Still here

Warning: Picture heavy post!

Once again, I am a bad blogger. I have been knitting, and shopping, and sitting like a lazy slug on the couch which is nowhere near the computer. Poor excuse.

Anyway, on with the pictures. I have a couple of WIP's that have become so idle as to be mostly forgotten. The next couple of pictures were one of them. It's a short sleeved aran sweater designed by Michael Kors and published in the Holiday 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting. I love this pattern, but it's had a very sad and pathetic past. I started it sometime around holiday 2005, got about halfway to the armhole shaping, and noticed a big ass error in the berry stitches in the centre panel. Okay, rip back, pick up stitches, keep knitting. Those berries are really 3-stitch bobbles. I messed up, but didn't notice until the neck shaping. Then I abandoned it. Last summer I ripped it all out and started again. Got most of the back finished and abandoned it.

I finally finished the back and got 3 repeats of the diamond pattern done on the front. I'm nuts for this project right now. Hopefully that'll stay the same until the rest is finished. I'd hate for this to be rejected again.
Finsished back (unblocked)

Front so far


Next up: Socks. Summer is great for socks. But I haven't been happy with any so far.

On the left is Eunny's Bayerische Sock in Lang Jawoll. This picture doesn't do the colour justice, it's gorgeous! Unfortunately, I didn't read the chart properly, and have been doing the wrong twists for half the stitches. I've got a lot done that way, and the pattern still looks all cably and stuff and I can't bear to rip it, so I think they'll stay that way. At least I've been consistent.

On the right are a couple of single socks which may be ripped in the near future. The yellow one is Yellow Snow. It's Regia 3-ply and the pattern is great (it's actually Melanie Berney's Snowflake Lace Socks), but the cuff is too tight for my calves. I think I'll try and loosen the cast-on somehow. Not sure if it'll work. It might be ripped in the end. The other is Austermann Step in a simple stockingette stitch, but the toe is wrong. I might try and fix it too. Who knows?

Onward. This ought to be recognizable to pretty much anyone who might actually read this and who doesn't work with me (you know who you are. Thanks for reading btw). This is Icarus. Everyone has done it. It is my first lace and there are lots of errors, but I think they hid really well and they're mostly at the beginning where the rows aren't too long. I love this pattern, even if it does go on f-o-r-e-v-e-r. I think I'm over 400 stitches now. The end is in sight though. I hope.

The yarn is an old acrylic store brand fingering weight that my mom had started to make a sweater for my dad in. She can't knit much anymore, so she gave it to me to finish, but the pattern got lost somewhere along the way and there had been something spilled on the knit portion of the sweater. So I found a new use for the rest. I can't imagine my dad wearing anything in this colour anyway, the 80s are over.

Next: A mostly finished Jayne Cobb hat from Firefly as expertly modeled by Seymour. He was pretty happy to see the light of day until I covered his eyes up with the hat :)

So the hat is knit. I just have to sew in the ends and make a pompom. This is actually the second one I've knit. I made one for a friend last Halloween, and it totally made his costume! The yarn is Alafoss Lopi in gorgeous harvest shades of red orange and gold. I kind of imagine Jayne's mom living in a farming settlement on some outer rim moon raising sheep for fleece, then lovingly spinning it, dying it, and knitting it into warm things for her son to wear in the cold of space.

I know... I'm a big geek.

Onward, to stash enhancement. Sock yarn first, cause you can never have enough. On the left Dale Stork in a greyish blue. On the right, Regia 4-ply in a taupey colour. I think that it could be made into something for someone masculine sometime. Or not. It could be for me.

The blue has a purpose. I promised a very dear friend of mine that I would knit her 7-month old son some socks. I don't like knitting for babies in wool, so I was thrilled to find this at my LYS. 100% cotton sock yarn. He's not walking yet so the durability factor shouldn't be a problem and with teeny feet, one ball might even make 2 pairs. Coolio.

Emu Superwash DK in brown and green. This also has a specific purpose. My dad wants socks for his golf clubs. He wants them to be machine washable, but I couldn't bring myself to buy more acrylic. I have far too much of that already. Mmmm superwash wool. Hope he likes the green. I'm not worried about the brown.

Next is Estelle Mystik. This is planning on being Intoxicating from No Sheep For You. The pattern calls for silk, but my bank account can't handle that much silk, so I went for something a little less pricey, but with a great sheen all the same. This is a cotton/viscose blend. Very pretty.

Last pictures. This was an impulse buy, but I think I know what I'm going to make with it. I have 10 balls of it and paid $35. How could I resist. It's called Waikiki and is made by Stahl-sche Wolle. I googled the hell out of it, but couldn't find any mention of it anywhere. I hope that isn't a bad sign. But I knit up a swatch and it knits up really well. I love love love the colours and the fibre is perfect for summer. It's 47% cotton, 33% acrylic, and 20% linen.


So that's most of what I've been up to. I also got Fitted Knits the other day, and am looking forward to pawing through it lots. I'm not supposed to buy more yarn for a while, but I think I'm going to make a small exception. Mystery Stole 3 closes entries tonight, and I'm on my way to join now. I'll need some yarn to knit my stole out of. Shouldn't need too much though. Hmmm. July is cashmere month at Yarn Forward. There's a thought....

On that note, I'm off to join my first knit-along. I promise, it won't be so long next time :)

Oops, I did it again... again...

For the record, I am not nor have I ever been a fan of Britney Spears.

Okay, now that that is on record, here goes again. My internet shut down mid post before, so...

I went yarn shopping. Again. Yay me!

So I got this:

Bernat Sox in Lime Hot. This says it's new. It's certainly new to me, and I hope it's okay. It's an acrylic nylon blend which is kinda, meh. But it's lime green! And even more important, it was under $3!!! Which is good because I also got this:

Regia Cotton Tip & Top Color in the 4085 colourway. I can't find what the actual name of the colour is and after the crash, I can't be bothered finding out right now. Maybe when I actually knit it. I also got these:

Regia 4-ply in Raspberry (1258) and Turquoise (1255). Regia needs to get more creative in the names of their colours. My yellow one from the other day is "Yellow."

So then after satifying my need to bulk up my sock yarn stash in preparation for summer knitting (I sadly only had 3 pairs worth stashed), I splurged on this:

This is only two of the six balls I bought of Filatura di Crosa Luxury 100% silk! The colour is called Natural and has been discontinued. I have no idea what I'm going to make out of this except that it will be a summer shell tank. I can't wait.

Now just to prove that I haven't been sitting idly, with nothing but shopping going on, I have progress shots of the second of my Meilenweit cotton Jaywalkers and the left front of my Not-so-Kakhi Cables cardi:

Gratuitous kitty shot:

And as if my babies weren't eye candy enough, the Eiffel tower in the late afternoon:

I have other Paris shots which I can share later, but I couldn't resist these two pictures taken from our hotel room. This was on the windowsill, just outside.

Two pats of butter and a partially eaten piece of cheese. Mmmm, just in case the guests get hungry, the hotel finds a way to get past the lack of mini-fridge in the room.

Just beyond that tasty snack (which, incidentally, we left for the next lucky visitor) was what was lovingly referred to as the jaccuzi:

Also, not so lovingly, as the cesspool. The roof of the building next door. I could have climbed out my window into it. Pretty gross. Luckily, we didn't spend much time in the hotel, cause... Paris!

Anyway, I've posted more pictures than ever in this post I think, so I will leave you with those lovely pictures. Me, I'm going to play with silk!

More Finished Stuff

Wow! I am on a roll. I guess this blogging thing could be the solution for my inability to finish projects. So I have socks:

These are just plain old stockingette socks. They are Navy Patons' Kroy Socks 2.5 mm dpns. I've knit two other pairs like this and I find they're great everyday socks. Inexpensive yarn that knits up well and I can throw them in the washer and dryer.

I also finished this:

This is Grumperina's Odessa hat minus the beads. I loved this pattern! I can't wait to try it again with beads this time. It's knit out of the Luxury Collection Fine Merino Superwash DK. This was also left over from my brother's holiday scarf. He won't miss it I'm sure :)

So now that I've got a bunch of little projects finished, I really should work on the bigger ones. Here is the start of the Kahki Cables Cardigan:

Not much to look at. You can barely see the cables. It's just going to be a black blob. I doubt I'll blog it much, unless there's serious progress. Despite its lack of blogability (new word?), I really like this yarn and the pattern is knitting up nicely. Should be working on it more.

There's also this one:

This is one I've had on the needles for years. It's a Michael Kors design aran top from the Holiday 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting. And the back is almost entirely done. I think the holdup is that it's knit in acrylic Bernat Big Value. Now that I've discovered the joys of natural fibres, the acrylic, just doesn't feel right. Not to mention that it's Michael Kors (his, incidentally is knit in cashmere).

So, instead, I have more little projects. Like:

Endpaper mitts. These are from Eunny's blog, and they are my first attempt at colour work. I'm over the moon with how well they seem to be coming together. I'm terrified that they will be too small though. They look really small. I think I may just be comparing them to socks and my wrists are considerably smaller than my ankles. Time will tell. Anyway, there's more UFOs kicking around my place, but this is already a picture heavy post and it's almost midnight which is way past my bedtime, so I'll save them for another time.