Transition Mitts

Finished! Now if we could just transition into spring that would be great!
Project Stats: Transition Mitts
Pattern: Transition Gloves by Kerin Dimeler from ShibuiKnits. Raveled here.

Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock in Pagoda and Ivory, one skein each with some to spare. Yarn purchased from Knit Purl (Portland) at the Madrona Fiber Festival.

Needles: Size 1 (2.25mm) and 2.5 (3mm) DPNs.

Time to knit: February 13 - March 28, 2009.

Modifications: None, aside from using slightly smaller needles for the colorwork section because they were seeming a bit big.
Impressions: OMG! These are great - I love them! I had a really tough time choosing colors, and it was actually good that I bought the yarn at a festival and they didn't have the full range of options - otherwise I'd have been completely stymied. Originally I wanted brown and turquoise, like these by TelmahQ, which I faved on Ravelry for inspiration months ago. And then I saw some turquoise and ivory ones, which I also loved. But in the end the orange won me over (and to be frank I have a lot of teal and turquoise already). As per usual any time I do colorwork, I was reminded how much I enjoy it. It's just so satisfying to see the pattern unfolding so rapidly - good motivation.

All that said, I'm not sure how useful these will be. As you can see, they're quite long, almost to the elbow, and even though it's thin yarn it would still be tough to get them under most of my sweater sleeves. Plus, you really only see the orange bit unless a 3/4-sleeve shirt is involved, and I don't have that many of those. I do have a 3/4-sleeve grey jacket that they work well with, so at least I have something to wear with them. I had considered this problem before making them, but I really wanted to make them so I pushed it aside and figured it would work itself out, so I'm sure it will! Thanks to Katrina for taking the photos!

It's not all FOs around here - I have a new project as well! This isn't actually new, I've been working on it for a few weeks now, but it's my work project so I haven't taken any photos of it. This is another Clapotis:

I'm hoping I'll actually get some use out of this one - my other one is really too bulky to wear comfortably, so I haven't worn it much. This one is knit with sockweight yarn, and it's very drapey, so I think it'll be more useful. Don't expect it to be finished very quickly - I'm only knitting it at lunch and I get a little less than one repeat done per day, so it'll be awhile...Here's a close-up of the yarn - it's Araucania Ranco Multi:

Lovely, yes? So many colors :)

A vest for David

Thank you all for the comments on the evil cast-on for the Petal Halter. As you can see here, I've finished the first petal, and I must admit that, despite being one of the worst knitting experiences I can remember, the cast-on works pretty well. It's a bit looser than the rest of the knitting though, so I'm thinking about using smaller needles on the next one to tighten it up a bit. The shaping on this is really cool, and the pieces go pretty quickly once you get past the beginning. We'll see how long it takes me to summon the courage/energy/alcohol to start the second (of six) piece... In other news, I have a secret project that can now be revealed! This is the vest I knit for Jennifer's baby, David, who was born on February 13th. It was just gifted this past weekend, so it can finally be shown off on the blog.
Project Stats: Vest for Jennifer's David
Pattern: Design F (seriously): Pullover Sweater and Vest/Tank Top by Sirdar. Raveled here.
Yarn: Knit Picks Cotlin, Kolhrabi - less than 2 skeins.
Needles: Size 3 (ribbing) and 5 (everything else) Clover Bamboo.
Time to knit: March 4-15, 2009.
Modifications: I don't think I made any - if I did I've already forgotten them...
Impressions: This is a cute little item! The v-neck ended up being a little smaller than I was going for, and I'm not sure if that's something I did or the pattern, as the project photo in the book makes it difficult to tell how deep it should be. I love Cotlin - it's great to knit with, blocks nicely, and I assume wears well, although I haven't kept anything I've knit with it. This is the same yarn as the Petal Halter, so I'll find out about the wear soon enough. The color is more accurate in the second photo, but the flash obliterated the texture. Hard to get both texture and color these days, since the sun doesn't shine...I used much less yarn than I expected - the pattern had me ordering three skeins and I used about 1.5 to make the 6-12 month size. I think that was a good size choice, since this is a cotton/linen blend and will be good for summer. I met little David this weekend and there's no way this will be fitting him for awhile! So, congratulations to Jennifer and Aaron, and I hope David likes (or at least tolerates) his vest!

Oh, and I have a story. Yesterday I wore a new shirt to work, and then after work I went to the gym to go swimming. I'd already changed into my bathing suit, and I didn't want my new shirt to get sweaty, so I just wore my bathing suit under my jacket while biking to the gym. When I was finished swimming, it occured to me that I couldn't really ride home in the damp suit under my jacket, but I still didn't want to wear the new shirt, so I just wore my bra under my jacket. And I thought, "Self, this isn't the best plan. What if you crash? Or run into someone you know and they want to have coffee? Or crash?" I ignored all this and proceeded, and I did not crash. I got home, and I waited for the elevator with a nice couple just coming back from the airport, who were thankfully quite involved with each other when I decided I was warm and unzipped my jacket in the elevator. I realized my error quite quickly, and thankfully I have a messenger bag so my jacket stayed mostly closed, but it was entertaining. At least to me - I really don't think they noticed. And to Dave, who almost fell off the couch laughing when I told him about my new career as a flasher...

Started!

As I mentioned last week, I have started the Urban Aran: I'm about 5" in at this point, and it's going well. My original plan to knit the medium with a smaller gauge didn't appear to be working out - I got a few inches in and decided that it was going to be way too wide. The sweater is designed with more ease than I consider ideal for me, so I'm going with the small and my gauge. So far it's looking like a good width. The cables do pull in, but not as much as I expected - of course it remains to be seen how much they pull in when an entire body piece is complete, but they aren't doing much at the bottom. Plus, with 100% wool I can surely block this baby into submission if it's a touch too small...My fear that the side cables would be too similar to those on the Chevalier Mittens was unfounded. They are similar, but this yarn isn't being knit at a gauge much smaller than it would like, so they aren't as difficult as the mittens. Overall I'm enjoying the sweater, although the Transition Mitts are really addictive - I finished the first one on Saturday. I've resisted casting on the second one so I can work on the sweater, but we'll see how long that lasts...

Madrona, or a break in the "yarn fast"

Ack! I uploaded these photos on Sunday morning so I could post about them, and here it is Wednesday already! The annual Madrona Fiber Arts Festival was this past weekend in Tacoma (Why Tacoma? Really, why not Seattle itself?), and Katrina and I headed down Friday after work. To be fair - we left early. Working in a lab is very flexible. After braving the traffic, we arrived at the hotel and prepared ourselves for battle. Armed with detailed lists and debit cards we attacked the market. In the end Katrina didn't buy anything and I didn't really buy that much, although I'm really happy with what I got. First I bought two skeins of Shibui Sock for the Transition Gloves, started here: That's what Ihad Sunday morning - by now I'm about 2/3 finished with the first mitt, and it's really lovely. I was also looking for unique laceweight yarn that I couldn't get in Seattle (harder than you think, we have a lot of yarn shops here), and I found some: This is undyed wool from Ireland from Black Water Abbey Yarns, and it's very sheepy. I'm imagining some rustic lace with it. I already have yarn for the Cobweb Lace Stole from Interweave, but this might be better. We'll see. Here's a close-up: And I bought some yarn that I probably could've found in Seattle but hadn't, for Anne Hanson's Morning Glory Stole, which Rachel bought me the pattern for a couple of years ago (!) now. It's almost exactly the color of the yarn in the pattern, and it's very lovely in person - the photo doesn't do it justice.So, that's all I bought, and I have plans for all of it. I avoided the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. Well, I didn't avoid it, but I didn't buy anything there. None of the STR leaped off the shelf at me, even though I was looking for some to match a colorway that I already have for a striped scarf. We met Rachel and Pam there and neither of them bought anything either, although they were taking classes and still had Saturday left for shopping, and I've not heard the final damage report.
All in all I thought the mood seemed a bit subdued compared to past years. That's probably the economy talking - I think people are hunkering down a bit with what they have, and although they were there browsing, I didn't see much being purchased. One thing I really noticed, and I think I noticed this two years ago as well, is that the market has too much handdyed sock yarn. Now, don't get me wrong, because I love me some handdyes, but there were SO many vendors selling it, and how many socks does a person need? I realize the purple yarn above is actually sockweight, and I'm not intending to use it for socks, but really a lot of the crazy dyed stuff really won't translate that well into a lot of other items.
In other news, I have started the purple Urban Aran (twice) and it's moving along. I jetisoned my original plan of knitting the medium because it was looking really wide, so now I'm knitting the small and hoping for the best. It's looking reasonable so far, about 5" in...I'd be further along had I not started those addictive orange and white mitts!

Weekend Update

We're having another lovely weekend here in Seattle, which was definitely not what the weather folks predicted. It was supposed to be 65 and raining all weekend - yesterday it was probably 80 and sunny all day, and it's cooler today but still quite nice. Yesterday I did a triathlon worth of athletic endeavors. I biked to the gym, went running, lifted weights, went swimming, then biked to the lab and then home. All told that's about 9 miles of biking, 2 miles of running, and 800 yards of swimming (800 yards = 3.6 skeins of Cascade 220). And, Dave and I walked a mile or so each way to go toss the frisbee at Gas Works Park after dinner, so I was a bit tired by the time I went to bed! I expected to be sore today but I feel alright. So, I walked to work (2.5 miles). I would walk home but my ancient Birkenstocks decided today would be a good day to cause blisters, so I will be walking part of the way and then taking the bus. Why am I telling you this? I have no idea.

What you really want to see is something related to knitting, right? Well, I am here for you! I have a new project, started a couple of weeks ago but not yet blogged, that I can show you. This is the start of a Montego Bay scarf, which I'm making as a gift: These aren't really my colors but the scarf is lovely, and has been fun to work on. I'm about 35% finished. Yesterday I hit my first snag when I picked up an errant yarnover (or something) and ended up with an extra stitch, which it took me quite awhile to fix. It would have been easy had I just gone back and fixed it immediately, since I noticed it immediately, but instead of ripping back I tried to fix it by knitting three together (instead of two) when I got to the problem spot, and that seemed okay so I carried on, but then I had too few stitches and in the end I had to unknit six rows instead of one. But, I'm back on track, and although a trained eye could probably notice where the issue occurred, it's not really that noticeable.

I've also finished Anais, although we haven't taken photos yet. Soon I promise. Yesterday would have been a good day, I'm not sure what went wrong there. It took me awhile to decide on my next garment, but I'm going to make Bayu (Ravelry link here). I have loads of black bamboo in the stash that should work well for this. I love the off-white color in the pattern, and I do have enough ivory Hempathy for it, but I think the Hempathy gauge would be a bit too small. The bamboo I have is the old put-up of the SWTC bamboo, so it's a bit rough and slubby, and I think it'll be perfect. Plus, having used it before I know what needles I used and the gauge, so I can proceed recklessly with this one. No one except (apparently) the designer has knit it yet, so I will be a pioneer!

Oh, and I apologize to everyone who might have gotten spam from my Hotmail account yesterday. I have no idea what happened but hopefully it will be a one-off thing. I contacted Hotmail and I'm waiting to hear back from them. I never even received the email I supposedly sent to everyone I've ever known on Hotmail - gotta love the Internets...

Testing, testing...

Is anyone writing this blog? You know, after I posted last week about not having much to post about, I thought, Emily, you must get on with starting something new so you have something to post. So I did. Last Tuesday night I swatched for Anais, even going so far as to wash wet my swatch and pin it out, and then I got a bit excited and knit the lace inset: I thought, aha! I can blog about this on Thursday, but then Oliver got into something and we were in a panic about him on Thursday night and Friday (he's fine), so I didn't post, and then it was the weekend (the Fiber Gallery anniversary sale was great as always), and then I had to finish up a news story on the potential environmental disaster about to be wrought by our current biofuel strategy, due today, and so on. But, since the story is done and the back of Anais is almost complete as well, I guess this post is overdue.
I am tempted to hold forth on the biofuel issue, but I will restrain myself and talk about Anais instead, this being a knitting blog. I am loving it so far. The Shine Sport is wonderful yarn to knit - very smooth. It makes a fairly dense fabric that still drapes, so I think it was a good choice for Anais, which is a relatively close-fitting (hopefully) top. My row gauge is 7 st/inch instead of 8, so I've been having to modify things a bit. I had to space out my decrease and increase rounds a bit more and then had to do fewer of them to compensate, but I think that will be okay. The overall length will remain the same but it won't nip in quite as much at the waist, which is fine. I'm at the neck shaping on the back piece, which I'm going to do using short-rows so I can graft live stitches at the shoulder seams like I did for the Drops Swing Cardigan. I think that will look neater. I was tempted to knit this in the round but decided not to so I would have the stability of side seams. I've been slipping the first stitch of every row and that will make the seaming a breeze.
Oh, the Tuxedo Top is finished, and I wore it yesterday. It's great, I love it, the fit is perfect, etc. I'll post the report about it as soon as I have modeled photos!

I know, I know

It's been awhile, but you haven't missed much, because I haven't been doing much knitting. I am almost finished with the Sleeveless Tuxedo Shirt. As evidence, I present a horrible blocking photo. Let me tell you, trying to photograph a navy shirt on a black futon is a recipe for disaster. But, you get the idea. The straps were knit and blocked separately, which is why the armpits look so short. All I have left is a LOT of crocheting, which hopefully Anne-Marie will help me with (Go check out her beautiful new shawl. I'll wait.).
What else? Not much is happening. I've been pretty busy, but aren't we all. The weather has continued its downward spiral. Friday I rode home from the gym in SNOW. In late April. It snowed several more times over the weekend and then yesterday I rode home from the gym in SLEET, which was actually worse than snow because it stung. Thank god the summers are lovely here! Actually, I don't mind the rain/snow/sleet/grey oppression that much unless I have to be riding my bike to work/class/home in it, and even then I only mind it if I'm not in the mood to accept it. Friday I thought the snowy ride was kind of fun, for the novelty. Yesterday? Not so much. I'm not a saint.
For my next "me" project I will be knitting Anais, using Knit Picks Shine Sport (in River). I have to swatch so I can figure out how the yarn behaves, and then I'll be off. Maybe I'll even post swatch photos, since I probably can't bore you all with chatter about the weather much longer before you tune me out...

By the way, Pennsylvania? You're on notice.

It takes two

To get photos like this!I just realized I hadn't shown any photos of the Sleeveless Tuxedo Shirt I've been working on (the one that is part of the April goals). I think the only photo that got blogged was the swatch, back in July, which is really quite pathetic, although to be fair I did set it aside for quite a few months. I'm almost at the armpit split, so I thought I'd try it on, and hilarity ensued. It's a good thing Dave was around because there's no way I could have gotten out of it, seeing as it's on a 24" circular and I am, well, larger than 24" in circumference. As Dave was helping me out of it (it fits, by the way, as you may or may not be able to tell), he said, "Oh, this would be a great blog photo!" and disappeared to get the camera, leaving me with my arms falling asleep up in the air. The things I do for you!

We finally had a glimpse of warm and sunny weather today so I went for a walk after work, where I discovered this: This is a statue across the corner from our apartment building. It's called Waiting for the Interurban, and people from the neighborhood often dress it up to suit different occasions. I'd say this is a good occasion! I'm not sure who the hopeful suitor is - presumably there was another t-shirt on the rightmost figure (out of frame). My hope is the intended viewer took the shirt and ran to say yes!

What have I done to anger the knitting gods?

URGH! You know, I just wanted a simple project, easy-peasy, for work and when I couldn't deal with the complicated lace. So, I started the Chevalier Mittens, which are lovely and almost still seasonal if I can finish them quickly. I cast on last weekend and brought them into work with me to knit at lunch, and I was moving along, slowly (due to the tight gauge around the cables) but surely.

Then yesterday at lunch I took a look at them and thought, "You know, something doesn't look right here." Can't see it? Look on the upper right. Here's a close-up:

I'm not sure what went wrong here, really, but Rachel diagnosed that my cables weren't traveling (hence the stacking on the right, where it looks like a real cable cross instead of a chevron like the left side and the section underneath). I'm not sure how I messed this up - surely I can read a narrow chart? I suspect I just didn't knit two before starting the cables on one row, but now I have to rip it back, and I'm really not looking forward to that because of the exceedingly tight gauge. But, I have small needles with me to make it easier and will proceed accordingly. If all else fails I can just start over, it didn't take me very long to get to where I am...But, this is frustrating because I just want something simple to work on, you know? I haven't even attempted to fix the lace hat...

Dave and I watched Into the Wild last night, and I would really recommend it. The book is great, but the movie has better scenery. I find the protagonist to be a very selfish character, mainly as regards to how he treats his family, but he has many redeeming qualities and by the end you're with him, at least sort of. By that I mean you can empathize with him, but you're probably not going to think twice about going into the wilds of Alaska and camping in an abandoned bus. Now Dave has flown off to visit his grandmother in Florida (lucky) so I have the house to myself for the weekend. I intend to watch as much Jane Austen as I can find time for and maybe to eat some chicken. I might also go skiing. And some work will be done, I suppose...

Reckoning

My parents are coming to visit next week, which always means a thorough cleaning of the apartment, lest my mother find dust on the baseboards. It's also a good opportunity to purge clutter, and with that in mind I attacked the region surrounding my side of the sofa, aka the den o' knitting. I have two knitting "baskets." One is next to the couch in front of the end table where I can get at it, and is where the projects I'm actually working on are meant to reside. I say meant to because in reality it's like the Bermuda Triangle in there. The second container lives behind the end table, where I can, in theory, reach it. In reality that container has projects long since abandoned and enough needle protectors and stitch markers to open a small LYS. The cat loves to knock them off the table into the basket.
The organizing process was quite successful. I knew I had a lot of projects that had been cast on and promptly abandoned because the yarn wasn't right, or the pattern confused me, or I just got distracted. They remained on the needles because I didn't have another use for the needles (I also discovered I have four pairs of size 9 straight needles, and three sets of 10.5s. I think they're all from the learning-to-knit-make-many-fun-scarves-at-once phase. I rarely use them, so if you need size 9 needles you know who to call!). Now, for the grand list of what was jettisoned, what was saved for another day, and the projects I'm actually working on regularly enough that they might, some day, be finished...

Sent back to the stash:
1. Twisted Flower socks - Two skeins red Gems Pearl salvaged. This pattern is way too time-consuming for me. I started these for my Sockapalooza Four pal and abandoned them one repeat in. Rest in peace.
2. Print o' the Wave stole - Lovely turquoise/teal kid mohair gets a new life (hopefully soon, I love this yarn). This just wasn't the right pattern for this yarn, or at least not the right needle size. Now that I feel more confident in lace I might try this again, but I think I prefer patterns without patterning on both sides, for both speed and sanity.
3. Random green lace - I'd only knit four rows of this before deciding the yarn and pattern competed too much. RIPPPP!
4. Malabrigo scarf - The pattern I chose was too lacy for this yarn, which would really rather be cozy, not elegant. I think this will be recycled into a Foliage hat.
5. "Large Red Rectangle" from Victorian Lace Today - Yes, one can rip out Kid Silk Haze! I actually intend to restart this project, but I hadn't gotten far enough to make this worth keeping, plus I couldn't remember where I was in the pattern. I think I'd done about 5 rows. Better to start over than to restart in the wrong place! Plus I think I was using needles at least one size too small. No harm no foul.

Salvaged for another day:
1. Mystery Stole 3 (aka Swan Lake) - I was really going to rip this out because I didn't end up being that fond of the pattern, but when I looked at it again tonight I just couldn't do it. It was my first real lace project, and I'd made it almost halfway, and the beads looked so pretty, so I think I'll let it incubate awhile and then make the symmetrical non-winged version.
2. Elfine Socks - I'm on the leg of the first sock and I don't know why I'm not working on these, I still really like them.
3. Toe of pretty sock - Not sure if this should be counted, but to be fair I have cast it on and it's still on the needles, but it's truly in its infancy. Socks that Rock Lightweight, generic toe-up pattern I think, but I could change my mind, since there are only about 20 stitches so far!

Still on the needles, in a somewhat more active fashion:
Ravelry links, sorry if you can't see them - if I was a better blogger I'd have documented this process, but I was on a mission!
1. Drops Swing Cardigan - We've discussed this fairly recently, and I'm still working on it, when I'm not working on #2
2. Selbuvotter Mittens - I'm on the decreases of the second mitten. I intended to finish these tonight but then I got a wild hare to clean the living room, which was probably more productive and not much less entertaining.
3. $1.50 cardigan - I love this sweater. Why am I not working on iy? I think I got confused about when to do the neck and armhole shaping when I tried to make the sweater shorter, so it got put down and it has been sadly neglected. Of course it will now take me much longer to figure out what I was planning to do than had I just done it when I first figured it out, but there you are. Live and learn.
4. Ruffled Tuxedo Tank - Miles of stockinette in the round are usually good for me, so I have no real excuse here aside from distraction to start something else, coupled with cold weather on the horizon.
5. Socks - These are a gift, and you'll not see them here. Just finishing up the ribbing of the second sock. 85% finished I'd say.
6. Drop-stitch scarf - My work project. Also a gift, recipient as-yet-undetermined, so you probably won't see this again either, just in case the giftee is reading! About 50% finished, steady progress made every weekday from about 12:45-1:30.

That my friends is a lot of projects. This list would imply that I had 14 projects on the needles. I guess I like to multi-task : )

Project Update

Progress has been made on the gift towels: I finished the first one on Tuesday and I'm about 1/3 of the way through the second. I'm really enjoying knitting these, and I'd quite like to make some for myself some day. Especially if I can find the yarn (Euroflax Linen) on sale...

I mentioned awhile back that my friend Anne-Marie and I had dyed some yarn with blackberries, and I meant to do a post about the process, but she beat me to it on her brand new blog! You can read about our process here, but here's a shot of my finished yarn: Mine came out more purple than hers, and we're not sure why - the only difference was the amount of soaking time. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this - it's 100% wool, I think DK weight. One of the things mentioned in Wild Color is that blackberry dye isn't very colorfast - the alum mordant we used is meant to decrease the odds of fading, but I'm a bit concerned about that, so I need to make something that will look equally good in the current color or in pale pink/grey/whatever it fades into. Thoughts? Overall I had fun with the natural dyeing, but I'm unconvinced that it's worth the effort, especially if it's likely to fade. I think I prefer my Jacquard acid dyes, thank you very much.

In other news, I'm about 4.5" into my Sleeveless Tuxedo Shirt. I'm not going to post any photos because at this point it's really just a navy blue stockinette tube with some occasional decreases, and frankly I doubt any of you will find that very exciting. I would love to be working on it more but gift knitting keeps coming up! I realize that's my own doing, but I really like to knit gifts, so whenever an occasion comes up for which a handknit gift might be appropriate I drop whatever I'm knitting for myself and charge forward with the gift! This is why it seems like I rarely finish anything for myself...

Yesterday Dave and I spent the day in Olympia with our friend Rembrandt - we went canoeing and picked many blackberries, so today I made 4 pints of blackberry jam and froze some for Dave's smoothies. I spent the afternoon at a baby shower for one of my grad school friends, which meant a trip to Baby Gap for cute gifts (Yes, I meant to knit something, but there wasn't time. I might do it for the actual birth, in November. I'm only human.) Now I'm going to go watch the beginning of the VMAs, for the pure spectacle that will be Britney Spears performing the opening act. I'm not proud of this, but I have a strange desire to witness the potential train wreck. Again, I'm only human...

A New Obsession

Remember how I said I was really really wanting to start knitting a sweater from Fitted Knits, and how I almost bought the yarn for it last week? Well, I started it last night!

This is a much better photo than the one I posted of this sweater earlier, and now I can tell you that it's the "Short-Sleeved Cardigan" from Fitted Knits. I am using Cascade Jewels, and the color in the photo is astonishingly accurate, but a bit bright. I started this last night, at about 11:30, and got gauge on size 10.5 needles (the pattern calls for 10s - I'm a tight knitter so the upsizing is no surprise). So, embolded by getting gauge on my first attempt, I started the collar, which is knit on size 8s. I was tired, but invigorated, and was only forced to stop due to a lack of size 10.5 circular needles, of any length. Now, I'm going to a fiber festival tomorrow (hoping to NOT buy much yarn, just to browse. We all know I have more than enough yarn), but I decided that I CANNOT wait until then to get a needle, so I drove to work today (I usually bike) so I could head to the LYS on my way home. I MUST knit on this sweater!!! Tonight! Not tomorrow! Unless that's in addition to tonight! The sweater is knit seamlessly (we know how I hate seaming) from the top-down and that combined with the fairly large-gauge means that I might actually finish this with some degree of efficiency. I don't remember if I mentioned this, but I only had three skeins of this yarn in the stash, and I was hunting around for more before casting on, in case I couldn't find it. Well, Anne-Marie has come through with two skeins, so off I go!!!

Vindication

See, I am NOT the only one:From the Seattle Times, 3.28.07. Confused? I talked about my QVC addiction in this post.

Coming soon:This baby grew in the sink. I'm a little concerned, but pre-blocking it was a bit tighter than would be the most flattering. Not tight by any means, but being bulky yarn, well, being a bit bigger with more drape would be preferable.

My favorite WIP, and some others

Stop the presses, I am going to talk about KNITTING. There will even be photos of knitting! It appears that I last spoke about knitting on March 11th, and all I was really showing off was a sock I had recently completed. Not a pair, mind you, just a lone sock in need of a mate. Before you get your hopes up, I haven't yet completed this pair, but I have been working on the second sock:This was my car knitting for the trip to Silver Star, and I'd say I knit about 3 inches or so. Yes, it was almost 8 hours each way. No, I am not an exceedingly slow knitter. What I am is prone to carsickness, so I could really only knit on the straight bits of I-5 between Seattle and Bellingham, so the sock didn't really come out of the bag much. I had intended to knit more in the evenings at Silver Star but skiing is exhausting and my eyes were tired from the white snow so I went to bed early and no knitting was accomplished. This sock is Austermann Step, which is great yarn to work with, if a bit splitty. I received it in a swap package from The Woolen Rabbit, and I've really enjoyed it so far. My socks will be fraternal, and I think I'm okay with that. I did decide to make this one a few stitches (4) smaller in hopes of a better fit, but most likely I won't bother ripping the other one out to match (sorry Rachel).

Last night I made serious progress on a project I just cast-on on Tuesday:As you can see, all I'm missing is a thumb! This is a great pattern (Peekaboo) from Magknits, written by Megan at Pensive Frog. I actually know Megan - she was one of the founders of the graduate student knitting club I organize. Sadly I have to admit I didn't realize this was the same Megan until Anne-Marie pointed it out! She blogs a fair bit about cooking, but she did recently post a nice discussion of how she designed the finger slit in these mittens, which was pretty cool. These are being made for someone with slightly larger hands than mine, so I'm really hoping they'll fit. They're just a wee bit large for me, so I think it'll work out. Oh, the yarn is Lamb's Pride Worsted, which I love more everytime I use it.

And now for my favorite WIP, the Asymetrical Tank from Loop-d-Loop. I posted that I was almost done with this here, on February 28th. Well, that wasn't a lie, I was almost done, and I finished the knitting that weekend as promised, and then came the crochet edging. Anne-Marie was very helpful with this at knitting club last week, but I need to rip out what I had done because I think I was a) crocheting twice into the stiches, and b) using too small a hook. So, I've produced a tight, puckering, waving edge that I'm not really happy with.

You can probably just see the wavy edge of the right (left in photo) armhole, if you squint. While this isn't the best photo, I thought I would post it because I haven't posted any photos of the progress on this item. Not that I haven't taken any photos, but they all turned out awful. It was knit in the round so it was always bunched on the needles, and the light blue is a tough color to get a good picture of in our low-lit apartment. The yarn is Rowan Polar, which is sadly discontinued. I love working with this yarn. Bulky yarn = instant gratification! This is my favorite of my current WIPs mostly because it's for me, which is a rare thing most of the time, and because it's very unique. The cable is off-center, and the back has a panel of seed stitch running up one side, and I also love the way the cable splits for the neck. The pattern was very well-written, although I found the decreases on the back neck a bit confusing so you'll not be seeing a close-up of that region. I figure I have long hair and I can cover up the mistakes!
Both the socks and the vest were my Project Spectrum February/March items (color theme: blue, white, grey), so I'd really like to finish one or both of them by the end of March. We'll see...The colors for April and May are green, yellow, and pink, which might be a bit tough for me. I have some green yarn in the stash, and also some green/yellow socks on the needles (definitely in UFO, as opposed to WIP, status). Hum...
Oh, I get to pick up my skis tonight - I'm super excited! Now to find someone to go skiing with this weekend. Anyone, anyone?