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So as you all know, I recently finished up my cape for Halloween, which I’m totally counting as my number ten sweater of the year because even though it doesn’t have arms, neither do tank tops. Also, it’s awesome. Anyway, cape. Then I knitted some hats. And then I started another sweater:
That would be EZ’s Seamless Hybrid in Knit Picks Comfy Bulky (in Planetarium). It’s for my boyfriend’s birthday and modeled off of a sweater he already owns. At 40″ around (kind of loose on my small boyfriend), it’s the largest thing I’ve knitted and I suspect I’ll be at it for a while. I almost certainly won’t have enough yarn, but I’m going to knit through most of my yarn to see how much more I’ll need. It’s gonna be close, at any rate.
I also signed up for a couple more WWFY trades, so I’ll be knitting for that. And then I might take a break and knit myself some socks or a hat or another sweater. I do need more hats….
Day two of fall break was today! I spent the late afternoon playing in the Rappahannok river with Sarah (unfortunately, I did not take any pictures).
I spent the morning sorting and photographing all of my yarn stash. I spent much of the evening loading it all in the Ravelry (and watching Dollhouse). It’s all in there now, so I’ll be able to see what I have without going to dig through it all. Before I put all the yarn back in the bins (sorted by weight), I spread it all out on the floor and took a picture:
The bottom half is all worsted weight and the top half is lace/fingering/sport weights. The middle (and the very top row) is mostly yarns I’ve frogged from sweaters. Right above that off to the left side is sock yarn. I counted, and I have enough sock yarn for 25 pairs of socks (including one from my scraps, in the plastic bag there).
There are a couple of things missing from the picture, like the yarn for my Halloween cape and bonus sock yarn I got in the mail the other day. It also (obviously) doesn’t include my spinning fiber, though that’s all loaded on Ravelry. I also don’t have pictures of my acrylic yarn stash and it’s not in Ravelry since I don’t have brand names and such for it. It’s mostly assorted band-less balls a friend bought me at an estate sale. Useful for blankets and amigurumi as well as for swap partners that won’t handwash wool and don’t mind acrylic.
I like seeing it all laid out in the picture here. Maybe I will indeed have enough to knit next year when I’m a poor, starving college grad.
Sorry for the unintentional radio silence, people! School has been kind of hectic.
Anyway, I recently finished knitting this pretty cowl:
(I have yet to take proper FO pics of this thing, but when I do, I’ll show them to you.)
Pattern: My own, which is currently being test knitted.
Yarn: A merino/angora/cashmere/nylon blend from a thrift store sweater
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm
I completely love it–the ruffles offer more coverage than the typical cowl, I love the lattice pattern and the turned hem, and the yarn is super soft and warm with things like cashmere and angora. Yay. I intend to wear it lots as soon as the weather gets cold enough.
What I am having trouble with, however, is a name for the pattern. Currently, it’s just called “Diamonds and Ruffles Cowl”, but I want something more interesting, so I’m opening it up to all of you: Suggest a name in the comments, and if I pick your suggestion, you’ll win a copy of the pattern AND the yarn to make it:
I’ll also pick a random entry from the comments to win a copy of the completed pattern.
To enter: Leave a comment below with your suggestion. Make sure you also include your email address or Ravelry username so I have a way to contact you. For an extra entry to win a copy of the pattern, you can tweet or blog about the contest and leave me a comment with the URL. The contest is open to everyone, regardless of location.
The contest will remain open until Sunday, October 10 at midnight, at which point I’ll draw a winner. Good luck!
So I volunteered to do another WWFY swap. I’m knitting a Liesl in 100purewool merino singles, which are lovely and soft and amazing. Currently, the sweater looks like this:
I’ve restarted this sweater like five times because the cast on edge didn’t seem long enough, but I think I’m going to trust the pattern and see what happens. It should relax during blocking anyway.
In return for knitting a whole sweater, I received 250g of sock yarn:
Two skeins of Premiere Serenity Sock, a skein of Lang Jawoll sock yarn (for ankle or possibly colorwork socks) and a skein of Ms. Gusset, which is lovely and beautiful and I’m so pleased I now own.
So yes. I’m gonna knock out this Liesl (which will go pretty quickly since I’m using 6.5 mm needles), then try to dye up the yarn and knit my cape so I can get my sock knitting on for Socktoberfest.
So that’s the plan. : )
Or: THEY’RE DONE THEY’RE DONE THEY’RE DONE!!
Pattern: Lakeside Socks from Knotions
Yarn: Fleece Artist Nyoni
Needles: US 1
Mods: None? Maybe made them a tick longer? I think I mostly knit them as written.
Holy crap, these socks took so long. But they are DONE. I actually really enjoyed knitting them–the pattern was simple and easy to memorize, and the shaping was pretty intuitive. I’m still not sure how much I like knitting socks cuff down as opposed to toe up, but these actually went by pretty quickly, even though Ravelry tells me they’ve been a wip for about a month. But now they are done! And I can knit other things! Like the other WWFY trade I’m working on. : )
As for the yarn: I did enjoy working with the Nyoni. It’s a little think/thin, but it’s pretty squishy. I don’t know how much I’d like it for knee socks (it’s a little itchy on my calves, but who knows, that may come out in the wash). The colorway is GORGEOUS though, and I love it a lot.
Currently, as I mentioned, I am working on another WWFY trade: a lace ribbon scarf in Malabrigo lace (LOVE). I have some Mal lace in my stash from my trip to Fiber Space that will eventually become a Featherweight cardigan, but it’s nice to get a feel for the Mal in something smaller first. : ) I’ll show you pictures of the scarf a little later, but it’s looking great so far.
So my sister has a thing for tie dye. And I have a thing for dyeing yarn. So when my sister decided she wanted to dye some white sheets to take with her to college this year, I decided to dye up some yarn as well. I dyed four hanks of wool reclaimed from a thrift store sweater into three different colorways:
Peace and Love and Braaaainss. Because it reminds me of hippies and zombies.
Sunset
Raspberry Stains
Not sure what I’ll do with them yet. Sunset might become a hat or something. Peace, Love, and Braaaaains will probably be a contrast strand in something colorwork. *shrug* Mostly I just like looking at the colors in my stash and knowing I put them there. : )
So several months ago, I bought this merino fiber:
Pretty. I spun about half of it into this:
Also pretty. : ) My first attempt at thick and thin, and let me tell you, it’s not as easy as you’d think. Spinning a single is hard enough (balance enough twist to keep it together with not overtwisting it) but also once you get used to spinning thin, it’s difficult to get back to spinning thick. Plus I always had the nagging feeling that it was too dense (so I wasn’t getting enough yardage for my dollar) so I had to deal with that also.
I really love how it came out though. There’s not a lot of yardage (only about 60 yards) and the thickest bits are still only around worsted weight and I can’t imagine it’s very sturdy. It’s hella soft though, guys. It’s like a kitten. I love it.
PS: Don’t forget about the contest! Open until Friday! There’s not a lot of entries, so odds are good!
Seeing as I don’t have anything finished to show you (yet), I thought I’d show everything I’m working on. There are several things, none of which are particularly close to being finished, unfortunately.
First, there’s a cross stitch project:
I’m working on filling the background with a million little black x’s, and they’re taking forever.
Next, there’s a knitting project:
That would be a beautiful turned hem (god, I love turned hems) for a pair of Lakeside socks for a trade on Ravelry. They’re knit in Fleece Artist Nyoni and in return I received:
a skein of DIC Knitsophy (bottom) and a skein of STR Silkie (top).
Last is an embroidery project. Just a little teaser of this one:
It’s for a Battlestar Galactica swap I’m doing over on Craftster. I’m really pleased with how it’s coming so far, and I can’t wait to show you all when it’s finished.
Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I’ll have pictures of a finished sewing project to show you. Also, don’t forget to enter the giveaway!!
I (finally) finished and mailed my good friend Sarah her birthday present (albeit quite late):
Pattern: Uh, none. CO 30, knit in linen stitch, seam together.
Yarn: My handspun! Probably about a hundred yards of navajo-plied worsted weight SW merino.
Needles: US 10/6.5 mm circ
So this was a super easy, quick knit. I got to use my wonderful squishy handspun, and the recipient is an appreciator of both hand knitting and handspinning, so yay for that. Also: I love linen stitch. I have a deep, unyeilding PASSION for linen stitch. Regular people may think my love strange, but you knitters get it. …Right? I mean, it’s a gorgeous stitch. Look:
Pretty. And in that pretty Crown Mountain Farm colorway? Oh god. Love. I have probably about 40 yards left of this batch (with either become a little linen stitch pouch, like what I did with the remains of my green BFL or reskein it and put it in a bowl to be decorative and gorgeous. One of those for sure.
Also, I embroidered Sarah this lovely card:
Skillz. Or something. I love how it came out. I’m gradually getting hooked on embroidery–I absolutely love the effect.
So Happy Birthday to Sarah! Whose birthday was Monday the 7th. Happy (very) belated birthday to Sarah!
Pattern: My own! Which I am writing up and will be available for test knitting… soonish? Eventually.
Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel (the longer 109 yarn skeins), three skeins (I know. It was close.)
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
I love this tank. I basically made it up as I went along (I took notes though), and it’s got waist shaping, a slight A-line flare, and a deep v cut. Love it. I suspect it’s a shape that looks good on a lot of people, though the tiny straps might be too tiny for some. I find it’s super comfortable. I knit mine a little short (I was worried about the yarn I had) so I have to wear it over a tank top (otherwise it’s opaque enough to just wear a bra under).
I’ve written up the pattern and it’s currently undergoing test knitting, and I anticipate it being ready about the end of July. Which is a little late in the season, but it gets pretty hot many places in August and September, so it should still be appropriate knitting: cool fiber and no long sleeves to try on. I’ll keep you guys posted when it’s available, of course.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 