WIP Progress

I'm slowly but surely getting through all these piled up WIPs now that my pieces to my sweater are done.

Clementine Shawlette
- I decided not to graft in pattern and just do the kitchener grafting described in the instructions.
- The yarn relaxed a lot after washing, and the shawlette is longer than I expected. To wear it, I'm going to have to pull the ends up, causing the back to droop low, which isn't a bad thing.
- The ends still need to be woven in.

Monterey Socks
- I bound off the first pair of socks.
- The ends need to be woven in.
- I need to make the 2nd sock.

Marilinda Socks
- I started the 2nd sock.
- I need to finish the rest of the sock, from the cuff on down.

Rona Lace Shawl
- I have not worked on this much.
- Same, I still need to finish around 40 rows.

Multiplicity Sweater
- I finished the front, the back, and the 2 sleeves.
- It's been washed & blocked.
- I need to seam the pieces together, first the front piece to the back piece, up the sides and across the shoulders. Then, each of the sleeves need to be set in at the armholes.
- I need to buy buttons.
- After seaming, I need to knit up the cowl neck.

WIPs

Works in Progress

Clementine Shawl
- Both sides are done but the gauge for each side does not match. One side takes more pattern repeats to reach the same length as the other side.
- I may have to wash/block them both before deciding what to do.
- I have to figure out how to graft them together.

Monterey Socks
- First sock needs to be bound off.
- Second sock needs to be knit.
- I need to do some research first and figure out a better way to cast on/cast off in the middle of a row.

Marilinda Socks
- First sock is done and the ends need to be woven in.
- Second sock needs to be knit.

Rona Lace Shawl
- I need to finish the 45 or so rounds left.

Multiplicity Sweater
- I need to finish the 2 sleeves.
- The cowl portion needs to be knit.
- I need to find suitable buttons.
- I should also figure out if I have enough yarn left, and then order more if necessary.
- The pieces then need to be blocked and seamed (3-needle bind-off?).

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Christmas Presents

After the debacle that was last year's Christmas gifts, I don't know if I can bring myself to knit presents for everyone again for this year. Maybe I could do it if it were something quick but with all the stuff I've been working on, I can't figure out what that could be. If I don't knit or crochet something, then what should I give my cousins? I wish I could give chocolate, since I found a bunch of cool chocolate companies, but they're all boys who probably don't eat chocolate. I was thinking about cooking. Maybe not my chocolate truffles, but something like homemade toffee? Packaged up nicely?

Sahara Sleeves Update

I've finished my left sleeve using increases to make it a bell sleeve. Starting at around the elbow, or roughly 18.5" from the under arm, I increased by (2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4) stitches, every 7 rows. It looks rather nice, and not too big like I was afraid of. I was originally planning to do 6 stitches for the last 2 increases, but was already getting scared at how big it would be.

Sleeves take fricking forever! I'll be glad to finally get this sweater done, and in fact it actually will be my first real sweater! I was saying to people before that it was just a short-sleeved top. My boss said that because it's knitted, it was still a sweater, just a short-sleeved sweater. But, now that it's long-sleeved I can be comfortable either way. Even so, after this I am going to be so happy to do a top without sleeves. Maybe I'd actually be able to wear it NOW too! It is soooo hot in my office right now because the air conditioner is broken and I have no hair tie for my long hair. Uck.

So, as for the next project, I'm planning to make the Lelah Top, halter top version; Coachella once I get my Berocco Suede; and the Pink Sundae Camisole found in Sensual Knits. I may end up frogging the start of my Demeter, if I need those needles.

I also plan to start up a pair of socks (Leyburn socks) using some of the variegated sock yarn I bought. Ahh, there's also the socks from Cat Bordhi's book, which I am waiting for to arrive. I have a lace shawl on the needles (Rona Lace Shawl) that I'm still working on right now too. That one, I may leave as a long term project to be finished by Christmas for presents. As soon as I get some suitable yarn though, I do want to start up either Lyra or another Herbert Niebling lace pattern (maybe a smaller one that Lawrence would agree to use as a table runner).

Wow, there's a ton of patterns I want to start working on immediately! :) I'll post a list later.

Edit: I found the page where I saw the instructions for the halter top variation of the Lelah Top [here]. That was actually the exact project I saw on Ravelry that made me want to knit the Lelah Top! :)

Socks made from Laceweight Yarn

My first purchase from KnitPicks was pure impulse. I read about a sale, and visited the website for the first time. Actually it was also my first yarn purchase from an online yarn store (not counting Ebay). I was taken back by how *cheap* the yarn was! Granted, it was all laceweight yarn I was looking at. Still...$2-$4 for a hank...I totally splurged and bought 4 hanks each of 4 yarns [details here]. I bought for of Shadow in Campfire, which is kind of a brownish, earthy orange. I used over half of one hank of it to make a lace scarf for my mom. I bought 8 hanks of Gossamer in 2 colorways. Sunrise is a variegated light blue with light pink. Sounds and looks nice until you try to figure out wth you're actually going to make with it. Top Hat is a variegated yarn in red, black, purple, and various shades between. It looks beautiful, but as a lacy item...I don't know. The Alpaca Cloud looks really thin and is very soft. It looks beautiful and I still haven't decided on a project I'm willing to use it up on. I got it in a moss green that is a nice soft, muted green color. Here are pictures of the Gossamer variegated yarns.

Sunrise:

Top Hat:

So, while looking at wool/silk blend yarns I can buy to make a sweater out of, I was considering the cost effectiveness of buying a laceweight and doubling it up to get a fingering weight yarn. Somehow I realized that socks are made with fingering weight yarn, and I have a bunch of laceweight in variegated colors that I don't know what to do with. Also, variegated yarns are perfect for socks in ways they could never be perfect for any other garments. Thus, I gave it a try and started on a pair of socks using the Gossamer laceweight in the Top Hat colorway. I also figured that by doubling the yarn I'd be able to prevent any nasty pooling.

I just finished the first sock last night, and the results turned out rather nice. They're soft and they feel sturdy. The colors do not exactly pool either. They ended up striping...but in various ways. It seems like each section of the sock ended up with a different striping pattern. I don't have a picture of the completed sock, but here's a picture I took while the sock was in progress. By the way, the pattern I used was the one I used for my first sock attempt, Aran Braid Socks for Teri.

In the picture, you can see the there is a striping thing going on in the leg of the sock. There's a sort red-black-red stripe pattern going on with bits of purple in between. In hte back and forth portion of the heel, the stripe turned to black-red-purple, repeated. The gusset, being many more stitches around than the leg, created a thinner stripe pattern with a line of black alternating between the red-purples. As the circumference decreases for the foot, the striping returns to something more similar to the leg, but not quite as regular. In the leg, there were long stretches where both strands would be the same color...either red or black. In the foot, somehow the colors got offset enough that the same colors did not overlap together.

Overall the effect is not bad. I like it. I don't expect to be able to duplicate the striping patterns on the second sock. This did not take all that much yarn either. I still have a bunch left from the first hank. Assuming the yardage is accurate, this took less than 220 yards. It will be interesting to see how far the rest of the hank will take me into the second sock.

Busy Weekend.

For such a busy weekend I actually got a bit of stuff done. Well, not "completed" done, but progress nonetheless. I finished up the first ball of Patons SWS for my "My So-Called Scarf". I finished a couple more rows on that Athenian Scarf. I even finished 3 rounds of my star shaped blanket! Sure, that doesn't sound like much, but each of those rounds get progressively bigger and the blanket feels pretty big already.

Here are some pictures of these projects. They aren't the most recent, but better than nothing. :P

"My So-Called Scarf" using Patons SWS


Athenian Scarf in Bernat Alpaca Natural


Star-Shaped Blanket in Lion Brand Homespun


AND, as a bonus, here's a picture of my first lace project (started last year), completed and blocked. I gave it to my mom when I went home over the weekend.

New projects out of old[ish] yarn

It's so sad that as a crafting/knitting/crocheting blog, I have a distinct lack of photos. I even have a digital camera now....what can I say? Call me lazy, I guess. :P

Anyway, as my star blanket reached critical mass and became too large/bulky to carry around with me in my [new] purse, I started thinking about how to use up the yarn in my stash. Actually, I started out by looking at the patterns in my Queue and thought about what I could make with the yarns already in my stash.

Athenian Scarf in broomstick lace

I've been wanting to make something in broomstick lace, and even if I couldn't start the Hourglass Jacket, there was an Athenian Scarf that looked very nice and basic. To figure out a yarn for this scarf, I thought about the qualities of the original scarf that I liked. What was it that drew me to the scarf?

• Bold stitch definition
• The way the broomstick part crosses
• Solid coloring

With this I could determine what yarns in my stash would be able to fulfill these qualities. I wouldn't use any of my laceweight yarn. I wouldn't use any variegated yarns either. I wouldn't use the fuzzy yarns. I also had to make sure I had enough to make a scarf with. In the end I decided to use my Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends in Peony (pink). I had 2 balls of this, in case I needed that much. Each ball is rather large to begin with, and the yarn is a bulky 2-ply. Although slightly fuzzy because the plies are loosely spun, it's got a very nice luster to it and has nice definition. The effect is slightly different from the original Athenian Scarf in which an 8-ply yarn was used (Debbie Bliss Cathay).

My only issue with the way it's turning out so far is that I would prefer the broomstick loop part to be a little more open. The holes seem a little too small right now, but I don't have a knitting needle large enough to achieve this. I may stop by Michael's today to pick one up. Alternatively, I could create my own "broomstick", loop holder thingy out of paper taped together to be stiff. I do have plenty of that lying around on my desk.

My So-Called Scarf, a slip-stitch pattern

I've wanted to create something that utilizes a slip-stitch based pattern. Slip-stitches show off variegated yarns beautifully, and they add texture and stitch definition while still looking refined. I could be pulling all of that out of my ass, but it sounds better than saying "slip-stitch purty!" It's actually a stitch pattern from a pattern book, repeated in scarf shape, but distributed by the people at the store, Imaginknit, in San Francisco. The pattern can now be found on their website at here.

Looking over everyone else's photos of this scarf on Ravelry, I came up with a few guidelines for myself regarding the yarn for this scarf.

• Single ply
• Shine factor (from silk, soy, bamboo, etc.)
• Multi-colored (striping or variegated)
  

I decided on using my Paton SWS. Since I only have 1 ball of Natural Crimson left, I may turn that into a skinnier scarf. People seemed to typically use 2-3 balls of Paton SWS for their scarves. I may use my Natural Pink with this pattern as well, alternating the rows to create a sort of mixed up striping pattern.

Nearly completed socks & Scarf (finally)

Last night I went out with Lawrence to a cafe where he and his cousins played cards together. While they played cards, I finished up my Zephyr socks, painstakingly undoing the plies and weaving each ply in separately. Thats 3 strands x 2 ends x 2 socks = 12 ends to weave in. At least....they're done! They do still need to be soaked & blocked for better photos, but that should be easy.

I was also able to do many more rows of the party lace scarf, my first attempt at lace. Then I figured it was long enough and I bound it off. It definitely needs to be blocked. I'm not sure whether to do it before or after blocking, but I was also going to thread some orange seed beads on orange sewing thread and weave it in. Then, I can save it for Christmas to give to my mom. >:)

2 weeks left...

What am I doing starting a Hemlock Ring Blanket (modified from a doily pattern by jared of brooklyntweed)?

I started the socks for my grandpa. It's pretty awesome for my first real attempt at a sock. I'm doubling the Tweedle Dee, so it's knitting up super-chunky at 3 stitches/inch. Unfortunately I didn't have enough yarn. I had to get some more from Michael's last night (they only charged me $1.50 because the ball band was missing!). I can see myself finishing it up fairly quickly...I may even be able to get the 2nd sock done tonight at Zephyr.

Saturday I made a slouchy hat in blue Dolcetto. I gave it to Peggy to try. If she likes it and will wear it, I'll make her another one so she can give that one to her sister. If not, she can just give it to her sister and I'll make her something else - like the argyle dog sweater she sent me a picture of. :) I've learned my lesson from last time and will do it flat.

Yesterday at the Subaru dealership I was able to finish several more inches of the Triforce scarf while waiting for Lawrence's car to get tuned. It may be about half done now.

Busy at work

Work, as in "pays for my yarn" work. I haven't had a chance to write up about the spinning class, but I will say very briefly that it was awesome!

I worked on my Party Lace Scarf in on the bus that day, in continental, and I messed up at the end of a row. I didn't realize until I was 2 rows past the point, because there's a purl row in between the pattern rows. I tinked back, but I had no idea how the loops were supposed to go together because it was on the edge, and all the loops kind of pull in tighter there so there's no clear pattern. It made me put off working on the thing until today. I took a look at it at lunch and figured out a satisfactory solution without having to just knit two stitches together. I think I fixed it correctly. I was so worried that I'd end up with a mistake in the lace that would ruin the scarf and all the time I spent would have been wasted! There's still so much yarn left to go through, I might not use up the entire skein.

I'm almost at the end of my first ball of Tweedle Dee for my Clapotis. After the second ball, it should be just about the perfect size. I wonder if blocking will work. The yarn is 80% acrylic and only 16% wool.

I've started on Saartje's Bootees. At lunch today I finished up the sole in a dark red soft cotton yarn. I left the cream colored yarn at home, but doh, I totally did not think to start the second bootie! That will probably be my walking project.

Last night I worked on Ela's scarf and I have one more row to finish. Then I'll give it a wash and I can ship it off. I also need to send Sly his scarf.

Well! That it's been a rather productive first half of the week! Tonight is knitting night at Zephyr Cafe on Colorado Ave. (come join us 7:30-10pm if you're near the Pasadena area). Tonight needs to be very productive as well. :D

Urgh, I may need to stop by Jo-Ann's beforehand for some fabric. My brother's b-day is on the 28th and I need to make his birthday present. I have to give it to him on Thursday because we're all going to be at my parents' house for Thanksgiving that day.

Scarf Pictures

3 scarves, with pictures!

Sly's scarf - I designed it myself, although it was more *ahem* improvised than designed.


Ela's scarf - I need another ball of the brown to finish this up. This is the Stars (and Stripes) Forever scarf from The Happy Hooker, but modified for 3 colors instead of 4. Lawrence said adding in the red would be overkill.


Mom's scarf - This is the Party Lace Scarf, without beads.