Sleeves

 

These are sleeves.  They don't look like sleeves, but that's because they're short sleeves with a provisional cast on for the hem that hasn't been turned under and sewn down.  They are sleeves though.  Sleeves for my Crown Tee which is my nupps/bobbles/popcorn project for Loopy Academy.  I had a lot of trouble deciding what to make for this project because I'm not a fan of bobbles.  Nupps are flatter and slightly less offensive, and I really like the way they are used in this pattern.

I'm using Wollmeise Pure in Dunkle Kirsche which is not photographing well at all.  It's a deep, wine red, the color of fresh cherries (the dark ones in the produce section in the summer, not the bright red kind you get on your sundae).  I will be alternating skeins even though they look identical.  I'm afraid if I don't then when I start the second skein it will be just different enough that I'll wish I had alternated.  It's easier to alternate from the start and not really need to than find out at the end that I should have alternated.

Weaving

 

I finished setting up the loom and have started weaving on my Seventh Weaving Project.  This is the first time I've used the same yarn for both warp and weft (Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Optic) and it's fun to watch the patterns emerge.  I think the speckle dyed yarns look great in weaving.  I'm about 15 inches into the scarf at this point, but now that it's going, it should move along pretty quickly.  Like I mentioned, it's fun to watch the patterns and seeing the random criss cross of the lines makes me want to weave a little longer.

Gloves

 

I've finished the first glove to the point where I'm ready to knit fingers!  I decided to put the stitches on scrap yarn (to hold them) and knit the second glove to that point before beginning fingers.  This way I can knit fingers on the right and left glove together, so they're the same size.  On fingerless mitts, I always do the thumbs last, after everything else, so it makes sense (to me) to work the fingers together, at the end.

I'm hoping to get started on my other two Loopy Academy knitting projects this week.  I've got the yarn wound and patterns picked!

It is Finished!

 

I finished with just wisps of yarn left, but I finished my Toujours!  The sleeves are elbow length, which means I won't spend all day pushing them out of the way.  (That's the way they're designed in the pattern.)  The pattern is Toujours and while it was easy to knit, you do need to commit to stockinette before knitting it, because it's a big, boxy sweater with a smaller gauge.  I knit it in Malabrigo Arroyo in English Rose, alternating skeins.

I think this will be great with skinny jeans or leggings and this morning, I think it might actually get cool enough to wear it at some point this fall!

I Did It!

 

 I got the first sleeve finished!  I did have to use a tiny bit of yarn from the second sleeve's portion to finish the bind off, but the amount I used was a lot less than the three grams I could have used.  Now I just have to knit the second sleeve, weave in eleventy million ends, sew on some buttons, block it and it's finished!

Have a great weekend!

Playing Yarn Chicken

 

I've been working on Toujours and that's all I'm going to be working on until I finish it or run out of yarn.  After finishing the body, I divided the remaining yarn in half for the sleeves.  I had forgotten the neckband though, so I knit that first with the yarn I'm using for the first sleeve (it used 6 grams).  I'm now working on the first sleeve, watching my tiny balls of yarn (I'm alternating to blend colors) get tinier and tinier.  I'm less than halfway down the sleeves right now (they're short because the body of the sweater is so big and boxy), but I have no idea if I'm going to have enough yarn to finish.  I can take 3 grams of yarn from the other sleeve to finish this one, but I don't know if that's going to be enough.

I might have enough yarn to just squeak by.  I really have no idea.  So I'm just going to keep knitting until I'm finished or I run out of yarn.  It's very exciting!

Toujours

 

I finished the body of Toujours last night!  I've divided the remaining yarn in half for the sleeves, but then I realized I needed to knit the neck band first, so that wasn't too well thought out.  I think I should also note here that this sweater looks really strange on Fifi.  Strange enough that right after I took this picture, I popped it on over my workout clothes because I thought I might be frogging it and starting over.  Fortunately, it looks fine on me.  I think it has something to do with Fifi not having full shoulders or arms.  It's kind of a big, boxy shape and it needs arms.  I think it's going to look great with skinny jeans or leggings once it's all finished and blocked.  The body (being so big and boxy) felt like it took a while to knit, but I don't think the sleeves will take too long.

Seventh Weaving Project

 

I mostly got my loom warped over the weekend for my Seventh Weaving Project.  This is another scarf, and at this point, it will be the last scarf for a bit.  (I know, I've said that before, but this time I mean it - my next weaving project will be Not A Scarf.)  I'm using Madelinetosh Tosh Sock again in the Optic colorway for both warp and weft.  This is the first time I've used the same yarn color for the warp and the weft in a project.

And just in case you were wondering how I mostly warped my loom?  I got the warp wound on the back beam but I haven't threaded it through the holes of the heddle (its only through the slots) and I haven't tied it to the front beam.  That's mostly warped.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go haul Max out of the kitchen sink.

And Then There Was A Thumb!

 

I've made it past the thumb gusset on my first Three Oaks glove!  My next big event will be putting the pinky stitches on a holder.  (If you look at the back of your hand with your fingers together, you can see that your pinky actually separates from your palm about 1/2 an inch or so lower than the other fingers.  In order for the gloves to fit, the pinkies have to start lower too.)  Then I'll be on to the other fingers.  I think I'll wait until I've knit the second glove to do the thumbs though.  Thumbs are always last and I see no reason to change that.

Have a great weekend!

Lorelai

 

She is finished!  There are a couple of things I still have to figure out (how I want to style her hair and what to do for a top for her), but I'm calling her finished.  She was so much fun to make!  I kind of freaked myself out about her hair because I wanted long hair, not the little pin curls in the pattern, so that slowed me down while I tried to figure out what to do, but it wasn't really hard to do after all.

I used Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Mandala for her tail, her body is Natural, her belt is Nassau Blue, and her hair is Log Cabin Brown.  I plan to make her a friend at some point and reverse the tail and belt yarn colors.  I got her eyes from 6060 Eyes on Etsy.  I've bought eyes there several times and have been happy with them.

My next Lalylala will be my toy assignment for Loopy Academy and you'll have to wait and see which one I've picked!

Loopy Academy, Knitting

With the beginning of September, Loopy Academy has begun again as well!  I'm working on the first semester of my Junior year for the knitting version of Loopy Academy.  The projects for this semester are gloves, a toy using two or more colors, and a project with nupps (or bobbles or popcorn stitches).  I've gotten my yarn for all three projects, but the only one I've started is the gloves.

I'm making the Three Oaks gloves in Malabrigo Sock in Ravelry Red.  Can I just take a minute and tell you how much I love this red?  It's the perfect red, and I want an entire hoodie out of it!

OK, back to the gloves.  I'm not doing the cute little button tab thing on the cuff because I think it's going to get smooshed and clumped up in a sleeve.  Instead, I just worked the cuff in ribbing.  I'm just about to start the hand chart in this picture and this thing is flying off the needles!  There's just enough pattern with the cables, but not so much that it's slow to knit.  I wanted to start the gloves first because I think they're the most involved of the three projects I chose, and I didn't want to be trying to finish them at the end of the semester.  As I finish up Lorelai (Mici) the Mermaid and my Toujours pullover, I'll start the Loopy Academy toy project and the Loopy Academy nupp project.

Toujours

 

I haven't been blogging about it, but I've been steadily knitting away at my Toujours.  I'm now just a few rounds away from separating the front and back, so I thought I'd bring it back to the blog.  As you can see, this has been a lot of stockinette, and it's knit in a finer yarn and it's an oversized sweater.  At times, I wondered if I was knitting a ranch house!  It's been great TV knitting in the evenings, but I'm looking forward to things like sleeves and neck shaping - things like that.

Lorelai

 

Remember her?  Lorelai is my Mici the Mermaid.  I started her back in February and she's spent most of that time just sitting there.  I've been working on her here and there though and I've now got all the little parts of her made and ready to sew together!  Clockwise from the top is her hair cap* (this gets sewn to her head and then her hair is attached to it - that way she won't have white spots trying to peek through her hair), arms, stars (these are for her bra - starfish!), and her fins.  I will have to finish the tie on her belt and add her hair, but for the most part, I need to sit down this weekend with a needle and some pins and start sewing her together.  I hope to get her together soon because I'm going to be making Sepp the Seahorse by the same designer for my toy for Loopy Academy this fall!

*I'm not doing hair like the pattern has.  I wouldn't need the hair cap for that.  I'm going to do a more traditional, long mermaid hair kind of thing.  Hopefully.

Sixth Weaving Project Finished

 

Earlier this week I finished my Sixth Weaving Project and got it off the loom!  This is another scarf.  I'm really happy with my selvedges on this project.  I've been working on making them better.

Both the warp and weft are Madelinetosh Tosh Sock: the warp is Charcoal and the weft is Mare.  This is the first time I've used this yarn for weaving and I really like it.  (I like it for knitting too.)  It's a fatter fingering weight yarn and it plumps up in the weaving.  I'm looking forward to seeing what it does after washing and finishing, but first I have to finish the ends.

I now have three scarves with ends that need finishing.  I should probably get on that but I've got one more scarf to weave and I'm rationalizing waiting by thinking that I could do the edgings all at once.  Or maybe I should just work on them one at a time and get them done.

Pleasant Trip

 

I finished up Pleasant Trip and it's blocked and ready for cooler weather!  This was a fun, fast knit.  I used Madelinetosh Pashmina in Scarlet to make it. I particularly like the little picots on the bind off (the bumps on the edge).  I think they dress up the edge a bit.  It's super soft and drapy and just kind of cuddles up around the neck, which is exactly what I'm looking for in a cowl!

Gift Knitting

 

I've already started working on Christmas gifts this year.  Some of them will be on the blog, some won't.  Some of them will be blogged as gifts, some will just be blogged like a regular project.  I'm sneaky this way, depending on who the gift is for and whether they read the blog or not.

This is a cashmere hat.  I got the yarn and original pattern from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas, but resized the pattern a bit so it would fit the giftee.  The yarn is wonderful.  I mean it's 100% Italian Cashmere, how can you go wrong?  If blogs were tactile, I would pass this around so you could all feel it and give it a squoosh.  You'll just have to use your imagination.  It's glorious.  I used the Charcoal colorway so it will go with either black or navy coats.  Did I mention it's really amazing yarn?