Finished!

I (finally) finished my Elsom wrap.  I got the second skein of the last color last week and was able to finish it over the weekend.  It's huge.  Seriously.  Also, I love it.  If anyone else is interested in knitting one, I highly suggest you follow the directions.  I didn't, which is why I ran out of yarn.

This was knit in Cascade Heritage Sock in the colors Vintage Indigo (I want a little cardigan out of this color), Caribbean Sea, Jade, and Herb.  I used one skein each of all the colors except Herb and I had to use about 100 yards of a second skein for that one.  Which means, I used about 300 yards more than the pattern called for.  As I mentioned before, I didn't see anyone having this problem in the Ravelry projects, so I'm assuming it's not a pattern issue, but a Pink Lemon issue.

I guess this is why our parents tell us to follow directions!

Quality Control

I've started the fourth and final color of my Elsom wrap, Herb.  I'm very happy with all of the colors I've used in this project and will definitely be using the Cascade Heritage Sock again when I'm looking for solid fingering weight yarn options.

Sometimes, as I'm knitting a project I start to wonder about it.  Is this sweater going to be cozy?  Will these socks keep my feet toasty?  Is this wrap going to be the perfect extra layer of warmth?  That's where the Chez Pink Lemon Testing Professional comes in.  This highly skilled team member is always ready to step in and test knitting projects at any stage of the process.  As you can see, the Elsom wrap got a surprise inspection earlier this week, but fortunately, it passed its tests with flying colors.  You can tell that by the way the Testing Professional has passed out under his work.  This wrap is going to do its job well!

Have a great weekend and be sure to test your knitting frequently!

Something New, And It's Not A Sock!

Don't be alarmed, I am still working on a pair of socks, but I decided to start something else as well.  This is the Stole Dunes wrap, knit in Malabrigo Sock in Cote D'Azure (Color A) and Indonesia (Color B).  The pattern is designed by Svetlana Gordon and I've been drooling and favorite-ing her designs for several years now.  I finally decided to start knitting one.  

The pattern sample is knit in a long color change yarn, using only one colorway for both the background and foreground by starting in two different places in the color repeat.  I decided to use two different colors, using a mostly solid navy for the background and the multicolored Indonesia colorway for the foreground.  I haven't knit a swatch, but I think this pattern would actually work in a single, light colored solid color.  There's a definite texture difference between the background and foreground "waves."  I think it's a really striking design, but once I'd worked through the first repeat and figured out what was going on, I was able to watch TV pretty easily while I work on it.

Last week we went down to Galveston to move Caleb out of his dorm.  We ended up driving home in a really bad thunderstorm, but we all made it safely and we're so glad to have him home.  Last fall semester he came home several times for hurricanes and tropical storms, but this spring he stayed there and between the freak winter weather with rolling blackouts and Logan's extended recovery from his foot surgery, we didn't make it down to visit him either.  Fortunately, he wasn't homesick like he was last fall when he first went away, but he's happy to be back home too.

Almost There!

 

I've begun Color F (AKA Dream in Color Smooshy With Cashmere in Sleeping Under the Stars) which is the second to last color in my Find Your Fade!  The blues are getting darker!  This whole project is already big and squishy, but I've got a little bit more to go.  I had to fold it to get all six of the colors so far into a single picture, but I know big and squishy and colorful will be great to wrap around (and around) my neck on a cold day.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

I Continue to Stripe, and Stripe, and Stripe...

 

The Canal Grande scrap wrap is slowly getting bigger and bigger.  The balls of leftover yarn in the bag are getting smaller and smaller.  The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round.

Ooops, I got sidetracked there, sorry.

It's now big enough for Max to curl up under while I work on it as long as I'm careful to twist it back and forth as I work on it instead of around and around.  There are a couple of yarns I'm about to finish up completely so I'm trying to work those in with some of the yarns that have several more stripes worth of yarn in them.  I think if I really work at it, I can finish this wrap in another week or so.  I'm hoping to use up the majority of the yarns I pulled for this project though, so I might make it a little bit longer than I'd originally intended.  I guess I'll know it's done when it's done!

Have a great weekend!

Halfway There

 

You can get a lot of knitting done while you time a practice SAT test.  I'm definitely at or past the halfway point now!  (I haven't actually measured with a measuring tape, but I'm assuming 36 inches is halfway since I want it to finish at about 72 inches.  Knitting isn't always a precise art.)

Have a great weekend!

All The Colors!

 

Before I can begin a Find Your Fade (thanks for all your opinions on yesterday's post by the way!), I have to finish my Canal Grande scrap wrap.  I've worked another six inches or so since you saw it last.  I'm pretty sure I'm not quite to halfway but I'm almost there.  This thing stretches like crazy, so I have to keep that in mind so I don't have a finished wrap that drags the ground.

I'm still counting on every wrong side row since apparently I can't remember to increase where I'm supposed to.  This is why I don't do cross stitch - I can't count.  (Also, this is why I don't teach Caleb math.  He has to learn from his math curriculum or Khan Academy.  It works much better that way.)

Learning to Count

 

I've gotten quite a bit more work done on my Canal Grande scrap wrap.  It's moving along nicely and I can tell that the bag of yarn is less full than it was when I started.  That's always a nice feeling - being able to see that you are actually using up the yarn you're trying to use in a stash busting project.

Remember the other day how I mentioned that I was counting stitches every four rows?  Well, I'm not doing that anymore.  I'm now counting stitches every wrong side row.  Also some right side rows.  There have been a few problems.  It's totally my own fault.  Once you get the pattern established, you knit the same four rows over and over and things only happen on two of those rows.  There are markers, color coded, to tell me what to do on the rows where things happen and I'm still making stupid mistakes.  I have no excuses or explanations.  I just have counting issues.

I am really liking the colors!

More! More! More!

 

As the final blog post going into the weekend, I give you even more stripes in the Canal Grande wrap!  This is moving along nicely and it's actually growing quicker than I was expecting it to, which is a nice surprise.

Have a great weekend!

More Stripes!

 

I've been knitting more stripes on my Canal Grande (scrap) wrap!  The more colors I add to it, the more I like it.  To be honest, when I first started, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or if it was just going to be weird.  At this point, I'm really liking how it's working and it's really fun to knit.

I have discovered that I need to check my stitch count periodically because I had lost a few stitches.  I don't know if I was forgetting random increases or dropping them on subsequent rows, but I've started counting stitches every four rows to double check things.  That seems to be keeping me on track.  It's funny how simple knitting projects are the ones that seem to cause the most trouble!

More Stripes, More Fun!

 

I've gotten some more done on my Canal Grande scrap wrap (and I've learned that I need to recheck my count periodically - holy magical disappearing stitches Batman!)  The more colors I add to this the more I like it.  I still haven't worked through all the colors I sorted when I began, but I'm enjoying working on it.

Just in case anyone was curious, I'm weaving in the ends as I go.  The pattern gives directions for working them in as you knit, so I won't have to go back later and deal with them.  That could have been a problem!