pretty much everywhere. I had almost totally decided not to bead it until people started posting pics of their swatches on Ravelry.

Now, the shape of this shawl is a half circle, and I used 3000 beads for Evenstar which was a full circular shawl. Those beads were only on the edging, so if you cut that in half we're talking 1500 beads for the edging - assuming the edging is beaded similarly, which is a big assumption. That leaves 3500 beads to cover a much larger area than the edging of Evenstar, right? So...maybe it won't be so bad. The swatch is heavily beaded and that's kind of scary, but she can't possibly keep up that kind of density for the whole shawl or it would use way more than 5000 beads. Right?

I have a feeling I will end up deciding to bead as written, but this still leaves me the problem of what beads to use. I've been considering using a mix, maybe Magic Forest from Beadwrangler (you can see her other mixes here. I'm also considering using the beads from Maia for the top portion of the shawl, the darker area, and then mixing in some gold beads and ending up with entirely gold on the bottom. I love this idea, but pulling it off may be a challenge. Not so much if I were to mix things up randomly, but I think I would rather make decisions about where to use which color. And, I still have to pick some gold beads. I am so clueless on this bead issue, that I have been on at least four different bead websites, loaded up my carts with all the possibilities I wanted to look at, and then ended up not ordering anything because the total cost was so rediculous by the time I was done. I have told myself repeatedly that I will wait until my yarn gets here and then I will go to my local bead store to at least try to narrow down the possibilities and categories. Although I do think I may order that magic forest mix and try out a swatch with it, see what I think.

Underlying all of this is absolute panic about how much stuff is coming down to be done in February. We're talking a year's worth of knitting all in one month. I keep ticking down the list, trying to decide what I will NOT knit, and it's not going so well. It's all I can do to keep my hands off Galadriel's Mirror even though I know the insanity that awaits me.

But! I did finish the first shawl of 2011, and it has been blocked.

Zen Yarn Garden Cashmere Sock, colorway Rouge. Limestone One Skein Triangle Shawl from FickleKnitter. I did one extra repeat of the body before doing the edging, and I ended up having to fudge the short rows around the point. If you're going to add (or subtract) repeats, do it in multiples of 3 and you should be able to work the directions as written. I should've checked before I just started whacking extra repeats on there, but I was too lazy.

WIP Report

2011-01-12T13:28:00.002-05:00

Last night, I finished my Limestone One-Skein shawl. I won't be able to block it until tomorrow at the earliest and maybe not until Saturday, but I feel good that it's done. 1 down, 10 to go! Not so bad for not even being halfway through the first month. I'm a finishing fiend! I haven't put my new blocking mats away once since I laid them out to block Evenstar, because I am just finishing projects left and right. It's a good feeling, although I also have a raging case of startitis that is keeping me from fully experiencing the triumph. I just have so many things I want to make, I'm going nuts. I have a three-day weekend coming up and I'm hoping to put the time to good use. I have some housecleaning that I really should do - in fact I'm on Amazon looking at new vacuum cleaners right now. I have been through 3 vacuum cleaners in the last 5 years, plus two handheld dirt devils. Thanks to the ridiculous number of yarn purchases I've made this month, though, I may have to wait until payday. Blech.

Part of the problem may be that it's so cold here, and now that I'm done with the limestone shawl, my two in-progress shawls, Fiori and Sevillano, are both lightweight silk. I feel the need for something more snuggly.

Well. maybe a status report on my WIPs will convince me to behave.

1. Sevilano

I love the pattern, I love the yarn. The finished project is going to be stunning. I'm not sure why I'm not quite feeling it right now. Not many people seem to be knitting it, and it is so much more fun to knit along with others. Maybe when the pattern is released to the public and more people can get their hands on it, it will get the attention it deserves. I have a feeling that it'll be just as engrossing as ever when I pick it up again - it's just a victim of the 'holy crap there are xx days till Christmas' frenzy.

2. Fiori di Sole

So beautiful, so springy. This one may just be suffering from a combination of seasonal issues and over-anticipation. I've wanted to knit Fiori for so long! I'm already impatient to check it off the list and I have barely gotten started!! I need to relax, not worry about getting it done, and just enjoy the process. The more it grows, and the more beautiful it gets, the more I will love it, and the faster it will go. It's going to be stunning, I just know it. It's a beautiful pattern and now that I've got the right yarn, it's going to be a work of art. If only it weren't so darn cold outside!

3. Simone

One day I am going to face the fact that I'm just not a sweater knitter. I see people on other blogs who crank out sweater after sweater in a matter of weeks, and you know what? I bet I could do it too. Compared to a lace shawl, sweaters are fast. But...I'm just not a sweater knitter. Still, this sweater will be lovely, soft, and warm when it's done, so I really should pick it back up again and keep moving.

4. Cotton Towel

Okay, this one is really just embarrassing. A simple little something I started just for fun, as an easy project. This picture is quite old, and the towel is much, much longer than shown. My plan was just to knit until the yarn ran out, and the reason I stopped carrying this around is that I was so close to that point that I thought I had better start the edging, and I needed my stitch dictionary to do that, so this is probably 95% finished. I vow to get it done this weekend. I don't think it'll take very long at all. I just have to, um...figure out where it is.

5. Follow the Leader Faroese

I think this one is destined for the frog pond. I just don't like it. Mostly, I don't like the yarn color. I did have some problems with the project itself, mostly due to inadequate attention. I thought this one would be an easy shawl I could just slog out and then give the resulting garment away, but I'm just not enjoying it, and now it's just sitting there making me feel guilty. I've been arguing with myself over it for ages. My options are to grit my teeth and finish it, or give up and use the yarn for something else. I don't really like either option. Maybe I can give the yarn to someone who will love it more. It's two skeins of Rio de la Plata sock yarn in Paris Rain, an exclusive colorway from Yarn Market. My hangup is, it really is an easy pattern and it would be a great charity peace - if I would just suck it up and finish. Sigh. Maybe I'll take this one with me to game night on Friday and try to get it rolling again. It's just plain garter stitch at this point except for the center panel. I'd love to go to my charity knitting group and actually have something to give them for a chance. Maybe if I really dedicate myself, I can make some progress.

6. Hat, scarf, glove set

This is not actually started yet, except for the hat, which I cast on last night so I would have some mindless knitting. This was a request from the boyfriend, who even bought me the yarn for it. I have made him a hat and scarf set, and a hat and handwarmer set, but he does not actually have a matching set that includes all 3 pieces. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable request to me (okay, let's be real - I get giddy when people ask for knitting, and buying me yarn is the surest way to guarantee I'll actually do it) so I agreed, provided he was willing to wait until after the Christmas knitting was done. Since the Christmas knitting is done, it's time to get busy on this most reasonable of requests. I had intended to start the scarf first but I couldn't find the right needles, so the hat is coming first instead. I'm using the tried and trusted Kim's Hats pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, ribbed brim variation. His first hat was a rolled brim hat that was one of my first projects, knit flat and then seamed. I still consider it a wonder that the seam has not come apart after all this time, but there you go. It was knit out of Lion Brand Wool-Ease and I'm kind of embarrassed when he wears it now, since I am capable of so much better. The scarf that goes with it is a broken garter rib scarf. The reason for this is because I misunderstood the directions for the ribbed scarf I was actually trying to make. The second hat I made him was a 1x1 ribbed hat out of Noro that looks very fetching on him. It doesn't really have a brim, it just goes in 1x1 from top to bottom. It's very stretchy and fits him well, which is something of an accomplishment because his larger than average intelligence apparently requires a larger than average head - his is 26". I usually accommodate this by starting with the number of cast on stitches for the large size, and taking the difference between the medium and large sizes and adding that number of stitches to the large. This time, we're going with a ribbed brim hat that will be knit long enough that he can fold the ribbed part up to have a double layer over his ears.

The scarf will be plain garter stitch, but knit lengthwise - which is why I couldn't start it yesterday. I found my 16" 9's, but not my US9 interchangeable tips. I'm missing a bunch of cables too. I'm not a very organized or disciplined person, so they're probably scattered all over everywhere. I actually think the #9 tips are in my Simone sweater! More motivation.

For the hands, I will probably do another set of Urban Necessity gloves. Why fix it if it's not broken? I rarely knit patterns more than once, but I've made a ton of these gloves over the years. Same with the Kim's Hats, really, it's just my go-to pattern.

7. Socks

I always have a couple of socks on the go. I have two pair in progress right now, one for me and one for my big-footed honey. These don't count. Half the time I don't even put socks on my Ravelry project page. There will always be socks.

Burn, baby, burn

2011-01-10T12:12:00.003-05:00

I blocked the Phoenix shawl this weekend and it's fabulous, possibly one of my favorite things I've ever made. I love it with (appropriately) the fire of a thousand suns. But I'm going to talk about that at the end of the post so I don't get carried away and forget all the other stuff.

Since I finished Phoenix I was really excited to cast on for Fiori. I got this far:

And decided the yarn wasn't working for me. I hated it. I hated everything about it. I was surprised because I usually like Valley Yarns, and I've knitted with the worsted weight colrain and loved it. I finally decided that it was probably a perfectly good yarn that was simply failing to live up to my vision for this particular project. This is entirely my own fault for not stopping to think about the qualities of the yarn and what I wanted out of the shawl. While colrain worsted had a very wooly feel, colrain lace feels more like a cotton blend (it's wool/tencel, and since tencel, like cotton, is a plant fiber, I don't understand why this was such a revelation to me. Failure to actually think about it, I guess. Anyway, I was very disappointed and I started looking at other yarns. I was looking at some of the wool/cashmere/alpaca blends and even some of the 100% merino yarns, which I usually shy away from just because I like some silk or plant fiber in the blend for strength. I wanted something lofty and lightweight for this shawl.

I was lamenting my troubles on the 11 in 2011 Raverly group when I remembered this:

It's Sundara yarn silk lace in Tulip, a colorway that she put out a couple of years ago as part of her Flowers From My Mother's Garden series. When I saw it, I wanted it for Hanami. David got it for me for my birthday, but because of the way Sundara was doing orders for this colorway I didn't get it until much later. What I expected was a mixture of ivory, white, and pink, and that does seem to be what most people got, based on the images in Ravelry. But, when you order art yarn from a hand dyer you have to expect a little variation, and what I got was mostly ivory and yellow, with just enough pale pink tint to give it a bit of a pink blush when viewed from an angle.

I didn't mind but I decided it wasn't right for Hanami (besides, I had been given some pink Schaefer Trenna in the meantime that I used instead) so I just sort of put it aside. I didn't forget about it, exactly, but I never quite decided what to do with it. But, I think it will be perfect for Fiori. Not quite as lofty as what I had in mind, but silk is so lightweight, and the color is so perfect, that I think it will make a beautiful spring shawl. I cast on with it and knit through chart A, and all was in harmony in my little knitting universe once again.

However, I didn't get very far on it, because I was obsessed with my cashmere Limestone One Skein shawl. The yarn is so scrumptious, and the project goes so quickly, that I just couldn't put it down. I was actually hoping to finish it by the end of the weekend, but I didn't quite make it. I'm working on the knitted-on edging, and I only made it to about the halfway point. I added another pattern repeat in to the main body, since I hadn't yet used up quite half of my yarn, but I failed to actually look at the edging first. It's not a one-to-one repeat so I'm going to have to fudge a little bit as I go around the corner. The pattern has directions for short rows to knit as you go around the point of the triangle, and I'm just going to have to start the short rows a couple rows sooner than directed to make it work out. That'll teach me to check the math next time.

I'm kind of disappointed I didn't finish. I figure I basically have to finish a shawl a month to make it to 11 in 2011, and how encouraging would it be to have the first shawl done and have the rest of the month to start on the next one? Besides, my yarn for Galadriel's Mirror came in and I can't stand it, I want to start that one so badly. Sigh. Well, it's taking me about 10 minutes per edge repeat and I think I have about 17 repeats to go so...you do the math. I don't think I'll have time to finish it tomorrow but I'm hoping by Tuesday I will be able to finish.

Part of me is anxious and frustrated about the way I have really crammed up my knitting schedule for the next too months. I know it's only knitting, it's a hobby and it's not supposed to be frustrating, and I can really just take things at my own pace if I feel like it. I will eventually get to the point where I acknowledge this is what I'm going to have to do. But I WANT to do it all now!!!

Just to make things even more complicated, I signed up for Stephanie Japel's online shawl design class which begins on Feb. 1. I'm all kinds of wigged out about it, which is so ridiculous it's funny. If it turns out that I am utterly hopeless at shawl design, who is going to know or care?? I need to come up with a theme or concept, though, because I definitely will like the shawl better if I have an inspiration for it.

And now...if I could have a drumroll please....

Phoenix Rising in Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in colorway Maple Grove. Knit to spec except that I didn't pay attention to the beading instructions for the center panel, so my beads all fall a row below where they are supposed to be. I don't think it really matters. Final product comes out to about 7 feet wide and three feet down the spine. This shawl pleases me to the bottom of my artistic soul. It looks more like a field of erupting volcanoes than a phoenix to me, but I love it. The yarn is perfect, the pattern is great, the beads are almost impossible to see in the pictures, but they look like tiny little embers. My only regret is that it didn't occur to me to add some into the triangles before the edging. I should have added more. This shawl looks like Pele herself would wear it and I LOVE IT WITH THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS.

Eat your heart out, Katniss Everdeen.

Beginnings

2011-01-04T11:07:00.001-05:00

Because, after all, what is yarn but a beginning? (You there, in the back, fussing about raising sheep and spinning and how yarn is not actually the beginning. Shut up. You're ruining my poetic comparison. It's the beginning for me.)

I got some gorgeous Christmas loot. There was apparently some sneakiness involved during our visit to Cloverhill for the Dragonfly Fibers trunk show.

Djinni Sock in Black Pearl

Love it. That makes 5 skeins of Djinni sock total in my stash. 2 skeins are slated to become Taygete, the next shawl in the 7 small shawls series, and one is in the process of becoming a pair of socks. I feel like I'm going to save the Black Pearl and Reluctant Dragon colorways for a shawl. Ooo, maybe I will look at them together. At the trunk show there was a gorgeous Clockwork made from two skeins of Djinni.

And...even better...1200 yards of Dragonfly Fibers Gaia Lace in Black Pearl. I can't tell you how many times I went back to this at the trunk show, and it was only a very limited budget and an iron determination to be good that let me walk away from it. I was absolutely delighted to open this gift!!

It's gorgeous. Absolutely stunning, and so soft. 45% cashmere and 55% silk. Oh, let's have another shot, just for kicks.

I'm officially on the prowl for a pattern worthy of this goodness. Something night-themed would be awesome. Just the thought of being wrapped in all that soft gorgeousness....oh, sorry, where was I?

From my friend in Texas who sends me yarn every year from the Heritage festival, I received these:

Mmm, warm squishy worsted weight naturally dyed merino goodness. I'm just now noticing that the yellow in that photo is wrong...it's more peachy in real life. I have no idea what I'm going to do with these as yet, I will have to wait for a project to strike me. Historically the Heritage yarn has come in very generous skeins but I don't think there was any actual yardage listed - only the 4 oz notation. But I'm sure I can get a couple of cozy hats out of these at the very least!

One of my friends went to Spain on vacation and she brought me yarn from Barcelona, and some other yarn that was also made in Spain but she wasn't sure exactly where. She also bought me an absolutely soft, beautiful woven shawl. And I, of course, forgot to photograph any of it because it was in a separate bag from the other Christmas loot.

I also bought myself some things with Christmas money from grandma - a skein of Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in Arachne for the final installment of the 7 Small Shawls ebook (planning to knit #6 from stash), 3 skeins of Handmaiden Silk Twist in Silver for Galadriel's Mirror, and Unique Sheep Ling in the Mirkwood colorway for the In Dreams mystery knitalong. Those items haven't arrived yet - but that's got to put the cap on my spending for a good long while. That was a pretty major splurge, but between that, the stash, the Christmas loot - I really ought to be set on yarn for quite a while. My project list is already bigger than I can probably manage for the year and I now have yarns for just about everything, so I'll try to be good from here on out. It does not help me, however, that one of the group members on Ravelry just posted that Signature Needle Arts will be offering size 3 and 4 circulars starting January 18. Oh well. They will have time to work any kinks out by my birthday.

Before I close, I leave you with a funny story related to yesterday's post. I got my beads back and was working on Phoenix when I realized how few beads were left in the tube. I groaned, thinking I was in for yet another delay in finishing this shawl while I ordered more beads. Fortunately, I thought, the people over at Bobby Bead are wonderful and if I ordered right away I would probably get my order before I had time to run out.

Something about this thought triggered a memory, though. I ordered a bunch of beads in different colors some time ago when Bobby Bead was having a sale, and I remember looking at one of the tubes when they arrived and thinking, oh, that was the color I used for Phoenix, and how silly of me to order something I already had.

I went upstairs and sure enough, in my bead bin was a tube of size 8 Toho silver-lined smokey topaz. This is great because it means I can keep knitting with no fear of delay - but it also made me mad because if I had just remembered on Sunday that I had that tube, I might already be finished!!! There I was thinking that I couldn't work on it because I forgot the beads, and I had a whole tube of them upstairs. Argh!

Endings

2011-01-03T14:58:00.001-05:00

After so much time away, which I spent very productively, I have so much to say that it might be too much for one blog post. I'll give it a shot and then we'll have a bonus post this week if I have more to say.

With no further ado, let us begin. First up is one you haven't seen before.

In an attempt not to get caught at Christmas with a half-finished shawl, I started this one way early. I needn't have worried - it was a surprisingly fast knit. The end result is a little shallow, I suppose, so that might be why it went more quickly than I expected. Right about when the rows start to get really tedius, you're done. As a result this one was done in August and I am horrible at keeping gifts secret, so it was a real effort not to even hint at this one. I couldn't even talk about it on Ravelry or put up a project page, as the recipient might have stumbled upon it.

This is one of those projects where I really had a specific effect in mind. I wanted an aspen-themed shawl, I wanted it to really look like aspen, and I wanted it to be the color of aspens in the fall, and I had very specific ideas about what that meant. I chose the Aspen Grove shawl (as opposed to the many, many other lovely aspen-themed shawls out there) because to me the stitch motif actually looks like a real aspen leaf. Moreso on the model than on my version, to be honest, but I think that has to do with the yarn I used. It's a very tightly spun silk from No Two Snowflakes, in a OOAK colorway called Opportunity Knocks. It's perfect for the shawl but I think because the stitch definition is so incredibly crisp, the shape of the leaf is a little less rounded than I would have preferred (might also have to do with my guage), but it's still very close. I paid close attention when I blocked to make sure I got them as rounded as possible.

I actually spent a lot of time thinking about whether I could possibly get a gradient effect in the shawl so that the trunks would be more white. I thought about using 3 colors and holding two strands together throughout, changing from two yellow strands to one yellow and white strand and then one white strand - but in the end, I just went with this yarn, which is much more variegated than you can see in the pictures. Then I thought about beading the tree trunks with white pearl seed beads, but after examining the chart I decided this would be too difficult and end up making the shawl too heavy.

(I'm not sure but I think this photograph is actually of the wrong side. You can see the pearl bumps in the leaves. Oops.)

The next thing I have to show is this:

That was my Christmas present from the SO - enough KnitPicks blocking mats to cover a 6x6 surface. Why on earth would anyone need so many blocking mats?

So that I could finally do this:

Though as you can see, my finished project fell far short of the 6' diameter the pattern instructed. Not surprising, I used the recommended needle size, and I'm a tight knitter by nature. Photographing white on grey turned out to be a little challenging, but I did my best.

Once my Christmas knitting was done my hands were not idle. I was determined to finish some projects before I got home, projects that I knew would take forever to finish if I just had an hour or two every night to work on them. First up was Bluebird with its 70 million repeats (not really, it was only 38, but it felt like a lot). Normally I avoid patterns with repeating motifs for this reason, I get bored very quickly and the project just drags out as I slog through the middle sections. So, I put my vacation time to good use and cranked on this as hard and fast as I could to get through it. Then I relaxed a bit as I knit through the other end. I was hoping to finish this by midnight on New Years, but I didn't quite make it. I was distracted by guests and board games, which are all integral NYE traditions for us, so though I had it in my lap the whole time, I did lose a lot of knitting time. By 1 a.m., I had made it to the last row. I chose not to do the bind off just then, though, since I didn't want to screw it up due to tiredness. This turned out to be a good decision as I nearly screwed it up in the afternoon.

Yesterday I rearranged my blocking mats and pinned it out.

I should probably be ashamed of how happy it makes me that I can now block without leaving the room with the TV.

The beads were so pretty that I wished I could have used more, but I couldn't figure out a logical placement that didn't use way too many more than I wanted to deal with.

I still have one loose end that's not quite tied up yet.

Once I had the middle section of Bluebird done, this monstor became my vacation knitting. After such a long break, it didn't feel like it was going nearly as slow as it had when I stopped, so that's good - although an eye on the clock shows that it is not, in fact, going any faster. Then, at the airport while working on the last repeat of the Edge chart, I started to worry that I was going to run out of yarn. You can see that ball doesn't have much left, and if you squeeze it it becomes truly frightening how little is left. I stopped, afraid I was going to run out and end up having to frog a whole repeat of Edge. I didn't have a scale with me (I was, in fact, sitting at the airport when I reached this conclusion) so I decided it was better to wait until I could weigh it. I did have a little winding incident when I wound this yarn and I knew I had a little miniskein left over from that, but I was sure it was going to be too tiny to matter.

On New Years Day, after I finished Bluebird, I picked Phoenix back up again and got out the scale. The yarn I had left weighed about 13 grams, and I was fretting myself to pieces. I went and got the little mini skein. When I took it out of the ziplock it was in, it was surprisingly fat. I went straight back to the scale.

Yes, I thought, now we're in business. Now instead of 'definitely not gonna make it' I was back up to 'might possibly, if I'm very lucky, make it.'

As of yesterday I still hadn't totally used up the original ball, and I'm into the ending rows now. There are 10 ending rows and I'm running at roughly a gram a row, or slightly less. I don't think these last rows get any bigger, so I think, maybe, I'm gonna be okay. I'm going to get another 2 rows out of the original ball, I think, which will leave 6 rows of the ending rows for that little 9 gram miniskein. That leaves me 3 grams for the bind off, which...will be really tight, honestly. I mean, if you figure that a normal row would take 1 gram, then I would like to think the bind off will take no more than twice the normal amount of yarn. But I'm not sure. And, to be honest, I'm using more like .8 grams per row, so maybe I will have a little leeway. I could leave out two rows of the ending chart and probably be no worse for it, but...I don't know. We'll see. I normally don't mind frogging when I need to, but I'm not sure I could handle frogging that many stitches if I get to the end and don't have enough. Stay tuned, people, this one will be a nail-biter. I was honestly hoping to finish yesterday, but I left my tube of beads at the SO's place at the NYE party so I had to stop once the ones I had in the bag ran out. At 40 minutes a row this is still going to take a while to complete, but if I don't have it done by this weekend I will cry.

Since I was stuck, I did what any knitter would do - I started a new project. I was hoping to cast on Fiori di Sole, but it turns out that all my size 4 needles are in use. I'm honestly not sure how this is possible, I have 3 or 4 sets and I can only account for two. There is one set of wood tips in my needle binder, but I have such a preference for the metal ones that I thought I might as well just wait until Phoenix is done and I can reclaim those needles.

Instead I started this.

The Limestone One-Skein shawl in delicious fingering cashmere from Zen Yarn Garden, in a color that reminds me of rasberry sherbert. So light, so soft, so gorgeous. My new love. But I'm sticking to my guns on finishing Phoenix. I'm so close. That will be my first priority until it's over.

I plan to cast on for Fiori, and that will leave me with one really intensive, demanding project (Sevillano), one more relaxed lace project (Fiori) and one pretty easy fingering lace project (Limestone). I consider this an acceptable status for WIPs.

I also finished (and gifted) the Esplanade hat I was working on, so that's off the needles, leaving me with just shawls, a couple of pairs of socks, and the one sweater (Simone from French Girl Knits) as active WIPS. We do not speak of the non-active WIPS.

The rest of what I had to say involves Christmas loot and this is already a pretty picture-heavy post, so I think we'll save that for a bonus post.

Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime

2010-12-23T23:43:00.002-05:00

The clock is ticking down and I'm knitting like a fiend. I finished these to stick in my mom's stockings:

Leafprints mitts in Great Northern Yarns Cashmere/Mink DK. I have to say I wasn't impressed with this yarn in the ball, but the fabric it creates is soft and silky. I'm not sure I'll buy it again, though - even though the minks are supposedly not harmed in the gathering of the fur for the yarn, it just gives me the heeby jeebies a bit. We'll see. On the up side, I may have enough yarn left to make some for myself.

I'm still working on these for my brother:

I've actually gotten quite a bit farther than shown on the second glove - I'm almost ready to put the thumb stitches on holders. I hope I can finish these tomorrow, but it will depend on how many family activities I have to participate in. I know of at least one shopping trip I have to be part of because I need some things.

I made my brother a pair of very simple ribbed mitts a couple of years ago, no fingers, just a hole for the thumb, the really easy ones that take one skein of yarn and an evening to make from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. He was pretty unimpressed, all I got was a mumbled ‘thanks’ and I kind of put the endeavor down as a failure. But, I found one of the mitts on the washer a month or so ago (he lives in my basement) and I thought, well, if he is washing them, maybe he is wearing them, and maybe it would be worth making him a pair of fingerless gloves. I've made these for a couple other people who really like them, so I'm hopeful. if I get the same ‘you are weird and I don’t get why you do this’ face I got last time, I will know I really am a sucker. I got enough yarn to make him a hat, too, but I don't know if it'll be done by Christmas. It might be tight on the gloves as it is.

I brought a ton of WIPs with me on this trip, but because I've been working on the two projects above I haven't gotten very far. I'm past the halfway point on my Bluebird shawl and I've done a fair amount of work on the Esplanade hat I have on the needles. I really want to finish these two and my Phoenix shawl by the time I get home. That might be a bit of a stretch but I'm going to try. I discovered last year that vacation is a great time to power through projects that would otherwise seem to stretch on forever, since I have more time to sit and work on things. I can power through pieces with a million repeats (Bluebird) or really long rows (Phoenix) because I have more long, dedicated blocks of time. But, we've been moving around so much up till now that it really hasn't been feasible anyway. Thanks to plane delays and all the stuff leading up to the trip, I was really exhausted when we got here, and today is the first day I really felt remotely like myself again. I'm hoping things will be looking up now that there's no more traveling to do until it's time to come home.

Merry Christmas and thank you to all my readers. May your holidays be warm, cozy, and drama-free.

Knitting and Not Knitting

2010-12-14T11:56:00.001-05:00

Well, the first Christmas hurdle is jumped. This weekend was pretty thoroughly chaotic. There was knitting, and there was...not knitting. I sing in my church choir, and we had rehearsal and then the performance of our Christmas concert. That was Big Item No. 1 on my Christmas worry list, so at least I can cross that one off now.

Also in the not knitting category:

I do not come from a baking family, but I have been adopted into one, and every year the SO's family has a giant Christmas cookie bake. I don't really participate in the baking but I'm sure my assistance in cookie selection and quality control are still very much appreciated.

While supervising said baking I finished the socks I was working on for my coworker and put a little more length on the white snowflake scarf (OF DOOM). It probably could still stand to be a little longer, but I'm tired of it, so I went ahead and knit the second snowflake panel to finish it off last night.

I used a stretchy lace bind off and I'm not sure it was the right choice. I just can't seem to reach a happy medium with bind offs. They're either too loose and messy looking or too tight. This one is a bit loose (you can't tell in the picture because I artistically tucked the corners in so it doesn't show) but the scarf does need to be blocked a little wider than it currently is, so I'm hoping that'll take away some of the loose edging. I really just can't win with scarves, the bind off end and the cast on end just don't ever match for me.

I also finished the last of the gifts I have not disclosed here - or so I thought. Then I realized that I was going to have a ton of yarn leftover and (somewhat reluctantly) started another piece. I don't think I'm going to worry too much about getting this one done by Christmas, though. It's a bonus, so the recipient will get it when the recipient gets it.

This will leave me with only 'optional' Christmas knitting left - little extras I had planned for some of my less knit-appreciative family. Oh, and the weaving in of ends. Looooots of ends to weave in. I didn't do it as I went along, and well. Looooots of ends to weave in. Boo.

We got our first snow for the year yesterday morning:

Not very impressive, but enough to make me smile. More is supposedly coming this week, but I'm very concerned about it because I have a plane to catch this weekend. Last year we flew out right after the big blizzard and we were delayed in the airport for hours thanks to all the previous flights that had been cancelled. Hope we won't get stuck again this year! Also, I think my two coworkers that have done most of the work for the Christmas party planning may leap off a building if the party gets cancelled due to snow for the second year in a row.

Already Overbooked

2010-12-10T10:56:00.003-05:00

Whenever I don't have time to knit, or if I'm stuck knitting something really plain, I do a lot of looking at knitting and daydreaming about knitting, and I've come to the realization that 2011 is going to be kind of packed on the knitting front. I have SO many things I want to knit! This is not unusual, I always have a ton of things I want to knit. I actually don't use my ravelry queue very much because my queue is so fluid - some projects I knit right away, some are on my list for ages before I get to them. I generally use my 'favorites' button to keep track of patterns I'm interested in so I can revisit them later.

But, this year things are a little different. I've become a little more active in the social aspect of Ravelry, and I've now got a list of projects with corresponding knitalongs that give me a little bit more of a timeline. With that in mind...holy cow my time is filling up fast!!

So here's a list of things I'm looking at knitting so far in 2011

1., 2., and 3. - Romi's Seven Small Shawls
Knitting through these ebook patterns with the Romi group on Ravelry has been a ton of fun, and I plan to knit along right through to the end. All three designs should be finished by the new year, but they won't be through test knitting and ready for release until January at least. I don't know Romi's exact plans but I expect (and hope) she will give us some time between releases. We run knitalongs on the Romi group for each Romi project and I think if she released all three of them at once the rest of the mods and I might go a little crazy.

5. and 6. Romi's Pins and Lace Club

Romi's Pins and Lace patterns ship in January and April (perfect for my birthday!!), and I haven't even finished the pattern from October of this year!! I feel behind already. Sevillano is gorgeous, though, and is number one on my to-knit list when I get back from Christmas. If I'm lucky I'll be able to bust a move and get it mostly finished before the new one ships. Totally doable, right? Right?? (really this should probably be 5, 6, 7, and 8, but I can't remember when the other two installments ship, and thinking about it is overwhelming me a little...so we'll just not worry about those other two for the time being, hmm??)

7. The Light and Dark Lace Club by The Yarnarian and Zen Yarn Garden

Y'all, I love mystery knits. Don't ask me why. On the surface, it's completely crazy. Why would I spend good knitting time working on a product that I may not even like in the end?? Yet the surprise is so much fun. I love it. And the trick, I've found, is to pick mystery knitalongs from designers whose work you like in the past.

Now, having said that, I have never actually knit any patterns from this designer and I'm not that familiar with her work. But I AM familiar with Roxanne of Zen Yarn Garden's fabulous yarns, and I couldn't resist this idea. I stay away from clubs in general because there's too much commitment involved, but this bi-monthly club is pay as you go, if you want to - you don't have to purchase every club package and you don't have to pay for multiple months up front. And $26 strikes me as a very reasonable price for a fun surprise showing up in my mailbox in February, one of the dreariest of months. The yarn will be mailed in February and the pattern will come in installments after that. This was a little Christmas present to myself. I picked the pussywillow colorway.

8. Galadriel's Mirror from Sunflower Designs (from the designer of Evenstar)

Remember what I said about finding a designer whose work speaks to you? Susan's work speaks to me, and I LOVE this pattern. But, I have to find the right yarn for it. It uses a fingering weight, and I have plenty of fingering weight yarn, but none in sufficient quantities for this piece and none in a color that I find sufficient. Based on the book's description of the mirror, , I'm thinking I would like a silver yarn with a hint of blueand I'm thinking a silk blend would be great for a little added shimmer. OH. What about Hand Maiden Silk Twist?? Ooooooooh. I must think on this. Maybe in Silver or Stardust. I'll have to come back to this idea. Knitty-Noddy has it in Salt Spray, that would be pretty awesome too...They only have two, though, I would need three. Anyway, no knitalong for this one, so I don't have to worry about keeping up with anybody - meaning this one will probably get knit later in the year, towards the summer or fall.

9. Two Towers Mystery Knitalong - In Dreams from Sunflower Designs

Evenstar was the mystery knitalong for the Fellowship of the Ring, and Susan has just announced Galadriel's Crown, the mystery knitalong for the Two Towers Collection. I'm not sure I'm going to buy the whole collection this time around, but I definitely plan to participate in the mystery knitalong again. This one will be designed for Unique Sheep Gradiance colorways, which I've wanted to try, so that will be exciting. Unique Sheep has several LOtR themed colorways, too, so I might have to try one of those - but we'll see what speaks to me. I have very specific color associations with various locations and characters in LOtR (also they have neither a Lothlorien or a Galadriel colorway at this time, so I figure I have free reign). I'm kind of thinking maybe Lemon Drop - I associate golds much more strongly with Galadriel and Lothlorien than greens. But, I'm not sure I would wear yellow all that much, either. Maybe Moonlight in the Garden? Decisions decisions. I'll have to do some Ravelry searches and see how these colorways knit up, I think.

10. Limestone One Skein Triangle Shawl

I have a skein of fingering weight cashmere just waiting to become this shawl. Again, no scheduled knitalong for this one, so it'll be a floating project. I do kind of like to have one fingering weight shawl on the needles for when I need a break from the really fine lacework, and I think this one will be perfect. Also, cashmere.

11. Bitterroot by Romi

I've loved this design ever since it was released in Knitty, but I haven't made it yet, and I'd really like to.

12. Fiori di Sole by Romi

I was planning to do this over the holidays, but since I've ended up with so many other projects I don't know if I'll have the chance!! I still want to do it, but I'm not sure when it will happen. This is a big shawl and it's perfect vacation knitting but I think it might drive me a little crazy to only work on in small pieces. Clearly, I just need to plan another vacation so I can knit it.

13. Midsummer Night's Dream

This one has been on my to-knit list forever, but I refuse to knit it until I find the perfect yarn, and I haven't yet.

I could add more to this list but I think this is really quite sufficient, don't you?? Designers, I understand you need to make a living and the only way for you to do that is to design as fast as the mills can churn out graph paper, but do you think you could maybe tone it down just a leeeeetle bit so I can keep up???

Squash and Stretch

2010-12-07T10:36:00.001-05:00

Running pretty low on blog fodder this week. All I really have is this:

My snowflake scarf is growing at a snail's pace, or at least that's how it feels lately. When I first started, it seemed like it was growing by leaps and bounds, but no more. I set it down to measure on Saturday before I started working, and I was at 33 inches. I placed a marker on that row so I could see how much progress I'd made. I worked until I had a more then the length of my middle finger (approximately 3 inches) between the marker and the needle and stopped and measured, just to feel good.

33 inches. WHAT.

I fumed, moved my marker, and knit some more, maybe about an inch and a half as measured against my pinky finger (approximately two inches. yes, I have measured my fingers so that I can use them to estimate. don't judge me). Measured again. 38 inches.

It was clear that the scarf was toying with me at that point. I thought about it for a moment, and laid the scarf out on the couch, smoothed lengthwise, and measured it. 38 inches. Then I smoothed it widthwise, and measured it. It shrank considerably in length.

I sighed. The guage on this scarf is very loose (on purpose) and the slightest little puff or tug or even the weight of the scarf as it hangs from the needle changes the length (and, correspondingly, the width). Since I am going to have to block it with some stretch in the width in order to open up the snowflake panels, the scarf simply isn't as long as I think it is. I think I'm going to have to knit it longer than I thought so that it's still an appropriate length when blocked. I could cheat and just let it be short, but the coworker who is to receive this scarf is a 6'2" Amazon, so I can't really skimp too much. I will just have to suck it up and accept that I have to knit more.

I could have made a lot more progress this weekend, but I was pretty lazy overall. From now on it's run run run with family events and preparations for my church concert, so I took it pretty easy this weekend. Plus, frankly...everything I have left to knit is boring. This is appropriate, considering how little time I have left to get everything done, but I find myself putting it down frequently to hop on the internet, or try to find something better on TV, or what have you. What I really need is some self-discipline and a few good movies. Oh, and a Starbucks attached to my house.

Planning is always the fun part

2010-12-01T12:13:00.002-05:00

I have become quite the unfaithful knitter, lately. Normally I don't have that many projects of the same type (that distinction is very important) going on at once. I have a variety of different knitting projects - complicated lace, TV knitting, mindless knitting, and I usually have only one project in any given type at a time. But somehow in the last few months I haven't done as well at keeping the startitis at bay.

In a little over two weeks I'll be on my annual pilgrimage to my parents' for Christmas, and I hope to get in quite a lot of knitting. So, I started thinking about what I'm going to take with me, and I went over my projects to decide what goes and what stays.

1. Sevillano
My love for this shawl knows no bounds, but alas, I don't think it can accompany me. No beads to worry about, but 100% silk does not travel well and this shawl really, really needs attention and alertness. Sevillano, my beloved, will have to stay at home.

2. Bluebird
This one's going with me. I'm thinking about taking it for the plane, actually. It's not too big and I'm working the center panel with its billions of repeats. I think I've done 10 repeats out of 30 something. It's not too complicated and I have the chart (sort of) memorized, so I won't get totally lost if I have to stop in the middle of something for boarding or what have you. This plus an audiobook should make my plane flight bearable - assuming TSA doesn't take my needles. I hope they won't, they never have before, but I'm going to make sure I have cable caps with me just in case.

3. Phoenix Rising.
I think I'll definitely take this one along too. At its current stage, it's really too large to work with on the plane, and the center panel is beaded, but it should be fine for working in the car or at my parents house. We're driving to my grandparents' this year so in addition to the plane, there will be quite a bit of car time. I should have enough room in the car for everything I need, and with the help of superfloss I should be able to keep the beads under control, since there are so few of them anyway. The rows are huge on this one and it's a long slog to get through it, so some enforced time with it in the form of a long car trip may be what it takes to get this thing done.

4. Simone
I'm wavering on this one. On the one hand, it's been sitting there a while and I'd love to be able to wear it before summer gets here again. On the other hand, it means taking a lot of yarn with me and I don't want to increase the wear on the sweater before I even get to put it on by carting it around in a suitcase. I think Simone will have to stay.

5. Esplanade Hat
Easy, mindless. Not a lot of work left on this one at all. I think I'll take it with me, I think on the last one it took me about the length of a movie to get from where I am now to the crown decreases, so it might be handy to have around. It's small, too, so it won't be a big deal to take it with me.

6. Follow the Leader Faroese Shawl
Eh...I don't know about this one. I'm not in love with this project. I bought the yarn not long after I first started knitting, and it just doesn't really do anything for me. The yarn itself is fine, but the color is just blah. I don't know what I was thinking. I've actually debated frogging this project and giving the yarn a new home, but it makes good mindless knitting, with only the center panel taking any attention, so I thought I might as well slog through it and get it done. I don't know if it's trip-worthy, though - socks and the Esplanade hat are easier to carry around for mindless stuff. This one will still be here when I get back.

7. Socks
I'll definitely be taking socks with me. I have three pair started (not counting the socks I showed in the last post, which I really hope will be finished BEFORE I leave), which is pretty unusual for me. I have categories of socks as well as with the rest of my knitting, and I often have a patterned sock and a plain sock in progress at the same time, but for me to have more than one set of plain socks going at once is very unusual. Well, two of the pairs are only at the cuff of the first sock, so I suppose I could start a pattern on one and then it won't be so bad. We'll see.

That's a lot of knitting, but here's how crazy - er, I mean, optimistic - I am. I have two projects unstarted that I want to take with me. One is Fiori di Sole, a Romi project that I've been dying to do for ages and was specifically saving for this vacation, and the other is the Limestone One Skein Triangle Shawl. I was given a skein of ZYG fingering weight cashmere as a gift some time ago that I think would be perfect for the Limestone shawl.

So much to knit, and so little time! Maybe I'm being way overly optimistic, but while I may not get to the new projects I wanted to start, I do hope I'll be able to clear out that WIP queue a bit. I'm almost certain I can finish Bluebird, I'm pretty sure I can finish Phoenix Rising, and I think I can do all that and still finish the hat.

It begins

2010-11-29T15:32:00.002-05:00

Well, last week there was enough stuff for two blog posts, and this week I don't even have enough for one!! I did plenty of knitting but most if it is not bloggable. All I have is one crappy iphone pic of a gift for someone that I am fairly sure doesn't read this blog:

That is the first sock in the pair, but you can pretend it is the second sock, since I have since finished the first and the second is now pretty much exactly in the same state that the first one was at the time of this picture.

I made significant progress on the snowflake scarf. That thing grows at an unbelievable rate. It's very satisfying. Other than that, I have knit one item that I can't speak about. Yesterday I intended to start a second item of which I may not speak, but I am stupid and while I took the yarn and the pattern with me, I forgot the needles. So I had to work on the above sock instead, for a certain Hokie fan I work with. It's a little embarassing to carry it around, since I went to UVA, but you do what you have to for the people you love. WAHOO-WA!

I have one more secret item to knit and then I have a list of things it would be nice to finish. I intended to make my mother these mitts last year, and I never got past winding the yarn. I've considered making a hat and gloves for my brother. He turned up his nose at the handwarmers I made him a while back, but I found one in the laundry room the other day, which suggested it had been in use. I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself for those pieces, though. IF I get to them, they'll be stocking stuffers, and if I don't get to them I won't worry about it.

I'm at a bit of a loss for my nonknitted gifts, though, and the temptation to think, 'I'll just knit them something' is growing, even though I know that my list, while currently manageable, could rapidly become totally out of control.

I love Christmas, but I do kind of dread December. It's just too packed and rushed for me, but none of the things that make it so are things I'm really willing to give up - except for the stuff that comes from the office. Those things I would love to give up, but can't!!

I'm not crazy, I'm just committed.

2010-11-24T11:44:00.002-05:00

I had a lovely weekend adventure that started when I saw a note, or a tweet, or something, that said Dragonfly Fibers would be having a trunk show at Cloverhill Yarn Shop this past weekend. I really like Cloverhill, I look for their booth at MD Sheep and Wool when I go, because they carry a lot of independent dyers during the show. They don't carry them as often or consistently, as I understand it, during the rest of the year, but they do carry a lot of other yarns I like. They're about an hour and a half away so I don't get out there often, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

The SO's interest in yarn is limited but I have managed to infect his mother, so we made it a family day trip and the two of us set out with all three of the men in the family in tow to check out Cloverhill and hang for a bit in Catonsville (this phenomenon never ceases to amaze me, since I would have a hard time dragging my mother along, let alone my father and brother). A friend of mine got married out there last year and we thought the town was charming. It ended up being a bit cold and we were a bit short on time to look around like we wanted too, but it was still fun.

On the trip there I worked on these socks:

which are for a coworker of mine. I was in that frustrating sock stage between the gusset and the toe, where it's just plain easy knitting, but you have to constantly stop and measure to see if you've gone far enough. This is a prime opportunity for the infamous knitting black hole, where you knit and knit and it just doesn't get any bigger.

So, imagine my surprise, when we are most of the way to the shop and I measure and find that I am suddenly out of the black hole and my socks are almost done, leaving me facing the prospect of no knitting for the ride home. I have nothing left to knit but the toe and that is not a job sufficient for the duration of the trip home.

Well, not such a big deal I suppose. We're going to a yarn store. I'll just ask the shop to wind one of the skeins I buy and then I'll start another pair of socks on the way home. I feel marginally guilty as I resolve this, as I have another pair of socks on the needles already for another coworker, and, in fact, I had another pair for the SO cast on sitting on 'holding' needles waiting for me to finish these gift socks, AND I have a single sock finished at home and waiting for its mate to be knit. But none of those projects were with me, which made for a perfect excuse to start a new project.

I loved the Dragonfly Fibers show, I wanted to take home everything on the table. However, money is a bit tight and I was determined to be reasonable, so I spent a lot of time changing my mind, picking things up, putting things down, switching things, and fretting over whether I was going to regret leaving some things behind. I spent a lot of time considering what colorways I already had at home in the stash, which resulted in me very regretfully leaving behind a skein of Dragonberry that I really wanted. I stayed away from the greens and blues also since I knew I had several good greens and blues at home. I hovered around the Gaia Lace in Black Pearl, which was so soft and shiny and beautiful, but also pricey enough that if I got that, I wouldn't be able to afford anything else. I really like Djinni Sock (readers may remember I bought a skein at Fyber Space a while ago, and while I haven't knitted with it, it still makes me happy) so I gravitated towards that the most. Ultimately, I ended up buying 3 skeins.

I plan to use Djinni Sock in Pink Hydrangea and Dark Flannel Pajamas:

To make the next shawl in the 7 Small Shawl series. Only a little has been revealed thus far, but we know it will be striped, and I thought these two colors would go really well together. So I'm saving them for that.

I bought another skein of Pink Hydrangea that was very, very different from the skein shown above, much more brown with just a touch of pink, and, in accordance with my plan, had the skein wound before I left the store.

We found a local place to eat, had dinner - and then things got a little silly. We had a couple more errands to run and I was frantically trying to finish the toe of my sock before the light was totally gone. That didn't happen, so I did learn that it's possible to SSK in the dark. I have a little flashlight that goes over my ear, but of course, it was at home, because I was perfectly convinced when we left that afternoon that I was going to be knitting the sock for the rest of my life and I don't need a light to knit plain stockinette. There were some incidents and I borrowed the SO's cell phone more than once (my battery was dead) for light. Then, when I had finished the toe, I didn't have an embroidery needle with me, so I borrowed a crochet hook and a flashlight from the front seat, and just pulled the yarn through the stitches to hold them until I got home. Then I cast on by flashlight, joined my knitting, returned the flashlight and crochet hook, and I was off knitting again. I got maybe four rounds done before we got back. Part of me knew I was being silly, but I couldn't stop. It's a sickness. But the nascent sock is quite lovely.

Many moons ago, another coworker of mine requested a sparkly white snowflake scarf. I bought the yarn for it at the time but never actually made the scarf (and we are talking many, many moons ago), and I was feeling guilty this weekend so I got started. I didn't find a satisfactory pattern so I'm kind of making it up as I go along. Because I don't want this to take forever, I've decided to put a stockinette lace snowflake panel on each end of the scarf and knit the rest of the darn thing in garter stitch. I'm using the free snowflake pattern for knitted greeting cards on this page. The chart is 31 stitches wide and I added five stitches on each side in garter stitch to keep it from rolling.

The yarn is Ice Yarns Kid Mohair Lurex in white on size 8 needles. I'm really liking the effect and I think the end result will be very nice. I was worried I would go insane before it was done, but it actually seems to be ripping along very nicely, so that the picture above, taken Sunday night, is now really, really out of date. I finished the snowflake panel and continued on in garter stitch as planned, and I have about 20 total inches of scarf done. I expect there to be a fair amount of mindless knitting time available this weekend due to travelling time and other stuff, so I'm hoping I can make really good progress on this scarf and another pair of socks for a different coworker (my coworkers are making out like bandits this year, aren't they?) Then I should probably focus on the family knitting. I can't fully disclose my plans in this forum, but there are plans and I'm probably not doing myself any favors by not having worked on them yet. I always prefer to give gifts before I go away on vacation, but I have become somewhat resigned to giving out New Years presents.

The other big accomplishment this weekend was blocking Elektra, and so I leave you now with best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving, and may you be as happy with your end results as I am.

Hard is a four-letter word

2010-11-22T14:26:00.005-05:00

I love coming to the blog when I have been a good girl and taken pictures and dutifully prepared blog fodder. In fact, I promise a bonus blog entry this week, because I have so much to share that it seems criminal to cram it all in one post. I blog once a week because I work full time and so I can't get enough knitting done during the week to be worth talking about. But, this week and weekend were so crammed full of knitting and craft-related activities that I have lots to share. This has, unfortunately, resulted in a complete neglect of housework, laundry, and all things responsible.

The last installment of Romi's 2010 Pins and Lace club has been released into the wild, the lovely October design Sevillano (Rav link).

I love this design, I think it's gorgeous, I adore the flowing design motifs on the outside of the shawl, and the only thing holding me back from casting on right away was trying to figure out the right yarn. I went shopping last weekend and came up empty, and then when I was fretting about what to get (and the money I was probably going to spend), the SO asked, very reasonably, whether I didn't have anything in the stash I could use.

I was in the middle of impatiently telling him that OF COURSE I didn't have anything in the stash, when I stopped right in the middle of the sentence and shut my mouth, because I remembered this.

You may remember it from my inappropriate glee for having scored it at half price at the Knit Happens closing sale (let us have a moment of silence for a very worthy yarn store that has now passed on....aaand we're done). This is Shaefer Andrea 100% silk in colorway Barbara McClintock. Does the word 'perfect' come to mind or what?

So I did what any knitter would do.

Conscience pricked a little, so I finished Elektra before I actually cast on (more on that in the bonus post), but I didn't wait much longer than that.

Now, as a rule, I shy away from calling anything 'hard' because in my experience, people get intimidated when they hear something is 'hard' and quit before they even try. I have done dozens of supposedly hard things in my knitting career simply because I didn't know they were supposed to be hard. I think the worst thing anyone can do, especially a teacher (and although I am not a teacher, I find myself in that role fairly often in regards to knitting), is to tell someone else that something is hard.

And, frankly, it is very rare that I run something while knitting that is truly hard. The great thing about knitting is that it can be broken down into very tiny steps, and when you can do that something that seems to be hard is quickly downgraded to merely challenging. Such is the case with this pattern. It's challenging. This is not something you knit on the bus while chatting with your friends. It's something you knit at home, in good light, while awake and alert, so that you can break it down to the point where it becomes manageable. Taken one stitch at a time, it is very, very accomplishable.

With that said, I managed to screw it up several times. The good news is that this pattern is built from the point up, so that in the process of figuring out that this is not your average lace pattern, you only screw up a small number of stitches, so you can just rip it out and try again. Which is what I did. Twice.

Then I started giving the pattern its proper respect, got into the flow of things, and tooled along quite well. Then, as I was sitting on the couch being ignored by my boyfriend, who was deep in the throws of a Starcraft match, I realized that something didn't look right. I waited for his match to finish and made him pay attention to me for a minute while we put our heads together and figured out that I had, in fact, screwed up. To the great credit of his patience and knit-friendliness, he was the one who actually figured out what the problem was - or at least, where it was, which allowed me to figure out what it was.

The stitch markers in that photo mark the center stitch, and if you follow it down you will see that it ends in a yarn over. All seems well until you look at the unholy mess of string beneath the yarn over, which is what first alerted me that there was a problem. If you look at the arc of yarnovers to the left of that center stitch, you may be able to see there's a stray yarnover that's out of line. These two mistakes do not appear to be on the same row, but they are. Because of this shawl's ingenious construction, even though it's knit from the point up, it looks like a shawl that was knit from the center back. Because of this same construction, the rows tend to form themselves into arcs as you work, as you can see from the way the cable curves. So if you draw an arc from that stray yarnover to the mess below the center stitch, they are in fact in the same row.

Now, I'm not afraid of a little laddering and lace surgery, but it was clear to me that this was going to be beyond my skill for that and I was going to have to rip out. And, naturally, in my arrogance (or laziness, you decide) I hadn't put in any lifelines - but I have a solution for this problem.

I put the shawl away for the evening and the next afternoon, rested, well-fed, and mentally sharp (or as close as I had a hope of getting), I assembled my tools.

Mint optional. It just happens to be what I had.

Then I took a deep breath and took the shawl off the needles.

Scary. Then I carefully ripped back to what appeared to be the problem row, which, as it happened, was the row just above the row in which I purled my nupp stitches together. This made an easy reference point for when to stop.

Then I picked up my embroidery needle, threaded with dental floss, and took hold of the working yarn and pulled carefully, picking up each stitch on the embroidery needle as the working yarn slipped out of it. I couldn't take a picture of that part because my man was off pursuing his own hobby, Go, and was not around to assist me.

The sun was setting by now, and I was concentrating too hard to close the blinds, thus the dramatic lighting. Sorry about that. But it gives you the idea. I did find that because of the way the shawl tended to curve, it helped to occasionally pause and pull the needle up so that all the stitches were on the floss, allowing me to manipulate the angle of the needle a little more freely.

At last, I had all the stitches on the floss, or at least close to it. Sometimes when I do this the stitches drop a row despite my best efforts, and I end up with the row below it on my needle for a couple of stitches, but that is one reason I try to make the row I am picking up a purl row, because it makes those problems easier to fix. Sevillano does have some lace patterning even on wrong side rows, but it wasn't too bad and I was very careful, so I did good - I think I may have lost a yarnover or two but again, easily fixed.

Then I picked up my needles and followed the floss with the needle tip. If a stitch tried to dip, I pulled the floss taught and the stitches popped right back up where they belonged.

But Ninja, I hear you ask - why not just pick up the stitches with the needle in the first place.

Well, dear reader, that is a lesson I learned the hard way. The embroidery needle is so thin that it really doesn't put any stress on the stitches at all. I found that when I used the knitting needle to pick up the stitches, I inevitably jerked the loop of yarn out of the next stitch or two. Or five. The embroidery needle slides through neatly. I do recommend a slightly blunt needle so that you don't stab right through the stitch. The embroidery needle is shorter and more maneuverable than a knitting needle, and the dental floss doesn't pull or weigh down the project as you're working with it.

Once I had the needle completely through the project, I slid the whole thing to the cable and pulled the dental floss out (I find it's easier if the project is on the cable, so the floss has plenty of room to slide out).

I was then able to knit back up to where I was. If you compare the picture below with the first picture up top, you should be able to see the difference very easily. Now if you follow the center stitch down, it ends in that yarnover, but the stitches beneath it are tight and happy, not all stringy and loose and wonky.

Just to add insult to injury, as it turned out, the mistake was a dropped M1 stitch. My loathing of the M1 increase is well known, and I will sub it out any time I can, but in this pattern I thought it was best to do the increases as written. Clearly this M1 chose to take vengeance for all the vitriol I have uttered against its kind, and leaped off the needles while I wasn't looking. I didn't find the mistake because I did an extra yarnover in the same row, so I still had the right number of stitches when I worked the following row. One of the things I find challenging about this pattern is that I have been trained by all my lace knitting that decreases are paired with yarn overs, and in this pattern, there are several decreases who either have no yarn over or whose matching yarn overs take place further down the row. It's so ingrained in me that I should yarn over after a knit two together or before an ssk, that I do it without thinking. This has caused me problems before on patterns where the yarn over is on a side of the decrease that I didn't expect (for example, if the instruction is to ssk and then yarn over instead of the other way around).

Well. Problem solved, and I am moving onward with this beautiful (yet challenging) pattern. And let me encourage anyone reading this not to let the difficulty put you off from trying the pattern. If beauty were easy the world would be full of supermodels.

Most of the individual stitch techniques used in this shawl, such as nupps and twists, have been demonstrated on youtube, but I couldn't find a demo video for the triple yarn over stitch, so I made one, with the help of a trusty accomplice.

That's it for today - bonus post to come later this week!

ETA: Mercy, you guys, did I ever forget to spell check before posting. I promise I am not a complete moron, I just compose in Wordpad which doesn't highlight misspelled words, and I forgot to hit the spell check before I published the posts. I apologize for the crimes committed against the English language in the original version of this post. If you're reading this since this edit, you will be forever doomed to wonder what horrible mistakes I made, and I'm totally okay with that.

10 in 2010

2010-11-15T16:46:00.002-05:00

I apologize for the blog silence last week. My little Ella lost her fight with kidney disease and I had no room in my mind for anything else. I will truly miss her. I am now petless and the house is just not the same. I keep looking for her on the end of the couch.

Okay, that was hard. Now let's talk about knitting. A group of knitters on Ravelry decided, at the beginning of the year, to take on the challenge of knitting 10 shawls in 2010. I did not join the group, but it seems I should have.

1. Frost Diamonds

2. Hanami

3. Brandywine

4. Merope

5. Maia

6. Evenstar

7. Summer Flies

8. Celaeno

Elektra is soooooooo close to finished! I will finish the bind-off tonight and it will be done! As you can see from the numbers, I am not quite there yet, but there are certainly enough 'almost done' projects on my needles that I think I can get there yet.

Then 10 in 10 group is planning to do an 11 in 11 challenge - maybe I will unintentionally participate in that one too!

Long Awaited

2010-11-01T14:43:00.000-04:00

Against my will, I had a rather productive knitting weekend. I, along with a snillion other folks on the Romi's Studio Ravelry forum, have been waiting anxiously the release of Elektra, the fourth installment in the 7 Small Shawls ebook subscription. I kept my phone with me all week, waiting for the little e-mail that would tell me I had a pattern update to download. I even took my yarn with me when we went visiting on Thursday evening, just in case.

On Friday there was still no pattern. I worked on socks for my coworker on Friday night, while watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I am just now getting around to seeing. This resulted in a sock that was over an inch longer than intended when I put it away for the night with a sigh.

Saturday I woke up, rolled over, turned on my laptop (don't ask why my laptop lives in my bed. isn't that what they were invented for?) and checked - no pattern. Disappointed, I, like many others, turned to my WIP pile for comfort. The SO was out at a Go tournament all day so I was pretty much left to entertain myself.

I divided the body and sleeves for my Simone sweater while watching the Project Runway finale on my DVR.

I watched The Perfect Storm and picked up the provisional cast on for my second Esplanade hat, and knit through the remaining stripes so that from now on, it is all stockinette in one color until the decreases.

I turned on a Halloween NCIS marathon, picked up a lifeline in the too-long sock, ripped it back to where I was supposed to have stopped, knit the toe and did the cast on and some of the ribbing for the second sock.

SO came home, we went out, ate dinner, came home. Still no pattern. Worked on the socks until bedtime.

Rolled over Sunday morning around 6:15, sleepily turned on my laptop just in case, and THERE IT WAS. That beautiful little line under my Ravelry user name, wriggling in its excitement to tell me that I had a new message. Pattern update! Elektra was out at last! And people were already working on her! And I had to go to church.

So I went to church, had lunch (checking the Rav forums on my phone when no one was looking and tapping my foot for the check), went to Starbucks (where there was, of course, an unholy line JUST FOR ME), and came home to find my little Ella had been very sick while I was gone. I freaked out a little bit, cleaned her up, cleaned her bed up, worried, tried to get her to eat something, and finally gave up and let her go back to sleep. (She did eat dinner that evening and kept it down, as well as breakfast this morning, so I'm hoping she's recovering. We think the antibiotics we gave her a few days ago affected her poor tummy.) I sat down and, at last, started Elektra.

That's all I had done by the end of the night. This baby was built for beauty, not speed, I'm afraid. But a beauty she is!

All other projects in process have been dropped like a hot rock...which may mean that some people are getting yarn and promises for Christmas. Sorry guys. Priorities!

Just Keep Swimming

2010-10-26T11:39:00.003-04:00

This week is busy busy. I have a lot going on at work so things are a little hectic here. I have a deadline I have to meet on Wednesday, which will hopefully give me some breathing room.

I don't have much to show for the past week. I've been working on my second Esplanade hat and making fair progress. I'm to the point now where I have to take out the provisional cast on and fold under the hidden brim. I've been working on a sock for my coworker that's been my mindless knitting for a while now. I'm getting close to the toe.

He had surgery last week, which was my reason for knitting him socks, but obviously they will be quite late. I'm thinking about saving them for Christmas.

Really, the highlight of my knitting mania this week has been anticipating the release of Elektra. In fact, my plan was for this post to be titled "All Wound Up" and to feature my newly wound yarn for Elektra. We are having a grand old time on the @Romi's Studio Ravelry Group, sharing pictures of yarn and beads and arguing over when we want the release to happen. I'm hoping it'll come out either early on Thursday or late on Wednesday, after all my work madness has passed.

I didn't have as much knitting time this weekend as usual. I took my little Ella to the vet to get her kidney checkup, and then I went shopping for a new dress to wear out that evening. We had plans for dinner and dancing. I did find a dress and I wore it with my Celaeno shawl.

We had a lovely time, but I was tired and footsore on Sunday. I couldn't manage anything more complicated than my Esplanade hat and a lot of knitting time was wasted in a fruitless attempt to nap.

I put off posting yesterday in hopes that I would have some additional pictures to include, but I was just too darn tired. I worked on my Bluebird a little, I'm in the middle section now so it's not too complicated. It's a little discouraging to make so little progress for the week, especially because I have soooooo many projects on the needles. I think my little bout of startitis is finally starting to get the better of me and I'm growing a little frustrated with the number of WIPS I have going on. This won't stop me from starting Elektra as soon as it comes out, of course, but I am probably going to set aside part of this weekend to take care of some of the projects that are stalled because I need some dedicated time and attention. The Esplanade hat will be easy, carry-around knitting once I get the brim folded over and joined, and my Simone sweater is sitting around waiting for me to divide the sleeves and body. Once Elektra is finished I will take another crack at the Phoenix shawl, which is, you may remember, at the ever-frustrating "so close yet so far" stage.

However I have a feeling some of this stuff may get set aside for Christmas knitting. I don't usually do too much Christmas knitting, since the number of people in my life who receive my knitted stuff with the appreciation it deserves is fairly limited. But, I do have some plans this year. It's already awfully late in the year, though, so we'll see how much of it gets accomplished. I may have to put away some of my unfinished projects until those items are done.

Time Passes

2010-10-19T10:56:00.003-04:00

Another week with a bonus blog post...I'm feeling talkative, it seems.

October is almost over. ALREADY. Wasn't it just the first of October, like yesterday? I'm feeling a little bit of Christmas panic set in. The next two months are always very busy for me. In November there is of course Thanksgiving, and also our annual fall church retreat. In December there is my company Christmas party, our church Christmas musical (I am part of the church choir) along with all its prep and rehearsals, and of course, Christmas itself, to include preChristmas activites with local friends since I am out of town for Actual Christmas, and then travelling to my parents' for Actual Christmas. Time to really sit down and figure out how I'm going to tackle the Christmas gifts this year. Usually I try not to do too much knitting, because it's too easy to get overwhelmed and because the range of knit-appreciating folks in my life is actually rather limited.

I have a little bit of a head start this year as I have two Christmas presents finished already, so that makes me feel good. I'm thinking I need to make a pair of socks and a pair of handwarmers also.

Part of the problem is also that I am a selfish knitter. I love to keep the things I make. The bluebird shawl is an example - I'm not sure it's a great color for me, and I know someone who it would be perfect for, but I just don't know if I can give it up. Now, there are times when I see a pattern I think someone would love, that would be absolutely perfect for them, and I just can't stand to NOT knit it and give it to them. But otherwise...HANDS OFF. IT'S ALL MINE.

This makes me a little sad and annoyed with myself since I often wish I could give someone a shawl when they are going through a rough time. And in fact there have been times where somebody asked me to contribute knitwear to a charity or something and they make the request in a way that shows they think I just have spare knitwear lying around - like, I make socks and stick them in a pile somewhere instead of wearing them or giving them away. It's a little perplexing to me. But I don't work that way, all of my knitwear is knit with intent, either to keep or to give to someone in particular. It's true that I'm a process knitter and I really like just the act of making things, but knitting something for no reason at all seems kind of odd to me. Anyway, this makes it hard to keep up, since by the time I finish making a shawl for someone the event which inspired me to make it has usually passed on.

Anyway, I digress. I can tell you one thing I am not going to give away, though. Romi's 4th shawl from the 7 Small Shawls E-book finally has a name, and it's out at the test knitters now. When I heard that I figured I better get a hustle on to get ready. I had planned to use some stash but I didn't have anything with the yardage required for this shawl. The designated yarn, Serenity Silk, has 500 yards to a skein, and I didn't have anything close. Now, I could have used a smaller skein, but I decided I would rather not. I don't want to have to stress about whether I have enough yarn and I don't want to make the shawl less than it was intended to be by having to bind off early or make a smaller one, so I just ponied up for the recommended yarn. Such a shame, having to buy yarn. I'm so heartbroken. I also ordered a couple of bead options, but I didn't want to go overboard and order a bunch of different kinds without having even seen the yarn in person. It turns out that I did well, I ordered two varieties and decided one of them was perfect. As it happens, they are the same beads that Romi used in her sample, silver-lined root beer.

This makes me happy since I wanted to stay in the same color family as Romi's shawl, but I wanted something darker and--well, less yellow. I'm not a yellow person. I got Mocchacino instead, which is a nice warm amber brown that I think will be very wearable.

I'm all set!

You know what's not getting any love? My poor Simone sweater.

There she is, just as I left her weeks ago. I finished the increases and I need to take some quiet time and go through the directions to divide the sleeves from the body. It won't be tonight, though, since I have to deliver these:

These are the washcloths I've been knitting all summer for the SERVE family shelter. One of my church ladies had invited me to this prayer shawl group that was knitting washcloths for their summer project, and though we haven't managed to go since the first meeting, I've still been working on my washcloths. This photo is pre-washing, and I have to say I got a lovely surprise when I washed them. These floppy washcloths shrank up and became firm and bouncy, and I was so delighted with the stack that I considered pretending that I never knew about the washcloth knitting so that I could keep them and use them for a squishy pillow at night. The unfortunate side of the shrinking is that they are not really square anymore, they're more rectangular, but now that I know, I'll know to make the next set a little longer. These are perfect hockey/movie theater knitting and now that I know how much fun they are post-washing, I might just have to make some for me. I certainly have quite a few balls of yarn left. I'm also not sure these are all that I had, though, because I really am sure I knit at least one red washcloth that's not in this stack. I checked the little basket that I keep my finished charity projects in rather thoroughly, though, so I'm not sure where that cloth ended up. I'll have to go through my knitting bags and see if I left one somewhere. I'm also reasonably sure I knit more than one out of the solid green and solid blue, but I'm really not sure. I didn't really keep track.

Oh, and did I mention, since I was ordering from ZYG anyway - I might have picked up an extra skein of sock yarn. Serenity 20, to be exact. 20% cashmere, yum. We all know I am a sucker for the 80/10/10 wool/cashmere/nylon blends, so a 70/20/10 blend? YES PLEASE. This is the Emerald Ice colorway.