A New Pullover

The Fourth Quarter ESK Knit Along has a Scandinavian theme.  Quite a few of these beautiful patterns involve colorwork.  Unfortunately, as I learned last year, I'm very slow at colorwork and as we approach the end of the year and the holidays, I just don't have time to get the project finished.  As I was looking through patterns (trying to talk myself down from the gorgeous stranded colorwork yoke pullovers), I found Scéal Gra.  Lace, I can do.

The pattern calls for a light fingering weight yarn and I decided I wanted a solid color.  This design is too pretty for variegated and speckled yarns.  I ended up choosing two yarns, both laceweight, to strand together - Shibuiknits Silk Cloud and Shibuiknits Lunar.  I went with the same colorway in both yarns - Deep Water.  It's darker than royal blue but not quite as dark as navy blue, and it leans just slightly towards green.  Lace usually shows up better in lighter colors, but I think with the high silk content of both yarns, the sheen will catch the light and the pattern will show up just fine.

I've just started knitting this but I'm through the short rows for the neck shaping and I'm about to begin the lace.  The two yarns together are super light and soft - I definitely want to use this combination again!

Lace

 

I've worked another section of my Clair de Lune cardigan.  This is the most complicated thing I've knit in a while, but I'm really enjoying it.  I think it helps that I've knit the Frost Flowers stitch pattern several times before.  Being comfortable with the basic stitch pattern (there are no rest rows on the wrong side - it's all lace) makes it easier to figure out what's going on in the design.  Also, I've been leaving the TV off while I knit this.  I just feel like it needs all of my attention.

In non knitting news, yesterday afternoon I cut out two more of the dresses I showed you on yesterday's blog.  I hope to get them stitched up over the weekend (I'll sew them at the same time because they both need navy thread) and I'll show them to you next week!  Have a great weekend!

The Wine Dark Sea

 

I'm knitting my last dark stripe before the final, wide lace section!  This has been such a fun project to knit!  It's easy to pick up and put down, the lace is simple to work and the garter stitch is mindless, autopilot knitting.  You can see the size it is thanks to my fuzzy photobomber here.  He was just sure I needed some help.

 

I tried to get a photo to show the colors better, but the Vermillion (the garter stitch) isn't photographing as dark as it really is.  Apparently, both Vermillion and Fragrant (the lace color) are being discontinued by Madelinetosh.  This is the first time I've used Fragrant, but I've used Vermillion several times.  I'm trying to decide if I need a Sweater Quantity before it's gone forever.

New Things

This weekend I needed to start something new.  I guess I didn’t really need to, but after finishing the sweater and mitts last week, there was room for a new project.  So I went through my patterns and did a bit of stash diving and this is what I came up with:

I’m in the SpaceCadet Mini Skein Club (The Ombre and Gradient Mix) and this was October’s Club offering.  The base is Lucina which has a tiny bit of sparkle in it.  I thought this would be perfect for the Iron Maiden shawl!  The black at the right of the photo is actually some black from The Loopy Solids Series that’s left over from another project.  A few people who’ve knit this have run out of yarn, so if I need a bit extra, I’ll go to the solid black at the end.  I’m also going to use beads - clear with silver lining because, why not?

Also this weekend, Caleb started teaching me to play The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim.  I’ve never been any good at playing video games (there are too many buttons on the controller), but Skyrim has a lot of walking around and talking to people in between the battles, so I’m kind of getting the hang of it.  Caleb keeps reminding me to use both joystick thingys at once, and tells me it’s like knitting.  I think using two needles at once is much easier than using two joystick thingys at once.  Caleb also frowns on trading out my battle helmet for the tiara I found and he doesn’t understand that the helmet is messing up my hair!

From the Depths of the Basket

 

I found something you haven't seen in a while!  It's probably been over a year since this has been on the blog.  It's been waiting patiently and politely for me to come back to it while I worked on other things.  What is it?  It's Fiori di Sole.  The yarn is laceweight  - Zephyr in Coral.  I was wanting something other than my cardigan and mitts to work on, so instead of casting on a NEW project, I pulled this one out of hibernation.  I'm currently in the middle section, the one with lots and lots of Shetland Fern.  Which means lots and lots of TV knitting!

I hope you have a great weekend!  Caleb's going back into braces next week (Phase II) so we'll probably spend the weekend eating sticky, chewy, and crunchy things!

Knit Something of the Month - May Edition

 

I started my new Knit Something of the Month project!  This is the start of the Narnia shawl, done in Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Iris.  This pattern has lace stitches on the right side and the wrong side, but so far I haven't had a problem (yeah, I know, I'm a whopping 36 rows in and congratulating myself for not having a problem yet, just work with me here).  There is a lot of texture on this shawl, but I think since the yarn has a bit of shine, even though it's a dark color, it should work.

Another New Project

 

With the new projects from last week, I really felt like I had enough going on (after all, I still have unfinished things), but then I realized that I didn't have anything to work on while I was waiting on Caleb.  None of my projects were easily portable, easily memorizable and easily stopped when people speak to me.  Naturally, I had to cast on for another project!  I'm now officially out of row counters and places to keep projects that are safe from Max.

This is Horai and it's meant to be a wrap/wide scarf kind of thing.  I'm using Shibuiknits Silk Cloud in Fjord which is double stranded.  Fjord is a very dark blue green that skews more to the blue side.  Kind of almost like navy but it went a little green at the end.  That probably makes no sense at all, but that's what it looks like.  It's photographing lighter than it really is because the flash is bouncing off the silk, but flash was mandatory this morning since it's cloudy and rainy today.  This pattern isn't charted, but it's only four rows and it's easy to memorize.  Max would also like you to know that he really likes this yarn.  He tried to walk off with a skein (repeatedly) and when I was starting this project, I couldn't convince him to take a nap for the life of me.  It's probably a good thing that this will be an out of the house project!

Ruffle My Feathers

 

Mommy finished something else for me to wear but I've got to do this quickly - the Max kitty is sneaking up on me.  He's a very scary kitty sometimes and he attacks me, but I chase him.  Sometimes I help him take a bath and sometimes he gives me a bath.  I'm wearing Mommy's new lace thing.  She says it's called Ruffle My Feathers and it's made in Sanguine Gryphon's Bugga in the Bomber Worm Colorway.  Bomber Worms sound scary, I hope I don't meet any!  The color actually matches Max's eyes so maybe he knows about Bomber Worms.

He did something yesterday morning that scared everyone in the house!  I'll tell you about it.  You all realize that the Max kitty isn't quite right in the head?  He's also able to get into small places and he had walked through the railing on one of the upstairs balcony areas.  Then do you know what he did?  He jumped!  From the upstairs to the downstairs, just jumped!  He landed on the slippery floor that Mommy calls "hardwood"  and he didn't do it right or something because he was holding one of his paws funny and doing something Mommy called "limping."  I gave him kisses on it though since everyone knows Golden Retriever spit heals everything.  By the time Mommy was dressed to take him to the vet though he was starting to put weight on it.  She called the vet instead and they said she could just watch him for a bit since he seemed to be able to do that.  Sure enough, after a nap, he was chasing me again with none of the limping.  I'm glad I was here with my magic spit and I could help the Max kitty.  I hope he doesn't do it again because Mommy and Daddy estimated the jump at 12-15 feet and that's too far for a Max kitty to jump.  I wouldn't jump that far, I think Mommy and Daddy have the stairs in the house for a reason.  This morning the Max kitty has been staying on the inside of the railing, where he's supposed to.

I've got to give this lace thing back to Mommy, Max just hopped sideways at me and ran off.  It is on!

Ta Da!

 

Stick a fork in it, the December Knit Something of the Month project is done!  All finished!  Twelve projects in twelve months, completed!  I don't know how you felt reading about my little challenge, but I really enjoyed doing it.  It gave me an excuse to cast on a new project when I was feeling bored with what I was working on, it gave me a sense of completion when I finished it, and it helped use up some stash yarn that had been waiting for me.

I've (obviously) got to block this, but now I can go stash diving and match another 12 patterns to yarns.  Yes, I'll go ahead and plan on 12 again - I clearly have high hopes for Maximus becoming a more mature kitty who doesn't "help" with the knitting so much.  I might be delusional, but I function pretty well that way at this point.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Ruffly Worm

I'm moving right along on my December Knit Something of the Month project.  I've got eight more rows plus a bind off and I'm done!  This is a great little knit and clearly works up quickly.  I'm waiting until I'm through with this before I drag out the potential stash for next years Knit Something of the Month projects.  Then I'll sort through things (with Max and Logan helping, I'm sure) and see what I'm doing next year.  I'm still debating eleven projects or twelve, but I'll figure it out before 2012 starts.

There was a question yesterday about ducks and yes, I'm afraid of ducks.  I was attacked by ducks when I was small and have considered them bloodthirsty and untrustworthy ever since.  Just to reinforce my duck issues, I was chased by one when I was running earlier this year (and no, I did not provoke it).  Caleb thinks it's amusing to walk around the house quacking.

As for today's blog title, my pattern for this month is Ruffle My Feathers (I linked it on a previous post) and the yarn is Bugga in Bomber Worm.  See?  Ruffly Worm.

December Knit Something of the Month

 

I'm doing much better at my December Knit Something of the Month project than I did with November's project.  It was portable during all that garter stitch, but if you look at the top center you can see I've started the lace.  The lace section isn't portable, but it still feels like it's moving pretty quickly.

This second picture shows one of my assistant photographers (the other one is off camera to my left).  Apparently there were some wrinkles that needed smoothing out.  Or something.

As quickly as this project is going, I'm questioning my earlier thought of only doing one project for November and December for next year's Knit Something of the Month.  Next year Max will be older and (possibly) more mature, or at least he shouldn't attack knitting as much as he does now (feline yarn tensioning device anyone?), so it's possible that I could do one project a month next year.  What do you think - leave a comment and I'll let you decide:  do I do 12 projects next year or only 11?  (This is just for the Knit Something of the Month thing, I'll still have other projects going on at the same time.)

December

Here we are on December 1 and I'm getting ready to start my last Knit Something of the Month Club project for 2011.  This is the first year I've challenged myself this way, but it will not be the last!  I wasn't sure how this would work for me since I don't always respond well to deadlines, but for the last 11 months, I've knit my project.  I've swapped some patterns and some yarn out from my original plan from last December, but I've done either socks or a shawl (and one scarf) each month this year.  Most have been in fingering weight except for January, which was worsted, but the yardage was about the same as the fingering weight projects.

I'm going to start my last project today, and it will be Ruffle My Feathers in Bugga (Bomber Worm colorway - here's what the actual Bomber Worm looks like if you're curious - don't worry it's not a really scary looking bug).  The nice thing about these smaller projects is that they give me something that can be finished quickly, which is a nice feeling to have when I'm also working on (or ignoring) larger projects (I'm so sorry Austin Hoodie).

Since it is December and I do plan to Knit Something of the Month next year, I need to pull out my stash soon and find some projects!  I'm not sure what I'll do yet and I might either skip socks or cut way back on them (the sock drawer is a bit full), but I'm not sure I want to do a dozen shawls either.  Maybe I'll add in some fingerless mitts!  Or a tiny, kitten shaped straight jacket...

Celaeno

 

Mommy finished up her Celaeno shawl (she helped me spell that) for her October Knit Something of the Month Club.  I got to wear it this morning but I really wanted to help her with those little sparkly bumps that are on it.  She says they're beads but I think I could pull them off for her and make it look better.  This is me looking deep into the camera to hypnotize Mommy with my big, dark eyes.  I figure if I can't get those bead things, maybe I can get some bacon.  Mommy says I have to tell you what yarn she used so blah, blah, Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the Bacon colorway, blah, blah.  Oh, Mommy says it's not the Bacon colorway, it's Lepidoptra (she helped me spell that one too, but she isn't sure she even got it right).

 

Here's what Mommy calls a "Detail Shot."  I call it taking a picture of a shawl on my drumstick, which is a little weird.  I mean, OK, the edge is kind of interesting (more of those bead things), but you can't see my pretty coat on my drumstick.  I think I need to get some photos made without shawls because I really don't walk around wearing them in real life - Mommy takes them away from me when she's done getting pictures.  I know where she keeps them though - in the closet place that I'm not supposed to be without "adult supervision" but I know how to open the door now and I play with Mommy's bathrobe which is a magical thing she puts on first thing in the morning to take me outside.  It has a rope thing I can use to pull her along if she's moving slowly.  All Mommies should have a rope thing to get them to move along in the morning!  Oh, I've got to go, she's coming back and I don't want her to know that I can get into the closet by myself.  Bye!

October Knit Something of the Month

 

I know it's already October 11 and I haven't shown you my Knit Something of the Month project for this month, but I haven't forgotten about it.  In fact, I'm binding off now.  I started it last Wednesday or Thursday and since garter stitch is easy even for sick people, I plowed through the first section pretty quickly.  By the time I was ready to start the lace I was feeling better, so I just kept going.  Now I'm just past the halfway point of the bind off.

 

Oh, what is it?  It's Celaeno from Romi's first ebook.  I used Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Lepidoptra.  I didn't put beads in the top garter section because I didn't have enough beads (and the being sick), but I did bead the lace section as it was charted.  I also skipped the last lace row on the chart because of yardage issues, but the pattern still works out without that row (I think).  Once I finish binding off, I'll get it blocked so Logan can wear it.  The silly puppy was hopping and dancing around yesterday morning, trying to model my Austin Hoodie, so I know he'll be happy to wear Celaeno.

Kleio

I finished my Kleio Saturday morning but didn't want to unpin it from it's blocking until I was sure it was completely dry.  I enjoyed working on this design and I love the finished shawl.  I used Socks That Rock Lightweight in Rook-y for the main color and The Loopy Ewe Solids Series in Malachite for the contrast color.  I decreased the cast on by two repeats because I didn't have as much of my Main Color as Romi did.  The shawl still came out plenty big but I didn't have to worry about running out of yarn.  The only other change I made was to use a US 7 (4.5 mm) for the braids so they wouldn't be too tight.  The braids took a lot of time and the twisty yarns nearly did me in a few times, but I love the added texture they give to the shawl.

 

And since we need a glamour shot to prove something is finished, Logan stepped up to help.  This was his best photo shoot yet - perfect behavior!

Kleio

 

I realized when I was correcting this morning's photo for color accuracy that Kleio looks like a wave.  I'm on the edging now!  Yes, the final edging that binds off the entire shawl!  When I began this project I took out two repeats from my cast on (there are directions for doing this in the pattern) because I didn't have as much yardage in my main color as Romi did.  When I finished up with the main color, after the third braid, I had 12 grams left, so it worked out nicely.  I have plenty of my contrast color so I'm not worried about running out mid-edging.  The edging isn't difficult, but with 500+ stitches to be bound off, it's going to take some time.  I'm hoping to get it finished up this weekend sometime though.  The edging can be worked on in front of the TV so that shouldn't be a problem, particularly Saturday.

I probably shouldn't admit this, but on Saturday mornings, once everyone is fed and taken care of, I make a big pot of tea (every other morning it's just a mug of tea), get out a fancy tea cup and make a nest back in the bed.  Once I'm properly snuggled in with my tea and knitting, I watch the SyFy channel - they play their own original movies on Saturdays, which are so wonderfully cheesy and silly.  There's usually some sort of theme to each Saturday:  mutant dinosaurs of destruction, mutant space invaders of destruction, giant mutant dinosaur sharks of destruction, medieval monsters of destruction, you get the idea.  It's good knitting TV and its fun to watch all that destruction and bad acting.

I forgot to mention, Logan's vet appointment went well.  He's healthy and growing nicely.  He weighs 76.5 pounds now and since he's 15 months old, he doesn't have too much more growing to do.  (He won't be full grown until he's about 2 years old.)  To compare, Finn weighed 62 pounds full grown, but our first Golden, Bear, weighed 80 pounds full grown.  We think Logan will be close to Bear's size, but he could be even bigger.  We're all happy he's a healthy boy, and he's happy he doesn't have to go back to the vet's anytime soon (although he did get lots of doggy cookies there).

Kleio

 

Kleio spent all last week waiting for me to do the second braid.  The braids, while they look really interesting (and don't photograph that easily), and add a lot to the design, are not fast and they can't really be worked in different knitting sessions.  Which means I needed a big chunk of time that I knew I could work fairly uninterrupted to do a braid.  I've been worrying about running out of my main color of yarn (it's Socks That Rock Lightweight in Rook-y), so when I started Kleio, I cast on for two fewer repeats to save some yarn.  When I started the second braid, I weighed my main color and had 42 grams left.  Four and a half hours later (see, I wasn't kidding about the big chunk of time), I weighed it again and had 34 grams left.  So I should be OK to get it finished.  As you can see above, I've done the stockinette stripe after the second braid and now I'm ready to do the third braid and the cast off edging and then Kleio is finished!

Kleio

 

It's not just little pink cabled socks around here.  At least not all the time.  Sometimes I set the sock down to take things out of Logan's mouth.  And sometimes, in between taking things out of Logan's mouth, I work on something else.  I've gotten all the way through the lace section of Kleio now and I'm ready to start my second braid.  The first braid took several hours and this next braid will have more stitches than the first.  Of course I'll also get to spend time taking things out of Logan's mouth while I work the braid, mainly the yarn I'm knitting with since he thinks he's part kitten and just can't control his yarn urges.  I've never seen a dog as interested in yarn and strings as Logan is.  Kleio is really fun for both of us - I get to knit and he chases yarn!

Little Leaves

I'm working on the short rows now and they're moving right along. My goal is to finish this up by Saturday morning so I can get it blocked and still have time to knit a gauge swatch for Camp Loopy Project 3. I think I'll make it. If I have extra time, I'll see what I can get done on Mickael's second sock. I'm to the heel flap on that and since the foot is stockinette, it should move along fairly quickly from here on. The sock has been my drag around, public knitting project but I think hexipuffs could fill that requirement. Since Caleb will be starting a new school year soon, maybe I can start a new portable project too! (So far I haven't started a hexipuff. I'm holding out and being a good knitter!)

Little Leaves

I'm zipping along on my Little Leaves AKA Knit Something of the Month for August project. I realize that it doesn't look like it's zipping along, but you start on the longer, outer edge on this project and work towards the shorter, inner edge, so I am actually zipping along. I've got less than 10 rows before I start the short rows for the top part of the shawl. I thought about adding more repeats of the lace (I've got plenty of yarn), but the more I looked at projects knit by the pattern compared to projects with extra repeats (don't you just love Ravelry), the more I liked the original proportions. The bead rows really slow me down (I'm using clear beads with silver lining - they look like water droplets), but I've only got one more. I'm still hoping to get this finished by this weekend, so you'll probably be seeing more of it this week. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go get Logan, he's licking an electrical outlet.