Lotus Mittens

So I've been quite the slacker on the blogging front, but that's nothing new. I decided in early August that I wanted to do some colorwork, and after a lot of flip-flopping and ravelry pattern searches, I decided on the Lotus Mittens. I had the perfect colors of yarn, too. The pattern calls for 2 colors, but I really like the purple and green together. Unfortunately, they didn't create enough contrast when together, so I needed a grey color. Luckily, I had them in my stash.

Grey: Tempted Fiesty Grrl in Lost
Green: Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Jade
Purple: Malabrigo Sock in Violeta Africana

I originally started with US2 dpns, but the mitten was looser than I'd like. So I started over with US1 dpns, and I like it so far. I added a Latvian Braid to the cuff (tutorial here), and I like that better than the cuff in the pattern.

(^that pic is actually from the US2 dpn edition, but it still looks the same)

Moving right along, I really love working on this. It's quite addictive. I'm tying in any floats longer than 4 sts, and so far that seems to be sufficient.

This is how it looks today. Things are going pretty slowly now that school has started. I'm lucky to get in 5 rows/week. At this rate, I will have a complete set of mittens by winter 2015 lol.

I think that I will end up skipping part of the pattern. It calls for 3 flowers, but one flower is halfway down my hand. I'm going to knit until I'm 1/2 through the 2nd flower, and then I'll decide if I'm going to skip to that portion of the 3rd flower or not.

I decided to make the background of the thumb green instead of purple. It's made the base of the thumb a little bit thicker because I had to wrap the green around at the start of every thumb row. I hope that that won't be a problem, but I won't know until I'm done with the first mitten.

Ravelry project page: Lotus Mittens

DFW Fiber Fest

Last weekend was my 6th year to attend the DFW Fiber Fest with 2 of my friends. We had a fantastic time, as always! The Yarn Harlot was the Friday night speaker, but unfortunately we didn't buy tickets because everyone's budgets were a little tight this year (hello, new road bike. lol.) This is what I came home with:

The skein on the left is Western Sky Knits Magnolia Luxe, in the London colorway. It's a fantastically soft merino/cashmere/silk blend. The other full skein is Gynx Yarn Power Sock, in the Maverick colorway. That yarn is just so beautiful. I went by her booth 2x before I bought it, and I stood there petting the skein for a good 5 mins each time. Those 2 little mini skeins are some kind of superwash merino blend-I bought them for the sock yarn blanket that I'll finish roughly around 2050. I also bought that adorable little project bag (I can't remember the shop name... The tag does have Erin something on it, though). I also bought the little scissors because the guy at the booth offered us free candy and I felt obligated to buy something. They work pretty well on yarn, and are scarily sharp.

As for current projects, I decided that I needed a sweater for interpreting. I'm in an ASL interpreter program, and we have to wear dark solid tops when interpreting. I had some leftover yarn from mom's Argonath, so I started a Pull Me Over. So far, it's going quite well. I'm almost done with the waist increases, and then I don't think that there is much left after that. I'm going to do cap sleeves.

I also decided to start a pair of socks for a friend. I started the Stitch Surfer socks because I think the construction is cute. So far, it's going well. I tried to start them on dpns, but I had to switch to 4 needles way too early, so I started over with 2 circs. (My body/mind has rejected magic loop. I.Just.Can't.Do.It.) So far, so good. I think they'll be very pretty. I'm going to try to make mirror-image socks.

The Ravellenics are over

So the Ravellenics are finally over. Just like last time, I barely missed the deadline (by 35 mins this time). My project was Saroyan. I wanted a longer scarf, so I added 10 extra repeats to the straight section in the middle. Despite staying up until 3am on Saturday night, adding the extra length cost me a medal. Oh well. I like the way it turned out.

I finished my Geology shawl on Feb 7, but never got around to blocking it. I finally blocked it this weekend:

I also finished Roar. One of my best friends adopted a little boy, and I hope that he loves the hat. I had originally planned to do Terence, but I didn't like the way it turned out. I couldn't bring myself to finish it, so I switched projects. I like the way Roar turned out.

The 2014 Ravellenic Games started today!

I'm captaining Team Sprout for the 3rd time. This year, I'm in school, so I'm not going to try an ambitious project. I should have more time than I did in 2012 though (I was working 2 full-time jobs at the time). I've decided to do Saroyan. I'm going to use my Madtosh Tosh Merino Light in Betty Draper's Blues.

The mass cast-on was at 10am Central Time, and unfortunately, I'm at work. I managed to cast on and do the first 4 rows without being caught. We have a bigger team this year-22 members have declared projects, and we have 31 projects entered for Team Sprout. It's pretty exciting!

In other news, I finished a large project for my Mom's Christmas present. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it here, because there was always the chance that she could see it here. I started the Argonath in April last year, and finished a few days after Christmas. Luckily for me, Mom wanted to do Christmas on Jan 4, so I made it in time. I used Madelinetosh Tosh Sport in Norway Spruce, and bought the yarn at the DFW Fiber Festival last year. Here are some pics:

The color is the most accurate in the first picture. I really like how it turned out. Mom liked it too, although I can tell that she was hesitant to actually use it because of the intricacy of the project. I threatened to take it back if she didn't use it though lol.

I've had some serious startitis since I finished Argonath. Here is my latest clapotis, which is a slow-going project (schnauzer included for scale). I'm using Malabrigo lace in continental.

I really love the Geology shawl, so I started one of those too. I'm approximately 3 rows and the cast off from finishing, but now that the games have started, it might have to wait until March. I'm using Tempted Feisty Grrl in a lovely red color. Unfortunately, I don't have a more complete picture because it is impossible to stretch out the shawl all the way on the needles.

Lastly, I started some boot toppers. They're slow going too.

The startitis is rampant around here. :)

Bad blogger!

As I stated on my running blog, I suck at blogging. I've given up on keeping track of everything I've knitted, which isn't much lately, btw. I have a full-time job, I'm marathon training, and I started an ASL interpreter program in August. My time is incredibly limited right now, but I love being busy. I start to go a little bit crazy if I'm not busy.

I made a second Cerus scarf. It's finished, but I don't have a finished pic posted on Rav (or on my phone). If I wait until I get home to post this just so I can take a pic of the finished one, I'll never finish this blog post lol.

Over the summer, I participated in a Christmas in July gift swap. I had big plans to buy a gift for my swap mate, but then I saw the pattern for the Bigger on the Inside. Of course, I didn't see it until mid-July, less than 2 weeks before the deadline. Being either an eternal optimist or flat-out delusional, I decided to use that for the gift. I ended up delivering it a month late. I think the recipient liked it though, because she's a huge Dr. Who fan. I modified the project a little bit and made it a scarf with some daleks in it.

Bigger on the Inside

I started a Carlina in June, but then I needed the needles for the Dr Who scarf. It's still sitting on my ottoman, in this exact stage. I'm devoting all of my scant knitting time to the next project, so I imagine poor little Carlina will stay there for a few more months. The yarn used is Malabrigo sock. Fabulous yarn, despite the ridiculous acrobatics you have to do just to wind a hank of any kind of Malabrigo into a skein.

Now for the big project. I'm knitting the Argonath for my Mom's Christmas present. Because of time constraints, I am way behind on it. The last time I calculated it, I had to knit something like 4.5 rows per day in order to finish on time. I'm counting on Christmas break to have a hope of finishing it before January. The yarn is Madelinetosh tosh sport in the Norway Spruce colorway. I'm about 3/4 finished with the second ball of yarn; I have 8 skeins total. You can see my lifeline about 4" from the top; you can guarantee that I'm always going to have at least one lifeline in this sucker. I don't have time for mistakes. I really need to put another one in soon.

This will probably be the extent of my knitting for the rest of the year. I'd love to finish Carlina, knit a few cardigans since I have to dress nicer for school, maybe make a few hats.... but none of that is going to happen because I am already cutting back on sleep. My marathon is Nov 24, and after that I won't be running much for a few weeks, so that alone will give me some more knitting time. The fall semester ends on Dec 16, so I will have about a week of nothing but knitting time (and netflix and hulu catch-up time). I think I'll take the week of Thanksgiving off from work, and maybe the week of Christmas as well. Priorities, ya'll.

I should probably be charged with neglect

I have been horrible about blogging lately. I've been super busy and haven't really knit very much. I have finished 2 projects since the last time I posted. I finished the Cerus scarf. I really really like it. It's hard to get a decent picture of it though. Here it is, back in its WIP stage:

And here I am (without makeup... sigh.) wearing it after it's finished. That pic does look like it hadn't been blocked yet though. 

I really love the scarf to pieces, and I want to make another one. However, finding another perfect yarn for it will be hard. I have a lot of blue yarn, but my work shirt at my second job is blue, and therefore I couldn't wear it (or so my friends tell me. Too much blue or something like that). Also, the thought of that many stitches per row stresses me out a bit. I did 655 stitches, and it turned out to be a great length. I had a very difficult time getting the cast off edge loose enough. It still ended up tight, and I can tell which side it is easily.

I also knit a scarf for my best friend Katie for Christmas. The pattern is Almost Ovals, and the yarn is Tempted Lacy Grrl. The WIP pics show the most accurate color. I really need to get better at photographing my knitting. Do you like the lifeline in the WIPs pics? It was totally necessary for this project. I never had to rip down to it, but if I had made a mistake, I wouldn't have been able to finish the scarf anywhere near in time for Christmas. Always use a lifeline with lace. Always.

 You might notice my sock yarn blanket in the background of the last pic. It's been hibernating on my ottoman in the living room since the Ravellenic games (almost used the former title lol). Some day I'll get around to it.

Now I'm slowly trying to finish up my mom's Christmas gift, a pair of Ambroso Mitts. I've finally started the cuff on the second one. It'll probably be too warm for mittens once she gets them. The yarn is Malabrigo Arroyo in Regatta Blue. It has some green in it, but it's ok. This is the first mitt, before I'd finished the thumb:

Hopefully it won't take me this long to blog on here again. :D

Scarfing along

I started a new scarf! The Cerus scarf is a lengthwise linen stitch scarf (not to be confused with linen yarn lol). I'm knitting it with my only skein of Anothercraftygirl's strong sock yarn, in the Hideous Zippleback colorway. I originally started it on August 14, but I made a mistake and knit the same row twice after about 6 rows, thus giving the scarf a border.

I had resigned myself to living with the error and planned on doing the same thing on the other side, but I decided that the scarf was too short at 411 stitches, and frogged it. The length issue was probably just a convenient excuse to get rid of the mistake.

I casted on again on 8-28-12, this time casting on 655 stitches. It took me two times to get enough tail for my twisted long tail cast on. I thought I had at least 600 stitches after the first time, but nope. I had exactly 411, again. It took me well over an hour just to cast on an adequate number of stitches.

Here it is, as of last Wednesday:

I've probably knit 4 or 5 rows since then, but this colorway is very difficult to photograph. I really love this scarf!

Ravellenic Games are done

Once again, I didn't finish in time. My goal was 24 squares on my sock yarn blanket (1 row). I had 1.5 squares to go at 5:59pm, the deadline. I finished at 6:38pm.

The finished row:

I don't know if you can see it or not, but I used one of the wonderful mini skeins that I got from my friend Joani in a Christmas in July exchange for the first square of the row. :D

Here's to next year!

Let the Ravelym... Ahem. I mean Ravellenic Games begin!

Team Sprout is up and running for the 2012 Ravellenic Games! I am going to do 1 row on my blanket (or 24 squares) as my project, entered in the Modular Relay Event.

Here's the starting pic:

The 6th row will be the one that counts for the Ravellenic Games. :D

I finished the color affection

I finally finished my color affection shawl. I can't believe that it took me 3 months to complete! That just shows how much my free time has diminished.

Pre-blocking:

Post-blocking:

A coworker's mother was diagnosed with aggressive Stage IV breast cancer back in March. As soon as I heard, I wanted to make her something. I wanted to make something different-a lot of people make chemo caps, and those are greatly needed. But I wanted to make her a shawl. Her favorite colors are purple and green. Because of the garter stitch, I felt that this shawl would mesh well with my current schedule (meaning I could multitask and watch tv or read while knitting it). I finally finished it last week. My coworker said her mom loved the shawl, and that it is perfect because she gets cold a lot. It made me really happy that this shawl is comforting her in what must be a very very difficult time.

The stats:
Yarn:
Grey-Madtosh tosh sock in Tern
Green-Madtosh tosh sock in Green with Envy
Purple-Tempted Good Grrl in Deviant Behavior

Needle: US 6 circs

Pattern: Color Affection

I'm also (slowly) knitting some baby leggs for our pregnant secretary. She's already gone on maternity leave due to preterm labor, but I'm going to mail them to her when I finish.

I also got the last Tempted Burlesque Club yarn shipment. I love it! It's Luxe Grrl.

I don't know what I'm going to do with it, besides petting it fondly.

Color Affection Update

I've been working on the color affection when I have time. I just finished the short row section last night. I counted the stitches and was very happy to get the correct stitch count. Just an FYI-the short rows section does not go all the way to the end of the shawl. I thought maybe I was a pattern repeat off or something, and expected my stitch count to be off. But everything is hunky dory.

Here it was a couple of weeks ago:

And here it is today:

I wanted to start another and get it to the short rows section for the ravelympics WIPs event, but there's no way that I'll have time for that. You have to stop working on WIPs on June 1 in order for them to count. I think I'll probably do 30 squares on my sock yarn blanket.

Um, blanket Sunday on a Tuesday. Or something like that.

I think I mentioned on here that I'm working 2 jobs now (we're trying to pay off our debt so we can buy a house in the next few years). Working 70hrs/week doesn't leave me a whole lot of time for the blanket, unfortunately. I should be doing 2 squares per day; instead, I've done 2 since my last post. I'm still growing my mini skein stash though. I've managed to knit on other projects, but the blanket is now big enough that it isn't very portable.

I took a pic of the blanket before knitting the last square that I did. I don't have the most up-to-date photo, but I figure I should blog while I can, current pics or not. At the time, I was a whole 3 squares from the end of the row. Now, I have 2 left.

# done: 118
# left to go: 602 (I'm so far behind it's sad)
% finished: 16.4%

The mother of one of my coworkers was recently diagnosed with aggressive Stage IV breast cancer. I decided to make her a color affection shawl. Her favorite colors are purple and green, which I luckily already had in my stash. I had to go buy a skein of grey. I'm using 2 madtosh tosh sock skeins-the Green With Envy that I got in one of their clubs, and the skein of Tern that I had to buy. The purple is Tempted Deviant Behavior. Here is the yarn:

Have you ever had a yarn pick its own project? I've tried to use the Green With Envy on 2 other projects, neither of which worked out (socks and fingerless gloves). I really think it was waiting for this shawl. Here are some progress pics:

As a baby:

Finally growing some stripes:

Finally starting the purple:

I really love this shawl. I think I'll make one for my mom for her birthday. I'm not much of a shawl person-I don't get the joy out of knitting them that other knitters seem to experience. But I love this one a lot!

On an unrelated note, I went to a fantastic concert on March 11. The lineup was Kiros, Nine Lashes, Manafest, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Red. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to! I'm going to subject you to pics just because. :)

Kiros: 

Nine Lashes: 

Manafest:

TFK:

TFK had a spinal column mic stand:

Red:

Nimroseita and me with Nine Lashes:

Manafest tried to make me look taller:

Me, sort of with Red: