My official excuse: I've been busy

I've been really busy lately (work=ick), so that's my official excuse for not blogging as frequently as I should. To make up for it, I bring you some progress pictures and some yarn p0rn.

My childhood best friend's birthday is coming up in late March, and she loves LOTR. I decided to make her a pair of Aragorn socks (rav link) using Tempted's Good Grrl in Passion Fruit.

Here's an updated picture of my Mystic Light Shawl. I'm into chart 2 I think. It's been at least 2 weeks since I've knit on it, so I'm not sure where I'm at.

My central park hoodie is closer to being finished. I finished the second button band today, and I still need to seam the sleeves on, find some buttons, sew them on, and crochet quick button loops on the button band. Then I'll be done. Sandy, if you're reading this, be happy.

Now for the yarn pictures. I'm doing the Blackberry Cabled Cardigan (rav link) for the Ravelympics (which starts Friday, btw), and I'm using Knitpicks Swish DK in Garnet Heather.

Shhh, DH doesn't know about this particular purchase. I bought my yarn for Stilwell. It is Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed. The blue will be the main color and the white will be the contrasting color. The pattern for Stilwell won't be available until April 2010, so it won't be started for a while.

Finally, Tempted did a special dye job for a Myrtle Cardigan KAL (rav link). Here's my yarn! It's good grrl in an unnamed color (I'll update if she gives me a name for it).

I've got tons to do this week. I haven't swatched for my Ravelympics project yet, so that's a must do. I'm normally awful about gauge swatches, but this time I'll only have 17 days to finish it. Confession: I don't think I'll be successful. I'll still give it a good amount of effort though. All other projects will stop from Feb. 12 to Feb 28.

Since the ravelympics start on Friday and I'm the captain of Team Sprout, I imagine there will be quite a few questions. I wonder if I'll actually be able to cast on at the cast on party on Friday night.

I also need to finish the CPH (maybe not buttons, but I'll at least seam the arms on), make progress on the 3 pairs of socks I have OTN, and knock out a few rows of the mystic light shawl. Oh, and I suppose I'll go to work too. Lol.

Mystic light

Back in November or so, I started my Mystic Light Shawl. Shortly thereafter, I was distracted by holiday knitting and put the poor shawl down. I don't know why, but earlier this week the shawl was demanding to be knitted, so I picked it back up. I'm making fairly decent progress on it-I'm nearly finished with the first chart. Whatcha think?

I think I'm going to end up giving this to my mom as a late Christmas/early Mother's day present. She likes dark colors, so it is right up her alley. Lately, she's been getting cold easier, so hopefully this will help a little.

Not much else has progressed in the my little land of knitting. I've been knitting a row here and there on my green lace & cable socks.

First FO of 2010!

Meet Odessa (rav link)!

Man did she try to kick my butt. For such a cute little hat, you'd think it would be easy. There's nothing wrong with the pattern. I simply cannot judge how much yarn I have to work with. I had 1 full skein of Tempted Luxe grrl (cashmere!!!). I used a little more than half of it to make my Augusta fingerless gloves. Ever the enabler, Muriel (aka bffofwendy) assured me that I had enough yarn to make the hat. So, I cast on on Saturday. The pattern suggests you knit in pattern until 5.5" from the CO edge. I know I have a small head, so I knit 5.25" instead. I got 3 freaking decrease rows from the end and ran out of yarn. I tried to frog it back, but I didn't have the patience and frogged the whole thing instead. I CO again on Sunday, and this time I knitted for 4.75". See that little bit of yarn on the right side of the pic? That is all I have left.

Olympics and other stuff

I've started a Ravelympics team called Team Sprout, and we already have 11 or so members! I'm trying to be a good captain by being informative and all that jazz. The whole point is to pick a project that is challenging to you, and that type of thing is different for every person. I'm really excited about the Ravelympics. I'm going to be a bit crazy here and try the blackberry cabled cardigan (photo from Rav):

I'm going to use Knitpicks Swish DK for this one because I just don't want to spend a ton of money. I'm going to do Stilwell with Jo Sharp (did I mention that I found out that the pattern will be available in April?), and that's going to be about $100 or so. Therefore, I'm going with the cheap stuff. I could go cheaper and use the Knitpicks Telemark yarn (100% peruvian wool), which would be a whole $30, but at $50 total, I'll splurge for the superwash Swish. I'm going to use the Garnet Heather colorway. See, I'm challenging myself. Just getting away from blue is a challenge for me.

I've started an entrelac scarf with my blue malabrigo worsted. If you remember, I originally used this yarn for my owls sweater, and it striped so oddly that I frogged the sweater in frustration. I think it does a much better job in entrelac. See?

Entrelac is not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. It's only a bunch of short rows and picking up stitches. Easy peasy.

I'm adding another resolution to my list. I need to learn to knit continental style. I am a thrower. Throwing is holding the yarn in your right hand, and continental is holding it the left hand. I tried to be all clever and start a dishcloth that had both knits and purls (and I used cotton yarn), but I ended up tying my fingers together. So, I went and grabbed some boring wool yarn from the stash and I've just been knitting along. I still haven't gotten my gauge standardized because I keep forgetting which way to hold the yarn. I'll get it eventually. I need to be able to knit both ways so that fair isle will be easier.

My 2010 knitting resolutions

2010 will be my second full year as a knitter (I started Nov. 2008). I've made a list of knitting goals/resolutions in order to challenge myself a bit more. Without further ado, here's the list:

1. Knit a fair isle pattern.

Stilwell is what is on the agenda (photo from brooklyntweed's website); I'll probably end up using Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed instead of the Classic Elite Portland tweed called for in the pattern. I am under the impression that the individual patterns from Brooklyntweed's last book of patterns will be available separately for purchase sometime in January, so I'm waiting for it to be available before I buy the yarn.

2. Design my own pattern.

I'd like to read some design books before I venture out into this (I don't want to be someone whose patterns are crap because I'm inexperienced). I don't really know what kind of patterns I'll make yet.

3. Knit something without errors.

None of the larger items I have knit to-date has been 100% correct. I'd like to fix that.

4. Complete a sweater.

I started my central park hoodie on Dec. 14, 2008. It isn't done yet. I frogged my Owls sweater.

5. Complete something using the entrelac technique.

Entrelac is a knitting technique that creates diamonds. It kinda makes a basketweave pattern. Here's a brief description. 

In terms of knitting, 2009 was a pretty good year for me. I went from barely able to knit to turning out a full pair of socks in 9 days. I made a lot of new and awesome knitting friends that I am very grateful to have. 2010 should be entertaining as well-I'm the captain of a Ravelympics Team for one thing. I can't wait to see what the year holds-it will be awesome! Yay for 2010!

La digitessa

I wanted to knit a sock pattern that would both challenge me and wow non-knitters (can you blame me?), so I picked La digitessa by Yarnissima. I started it Christmas Eve Eve, and I'm mostly done with the first sock.The traveling stitches make a pretty wave pattern. The yarn is Tempted Good Grrl in Foliage, and I had a hard time photographing the exact color. The first picture is closest.

I also decided to add on to my stash storage, since the yarn was spilling out in the floor. I'm going to add another cube where the wedding pic is soon.

I'm writing a post about my knitting resolutions list, so that's why this one is so brief. Happy New Year!

Stash building

I finally made some time to knit something for myself, and I happen to love it! This is the first of a pair of Augusta gloves knit in Tempted Luxe girl (cashmere ::gasp!::). I really really love it. There is one mistake in the gloves, and I'll have to debate about whether or not it is big enough or noticeable enough for me to fix it. I'll probably end up doing something to minimize it because a knitter can likely pick it out immediately. However, that does not detract from the loveliness of the fingerless glove:

While I may have conveniently used disliked stash yarn for gifts, that hasn't really stopped me from building up other aspects of my (growing) stash. Pretty much all I've bought lately is Tempted yarn, although I did buy some Del Sur for a hat and some Lang Jawoll and Araucania sock yarn for those stocking ornaments.

First up, the sock yarn. It's all Good Grrl. This is passion fruit:

Mocha that will eventually be DH's christmas socks (I haven't started and Christmas is 6 days away!):

Foliage that will be my next pair of socks for myself:

I won the progress pic portion of the Cables on your Chest KAL on the 3am enchantments board on Ravelry, and Keri sent me this freaking awesome and cute Petite KIP bag and Stacy sent some coordinating pink glam:

I need to get back to knitting. I have 4 pairs of Christmas socks to make, and only half of one sock done. Thankfully, the recipients are understanding since my 11 day vacation starts on Christmas eve. I'm ready for the holidays to be over.

FO factory

It seems like all I do lately is knit for Christmas, which is why I haven't blogged. I didn't want to give the secret away lol. I'll show you a quick hits parade of what I've churned out lately, and then I'll save tomorrow's post for the one thing I've been able to make for myself and some awesome goodies I've gotten lately. Without further ado, I present the the FO parade (that's finished object, to the uninitiated):

Pretty little stocking ornaments! The middle one is the first time I've ever done colorwork, and it seemed to turn out ok. Pattern here.

Fingerless gloves! Rav link here. I used some Paton's SWS. Christmas is such a good time to stash-bust! I don't really like the Paton's SWS because it is a bit itchy and it sheds like a mofo, so I got rid of it via gift.

I jumped on the French Press Slipper bandwagon. This was my first pair, and I have to make another tomorrow. After that, I don't think I'll felt anything for a while! I live in an apartment complex, and we have community washers. I don't think I could turn back the dial often enough to felt them. Therefore, I drive my happy butt all the way to Guthrie to use Muriel's washer.

Another stashbuster. This is the Quickie Cowl in Berroco Foliage. Pattern here. I like the yarn's color, but the splittyness drives me crazy.

Finally, a scarf, and yet another way to get rid of yarn I'll never use. This is where I may have experienced what the Yarn Harlot calls "falling down" at the yarn store. When I was told by the store employee that this yarn would be discontinued, I promptly bought the 4 skeins they had on hand. That was last March, and I haven't even used them until now. The pattern is Peasy scarf, and here's the Rav link.
Tomorrow (or Sunday, knowing me lol), I'll post a pic of the pretty gloves I've made with Tempted Luxe, some of the Tempted yarn I've recently acquired, and the 3am enchantment bags I've procured.

Oh, and one last thing. I GOT INTO THE TEMPTED @ 3AM CLUB! Yes, that required yelling.

Crazy busy

I've been really busy with Christmas knitting and I was sick for a few days to top it off, so I apologize for my lack of blogging. Wanna see the cutest thing ever?

They are mini ornament mittens! Adorable, no? Here's where I got them. I'm making a crap-ton of them for mini Christmas presents. I love them! (that yarn is leftover Tempted Bah Humbug)

I'm also tempermental

I think I'm going to frog the sweater. I just don't like the striping, but I didn't like to give up that much progress just like that. I asked a few friends for their opinions on the subject, and everyone voted for frog. I'll let it sit a day or two, and meanwhile, it's back to the socks for me.

Well, I never said I was monogamous.

I'm afraid that I am going to have to abandon my beautiful socks for a little while, much to my disappointment. I have another project with a much closer deadline. I decided to knit the Owls sweater for the cables on your chest KAL, and the deadline is next Monday. This is all I have:

So I need to get crackin'.

I have a new MO for holiday knitting

Remember that pic I posted yesterday of the sock? I just finished it. FINISHED.IT. Holy crap, that's a personal record for sure. I watched 3.5 MASH DVDs this weekend, and knit like the wind. I have decided that I will be doing all of my holiday knitting to a MASH soundtrack, effective immediately.

Please forgive the crappy iPhone pic. I'm too lazy to get out the ol' digital cam. I gotta go CO the second sock-it would be a shame to fall victim to second sock syndrome after setting a new record lol.

A cowl and a sock walked into a bar...

My nifty little Christmas knitting deadline countdown informs me that I have only 33 days to finish my holiday knitting, so I've been knitting like a fiend. That doesn't mean I can't be distracted by pretty shiny new projects for myself though. A week ago Thursday, the lovely Muriel (bffofwendy to those in the plurk/ravelry world) decided that we should do a friendship KAL. She had secretly gone and bought 2 skeins of Malabrigo silky merino, and all we had to do was pick a pattern. I would never have picked a cowl, because, to be honest, I thought that cowls look a little ridiculous and stuffy. With only 1 skein of yarn each, we had to pick something relatively small, so we ultimately decided on the Noble cowl (rav link).

I knit a little bit faster than Muriel does, so I gave her a decent two day head start. It's not my fault that she frogged her progress and started over. Anyway, I finished it on Tuesday. A picture was demanded of me wearing it, so I'll post it in all of its iSight awfulness. I think it looks pretty good on me despite the camera:

I decided to knit a slightly smaller size than the pattern called for by removing 1 pattern repeat. I also didn't knit the last 14 rows, because I am pretty small and didn't want to suffocate in the darn thing. Here it is in properly photographed glory:

Moving on to holiday knitting, I'm knitting a pair of socks for a friend for Christmas. She has no idea that she's getting socks, so I hope she'll like them. I'm knitting Wendy's Lace and Cable Socks using Tempted's Bah Humbug Good Grrl.

I've had to frog the past 2 socks I've tried to knit because I simply didn't like the pattern. It is a wonderful breath of fresh air to knit a pattern that I love. I started the pattern portion of the sock last night, and I've already completed 2 full pattern repeats! I hope these will knit up quickly. I'm slightly worried that I won't be able to give them away.

On my holiday knitting to-do list:

1. I need to finish my Owls sweater by Nov 30th in order to be eligible for prizes in the KAL. I have 1 sleeve left before I start the owls portion (circles the shoulders). Cross your fingers that I can find the motivation to finish it.
2. I wanted to knit a pair of socks for Mom. I have the yarn, but I'm not sure what pattern to do.
3. DH should probably get a pair too, although hopefully he'll understand if I'm not finished with his until January.
4. I'd like to knit an Odessa hat for another friend, but I'm not sure.

Happy (slightly early) Thanksgiving, and good luck to anyone else under a knitting deadline.

I have excellent frogging skills

I was knitting along, minding my own business. I worked on Mom's mock cable socks at SnB last night. They looked like they might be too small even though I went by the length. I continued to knit anyway. I then proceeded to FUBAR the heel flap (ok, I could have just ripped out the heel and fix it, but I was already frustrated with the sock, so I declared it FUBAR). Then I tried the sock on, and it fit me perfectly. That is all fine and dandy, except for the minor detail that Mom's feet are 3 sizes bigger than mine. I had initially planned to only frog down past the gusset and just make the socks longer. After long consideration (a whole 30 seconds), I just decided to frog the whole sock. I wasn't really happy with it anyway (it almost never takes me a month and a half to knit half of a sock). I looked through Wendy's book last night, and I found a few patterns that could be cute with the yarn I'm using (Tempted Good Grrl Circle of Friends). I guess I'll be starting fresh this weekend.

I'm off to spend the weekend at Tempted's house again. I love going to my happy place. :) I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Stan's done!

Last night I finished my Stacy Shawl (aka Stan)! It took me approximately a week and a half. It obviously still needs the ends weaved in and blocking, but I am finished nonetheless.

What am I going to do next, you may ask? I am going to cast on another shawl, of course. I also have a lot of Christmas knitting to do, and I have to finish my Owls sweater by Thanksgiving.

Moving right along

Here's the progress so far on my stacy shawl. I've just started chart C. I'd like to think that I'm halfway done, but since each row is longer than the last one, I'm fairly certain I'm only 1/3 done. I had to switch over to a 47" cable just to stretch it out enough to be able to photograph it nicely.

Here's a closeup of the pattern:

I can barely believe that November has already arrived. Last night I realized that my owls sweater for the cabled sweater KAL is due on Thanksgiving, and I am totally guilty of neglecting it for any pretty new distraction to come along. I keep thinking of Christmas presents for everyone, but I'm beginning to realize that I cannot make everything I want in time. I should have started a long time ago I think.

PSA: My stacy shawl has been christened "Stan."

My Stacy

Here is my progress on my stacy shawl. I just finished chart A, and I am loving it. The shawl is sold as a kit-you get the pattern and 2 skeins of Tempted Luxe Grrl. I love the simplicity of the pattern and the softness of the yarn. The colorway is Sidra. The only change I made was to do a twisted long-tail cast on instead of a provisional cast on, so one small part of the border will be thicker than the rest, but I can live with that.

I always said I would never knit a shawl...

...and then I started the girasole. It took me 4 months and 1 day start-to-finish, although I did stop knitting on it for about a month and a half or so while I waited for more yarn (never start a large project without enough yarn btw).

Tempted graciously dyed more yarn for me, and she tried her best to match the original yarn, but it wasn't quite right. We had decided that I would knit the shawl and then overdye it to make the color uniform.

I kinda like the color as is. I'll let other people look at it before I make a final decision, but that spiraling is freaking awesome.

So much for not making shawls-now I have to decide if I want to make the mystic light shawl or the stacy shawl next.

Happy Birthday and (almost) knitiversary to me

My 26th birthday was on the 14th, and my 1 year knitiversary will be in November (I don't remember the exact date, so I just declare the whole month a holiday). Two of my great friends, Logan and Cody (blogerroo), sent me a combination birthday/knitiversary present.

Those awesome socks are the Summer Sliding socks (rav link) in my absolute favorite yarn Tempted Good Grrl. The yarn he sent me is Dye Dreams Twinkle Toes, a 50% merino/50% tencel blend sock yarn in the colorway Caribbean. He bought it at... wait for it.... RHINEBECK! I've totally got to go there some day.

A great big thank you goes to Logan and Cody! I love ya'll.

Those pictures I promised...

I finally pulled out my camera tonight. This is my owls sweater. I just started the short rows to dip the yoke, so I guess I'm about 65% done with it. This is for a KAL, and I have until Thanksgiving to finish it. I think I can do it, even though the striping pattern in the yarn is driving me crazy.

I got a hold of some of Tempted's Luxe yarn. It is a cashmere blend! The colorway is Emergency. I love it. I'm going to make a pair of fingerless gloves for myself.

As you may know, I am participating in the Wendyknits KAL. You knit a pair of socks in a month and they draw a random person out of those who finished to receive prizes. I won this skein of J.knits sock yarn for my August Seaweed socks. I'm not sure what socks I'm going to make with it yet.

I've decided to make a mystic light shawl, and I have 3 skeins of Tempted bad grrl to make it with. Isn't it pretty? There's blue and red in it, overdyed with chestnut. I really want to start the shawl, but I need to finish my girasole first.

Finally, here are my mock cable socks. I can safely say that these are for my mom for Christmas since she doesn't read my blog anyway.

I'm such a bad blogger...

I've knit a lot on several different projects recently, but I never seem to remember my camera before it gets dark outside. I've wanted to try taking more pictures during the day so that the colors come out better.

I stayed the weekend at Tempted's house (again) with her sister Muriel to help her get ready to post the Stacy Shawl kits on her etsy store. Wendyknits designed a shawl and knit it using 2 skeins of Tempted Luxe. This is the link to Wendy's post, this is the link to Stacy's post (last 2 posts), and here's the link to the etsy store. The shawl is so pretty and the yarn is the softest evah! (Psst-its cashmere!) Several of my friends are already knitting it or will be shortly.

I did get a lot of knitting time in. I managed to work on my Girasole, but Stacy had to help me a lot. Anyway, here is a picture of Muriel and I holding our shawls. She seems to think that she will catch up with me, but she is sadly mistaken lol.

I'm finally out of the insanity that is chart D. It is just a 4 stitch pattern repeat, but I really should have been using stitch markers. That's part of the reason Stacy had to help me so much.

I'm over halfway done with the Owls sweater, and I've started the Mock Cable socks for the Oct. KAL. They will eventually be a christmas present for my mom.

My Owls sweater

Here's my owls sweater to date:

I'm finally getting somewhere! I originally started it with some alpaca worsted, but I don't think the yarn is really worsted weight (it was bought from a local farm in Lancaster, Pa). So, I changed to Paton's Classic wool. Then, I had the opportunity to procure several skeins of Malabrigo worsted in my favorite color. I started over for the third time (making the s/m 36" version). Then, I realized the pattern called for bulky weight yarn. So I started over for the 4th time, this time making the 38" M size. Everything was going fine and dandy until I realized I had done the waist decreases at the wrong stitch marker, which led to another frogging. Now I've made up all of my backwards progress, and am finally making some headway. I just hope it fits.

Knit with care

Trilobite socks: frogged. Lace Leaf scarf: frogged. Owls sweater: frogged about 30 rows. All within 24 hours. Do you see a trend here? 2 were intentional, the owls frogging was not. Well, it was, but the mistake that prompted the frogging was not. I apparently cannot distinguish the difference between marker A and marker B, and had done several decrease rows at the wrong marker.

But back to the frogging. It makes me scared to knit on anything I like. I want to make some serious progress on my Girasole, but a frogging there would be catastrophic (and would likely be a tinking just because I'm scared to partially frog lace). Hopefully this theme to my knitting will end soon.

Heh.

See that sock one post down? I frogged it when I was maybe 2 rows away from being finished. I like the pattern, but I wasn't pleased with my interpretation. It was too big, and I screwed it up a few times. Also, I'm moody, and the frogging was therapeutic. Took all of 2 minutes.

Quick update

I'm knitting like crazy on my trilobite socks. The KAL deadline is 11:59pm on Sept 30, which is next Wednesday. This is the first sock, and I'm about halfway through the gusset. I think its possible to finish, and I'm not going to skimp on the leg (it'll be at least 4" long). The crazy part is that I started the darn things last week. I always wait until the last minute!

Finished the socks & stash building

I finally finished DH's Diamond Gansey socks. He wanted ankle socks, so I only did 1 pattern repeat on the leg before I started the ribbing. He seems to like them, and I've heard that once you wear hand-made socks you'll never go back to store-bought socks again. I want more yarn, so I really hope its true lol.

PS-My aunt knit that blanket DH has his feet on. I love it.

This weekend, one of the girls decided to do some stash-busting. I came home with 6 skeins of worsted-weight malabrigo (its blue!!). It is destined to become my owls sweater (I benched the Patons on this one).
I also grabbed some cute (also blue) sock yarn, but I don't remember the brand. I may have been drunk when I purchased it lol-I'll post a pic when I figure out what it is.

ETA: I think it is KPPPM

:)

I think this was the best weekend I've had in recent history. I usually get a tension headache every day, and I haven't had one since Friday. I am so ridiculously relaxed! Wonderful! I'll post pics of yarny goodness tomorrow. I made a new friend and became closer to 3 others.

So.freaking.excited

I am going to spend the weekend with some friends at Tempted's house! We're going to knit, dye yarn, and have tons of fun. I'm afraid this work day is going to take forever! I'll be leaving with my friend Muriel around 3-4ish, and my knitting friend Courtney will meet us up there. Wooot! Catch ya'll on the flip side.

Whew! I survived camping with my in-laws

My DH is Native American (Choctaw tribe). Every year, we camp out with his family at the Choctaw Labor Day Festival, and this year was no different. Hanging out with the in-laws for 4 days can be a bit rough though, so I took 5 knitting projects with me. I am a relatively new knitter, and the only time they've seen me knit was at Christmas last year while I was trying to finish a scarf for my mom.

Before I even left, I decided that some new yarn was a great way to make the weekend better. So, after knitting at SWAK, I bought some brand new yarn. It is bright red, but my camera decided not to capture the true color. I'll have to try again. The yarn is Knitty Bits 2 Sock yarn, and I'm unsure of the colorway. It is likely destined to be Trilobite socks.

I finished Fred's Owlings mittens a few weeks ago, but I wanted to make sure she got them before I showed them off. She did managed to guess what I was making and therefore got to see them, but she didn't see the finished product complete with seedbead eyes until she opened the box today.

I gave up on trying to finish the diamond gansey socks before the KAL for August ended. I actually could have finished them in time if I hadn't forgotten about them for a week or so while I was distracted by other pretty projects. DH specifically requested ankle socks, so while I don't think it is very attractive for this pattern, I only put 1 pattern repeat on the leg before starting the ribbing. I have one sock finished, but I don't have a picture of it yet. Here is a progress pic from this weekend (I had Wendyknits' book Socks from the Toe-Up spiral bound at Kinkos to make using it easier):

All in all, it was a good weekend. My main fear was being taken advantage of and being used as a babysitter, but I only had to keep the 1 month old nephew alive for 5 minutes while one of DH's nieces took two more kids to the bathroom. I am happy to report that I even touched the kid's arm and nothing bad happened lol. That is progress.

My favorite comment from his family regarding my knitting came from my FIL: "Are you still doing that?" My reply was a faux-cheerful, "Yes."