Constantly Knitting

Meet Madelyn

2012-01-22T19:16:00.001-05:00

I've been planning on adopting a cat for some time now, but first I had to move to an apartment that allows animals, and then I needed to finish unpacking. Finally, I'm done- and I almost immediately fell in love with Madelyn.

I adopted her from Last Chance Animal Rescue (LCAR). They have agreements with several PetSmarts in the area to put Adoption Centers in the store. PetSmart provides the space; LCAR keeps them stocked with cats and takes care of them. The cats come from all up and down the East Coast- LCAR reps rescue them from kill shelters and bring them down here.

Madelyn had come from a shelter in Delaware. LCAR had named her Shelley. She was asleep when I first saw her; in fact, I was looking at a different cat when the LCAR volunteer let her out of her cage to stretch her legs. She (the cat, not the volunteer!) jumped in my lap when I made kissy sounds at her, put her paws on my shoulder, and touched her nose against my lips. I looked at the volunteer and said "this cat knows how to get adopted!" A few cuddles later, and I was completely sold. LCAR has a policy of sending cats home with their new owners that very evening (I'm not entirely sure this is a great policy, but I'm not going to go off on that tangent right now), so I rushed home to pick up my cat carrier, then back to PetSmart for my new baby. She made things a little bit difficult- she kept lying on top of the clipboard with the adoption paperwork and trying to chew on my pen.

Poor Madelyn went by several different trial names for a day or so- I was having a lot of trouble picking one that fit her. Finally, I settled on Madelyn (Maddie for short!).

She's 8 months old, and just about the sweetest cat I've ever met. She loves to play, but most of all she really loves to cuddle. I love the way she rubs her cheek against mine. The first night, she woke me up several times for snuggles, but she is getting better about letting me sleep through the night now that she realizes that she can have cuddle time on a regular basis. She even lets me knit, as long as I let her lie on or next to me and take frequent breaks to pet her.

I took Maddie to the vet a couple of days after I adopted her, and it turns out that Maddie has small amounts of three different parasites. The treatment takes 10 days (5 days of powder, 10 days of pills), then we have to wait three weeks before the vet does another test to make sure that they're all completely out of her system. Until then, Maddie doesn't get to meet any other animals. We've finished the powder days, and just have 5 more pill days left. Honestly, though, of all things that could be wrong with her, this is not as bad as it could be. I'm just grateful that it's not worse. It's inconvenient, but she doesn't seem to be uncomfortable since she has them in such small amounts, and it's fixable. Besides, Maddie is totally worth it.

FO: Socrates Gloves

2011-12-09T07:51:00.000-05:00

I made these gloves for my aunt's birthday, which is today. However, since I'm also in the midst of packing for a move (moving date is December 17th!), I cut this really really close. I finished the thumbs and wove in the ends last night! I had to settle for a steam block, instead of my normal nice blocking bath, because I was concerned that they wouldn't dry in time.

I chose the Socrates Gloves pattern because it looked nice and simple with a bit of interesting lace. For a first pair of gloves, I didn't want to do anything too complicated! The Knitpicks Palette came from my stash.

The pattern was easy enough to understand, and I did enjoy working on them for awhile- however, by the time I was done I was cursing the fact that humans have 10 fingers! Glove fingers are kind of fiddley to work (although they went much faster when I switched to 4 inch DPNS instead of the longer ones I had been using.) Additionally, you have to join and break the yarn after each finger. Including the original cast-on tails, that means that there were 22 ends to weave in. On the bright side, I did get a lot of calls to get utilities set up for my move while I was weaving in those ends....

Nevertheless, they're done and they look and feel very nice. I think they should keep my aunt's hands nice and warm this winter, and be a nice birthday surprise!

Pattern: Socrates Gloves
Source: Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette
The Verdict: I love these gloves, and I hope that my aunt will, too!

This post is part of Tami's Amis' Finished Object Friday. Head on ever to see what everyone else has accomplished this week!

WIP Wednesday: 11 Shawls 2011

2011-09-21T13:51:00.001-04:00

I’ve been rather absent on the blog as of late- to be honest, I keep composing posts, and then something goes wrong! I forget to post them, or I can’t find my camera, or something. I’m going to try to be a little bit better about this in the future.

For today’s Work In Progress Wednesday, rather than show you pictures of my current WIPs (has anyone seen my camera cord, by the way?), I’d like to talk about my year-long Work In Progress, 11 Shawls 2011.

I joined the 11 Shawls 2011 group in January with the goal of, you guessed it, knitting 11 shawls this year. So far, I have completely finished six:

I have three shawls in progress:

Truly Tasha’s Shawl: I have been working on this one since January. It’s kind of boring, because the main part is all garter stitch. Additionally, knitting bulky-weight yarn on size 5 needles requires me to push the needles through a lot more, and I was wearing a hole in my finger. By the time I found a leather thimble to combat this problem, it was so hot I didn’t want a big wool/alpaca project in my lap. Now that it’s getting cooler, however, I think I might be able to make more progress.
Summer Flies Shawlette: I’m finished knitting this; all I need to do is weave in the ends and block it. I’ve been putting off doing this because I started doing Pilates, and the area on the floor where I would block it is also the same area that I need for my exercises. I may just have to skip the Pilates for a few days or try to find somewhere else to block it.
Seascape Stole: I’m about half-way through this pattern. I really enjoy working on it, but it requires a lot of attention and is not something I can work on while distracted, so I’m limited in the times that I can work on it.

This brings us to a total of 9, leaving 2 more shawls that I need to knit. For the last two, I think I will make:

Hawthorne: I bought the yarn for this at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and have been meaning to make it for awhile. I love Susanna I.C.’s designs- crescents are such a flattering and versatile shape! I’m going to knit this in Miss Babs Wowza in a gorgeous deep red color.
Kudzu Shawlette: During the last Dizzy Sheep Spin-Off, I purchased 2 Bags of Knit. These are $10 paper bags filled with mystery yarn. One of the bags had three skeins of Classic Elite Firefly in a gorgeous light burnt-orange color. I had never seen this yarn in person before, but I love the sheen it has to it. I probably would not have ordered this color for myself (I’m not normally an orange person), but it is beautiful, and I’m glad they sent this one to me! I think it wants to be a flaming Kudzu Shawlette.

I think I’d probably be further along towards my goal of 11 shawls had I not rediscovered my love of knitting socks- I think I’m going to aim for 12 socks in 2012! Is anyone else working on the 11 Shawls 2011 challenge? How are you doing with it?

Head on over to Tami’s Amis’s Work in Progress Wednesday to see what everyone else is working on!

FO: Fanette

2011-08-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

When I saw Fanette in the Summer 2011 issue of KnitCircus, I thought it was pretty, and it went into the queue. However, it probably would have sat in the queue for a while longer (my queue is long!) had it not been for a Knit-a-long going on in the KnitCircus Ravelry Group. It seemed like a fun idea, however, so I decided to cast on and join in!

I love the lines that the slipped stitches make down the body of the shawl. I ended up adding two extra rows to the body, because at that point, it seemed like I had so much yarn left that I figured I couldn’t possibly use it all on the lace portion! It’s a good thing that I didn’t add any more extra rows, because I was worried about running out of yarn towards the end there- I only had 2 grams (of a 100 gram skein) left!

I used Malabrigo Sock yarn for the shawl. This is probably one of my favorite yarns. It’s super-soft, and the colors are gorgeous. I happened to have a skein of it in Velvet Grapes in my stash that was absolutely perfect.

I really enjoyed working on this. The pattern is simple enough that I didn’t get frustrated, but complicated enough to keep me interested. My only complaint was that the lace pattern moved every row. This made it impossible to separate the lace repeats with stitch-markers. I think it was worth it, though!

Pattern: Fanette

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock

Colorway: Velvet Grapes

Yardage: 431.2 yards

Modifications: None

Ravelry Project Page

This post is part of Tami's Amis' Finished Objects Fridays. Head on over to see what everyone else is working on!

FO: Alison Shawl

2011-08-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

I finally finished my Alison Shawl. This shawl was a long time in the making. I start it in 2010, and I honestly can’t even remember why it ended up in hibernation. I found it in my UFO bin*, and decided that it was about time that I finished it! I am thrilled with the finished result, and am not sure why I put it off so long! I wish I could count this in 11 Shawls 2011 but, alas, since it was started last year it does not count.

This thing is really big and warm. It’s a great size for wrapping around me when I’m freezing (which is most of the time, in my office building!). Not only is it functional, but the lace pattern adds a bit of elegance. I love the color, too!

Berroco Ultra Alpaca is such a wonderful yarn. It’s soft and makes you just want to cuddle up with it and the colors are gorgeous. It also has fairly decent stitch definition, but is fuzzy enough to be a little forgiving of mistakes.

The only downside is that this shawl is kind of heavy. I’m a bit afraid that it will stretch out. I suppose if that happens, though, a good sock and re-blocking will fix it.

I made a few modifications to the pattern. First of all, the pattern calls for K3tog. Knitting three stitches together hurts my hands when I’m doing a bunch of them, so I decided to do a centered double decrease instead. I slipped two stitches knitwise, knit one stitch, and then passed the slip stitches over. It’s way less complicated than it sounds, I promise!

I decided to omit the four rows of garter stitch at the end of the shawl. The shaping of the shawl through the lace pattern naturally makes points at the bottom, and I felt like the garter stitch smoothed out these points a bit, even more than blocking could fix. I was concerned that the pattern would curl without the garter stitch, but it seems to have blocked out okay. I only wish that I had decided to omit the garter stitch before knitting those 1,124 stitches, then having to rip them out!

I also decided to go without the picot edging. Picot edging can be really pretty, but it seems like the only way to get it to lay flat is to pin out each one of the little picot bumps. I have neither the patience nor sufficient pins to make this happen. Additionally, when I tried the picot edging, some of the little picot peaks were lining up kind of weirdly with the natural points in the shawl, looking off-center. I ended up just doing my favorite nice, stretchy bind-off. Basically, instead of the typical bind off, you knit the two stitches together instead of pulling one stitch over the other.

Pattern: Alison Shawl

Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca

Colorway: Oceanic Mix

Yardage: 806.3

Project Ravelry Page

Modifications: Centered double decrease instead of K3tog, no garter stitch at the end, no picot bind-off.

This post is part of Tami's Amis' FO Fridays. Head on over there to see what everyone else is working on!

*“unfinished object,” not “unidentified flying object,” for those of you who are not knitting initiated.

WIP Wednesday

2011-08-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

It’s been a pretty decent week for knitting this week! We went to Kings Dominion on Saturday, and the drive gave me some time to work on my sock.* I am currently working on the leg. I’m not sure how high I want these socks to go- I’m kind of tempted to just keep knitting until I get close to the end of the skein, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m going to keep trying them on as I go until I decide they’re the right height, I think. I am loving the texture that I get from the pattern, and the sock seems to fit really well so far.

I bound off the Summer Flies shawlette. The picot bind-off took a while, but it was worth it. Now, I just need to weave in the ends and block it. I need to figure out exactly how I want to block it out- I’m thinking about maybe pinning out each of the picot points, but I may need to buy more pins if I do that. One of my sets of pins seems to have gone missing!

I restarted my Seascape stole. I had started knitting it last year, then it got put aside and forgotten. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember what size needles I was using,** so I ended up biting the bullet and frogging my progress. Luckily, I hadn’t gotten too far, so it wasn’t too huge of a tragedy. I’ve started on chart A, and I’m not too far along yet, but I am remembering why I liked this pattern before. I also love the yarn- the colors are perfect for the wavy-like pattern, and it doesn’t really pool.

Last but not least, I have been working on knitting some catnip mice. I made a couple of these for the boyfriend’s cat, Zoey, for Christmas, and they went over really well- so well, in fact, that the cat kept stealing them out of his bag when he was packing them to bring with them to visit his parents. The pattern is really simple, and the nupps for the ears are much easier to knit using the tutorial on the Knitty Blog. I’ve decided to use the left-over scraps of yarn from other projects to make these. I’m hoping to have a bunch done by the next time I go to visit my parents, so that I can felt them in their washing machine (I have to use the communal one in the basement to do laundry at my complex, and it costs a lot of quarters!) After felting, they just need to be stuffed and sewn up. One will go to Zoey, because hers doesn’t seem to be very catnippy anymore,*** one will be saved for the cat that I intend to adopt as soon as I move to a cat-friendly apartment next winter, and the rest will be donated to shelter kitties.

What are you all working on this week? Head on over to Tami’s Amis to see what everyone else is doing.

*The boyfriend has complained of the noise my metal needles make when he’s in the car with me, so I packed a bamboo needle project.

**Bad knitter! Always make notes in Ravelry!

***This probably has something to do with the fact that she kept dunking it in her water bowl and making catnip tea.

Book Review: Outlander Series

2011-08-07T13:57:00.000-04:00

Lately, I’ve been reading a series of books that I have been thoroughly enjoying, and I wanted to tell you all a little bit about them, too, so that you can enjoy them if you want. The books are part of the Outlander series by Diana Galbadon. I’m currently on book 4, Drums of Autumn.

The basic premise is that the protagonist, Claire, accidentally walks through a gap in time from Scotland in the 1940s to the 1740s. In doing so, she leaves behind her husband, Frank. As you can imagine, her modern(ish) clothing and attitude does cause some significant clashes and problems while she is there- most notably, she was thought by the first locals that she encountered to be a prostitute, because of her knee-length thin cotton dress. Although at first she wants nothing more than to escape back to her own time, she begins to settle in and make a life in her new world. She had been a nurse during World War II, and her medical knowledge proves to be very useful in making a name for herself as a healer. She also ends up forced to marry again, a handsome Scotsman named Jamie.

One thing that I found really interesting was that the author never actually intended to write the first book for publication. She started writing the novel as a practice exercise, and it pretty much took on a life of its own, and started a whole series!

I don’t want to tell you much more about the series, because I’m afraid I’ll give something important away and spoil the books. They’re incredibly good, though. I’ve been checking them out from the library on my Nook, because they’re kind of long and I’d really rather not have to tote them around. The problem, however, is that I can only borrow a book from the library for two weeks (and I can’t renew because there is a waiting list). Each of these books seems to get successively longer. The Drums of Autumn, which I downloaded on Wednesday, is 1,050 pages long. I think (hope?) I can manage to finish it in the allotted time, but I’m concerned what will happen when I get to the end of the series, if they books continue to grow in length!

FO: Spring Meadow Socks

2011-08-05T06:00:00.003-04:00

As some of you may remember from last week’s Work in Progress Wednesday, I had been working on some nice, basic, top-down socks. I started them ages ago, forgot about them, and recently rediscovered them. Since then, I've finished them!

I love self-striping yarns- you get such a complicated-looking effect for very little effort. I do try to use the stripes to match up the socks, too- for example, I make sure to start the toe at the beginning of the pink part on both socks.

I think I made these socks a tad too small, but they’ll stretch. I really like the colors, and the way the pink stands out against the pale green and blue flecks. I can’t wait until the weather is cool enough for me to wear them!

I have made this pattern so many times that I barely have to look at it when I’m knitting socks. I do glance at it to double-check and make sure I’m turning the heel and doing the kitchener stitch properly, but I’ve pretty much got the rest of it memorized. It’s a nice, simple pattern that really makes striped sock yarn stand out!

Pattern: Silver’s Sock Class: One Sock on Four Double-Pointed Needles

Yarn: Premier Yarns Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Yarn

Colorway: Chili (at least I think it is- I don’t seem to have the ball band anymore, and this color online looks similar to what I have)

Needles: US2 DPNs

Ravelry Project Page

The Verdict: Obviously, I love this pattern- I’ve made it several times already. I also love the yarn, and in fact have a pair of socks in Serenity Sock Yarn in another colorway on the needles now. So, I think it goes without saying that I will use both the yarn and the pattern again. I really do want to stress that Silver’s Sock Class is the best place to go if you’re new at top-down socks and want to learn how to knit them. I knit my very first socks using her tutorial, and I have returned again and again. She has really detailed pictures showing you exactly what you need to do, and breaks it down into tiny little steps.

This post is a part of Tami's Ami's FO Fridays. Head on over to see what everyone else is working on!

WIP Wednesday

2011-08-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

I've been busy again this week! I finished my Spring Meadow socks, so I cast on for a pair of toe-up socks. I've only knit top-down socks so far, and wanted to learn a new technique. I decided to make the Sunrise Socks by WendyKnits- I've knit two of her shawl patterns, so I know I like her designing style, and it seemed like a really basic pattern. I started with Judy's Magic Cast-On- as a side-note, if you are new to knitting toe-up socks and want to try them, this is an excellent tutorial for the cast-on.

I've made it through the heel of the first sock. The toe was really fiddly, but I got through it! I was thrilled to discover with the heel that I didn't have to pick up any stitches. I'm not super-thrilled with the way the yarn is pooling, but these are practice socks and, worst-case scenario, I can always wear them in the winter hidden under boots.

I did make one small (accidental) modification to the pattern. The pattern calls for one row of k1p1, then three rows of stockinette. I somehow managed to read that as two rows of stockinette, but it looks fine this way, and by the time I had realized what had happened, I was too far along to want to frog back.

My Summer Flies Shawlette is coming along really nicely. I'm on section six of seven. I'm considering making this section (the Knotted Openwork) a bit bigger, but i haven't decided yet. I've really been enjoying working on it!

This post is part of Tami's Amis' Work in Progress Wednesdays. Head on over to see what everyone else is working on!

WIP Wednesday

2011-07-26T21:27:00.006-04:00

I've been working on three of projects this week: The Alison shawl (yes, I picked it up again after many months hibernation!) my nice, simple pink and green socks, and the Summer Flies shawlette.

You don't get to see any of the Alison shawl today, because I finished it! It will be part of an FO Friday post at some point....once I get it photographed!

The socks are almost done. I am about half-way through the foot of the second sock. I'm suffering a little bit of Second-Sock Syndrome here, but I'm trying to push through the with the knowledge that once this one is done, I get to try toe-up socks. It seems to be working pretty well..Look!:

I have made it through four of seven sections of Summer Flies. Progress has been quick so far, but is getting slower the more stitches I increase. I love how it's turning out so far, though, and can't wait until it's finished. I love working with Berocco Ultra Alpaca- it's so soft! There was one place where it was spun really tightly, but I worked through it, and now we're back to nice, normal, beautiful yarn:

The boyfriend has promised me an FO photo shoot this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some posts for the FO Fridays to come!

This is a part of Tami's Ami's Work in Progress Wednesdays. Head on over to see what everyone else is up to!

FO: Decimal

2011-07-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

I loved the Decimal pattern when I first saw it in Knitty, and threw the yarn for it into my cart on a whim awhile back. The yarn sat in my stash for awhile, until I finally decided that I wanted to make that cardigan.

I loved knitting this. The pattern is fairly easy to follow if you have a little bit of sweater experience, and the lacy rib is really pretty. I chose to follow the pattern as written for the sleeves- a lot of people seem to alter them, but I love the bell sleeves in a ¾ length.

A little bit of panicking happened when I thought I had knit it too small (I’m not sure why it seemed so tiny!), but a good blocking stretched it out to the perfect dimensions.

The yarn was fantastic. I really like Shine Sport, and I would totally use it again. It knits up well, with a nice stitch definition, and it’s not overly splitty, as cotton-blends go. It’s nice and soft, and makes a great spring/fall cardigan.

I don’t know that I would knit this pattern again, but only because there are so many other pretty cardigan patterns out there. I want one of each; I don’t have time to repeat any! I would, however, recommend this pattern to anyone else who wanted to knit it.

Pattern: Decimal

Yarn: Knitpicks Shine Sport

Colorway: Orchid

Needles: US3

Ravelry Project Page

WIP Wednesday

2011-07-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

One sock down, one to go on my nice, basic, pink-and-green socks. No pictures, though- I want to save pictures of the completed sock for when I finish them both.

I’ve decided to add a bit more shaping to the Celebrity Tank. The tank is really cute, but my body shape requires a garment to have a bit more shaping in order to be flattering. I’ve finished the decrease section; now I just need to try it on and, if it’s fitting property, work even for an inch, and then do some increases. I’m taking copious notes on how I’m modifying this pattern so that I can put it in my project notes on Ravelry, where hopefully someone else will find it useful.

In other news, I think I may have lost my mind. The KnitCircus Ravelry group is doing a Knit-A-Long for Fannette from the KnitCircus Summer 2011 issue. Because I don’t already have enough projects on the needles (ha ha), and I love a good KAL, and because I did already have the shawl in my queue, I have decided to participate. Anyone else want to join too?

I cast on for in Malabrigo Fingering in Velvet Grapes.

This is part of Tami's Amis' WIP Wednesdays. Head on over and see what everyone else is working on!

FO: Spring Meadow Clapotis

2011-07-01T04:00:00.002-04:00

It seems like everyone has been knitting a Clapotis, and I didn't want to be left out! When Little Knits was having a sale on Arauncania Aysen ($3.50 a skein!), I decided that I had to give it a try. I picked out a lovely pink and green color that reminds me of a meadow in spring- the green of the grass, interspersed with pretty pink flowers.

This pattern looks really complicated, but is actually quite easy, once you get the hang of it. By the time I was half-way through, I didn't even need to refer to the pattern! It's also pretty cool to be able to drop stitches on purpose.

The only thing that I don't really like about the finished object is the variation between the skeins. I didn't realize that skeins from the same dye lot could look so different! The middle of the shawl has a much lighter area where one of the skeins had a lot more white than the others. It may not be all that noticeable to anyone but me when I'm wearing it, but it still bothers me a bit.

The yarn produced an incredibly soft shawl, but was a little annoying for this particular pattern- the yarn clings to itself so much that it was rather difficult to unravel the dropped the stitches. However, all things considered, I think it turned out nicely. I really enjoyed knitting it, and I'm already working on a new Clapotis, too.

Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Arauncania Aysen
Needles: US8
Yardage: 573 yards

This has been a part of Tami's Amis' Finished Object Friday. Go check out her links and see what everyone else is working on!

Look what I got!

2011-06-30T08:00:00.000-04:00

MarvelousToy over at 200 Shawl Project, has been generously hosting several yarn giveaways on her blog lately. I was one of the lucky ones, winning a skein of Tannis Fiber Arts Blue Label yarn in the Mallard colorway. It's a really pretty green!

I was a little worried that one of the many mail people we've been having lately (the USPS keeps switching them on us) had lost my package, but it arrived the day after I sent Leah an email, asking if it had been sent. I feel bad that I bothered her about it, and hope I didn't seem ungrateful!

And I am definitely not ungrateful. Not only did my package contain the skein that I won, but Leah also threw in a bunch of other goodies, too!

She wrote such a nice little note, and there's also a blue and purple skein of JL Bamboo Zania (also: I had mentioned in my comment how much I love blue and purple yarn; how sweet of her was it to pay attention to that little detail and send me a skein with my exact favorite colors?), some candy, and some needle holders with adorable little beaded accents. I love it all.

Here's a close-up of the needle holders:

The package arrived in the middle of a very stressful day at work, and it definitely brightened my day.

I'll definitely be sending a thank-you out in the mail to her!

WIP Wednesday

2011-06-28T16:19:00.002-04:00

On last week’s Work in Progress Wednesday, I had to rip out my Celebrity Tank because it was turning out huge. The designer, Rachel Dickman, read my post and messaged me on Ravelry. She had a really good point. She said that she had designed the garment with two inches of ease in the hips, then cinched it with the ribbon. Since I am omitting the ribbon, this might be why I was having a problem. She suggested that if I wanted to knit the size small sans ribbon, that I do a few extra increases to get the bust back up to the medium size. This makes total sense. I don’t think making the medium and cinching the waist would work very well for me- I have an hourglass shape and need a little more waist definition- but knitting the small with a medium-sized bust seems like it would be perfect.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear from the designer. It didn’t occur to me that she would be perusing my little blog! I was thrilled that she took the time and effort to message me with her suggestions on fit, especially when I hadn’t even asked! It was so helpful.

So there I was, working along on the tank, thinking about how to best space the extra increases, when I realized- I had twisted my knitting when I joined in the round, and had a mobius strip instead of the bottom of a sweater. I’m not even sure how I managed to do that! I was so careful to check and make sure I wasn’t twisting, but apparently I was not careful enough. Amidst much cursing, I frogged again. I have now cast-on for a third time, carefully joined, and hopefully will have a much smoother knit than the last two times. I am determined to knit this tank, but I’m not sure how much frogging I (or the yarn!) can take. On the bright side, I’m getting a lot of practice at the provisional cast-on for my folded hem- I don’t even have to look at the directions anymore!

On a brighter note, look what I found:

I’m not sure when I started these, but they have been languishing with other unfinished objects for awhile, and I had forgotten about them! They’re a nice, simple sock, following Silver’s Sock Class. I’ve turned the heel, picked up stitches, and am working on the decreases. It’s a nice, simple knit, although I did manage to sit on and break one of the needles (on the same day that I had the problems with the Celebrity Tank! Sunday was NOT a good day for knitting!)

I knit another repeat on my Clapotis, but it looks pretty much the same as it did last week, so I don’t think it’s worth posting another picture.

Head on over to Tami’s Amis and see what everyone else is working on!

New Knitty!

2011-06-26T22:37:00.004-04:00

Have you all taken a look at the new Knitty? I was very pleased to see the patterns this issue- during a lot of the recent issues, I haven't really seen anything too exciting, but I loved what I saw in this one! Some of them really stood out to me:

Creekbed, the cover pattern, is amazing. It's a Stephen West design, and I love his work. The colors play off of each other beautifully- I'd love to knit this scarf this winter, maybe in blues or purples. This one went right into the queue.

Rhodion is breathtakingly beautiful. I would love to knit something like this, but I think it's a bit above my skill level at this point. I think I'll just have to drool over other people's FOs as they post them on Ravelry!

I am in love with the Lingerie Socks pattern. It's so elegant and pretty! I'm a little intimidated by the fact that they're knit on size 0 needles, but it will be so worth it to have those beautiful socks! Queued!

Leaflet also went into the queue. The detail on the back is so pretty!

What do you guys think? Did anything in particular catch your eye?

FO: Revontuli Shawl

2011-06-24T04:00:00.001-04:00

This is my second entry for 11 Shawls 2011. I’m kind of proud of myself that I finished it so quickly after the first! It sure took me long enough to post it, though, seeing as I finished it in March!

I originally tried to knit this shawl in Paton’s Lace, but had some issues with the yarn and restarted with Kauni. I love the way this turned out. It’s beautiful and drapey, and the way the pattern makes the yarn stripes zig-zag looks so cool. I can definitely see myself making another Revontuli in the future.

I was less impressed with the yarn. Sure, Kauni looks really nice, and I love the long color repeats. However, it’s really not that soft and there was a lot of vegetable matter in it. I got a splinter from knitting with it! It also varied a lot in thickness throughout the skein, from a lace weight to almost a sport weight. I found this really frustrating, as it was hard to pick needles that suited the project.

I tried doing my normal stretchy bind-off, but I ran out of yarn and had to use a regular bind-off (but went up 2 needle sizes) in order to work with the yarn I had.

Pattern: Revontuli

Yarn: Kauni Effekt

Yardage: 652.6 yards (596.74 meters)

Needles: US8

Yardage: 652 yards

The Verdict: I loved the pattern, but I don’t know that I would knit with the yarn again.

This has been a part of Tami's Amis' Finished Object Friday. Go check out her links and see what everyone else is working on!

WIP Wednesday

2011-06-21T14:55:00.003-04:00

Remember my Celebrity Tank from last week? Well, this is it now:

I tried it on, and it was huge. It would have hung on me like a sack. As much as I hated to rip out all of that work, I didn’t want to put all that work into a sweater just to have it be unwearable. I’m going to try casting on for a small, instead of a medium.

I know myself well enough to know that I need to cast on for the new size immediately, to help me get over my frustration with the project, or I will put it aside and never touch it again. (By the way, it's not red- that's just the waste yarn for the provisional cast-on)

In happier news, I’m done with the “work even” section of my Clapotis. I just need to do the decreases:

The Entangled Bag is coming along nicely as well. I have finished one of the flowers and started on a vine:

This has been a part of Tami’s Amis’ Work in Progress Wednesdays. Head on over to see what everyone else is working on!

FO: Summer Mystery Shawlette

2011-06-17T05:00:00.001-04:00

I decided to participate in WendyKnits' free mystery knit along this summer- the Summer Mystery Shawlette. Although I finished the project on June 2nd, I've just now gotten around to taking pictures.

Basically, Wendy posted a series of "clues," each one containing a chart with the next piece of the project. I suppose it was a little bit of a risk, knitting something when I didn't know what the finished product would look like- what if I didn't like it? However, I've knit Wendy's shawls before, and I love her work, so I figured it couldn't be too awful!

I picked a skein of Malabrigo Sock in Impressionist sky out of my stash. It has only a very subtle variation of blues, so I knew that it would make the lace pattern stand out really well. I also love working with Malabrigo so much- it's so soft! Here's what it looked like before blocking:

I got a little behind on the clues when I went on vacation, but caught up and finished the last clue the day it was released.

I love the finished object- it's gorgeous! The blue is just perfect to go with a lot of different outfits, and the lace pattern is really pretty. I knew Wendy wouldn't steer me wrong! The construction of the shawl is pretty neat, too- most triangle shawls are knit from the top down, but this one is bottom-up, meaning that you do all of those tortuously long rows first, making your progress seem to fly at the end. This is also my fourth shawl in 11 Shawls 2011.

This was my first knit-a-long, and I really enjoyed it. It was really cool to be working on the same project as so many other people, and to see their progress and compare it with my own. Additionally, it provided a LOT of pattern support- if anyone had a problem, so many other people had been working on the shawl that they had already figured out the solution! I definitely look forward to another knit-a-long in the future.

Pattern: Summer Mystery Shawlette
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock
Colorway: Impressionist Sky
Needles: US7 for the body, US9 for the cast-on.
Yardage: 300 yards
Dimensions: 49 inches across, 17.25 down the spine

This has been a part of Tami's Amis' Finished Object Friday. Go check out her links and see what everyone else is working on!

WIP Wednesday

2011-06-15T05:00:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile, I know!

Right now, the projects I’m devoting the most attention to are a shawl, a sweater, and a bag.

The shawl is Knitty’s Clapotis. I knit one (coming in a future FO Friday post), and enjoyed it so much that I decided to knit another one! The first one was out of a wool/alpaca blend; this one is out of Elann Adara, a cotton/linen blend. I’m enjoying watching the different way the patterns work up! I’m a little over half-way done with this Clapotis.

I’m also working on the Celebrity Tank from the Summer 2011 Knitcircus. I saw it and fell in love- in fact, I bought the entire pattern collection because of this pattern! (Not that the other patterns aren’t gorgeous things I plan to knit, but this was thing I needed to cast on for immediately!) I was pretty surprised to see on Ravelry that I’m only the second person knitting it- apparently other people weren’t quite as enthusiastic about it as I am! I’m knitting it in Elann Pegasus, a beautiful cotton/rayon blend. The rayon provides a little bit of shine to it, and is so pretty! I’m not quite sure what color this is- Elann calls it “Opal Gray,” but it looks different in different lights. Sometimes it looks gray, sometimes beige, and sometimes lavender. I suspect this will be a versatile top that will pick up the colors of whatever I’m wearing. I was having some trouble with the lace edging and decided that I really wanted the focus to be on the ruffle, anyway- so I decided to do a folded hem bottom and omit the ribbon.

This post has not been sponsored by Elann, I swear, even though both of these WIPS were made from Elann products- I just really like their yarn!

Last but not least, I’m working on an Entangled bag. The bag body itself has been knit and felted, and I’m working on the embellishments at the moment.

I’m knitting the flowers out of Frabjous Fibers Recycled Silk, and the vines and leaves out of Frabjous Fibers Banana Silk. These are both special skeins that I picked up at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I’m going to go fabric shopping for the bag’s lining when I visit my parents this weekend, because they have better fabric stores than I do.

What are you working on? Want to see everyone else’s creativity-in-progress? Head over to Tami’s Ami’s Work in Progress Wednesday!

FO: Cafe au Lait Mitts

2011-03-03T13:50:00.000-05:00

My mom complained to my father that she wished she had a second pair of fingerless mitts to wear when she’s teaching. He relayed this information to me (although, why she didn’t ask me directly is a mystery!), and I cast on for a pair of Café au Lait mitts.

They definitely turned out to be a success. They’re just the tiniest bit tight on me, and since Mom has smaller hands, they were a perfect fit. I love the lace pattern, and the fact that it looks like it has cables without having the effort of actually cabling. These knit up so quickly, and they were super-easy. Mom loves them!

Pattern: Café au Lait Mitts

Yarn: Knitpicks Swish DK

Needles: US3

The Verdict: I love the way these knit up! They’re perfect for Mom. I definitely would use the yarn again. I’m not sure if I’d knit the same pattern again, but only because there are so many other fingerless mitts out there that I am dying to try.

FO: A Girl's Best Friend Shawl

2011-03-01T11:19:00.005-05:00

It is amazing what a difference blocking can make! My Girl’s Best Friend Shawl went from this:

To this:

I love the way it turned out. The lace is so pretty, and the simple stockinette of the body compliments it perfectly.

I also love the color. It’s a nice, pale pink, with gorgeous splashes of darker pinks and purples throughout. Although it has one spot with some slight pooling, pooling action was mostly minimal through the project.

Look how well it drapes:

Here’s a picture from the back:

As you can tell, I am completely in love with my finished object. I am also thrilled to have completed my first shawl for 11 Shawls 2011.

I was really happy with this yarn. It blocks so beautifully. I was a little concerned about the stockinette curling, but the blocking seems to have fixed that completely. The way the colors are distributed is also amazing. It’s not as soft as Malabrigo (but what is?), but definitely still comfortable against my bare skin. I still have two projects worth of the same yarn in different colorways, and I cannot wait to use them, too!

Project: A Girl’s Best Friend Shawl

Yarn: Aracania Itata Multy

Needles: US8, US10 (for the bind off only)

The Verdict: I am extremely pleased with the way this turned out!

WIP Wednesday

2011-02-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

The problem with having a Monday off from work is that Tuesday then feels like Monday, causing me to completely forget to get a WIP Wednesday post ready. And thus, today I'm posting it much later than usual.

A Girl’s Best Friend shawl is almost completely finished. I’m done with the knitting; all I need to do is weave in the ends and block it. Right now, it kind of looks like a pink blobby tube, but I’m hoping that the blocking will even out some of those curling edges. I love the way the colors blended together, though. The color repeats are so short that there wasn’t really any pooling to worry about.

I’ve put some more work into the Monkey socks. I finished the twisted ribbing and am 3.5 repeats into the leg. These socks are taking me forever to finish, but that’s because I’m working on them between other projects. Doing it little bits at a time seems to be staving off Second Sock Syndrome so far; we’ll see if that continues.

I’ve cast on for two Revontuli shawls this week. Why two? Well…Patons Lace has failed me. I cast on with Patons Lace in the Porcelain colorway. Firstly, I was not thrilled about the fact that, rather than fading from white to blue, it was really splotchy.

This interferes with the crisp zig-zags the Revontuli normally is supposed to create between colors. However, I was willing to overlook this and soldier on…until halfway through the second chart. I was innocently knitting along when….the yarn wouldn’t come off the skein. Thinking I had a tangle, I looked more closely, and (*sob*) saw a big glob of glue on the skein, gluing most of the rest of the dark blue color together. I considered peeling it off, but it’s pretty stuck on there, and the yarn is so fuzzy that I’m afraid pulling at the glue will mess it up.

I posted in the 11 Shawls in 2011 Ravelry group and sent a polite email to Patons, expressing my disappointment. Ravelry suggested I freeze the yarn in hopes that the glue would get more brittle and chip off (which was a great idea, but didn’t work). Patons sent me an auto-response and still hasn’t gotten back to me with a real reply.

I’m going to try to soak the gluey spot in water and see if I can dissolve some of the glue that way, but for now, I needed to take a step away from the Patons Lace. I put the live stitches on some waste yarn, set it aside, and cast on again with Kauni.

I’ve pretty much caught up to where I was on Version 1. The Kauni color changes are nice, but the yarn is kind of scratchy and the weight is really inconsistent. When I cast on, it was more like a lace-weight (causing me to go down a needle size from the recommended 9), but now it’s more of a fingering weight. However, I am determined to finish at least one Revontuli!

WIP Wednesday

2011-02-15T14:07:00.003-05:00

I’m still chugging along on Truly Tasha’s Shawl. I’m on ball number 5 for the body (of 6), then I just need to do the border. There still doesn’t seem to be much point in showing you a picture- while slightly bigger, the shawl doesn’t really look much different.

I’m about halfway done with my Girl’s Best Friend Shawl. Right now, it’s kind of curling in on itself and the stitches look a little uneven- I don’t think that this is a shawl that’s going to look like much until it’s blocked. The colors are really pretty though, and I can’t wait until it’s done so I can see what it looks like!

Last but not least, we have my Monkey Socks. As I told you yesterday, I made some progress on them during jury duty. Now, one of the socks is done (except for end-weaving-in), and I have not yet started on the second one:

This post is a part of Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesdays. Head on over to see what everyone else is working on!

Jury Duty and Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T13:58:00.002-05:00

I had jury duty yesterday (yep, on Valentine’s Day!). It was a fairly boring process. I had to get there at 8:30, and then around 9:00 they showed us an orientation video. Just some basic stuff telling us how very important we are to the judicial process. I brought my Monkey Socks because the juror information website informed me that I was only allowed to bring knitting with wooden needles. The socks were the only WIP I had that was small and not on metal needles! I got a lot of work done on them, and was half-way through kitchenering the toe of the first sock when my number was called (side note: our names were pretty much irrelevant; they identified us by juror number all day!)

I got sent with a huge group of jurors up to a criminal trial scheduled for four days. The process took forever. They judge asked a million questions of us, such as if we, a family member, or anyone close to us had either been accused of or a victim of a crime. Three-quarters of the prospective jurors stood up and had to answer the question. Finally, they tried picking a jury and the defense attorneys decided they didn’t like me, so I got to go home! I was really glad- the defendants were accused of raping a child, and I honestly didn’t want to sit through that trial and the descriptions. Additionally, I honestly don’t know that I, or anyone, would have been able to go into such a case with an open, unbiased mind. I collected my $15.00 expenses check and headed home to knit.

I got the spend the rest of the day knitting and relaxing, then the Boyfriend came over and we went for a walk. It was gorgeous weather. Later, we watched Watson the Computer on Jeopardy! I was a little frustrated that they only showed half the game (they’re splitting it into pieces and spending the rest of the time explaining how Watson works), but it was still really interesting. He did pretty well on some of the categories, but not so well on the others. By the end of round one (which was as much as they showed), I think he was tied with one of the human contestants.

So Valentine’s Day started out a little bit roughly, but definitely ended well! How did your Valentine's Days go?

WIP Wednesday

2011-02-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

My mom’s mitts are coming along nicely- The first one is done (except for the thumb) and the second one is coming along quickly. These are a super-quick knit, and they turn out looking so pretty. They have a cabled look without the cables!

My Truly Tasha’s shawl is also looking good. I’m not going to bother putting a picture of this up, because really, the picture looks pretty much the same from week to week, just a bigger triangle! At this point, I’m almost done with the third ball (which will mark the half-way point of the shawl!) I have been having some issues with this shawl, however. First of all, the tips of my Knitpicks nickel-plated size 5 needles are really sharp! I tend to push the needle through the loop with my left index finger. I was not pleased when I realized I was starting to get a hole in my finger from the needle! Rather than stop knitting, I’ve been using a band-aid while I knit. I’m hoping a callous forms soon so I can knit bare-fingered without pain!

The other potential problem I’m encountering with this shawl is that it’s getting big! This is a good thing because it means I’m making progress, but it also means that it will soon be too big to take places with me. This has been my travelling project because it’s so simple and requires so little attention- once it gets too big, I’ll have to find a new travelling project.

Last but not least, my swift finally arrived* so I was able to wind the yarn and get back to knitting my Pipp’s Openwork Eyelet Scarf. The second skein is a little less purple than the first, and you can tell where one skein ends and the next one begins; however, I don’t think anyone will notice but me. The knitting part is done, but I still consider this a Work-In-Progress because it still needs the ends woven in and a good blocking.

This post is part of Tami's Amis WIP Wednesday. Head on over to see what everyone else is working on!

*By the way, if anyone is interested, I’d be more than happy to post a review of my swift!

FO: Napoleon's Coat

2011-01-31T21:41:00.000-05:00

This was done in time for Christmas, but I only just now got some good pictures back. This adorable fellow is Napoleon, my brother’s girlfriend’s dog. He spends a lot of time at my parents’ house. As a tiny little thing, he finds most people pretty scary and is super-aggressive to them. However, around my family, he is the sweetest little angel. He loves to cuddle up to us, and one of his favorite places to be when I’m in bed is sleeping on my chest.

He’s also always really really really cold. The poor darling shivers all the time. My parents bought him a winter coat, but it’s really not that great- it’s too big, light blue (it’ll get so dirty!), and just looks kind of weird on him. I decided he needed a nicer coat for Christmas. How could I not want to make something nice for someone who adores me so much?

I chose to knit it in superwash wool because I wanted something that would be warm and also be able to go in the washing machine when he decides to roll in something yucky. I had a picture in my head of how I wanted the coat to look, with a cable going around the whole edge, but I couldn’t find a pattern that fit what I wanted. I ended up having to design it myself. I knit the cable at the butt-end of the coat and picked up stitches along it for the body, using some short rows to shape the corners. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, especially since I didn't have Napoleon with me to try it on as I designed it.

I’m really happy with the results. The color looks great on him, and the coat fits him really well. It’s been keeping him nice and warm this winter!

Pattern: My own design

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash

Needles: US5

WIP Wednesday

2011-01-26T07:24:00.000-05:00

I’ve definitely made some significant amount of knitting progress this week! I’m almost done with my Everlasting Bagstopper- just a few more rows to go, then the handles!

The Monkey socks are looking good as well. I’ve turned the heel on the first sock and started the foot.

I joined a second ball on the Truly Tasha's shawl- it doesn’t look like I’ve made a ton of progress, but I’m definitely moving on it.

Last but not least, I cast on last night for my mother’s birthday gift, a pair of Café Au Lait Mitts. I've just finished knitting the thumb gusset:

This is part of Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday. Take a look to see what everyone else is working on!

Knitpicks Arrival!

2011-01-24T14:59:00.002-05:00

Look what came in the mail for me today! My mother’s birthday is coming up, and she mentioned to my father that she wished she had another pair of fingerless mitts (why she didn’t tell me, the knitter of said mitts, this, I have no idea!) Anyway, my father passed this information on to me, and I placed an order with Knitpicks. I chose some Swish DK in Dusk to knit either the Café Au Lait mitts or Susie’s Reading Mitts.

However, since I was placing an order anyway, and Knitpicks has just come out with the gorgeous Chroma line, I also had to order some of that. I chose two skeins of the worsted weight, one in the Fossil colorway and one in Galapagos. I intended to use these to make one of the Noro Striped Scarves, but after seeing them in person, I’m not sure that the colors really go together. What do you guys think? Here's a picture of the two together:

I also ordered a skein of Midwinter. I’ll be striping this with Knitpicks Palette in either gray or purple to make a Daybreak shawl.

FO: Lavalette

2011-01-22T13:35:00.000-05:00

I bought this yarn on impulse from Dizzy Sheep’s Labor Day Spinoff. I wasn’t really in a sock-knitting mood, so I decided to use it for a shawlette. I picked the Lavalette shawl. Although the pattern is intended for laceweight yarn, I saw that someone else had used Berocco Sox Metallic, and it was gorgeous. I decided to do the same.

The pattern was really simple. It alternates stockinette portions with sections of yo, K2tog. This does beautiful things with the color variations in the yarns.

The yarn feels fairly durable, and I bet it would make great socks. The colors are so bright and pretty, and it has sparkles! (Sparkles are always a plus in my book!)

Pattern: Lavalette

Yarn: Berroco Sox Metallic

Colorway: Acai

Needles: US7

The Verdict: I really like the finish project. The pattern is simple enough to show off the yarn, while having enough going on to keep me interested. It’s also nice and cheerful-looking!

FO: Biscuits & Bones Dog Sweater

2011-01-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

My first finished object of 2011 was a Christmas present that should have been done in 2010: A sweater for the dog. She gets really cold after she gets bathed, and I can’t stand to see her shivering! I chose a beautiful dark teal color of Berroco Vintage. It’s soft and warm, and makes a nice, thick fabric.

The pattern I chose, Biscuits & Bones, was admittedly rather challenging. It has two different cable patterns, neither of which is simple. I found it easier to create and copy paste the rows from the two patterns together, so that each row’s directions would show everything that would need to be done, rather than directing me back and forth to different patterns.

One of the biggest problems I had was trying to out-think the pattern. I saw "moss stitch," and thought that I vaguely remember reading somewhere that moss stitch is the same thing as seed stitch. I thought the pattern was written wrong, tried to fix it, ended up messing up, end had to unravel some parts. Finally, I gave in and just followed the pattern and, guess what? It turned out perfectly!

Pattern B makes some really cool diamond shapes in the center of the sweater, while pattern A forms the biscuits and bones for which the pattern is named.

I absolutely love how this turned it. It fits her perfectly, and it is so beautiful! The pattern is a little complicated, but really satisfying for a project this size. If I tried to do something this complicated in a sweater my size, I think I would have gotten frustrated and never finished.

Pattern: Biscuits and Bones Dog Coat

Yarn: Berroco Vintage

Needles: US7 (Body), US6 (edging and neck)

The Verdict: The pattern was great, and the yarn was absolutely lovely. I’ll definitely be knitting with it again!

11 Shawls in 2011

2011-01-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

Remember how I lost my mind and committed to trying to knit 11 shawls in 2011? Well, upon further consideration, I’ve decided it may not be such an insane idea after all! I have so many shawls in my queue, and I have a bad habit of knitting them, then not weaving in the ends or blocking them. This will encourage me to actually finish the shawls!

I’ve looked through my queue, and I’ve decided on 8 shawls that I think I’ll probably do. That leaves three for me to decide on as the year progresses.

First up, of course, is Truly Tasha’s shawl, which I’ve already started. I’m using Baby Alpaca Brush by Plymouth yarns. A lot of times, I order yarn with a specific project in mind, and then it sits in my stash for awhile and gets used for something else. Not this time! I ordered the yarn with Truly Tasha in mind, and that’s what I’m using it for!

Daybreak has been calling to me for a long time. It’s so pretty! I keep seeing FOs of this popping up all over I ordered the yarn from Knitpicks when I ordered the materials for my mother’s birthday present, and I’m waiting on it now. I got the shipping notice yesterday! I’m going to be working on it in the new Chroma fingering weight yarn in the Midwinter colorway for Color A, with Palette in either a dark purple or dark gray as Color B (I ordered both, because I wasn’t sure which one would go better).

Summer Flies is also one of those shawls that’s been languishing in my queue* for awhile. I’m going to use Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Winter White for this. It’s a nice sampler type pattern, with several different lace patterns, and I think it will be a lot of fun to work on.

The Swallowtail shawl is one of those shawls that everyone seems to be making. All of the FOs look so pretty, and I just have to have one (I want to be one of the cool kids, too!) I’m going to be knitting it in Knitpicks Shadow in a gorgeous burgundy color.

Clapotis is another one of those shawls that everyone is making. I think they look pretty cool, and I really want one too. The idea of dropping stitches on purpose is just so much fun! I’m making it in Elann Adara in a pretty mix of different shades of brown called Pecan.

Saroyan is so gorgeous, and I think it would make a great scarf/shawl. I love the leaf edging! I’m not sure what color I want this to be (green seems most appropriate, but most greens are not really my color), but I do know that I’d like to knit it in Berocco Vintage. I used the yarn on the dog sweater and fell in love with it. Next time I make a trip to the LYS I will pick up a couple of skeins.

Revontuli is one of those patterns that just looks so incredibly cool in a self-striping yarn! Self-striping yarns are always fun, but especially so on a pattern that makes waves or zig-zags. I picked up some of the fairly new Patons Lace in a blue and white colorway (I think maybe it’s called Porcelain or something?) a few months ago, and I intend to use that for this shawl.

Last but not least is Garden Pond. I only queued this one a month or so ago, so I haven’t been drooling over it for long, but it’s so pretty! I’m going to make it with 2 skeins of Arauncania Itata Multi in a colorway that kind of reminds me of blue jeans.

The best part of this is that I have the yarn for five of these shawls in my stash already, and for two of them it is currently in transit. The only shawl I’ll have to buy yarn for is Saroyan. This should definitely help me cut down on my stash some.

I’m glad I’m leaving myself some extra flexibility, too- I really don’t want to lock myself into 11 shawls now, then find a gorgeous one later and not be able to knit it! This way, I can choose three more as the year progresses.

*Also, I finally managed to memorize how to spell queue. No more “quque,” “queque”, etc. I am so proud of myself! I’m not sure why I was convinced there were two “q”s, except for the fact that it seems really weird to have four vowels next to each other.

WIP Wednesdays

2011-01-19T16:32:00.000-05:00

I spent the last week pretty sick with a really bad cold that was totally kicking my butt (thus no finished object posts- I simply didn’t have the energy to take pictures!), but I still managed some knitting, and I’m finally starting to feel a little better.

I made a fair amount of progress on my Everlasting Bagstopper. I think I’m about half-way done with it.

I also did a ton of knitting on my openwork lace scarf. I’ve knit an entire skein of the yarn; I do have a second one, but I just ordered a swift and I’m holding off on winding it so that I can use my new swift! Unfortunately, this means that all progress on the scarf has come to a halt until my swift arrives.

Having recovered from the problems I had with Katika last week, I apparently have taken leave of my sanity and committed to try to knit 11 Sha wls in 2011. I started Truly Tasha’s Shawl out of a soft alpaca acrylic blend. The body of it is really simple, although the edging looks like it might be a little complicated. It should make a really thick, warm, large, soft shawl. My office is freezing, and I wanted something a little more classy than huddling under a blanket at my desk, so a shawl like this seemed like the perfect compromise between freezing and blanket. I’m still on the first skein (of 8), but I’m making progress!

This is part of Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday. Head on over and see what everyone else is working on!

Cat Meets Dog

2011-01-18T16:41:00.002-05:00

This weekend, my parents were moving my brother back up to college for the Spring Semester. They didn’t want to leave the dog alone, so they brought her along. However, my brother was moving off campus and into an apartment, and they needed to go furniture shopping, and that is a little bit difficult to do with the dog! Since my boyfriend’s apartment isn’t that far away from my brother’s (about 30 minutes), I offered to dogsit Mia while they did their shopping. I had to bring her back to the boyfriend’s apartment because I’m not allowed to have animals in mine.

It was wonderful. I got to spend some time with my beloved, much-missed fluffball, and she was thrilled to see me, too. She was really exhausted from the stress of travelling, and promptly collapsed on the couch next to me.

Zoey, the boyfriend’s cat, had never met a dog before. She didn’t quite understand what this thing in her apartment was. She sat on the ground in front of the couch, wide-eyed, tilting her head this way and that to get different views of Mia. She opened her mouth to better smell the fluffy white thing. She then cautiously reached out a paw, touched the dog, and quickly withdrew the paw. Mia would occasionally open an eye and look at her, then go back to sleep. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of this adorable interaction, although I did get one of them when we put Zoey next to her on the couch:

WIP Wednesday

2011-01-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

I spent most of this last weekend knitting. I finished up two projects (FO posts to come!), and cast on for a few more.

First, however, I want to share a little anecdote with you. My Dad was up here visiting my Grandparents this last weekend. Apparently, Grandpa spent all of dinner Friday night shivering in his thin sweater vest. They reminded him about the one I made him for Christmas (he’s 96 and forgets things sometimes), and he wore it out to dinner with all of us on Saturday. It fit him wonderfully, looked great, and he didn’t shiver once. He kept remarking all through dinner about how warm it was! As much of a pain as that vest was to knit, that made it all worth it.

And now, on to the WIPs!

First up, we have a pair of socks: the famous Monkey so ck pat tern in Malabrigo Sock, colorway Aguas. This yarn was massively on sale so I had to order a skein. I was expecting it to be a little more blue and a little less green, but that’s okay. It’s so soft and wonderful to work with! I’ve finished two repeats on the leg of the first sock so far.

I also cast on for the Katika shawlette. I tried really, really hard to make it work, but for kept messing up something. I don’t know what happened! I think it was user error, rather than a problem in the pattern, but after ripping it all out for the fourth time, I gave up and decided that the Katika and I are not meant to be.In desperation, I cast on a nice, easy project that wouldn’t frustrate me: An Everlasting Bagstopper (I guess I’m really into Knitty patterns this week!). I’m not very far along (just a few inches on the bottom), but it’s nice and easy. You may recognize the yarn- it’s leftover from my Grandpa’s sweater vest.

Last but not least, the two skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino (I guess I’m also really into Malabrigo this week!) in my stash have been calling to me, so I also cast on for a scarf. I’ve made Pipp’s Openwork Eyelet Scarf before (Christmas 2009’s gift for my Grandma), but am enjoying working on it once again. It’s a really good pattern for a variegated yarn, such as my Mal Silky, because it breaks up the variegation and prevents the pooling from looking awful. It’s also so soft! I’m not very far into it yet, but I’m enjoying it so far, and I keep stopping to pet my scarf because it’s so soft!

This is part of Tami's Amis Work In Progress Wednesdays. Head on over to see what everyone else is working on!

FO: Zoey's Mice

2011-01-08T11:00:00.000-05:00

I found an adorable pattern for catnip mice on Ravelry. I wanted to make some for the boyfriend’s cat, as well as a bunch for shelter kitties. I started with two for Zoey (his cat), to make sure that cats do indeed like them before I put all that work into making a ton of them.

They were so easy to make, although purling so many stitches together to make the ears was a big of a pain. Other than that though, they were incredibly easy. We stuffed them with alternating layers of stuffing and catnip.

Zoey loves her new toys. She wrestles with them, lies on top of them, chases them around, and even dunks them in her water bowl (an honor reserved for only her very favorite toys).

I plan on casting on for several more to donate to the shelter she came from!

Pattern: Knit Felted Catnip Mice

Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes

Colorway: Onyx Heather

Needles: US4, US8

FO: Grandpa's Sweater Vest

2011-01-06T12:16:00.001-05:00

Two years ago, I made my grandfather a sweater vest for Christmas, and it was incredibly well-received. He refused to take it off for a week! This year, I wanted to make him another one. I chose a cotton-linen blend, because he's not all that heat-sensitive and I've caught him wearing sweater vests in really warm weather, so I want something that won't overheat him too badly. Because the yarn I chose had four color strands twisted together, I chose a simple pattern that would showcase the yarn.

I liked the design of the Cotton Neat Vest, but it is only written for one size and I couldn't get gauge without having a really loosely woven fabric. To make matters worse, it was more of a guideline than an actual pattern, and was really hard to understand. I ended up casting on 10 extra stitches, and fudging the numbers to make it work. By the time I was doing the neck and armholes, I was pretty much improvising. It was very frustrating to do so (I had to rip out the neck 3 times!), but by doing so, I got a finished object that I really like.

I would definitely not use the pattern again. I did way too much ripping out and reknitting. The yarn hurt my hands when I knit with it for too long because cotton doesn't have very much give, so I'm swearing off of cotton for awhile. I would use it again though; it works up so nicely!

Pattern: Cotton Neat Vest
Yarn: Elann Adara
Colorway: Surf
Needles: US 7 (body) US6 (Neck and Armhole Edging)
The Verdict: I love the finished project, and I hope my grandfather will too. I won't be knitting this project again anytime soon, however!

WIP Wednesdays

2011-01-05T07:44:00.004-05:00

I finished up the last Christmas present (Mia's sweater!) last night. I've also been working on a sock. I haven't been much into sock-knitting lately, but I've suddenly found myself in a sock-knitting mood.

I decided to get back into it with a nice, easy, simple pair of sport-weight socks. I found this self-striping yarn at Knitpicks, and I am loving it! One sock is already completed, and I'm making fantastic progress on the second one:
It's not too incredibly fascinating, but it's what I've got to show you this week! I've decided to start participating in Tami Ami's WIP Wednesdays. There's supposed to be a button you can click, but I can't seem to get it to work! Head on over and check out what everyone else is working on!

FO: Fetching Mitts

2011-01-04T11:38:00.000-05:00

I wanted to make something for Napoleon’s owner, too, and a nice pair of cabled mitts to match Po’s coat seemed like a perfect gift. I settled on the Fetching mitts from Knitty. They have just enough cables to be interesting without over-doing it.

Cascade 220 Superwash is so soft and such a pleasure to knit with. I enjoyed making these mitts so much. They also knit up super-fast- I think I finished them in three days total. The pattern was really easy to follow, and it had a couple of new techniques that I had never used before. When I’ve knit mitts in the past, I’ve knit the gusset for the thumb as I’ve knitted or I’ve put those stitches on waste yarn to hold later. Instead of doing this, the Fetching pattern has you actually knit the waste yarn into the pattern. Basically, you knit a tube, then go back later, pull out the waste yarn, pick up the resulting live stitches, and knit the thumb. Suddenly, you go from having a tube to having a glove. It’s like magic (although not as much magic as turning a heel)!

The picot edging was also new for me. It’s one of those nice little features that never would have even occurred to me to use, had I been designing the mitt, but it really adds something to the finished object. It was really easy and fun to do, too!

Pattern: Fetching

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash

Needles: US4

The Verdict: I love the way these turned out. They were quick and easy, yet such a fantastic finished object. I definitely want to make another pair!

FO: Strangling Vines Lace Scarf

2011-01-02T12:27:00.000-05:00

I wanted to make my aunt a nice, lacey scarf for Christmas. When this yarn arrived (I purchased it in a destash), it seemed like a perfect match for a pattern I had had in my queue: the Strangling Vine Lace Scarf. I was a little wary of the pattern- after all, who wants to wear a scarf with the word “strangling” in the title? However, it was a very pretty pattern and looked nice and simple.

It was a very easy, simple pattern. It’s a four row pattern, but two of the rows just involve purling. If you can yarn over, knit two together, and slip slip knit, you can do this pattern. However, it gets really monotonous. Knitting a scarf in fingering weight yarn takes forever, and seems like it will never end. I wasn’t sure I’d get it done in time for Christmas!

I heard a rule somewhere that a scarf should be about as long as you are tall. My aunt is 5’4” (64 inches). I knit the scarf until I reached 55”, and then decided to rely on blocking to do the rest. Speaking of blocking, this was the first time I used blocking wires. They take forever to thread through, but it’s very worth it to get a nicely-blocked scarf without points along the long edges. I was impressed with how the yarn blocked. I was expecting the yarn to spring back a bit after blocking, due to the 20% nylon content, but it maintained its blocked shape perfectly. I forget to measure it after blocking, but I tried it on and it seemed to be a nice length.

The yarn is a little bit of a blah color for me- I prefer accessories that add a pop of color to an outfit. However, I think that my aunt will love it. The yarn is so soft and wonderful. Although it’s intended as a sock yarn, I’m not sure that I would like socks made out of this, and how well they would wear.

Pattern: Strangling Vines Lace Scarf

Yarn: Classic Elite Alpaca Sox

Colorway: Sky, possibly- I don’t have the ballband, but this is my best guess.

Needles: US4

The Verdict: It’s so soft and lacey- it was a ton of effort, but I love the finished object!