Ravelry

Hey folks, sorry for the disappearance... again.. and for a really long time.... I seem to be stuck in ravlery. I'll let you know if I ever find my out.

Not much to say

Sorry for the lack of posts! I've been pretty busy painting the house and training the pup that I haven't been able to knit NEARLY as much as my sanity needs. Just the other day I found myself in a verbal argument with Fez.... It started with me calling him fat, he responding with some non-verbal that played through my head as an insult and then me insulting him again before I realized what was going on and laughed at myself.

I'm hoping to get the painting done before the end of October... I actually wanted it done before the beginning of October but my helpers (my family) thought a break might be in order and we aren't painting for the next two weeks. :( In my head we have nothing to do for the house after the painting, not for a while anyway. Get new carpet is first on the list and we have to save up some more money (how much does carpet cost anyway?) and make sure that Anya is sufficiently house-trained so that we can leave her loose during the day without having to worry about little 'accidents'. I know she can hold it all day, her crate is clean when I come home from work but on the weekends when she's loose with us home she has to pee more since she's not sleeping all the time.... The other night Michael and I left her in the laundry room with a baby-gate at the door... she wasn't there when we got home and the baby-gate was still perfectly upright! Not sure what the next step is from here....

Knitting... well I started the second sleeve to my pink summer cardigan, it is now sitting in the car for my stuck-by-a-train knitting. And I've been knitting a bunch more on the Irtfa'a shawl, nowhere near half of the border is done. I've also received the yarn for the rest of my Equinox Pullover. I'm really in a 'finishing' mood because I feel I've got too much stuff on the needles and I can't keep track of it all. Hopefully after I finish up a thing or two I can get back to some 'gift' knitting... that's what I'm calling it but I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't finish the projects in time for wearing this year...

Also, I had a 'photo shoot' with Anya this weekend, hoping I can sort through the pics soon and get a few posted.

Test knitting: The yarn has arrived

As the title suggests, the yarn from Shivaya Naturals has arrived. In fact it came in on 8/28 and I had to be content with just staring at it until Sunday evening when I was finally able to cast on. (This is just meant to be a quick update during some very rare downtime)

Heather sent me Tussah silk in the colorway Dark Iris. That's the first project I cast on. As I was winding the skein into a ball, (I like to hold the yarn in my fingers before it gets to the ball winder) I noticed that the skein was so saturated it was dyeing my fingers. I love the color as-is and hope that the finished garment doesn't bleed enough to fade it. I decided to go with a wimple for this yarn. My lab gets pretty cold and it's not even fall yet... something to cozy up in would be welcomed come winter!

As I was knitting with this yarn I noticed that it's kind of 'crunchy'. So, I'm knitting along... going 'I don't know how I feel about this'..... and then I kept knitting..... Monday I picked it up again..... even though I KNEW I should really get started on the second test knitting yarn.... Looks like I actually do enjoy knitting with this unique yarn! Even now (I've started the other test knitting project, too) I still prefer to knit with this tussah. YAY, I'm glad that I can enjoy a yarn that it is 'green'!

Next, Heather sent me Spun silk in the colorway Camellia variegated. When I first got it I was kind of disappointed, I don't usually like to knit with variegated yarns unless it's for socks. (This might have been part of why I first cast on with the tussah) So I reluctantly turned this skein into a ball. As I'm sitting there winding it, this yarn bloomed! The variegation is so subtle, it's gorgeous. I'll try to remember to snap a pic of the ball before it gets too deformed from the lack of yarn in the middle.

Anyway, for this yarn I decided to knit a Tiger's Eye Lace Scarf, knitting the eyes twice so there are two sets per row. As the yarn is knitting up you can barely see any of the variegation and it's knitting up into a gorgeous color. I'm not sure if it's because I so enjoy the wimple project and it's yarn or if I'm just getting worn out on the lace projects, but this one isn't getting as much needle time.

ETA: It could also be the chart from which I'm knitting the pattern. It's not as intuitive or 'comfortable' to read from. This is despite the fact that I'm a chart person and the wimple pattern is only words... I'm still deciding what's going on with this yarn right now.

Irtfa'a update

Ok, seriously people, this is getting insane. I thought that I'd have enough yarn to add a few extra repeats of the small feather pattern charts. So I did.
Then last night I'm sitting there, staring at my yarn and what I've knitted up thinking, "I could totally knit more small feathers and still have PLENTY of yarn for the rest of the shawl." But I was wise and instead of just continuing on my merry way, I decided to weigh out the yarn and the knitted product so far on a gram scale.

I looked up what the yarn weighed when it came to me (200g).

Then I weighed the knitted up product so far (85g)

Then I weighted the yarn I still have left to knit (115g)

We'll just ignore the fact that the needles added some weight to the knitted product because as we all know actual knit up yarn weighs less than its un-knit counterpart. ( I know, some physics violations here, but it's just true. Accept it and move on. I have.)

85 + 115 = 200

This means that I still have OVER HALF the yarn left. I could probably knit another 20 repeats of the small feathers and then drape a blanket around me on the deck (instead of my desired gorgeous shawl).

Rather than react in an irrational manner, I've decided to block part of the pattern out and see what dimensions I'm getting. Then I'll decide how to move forward. Seriously. Nuts.

SERIOUSLY!!

If you haven't been to this new yarn shop that I'm obsessing over you need to get over there before I buy up all the lace-weight!

Me? A test knitter?!

So, not too much has changed from the previous post.

I'm still chugging away on the small feather repeats of the Irtfa'a shawl, still enjoying it very much! It's finally starting to look like it's getting bigger... I should probably think about taking it off the needles and blocking part of it to see what kind of stretch I can get out of the pattern. Then I'll know more about if I need to add some repeats to get the size I want.

I've been working very diligently on that green sock I use to calm my nerves during traffic jams.

I've also cast on for Nancy Bush's Laila's socks from Folk Knitting in Estonia. I did that just last night because I've really been craving some more colorwork and at the same time wishing that I had more socks. I know I haven't finished the other pair but maybe I'll be able to finish these because the colorwork will keep me going? The only thing is I wasn't really pleased with the color choices I had in my stash... we'll see if I end up purchasing extra yarn for these guys....

But the real reason I'm posting is because I am going to be a test knitter for a new yarn-dyer out there! Shivaya Naturals. She does all natural dyeing and the yarns look delicious! I already bought a skein of Alpaca lace in Iris before seeing on Ravelry that she's looking for test knitters for ALL of her yarns! I quickly emailed her and we discussed my test knitting for both spun silk and tussah silk! I'm quite excited, but a little nervous too because she wants an honest opinion and I've never been in a position to tell a person how I feel about their products. But, there's a first time for everything and I've been wanting to test knit for patterns and yarns for a while now. She's asked that I post pictures of the yarns as they're being knit so that should be some good pressure to get a few more posts on the blog! Good news for everybody, I guess. :D

A general catch all of all the knitting I have to show

Ok, before I forget: In the last post I mentioned the green sock knitting in traffic jams and that it only helped 'slightly'. It actually helps immensely and I'm often torn between wishing for traffic problems and getting home as quickly as possible! Since the sock is in the car, I have no pics. :( I have to carefully snap shots whenever I can (AKA: sleeping puppy) and that doesn't happen when I often have the energy to stage some shots or there is good light!

Um.... so first, an update on Irtfa'a:
(And yes, it is stretched between two plates, for those who were really looking.) This is coming along really well. The pattern is very clearly written and I've gotten to the main body of the shawl which means that the knitting should get done a lot faster now. My only concern is that I've barely put a dent in the 1700 yard skein that I bought because the shawl pattern said something like 1200 yds.... I'm wondering if I should be concerned that the gauge is wrong (even though I did swatch) and that I will need to rip back and start over...? I really like the way things are looking now though, so I might just continue as is and see if I'll need to add some extra repeats towards the end.

Also, apparently I never posted anything about a new shawl that I've started with some of the remains of yarn from the wedding shawl. It's the pattern from page 100 of Victorian Lace Today called 'Scarf with edging 21 and insertion25'.... An odd name, but that's what it says. This is intended to be a gift for someone and I wanted to get an idea of what the finished dimensions would be in this yarn, so I blocked part of it!
It's looking pretty good! I've decided to go ahead and add 2 more repeats to make it a total of 21 repeats (seems a better number) before I do the second border piece.

Also, I knit this shawl a long time ago with some yarn I got from the Estes Park Wool Festival. I've only worn it a few times and feel that it might do better in a different home. However, this shawl is overly long (even on me) and the intended recipient is at least a foot shorter, so I'll have to rip back and finish the shawl in much shorter dimensions. Not too hard since the edging consists of something like 5 or 6 rows of garter stitch.
I've been working on my Pink Summer Cardigan again and am almost finished with the first sleeve. I don't have any pics but I tried the sleeve on and all seems well. I'm mostly concerned about how long I should knit the sleeve before deciding that it's ready to be attached to the yoke of the cardigan... I've only knit one sweater before this and I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the shoulder seaming...

And finally, a pic of Anya who now weighs 15 pounds and is developing a BRIGHT orange spot on her head right between her ears. I think people give us strange looks when we are on walks, something to the tune of, 'What on EARTH did they do to that poor puppy?!'

In which I start a new shawl!

I haven't been able to knit much, still. :( I've started taking some sock knitting (those bright green argyle-ish socks) with me to work. I keep it in my car and knit at any traffic jams or long lights. It helps only slightly.

But this last Saturday I received the yarn I ordered from The Colorful Sheep on Etsy.
Lately I have been CRAVING a fall-shawl. I envision myself wearing a gorgeous brown/gold shawl while spinning some luscious yarn up on the back deck one almost too-cold afternoon. (Most likely a cup of tea will be present.)

I have cast on for Irtfa'a. I love it! The pattern is so clearly written and I love working with this SOFT yarn. This will definitely be a knit to treasure through the knitting process as well as the finished product.

On a more surprising and upsetting note: Anya picked out a 100% felted wool bone from the all natural pet store. Here is the culprit:
This does not bode well for our relationship. :)

We've moved!! Updated

We've gotten all moved in, at least the furniture is. There's quite a bit of work to do to make it my own, but I'm looking forward to it. Also... we got a puppy!!! You can check out some of the pics on my flickr page here.

ETA: Wow, things sure have been busy around here. Along with the move and the puppy I got my own project at work that I'm very excited about!

Of course the puppy likes my yarn because I'm playing with it. 'Why can't I play with it too, Mom?' she asks. SO, there hasn't been much knitting going on at the house. I did have a TERRIBLE craving to do some spinning on Tuesday night, and so I spun! Anya (the puppy) didn't mind. She was terribly interested in the fiber but once she got smacked in the head a few times by the wheel spokes, she showed MUCH less interest in that.

We've been spending the last several weekends ripping out wallpaper and general getting rid of the old owner's taste behavior (they had bad taste). The wallpaper was bad enough but there's some leopard-print wallpaper in the dining room... weird... anywho... My family (who's been helping with the wallpaper) can't wait to get it all out (hopefully this weekend) and move on to a new project, such as painting!

All is well in my little world, I've got plenty to keep me busy and I sleep hard at night... plus many smaller naps in-between.

During the move

So this last weekend we started to move some things over to the house, namely books, clothes and .... yarn. It was really hard parting with the yarn. I know it's less than a 5 minute drive and most of the yarn I've barely glanced at in the last few months, but suddenly realizing that it wasn't going to be at my beck and call left me with a dark-pitty feeling in my stomach! I thought enough to leave behind my current shawl-like project (haven't I mentioned it?!) and that green faux-argyle sock I've been working on for SOOO long.

Last night I got a SERIOUS hankering to cast-on for a new project. An almost-going-out-of-my-mind hankering. Finally I just settled in to work on my green argyle-ish socks. Then I realized why I put it aside so long ago, it's to the heel shaping and I have to pay attention to it now. Then I realized I had sent the custom-written (by me) heel-shaping directions to the house!!! Oh dear...... I'm winging it now with the directions I used as a basis for the personalized directions. It is satisfying my need for some sock-work, but I have prepared myself for the realization that I might have to just rip the heel out when it really starts to look kinda of.... wonky.

We're scheduled to make the official move this coming Saturday, you'd think I wouldn't have gotten so crazy, but the lack of wool-y fumes seems to have driven me quite mad! :)

FO: Laminaria Shawl

I LOVED this project! I'm not really sure what was so enjoyable about it but the pattern held my interest at all times. If I were to change anything, I would increase the first star chart length so that it was more of a design element rather than some preparatory stitch work. Also, I would knit this in some heavier yarn so that it actually some weight, something that would provide warmth in colder months. I think I can really see myself knitting this up again, a first for almost any project!

Gr... Argh....

Sorry for such a long delay; I was waiting for a time when it was warm, not windy, still light out, and I was free so that I could do my shawl photo shoot and it still hasn't come!!

In the meantime, an update is in order.

I got these two packages on the same day!

This second present is a German published magazine in which a very talented designer used to publish some of his lace work. GORGEOUS!! I'll just have to pick out a pattern....
... and translate it to English...

I cast on for the Equinox Yoke Pullover from Interweave Knits a little while ago.... I messed around with the pattern for a VERY long time before I realized the easiest way to knit this would be in the round, bottom up. So I have now reached the yoke, where you set aside the main part of the sweater and get started on the sleeves. (I'm a little further along than the picture indicates, but the color is pretty accurate).
My first bit of colorwork in a sweater!! I'm a bit nervous. It also doesn't help that the sleeves are too narrow for circular needles.... DPNs and colorwork? I know I've done it before but this time it's serious (sweater serious)!

I also got to the same point on my pink cardigan some time last week during a gaming fest with some friends. The game was long and there were a lot of people playing so there was plenty of knit time just waiting to be used!

Coming soon: Laminaria pics

Sorry for the delay on getting pics posted to the site, it's kind of dreary here right now, and RAINY. Two things that are not good for a lace shawl photo shoot.

I've worn both my wedding shawl and (today) my Laminaria to work and I have to say, it's quite fun! All my coworkers are jealous and protesting to steal it themselves, so it's always a fun day! :) It's nice to have some people who enjoy seeing what new knits I come up with.

What did everybody else do over the long weekend?

I put an offer on a house on Saturday!!! And then I knit like mad on my Laminaria because I wouldn't know if the offer was accepted (we were competing with two other offers) until Tuesday at 6 pm! But it was accepted and we are now under contract for a gorgeous new home! Sweet!

Lace stretches!

Well, I needed to decide if I should add on a repeat or two of the blossom chart and the best way to do that is to do with a little stretching!
This is picture is VERY close to the actual color of my yarn and gives a pretty good idea of what the dry stretched piece looks like. Each repeat of the pattern stretches about 1.75 in wide and a little over an inch long, dry. I'm thinking that once it's wet the shawl will stretch a little more but not too much. With that, I'm going to increase the repeats of the blossom chart from 8 (the pattern's number) to 10 to get about 3 more inches out of it. I bought a HUGE cone of this lace weight Jagger, so I think I can spare a few more repeats!

Filler

I've been EXTREMELY monogamous with my Laminaria and so I only have crumpled up blue lace-y goo to show. ( I don't even have a pic of it...)

So, to stall until I can hopefully get a few pics this weekend, you can entertain yourselves with a few shots from my wedding, if you so desire!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilacknits1/

Getting back into the swing of things

So we've been back for about a week and a half but I really delayed posting because I felt I didn't have much to say. We got married!!
And here's a shot of the shawl in action! (As always, click to biggify)
And I'm sorry to say that all knitting done while laying on the beach in Jamaica had to be frogged due to a user error (read: I didn't read the chart). I've been knitting up a storm on the Laminaria pattern from knitty in a gorgeous Blue-ish laceweight Jagger. Sorry that's all I've got so far!

Hey Guys

Sorry for the lack of updates, again. I haven't been knitting very much, unless you count a few rows of stockinette on the pink cardigan during dancing with the stars..... I just haven't been drawn to knitting in the evenings like I used to be. I picked up a small cross-stitch kit from Joann's last week and have been making a little headway on that, but nothing I'm comfortable posting about. :)

I'm getting married in 8 days! I probably won't post again before the wedding but I might have a few pictures to show before we leave on our honeymoon for a week and a half. :) Thank you for being so patient!

Knitting Recession?

So I tried on that shrug as I went... got the first sleeve done, sailed through the back and that second sleeve seemed to take FOREVER. Well I put on my little outfit and tried on the (almost finished) shrug to discover..... it DIDN'T FIT! The second sleeve was MUCH too short (read: 3/4 length) and the back was too long! I also just could not see how this *thing* was supposed to look like the finished picture with their placing of all the increases and decreases.... It died :(

I love the yarn and would like to knit up a shrug with it but with a more... intuitive pattern. Also, I decided the dress wasn't for me and I'll be returning it.

I haven't yet started the Interweave fair-isle sweater yet; I feel like I should finish up something a little more summery first. Enter the pink cardigan.

I haven't gotten a picture of it yet (the weather has been quite gloomy around here for a while now) but I am past the waist increases and will be working my way up the chest to the arms before I'll be seeing any adventure here.

It's no wonder a girl gets a little startitis with what's been going on around here! I started a new pair of socks. I decided I needed something small and mindless that would not offend me if I had to frog it. So I went with the 'Genteleman's Sock with Lozenge Pattern' by Nancy Bush in a nice spring green: Olive from Oriridraco! I love this yarn and this pattern! Even my mother commented on the gorgeous color. :)

I haven't been knitting very much lately and I really think its because of all the letdowns (even though there don't seem to be many) recently but I feel I'm on the mend! Pics to come later.

Drops (Wedding) Shrug

WOW! My yarn from Webs came yesterday, they said they had shipped it on Tuesday! The Knitpicks order was also shipped Tuesday so we'll see how they compare.... Even though I think most people are already fully aware that Knitpicks shipping takes PHENOMENALLY long.

Here it is!
100% Egyptian Cotton
Here's a picture of it with the dress that I plan to wear for the pre-wedding informal dinner:
The 'white' in the dress is a bit more off-white and matches the yarn really well! I cast on for the pattern last night and have already gotten to the shaping for the back! LOVE this yarn and the pattern is (so far) proving easy enough.

New Projects

So you guys know that I decided to get started on a wedding shrug and a summer cardigan, but I've also decided to start another project... I know, I know, I'm dangerous without a sizeable project on the needles, when will I learn?!

Since first seeing this pattern I have been in love with it and lusting to knit my own. Now that I have the experience of knitting on the Endpaper Mitts, I feel confident enough to tackle it! It's the cover of Interweave Knits Fall 2006. In fact so many others are lusting after it that I can no longer order a back issue of the magazine! On Friday I was able to but yesterday I wasn't.... what an odd time for a 2 year old FALL issue of a magazine to sell out... Anyway, I downloaded the PDF pattern for almost as much as the entire magazine! (I checked Ravelry for sellers... no such luck). I ordered the yarn from knitpicks on Sunday but haven't received the 'shipped' email and so you guys will have to wait a week or two to see the yarns I picked! (I didn't follow the 'recipe')

FO: Endpaper Mitts

I finished these up Sunday night and wore them yesterday afternoon while it was still chilly in my house, I needed to warm my fingers up while working on my next project! I bound the stitches off of one of the mitts a bit too loosely and will either have to live with it or go back and try to redo it.... we'll see what happens because it is really bothering me.

I also have a picture of the inside of the color-work and judging from some other knitters desire to keep that a secret I'm pretty happy with mine!

Downtime Post

So I've found that I have a little bit of downtime and think that a proper post is in order. This post will probably be kind of light in the photo department, so I'll try to make it as interesting as possible. :)

As you can see, I dove right in and started on some Endpaper Mitts. I tried a little 'headband' with some scrap yarns and a pattern I found on Ravelry. It was a horrible end product because it was purely for learning the technique but I felt very confident in my yarn handling and was ITCHING for a real fair-isle project. I have TONS of sock yarn and I know it'll never get used for socks, no matter what delusions I like to believe, so I grabbed two coordinating skeins and got started! I've finished that first mitt and gotten through the ribbing on the second. I really amazed myself with how even the stitches are and how stretchy the end product is.... Yesterday I found myself trolling around Ravelry looking for a Fair-Isle sweater to get started on! Good thing it's going to be so warm in the coming months, my Fair-Isle bug will be hindered if I can't immediately wear my product. :)

Also, that spring sweater I was working on sat on my table for almost a week until I realized that it's just not going to work. That shade of green isn't something that I have in my closet already and it's a bit.... pale to look good against my skin. I kept telling myself that maybe if I made a three-quarter sleeve button up sweater it would look better. I don't know how I was able to rationalize changing the sweater style as a means of negating the color... that one is still beyond me. However, I REALLY want to knit up a sweater and so I was disappointed that I'd bought all that yarn and can't do anything with it. I'm trying to sell it, as you also may have noticed.

I was moping around (only for a few hours) until I saw another project that has been neglected for QUITE some time:
The Lotus Blossom shawl! While I LOVE the pattern, the color isn't something I could see myself wearing in a shawl. Then I thought... I have plenty of the yarn, why don't I see if there's a sweater pattern I could use it for..... I went trolling on Ravelry again... and found this!

If you look at it on Ravelry a few others have knit it up and you can see that the yoke pattern is a bit lacy, something VERY appropriate for the spring/summer months that are fast approaching. Since the pattern is free I didn't feel to bad about downloading it and printing it out last night! BUT!! I don't think I am going to get started on it until I (start and) finish another project I thought of last night.

I was talking to my mom and she was thinking that the night before the wedding we could have a rather informal come-if-you-want dinner for the family that is coming in to visit from out of state. I already bought a dress that I could wear to some of the other wedding functions but it has short sleeves and I could see myself just shivering in the middle of a restaurant somewhere. Then I thought.......... shrug! That would be perfect, something quick and easy and warm but not too bulky. Ravelry shopping led to me finding a pattern by the same guys that gave me my last pattern: here. I felt a little bad about not picking the retro shrug in Lace style (because I've only knit one pattern from the entire book) but I rationalized that by saying it was too lacy, I need something warmer. Also, it helps that this pattern is free too!

I am currently in the process of looking for some off-white yarn to meet gauge and match the dress without appearing too yellow. Yellow next to my face REALLY washes me out and that would not be a good look the night before the wedding.

Wow, that's a pretty sizeable post, and a fairly conclusive update to what is going on in my world this week! Hope it satisfies you as much as it has me!

For Sale!

So I've decided that the yarn I bought for my Spring sweater just isn't quite right for me. I but up 1000 yds of it and am trying to sell it or trade it away. If you know of anyone interested, shoot me a message!
The picture shows what the yarn looks like knitted up on size 4 needles. I have knit up 2.5 balls but will wash and re-skein for the buyer. All the other skeins have been wound into center pull balls on my ball winder. I should probably mention that it is Berroco Nostalgia colorway 6672

My Latest Obsession...

Pic Updates

So, here are the pictures that I promised!

Michael's Fingerless Gloves:
He insisted that I post this pic! This next picture shows a very close idea of the color:
Here is a good image of the finished project:
Ok, I hope that satisfies your need for pictures of the new project! I sure loved knitting with this yarn and the satisfaction of a quickly finished project was very empowering! I hope to knit up a similar pair (but without the fingers) for myself using some Olive yarn I bought from Abby.

I took this picture of my Nebula Ringwood socks over the weekend but they have since been knit up past the beginning of the calf muscle and cast off for a finished pair! Just in time for the supposed snow we'll be getting over the weekend. I LOVE everything about these socks: the yarn, the fit, the pattern. Can't wait to wear them!
Finally, this is my new project:
The spring sweater out of some yarn that I have still forgotten to check the contents on... and I just realized that I threw away the ball bands after winding them all into center-pull balls.... oops.

Anyway this yarn is knitting up very smoothly and quickly with great texture. My only concern is that the drape isn't very nice and that the sweater will take on a 'stiff' appearance once I finish it....

And, since it's been soooo long, a pic of Fezzy!

Wow... lost in knitting (and work)

Sorry for such a long silence! My work has starting picking up again and I'm not complaining. I sure love what I do but when I get home I'm much too tired to take pictures or think about a blog post. I'll try to summarize what I've been up to since finishing my gorgeous shawl....

WOW! I just checked to see when I finished the shawl so I could use that as a reference point to the rest of my knitting... I didn't realize I haven't posted in close to a month!

Well not much has happened on the wedding front. I had my dress fitting (it took all of 15 min or so) and the seamstress claimed that it looked as if the dress had been made for me! All we had to do was shorten it! Thank goodness for that, it puts us under the budget we had set for alterations. We also went to pick put flowers. The lady helping us was very draining... she knew a lot about flowers but not a lot about how to tell people about them. It was very hard to imagine what she was telling me when I didn't know what flowers were called by what names. We finally got it all figured out and I kept thinking about the bouquet for a few days after, "Oh wow, those are perfect" type deal.

Knitting.... I started and finished Michael's Fingerless gloves. I haven't taken any pictures yet but I'll try to take pictures of everything this weekend. Michael says he likes them but I think they are way too tight....

I've been knitting on my own Blue Nebula Ringwood Socks. I've turned the heel in both of them and am just working my way up the leg now. (no pics yet!)

I've also started a Spring sweater (or so I'm trying to tell myself) from Louisa Harding's Modern Classics. I bought some yarn.... I can't quite remember what kind.... but it was from Webs, because that really narrows it down!

I think that's a quick recap of what's been going on at my place and I'll try to keep better track of the days passing!

FO: Lily of the Valley Wedding Shawl

Michael took these pictures around 10:30 this morning and it's a good thing he did because it started getting cloudy shortly after! I think this shawl turned out wonderfully and I don't think that the coloring will be too dark when it's warn over my near-white dress. :)


PLEASE click to biggify! Blogger just isn't doing these pics justice the way they are.

AAAAAAAAHAHAHA!

It's alive, alive!!!! That's right, I finished the shawl, cast off and blocked it last night. Now, if you've been living anywhere in the US recently you'll know that a new snow storm is moving across the mountains and plains today. If you live in Colorado you also know that yesterday was absolutely gorgeous and one of the best photo shoot days of the new year. I REALLY tried to get some lovely blocking pictures but it was late and in that nasty artificial light and NOTHING I took turned out. I'll try to get some decent pictures of it this weekend but I'm really expecting my wedding photographer to do a much better job. :)

As soon as I pushed the last pin into the carpet I went and got out my Nebula yarn, wound into yummy yarn cakes and cast on for my very own pair of Ringwood socks! Yesterday was indeed a good day.

Oh yeah!

Check it out!------->
I've only got about 1.5 more rows and then the bind off for my shawl! I finally got a little motivation because on Monday I'm going for my first fitting with my dress and I'll be able to see if the two look good together and then decide how I feel about the green matching the rest of the wedding. And, I thought, that the point of a wedding is that the bride and groom stand out for that one day, right? Right!

Ugh!

So, as you may have noticed there has been a lack of postage over the last week... But that directly correlates to the near lack of knitting that occurred during that same time. I told myself that I had to finish my wedding shawl before moving on to anything else. I've been very good about that, except now no knitting is getting done. I've linked the lack of desire to knit on the gorgeous shawl to the very distinct possibility that it is the wrong color. I took a swatch to my parents house last weekend to compare with the maid of honor's dress and the fabric that we're using in the centerpieces and the shawl is much more olive and too dark. I don't even know if I'm going to want to take it to the wedding!

Because I can't show the shawl to anybody (also a rule of mine) I told myself that knitting on the afghan I bought the yarn for way back when was ok. I'm knitting it up with the yarn doubled and have finished up one ball of the doubled yarn. Then I thought back to how much yarn I ordered.... I'm thinking that I don't have enough yarn to make a decent sized afghan... but we'll have to wait and see.

I REALLY want to start some socks! Should I continue being monogamous or should I try to satisfy my need for socks?

Yet another shawl update

I finished the repeats last night and have decided on where to put the beads in the border!

Since I don't have a picture of the border yet and I don't want to get into copyright problems with other people's pics, you'll have to look at the shawl on knitpicks. Just click on more images and it will be on the first page in the top right corner. If you look closely you can see where there is a YO, K, YO repeat. Rather than place the beads on that precarious K between the two YOs, I think I'll place them in the center of the K, K2, K repeat that surrounds each YO group. I'm really excited!!

Also, you might have noticed that I now have the Ravelry progress bars for my projects. I thought this might be nice because I don't always update my blog but I'll slide that progress bar along whenever I'm on Ravelry. It comes in especially handy for long lace projects, at least I can SEE that there is progress going and I'm getting near the end. :)

Wedding Shawl Update

I laid everything out and measured again and I really think that 14 repeats of the pattern should be sufficient. I don't want the thing to be too long and just get in the way of my day! I think if anything, shorter would be better and easier to manage and also draw less attention. :) SO I'm done with the 13th repeat and plan to finish the 14th tonight and then calculate how many stitches I need to be picking up for the border.

Thursday night is game night with some guy friends of Michael's so there won't be much knitting but then I'll have Friday night and some weekend time to get started on the border. I have no clue how long the border will take me or where I should put beads or if I should even put any on the border! Any advice from all you out there in the blogosphere? *puts hands to eyes and looks out at the vast beyond*

One more bit...

I've been working on my Lily of the Valley wedding shawl again... I finished three repeats over the weekend to total 11. With the latest (and I've decided, final) math the entire body will be 17 repeats in length.

Yarn P*rn and an FO!

Well, I finished my mom's Ringwood Hose, they come up to the calf muscle and I tried them on to make sure they'd fit :) and man oH man am I going to have to knit a pair for myself. Not only did I finish these in (more or less 5 days, including work) but these are the best fitting pair of made yet! I kinda just made up my own pattern, knitting to fit my foot.

I cast on about 50 stitches around the toe (note: this is too many and made for a very square toe) and then knit up until I was past the big toe before starting the pattern. I didn't increase in the toe at all, I didn't increase until I reached about 1.5 inches from the end of the foot and started making the gusset. I increased 5 times with 2 stitches per 2 rows (one plain knit row in between). Then I followed the recipe for my toe up heel flap. I knit up quite a ways before beginning the calf increases (I tried to somewhat follow the leg directions) and increased as the pattern is written. I only knit about 27 rows of ribbing though, the 40 that the pattern calls for seemed like it might be a bit much.

I also received my yarn from Abby:
I also got some black that I really could not photograph, but you can visit her site to see any of these! I LOVE every color and have to tame myself into knitting up that blue I got from her a while ago first. I want my own pair of Ringwood Hose and that vibrant blue would be perfect.

Chinese New Year

So one of my coworkers decided that she wanted to prepare a lunch for Chinese New Year and since we have a small lab (12 people in toto) we had, in my opinion, just the right amount of people!

Because everything took so long to prepare we didn't start the 'lunch' until 2:00, but it was well worth the wait:
Also, I've been making great headway on the socks for my mom and I love the pattern, yarn and fit!
I think I'm going to end up either keeping these for myself or making some for myself. My mom already knows I'm knitting these for her, she's seen them, and will probably not be happy if I chose the former. :)

Oh my goodness! I almost forgot to mention that my Grandma got her shawl and she said that she almost cried when she opened the box! Both her and her husband were shocked that I was able to knit something like that in 3 weeks! I made her day, and she made mine!

Ringwood Socks

I have started some Gentleman's Half Hose in Ringwood from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. These are for my mom and I'm quite enjoying the pattern. It is a fast knit because there is only one K1, P1 row but it gives a lot of bang for your buck and I could see myself knitting this pattern up for myself. The yarn is Knitpicks Essential Tweed in Flint.; it is from that grab bag of sock yarn my mom got me for Christmas.

I know I've knit with Essential before but I'm really enjoying it this time! I was wondering if there was a large difference between the tweed the the plain essential.... there is! The tweed has less superwash wool in it that is replaced with donegal.... interesting that my feet (!!) could pick up on that... The yarn is very soft but still feels substantial and like it will wear well as a pair of socks. I really want to have this pair finished by the end of January but would love it finish them up this week!

I've been conversing with Abby about buying some more of her yarn, so stay tuned for some more of that yummy stuff!

Finally, but most importantly, the bad news from this last week. When I was still living with my parents we had two dogs, one of which I (more or less) took care of so I still refer to her as 'my dog.'
She will be 7 years old on Valentine's day. My mom told me on Tuesday that she was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma. On Wednesday my parents took her to the CSU canine cancer center to decide what to do. They decided to start a chemo regimen that will last for 19 weeks and the vets estimated that will give her 6 to 12 months. I plan to spend much of whatever free weekend time I have with her, and I would like to post as many pictures as I can.

FO: Grandma's Faroese Shawl

Sorry for the delay, there seems to have been an influx of bad news this week.

I finished the 6 rows and bound off on Tuesday night and the whole thing was blocked and dry
Wednesday evening. I knit this up on US 5's with Webs Mill Ends & Closeouts 2/4 Highland Tweed in Arctic. This is a 100% wool yarn that was shipped to me still with the spinning oils on it. I knit this up without washing and at first I thought the yarn was very scratchy but soon got used to it because I didn't touch anything else of a fibrous nature until I finished it. I washed the whole thing with eucalan and it did soften up a bit but it's 100% wool so it's still scratchy. I really didn't fall in love with the pattern and probably won't knit it up again.

I'm going to send this to my Grandma with a delivery confirmation so that she will still be surprised but I'll call her and ask if it's too itchy. If so, I'll have to make her another one!

I know, I know

I know I promised to post finished, or at least blocking, photos of my Grandma's shawl but something quite negative happened yesterday... It was 10:00 pm and I had just finished the last row of the chart when I went to the computer to look up the 'correct' bind off method. I had 6 more rows of garter stitch!! And with the rate that the last chart took me that meant at least another 3 hours if you didn't count the actual binding off.

So, I'm going to knit like a fiend when I get home today and hope that I can block the thing tomorrow night. :(

Brief Update

I've been churning away on the faroese shawl for my grandma and it looks very similar to the last picture I posted. I hope to cast off this weekend, so tune in on Sunday for an update! (I haven't picked up any other knitting since starting this shawl, I really want to finish it in time for my grandma to wear this year.)

Long post... includes wedding stuff!

Ok, I'll start at the beginning.

First, I got my Blue Nebula from Abby and I SWEAR it feels even better than the last batch I bought from her!
Can't wait to cast on for my own pair of blue socks, but I really should at least get started on my mom's! I finally decided on the Nancy Bush's Half Hose because it's got some interest but not so much that my mom won't wear them. Also, I think the tweed will look great in it!

Second, last night the man and I went to see Bugs on Broadway.
The gist of it is that a symphony plays all the music for various Warner Brothers cartoons, my favorite being 'What's Opera Doc?': the opera that Bugs and Elmer Fudd do starring the ENORMOUSLY fat horse! We had a blast!

Third!! (This is what I'm currently still excited about) I had a trial hair and make-up today for the wedding!


I think everything turned out REALLY well and can't wait for the real thing! These pics were taken back at my mom's after we did a rough redo of the hair because the stylist took it down for me at the place (WAY too many bobby pins for me to deal with if I don't have to. Also, ignore the jewelry it's just what I happened to have on).

And on a side note, I am currently a little over halfway through chart E on my Grandma's shawl. I thought I might be able to finish this weekend but I'm thinking that something more realistic would be by next weekend. :)