Work In Progress

I Imagine I'm at a Victorian Garden Party (FO)

I cannot believe, as much as I love this yarn and FO, that I finished this in MAY and am just writing about it now!

There must surely have been many garden parties in the Age of Brass and Steam.

Garter Eyelet.

Such a simple and yet pleasing detail. 

I would talk endlessly about it at a Mansfield Garden Party. 

This shawl was ridiculously fast and easy.  I perfect pattern to either show off a wildly varigated yarn, such as this one. Or to make a simple, elegant gift with a precious skein. Perhaps the perfect elegant wrap for a wedding or evening out? Use with silk or bison or something equally divine?

I knit this mostly during nap time and even the longest rows went quickly. I followed the pattern, but if I did it again, I would gradually increase the spacing of the eyelet rows, instead of every 10 repeats, as the pattern calls for... Maybe something like 6 - 8 - 10 - 12.

Project details: 
Pattern: Age of Brass and Steam
Yarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina, Mansfield Garden Party colorway, 379 yards
Modifications: I kept going until I was near the end of my skein and then added another garter eyelet row near the end. 
Yardage total 2014: 1747

 

 

Just doing it (FO)

I can't believe I've had no FO posts since April! And I really have knit nearly every day this year.

So, in keeping my idea from my last post that I just need to get some FOs out there, here are the most recent three. I've been a bit disorganized since I finished my top (I DID finish) and haven't had a chance to wind any yarn. But I had a class and didn't want to lose all that knitting time. So I've just had a stream of dishclothes.

Left to right: DW Darrell Waltrip, my own garter eyelet, and Simple Star Stitch Cloth, 

Project details: 
Pattern: Easter Waltrip
Yarn: Sugar n Cream, 52 yards
Modifications: n/a
Yardage total 2014: 1253

Project details: 
Pattern: Garter eyelet
Yarn: Sugar n Cream, 59 yards
Modifications: no mods, obvs, but I did use scraps, so the last bit is a different color blue, though it is hard to tell.
Yardage total 2014: 1312

Project details: 
Pattern: Simple Star Stich Dishcloth
Yarn: Sugar n Cream, 56 yards
Modifications: n/a
Yardage total 2014: 1368

(yes, Partner will kill me if he see this up here! A preview of things to come with Wiggle)

I will 2014 April Update - w an FO

This update is for all things yarn!

I figured I’d kind of been ignoring knitting, which is a bit of a problem on a knitting blog.

So, three goals for this year:

-          I will finish 1 project a month and knit 5,000 yards

-          I will buy no yarn before the ESK sale

-          I will release 2 patterns this year

1. So, I made quick progress on the first goal and think I’m still on track but everything is WIPs at the moment. 

I’m almost done with skein number 2 on my OWLS Cardigan. This yarn is wonderful to work with, but impossible to photograph.  This is probably attempt number four.  It shows the design, but not the color. 

This little joy just needs to be blocked but our spare bed is covered with dishes. My stepson is coming soon so I better hustle if I want this blocked in the next couple months and moved from WIP to FO.

Sorry to disappoint you Melissa, but I did NOT get Basil done in time for Easter!  My brain stopped working and I lost the ability to do simple math so the end of the tail was ripped out a couple times. When I realized he wasn’t getting done by Easter, I lost my momentum. Part of it that I’m really not looking forward to switching colors every three rounds on my 12 stitch rounds.  And then doing it 4 times.  I mean, second sock syndrome is nothing compared to second, third and fourth leg syndrome….

The one knit getting a lot of progress has been my socks and I’m guessing they will be done this weekend. With everything else not in a pick-up and drop without notice stage, I keep going to these socks, even during the week at work when I could be working on something more complicated. 21w

 So I've done great about not buying any yarn.

Last week for my birthday I received two generous gift certificates. I decided that these were in no way a violation of the yarn diet.  Because you can rationalize anything if you want. J Here are my lovelies:

  The lovely yarns in the bottom picture - Madelinetosh Sock - are going to become Crackerjack.  I have waited SO PATIENTLY for my birthday to buy this yarn. All these lovely yarns were bought at Eat.Sleep.Knit.  You'll see I've added a link to ESK on the right and I get a little bit of yarnathon credit if you go to the website through that link.

3. Now for pattern release. I have been experimenting for the first time with knitting without patterns. Unfortunately, the patterns that have been kicking around in my head haven’t worked out as well on the needles.  

I’m still really struggling to decide if doubled knitted fabric is really that much better than two pieces whipstitched together.  Thoughts? 
I did complete one item without a pattern and haven’t blogged about it so you all get one last picture. 

I’m not happy with the way this hat turned out. I wanted a more feminine look for the brim and the lace lines weren’t right. I am, however, super excited by how well the decreases worked out so it would stay in pattern and finish with an awesome star on top! 
But I won’t be writing this one up, I don’t think. Maybe I’ll tweak it and try again but I have some baby patterns to complete first!

Project details: 
Pattern: Not the hat in my head
Yarn: Shibui Baby Alpaca, 183 yards
Modifications: n/a
Yardage total 2014: 1201

I will 2014 March update

Here is the update for March, concentrating on the high points!  As before, If you only want to see the knitting goals, just boop, boop, boop, down to the RED text. 

Without further ado...

1. I think I'm doing a better job of being present. Just hanging out with Wiggle and with Partner. I am able to just ignore the things on the to-do list and spend a few hours building towers that are knocked over. And I love all our time nursing and napping together. I no longer think of putting him down for a nap and leaping up to clean. That time has become "me" time to nap, read or knit. I hope it lasts a very long time!

3. I've kept up with my 10 minutes a day and this is helping me to relax quite a bit. We are in week 4 of getting our kitchen repaired/remodeled from a burst line in January. Add some heavy expenses for some drainage issues and it's been a stressful few months, money-wise. But we've been mostly able to laugh about it (or agree not to mention certain people to each other). 

4 & 10. We've been doing better on sweets but no kitchen has usually meant coffee at 7-11 and I'm powerless to resist a donut. No really, I'm sure it's a medical fact. But I've had so many donuts these past 4 weeks that I'm kind of looking forward to eggs and a bagel for breakfast some day. 

5. Does anyone have any suggestions on being calmer and less quick to anger? I'd be interested in your thoughts on anger and patience.

7 & 8. Still a huge focus to minimize and organize.  We're getting there.  We have been selling off the old appliances to help pay for the new. When the kitchen is done, Partner is going to make a table and we'll sell our other table. I'm also hoping to sell or donate our china cabinet to open up the living room some more. Wiggle be sorry to see the floppy handles go, but it's just too much in our 1040 sq ft house. 

9. We're spending a lot of money on the house right now so there is even more pressure/encouragement to not spend money frivilously. I've been doing really well on this the past 4 weeks because the house it a chaotic mess so I'm very aware of how much we already have. 

14. Missed two days in March and did a double day to make it up. I've been working on some balancing poses which has been disheartening. I'm wondering if my hips moving from baby have thrown off my balance or if I'm just out of practice... 

15. I finally had to admit that I just hadn't done the training. It was kind of a bitter pill to admit that I wasn't going to run. It's been nearly 18 months since I've run and I know I'm in terrible shape. We've lost our running community and I didn't realize how keen a loss that would be, moving out here. Hopefully I can turn it around and run the marathon in December. 

2. Picture time!  I hope he stays happy and healthy! Wiggle is actually sick - he caught whatever someone gave me at work. But for the most part, he's been a pretty healthy kid, for which I am so grateful. I hate when he's sick and we can't do much to help him feel better. 

NOW FOR THE KNITTING GOALS! 

18 & 19. Three FOs this month, with one still to post about (besides these). These are two dishclothes I've made for my mom... now to get them in the mail! My trusty double bump and a garter stitch - started with one stitch, increased to 50 and then back down again. All stash yarn and no purchases! :) 

Project details: 
Pattern: Double Bump and Garter stitch dishclothes
Yarn: Sugar N Cream, Baby Blue Colourway, 55 and 60 yards respectively
Modifications: none, I cast on 34 stitches for the double bump
Yardage total 2014: 1018

Oak Trail (FO)

Okay, I actually finished this for the Ravellenic Games I've just taken awhile to record it here. 

This was a fun knit and an interesting construction. I love all of Alana's nature inspired knits. The way she makes the various leaves is so cool. She has a new book out, if you're interested! I love Sprig. I love a ton of patterns in her first book too. 

I bought this yarn in a Boxing Day Etsy shop update. I've loved Tanis's colors for years and have bought it as gifts for others. The color, lotus, is beautiful and the shimmer from the cashmere and silk in the yarn is beautiful.  I can also say that it washes well. Not that you're supposed to wash it but this hat was washed accidently and only lost a little bit of structure. I think a proper wash according to the label and it would bounce right back.

I made a small error that slowed me down considerably. I thought I'd slip the stitches on the brim so it would be nice and smooth. But you have to pick up more stitches than there are slipped stitches.  So I ended up having to knit-front-back in each slipped stitch to get the right number of stitches for the body of the hat. It was kind of tedious and completely my fault. 

Otherwise, I love my first selfish knit of 2014! 

Project details: 
Pattern: Selfish Oak Trail
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts, Orange Label Aran, Lotus Colourway, 147 yards
Modifications: none 
Yardage total 2014: 903 

Brown Trudge (FO)

About half way through this project, I started calling it brown sludge, since it was so boring.

But since they were socks, I decided brown trudge made more sense.

These were my Dad's Christmas present, finished so that my brother could deliver them just before Valentine's Day.

I already knew they weren't going to be on time when we headed back, but I thought I'd get plenty of knitting time. Unfortunately, the directions for the heel weren't that great and my first attempt was awful. I couldn't stand it and tore it out. I did it again, but it didn't turn out much better. My Dad claimed it didn't feel bad so I went ahead and did the rest of the leg, but I still think it looks terrible.

I found some great directions and used that for the second sock. A better knitter than I would have torn out the first sock and redone the first heel. Instead, I am just hoping that my Dad was right and the clunky heel doesn't bother him.

If I make another toe up sock with worsted weight yarn, I think I'll do a gusset heel or something. I didn't realize that you could do something other than a short row but now that I've actually read my Wendy Johnson Knitting Toe Up Socks book, I have discovered there are other methods. I just think the double wraps are too bulky with worsted weight.

The pattern is the Jogless Stripe Hiking Sock.  I obviously didn't do the stripes, I was just looking for a free toe up pattern for men's feet. I used reinforcing thread on the toes and heels. For fun, I did the intarsia square, also using the reinforcing thread. I figured that I could learn intarsia and that since my dad actually will be wearing these with hiking boots, that it might make sense to have the reinforcing.  

You can just see the reinforced intarsia square in this picture that also give you an idea of what size 13 men's feet look like.  I measured my dad's foot and it was 11 3/4 inches long. Yeah.

 As I've said before, the yarn claims to be worsted, but it's really more like a heavy DK.  It's also made in China.  I won't be buying it again.  The reinforcing thread is Regia and I used 8 grams, so quite a bit, 66 yards (though I'm not counting that in my yardage total).

So glad these are done! 

Project details:
Pattern: Jogless Stripe Hiking Socks 
Yarn: Cascade Superwash, 354 yards and Regia reinforcing thread, 66 yards
Modifications: no stripes
Yardage total 2014: 433