Project Updates and Stash Enhancement

Some of the yarn I got for Christmas. This is alpaca sock yarn. How yum is that!?!

Knitpick Essential (soon to not be named Essential anymore so now it's a collector's item!) that Jason got me for Christmas. I looove the color. I think it's destined to be Monkey's.




The four above are all Manos del Uraguay The bright teal and the orangey one are their bulky wool, and the wine and the grey tones ones are the wool/silk blend. All four are sooo delicious to touch. Got these at a huge discount in Brevard at Charlotte's Fibers for her pre-Superbowl sale.


Also purchased at Charlotte's Fibers at the same sale, these are both JoJoLand Melody, and will made wonderful socks that do not have to match. Hooray!

Marie has made several of these really awesome ribbed vests that while they seem like endless knitting would be awesome for keeping warm. So I bought this Fibranatura Mermaid in a luscious red color to make one for me.

This seemingly tangled mess is destined to be a Colinette Absolutely Fabulous Throw, when I get the nerve to wind all that yarn and get started with miles of feather and fan.


The above are the fourth and fifth installments of the Seven Deadly S(p)ins club, Pride and Greed. Both of these I plan to finish, though at the rate I knit, who knows when I'll get to them.

My Malabrigo hat. I love the colors .. I think I could have made the hat a little bigger, though. but the thought of ripping out to make it bigger is so daunting. I know I should but .. ugh!

There actually has been a great deal of progress on the Wrapigan. I'm to the second armhole now .. just started the second ball of the yummy alpaca I'm using, and though I'm dreading binding off and casting on all those stitches, because then it's just another mile of stockinette before I can bind off and be done, it'll be so worth it to have this to throw on when I'm chilled.

One thing I'm sad about is that the end of the shaping part meas the end of using my cute little bee stitch marker. Jason got me these for Christmas. Six bees, plus a single rose. So cute!

This is a project I started just to use up some stash. It's Brooks Farm Duet in a deep foresty-green. I'm making one of those really simple triangle shawls .. for as long as the yarn will hold out. I have no idea if I have enough to make this any substantial size, but we'll see. If not .. well, I can always frog and try something else.

The sixth installment of the Seven Deadly S(p)ins club was Envy .. not Lust as I suspected it might be with Valentine's Day coming up. It's beautiful, though. Handwarmers. I can't wait to get these started!

I made this to be the cover for a rice-bag I haven't yet made. It'll be perfect for my stiff and sore neck though.

I have recently spent a lot of time photographing and adding stash and projects to my Ravelry. There was a ton that I hadn't entered .. there likely still is a bunch I need to deal with .. the cotton, for example, I just dread doing because I have a ton of 1s and 2s of things, and that's just a lot of photos to take. I'll get it done. plus there's stuff I still need to enter .. random stuff I've picked up in swaps, etc. pretty stuff, but I just need to account for it. I try to keep myself accountable for the yarn I have.

Some of the prettier stuff I'm showing off here, mainly because I can.







I've been working on a lot of things .. handwarmers, hats for charity (once I can find the needles I need), still slogging away at the wrapigan. The sweater's on hold, mostly because I've been working on other things. Marie taught me how to weave my ends in as I knit, and how to do the Turkish Cast On, which is the coolest thing ever, so I might be cranking out some holiday gifts here soon.

Bad, bad blogger.

I'm a bad blogger. I know I am. I've just had a lot going on, and most of the people that even care about my knitting actually see it weekly .. twice, some of them. but I need to get back into the routine of blogging. It's something I really enjoyed doing, after all.

So .. what have I done? Well, there's a surprise gift for a certain James, that I really need to get around to mailing .. and let me just randomly say that I love the spellchecker feature of the new Firefox version. It knows when I meant to capitalize something. I'm working on a sweater now .. that I've had to rip back more times than I care to think about, and it's still not gonna be perfect but dernit I'm not ripping back that far again. I've started a wrap with sleeves designed by Stitch Poet .. the Wrapigan .. and I'm loving it and the pure alpaca it's being knit it. just a loose enough gauge to be a little loose and luscious, but when it's worn and washed and blocked that yarn will bloom into fluffy yumminess, and I look forward to that.

Hmm. What else. Oh! I learned to crochet. Like really and truly learned, and even made something with my skillz! I was hating my hair one evening and crocheted a quick headband to keep my annoying flyaways from tickling my face. Go me! And all thanks to MissMe .. who never updates her blog but I forgive her because she's always so busy.

There's also a mystery project that I can't safely talk about because its recipient might actually read this, so I'll just have to say that it's coming along .. slowly but surely it's coming along. If I knit more than I played World of Warcraft it might be further along .. but that's my stress relief, for now.

SAFF is coming up fast. We need to get our hotel soon, because we're planning on making a weekend out of it. I know that with money tight I can't buy much .. and to be honest I don't need to buy much becuase I already have so much yarn. but I do want to pick up some stuff from The Unique Sheep, from Miss Babs, and from Brooks Farm. Other than that, I intend to just look and drool, and to find Annette at the booth for the Skein and Garment Competition and sit there and knit a while, so I won't be tempted to buy everything I see. I have a very large stash, honestly, and I don't need to go spending money I don't really have.

Speaking of Annette, she's going to have a baby! Which means I have a baby to knit for! Yay! Despite Marie attempting her baby juju on me, Jason and I have no desire for a family now, so the only baby knitting I get to do is either for charity, or for someone else's baby, so the fact that Annette is having a baby is a delight. And not only because it gives me someone to knit for .. more especially because she really wants a child and now is going to get that wish.

Progress, of the Knitting Kind

So, I have been knitting a little. Just very little. I've been working a little along on my Sea Orchid sweater, and I've gotten to just past where it splits for the neck. but I keep screwing it up on the back half of the body, and having to go back repeatedly. Like I'm doing right now .. I have to frog four rows. But that's okay. it's not like I have to go back to the beginning or anything. I really do need to sit down and write out the pattern again, so I won't get lost.

I finished a baby bib and a burp cloth for the girl at best buy that's having a baby. I'm probably gonna make one more of each, and then probably a blanket. I might go ahead and start that, since I have some Caron Simply Sofy in baby colors that I'm dying to use up. And some Homespun too. Though those colors may be too girly, and I -think- she's having a boy.

I bought my yarn for the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl today .. but it's 2400 yards of laceweight, and it was taking too long to wind, so the girl I know that works there is gonna bring it to me on Thursday at knit-day. I also got some more cotton for the market bags that brandon has been knitting up like a fiend. Feind. No, Fiend.

That's about it. I'll try to get some pictures going soon.

Oh wow. Ravelry, for the first time, isn't slow! My old PC took a while to load what has become one of my favorite knitting resources. And now that my new PC is here, and set up, and working, and the internet isn't being a huge pain in the ass, I was finally able to hit Ravelry without finding it a chore. And wow! I still had some major slow loading even after Casey and Jess got the new server, so I was a bit .. well .. concerned that the new server wasn't doing what it was supposed to. Lo and behold, it wasn't their server .. it was my POS 4-year-old computer!

There has been knitting, in between the waiting and the fussing and the transferring and the setting up and the copying. I worked some more on Sea Urchin, though I screwed up part of it and had to rip back several rows and work it again. This time though I got it right, so I can continue. I really should keep working on Envy the Owl, since the boys are working on finishing theirs. Jason, in fact, is almost completely finished with his. I had to start a cotton project to knit at our Wednesday night knitting group, because we stay outside on the patio since it's nice out, but it's just too hot to knit alpaca/silk on bamboo needles when it's still 90-degrees at 8pm. So I started a baby bib. Since a girl at work will be having a bany in a few months, I figured I should get started, hmm?

My laptop is becoming a repository for the Cast-On podcast, which is by far my favorite right now. Of course, I've only caught a snippet here and there of others. I probably should check them out again, since I do enjoy knitting to podcasts. I've gotten the first two series' downloaded so far. I've a ways to go, but then they'll be on the laptop, and I can even take them upstairs and hide away for a while.

WIP (Woot!) and Wrath!

If you don't read my regular blog, I have my laptop finally, after a bit of a wrathful afternoon.



This is my new baby. Her name is, for the moment, Blossom. I think it's going to stick, but I'm not yet sure. She's a beauty, and there wasn't a whole lot I needed to do to get her going. A few icons moved from desktop to Quick-start, some futzing around with the Google Desktop, Gadgets and such, and I had to set up Lo-Jack for Laptops, plus install AVG. I'm waiting till I get my PC to decide what I'm doing about most of it, since Blossom is really just my 'I don't want to be tethered to my office' computer.

While waiting for Blossom to arrive .. and before I realized I was going to have to go and get her myself, I worked on Sea Urchin a little.



I emailed Ilga with some questions, and she got back to me with answers, which made me feel a lot better about the pattern in general. She also said she was delighted to hear I was knitting this as my first real garment, as it's a little more advanced than others. I've decided to add half a repeat before going on to the body, which I'll be getting to tonight. I'm so excited! I've gone through one ball of yarn .. but I have plenty of it since it was purchased for a different pattern.

The Seven Deadly S(p)ins club is having another contest. This time it's to come up with what your dream Wrath project would be. The prize is the yarn to make said Wrath project, dyed by them. I'm gonna hafta try this one.


Oh. And Isis is watching you.

So Smart!

So, Jason got me this pattern, right? It's beautiful. Ilga Leja's Sea Urchin.

I swatched for it. Really swatched! Washed it, blocked it, everything! And I got gauge! So .. the now daunting process of knitting the thing is all I have left. And I was all ready to begin .. when I read the pattern. Increase every second row, fourth row and sixth row .. huh? What is this, German?

*sigh*

I was determined though, and after casting on and knitting up to the point where I needed to actually figure out the increases, I knew I couldn't just stop. So I took out a lovely little journal I found on my bookshelf, and began to write the pattern out. Once I got to those pesky increases, I wrote out every row. All 39 of them. And started trying to plot the increases. Including how many stitches they would leave me with.

Three revisions of said writing later .. thank goodness for pencils and erasers .. I'm pretty sure I've got it written out correctly. At least now my written out destructions mesh with the pattern and the errata to the pattern that I found. I end on the correct row, and with the correct number of rows knitted after the final increase. I'm trying to decide now if I want to make the sleeve just a little longer.

I feel so smart!

PS: If you're interested, I posted in my boring blog a very very long, photo-gluttonous post about my flowerbeds.

Success!

Look! I swatched something! And to make it even more astounding, I swatched it right!

This is the gauge swtach for my next big project. I'm going to make Ilga Leja's Sea Urchin, a very open top with 3/4 length sleeves and a Sea Foam Wave pattern that moves in two directions. It looks rediculously easy to knit .. which probably means it won't be, but hey. Can't blame a girl for dreaming, right? I'm making it out of some of the Peruvian Baby Silk from Elann, which is an alpaca/silk blend.



I finished the bag at last. It's a lovely little thing, too. It'll definitely get plenty of use, especially since it's stretchy. And it has renewed my desire to knit bags out of grocery bags, too. Talk about the perfectreusable grocery bag!

I have gotten many compliments on my Peacock Bag though. Granted, most of them were from family members .. but they count too! I know they wouldn't tell me if something looked like crap. But still .. it's nice to hear something really looks good.

Ravelry Details - Peacock Bag
Ravelry Details - Sea Urchin Top

Saturday Jason took me to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. It was a lovely time. If I hadn't managed to drain my camera battery for the third time by leaving the camera attached to the computer, I could show you some of my favorite pictures. But since the battery is dead again ... I have to charge it. Again. I have to be able to take pictures of the flowerbeds in the front yard anyway, now that those are completely planted.

Yummy

First of all, I have all but finished the Peacock bag I was working on. I just need to figure out just what I'm going to do about handles. I might just make the ones the pattern calls for .. but I also kinda wanna create a drawstring to close it, so I dunno.

Let me tell you .. seed stitch in the round? Easy peasy. but oh my gods did I mess it up about a billion times. At least I never got but a few stitches before I'd realize, and tink back.

This picture doesn't show the stitch definition as well, and is closer to the actual colors, at least on my monitor. I have just loved knitting with this ribbon, and have a skein left .. before making the handles at least. I'll probably still have a skein, or most of one, once I do the handles. Could have made the bag longer but .. why?

Details, as always, on Ravelry.

I also have done a little stash enhancing. We went to the Yarn Shop in Pineville ... I think I went in looking for needles, and Jason wanted something to make a cute dishcloth he found. Well, as usual, there was something I just couldn't pass up. This time it was three somethings.

I have wanted to try the corn-fiber yarn for as long as I've known about it, and they had a bunch of it on clearance. Now, I know that means it didn't sell well and all. But c'mon. It's corn fiber. That's cool! So I bought this little grab bag which also has a funky ribbon yarn in it along with two balls of the variegated purple. Jason and I were talking as we picked up our lunch, and decided to go back to see if they had anymore. And we got there in the nick of time! THey were just closing. In fact, Hattie had already closed the register down. But they let me pick out all the A-maize-ing and put it aside for me. I went and picked it up yesterday. Quite a bit of yarn, let me tell you. but I think I'm going to use it to make bags similar to the Peacock, only smaller.

I love Araucania's yarns. I dunno what it is about them .. and I haven't actually knitted up any that I have. But I love them just the same. So when I saw this little beauty in with the cottons, I had to have it. I'm probably going to use it to make something for the 'Wrath' project from Seven Deadly S(p)ins, since the projects we were sent aren't exactly Wrath-ful. Not that I mind. I absolutely love the project we were shipped, and really need to get started on it.

It's got this almost-boucle texture though, so I don't think I can make the Sheepie cloth with it. The soap sack though, for certain.

Last but certainly not least is this cotton. It is Araucania's Nature Cotton, and it is heavenly. Very very splitty, sad to say, and Jason's ball, which is much darker colors, gave us fits trying to wind it out of the skein. But it's lovely and soft and I almost want to never use it. Almost. I think it's going to make a beautiful dishcloth. Probably a washcloth, actually. I can't see using something this soft and luscious on my grubby dishes.

So much to do.

Perhaps now that I don't have schoolwork to do, and likely won't until at -least- Fall 08 and perhaps even Spring 09, I can get more knitting done. I have so many projects I want to do, as is evidenced by my Ravelry Queue and my list of stuff On Deck.


There has been much knitting however. I'm still working on my second Wicked-themed dishcloth .. I'm about a pattern repeat from finishing that one. But I have other dishcloths finished too; more of my ecospun and cotton ones.


Details on Ravelry

There is also the sweater I do intend to finish at some point. I'd like to maybe have it done by SAFF this year, but I'm not making any promises. I bought the yarn two years ago, started a sweater and got halfway through before I hated the design and the pattern and ripped it out, so .. we'll see. I have swatched though.


Details on Ravelry

I'm still plugging away on my Gluttony socks. A good thing too, because the new Seven Deadly S(p)ins project is on its way to us. I was -hoping- it'd arrive today, but they likely did not get shipped until yesterday, and I don't think Ellen shipped them overnight. Sigh.


Details on Ravelry

In which there is more knitting, and other fun things.

I am trying, trying to keep up with the blogging. Things got really really hectic around here, since it was the end of the semester. But that's done, and both honey and I are happily taking the summer off. No classes, whatsoever.

And look at the wonderful thing his parents gave us to celebrate us both graduating with honors!

Why yes, that is a beer bottle sitting next to the plate. My husband has a taste for Yeungling. And what sort of grilling picture would it be if there wasn't a beer in the picture?

In more knitterly news, I've been greatly enjoying getting together with ohter knitters in Rock Hill, and it looks like our new permanent location is going to be Durango Bagel, thanks to the generosity of the owner. In fact, tomorrow night we're getting together again, and I'm actually looking forward to going out. Amazing, hmm?

Honey and B and I are doing our own little knit-along. We're making adorable little stuffed owls. See!


Isn't he cute!

I've also been working on my sock still. I'm up to the arch ribbing now. Not too far now! And it's a good thing, because I'm running out of the 2nd colorway. I think I should be able to make it work though.


And not a moment too soon, too. Jason just got notification from Ellen @ Earthfaire that she's shipping out the next 7 Deadly S(p)ins package. I should have it by week's end. Yay!

WIP - Gluttony Socks and FO - Pink Goes Good With Green Dishcloth

I was inspired, by my trip to see Wicked last Friday in Charlotte, to create something in Wicked colors. I didn't have green and Black, but I did have green and pink.


And thus was born the Pink Goes Good With Green dishcloth. I used the Ballband Dishcloth pattern from the Mason-Dixon girls, and I think it looks pretty good. a little Easter-y, a little cherry tree blossoms in spring, a little pink dogwood-y. But I like it. And I knitted it while at the show .. though not during. That would be silliness.



I also finished a sock. Not a pair. I haven't yet cast on the second one, though I'd best get to it if I intend to finish before the next Sin arrives.


If I were to re-knit it, I'd move the arch shaping a bit, and maaaybe make the foot a little longer, but we'll see how they wear.

Once I'm finished.

WIP - Gluttony Socks

We went on a trip to the mountains this weekend .. intending on taking a leisurely drive to see the blooming dogwood trees. Sadly, the dogwoods in the mountains aren't yet blooming. Best we saw was some cherry trees.


I did bring my sock with me, however, and managed to get quite a bit of work done on it. There was a bit of a dicey moment when I dropped two stitches, but I was able to catch them and work them back up, all without a crochet hook, cos I was silly enough to travel without one.




The trip was lovely indeed. We got to stop at two not-so-local yarn shops in the area. The first was Yarn to Dye For in Hendersonville, NC. There we got to meet the proprietor, a lovely woman by the name of Donna, as well as her husband and another lady whose name I've sadly forgotten, but I believe she helps out at the shop. In addition to many lovely yarns .. including quiviut, which is incredibly light I must say (no I didn't buy any, but I got to feel some. Lovely stuff!) .. Donna says that her passion is painting silks, and we got to see some of her creations. Absolutely stunning, I have to say. She teaches at the John C. Campbell school, and I'm highly considering asking my mother for a weekend class there so I can take Donna's silk painting class. It sounds like an amazing art.

Our second stop was in Brevard, NC, a lovely shop called Charlotte's Fibers. We even met Charlotte, and I have to say, I very much enjoyed my experience there. I even found that they carry Unique Sheep yarns, so I have a place I can go that's not a far drive where I can fondle the yarn before buying it. I actually did pick up some yarn there .. some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Cherry Blossom, and some Tofutsies in a colorway I've forgotten.

As we usually do, we asked in Charlotte's Fibers for a restaurant recommendation. We try to ask the locals where to go, rather than picking something touristy, or worse yet, going to a chain we could go to at home. Charlotte suggested to us a place called The Square Root, and if you are ever in Brevard NC, you should stop in. It's located in an alley, and kinda easy to miss, but it's a delightful little place and something you shouldn't ever miss. We opted to each get a different sandwich and share, and we weren't disappointed. They have a fried green tomato sandwhich that was a hit with hunny and Brandon, but wasn't to my taste .. not being a fan of the fried green tomatoes. They make a mean apple and brie grilled cheese, however. And their london broil sandwich, which was my choice, is divine. They also have sweet potato chips which are about the yummiest thing ever, and fried zucchini fries, which were notably yummy-licious.






This is a white squirrel. He's not, as you can tell, an albino. Apparently, there is a story about how the white squirrels came to be in Brevard NC. Something about a circus train back a long time ago. Now, they run wild. One of our main goals was to see a white squirrel, and unlike the unsuccessful trip clear through Maine to see a moose for Jason, we actually did get to see the white squirrel. Isn't he .. erm .. she cute?
So. That was my weekend. How was yours?