WiP Thursday

So I kind of missed yesterday. It was a busy SpaceCadet day. I took this pile

  That’s a black-and-white photo, folks. I can’t spoil the surprise!
Matched everything up with a “shiny” and dyers notes and got rid of this mountain.


The Yarn Alliance is on its way today!

Yes, this was Polar Vortex Week here in the East. The Hubster was out of town for the first half of the week, so I took a pic of our indoor/outdoor thermometer for him on Tuesday night. Just FYI, the clock is set to Daylight Time, and since it sits right next to a correctly-set clock that’s easier to see, I never bother to change it.


And, in other news, I was in a hurry yesterday, but I did snap a picture of my Leftie-in-Progress:


The color from last week is actually true. The above pic is way too blue. But you can see how much progress I’ve made! My main skein is looking a little thin, so we’ll just see where this thing ends up.

Lintilla

I’m not much for pastel colors. But then a funny thing happened at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival way back in March.

I was working the SpaceCadet booth on Friday, and I needed something to wear during the show. So I grabbed something out of the sample pile. It was Peacethrufiber’s Lintilla shawl.


I’ve never gotten so many compliments on a knitted item in my life.

So I decided pretty quickly that I needed to make one for myself. Fortunately, I know the dyer of the yarn, and she was willing to dye two skeins of Lucina (our sparkly base) in Usui for me to use for this shawlette.


She even through in a tiny bit more color than normal, including a little extra purple. Yay! The yarn landed at my house for my birthday, and I started it shortly after I got home from Oklahoma in mid-June.

My summer was full of lots of things that weren’t necessarily knitting-friendly, but I had a deadline. I needed a finished SpaceCadet knitted thing in time for Indie Knit & Spin in November. Especially since Peacethrufiber has moved to Hong Kong and taken her Lintilla with her!


I knit the increase pattern to 30 ruffles, if I remember correctly, then started the endless short rows. I had plenty of yarn, but because of how the shawl is shaped, it was gonna get really funny-looking if I kept going before I started to decrease.


All in all, I’m pleased with the project. I love knitting garter stitch, and this was no exception. Yay having a work-appropriate “thing” to wear at shows!

    Lintilla    Pattern: Lintilla by Martina Behm  Size: Shawl-sized  Yarn: SpaceCadet Creations Lucina  Color: Usui  Amount: Roughly 1.3 skeins  Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm)  Started: 10 June 2013  Finished: 29 October 2013  Mods: None, other than freestyling the number of ruffles before I started decreasing.

Jazz Reprise

I knit my first Shawl That Jazz a couple years ago, and it was both a really fun knit and a shawl I use fairly regularly. Win!


So, when I stumbled across two skeins of Blue Moon Twisted at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival back in May, I decided to jump back in again. (and I kind of enabled two friends along the way. Oops?)


Once again, the pattern knit up really quickly, and I like the finished shawl.

Thanks much to my friend Stephanie for putting a fresh eye behind my camera. And provided the mannequin. Yay! 

The Twisted is extremely squishy and makes a nice garter stitch fabric. Picking up the wraps to create the ruffle is the only mildly complex part of the process. All in all, I wouldn’t be surprised if yet another one of these winds up on my needles eventually!

Shawl That Jazz, Volume II 

Pattern: Shawl That Jazz by Samantha Roshak 

Size: Shawl-sized 

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted 

Color: Pussy Broadway 

Amount: 2 skeins 

Needles: US 10.5 (6.5mm) 

Started: 10 May 2013 

Finished: 26 May 2013 

Mods: Knit the ruffle until I ran out of yarn/had barely enough to bind off. Yay, scales!

A New Year

So it’s January 1, and it’s been radio silence on the blog for quite a while.

I’d at least like to wrap up the projects that I finished in 2013, and then I’ll hopefully be back in the blogging groove! That’s a long list, and I’m chipping away at getting those posts in the bank.

But meanwhile, today is Wednesday. So let’s start off the year right, with a WiP Wednesday post!

My Swirl is still languishing in a corner. If I sat down and actually, y’know, worked on it, I’m pretty sure it could be finished in short order.

Instead, I’ve been working on a Leftie shawl, knit with a SpaceCadet Creations Leftie kit.


It had a false start when I decided that even though I was two leafs into a 1-5, 1-5 repeat (light to dark every time), it would be better if I went light-to-dark-to-light.

A Twitter-encouraged frogging of about two inches and a re-ordering of leaf colors, and I’m off to the races.


I wasted a perfectly good warp-the-loom day on Saturday, so I’m officially committing to my next weaving project. This really narrow warp will go on at my next opportunity, and will hopefully weave quickly.


It had better weave quickly. I have two tencel warps ready to roll waiting in line behind it!

WiP Wednesday

Yeah, WiP Wednesday is a good place for me to get back into the habit of blogging, right? I have two projects currently on the needles right now. One is my Swirl, which is sooooo close to done


I’ve bound off for the center-neck and am still chugging along at full sleeve width. Should be zooming along soon, except my travel knitting has been getting the lion’s share of work


It’s a Color Affection I’m knitting for my friend Sairy. She knit one for herself a while ago and her mom loved it. Sairy has no interest in knitting another CA so I said I’d do it. She dyed the yarn and sent it to me ages ago. I finally started on Saturday night, and I’m moving right along!

Finally, I have some placemats on the loom that are close to finished, but I forgot to take a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

WiP Wednesday

Oh yeah. The Blog. Right.

 I feel like the old Johnny Cash song “I’ve Been Everywhere” rather accurately describes my 2013 to this point. But now I can stay in one place for a little while. I have multiple finished projects to show you, but it’s Wednesday, so for now I shall show you my WiPs.

As has become custom, I started a pair of socks while at the Women’s College World Series.


I started it the first day I was in Oklahoma. And that was pretty much the last “normal” thing about the 2013 WCWS. What a strange week it was.

Once I got home, I started on a project I’d been wanting to take on since the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival in March. I worked in the SpaceCadet Creations booth, and wore one of the shop samples while working in the booth. I got so many compliments on that Lintilla that I decided to make my own!


Yes, I still love garter stitch. I’ll be garter stitching right along for quite a while, and yes! I’m happy about that!

WiP Wednesday

It was a busy day, but it’s still Wednesday, so you get a WiP post!

Last Friday, I needed a knitting project to take with me to my Friday night group. The “last in first out” policy was suggested, and since the last yarn I bought in Maryland was this…


I decided that Shawl That Jazz would be a good next project. I was off to the races! Most of my Sunday was spent knitting and watching sports, so I got a really good chunk of knitting done. And, believe it or not, I finished the entire 540-yard first skein last night.

One thing I learned the last time I knit this is that there’s no good way to get a good WiP shot of this shawl. So you get a picture of a big blob.


I’ll join the second skein as soon as I’m done typing at you (and posting), and I’ll be back off to the races.

Because of the high yardage of these skeins, I’ve been using my Strauch winder. It makes a more vertical cake, and I loved how the core looked on the Twisted. So I threw it in the light box and took a few pictures.


See? Very cool!

The Owlery

I woke up on New Year’s Day and had nothing planned but a full day of football-watching. I had some breakfast, went to the gym … then came home and decided it was time to start knitting.

Some wonderful friends of mine had been talking about doing a Hogwarts Express Knit-A-Long. I had received the pattern as a Christmas gift. I’d had yarn and beads picked out for this shawlette for months. Yes, I said beads. Don’t panic.


So I started knitting again for the first time since August 12. I know some knitters start tearing their hair out with miles of garter stitch, but I’m not one of them. It makes me happy and made this the perfect re-entry project.

I threw together a dash of recent experience with a spoonful of my knitting preferences and made a few modifications. I hate yarn overs (well, the holes they create), so I did a M1 increase instead. Because I knew this would “eat” any give to the edge that would have been contributed by the yarn-over, I did the edge very similar to Color Affection. I added a yarn over to the start of each row and dropped it on the way back.


I wound up with an edge loose enough to allow some manipulation in blocking, but snug enough to create the required curl. I win. When it was time to start making the Owls, I got lucky and the precise number of stitches appropriate for the repeat. Yay for no adjustments!


I did the wider border version of the pattern, paired with the less-pointy tips, and did not do the “more ruffles” variation. I used a crochet hook to add the beads for the owl-eyes. It was very simple and I’d do it again when I find another pattern I want that needs beads.


All in all, a successful project on many levels. And it’s cute, too!

Hogwarts Express 

Pattern: Hogwarts Express by Susan Ashcroft 

Yarn/Color: String Theory Caper Sock in Skerry 

Quantity: Less than 1 skein. Started with 119.3 grams, finished with 22.5 grams left. 

Needles: US 6/4.0mm Signature Needle Arts 36” circ 

Started: 1 January 2013 

Finished: 13 January 2013 

Mods: No icky yarn overs. Less-pointy tips. Inadvertently did an extra garter ridge worth of border prior to bind-off. Oops.

WiP Wednesday: Hogwarts Express

So. I’ve had the yarn and beads (yes, beads!) for Hogwarts Express hanging around for several months. I got the pattern for Christmas from an awesome friend, and a couple other online friends wanted to start too.

 On January 1, I started knitting again. For the first time since my Mom died on August 12. (I'd been doing some crochet and lots of sewing and weaving. But no knitting.)

 Last Wednesday, my progress on the Hogwarts Express looked like this


And this morning, it looked like this

 

 

How about a close-up of those owls? 

 

Yep. Express is about right. I may have it done by the weekend! (maybe. Knitting time will be very scarce the rest of this week)

I’m already planning what I’ll take with me on an upcoming Florida trip at the end of the month, and I’m sure I’ll get back to my previously-in-progress projects soon.

WiP Wednesday

So my poor I.B. Footsie sock is dying of neglect. Why? Shortly after purchasing my shiny awesome Signature needle, I cast on for a Color Affection/Affliction/Infection shawl. It’s kind of perfect mindless or multitasking knitting (reading! I love my e-reader!), so it’s been getting my knitting time.


I like it, and I’m going to keep going. But I’ve definitely come to the conclusion that I should probably have thought about my yarn choices a little more. The blue and purple are both pretty much the same value, and don’t contrast as much as I’d like.


Do you see it? How about now?


And yeah, if I’d really thought about it and not been in such a hurry to pick yarn before I went to Maryland, I would have caught it.


Yeah. Don’t be like me. Take your time picking your yarns for Color Affection. THEN you can enjoy the hell out of knitting it. You’re welcome.

Cranford Shawl

So my Week of Finished Things concludes with a test knit I’ve been doing for a friend. When PAKnitWit was designing this shawl and knitting on it during our Hurricane Knitters meetings, I knew it was going to be right up my alley. I asked to test-knit on the spot.


Stupid lack of simultaneous daylight + photographer = disappointing indoor photo.
Because I am at a Serious Simultaneous Deadlines portion of my year, I really buckled down to make sure I finished this test knit within the required window. If I wasn’t the first person finished, I was awfully close.

As you can see from the direction of the garter ridges, this shawl is knit from corner-to-corner. And there is not one purl stitch in the entire thing, which makes it a great relaxing and/or multitasking project.


The shawl starts and finishes with a minimum number of stitches, then launches into the pattern repeat for the shawl. There is certainly a bit of a learning curve out of the gate, but by the time I was about 15 rows in, I was cruising along.


I love the ruffle. It’s just enough of a detail to give the finished shawl a little punch, while keeping it plenty simple (and non-holey) for my tomboy tastes.


The shawl includes a bit of a “neck flap” for extra warmth. Just a little bit to make sure that your neck stays covered so this shawl can double as a sweater. It works. I tried it the other day when I was chilly, but too lazy to go track down a sweatshirt.


The bottom-center “point” of the shawl is very un-pointy, another detail that I liked very much. The ruffle is slightly less ruffl-ey, but I think it works for the overall aesthetic of the project.


The slip-stitch edge is a beautiful finishing touch throughout the entire shawl. I did mess this part up early in the process, but it didn’t even require thought by the time I was about 30% through the shawl. All this from a knitter who is generally anti-slip-stitch-edge (well, at least if I’m seaming or picking up stitches. That’s certainly not the case here!)


This project used just over three skeins of Cascade Ecological Wool, which makes for a nice hefty shawl. It did take a swim, but I didn’t actually block it. I just laid it out flat to dry and fluffed up the ruffle a little bit. I wouldn’t be surprised if I knit this pattern again in a fun semisolid or low-contrast variegated. The possibilities are endless.

Cranford Shawl

Pattern: Cranford Shawl by Sarah Jordan (will be released soon!)
Size: Shawl-Sized
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool
Color: Platinum
Quantity: I definitely needed the third skein, but not a whole lot of it. Guessing by weight, I’d say it was a little under 1,100 yards of aran-weight.
Started: 17 January 2012
Finished: 29 January 2012
Mods: It’s a test knit. Hell no, I didn’t mod anything!

WiP Wednesday

There’s been one thing on the needles all week, and this is it.


It’s my Cranford Shawl test knit. I’ve been knitting on this whenever I have time, and I’ve gotten at least a few rows done every day. The middle section felt a bit like a slog, but now that I’m into the decrease section it’s going much faster. The biggest trick is going to be that I will need to get into my third skein of Ecological Wool, and that’s not wound yet.

First world problems. I has them.

There will be a new project by the end of the week, if only because the Hubster and I are going to the Pops concert on Friday night, and I’ll need something small to keep me occupied while I take the trolley downtown.

Meanwhile, I have interviews to transcribe, laundry to move and stories to write. Zoom.

WiP Wednesday

The Dawn Gnots are done, and have gotten their FO-to shoot already. You’ll see them probably tomorrow.

After a two-day finishing marathon on the socks, I started a test knit for my friend PAKnitWit. Her Cranford Shawl!


I cast on last night with Cascade Ecological Wool and it’s zipping right along. Huzzah! Oh! I picked up the Eco on a yarny field trip at the end of last week. I have pictures and will hopefully blog that this week as well.

I did have a bit of an issue last night. Apparently, I was not paying attention and messed up the slip-stitch edge, so I frogged about 2” and fixed it.

No time was spent on the Koolhaas hat this week. I’ll pick it up again soon and get that sucker finished. Meanwhile, it’s all shawl, all the time!

Because I think that the SOPA and PIPA bills are the rough equivalent of handling a mouse problem by blowing up your house, I’ve dimmed several of my pictures today. I kept this one “normal” because it didn’t make sense to dim a picture on a brand new post.

Oakland Shawl

I’ve had another finished project lurking around this house. I’m finally getting around to blogging it!


I first saw this shawl in a booth at TNNA in 2010. I fell in love instantly, and had a friend who was vacationing in Massachusetts pick up the required two skeins of Kauni at WEBS. It was another year before I cast on.


The reason I finally made time to pick up this project is that my LYS, Bloomin' Yarns, will be carrying Kauni in the very near future. I have another sample I need to knit, but until then, this shawl is living at the store.


This is a very simple pattern. All garter stitch. I made some incredibly minor adjustments to fit my personal taste. I am anti-yarn over, so I used KFB increases. And I wanted the center spine to match the outer border, so I increased it from one stitch to three stitches. Beyond that, it was all garter stitch all the time. Perfect for the chunk of total exhaustion that followed my ridiculous June.


The Kauni did all of the work, I just alternated between the rainbow skein and the black and white skein. I did wind up picking up a second skein of the EC (black and white) in order to use the entire skein of the EQ (rainbow). I can guarantee I will have more Kauni projects in my knitting future. I truly enjoyed knitting this shawl!

Oakland Shawl

Pattern: Oakland Shawl by Sally Brandl (available on Ravelry)
Yarn: Kauni EQ and EC
Quantity: One skein of EQ, about 1.2 skeins of EC, although all three skeins were marked as 150g
Needles: US 5/3.75mm KnitPicks Options
Started: 14 June 2011
Finished: 16 July 2011
Mods: Replaced yarn overs with a KFB increase.
Changed center spine from a single stitch to three stitches.

Margarethe

You guys know I don’t do lace. I’m not a fan of yarn overs or holes in my fabric. So it takes a really special pattern for me to stray from these guidelines.

Margarethe, a pattern by Kate Gagnon Osborn in the book Vintage Modern Knits is exactly that kind of pattern. I saw the book sample shawl live and in person back in March when Kate and her Kelbourne Woolens partner Courtney Kelley came to Bloomin’ Yarns for two days of classes and trunk show. I fell in love (as did my friend Dianne and CelticQueen, both of whom also knit this shawl)


I actually snapped up the required amount of Road to China Light before we closed on Saturday afternoon, and cast on the 400+ stitches that night. I was garter bordering away by the time I was back in the store on Sunday afternoon.



I think I’m a pretty good knitter, but it’s always good to stretch your skills. This shawl starts with the long lace border and shrinks as you go along. I really felt like the lace border knit me. In all honestly, I probably knit it about 2.5 times all things told.


There were several froggings and many lifelines involved in this border. At least twice, I had to run to my “lace whisperers” at Bloomin so they could figure out what I’d screwed up and get me back on track.


I learned how to do bobbles


This was a great knit, and I’d recommend the pattern. My one and only disappointment came when I laid out the shawl after its blocking bath. And realized that one skein discharged more dye than its same-dyelot-neighbors.


It’s becoming less noticeable to my eye when I see the shawl in person, so that’s a good thing. The yarn was great, the pattern was great. I doubt I’ll knit it again, but I’m certainly happy with the outcome of this shawl.

Margarethe

Pattern: Margarethe Lace Shawl by Kate Gagnon Osborn (available in the book Vintage Modern Knits)
Yarn: The Fibre Company Road to China Light in Smoky Quartz
Quantity: 5.5 skeins, far less than the pattern called for (7 skeins). I have no idea why.
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm and US 6/4.0mm
Started: 5 March 2011
Finished: 17 April 2011
Mods: Heh. That’s funny if you think I would/could modify a lace pattern. No mods.

One at a Time

Lately, I have been firmly planted in Project Monogamy Land. I figure I should enjoy it while it lasts. Fortunately, my current obsession is simple enough that although it is a bit large, it’s still appropriate travel knitting. It’s all garter stitch, and I only really need to pay attention on four stitches every other round. That meant that I could knock out a half-dozen rows during the Pirate game on Friday night. Raise the Jolly Roger!


It’s my Oakland Shawl, and I’m rapidly approaching the finish line. I only have one small quibble:


Theoretically, these were both 150g balls of Kauni. Obviously, they weren’t. Bloomin’s Kauni supply hasn’t landed yet, so I field tripped to Natural Stitches earlier this week (and got to see WeirdyPants and KnitNat!) to pick up another skein of the black-to-white colorway. I figure it won’t go to waste. I’ll use this yarn again for sure.

Meanwhile, it’s time to watch the Women’s World Cup and keep chugging on this shawl. The finish line is in sight!

WiP Wednesday

Well, hello! I’m kind of excited that after months of working in Word all day every day, I think this is the first time I’ve opened a new document in two weeks.

Yay fake-ation!

So my project from class at The Mannings is finished and I think I have enough pictures for a photo shoot. Maybe tomorrow or next week. The tiny bit of knitting time I’ve had lately has all gone into my Oakland Shawl


I’m really enjoying this nice simple garter stitch knit.

After a week in Weaving Wonderland, I would love to be on the loom right now, but it’s under a dropcloth in the corner of the living room, behind a couch. So I may spend a bit of this afternoon winding a warp or two so I’m ready to get lots of stuff done as soon as the loom is set up in its new home.

Lots has been happening with the house. I’ll get a post up about that in the near future as well. Happy Wednesday!

WiP Wednesday

Well, hello there!

First I was busy. Now I am sick. The Hubster was kind enough (?) to share the Epic Cold that he had the week before I went to Indy for the w’s hoops championship. It started with me on April 2. It exploded when I got home late on April 6. I’m still recovering.

And really? I haven’t knit a stitch since my running buddies and I were parked in Media Hospitality drinking beer during the men’s championship. Two Mondays ago.

Not only were “other Amy” and Katy super cool about me knitting while we watched hoops, they were kind of fascinated by it, which was kind of awesome.

So yeah. I can’t remember what Margarethe and the BFF socks looked like the last time I showed them to you, but I’m guessing it was a lot like this …


… and this …


All of the extremely scarce knitting time I’ve had in the last two weeks has gone into the Miss Babs socks. Three cheers for simple knitting. This is why I always have a plain stockingette sock on the needles. I love having simple to work on whenever I have a spare minute here or there.


So that’s about it. I’ve nearly slept through the night the last two nights (this is a Major Accomplishment), so there’s hope that I am finally on the mend. Here’s hoping I’m right, and the z-pack worked.

WiP … Thursday?

Oops. I kind of missed Wednesday, didn’t I? Sorry about that.

The end of the ultra-marathon is almost here. One week from today, I will be home from Indy and expect to be a blubbering puddle of goo, napping all day until I have to head to the LYS job.

Meanwhile, I’ve done some work on the BFF socks, but not enough to make it look like progress, so I’ll spare you a picture. More waiting around means more progress on the Miss Babs socks …

Sorry for the slightly blurry photo. I took the picture Wednesday AM and by the time I realized it was out of focus, I wasn't willing to re-shoot.

I even finished the first one at a softball game on Tuesday! I need to write down my master numbers for this sock and stick them in my sock knitting bag, but meanwhile, I remembered my number for D and was able to cruise along from there.

In other news, shawls go much faster once you’ve gotten through the lace panel and are mostly knitting stockingette. See?


Still love the yarn and the project. I’m on skein #5 of 7 and I’m starting to decrease even more rapidly. I don’t know if I’ll take this project with me on the trip, but I just might. I could work on it in the hotel.

Speaking of which, I gotta do some writing and even more packing. Off to the races tomorrow!