I Will Not Fade Away

 

The first blue section is moving along nicely in my Find Your Fade (this is color E, Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Budgie).  Also, I'm loving how the whole thing is looking so far!  As I work on this project, I can see why everyone on Ravelry is fading all the things!  Once this pattern went viral (there are currently 5700+ projects), and people saw how much fun the fading is, they wanted to keep fading when they were done.  I remember how exciting Color Affection was when it came out (three colors in one shawl - woo hoo!) and now Find Your Fade uses seven colors.  All the colors!  All the time!

Yeah.  I'm having fun with this project.

Sleeve Separation

 

I've gotten the sleeve stitches onto holders and separate from the body stitches on my Lightweight Pullover now.  At this point things should move along faster again since I have fewer stitches to work with.  I always feel like once the sleeve stitches are put on holders, the body goes very quickly.

I'm now knitting with Skeins 2 and 3.  The leftovers of Skein 1 have been divided for the sleeves.  I learned the hard way years ago that I needed to work the upper sleeves with the yoke skeins or things might get weird.  Handdyed yarns are fun that way!

Blue!

 

I've now started Color E in my Find Your Fade!  This is Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Budgie and it is the lightest of the blues that I'm using in this project.  The blues will be getting darker and darker to the end, so I'm very excited to get started with them.

This is such a fun project because about the time I start to get bored with it, it's time to start a new color and it gets exciting again.  Also, it's kind of an adventure using seven colors in a single project.  I want to do another one of these with blue greens!

Have a great weekend!  We're actually under a freeze warning!

Lightweight Pullover

 

My Lightweight Pullover (this really needs a better name) is moving along quickly.  It's almost to the place where the sleeve stitches go on holders.  I've also started working from two balls of yarn.  I don't usually start alternating on a top down sweater until the sleeve stitches are separated from the body, but the turtleneck took so much yarn, I was afraid I wouldn't have much of the first skein to work in if I waited that long.  I also like to keep part of each skein set aside and divided for the sleeves, so I'll probably be joining the third skein soon after the sleeve separation.

It's a good thing this is such a simple sweater.  Between changing the stitch count for the neck, adding short rows, having to compensate for the changed stitch count in the raglan increase section, and working from more than one ball of yarn at a time, I've made it plenty complicated.  Thankfully, KnitCompanion lets me put a bunch of notes in, so I can keep up with where I am (and what I'm doing).  Also, I'll be glad to have those notes if I ever want to knit this again.  This feels like the kind of design that I'm going to be knitting more than once.

Fading

 

The shaping has changed and I've turned a corner!  I'm finishing up Color D (the fourth of seven colors, Madelinetosh Twist Light in Video Baby) and the shaping has changed direction.  I'm hoping to start Color E (Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Budgie and the first of the blues) later this week.

Today though, I'm getting a new dryer.  Our dryer decided to die Monday night on the last load of the day (a set of sheets).  So I spread the damp sheets across the sofa and the guest bed (Max made a fort out of the sofa one) to let them air dry and we went and picked out a new dryer.  It's an exciting day here at Chez Pink Lemon!

Lightweight Pullover

 

The fourth quarter KAL for ESK is to knit something from your Ravelry queue or favorites that has been there for a while (I don't remember the exact requirement).  If you knit something that's been there five years or more you get the extra star.  I am knitting the Lightweight Pullover which I added to my favorites on October 5, 2009.  I cast on this weekend using Squoosh Fiberarts Rapture in Planet 9.

I decided to knit the collar in a rib so it wouldn't be quite so floppy, but I went up two sizes to keep it from getting tight (I don't like tight turtlenecks).  I'll sort out the stitch count difference and get back on track for my size somewhere in the raglan shaping.  I also added some short rows at the lower back of the collar.  I'm not sure that it needed them, but I'm funny about things on my neck.  The yarn is a Merino, Cashmere, and Silk blend (possibly the same as Madelinetosh's Pashmina) so it feels wonderful to knit with and will be soft to wear.

Depending on how my yardage is going, I might make extra long cuffs with thumb holes.  I have a few running jackets and pullovers with these and I love them, so I think I'll enjoy them in a non-running pullover too!

Have a Great Weekend!

Well, Flickr is having some sort of hiccup this morning, so I can't show you where I am on the Find Your Fade (still in Color D, Section 7, but completely finished with Color C);  Runkeeper didn't track this morning's run correctly; and I just caught Max trying to eat my breakfast.  I think I'm going to go back to bed.

I do plan to start another sweater this weekend, even though I haven't woven in the ends and finished the Bentley Cardigan yet.  I just feel like I need a sweater on the needles.

I hope the rest of the weekend goes more smoothly than this morning is going and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  If you're going to Rhinebeck this weekend, have fun! 

Shifting

 

I've barely begun the fourth color (Color D) in my Find Your Fade.  I'm just finishing up the fade from Color C to Color D at this point and this is also the color that bridges from the pink/red violet tones to blue tones, so it's kind of a big deal in how my fade works.  The yarn is Madelinetosh Twist Light in Video Baby.  Since my yarns for this project came from stash, I've got all different yarns from different dyers and different fibers, but I think in the end it will all work together.  I'm really wanting to knit another one of these in greens/blue greens at some point and if I do that, I'll have to buy yarn.  Maybe I'll be more consistent in my yarns for that one.

Fading

 

I'm into my third color for my Find Your Fade!  This is Dream in Color Jilly in Dream On!  I'm thinking I would like a sweater out of this.  I'm loving the colors.  The knitting is simple, and while the rows are getting longer and longer, it's still moving pretty quickly.  It helps that I'm excited to see the next color and how it looks.  I'm going to have to wind some more yarn later today!

The Knitting is Finished

 

I've finished the knitting on my Bentley cardigan.  It's still got a ways to go though.  Before I can call it completely finished, I've got to do a few more things:

• Weave in the ends
• Make button loops for the cuffs (that's why there's way too much yarn hanging off each sleeve)
• Block the sweater
• Prepare the button bands
• Finish the button bands
• Sew on the buttons

I've decided to add fabric reinforcement to the button and button hole bands and while theoretically I know what I'm doing, I've never actually done it.  I have some store bought cardigans that have petersham reinforced button bands, but as I was looking around the Internet for tutorials, I found one that mentioned using fabric.  I think some of my Liberty Tana Lawn scraps would make gorgeous button bands, so that's what I'm planning to use.

I've got a lot to do before this is finished, but it feels good to have the knitting part finished.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Another Pair of Footie Socks

 

I've started another pair of footie socks.  At this point, I think I've said everything I have to say about this pattern.  I love it.  It's fast.  You should try it.

The yarn this time is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight in Rosebud. 

A New Wrap!

 

I've started my Find Your Fade wrap!  Since I finished my Canal Grande wrap, I got to start my Find Your Fade and I've already made it to the second color!  I'm using the third color order I showed a few weeks ago.  That one was actually arranged by Caleb.  When I told him the blog had liked his the best, he replied, "Of course they did."  Not too modest, but he's a lot of fun!

So far it's going well and I'm enjoying the knitting.  I think the fact that it changes colors so many times throughout is going to make it a very fun project!

Canal Grande Wrap Finished!

 

My Canal Grande scrap wrap is all finished!  It's blocked, the ends are woven in, and it's ready to toss around my shoulders!  This was a great stash buster for using little partial balls of yarn leftover from socks and other projects.  I used 365 grams of fingering weight yarn by knitting this (figuring on an approximate average of about 400 yards per 100 grams, that's 1,460 yards).  Blocked, it measured 22 inches by 87 inches, but it bounced back a few inches lengthwise after I unpinned it.  It's still a great size for wrapping around a jacket or coat.

I enjoyed knitting this and I'm really happy with the finished wrap.  The only issue I had with it was my own inability to count, but I found that if I'd count stitches on wrong side rows, I could stay on track.

I could definitely see myself making this again at some point, when the leftovers start piling up!

One Sleeve and Lot of Strings

 

I've finally finished the first sleeve of my Bentley Cardigan.  I was at a point where I needed to try it on to figure out where I was on the sleeve, but in order to try it on, I had to put the sleeve stitches on a holder so I wouldn't drop any stitches (I knit sleeves on my nine inch circulars).  I knew this would take a few minutes and I just hadn't taken the time.  I finally sat down and did it, made some notes on how much more knitting the sleeve needed and finished the sleeve.  I now have notes and round numbers for the second sleeve, so that one should move much faster.

At some point I'm going to have to address the yarn ends on this project.  I really don't see that happening before I knit the second sleeve, but I will have to start weaving ends in eventually.  I'm really close to finishing this sweater, but for some reason it feels like it's farther from being done than it is.  Do you ever have a project like that, where it seems bigger in your head than it is in reality?

The Knitting is Finished!

 

Yesterday was another practice SAT day here, which means I sit and knit while he takes the practice test (next week he takes the actual PSAT).  I was able to finish knitting my Canal Grande wrap by bedtime last night with the extra knitting I got in during the school day!  This was a fun project and it definitely busted some leftovers in stash, but I'm glad to get it finished too.  I'll be blocking it this weekend for it's final blog appearance sometime next week!

I hope you all have a great weekend!  I've got to get some yarn wound for my Find Your Fade!

Canal Grande Wrap

 

I am almost finished with my Canal Grande scrap wrap.  If I'm doing the math right, I have about eight more colors to go before I bind off.  Since I had two red violet mini stripes before my first yellow mini stripe at the beginning, I want the same at the end.  It's hard to see, but I've just finished the first of those last two red violet stripes for the end.  I've been using up yarns (which was a large part of the purpose of this project) so there is not only less yarn left to use, but there are fewer balls of it as well.  I've decided to focus on this the rest of the week and get this project off the needles!  I'm so close to being finished, it doesn't make sense not to get it all the way completed.

I'm going to need to wind my yarn for my Find Your Fade soon!

We Now Return to Your Regularly Scheduled Blogging

Sorry about the radio silence.  We had some technical difficulties here when I tried to update my computer and I managed to turn it into a brick.  The Apple Genius Bar people were able to get my files off of it and put them on my new computer, but there's still a lot of sorting out I need to do with the new computer.  Throw a double vet appointment on top of all the computer fun and that's why I have been missing.  (Logan and Max are both fine - they just had to go for their yearly checks.)

 

I have been knitting through all the craziness around here and I've finished my Ravelry Red (also known as one of the best reds ever) footie socks.  You've seen this pattern before and (spoiler alert!) you're going to see it again.  I love these socks!  I've already picked out another partial ball of leftover yarn to make another pair.  These are currently my only portable project, so I'll just keep cranking them out!

I hope to return to the regular blogging schedule now.  BTW, does anyone have a favorite way to back up files on a MacBook?  I really need to learn how to do that.