This Week in Knitting

Ha! Look! I posted again! And this one has pictures! Take that!

So, here's what I did this week on the knitting front:

1. Blocked a piece of secret knitting.

2. Put A Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness on the blocking wires:

close up of that lace:

yes, I did actually use the yarn called for. I'm planning on wearing it to a wedding this weekend, which is what the first secret project was for, so there will be pictures next week, if I continue to update here. (I've made too many false promises in the past on updating, so we're just taking it as it comes

3. Realized I bollocksed up the last 20 rows of a different secret knitting project, but only slightly, but decided that yes, I will rip out those rows and redo them instead of letting them slide.

4. Worked on High Seas:

5. Got my yarn and beads for the Shipwreck Shawl!

I like the color and am going to use it, but I'm a little irked, because it is NOT what I thought I was getting:



I know there are variations between computer monitors and blah blah, but this is a wee bit ridiculous. The bottom one (from the catalog) is much darker (almost a burgundy) and has shade variation, where there is little NO shade variation and is much brighter (very close to a true red).

On the Needles...

Ok, I don't know if I'm back, or not back or what.

I do know that I am finally, finally knitting again.

I started back up a while ago, but it's all of the top-secret variety.

I finished knitting A Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness, but it's not blocked yet.

I'm currently working on the High Seas scarf. I cast in on in some Knitpick's Alpaca Clooud in tidepool heather. I like it, but after about an inch, I realized that maybe I should have used some of the Zephyr I have lying around.

And, I have yarn and beads coming to me for the Shipwreck Shawl.

I don't know what it is about all this lace (Top secret knitting is also lace) but whatever works, I'm just rolling with the joy of needles in my hands again (and the fact it actually is bringing me joy!)

Mitten Report

Bigger post later, with pictures and pattern modifications, but I just wanted to post and say that they worked! My hands were the only part of me that didn't freeze today!

Mittens!

Well, I'm walking down to the mall to check out the Inauguration on Tuesday and realized that my gloves were just not warm enough! Given that last winter, the dog ATE one of my Big Wool Mittens, I'm in a bit of a lurch.

Luckily, I have a ball and half of dark gray Big Wool left over from an old project, so I'm making a new pair, but to make them extra warm, I'm thrumming them. Luckily, I wrote the pattern with an extra-roomy hand, so I don't have to accommodate for that. Once I finish them, I'll let you know how it works out.

And, if I have time, I'm going to thrum myself up some toe warmers, because I am seriously worried about my toes and frostbite.

ARGH!

I was trying to design a shawl. A circular one. Let's just say my math FAILED.

I could try to get ahold of a copy of Knitting Around (my library doesn't have it, so I'd have to ILL, because we are NOT SPENDING MONEY right now.) And then I'd look at Zimmerman's math formulas for the Pi R Square shawl and see if I could figure it out but... that sounds like a lot of work, and I'm trying to enjoy knitting again, you know?

SO! I will knit a different shawl. I think I found one I like in A Gathering of Lace. Interesting enough to keep my interest, mindless enough to knit when The Tudors - Season 2 arrives on my doorstep sometime tomorrow.

Either way, I have 2400 yards of GORGEOUS Zephr Wool/Silk laceweight in a dark peacock green. I bought it ages ago at Maryland sheep and wool. It's time I used it!

I may be back...

It's been a while. In fall of 2006, I went back to school, but was still working full time. And, for a few years there, knitting lost a lot of its passion for me. I don't know why. I still picked up my needles once and a while, but overall, I just wasn't feeling the love.

Right before Christmas, I graduated from school (I now have my Master's in Library and Information Science) and so we hosted the holidays for the first time. As it was our first time hosting, it was our first time having a tree. I didn't want to spend oodles of money decorating it, so I made a lot of origami cranes and about a dozen of these Snowflake Stars. I really got into it. I kept knitting them after the tree was decorated, so that another dozen, unblocked, with ends left to be woven in, were thrown into the decoration box when we took the tree down this week.

I kept knitting though. I started futzing with the pattern and have an idea for something. Maybe. But the thing is, I'm really, really excited about this new project. I have a ton of reading to get done this weekend, but I know much of my afternoon will be spent watching TV, so that I can cast on and get started. I haven't been this excited about my yarn and needles for a few years. I love it.

One of my new year's resolutions was to knit more. Hopefully, as I knit more, I'll blog more on this space. I'd like to, but if I'm not knitting, what's to blog here?

Stay tuned.

Oh, but if you can't get enough of me, check out some of the other blogs:

Biblio File, where I talk about all the books I read
Puffery, where I talk about bubble bath and make-up
Geek Buffet, where my friends and I talk about anything and everything.

Also, I'm on Ravelry, but I don't really know how to use it yet. Pointers?

Hey!

Can we just admit the fact that with school, my knitting and blogging about knitting is essentially on hiatus? Ugh.

BUT! Here are some photos to show I was very productive in my summer break. (Seriously, no time off of school until Christmas, except for when I get random days off, like for 4th of July.)

Anyway, I finished my sweater. Kinda. It needs to be blocked and ends need to be woven in and all that jazz. I know the sleeves look teeny-tiny. My gauge was different if I knit flat vs. in the round. The rest of the sweater was knit flat, so the sleeves were too. They're just rolled in on themselves. Also, I wasn't thinking and knit the band as a part of the sweater instead of picking up and adding on later. Of course, I didn't want the stripe pattern to extend into the band and so there are a lot of holes to be sewn up with creative weaving in of ends. Ugh...

I used the seamless yoke pattern from Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes & Gauges. It's knit in Lamb's Pride, with a gauge of 4 st/inch. The stripes are in Wildefoot. For the bottom band, collar, and cuffs, I dropped down 2 needle sizes and did seed stitch. The bottom and cuff were 5 rows of seed stitch. It's then 3 rows of stockinette, 1 row of CC, 1 row of MC, 2 rows of CC, 1 row of MC, 1 row of CC. The band is just 1 slipped stitch and then 5 stitches of seed stitch. For the yoke, I after joining the sleeves to the body, I did 1 row of MC, and the stripe pattern as established in sleeves and bottom. 3 rows of MC, then the stripe pattern again all the way up. For the collar, I dropped down 2 needle sizes and did seed stitch, increasing one stitch at the beginning of each row for about 2 inches.

I then cast on and started knitting this. I think it's a vest. If I have enough yarn left over, it will have cap sleeves. The cabling is going to go up until the ribcage, and then switch to plain stockinette. Hopefully, I'll keep you posted!