Secrets revealed

I seem to have been more secure in my speed knitting abilities when, in my last post, I suggested finished Moseys, but in my defense, I've been working on time sensitive projects.  The one that was all stealthy has been gifted, so now I can reveal it here:

Jared Flood's Druid Mittens.  I loved these on the cover of Vogue Knitting this fall, and wanted to make them for me, but when I bought the magazine, a friend of mine loved them too.  So, she's got them.  They're knit in the specified yarn in the exact same colourway.  That being Jamieson's Spindrift in Leprechaun.  These were a really fun knit, and I have yarn to knit some for me too, in a turquoise colour.  

But I have other projects to finish first.  The most pressing is this one:

The Reglisse pullover.  This is the picture from the vintage magazine.  Love the collar and bowl haircut.  You can's see it clearly, but on the next page, the same little boy is also wearing knitted pants.  I decided to resist trying those out :)

Here's my progress so far.  It's getting pretty close to the wire, but three year olds aren't very big, and hopefully the sleeves won't be too heinous.  I still have to figure out how to adapt them into the round.  It might be faster to just knit them flat and deal with the seam.  We'll see.  My nephew's birthday is on January 3, so I have a small time cushion, but not enough for me to relax quite yet.   How about a close-up:

It's pretty dark, but with the licorice coloured yarn, the flash just doesn't work.  I'm actually loving this yarn and the pattern.  Who knew knitting in the round in reverse stocking stitch would be so enjoyable?  Anyway, I'm flying to my parents' place tomorrow morning, so I'd better get a move on and find out whether Porter allows knitting needles on the flight.  

Happy holidays all, whatever they may be, and peace be with you.

This just in...

Yay!  There has been success!  I've been fighting with my Internet Explorer for the last little while.  It seems to insist on shutting down every time I close a popup window.  The photo installation window for Blogger, for example.  So now I'm using Safari.  And lo, pictures:

First up, the third section of the Serendipity (aka Mystery 4) stole.  I'm still plugging along on this, very slowly, but I'm determined to finish it before the new year.  Next up:

  

The first of the Mosey legwarmers.  So far, These are turning out pretty well.  I'm actually more than half way finished the second one since this picture was taken, but couldn't be bothered photographing it.  By the next post, theoretically I should be finished them.  Now for the priorities:

This is holiday knitting.  I wasn't going to post it until after the holidays, but I'm sure that the individual who will receive this doesn't read my blog.  I doubt very much that their mother does either :)  So I know it doesn't look like much, but by some miracle, or possibly merely knitting genius:

That weird piece of knitted fabric becomes this.  Elizabeth Zimmerman's brilliant, and always popular Baby Surprise Jacket.  The yarn is Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK, and I used it for a blanket for another expectant mother.  This one is for an as yet gender-determined baby due in the spring.  I still had yarn left over so I thought these would be fun:

Saartje's Bootees.  Also in the same Sublime yarn.  I have knit both, but haven't done the seaming yet.  They are pretty sweet.  Next I need to walk to the notions store and get some buttons for both the jacket and the booties.  I hope she likes them.  I suspect that baby won't care one way or another.  Baby does, however have a big brother, and I can't knit a sweater for one and not the other.  So:

Three balls of Lang Jawoll Silk.  This is planning on being a vintage sweater found in an old Phildar book.  Phildar Mailles Enfants No. 54.  I can't find a date on it, but it screams 1970s.  The sweater is called Reglisse which I think means Licorice.  So the colour is a deep charcoal grey with some lighter grey flecks in it.  I'm done the ribbing at the bottom of the body, and have begun the main body of it.  It's mostly reverse stockingette stitch, and I'm doing it in the round.  I might be insane to knit an entire sweater in purl.  We'll see how it goes.

There may or may not be other stealth knitting going on, but that's all you get for now :)  I did manage to stumble across a great deal on yarn for charity projects.  I don't particularly like working with acrylics, but each one of these bags cost me a whopping $2.09.  I'm seeing lap rugs and possibly hats:

I did some researching in the rest of the yarn section at the Zellers store I was at and determined that the bag on the left (blue and lavender) is TLC Amore, and the three bags on the right are Phentex Chunky.  That's what I've got for now.  I'd better get that holiday knitting out of the way, and then I can think about what I'll do with this.

Peer pressure

First up, I'd like to apologize for the horrifying lack of pictures lately. It's not as if I haven't been knitting. I have, if only sporadically. It's not as if I haven't taken photographs of the knitting I have done. I got a shot of my completed Seredipity Stole clue 3 the other day. The problem is my new printer. Huh? Yeah. I got my printer connected to my computer which had me very excited as it allowed me to actually print out an assignment in order to turn it in to my Astronomy professor. Turns out, professors like it when you turn in your assignments. Go figure. It's a great printer. It prints in colour, it scans (an excellent feature for tricky knitting charts in magazines you don't want to bugger up), it might even make julienne fries. Unfortunately, its software seems to have bunged up my computer's ability to recognize my camera or its software! So. I'm focussed on medieval Japan for now (for which I need my printer), but hopefully I can figure out the problem and show pictures soon.

As for peer pressure, the Yarn Harlot has been cranking out scarves of late. I've been admiring her lovely scarves thinking "those are pretty, but I don't feel a need to knit one." I thought the same thing when I saw Brooklyn Tweed's scarf. Now, while I don't need a new scarf, and I can't think of anyone else who could use one right now, I'm finding myself thinking something new. Now it's all about "Must. Knit. Scarf" Damn good thing I have no Noro in my stash at the moment, or I might be in serious trouble.

With any luck, I'll get the pictures sorted out soon. Until then, I'll keep knitting.

I'm it

I've been tagged. My first ever meme. Anneh has asked me to share 7 random facts about myself.

The rules:
-Link to your tagger and list these rules
-Share 7 facts about yourself (random or unusual)
-Tag 7 other people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs
-Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

So here goes:
1. I eat everything separate. I'll eat all of one thing, then another, and another, until I'm done everything. In a specific order, too. Vegetables, potato, meat. I also really don't like it when things come into contact with each other either. Lots of jokes have been made at my expense regarding baby plates with divided sections.
2. I don't like chick movies. I like movies with lots of death, violence and gore. I truly loathed the Notebook.
3. I hate silence. It doesn't matter what I'm doing in my house, the tv or stereo are always on. Failing that, I'll talk to myself. I try not to do that in public, but I'm almost never without my iPod. I don't know what I'll do when it gives up the ghost.
4. I'm a Witch. Seriously. Wiccan is the preferred term, but it's tantamount to the same thing. I don't spend a lot of time on it, though. I'm kinda like Catholics that go to mass on christmas and easter.
5. I'm back in school after 8 years away. My degree is in English Literature, which anyone who knew me in high school would find hilarious. I took grade 12 English twice, and OAC English 3 times. In my defense, most of that was because I didn't get on with my teacher, and dropped it a couple of times. Still, doesn't lend me to an English scholar :)
6. I don't like children. Babies give me the creeps, and ultrasound pictures gross me out. They look like little aliens or something. Shudder.
7. I love sorting things. My mother had a big box full of miscellaneous loose buttons, and I would dump it out on the living room floor and sort them regularly. Then, when I was done, I would dump them all back in the box so I could sort them again next time. It didn't come as much of a surprise when I became a cataloguer. I guess I was born for library work.

So there you have it. If it wasn't clear before that I'm a little off, it must be crystal now. I'm not going to pass this on. If anyone reads this and wants to play along, feel free. Just let me know in the comments.

My Serendipity Stole is coming along nicely. I'm done my second clue 3, and will get pictures up asap. Until then, I hope this has been entertaining :)

Progress Report

At the risk of repeating myself, I'm still here. I've been finding that my knitting has been sadly affected by my educational situation. Professors are so rude. They assign papers, and assignments and exams willy nilly with no respect for a person's knitting time. What can you do? I have been finding some time, but not so much for blogging. So if I actually have anybody still with me, here is the payoff :)

Mystery Stole 4 has been named. It will henceforth be known as the Serendipity Stole. And here is my progress:

Clues 1 through 6. That's all of them. This is, however only half of the stole. This has been set aside so I can go back and knit clues 1 through 5 again. Then comes the grafting fun. How bout some shots of this section?

This makes it hard to see the beads, but I like how the stitches pop.

Some diamonds. Cat hair is extra ;)

This makes me think of fish. I don't know if that was the intent, but there could be a seaweed, underwater thing going on with this stole. I love how the edges are all wavy.

So I've finished knitting clue 1 again, and have started on clue 2. Hopefully I'll get through that one by the end of the weekend (2.5 hours of Coronation Street on Sundays are prime knitting time) and can get on to clue 3. I think that's where we left off before, so that's where I'll try and get back to photographing it. I'm hoping that I can get it ready to be worn during the festive season. Crossing fingers. I have two assignments due in November, so we'll see. Knitting is excellent for procrastination.

In other project news, I got nothing. I'm pretty much focused on the Serendipity Stole for now. One project at a time makes for slow blogging, but it's about all I can handle right now. Hasn't stopped me from shopping though:

Tidepool Heather, and Green Tea Heather

Eggplant and Sweet Potato. All Knit Picks Palette. These are planning on being some mittens, gloves and or socks. Someday.

I will admit to some stealth knitting which will get some blogtime in December or the new year. Enough about that for now. Never know who's reading. So. Back to work.

Stole progress

And not much else...

I'm a little late in posting this. I actually finished the knitting on Sunday, but it was miserable weather until Tuesday, and today is the first time I've been home long enough to sit down for a minute. I'm still plugging away at my Mystery Stole. Here is is after the second clue:

I love how it's turning out. I am ploughing through my bead supply super quickly. I hope that the number of beads slows down a bit through the main body of the stole. I love the beads, but I'm not sure I can get more of the same. And I still have to knit the second half.

Oh well. I'm too busy to worry about it. I'm going to be traveling this weekend, so I'm hoping to get some non-lace knitting done on the Greyhound. Hopefully, I'll have something new to share next week. Till then...

Updates

So, as of Friday Mystery Stole 4 is underway. I have been waiting impatiently for this for a while because this time I was going to use actual lace weight yarn. This terrified me. As you can see, though, so far so good:

This is the first clue for MS4. And a closer look at the centre beaded motif:

Pretty, pretty, pretty. This sort of thing is always a little bit stressful, what with the not knowing what the finished project is going to look like. But if this pattern continues like this, I have no fears.

MS4 is not, however, the only project on the go. Here's the other thing I've been focussed on this week:

My Mr Greenjeans cardigan is coming along nicely. I'd really like to get this finished before fall hits it's full swing. So far, I love this sweater. Just look at that ribbing:

Okay, so it's not the best photo, but trust me. It's fantastic!

With that, I'm off back to the stack of DVDs that await me. I'm waiting for more MS4.

Greenjeans

So, as promised, there's new progress and new stash enhancements.

First up: Embossed Leaves sock. I'm not happy with the fit. As you can see the toe is way too long, which was unavoidable because of the way the pattern flows into the toe decreases.

I knit this on 2.75 mm needles as the pattern called for that size. I think that I'll frog it and try again with something in a 2.25 mm needle. I think that'll make a big difference in the fit. Failing that, this pattern isn't for me.

Moving on. I cast on a new sock instead of fixing the Embossed Leaves one.

Hedera by Cookie A. I adore her patterns. I've knit several before, and there will be more. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Blackberry colourway and so far, I'm in love with this sock. The pattern is so incredibly simple, and yet, it creates such a beautiful effect. Love it!

Mystery Stole 4 begins Friday, September 5. I am now prepared. I showed you my beads last week, now here is my yarn:

Knit Picks Shadow in the Hot Rod Heather colour. Red is notoriously hard to photograph accurately, but on my monitor, this picture is pretty good. Friday can't come fast enough :)

So, I found a diversion. In the same shipment from Knit Picks, I got my first set of Options needles. So I cast on for a project that's been waiting for a while now:

This is the beginning of Mr Greenjeans by Amy Swenson. The yarn is Briggs and Little Tuffy in the Blue Jeans colour. I think that's appropriate, Blue Jeans/Greenjeans. It's fate :)

One last thing I got was this:

This is an experiment. I have a gift knit on my horizon that I want to be easily washable, but pretty and soft and natural all mashed together. So I ordered one ball of Knit Picks Swish Worsted superwash wool to test knit and wash before I bought a large project worth of yarn. It's the Clematis Heather colour and is really pretty. I think I'll get more of this colour for something for me... after I recover from my tuition payment.

So there you have it. Lots going on. More to come. Hopefully with some regularity. I'll keep you posted.

Teaser

So, I'm at work (can't you tell), but I thought I'd post a quickie. I finished the first Embossed Leaves sock, but I think it's too big, and too loosely knit, so I think I'll frog it and start again with smaller needles. I'll post pictures later to show what I mean. So in the meantime, I started a new sock, cause, you know, that's what I do :) Again, there will be pictures later. It's a beauty.

But that's not the important part! I have mail waiting for me at the post office! My KnitPicks package came with my Mystery Stole 4 yarn in it. I can't wait to post pictures. Or blog about it :)

Be back soon.

Where did August go? I was pretty preoccupied through the majority of this month, but it's the last week of August already and school starts next week! Why is it that the time always speeds by when you don't want it to? On the plus side, since I wrote my final, I've had actual knitting time! Behold:

Finished Annetrelac socks!

To recap quickly, because this pair of socks took a ridiculously long time to finish. The pattern is: Annetrelac Socks by Sandy Beadle and appeared in the Holiday 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in the Misty Moor colourway which I love! I knit these on 2.5 mm needles (dpn for the entrelac, 2 circs for the stockinette). I'm very happy with how these turned out.

Onward, however. Just in time for school to start back up again, Mystery Stole 4 will begin! I'm waiting impatiently for my yarn to arrive, but in the meantime I'll share these:

Very tricky to photograph, beads. I tried in the tube and you couldn't see that there were individual objects inside. This is the best I could do. The yarn I've ordered is a heathered red, so these beads, which are actually a hematite colour only clear, ought to pop. I hope. They should also sparkle. They have some cut spots on them to catch the light. I'm expecting the yarn to arrive later this week or early next. I've got my fingers crossed.

Hi. I have emerged from under my school-related hidey hole, and have some actual knitting to report. Not a lot, but some. So let's get to it.

First, I have been working on my Annetrelac socks. I finished the first one:

And took to second sock in progress on a field trip:

I'm channelling my inner Yarn Harlot with these pics, but it was fun. One of the really wonderful things about living in Ottawa is the Central Experimental Farm. I actually live across the street from this corn field in the middle of the city.

There were cows, trust me, they're there.

And far more importantly, there were sheep:

I wonder if they recognize the sock...

In other knitting news, I finished something:

This is a baby blanket I knit for a co-worker who has since had her little girl, and taken possession of the gift. That makes it bloggable, right?

It's a simple garter stitch blanket based on a washcloth pattern. It's knit out of Sublime Extra-fine Merino DK, which is lovely! I almost wish I could have kept this blankie for me. I did manage to keep back 4 balls though, so maybe something. It's 25 inches square, knit on a 4.5 mm needle. I really love this project.

Not one to settle for a single pair of socks on the go, I also cast on this:

Embossed leaves by Mona Schmidt from the book Favorite Socks. This is a pretty simple pattern to work with, and I'm enjoying them quite a bit. The yarn is On Your Toes Bamboo, and is really slippery and really, really splitty, but I love the fabric it's making. The colour is really pretty too. This picture is a little more accurate:

A nice close-up on the leaves which really pop.

So anyway. I've got a little under two weeks before the fall term starts, and I've joined Mystery Stole 4, so there's yarn acquisition to be done, and there should be some actual activity on this here blog. No promises :)

Yikes!

So, It's been two months since my last post. I don't know what to say, really. I've been super busy. I went back to school part time, to finish my degree. It seems that's taken over my life. I cannot, however let it take over completely. I have been knitting, just not as much.

Before classes started, I was working on some socks, and managed to get them finished, just not blogged. So here they are:

Toe-Up Totem Socks by Hakucho. Sorry for the Ravelry link, non-Ravellers, I can't remember where I got it in the first place. They're knit out of the teak Lang Jawoll that used to be my Bayerishe socks. I made a big mistake in them and they were taking forever, so frog city, and new socks!

Next:

These are just a plain toe-up sock which I basically made up. I half used the basic recipe from Knitty. They're knit from Austermann Step in some colourway or another. I lost the ball band. I like the pinky, purply bits with that sunshiney yellow thrown in there. Good basic socks.

Not done yet:

These are my own design too. I used the Tiny Bamboo stitch from the Vogue Stitchionary volume 1. The yarn is Regia Cotton Tip & Top Color in the 4085 colour. This stitch was kind of fun, and it made a sock that was kind of like a mesh. Here's a close-up:

All round, a good summer sock.

I also managed to get some stash enhancement in:

Paton's Classic Merino in Natural mix. There are actually three balls, but I couldn't wait:

This is the beginning of a pair of Mosey. I'm a product of the eighties, and for me, legwarmers are such a throwback. These ones, I couldn't resist though. It might be the pompoms.

I also got this:

Cadenza by Estelle. This is a new yarn at my LYS, and is a delicious superwash merino/Tussah silk blend. The colour doesn't photograph well with my camera and is actually more on the green side. Makes me think of tropical water. I've set it aside for something really special.

But I can't be without socks on the needles, so I cast on this:

This is the Annetrelac Socks pattern from the Holiday 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. They're designed by Sandy Beadle, and originally knit out of Shaefer Anne yarn. I didn't have any of that, but I did have some Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in Misty Moor. So far (despite the blurry picture) it's turning out well. I've actually added another 5 tiers of rectangles to this since the picture was posted. What can I say, entrelac is addictive for me.

That's about all for now. Hopefully I'll be less than two months between postings. No promises.