My knitting yesterday was so much more pleasant than it has been! I didn't feel weighed down or rushed to finish anything. Isn't it funny how much mental pressure we can put on ourselves? When I stopped trying to "let go" and just decided to work within my own neuroses, everything got much better. I spent last night working on the mystery stole, and got about 9 chart rows done. I brought both the ruana and Veronique with me tonight to knit one or the other at choir - probably the ruana. The mohair is too prone to leap off the needles to be worked on while managing other stuff in my lap. I can work on Veronique at the SO's afterward while I wait for dinner to be ready.
I also have yarn on the way for a Featherweight Cardigan. I'm using KnitPicks Shimmer in Lilac Dream. It's an alpaca silk blend and I think it will be perfect for days when the office air conditioning is a little overambitious. If I have enough yarn, though, I will make the body longer. The cropped look never really flatters me. I ordered an extra skein so hopefully I should have plenty.
Showing posts with label mystery stole 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery stole 4. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Taking Care of Business
My flickr uploader tool has decided to hate me so I didn't get pictures uploaded for a blog post yesterday, and only about half the pictures ended up uploaded today. But, whatever, I'm going with what I've got.
I spent this weekend tying up loose ends. I finished the blackrose socks. Pretend there is a picture of the pair here.
I got my sweater seamed and joined so that I could start the yoke knitting. I've done a little bit of work since this picture was taken, but it's gone rather slow.
Part of the problem is that the area where the sleeves are joined is really awkward to work at this point. I think when I get a few more rows away from the join, it will go smoother. I also have some gaping holes where I picked up stitches for the front shaping that I can't explain. I twisted the picked up stitches so those have closed up enough that they're not a big deal, but there is one stitch at the end of the front shaping that is huge. I'm going to have to do something about it at the finishing, though, I don't think there's anything I can do about it just now.
I cast on for the second panda sock, avoiding second sock syndrome which I was somewhat afeared would strike me since I had knit another pair since the first sock. It turns out I am anal enough that I wasn't even tempted to start something else.
Although, I did start another pair of socks for my big-footed man. It's in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock that I bought a long time ago and, frankly...hate. I don't really like it. It's not really a quality issue as it is a preference issue. These are 100% merino and yet the Happy Feet I just worked with, a merino/nylon mix, is softer and more pleasant to work with.
Anyway, pretend there is a picture of two or three measly rows of panda sock here.
I also finished chart 4 on MS4, which I didn't bother to photograph because it would look only a very little bit different from the picture in the last post. I realize this is not really tying up a loose end because I am neither finished nor even at the halfway point, but it makes me happy to check it off and it does count as progress toward tying up a loose end.
And, last but not least, I wove in the ends and blocked my hemlock ring blanket. There is one spot with some wierdly large stitches but you wouldn't notice if you weren't an anal knitter in the midst of blocking. And what really bothers me is, I can't figure out why this problem is there. I can only guess that I had too many yarnovers in that spot, discovered them on a later row, didn't want to tink back two whole rows to get to it (this was quite a ways in and the rows would have been quite long at this point), so I just dropped them and went on my merry way.
Anyway, I shall finish this post with a burst of glory, since those photos did, thankfully, upload.
You can see the blocking wires kgd and family gave me for my birthday in that photo. I did use them to get it stretched out initially, but found that my swoops were so big that they really needed to be individually pinned. However, the stretching process happened much more easily and evenly and if you want my blocking wires you will have to pry them from my cold dead fingers, and I will haunt you for the rest of your life. I'm just saying.
I hadn't snipped the ends yet so there are some threads running underneath the big yarnovers, but know they are not there in the finished project.
I had imagined it draped elegantly over the back of my couch all this time I was knitting it, but it did not occur to me that my couch has big poofy pillows instead of a smooth back, so...not quite so elegant as I had hoped. I did note last night that it looks much better from the front.
I spent this weekend tying up loose ends. I finished the blackrose socks. Pretend there is a picture of the pair here.
I got my sweater seamed and joined so that I could start the yoke knitting. I've done a little bit of work since this picture was taken, but it's gone rather slow.
Part of the problem is that the area where the sleeves are joined is really awkward to work at this point. I think when I get a few more rows away from the join, it will go smoother. I also have some gaping holes where I picked up stitches for the front shaping that I can't explain. I twisted the picked up stitches so those have closed up enough that they're not a big deal, but there is one stitch at the end of the front shaping that is huge. I'm going to have to do something about it at the finishing, though, I don't think there's anything I can do about it just now.
I cast on for the second panda sock, avoiding second sock syndrome which I was somewhat afeared would strike me since I had knit another pair since the first sock. It turns out I am anal enough that I wasn't even tempted to start something else.
Although, I did start another pair of socks for my big-footed man. It's in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock that I bought a long time ago and, frankly...hate. I don't really like it. It's not really a quality issue as it is a preference issue. These are 100% merino and yet the Happy Feet I just worked with, a merino/nylon mix, is softer and more pleasant to work with.
Anyway, pretend there is a picture of two or three measly rows of panda sock here.
I also finished chart 4 on MS4, which I didn't bother to photograph because it would look only a very little bit different from the picture in the last post. I realize this is not really tying up a loose end because I am neither finished nor even at the halfway point, but it makes me happy to check it off and it does count as progress toward tying up a loose end.
And, last but not least, I wove in the ends and blocked my hemlock ring blanket. There is one spot with some wierdly large stitches but you wouldn't notice if you weren't an anal knitter in the midst of blocking. And what really bothers me is, I can't figure out why this problem is there. I can only guess that I had too many yarnovers in that spot, discovered them on a later row, didn't want to tink back two whole rows to get to it (this was quite a ways in and the rows would have been quite long at this point), so I just dropped them and went on my merry way.
Anyway, I shall finish this post with a burst of glory, since those photos did, thankfully, upload.
You can see the blocking wires kgd and family gave me for my birthday in that photo. I did use them to get it stretched out initially, but found that my swoops were so big that they really needed to be individually pinned. However, the stretching process happened much more easily and evenly and if you want my blocking wires you will have to pry them from my cold dead fingers, and I will haunt you for the rest of your life. I'm just saying.
I hadn't snipped the ends yet so there are some threads running underneath the big yarnovers, but know they are not there in the finished project.
I had imagined it draped elegantly over the back of my couch all this time I was knitting it, but it did not occur to me that my couch has big poofy pillows instead of a smooth back, so...not quite so elegant as I had hoped. I did note last night that it looks much better from the front.
Friday, March 13, 2009
What to do?
My, this is a blog heavy week.
Well, do you remember this thing?
Elann's Moonlight Sonata in RYC Kidsilk Haze. It's bigger than it was in this photo, but I dropped it like a hot rock for Mystery Stole 4 and the Whispering Pines shawl. I could do that without guilt because MS4 has a set time period and Whispering Pines was a Christmas present. But, now that those obstacles are out of the way, I have WIP guilt.
No big deal, right? I'll just finish it and then I'll be done and I'll be happy and can move on.
Except, there's just one thing. I HATE it. Not so much the way it looks, though it doesn't inspire me the way the sample photo does. But I really, really hate knitting it, and I think it's mostly the yarn's fault. For one thing, the color is too dark; I let my romantic fancy run away with me and the idea of knitting Moonlight Sonata in a color called "Nightly" just really appealed to me. For another - it's just a little tough to work with for the level of stitch manipulation that's required in this shawl.
And, just to add insult to injury, there's a dropped stitch in the middle of one of the sunspot thingies several repeats back. normally, this would not be a big deal; I would get a crochet hook and fix it. But the problem is, it appears to have been dropped from a decrease, so there's no where to ladder it up TO. I'm really not sure what to do about it. I have a few options:
1. Rip back to it and fix it, and accept that I am going to have to be knitting on this thing that much longer. To this, I have one word to say: Mohair.
2. Drop selected stitches down and drive myself crazy with the fiddly madness of unding and then redoing all those stitches. This is not an appealing option to me, since the motion of the pattern would make identifying the correct stitches to drop difficult and annoying. Also, mohair. The fact that this dropped stitch is still sitting in the middle of its sunspot while Imerilly painstakingly knitted twenty or thirty more rows should tell you that dropping sitches on this thing will be no picnic.
3. Snip the yarn at the top tip of the sunspot, right at the spot where you knit numerous stitches together (which is probably where the trouble began in the first place, undo only the sunspot stitches, redo them while somehow holding on to the snipped thread (the mohair works in my favor this time), and then felt the snipped spot together again. Fiddly, and slightly dangerous, but theoretically possible. It frightens me that this is the most appealing of my options.
4. Use a tiny piece of the yarn to tie the loose stitch into place, and count on the fuzzy, felty stickyness of mohair to both keep the knot from untying and hide the lump. This is the second most appealing of my options, and while the previous option is certainly possible, it is kind of scary.
Then, there's option 5, which is to throw my hands up and call the whole thing a wash. And, honestly, I really think the only thing that has kept me from doing that is knowing that this yarn is expensive and frogging it will be hell.
I am generally not an advocate of knitting a project that you don't like. There's too many other things I would rather be doing (Swan Lake!). In fact, the other day I felt like knitting lace and I was so turned off by the idea of working on this shawl that I went upstairs and got out MS4 and worked on that instead. Since that is also a UFO and I didn't feel guilty about working on it the way I would have felt guilty starting something new. (actually, this turned out to be a good thing, since some time away bled away some of the ill feeling I had towards the center of the stole, and I am now able to think rationally about how I will change it to make me happy, which means I may actually finish the thing).
I'm kept from a chronic case of startitis by this wierd little timer in my brain, which arbitrarily decides when I have been working on something too long and flips a switch that means I feel guilty starting something new until I finish that item. There is also some OCD part of my brain that doesn't like seeing too many WIPs in a row on my Ravelry project page. I'm okay as long as I am knitting items that take up different types of knitting time - I have TV knitting (sweater, hemlock ring) and exercise bike knitting (attempting to get a pair of plain socks started but can't find the right needle size) and I have travel knitting (Carribean socks) and I have fiddly lace knitting ($@@#$ sonata) and as long as I don't have too many projects competing for time, I am happy and content. If I start 3 fiddly lace things at once I am destined for gloom and despair at how long it's taking me to finish, and if I start too many TV things at once I get bored, etc.
So, this project is clearly weighing on me and I am clearly avoiding it, which says to me, that I shouldn't knit it. But, if I decide not to knit it, then I have to frog all that mohair or cut the ball and call it a loss. But, if I keep going, I may never knit lace again out of sheer frustration.
Maybe what I ought to do is go find out what else I can knit with four (or three and a half, if I don't frog) balls of kid mohair that WOULD make me happy. Then I can lay the pattern aside, because I do really like the sample photo and in another yarn I do think it would be quite pretty and not so frustrating to knit.
****
In other news I didn't make it to the bead store last night even though I was in the area, because I am silly and read the hours for their other location instead of the one for the location I was at. I did look at some of the beads I have at home, because I do have some white and neutral beads that miiiiight work, maybe.
I got a very handsome offer on yesterday's blog post from Angela for beads, so that's something to explore. Angela, I'll be in touch! ::phone fingers::
*****ETA: Seascape may be a winner...Moonlight sonata, your days may be numbered!
Well, do you remember this thing?
Elann's Moonlight Sonata in RYC Kidsilk Haze. It's bigger than it was in this photo, but I dropped it like a hot rock for Mystery Stole 4 and the Whispering Pines shawl. I could do that without guilt because MS4 has a set time period and Whispering Pines was a Christmas present. But, now that those obstacles are out of the way, I have WIP guilt.
No big deal, right? I'll just finish it and then I'll be done and I'll be happy and can move on.
Except, there's just one thing. I HATE it. Not so much the way it looks, though it doesn't inspire me the way the sample photo does. But I really, really hate knitting it, and I think it's mostly the yarn's fault. For one thing, the color is too dark; I let my romantic fancy run away with me and the idea of knitting Moonlight Sonata in a color called "Nightly" just really appealed to me. For another - it's just a little tough to work with for the level of stitch manipulation that's required in this shawl.
And, just to add insult to injury, there's a dropped stitch in the middle of one of the sunspot thingies several repeats back. normally, this would not be a big deal; I would get a crochet hook and fix it. But the problem is, it appears to have been dropped from a decrease, so there's no where to ladder it up TO. I'm really not sure what to do about it. I have a few options:
1. Rip back to it and fix it, and accept that I am going to have to be knitting on this thing that much longer. To this, I have one word to say: Mohair.
2. Drop selected stitches down and drive myself crazy with the fiddly madness of unding and then redoing all those stitches. This is not an appealing option to me, since the motion of the pattern would make identifying the correct stitches to drop difficult and annoying. Also, mohair. The fact that this dropped stitch is still sitting in the middle of its sunspot while I
3. Snip the yarn at the top tip of the sunspot, right at the spot where you knit numerous stitches together (which is probably where the trouble began in the first place, undo only the sunspot stitches, redo them while somehow holding on to the snipped thread (the mohair works in my favor this time), and then felt the snipped spot together again. Fiddly, and slightly dangerous, but theoretically possible. It frightens me that this is the most appealing of my options.
4. Use a tiny piece of the yarn to tie the loose stitch into place, and count on the fuzzy, felty stickyness of mohair to both keep the knot from untying and hide the lump. This is the second most appealing of my options, and while the previous option is certainly possible, it is kind of scary.
Then, there's option 5, which is to throw my hands up and call the whole thing a wash. And, honestly, I really think the only thing that has kept me from doing that is knowing that this yarn is expensive and frogging it will be hell.
I am generally not an advocate of knitting a project that you don't like. There's too many other things I would rather be doing (Swan Lake!). In fact, the other day I felt like knitting lace and I was so turned off by the idea of working on this shawl that I went upstairs and got out MS4 and worked on that instead. Since that is also a UFO and I didn't feel guilty about working on it the way I would have felt guilty starting something new. (actually, this turned out to be a good thing, since some time away bled away some of the ill feeling I had towards the center of the stole, and I am now able to think rationally about how I will change it to make me happy, which means I may actually finish the thing).
I'm kept from a chronic case of startitis by this wierd little timer in my brain, which arbitrarily decides when I have been working on something too long and flips a switch that means I feel guilty starting something new until I finish that item. There is also some OCD part of my brain that doesn't like seeing too many WIPs in a row on my Ravelry project page. I'm okay as long as I am knitting items that take up different types of knitting time - I have TV knitting (sweater, hemlock ring) and exercise bike knitting (attempting to get a pair of plain socks started but can't find the right needle size) and I have travel knitting (Carribean socks) and I have fiddly lace knitting ($@@#$ sonata) and as long as I don't have too many projects competing for time, I am happy and content. If I start 3 fiddly lace things at once I am destined for gloom and despair at how long it's taking me to finish, and if I start too many TV things at once I get bored, etc.
So, this project is clearly weighing on me and I am clearly avoiding it, which says to me, that I shouldn't knit it. But, if I decide not to knit it, then I have to frog all that mohair or cut the ball and call it a loss. But, if I keep going, I may never knit lace again out of sheer frustration.
Maybe what I ought to do is go find out what else I can knit with four (or three and a half, if I don't frog) balls of kid mohair that WOULD make me happy. Then I can lay the pattern aside, because I do really like the sample photo and in another yarn I do think it would be quite pretty and not so frustrating to knit.
****
In other news I didn't make it to the bead store last night even though I was in the area, because I am silly and read the hours for their other location instead of the one for the location I was at. I did look at some of the beads I have at home, because I do have some white and neutral beads that miiiiight work, maybe.
I got a very handsome offer on yesterday's blog post from Angela for beads, so that's something to explore. Angela, I'll be in touch! ::phone fingers::
*****ETA: Seascape may be a winner...Moonlight sonata, your days may be numbered!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Decision Made
Yesterday I put away MS4 and picked up Whispering Pines (eventually - there was a slightly panicked search when I could not find the ziplock it was in, but the SO came to the rescue, finding it in the craft room before I had time to work up into a real fit about it).
I'm on Chart C on Whispering Pines and when I looked at the picture and mapped where I was to the picture of the finished shawls - I have kind of a lot of work to do. It was definitely the right decision to pick it up.
I have to say in the interests of full blog disclosure - the last couple charts of MS4 made it not so hard to put it down. There's nothing wrong with them, per se...I'm just not sure I want to knit them as is. The designer's theme, now revealed, is "Serendipity" and it seems that the stole does not represent anything in particular, so much as the element of surprise, which...seems to me to be kind of redundant in a mystery stole. I'm a little disappointed - I love to knit things with a story, which is one of the reason I like so many of Pink Lemon Twist's patterns, they are always well thought out and representative of the story she is trying to tell, and that appeals to my romantic English major self. (also, my pedantic nature wants to point out that 'serendipity' and 'surprise' do not mean the same thing, but that is petty and I will not give in to it)
However, I do really like the pattern up through chart 5 - to me it looks like campfires in the woods with mountains in the background, and I really love it. But, I'm thinking about changing the last couple of charts to fit with my idea. I think this would basically consist of taking out the diamonds. I think I can convince myself that the flower-type motif in the very center of the shawl is the sun (I need to look at a few more knitted pictures), but the diamonds just don't really work for me. I'm considering leaving the small ones on chart 5, but the big ones in the middle just don't quite do it for me.
I bought two skeins of KP Gloss lace in Sterling and the KnitSpot pattern Tudor Grace to make a scarf for my mom for Christmas. I want a pattern I can memorize and carry around (so that it won't compete for knitting time with Whispering Pines) and that one seems like it will fit the bill. The pattern is written for sock weight yarn, but I want it to be small and filmy, since I'm intending it more for an accent with clothing than for warmth or anything like that, so I bought laceweight yarn. My mom lives in Texas and doesn't generally have to wear a scarf for warmth anymore, but she likes them with clothes. I'm hoping the grey will go with some of her things. And if it's not done by December, it can be my airplane knitting!
I'm on Chart C on Whispering Pines and when I looked at the picture and mapped where I was to the picture of the finished shawls - I have kind of a lot of work to do. It was definitely the right decision to pick it up.
I have to say in the interests of full blog disclosure - the last couple charts of MS4 made it not so hard to put it down. There's nothing wrong with them, per se...I'm just not sure I want to knit them as is. The designer's theme, now revealed, is "Serendipity" and it seems that the stole does not represent anything in particular, so much as the element of surprise, which...seems to me to be kind of redundant in a mystery stole. I'm a little disappointed - I love to knit things with a story, which is one of the reason I like so many of Pink Lemon Twist's patterns, they are always well thought out and representative of the story she is trying to tell, and that appeals to my romantic English major self. (also, my pedantic nature wants to point out that 'serendipity' and 'surprise' do not mean the same thing, but that is petty and I will not give in to it)
However, I do really like the pattern up through chart 5 - to me it looks like campfires in the woods with mountains in the background, and I really love it. But, I'm thinking about changing the last couple of charts to fit with my idea. I think this would basically consist of taking out the diamonds. I think I can convince myself that the flower-type motif in the very center of the shawl is the sun (I need to look at a few more knitted pictures), but the diamonds just don't really work for me. I'm considering leaving the small ones on chart 5, but the big ones in the middle just don't quite do it for me.
I bought two skeins of KP Gloss lace in Sterling and the KnitSpot pattern Tudor Grace to make a scarf for my mom for Christmas. I want a pattern I can memorize and carry around (so that it won't compete for knitting time with Whispering Pines) and that one seems like it will fit the bill. The pattern is written for sock weight yarn, but I want it to be small and filmy, since I'm intending it more for an accent with clothing than for warmth or anything like that, so I bought laceweight yarn. My mom lives in Texas and doesn't generally have to wear a scarf for warmth anymore, but she likes them with clothes. I'm hoping the grey will go with some of her things. And if it's not done by December, it can be my airplane knitting!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Back!
I beg forgiveness for the long blog silence. I am, generally speaking, kind of embarassed to blog without photos, so I tend to not blog when I don't have any. But! Look what we have today!
Caledonian Mist in Handmaiden Casbah Peacock. This photo is actually a little old and out of date, as this sock is finished - but the second sock looks basically the same, so - pretend. Except the second sock is not nearly this long yet. So...I'm both behind, and ahead with this picture?
Regardless, just try to tell me that isn't stunning. It's all I can do not to go buy all the Casbah I can get my hands on.
Next up, MS4.
I am woefully behind. This is about halfway through Clue 3. I am a failure of a mystery stoler. Have a detail shot.
I admit I have been ignoring the community aspect of this project almost entirely. I haven't looked at any pictures or any discussion, so forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but - the yarnover motifs look like campfires or burning incense to me. Interesting.
I have a condition, which may be universal or may be universal to new knitters, or it may be just me, but generally speaking, when I look at a chart full of yarnovers...that's all I see. I can't see the picture until I have actually done the knitting. Hmm, now that I look at it, the beads look like they could be pine trees. So, maybe I am right on the camping theme?
I personally hate camping, but that's okay, I think I can forgive the stole, since it is in fact really pretty. Not really sure where the mass of yarnovers that are clues 4 and 5 will go, though. But, that is the fun, isn't it?
Here's a closer look at the top:
I need to try to remember to crop my photos tighter.
The color in these photos isn't bad; I took it upstairs and photographed it without a flash by an open window, and then when I got it on the computer I adjusted it until the color of the cloth I was using for a background was close to correct. However, I am kind of thinking that if there really is a camping theme, I'd have liked to use a green yarn instead of this marine blue - but oh well, that's the Mystery, isn't it?
Anyway, I'm enjoying the project, except one problem - I've got two other lace projects of about the same level of complexity that are in process. This was a mistake. I don't really get anxiety over multiple projects if they are different types of projects, because different projects are appropriate for different kinds of knitting time. However, I do get nervous when I have multiple projects competing for the same type of knitting time. I have 3 lace projects going now that require about the same amount of attention - Moonlight Sonata, Whispering Pines, and MS4. I have worked on MS4 exclusively and I would, I think, be okay with that, except that Whispering Pines is a Christmas present and I fear that I won't finish it in time. I thought I would be okay because MS4 ends in October and then I would have all of November and most of December to do Whispering Pines, but I am starting to worry, especially since I am so far behind on MS4. I am considering two options:
1 - Work on MS4 until the knitalong is over, and then stop wherever I am on it and pick up Whispering Pines as I intended.
2 - Accept that I am not going to catch up anyway, and put down MS4 now until Whispering Pines is finished. Download and store all the clues until I am ready to pick it up again.
I'm leaning toward option 1 at this point.
I do have one other project for Christmas, a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend. I have the yarn, Little Knits Indie II in Burgandy, but I haven't started yet. In fact I don't think I have checked to see whether I have the right size needles either - note to self, do that.
I am not too worried about getting those done, but if the pattern is correct I should have enough yarn for 2 pair, and I would like to make the second for another friend.
I am resisting the urge to mentally commit to other presents, just in case. I'd like to make a pair of socks for my mom, and I'd like to make a hat for my dad, to go in their stockings (my mom stuffs the stockings so I especially like to stick a little something in for her when she is not looking), but I have not bought yarn so that I don't end up overcommitting (although I am really quite sure I could make a pair of plain socks for my mom, I mean really now, surely I can handle a pair of simple stockinette socks in two and a half months - although a lacy silky scarf would be kind of neat to put in her stocking as well and I do have a bunch of KP Gloss in the stash...).
I am totally doomed, aren't I?
Caledonian Mist in Handmaiden Casbah Peacock. This photo is actually a little old and out of date, as this sock is finished - but the second sock looks basically the same, so - pretend. Except the second sock is not nearly this long yet. So...I'm both behind, and ahead with this picture?
Regardless, just try to tell me that isn't stunning. It's all I can do not to go buy all the Casbah I can get my hands on.
Next up, MS4.
I am woefully behind. This is about halfway through Clue 3. I am a failure of a mystery stoler. Have a detail shot.
I admit I have been ignoring the community aspect of this project almost entirely. I haven't looked at any pictures or any discussion, so forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but - the yarnover motifs look like campfires or burning incense to me. Interesting.
I have a condition, which may be universal or may be universal to new knitters, or it may be just me, but generally speaking, when I look at a chart full of yarnovers...that's all I see. I can't see the picture until I have actually done the knitting. Hmm, now that I look at it, the beads look like they could be pine trees. So, maybe I am right on the camping theme?
I personally hate camping, but that's okay, I think I can forgive the stole, since it is in fact really pretty. Not really sure where the mass of yarnovers that are clues 4 and 5 will go, though. But, that is the fun, isn't it?
Here's a closer look at the top:
I need to try to remember to crop my photos tighter.
The color in these photos isn't bad; I took it upstairs and photographed it without a flash by an open window, and then when I got it on the computer I adjusted it until the color of the cloth I was using for a background was close to correct. However, I am kind of thinking that if there really is a camping theme, I'd have liked to use a green yarn instead of this marine blue - but oh well, that's the Mystery, isn't it?
Anyway, I'm enjoying the project, except one problem - I've got two other lace projects of about the same level of complexity that are in process. This was a mistake. I don't really get anxiety over multiple projects if they are different types of projects, because different projects are appropriate for different kinds of knitting time. However, I do get nervous when I have multiple projects competing for the same type of knitting time. I have 3 lace projects going now that require about the same amount of attention - Moonlight Sonata, Whispering Pines, and MS4. I have worked on MS4 exclusively and I would, I think, be okay with that, except that Whispering Pines is a Christmas present and I fear that I won't finish it in time. I thought I would be okay because MS4 ends in October and then I would have all of November and most of December to do Whispering Pines, but I am starting to worry, especially since I am so far behind on MS4. I am considering two options:
1 - Work on MS4 until the knitalong is over, and then stop wherever I am on it and pick up Whispering Pines as I intended.
2 - Accept that I am not going to catch up anyway, and put down MS4 now until Whispering Pines is finished. Download and store all the clues until I am ready to pick it up again.
I'm leaning toward option 1 at this point.
I do have one other project for Christmas, a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend. I have the yarn, Little Knits Indie II in Burgandy, but I haven't started yet. In fact I don't think I have checked to see whether I have the right size needles either - note to self, do that.
I am not too worried about getting those done, but if the pattern is correct I should have enough yarn for 2 pair, and I would like to make the second for another friend.
I am resisting the urge to mentally commit to other presents, just in case. I'd like to make a pair of socks for my mom, and I'd like to make a hat for my dad, to go in their stockings (my mom stuffs the stockings so I especially like to stick a little something in for her when she is not looking), but I have not bought yarn so that I don't end up overcommitting (although I am really quite sure I could make a pair of plain socks for my mom, I mean really now, surely I can handle a pair of simple stockinette socks in two and a half months - although a lacy silky scarf would be kind of neat to put in her stocking as well and I do have a bunch of KP Gloss in the stash...).
I am totally doomed, aren't I?
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Ribbit ribbit.
I was going to wait until I had pictures, but the way the week is going, things are not looking promising, so I'm posting anyway.
I frogged the mystery stole back to the first beaded row. I ran a lifeline through the 2nd setup row, which is beaded at ever other stitch, and then I pulled the whole thing out. I put the row back on my needles and picked it back, removing that last set of beads (that part was painful). I'd finally been to 7beads.com and ordered the Montana luster beads that I should have ordered when my instinct told me to way back when. This time instead of placing the beads on the stitch right after it was knit, I am placing the beads before I purl the stitch on the following wrong side row. I am, overall, a much happier knitter. I greatly prefer the look of the beads, the fabric is much more even and neat, and I am knitting along more speedily and peacefully than before. The stop and start process of putting the beads on was driving me crazy before, but somehow it is much more palatable to stop and do them on a wrong side row full of plain purling, than it was to try and do it on a lace row. I felt a little nagging guilt because the designer has said repeatedly that she feels the fabric looks better if you place the bead as you knit the stitch so that the stitch can stretch to accomodate that bead - but either this, or something about the process of stopping to put on the bead, just made the fabric around the bead look loosey goosey and awful. Just goes to show, I guess, that knitting is always subject to preference and personal style. Clue 2 has been released and I think it is lovely, so I'm looking forward to it. The difference in how I feel about the project really is amazing, and I have to say...
I'm glad I ripped it out. I'm glad I started over. I'm glad I did it my way.
I frogged the mystery stole back to the first beaded row. I ran a lifeline through the 2nd setup row, which is beaded at ever other stitch, and then I pulled the whole thing out. I put the row back on my needles and picked it back, removing that last set of beads (that part was painful). I'd finally been to 7beads.com and ordered the Montana luster beads that I should have ordered when my instinct told me to way back when. This time instead of placing the beads on the stitch right after it was knit, I am placing the beads before I purl the stitch on the following wrong side row. I am, overall, a much happier knitter. I greatly prefer the look of the beads, the fabric is much more even and neat, and I am knitting along more speedily and peacefully than before. The stop and start process of putting the beads on was driving me crazy before, but somehow it is much more palatable to stop and do them on a wrong side row full of plain purling, than it was to try and do it on a lace row. I felt a little nagging guilt because the designer has said repeatedly that she feels the fabric looks better if you place the bead as you knit the stitch so that the stitch can stretch to accomodate that bead - but either this, or something about the process of stopping to put on the bead, just made the fabric around the bead look loosey goosey and awful. Just goes to show, I guess, that knitting is always subject to preference and personal style. Clue 2 has been released and I think it is lovely, so I'm looking forward to it. The difference in how I feel about the project really is amazing, and I have to say...
I'm glad I ripped it out. I'm glad I started over. I'm glad I did it my way.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
It's a mystery
MS4 is not going well for me. This is not the fault of the designer at all, it's totally a me thing. I'm not feeling happy with my choices, or my work.
I was kind of doubting myself already after a conversation with the SO's mom on Thursday, and then I looked at some pictures on Ravelry of people who had completed clue one (IN ONE DAY - I mean, it was only 30 rows, but still - all those freaking beads) and there was one in yellow with sort of topaz beads that was absolutely beautiful and I started to have a freakout over whether my bead choice was really a good idea. Most people seems to be doing tone on tone from the pictures I've seen. My yarn is blue and my beads are white (technically, 'old ivory,' but whatever, they're white), and I was just worried. I did swatch, but the beads were spread out across my swatch, not grouped together the way they are on the real thing, and I'm thinking that all that white so close to each other is a little overpowering.
I was maybe four or five rows into it - maybe six or eight if you count the cast on and setup rows. I thought about ripping back and using the gold-lined blue beads I had, but they just wouldn't show up hardly at all, and the SO resisted all my attempts to get him to go out in the rain with me to a bead store I found in Arlington (wuss - it was just a freaking tropical storm) to look at other bead options. He argued that we would be out that direction anyway on Sunday and I made him promise to take me if I was still unhappy with the beads on Sunday (yes, I know, I could've gone myself, but I had a feeling I would need somebody who would eventually get tired and go JUST PICK SOMETHING WOMAN or else I would be meebling around the store all day).
I also had problems with the yarn. I've had several problems with it tangling in the ball. I've had that happen before with yarn that I've wound, but I've never had an issue before with yarn wound at the store. It is really, really annoying me.
Then, I've had problems working with it on the needles. Normally with laceweight yarn (and silk yarn) I use wooden needles, but moving the stitches on the needle, especially the beaded stitches, was torture. I finally got a clue and switched to metal needles and the relief was immediate - stuff actually moves normally up and down. It's odd for silk to be this grippy, but maybe it is because Tussah silk?
Anyway, so that made it better, but the beading process also started getting to me a little. I started out using a very tiny crochet hook, but it's so tiny I can't catch both plies of the yarn with it, so I was snagging the heck out of my yarn. When we went out to dinner I bought some Oral B superfloss and tried the superfloss method. That is working better, but it's still a very tedius process. Worse, the stitches around the beaded area look AWFUL. It's so depressing. It's not the beaded stitches themselves that are the problem, but the column of stitches to the left of any beads is really wide and ladder-like. It's tempting to frog the whole thing and start over, but then I would have to rebead all that stuff, and I think I would go crazy.
Fortunately, the volume of beads on this chart suggests that the beading will taper off somewhat after the second clue. This makes sense as beading on the ends gives some weight to the piece to help it drape properly, while beading in the middle should be light so as not to make the piece droop where it isn't supposed to. So I'll grit my teeth and power through and hope the bad-looking stitches will tighten up in blocking. They should - I'm mostly annoyed because I can't figureout what I'm doing that's making them look so loosey goosey. I'm eyeing the beads with suspicion...maybe the way they strangle the stitches makes those stitches take up less yarn, so the slack ends up in the neighboring stitches? No telling.
After discussing it with the SO last night (he did his best to understand and be helpful, but his approaches are largely to conservative for my impulsive self), I have decided to finish the first clue. Then I am going to swatch again, but this time, I'm going to swatch one of the beaded diamonds, with different beads. I have, since the first, regretted not ordering a particular set of beads that my imagination has convinced me would have been perfect, so I finally sucked it up and ordered them and a couple of other possibilities. Hopefully, they will arrive by the time I finish this clue. If I like the swatch better, better enough to make it worth it, I will go ahead and knit clue one that way. If I still like it, I will frog the first attempt and reknit it.
I hope to finish the clue tonight. I have activities for the rest of the week, so I should be occupied until the new beads come.
I was kind of doubting myself already after a conversation with the SO's mom on Thursday, and then I looked at some pictures on Ravelry of people who had completed clue one (IN ONE DAY - I mean, it was only 30 rows, but still - all those freaking beads) and there was one in yellow with sort of topaz beads that was absolutely beautiful and I started to have a freakout over whether my bead choice was really a good idea. Most people seems to be doing tone on tone from the pictures I've seen. My yarn is blue and my beads are white (technically, 'old ivory,' but whatever, they're white), and I was just worried. I did swatch, but the beads were spread out across my swatch, not grouped together the way they are on the real thing, and I'm thinking that all that white so close to each other is a little overpowering.
I was maybe four or five rows into it - maybe six or eight if you count the cast on and setup rows. I thought about ripping back and using the gold-lined blue beads I had, but they just wouldn't show up hardly at all, and the SO resisted all my attempts to get him to go out in the rain with me to a bead store I found in Arlington (wuss - it was just a freaking tropical storm) to look at other bead options. He argued that we would be out that direction anyway on Sunday and I made him promise to take me if I was still unhappy with the beads on Sunday (yes, I know, I could've gone myself, but I had a feeling I would need somebody who would eventually get tired and go JUST PICK SOMETHING WOMAN or else I would be meebling around the store all day).
I also had problems with the yarn. I've had several problems with it tangling in the ball. I've had that happen before with yarn that I've wound, but I've never had an issue before with yarn wound at the store. It is really, really annoying me.
Then, I've had problems working with it on the needles. Normally with laceweight yarn (and silk yarn) I use wooden needles, but moving the stitches on the needle, especially the beaded stitches, was torture. I finally got a clue and switched to metal needles and the relief was immediate - stuff actually moves normally up and down. It's odd for silk to be this grippy, but maybe it is because Tussah silk?
Anyway, so that made it better, but the beading process also started getting to me a little. I started out using a very tiny crochet hook, but it's so tiny I can't catch both plies of the yarn with it, so I was snagging the heck out of my yarn. When we went out to dinner I bought some Oral B superfloss and tried the superfloss method. That is working better, but it's still a very tedius process. Worse, the stitches around the beaded area look AWFUL. It's so depressing. It's not the beaded stitches themselves that are the problem, but the column of stitches to the left of any beads is really wide and ladder-like. It's tempting to frog the whole thing and start over, but then I would have to rebead all that stuff, and I think I would go crazy.
Fortunately, the volume of beads on this chart suggests that the beading will taper off somewhat after the second clue. This makes sense as beading on the ends gives some weight to the piece to help it drape properly, while beading in the middle should be light so as not to make the piece droop where it isn't supposed to. So I'll grit my teeth and power through and hope the bad-looking stitches will tighten up in blocking. They should - I'm mostly annoyed because I can't figureout what I'm doing that's making them look so loosey goosey. I'm eyeing the beads with suspicion...maybe the way they strangle the stitches makes those stitches take up less yarn, so the slack ends up in the neighboring stitches? No telling.
After discussing it with the SO last night (he did his best to understand and be helpful, but his approaches are largely to conservative for my impulsive self), I have decided to finish the first clue. Then I am going to swatch again, but this time, I'm going to swatch one of the beaded diamonds, with different beads. I have, since the first, regretted not ordering a particular set of beads that my imagination has convinced me would have been perfect, so I finally sucked it up and ordered them and a couple of other possibilities. Hopefully, they will arrive by the time I finish this clue. If I like the swatch better, better enough to make it worth it, I will go ahead and knit clue one that way. If I still like it, I will frog the first attempt and reknit it.
I hope to finish the clue tonight. I have activities for the rest of the week, so I should be occupied until the new beads come.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Some and none
I made a fair bit of progress over the weekend but I haven't gotten much done since then. I haven't been sleeping well so my evenings have been spent staring zombie-like at nothing. Moving the needles is too much work - let alone following a chart or something like that.
I finished the tomato socks and packed them off to their recipient. I didn't wash them, I probably should have - but in the end I decided to let her try them on first. If they fit as they are, then she can wash them in cold water so they don't shrink too much. If they are a bit too big, she can wash them in hot water and shrink them up a bit. They really weren't that much work so I'm not really sure why I am so freaked about whether they fit or not. I haven't heard a word since I sent them home with the recipient's hubby to be gifted...kinda makes me nervous but we usually see them on Thursdays so here's hoping I will find out today. I just want to KNOW OMG.
I've worked some on Whispering Pines. Last night I started a new swatch for the mystery stole. I swatched previously on 4s and the fabric was more open than I prefered. This was actually a little odd for me - I'm a tight knitter so normally I end up starting with a needle size larger than the one recommended. I only got through one repeat, though, before I was just tired to do anymore. I think I like the 3 better, but we'll see when it's blocked. I did block the original swatch pretty severely, so it may be that I could just...not do that.
I am debating over knitting both sides of the stole at once. I'm not really keen on knitting them both at the same time (that is, doing one row of one and the same row of the other on one long needle), but I was thinking before, when I was using 4s, that I could work one side, cap the cable, and work the other side on a seperate cable. I would effectively be working each section twice in a row. Don't ask me why this is preferable to just doing the second side at the end, but somehow I'm sure it would be.
However, 4 is the smallest size of interchangeable needle put out by knitpicks. If I use the 3's, I'd have to buy another needle.
Decisions, decisions.
I'm also struggling with a last-minute bead substitution. One of the beads I ordered, the Montana matte, was the right blue but it didn't show up. I'm wondering if the Montana lustre ones would be the right blue but show up a little better. I thought I was happy with the old ivory beads but I kind of hate that I have not tried the blue ones. Again - decisions, decisions. If I order now they will not get here by tomorrow and tomorrow is when the first clue comes out so I would have to wait to cast on...I'm not sure if I can do that. Woe!
I'm also really, really tempted to buy one of Beadwrangler's beading kits. Not the bead crochet ones, but one of the actual beading kits, like maybe the floral thing or the vine wave kit. I'm trying really hard to be good, though, finances are really tight so I can't get too carried away.
The embossed stitch socks are going along nicely. One of the great things about this stitch pattern is that it's easy to count repeats, so I am doing a much better job at matching length on this sock than on previous socks. I counted 9 diamonds before the heel, and then I plan to count diamonds on the foot too so the socks will be even. I'm keeping an eye on my guage and it looks like my tension is the same on both socks. I had a mishap with the tomato socks, in that I ended up, again, with one longer than the other. I didn't realize it until I had kitchenered the toe and rather than try to pick it out - I just cut it off. The end of the toe, that is. It was kind of scary, but it worked. I picked out all the cut pieces until I got to the end of the yarn, frogged back to the beginning of the toe decreases, joined the skein back, added a few more plain rounds, and then re-kitchenered the toe.
I forgot to take a picture, either of the cut-and-frog or of the finished socks. I had stayed up kind of late by that time and I just didn't think of it.
Football season is picking up again so there will be much knitting while the SO watches sweaty men crash into each other. I'm at the heel of the embossed diamonds sock and I hope to get some progress made during the game tonight...if I can stay awake.
I finished the tomato socks and packed them off to their recipient. I didn't wash them, I probably should have - but in the end I decided to let her try them on first. If they fit as they are, then she can wash them in cold water so they don't shrink too much. If they are a bit too big, she can wash them in hot water and shrink them up a bit. They really weren't that much work so I'm not really sure why I am so freaked about whether they fit or not. I haven't heard a word since I sent them home with the recipient's hubby to be gifted...kinda makes me nervous but we usually see them on Thursdays so here's hoping I will find out today. I just want to KNOW OMG.
I've worked some on Whispering Pines. Last night I started a new swatch for the mystery stole. I swatched previously on 4s and the fabric was more open than I prefered. This was actually a little odd for me - I'm a tight knitter so normally I end up starting with a needle size larger than the one recommended. I only got through one repeat, though, before I was just tired to do anymore. I think I like the 3 better, but we'll see when it's blocked. I did block the original swatch pretty severely, so it may be that I could just...not do that.
I am debating over knitting both sides of the stole at once. I'm not really keen on knitting them both at the same time (that is, doing one row of one and the same row of the other on one long needle), but I was thinking before, when I was using 4s, that I could work one side, cap the cable, and work the other side on a seperate cable. I would effectively be working each section twice in a row. Don't ask me why this is preferable to just doing the second side at the end, but somehow I'm sure it would be.
However, 4 is the smallest size of interchangeable needle put out by knitpicks. If I use the 3's, I'd have to buy another needle.
Decisions, decisions.
I'm also struggling with a last-minute bead substitution. One of the beads I ordered, the Montana matte, was the right blue but it didn't show up. I'm wondering if the Montana lustre ones would be the right blue but show up a little better. I thought I was happy with the old ivory beads but I kind of hate that I have not tried the blue ones. Again - decisions, decisions. If I order now they will not get here by tomorrow and tomorrow is when the first clue comes out so I would have to wait to cast on...I'm not sure if I can do that. Woe!
I'm also really, really tempted to buy one of Beadwrangler's beading kits. Not the bead crochet ones, but one of the actual beading kits, like maybe the floral thing or the vine wave kit. I'm trying really hard to be good, though, finances are really tight so I can't get too carried away.
The embossed stitch socks are going along nicely. One of the great things about this stitch pattern is that it's easy to count repeats, so I am doing a much better job at matching length on this sock than on previous socks. I counted 9 diamonds before the heel, and then I plan to count diamonds on the foot too so the socks will be even. I'm keeping an eye on my guage and it looks like my tension is the same on both socks. I had a mishap with the tomato socks, in that I ended up, again, with one longer than the other. I didn't realize it until I had kitchenered the toe and rather than try to pick it out - I just cut it off. The end of the toe, that is. It was kind of scary, but it worked. I picked out all the cut pieces until I got to the end of the yarn, frogged back to the beginning of the toe decreases, joined the skein back, added a few more plain rounds, and then re-kitchenered the toe.
I forgot to take a picture, either of the cut-and-frog or of the finished socks. I had stayed up kind of late by that time and I just didn't think of it.
Football season is picking up again so there will be much knitting while the SO watches sweaty men crash into each other. I'm at the heel of the embossed diamonds sock and I hope to get some progress made during the game tonight...if I can stay awake.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Scheherazade got its first outing on Sunday. I may have been a little proud of myself.
I also finished the embossed stitch socks in the C*EYE*BER Fyber Periwinkle. I am in love with these socks.
Look at the way it striped on the heel. LOOK AT IT. Love, I tell you.
Equal time for the toe.
I've already cast on number two, but once I got through the cast on I switched over to the tomato socks so I could watch yesterday's gymnastics (missed it because Scheherazade and I went to see the Lion King at the Kennedy Center).
Saturday they showed the marathon, which - I'm sorry, but until you get to the end, it's just not that interesting. :oP So I swatched for MS4.
I added one more repeat than the swatch instructions called for so I could try all my bead options.
The bottom beads are an opaque Montana blue (whatever that means) and while it shows up okay on the picture, it gets lost on the actual swatch. The clear aquamarine ones barely show at all, all you can see is the gold lining, and not much of that.
That takes it down to the two white ones, one matte (top) and one pearly (second from top), and I think I'm going to go with the matte. The pearly are okay but I prefer the matte ones. The impression of the blue with the matte white is casual and flirty, and I'm good with that.
That settled, I worked on Whispering Pines. I got through chart A and I'm now halfway through chart B.
I also finished the embossed stitch socks in the C*EYE*BER Fyber Periwinkle. I am in love with these socks.
Look at the way it striped on the heel. LOOK AT IT. Love, I tell you.
Equal time for the toe.
I've already cast on number two, but once I got through the cast on I switched over to the tomato socks so I could watch yesterday's gymnastics (missed it because Scheherazade and I went to see the Lion King at the Kennedy Center).
Saturday they showed the marathon, which - I'm sorry, but until you get to the end, it's just not that interesting. :oP So I swatched for MS4.
I added one more repeat than the swatch instructions called for so I could try all my bead options.
The bottom beads are an opaque Montana blue (whatever that means) and while it shows up okay on the picture, it gets lost on the actual swatch. The clear aquamarine ones barely show at all, all you can see is the gold lining, and not much of that.
That takes it down to the two white ones, one matte (top) and one pearly (second from top), and I think I'm going to go with the matte. The pearly are okay but I prefer the matte ones. The impression of the blue with the matte white is casual and flirty, and I'm good with that.
That settled, I worked on Whispering Pines. I got through chart A and I'm now halfway through chart B.
Monday, August 4, 2008
A Thousand Words
...but still no pictures. I'm sorry!!!
I did a lot of shopping this week. I have been very good about not buying more yarn, but I had excuses to fall down and I fell hard.
Purchase the first: Sweet Lace in Snow Squall for the Whispering Pines triangle shawl.
Purchase the second: Fiddlesticks Knitting Zephyr Laceweight Wool Silk in Marine
Purchase the third: Lots of beads
Purchase the first is for a Christmas present. Purchase the second and third are for Mystery Shawl 4. Since I didn't have the yarn in person and I wasn't looking at beads in person, I ordered several options for beads, figuring that beads are inexpensive and that I would likely end up using them for something eventually. Also, I am indecisive.
I wanted a silk blend for the mystery stole because the instructions say stitch definition will be important, so I wanted something with a little sheen. I chose Marine because Scheherazade is burgandy, the Moonlight Sonata shawl I am working on is dark dark navy, and I have some green Lacey Lamb in the stash that I plan to use for an Icarus shawl, so I figured Marine was a color category I hadn't gotten yet. I really wavered between picking Marine or Pewter, though - to me, Pewter would have been a safe choice because I could have worn it with a lot and I could have picked any color bead. However, picking a color bead would have made it wearable with less, and I couldn't find any silver or metalic type beads that I was really happy with. But, really, the kicker is that safe is boring and I didn't want to be bored.
I really could have gone about this whole process better, I know - the knitalong doesn't even start for a month and I had plenty of time to mull it over, pick a yarn, wait for it to arrive, find a local bead shop, try out combos, etc - but, half the fun of a mystery stole is the uncertainty, and a) if you're going to gamble, why not gamble big? b) Might as well go with your first instinct because thinking it over too hard really can't do you that much good when you're working with limited instructions anyway.
Now my only problem is finding a size 13 crochet hook for the beads. My LYS didn't have one even close to that size, and the smallest Michael's had was a size 10 (and, having looked at it, I'm kind of freaked out to think that's too big).
I am aware, at this point, that I am kind of spiraling into WIP hell - I get nervous when I have too many things on the needles for too long. I don't think there's anything wrong with having multiple projects, but there is some kind of malfunction in my brain that puts me in an absolute panic if I have a bunch of things going on for too long. There's a little timer in my brain that starts running when I hit a certain number of projects, and if I haven't checked off some boxes before it runs out, I start to freak and it's not pretty.
One consolation is that I'm not finished shopping yet. One of my friends has requested, for Christmas, a pair of fingerless mitts for use in her office. I'm thinking I'm going to do the Orchid Lace mits from knitspot for her in a really decadent yarn. I'm looking at a silk-cashmere blend that I think would be perfect, if only I could get it in a color I think would suit her. The mitts take so little yarn I can afford to splurge on something nice for her - especially since it will come out of my Christmas fund so it doesn't count as being bad.
Now I just have to wait for my purchases to arrive...that's always the hardest part. I plan to use this time to try and get some stuff off my needles so that I don't feel too overwhelmed when I get ready to start the Christmas shawl and the mystery stole.
I did a lot of shopping this week. I have been very good about not buying more yarn, but I had excuses to fall down and I fell hard.
Purchase the first: Sweet Lace in Snow Squall for the Whispering Pines triangle shawl.
Purchase the second: Fiddlesticks Knitting Zephyr Laceweight Wool Silk in Marine
Purchase the third: Lots of beads
Purchase the first is for a Christmas present. Purchase the second and third are for Mystery Shawl 4. Since I didn't have the yarn in person and I wasn't looking at beads in person, I ordered several options for beads, figuring that beads are inexpensive and that I would likely end up using them for something eventually. Also, I am indecisive.
I wanted a silk blend for the mystery stole because the instructions say stitch definition will be important, so I wanted something with a little sheen. I chose Marine because Scheherazade is burgandy, the Moonlight Sonata shawl I am working on is dark dark navy, and I have some green Lacey Lamb in the stash that I plan to use for an Icarus shawl, so I figured Marine was a color category I hadn't gotten yet. I really wavered between picking Marine or Pewter, though - to me, Pewter would have been a safe choice because I could have worn it with a lot and I could have picked any color bead. However, picking a color bead would have made it wearable with less, and I couldn't find any silver or metalic type beads that I was really happy with. But, really, the kicker is that safe is boring and I didn't want to be bored.
I really could have gone about this whole process better, I know - the knitalong doesn't even start for a month and I had plenty of time to mull it over, pick a yarn, wait for it to arrive, find a local bead shop, try out combos, etc - but, half the fun of a mystery stole is the uncertainty, and a) if you're going to gamble, why not gamble big? b) Might as well go with your first instinct because thinking it over too hard really can't do you that much good when you're working with limited instructions anyway.
Now my only problem is finding a size 13 crochet hook for the beads. My LYS didn't have one even close to that size, and the smallest Michael's had was a size 10 (and, having looked at it, I'm kind of freaked out to think that's too big).
I am aware, at this point, that I am kind of spiraling into WIP hell - I get nervous when I have too many things on the needles for too long. I don't think there's anything wrong with having multiple projects, but there is some kind of malfunction in my brain that puts me in an absolute panic if I have a bunch of things going on for too long. There's a little timer in my brain that starts running when I hit a certain number of projects, and if I haven't checked off some boxes before it runs out, I start to freak and it's not pretty.
One consolation is that I'm not finished shopping yet. One of my friends has requested, for Christmas, a pair of fingerless mitts for use in her office. I'm thinking I'm going to do the Orchid Lace mits from knitspot for her in a really decadent yarn. I'm looking at a silk-cashmere blend that I think would be perfect, if only I could get it in a color I think would suit her. The mitts take so little yarn I can afford to splurge on something nice for her - especially since it will come out of my Christmas fund so it doesn't count as being bad.
Now I just have to wait for my purchases to arrive...that's always the hardest part. I plan to use this time to try and get some stuff off my needles so that I don't feel too overwhelmed when I get ready to start the Christmas shawl and the mystery stole.
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