Whew!

...long time no blog.  Well, school has started, and I've been busy busy busy.  Between Hat attack and some sample knitting I've done, I haven't had much time for posting.  Here is my latest, though, and I hope to get back in the swing of things!  This is Flair by Wendy Bernard, and I LOVE it.  I made this for Renaissance Yarns, but I love it so much that I want to do one for myself.  I realize that the flat photo doesn't do it justice, it should really be modeled, because on the body it looks just great.  Comfy, yet stylish and up-to-date. I made this out of Debbie Bliss's Aran tweed.   I'll find buttons for it today.  BTW, Wendy is coming to Renaissance Yarns on October 11 for an appearance and book-signing.....I can't wait!  She'll be there at 12pm, so stop by if you can!

OK, finally finished.  Just finished posting it on Ravelry, so here is the Tuvstarr vest modeled by me.  It should go to Renaissance Yarns today!

Progress happening

Here is the latest progress on the Elsebeth Lavold Tuvstarr.....went button shopping today, and I'd love some advice.  I'll post a pic of the two choices tomorrow.

Progress

Here is a little progress on a project I am doing for Renaissance Yarns.......it is Tuvstarr by Elesebeth Lavold, done in her new Bamboucle.  It is lovely to knit with, spongey and like terry cloth.   The pattern itself is easy and moving along quickly.

Tangerine dreams

I've got a couple of new projects on the needles. One is a shell for my LYS, one is finishing up my Noro mini cardigan, and now I've started a little something for my 7 y.o. daughter.  It is rare that I knit for her.  She is fussy about clothes, and attached to a few specific items.  But this pattern in the "Young Rowan" booklet caught my eye.  It's done in Rowan Handknit cotton, and I LOVE the tangerine color!!  It should look great with her Summer tan. Here is the beginning of it.....

Finally....

At long last, the hoodie is done.  It didn't take me all that long to reknit the sleeve, but then I procrastinated sewing it in.  The weather has been HOT here over the weekend, so that makes working with fuzziness less appealing.  Here it is, photos courtesy of my 7 year old daughter, so don't mind the blurriness too much.  Oh, and the toys in the playroom.........

A Good Cause

My LYS is doing a breast cancer awareness charity knitting event.......a group of us are making a square from The Great American Afghan.  Here is the beginning of mine.....

Nearly done

You'll notice from these photos that some progress has been made......the hoodie is assembled and blocked, except for the hood.  Turns out the hood was a booger, too......It called to have 40 stitches on either side of the 19 held stitches picked up.  Seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find space for more than 30 stitches on each side.  AAARGH, I picked up and ripped back at least six times.  My stubborn streak took over, and the seventh time was a charm.  So, after all that work, was I really going to sew it up with sleeves of two different lengths?  Uh, apparently not.  So I've ripped the offending sleeve, and am in the process of re-knitting.  Stay tuned.....

Oh no!

Notice anything from this picture?   Yup, a "small" error in the sleeves.   Turned out that I kept track of my increases incorrectly, so I ended up doing too many with about ten extra rows to account for.  Yikes.  So, the question is, do I rip it out?   That would be the "right" thing to do.  OR, do I block the you know what out of the shorter sleeve?  It's stretchy, it's lacey, it might work.........any takers?

Hah...

Haha, done with both front and back of this project.  I would show you a picture but guess what??  Front and back are identical.  Sooooo, look at the picture from the previous post and you'll know that I have another piece that looks just alike.  On to sleeves......

Hoodie excitement

After the swatch fiasco,  I did what any self-respecting knitter would do......started something else.  This is a little something that I've been coveting from Rebecca #32.  It is a lacey hoodie done in their Bel Air.  Had trouble finding enough yarn locally, but finally tracked it down at Seattleyarn.com.  The Bel  Air is fluffy and light to work with, and the project is moving along swimmingly.....here is the back.

Swatching.....

It's rare that I hit in impasse in my knitting. Usually, my queue is so long that I am hurrying to finish one project so I can move on to the next. But right now, well, I am at a standstill. I'm thinking of hosting a knitalong for one of my Ravelry groups......but I'm not quite ready yet. So meanwhile I thought I'd swatch for some potential projects. Trouble is, my swatching isn't going well. I swatched for a little cardi that I'm planning on doing in Noro silk garden. I swatched w/ the suggested US 8 needles, and it came out too big. So, I switched to US 7's. Way to tight. Hmmm. At that point I thought "oh, the size 8's were probably okay after all". So, I cast on and got about 7 inches done on the back of the cardi. But, it seemed, well, floppy. So I measured. Yup, you guessed it, my gauge was off by a lot. Let's just say that I am supposed to get 18 stitches over 4 inches and I was getting like, 16. Not good. So to the frog pond I went. New swatch, on 7's again. (Yes, my third swatch, or fourth if you count the back of the sweater...). I washed this one, pinned it out.............perfection. But now, do I even want to re-start this dumb sweater??? We'll see.......

Yay, getting through it!

Hurray, another FO. This is Juliet, from Debbie Bliss's Rialto book. I did in in "beige", although it is actually a sort of stone color. The miles of garter stitch made my eyes cross, but once I got through that, the rest was very fun. Do you like the celtic knot button on there? I am hoping that this will be one of those "wearable" sweaters.

Pebble Beach

Yay, another FO! Doesn't the color remind you of pebbly sand? I did this cute sweater for my LYS, Renaissance Yarns in Kent. It's the Capri sweater from Rowan 43, done in Calmer. I love that stuff, this is my third, no, fourth project using Calmer. Talk about crack for knitters. It knits up like a dream, wears and washes well, sooooo comfy. Blah blah blah, right? Anyway, it just needs to be finished with these womping snaps. Kind of a quirky closure, but I think it'll look fun. Oh, and obviously my ends need to be woven in. There you go. So, now I can move on to my beige wonder, Juliet!

Fair beginnings...

Here is the beginning of my newest project, Juliet from Debbie Bliss's Rialto collection. Found a few people on Ravelry who've done this knit with some mixed reviews. I think I will love the finished product, but the beginning, as you can see, is about a million inches of garter stitch. OK, only 10 inches, but it might as well be the same thing. The gauge is 48 rows to 4 inches. Forty-eight rows to 4 inches, people. That's 12 rows per inch. That is about a million years of beige garter stitch. Okay, now that I've whined, you're looking at 8 inches done already, so I am perservering.

Blue Lagoon

I finished up this little confection this past week. It is a sample for my LYS, Renaissance Yarns. The pattern is the Simple Raglan from Blue Sky Alpacas, done in the new Debble Bliss bamboo blend called Primo. It was a quick easy knit, loads of mindless stockinette, but sometimes that's soothing. The yarn comes in a ton of really fun colors.

New addition....

Here is the new addition to the family.....I've named her Lola. I've wanted one of these for ages, and found a brand new one on e-bay for a great price, so here she is! And here she is modeling my latest FO, the Louisa Harding Muse cardi.

Self Portrait Tuesday

I tried to capture my socks AND the little funky project I was working on, but couldn't quite manage it. So, socks it is. These were actually made for me by my mom, she couldn't remember the yarn, but I love them. This is my standard knitting position: legs up on the coffee table, Ott light over right shoulder. (Could also explain my sciatic nerve irritation on the left side....might have to remedy this somehow......)

Zeroing in

Okay, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with some projects. Here is the nearly complete Muse cardi by Louisa Harding. The first pic is the lace edging pinned on, the second pic is about three hours later. (Not continuously sewing, thankfully!) It just needs the sleeve edging to be done, and a button loop. I am thinking of just doing a couple of rows of garter stitch around the sleeve rather than the 4-5 inch edging the pattern calls for. (Oh, anda the funky little snowman in the first shot? A little sculpture my daughter made......it tickled me, the snowman is on a snowboard, and just a cool little dude. Hmmm, my own muse?)

Guilty

Ok, startitis is getting me. I've finished the snap tape cardi, except for the snap tape, which I've ordered. Meanwhile, I've started this little project with Louisa Harding angora that's been in my stash for an entire year. I've finished the body and sleeves, and am now working on yards of lace edging done in ribbon yarn. It's moving along pretty well, but of course I am dreading the imminent slip-stitching of it all into place. Egads.

Short attention span?

Here are a few works in progress....seems like I am having trouble focusing on one thing at a time. In the back you'll see the Blue Sky alpacas snap tape cardigan. It just needs the collar and the dreaded snap tape applied. On the right is an experiment. I found some GGH Cumba at my LYS Renaissance yarns in a great fiery red color. The trouble is that the pattern in Rebecca mag I was thinking of using asks that the yarn be doubled. It's an alpaca blend, and to me that spells H-O-T. I was able to get gauge using the yarn single, probably because it is a stretchy stitch called "net stitch". Now that I've done that, though, I'm just not sure if it will drape the way I want it to. I'd like to avoid it being too, ahem, clingy. Finally, on the left side is my one FO. It's Jared Flood's Koolhaas hat from IK's holiday gift magazine. I made it out of Cascade Yarns Cash Vero.....love love love it!!

Why do we do it?

Last night I was measuring the sleeve on my latest project, when my 7 y.o. daughter asked "What are you making?" I answered "A sweater". After a pause and an ever-so-subtle wrinkling of her nose she said...."You sure are making a lot of clothes."

Wow, that really hits home. There's been a lot of buzz on the web lately about why we knit, what we knit, do we really wear what we knit. It gave me pause. I do have a lot of sweaters, and many many many of them I do not wear. Maybe the fit isn't just so, or maybe it turned out to be fun to make, but not "fashionable" enough to wear. Some are too warm, others just don't "click". Some, dare I say it, looke "homemade". So what's the answer? I don't really see myself as a shawl person, although undoubtedly I will make one someday. I love making socks....okay, I love the first one, but am a horrible victim of second-sock syndrome. And even socks.....how many thick wool socks can a person jam in their sock drawer? My current idea is to start tackling more complex projects with smaller gauge. That way, the whole shebang takes longer to finish, and quite possibly I'll be happier with the finished garment. On the other hand, is there anything more satisfying than whipping up a larg-ish gauge project in a yummy color, whether you wear it or not?

My current piece of clothing that inspired my daughter's comment is the snap tape cardigan by Blue Sky Alpacas, in their Blue Sky cotton. Squishy, great color, quick to make because of the large gauge. A bit hard on the hands, but otherwise fairly satisfying, especially when my tired brain can't handle anything complex. Is that so wrong?

Happy New Year....at last!

Too bad that I haven't posted since November, but I'm trying to turn over a new leaf (again) for 2008. So here it is, the first FO of 2008!

(Drumroll please........)the Marsan Watchcap from RedLipstick. Nice, huh? I love how this turned out. More importantly, hubby loves it, which is saying something since he isn't exactly, er, a "Hat Guy", know what I mean? I used stash yarn, a basic cashmerino, held with two strands together and knitted on US #7's.