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Well, after a few weeks of knitting whatever the hell I wanted, I’ve decided to take on a couple more Will Work for Yarn trades. I’m also still knitting a sock. The sock, so far, looks like this:
Pretty simple, smooth going. But I’m putting it aside to work on soakers for a swap. The pattern in question is the adorable Turtle Butt soaker. The yarns in questions are a variety:
The mostly-knit one is one that I am finishing (the grafting and the leg cuffs). Then there’s a medium in black and pink and a large one in grey and blue/green. In return, I received a skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepard Worsted in Flames, a skein of my partner (SeptemberSocks)’s hand dye (same colorway as the blue/green above) and two colors (two and three skeins) of Alpaca Cloud (in Smoke and a darker grey). So yeah, I basically win. At least one of the colors of Alpaca cloud will become a giant shawl and we shall just see about the others.
Stay tuned for some swap stuff and the inevitable progress on the soakers. Also, I started a sewing project that I promise to show you at some point before it’s actually done.
Let me tell you guys, I am having a hell of a week. I’ve been out of college for less than a week and I have a ton of stuff to get rid of, to put away until I move out of my house, and a job to find PLUS I came back to Virginia Beach to find I had jury duty for June despite that I have no car, the court house is on the other side of town, and I’m planning to move out sometime in June. So yeah. It’s been a hell of a week.
Anyway, I’m going back out of town on Saturday (back up to DC where my boyfriend lives to look for apartments and jobs and other stuff), so I have to get everything out of the cars and the living room and into the attic and my bedroom PLUS pack for my week or two out of town.
All this to say (besides that like, I like to tell you guys about my life) that I have been doing some very very simple knitting:
Just a pair of vanilla socks in Knit Picks Stroll (blue and brown, like Ravenclaw colors). Nice and simple so I don’t kill anyone while I’m doing all of my packing and stuff. I also frogged the chunky cashmere sweater but I have to rewash the yarn, so I can’t use it yet. It is nice though. I think it’ll be a scarf or something.
Anyway, I’ll be back in a couple of days with an update if I haven’t been crushed by all of my stuff.
So, as I mentioned last post, I am taking a break from the endless Manly Aran Socks to knit a vest. It’s a super quick project that I’m designing mostly on the fly, and even though I started three days ago, this is what it looks like so far:
Plus about two inches of the back. So I have left to finish the rest of the back, plus some ribbing or something around the edges. My original sketch of this design looked like this:
I think I’m going to work up a shorter version of the sketch (the tails would be right under the bust) so I can fiddle with the neck/arm shaping so the pattern doesn’t suck. I do love the princess lines on the fronts, which came out pretty much how I wanted. The neckline is a little funny, but I think that’ll look better when I work some ribbing there.
I can’t wait for this vest to be finished–I’m thinking it’ll look super cute over a flowey blouse or dress.
So this post is a little less than thrilling. Sorry about that.
I am knitting socks. Manly Aran socks, to be specific (from Wendy Johnson’s second book). This is what they look like so far:
(I futzed around with the image a little but it’s dreary and grey today so not much light)
They are the second pair to the first I finished last week for a WWFY swap on Ravelry. I am quite ready for them to be done, though they are progressing pretty smoothly. I am a couple of rows into the gusset.
I think I’m going to start another project this evening though so I don’t get so bored knitting the second pair of gigantic socks I flings them across the room. It’s going to be a vest of my own design knit in a cotton/linen blend yarn I frogged from a thrift store sweater.
This is going to be something of a short point as I’m currently dealing with some things (someone close to me in in the hospital). I can’t really get into it, but suffice it to say I don’t really have the brain space for anything except sleeping.
I am knitting a little though. I started these socks last week before all of this sort of exploded (before Thursday) and had/have been making pretty good progress. They’re not hard, which is good cause I can’t really do hard right now.
More on the socks later when everything has gotten back to normal.
I finished my last pair of shark mittens! They’re all packaged up, so no pictures, but I’m pleased they are finally finished. I’m leaving the listings up so it’s entirely possible that I’ll get more orders, but I haven’t gotten any in at least two weeks, so I’m done for now.
I’m also working on more socks. They are for the same WWFY swap that the red socks I recently made. They are striped knee socks, and here’s what the first one looks like so far:
I’m not crazy, so I’m knitting them one at a time and also carrying the unused color up the side (because otherwise I’d have like, 40 ends to weave in and… no. So yes. They’re progressing quite well and I’m enjoying the stockinette (with decreases and stripes to keep my interest).
I also recently began a sewing project that should be done later tonight, so there’s that to show too. : )
So, yes. I’ve been knitting. I’ve been working on a pair of socks for a WWFY swap:
Pattern is Twisted (from Knitty) in Bugga! That’s the cuff there and it’s FINALLY up to the heel flap. FINALLY. I’ve been working on these socks forever.
I’ve also been knitting shark mittens:
I’m trying a new yarn for the grey part (it’s Wool of the Andes, which is a bit thinner but it also cheaper and softer). It seems to be working out.
In other news, I think I’ve forgotten what it’s like to knit for myself.
As I mentioned the other day, I am currently working on the hat that matches the Kitty Hawk mitts I recently finished. I’m using the same yarn (Bugga!). The hat has a really interesting construction technique: You knit the hat band (in the round like a stockinette scarf knit in the round) then pick up stitches for a front panel, back panel, and side arch panels, finally seaming the panels together to form the crown of the hat. I think it’s turning out super cute so far:
That’s the back of the band and the back panel (about 1.5 repeats of five done). I have to do some creative stitching to clean up the back seam (the directions should direct you to graft it but it doesn’t), but other than that, I think it looks nice. Here’s what the front looks like:
It curled something awful when I was done knitting the band, but HOLY GOD STEAM BLOCKING IS AMAZING. I’m pretty sure I’ve extolled the virtues of steam blocking before, but let me just say again: AMAZING. You lay out your knitting, hold a hot iron over it, push the steam button and push everything into place. And then it is DONE and it is BLOCKED. No waiting forever for it to dry. No pinning. No desperate squeezing to get excess water. Steam and DONE.
Amazing.
It’s hard to believe it’s almost Christmas, isn’t it? This Saturday is the 25th, which means if you haven’t finished your gift knitting by now, there’s a good chance you’ll be up all night on the 24th, trying not to pull your hair out. I am not experiencing this stress, mostly because I’m not really celebrating any holidays this year. I’m spending Christmas and New Year’s with my boyfriend, who is Jewish and does not celebrate Christmas. Though I must say, I’m sort of feeling the lack of Christmas spirit.
Next year I think I’ll have a tree, a little table-top one, which will be the only size that will fit in our apartment next year. Perhaps I’ll wrap some gifts and make some cinnamon rolls. Spend the day in my pajamas and watch a holiday movie.
But this year, I’ll probably be eating Chinese foot and frantically trying to finish the billion trade and commission knits I have. Not to mention this:
(Sorry for the crappy flash picture. I may or may not have woken up this afternoon at three.)
It’s a muchly-finished sweater that was intended as a birthday gift to my boyfriend. We agreed to exchange gifts when I came to visit over Christmas so I had a couple extra weeks to finish it (his birthday was Dec. 9), but now I’ve run out of yarn and Knit Picks doesn’t appear to be selling that color. I’ve put in a desperate request to the ISO forums on Ravelry, but if any of my readers have some extra Comfy Bulky in Planetarium, PLEASE let me know.
I’ve also been working on this:
It’s one almost finished Kitty Hawk mitt for a WWFY swap. I started it because I was sick of shark mittens, but a nearly elbow-length glove in fingering weight yarn takes FOREVER. I’m going to finish the mitt, knit a pair of shark mittens, knit a hat, knit some more shark mittens, then perhaps knit the other mitt.
I currently have five pairs of outstanding shark mittens that I have to knit. So yes, I’ll be knitting these ittens forever.
So, uh, sorry for the radio silence, people. It’s finals week, which means last week was hell week, during which all of the last minute homework and projects professors assign is due. So yeah. But I have been knitting. I’ve started a pair of socks for a WWFY trade:
And I’m knitting a hat for a commission from a friend:
And of course I’m knitting eighty six bajillion pairs of shark mittens.
At least winter break starts next week.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 