It felt like a minute

Oh, Friends, where has the time gone? I'm having difficulty believing that I've been gone as long as I have, but so it is. Last time I wrote, I talked about my disappointing State Fair results, and showed you the beginning of a sock I was making for my mother-in-law. I've since completed the sock and three other projects.

First, the sock: it's the Rhombus pattern from CookieA's Knit Sock Love book. It ended up taking about six weeks to finish, and I ended up running out of yarn about 2.5" before I could close up the toes. A kind Raveler sold me a second skein of the gorgeous Sundara Sock, which allowed me to finish with enough left over to make some socks for myself.

Next I decided that I would make a point of knitting up the oldest yarn in my stash, partly as a way to clear out some space in my bins and partly as a challenge to myself. While I have a whole lot of some mohair boucle that I bought at a fiber festival some years ago, I knew I could find a pattern for the silk/bamboo hand-dyed sport weight that's been in my stash nearly as long. Anyway, believing that I had a mere 450 yards of this yarn, I cast on for the Glitz at the Ritz shawl, which I thought would use up both skeins. I got through nearly the whole shawl before I realized that I'd underestimated the yardage of the skeins, leaving me with nearly the whole second skein upon completion of the shawl.

Knowing that I likely didn't have enough yardage remaining to make another triangular shawl, I decided that a rectangular scarf would be the way to go. I could cast on and knit until I ran out of yarn, hoping that the yarn's slinkiness would help once it was washed and blocked. I used the Shimmer Wave scarf pattern, which had an easy-to-memorize repeat and traveled well. I mostly worked on it during my commute to work every day and occasionally in meetings and waiting rooms. It took a mere three weeks to complete, and I've already given it to a coworker.

Lastly, I restarted the Streymoy sweater I'd had so little success with last winter, but I think I'll save that for next time. There's a lot to tell! Until then.

Some catching up to do!

For the last few posts, I've been promising that I would post some photos of my finished Amaya sweater, and today I'm finally doing it! See:

A finished sweater! It really was very easy knitting. If I could change anything (which is not going to happen), I would probably have gone down a needle size (or maybe even two), as the finished sweater really grew after washing. I even put it in the dryer in the hopes of shrinking it some, but I think it's just in the nature of the bamboo rayon be slinky. And heavy. Anyway, it's cute enough, and I'll just have to make sure I wear a little something underneath it since the fabric is a little sheer to wear unlayered.

I've also finished my Frankenanklet, made from sock yarn leftovers. Three of the yarns are ones I purchased at Sock Summit in the hopes of making something for myself and the fourth was from a skein I bought in Ft. Wayne. These socks were pretty simple knitting, even if they were done two-at-a-time on size 0 needles. I knit them toe-up until I ran out of yarn, then added the next yarn and the next until I had a pair of anklets. It was pure accident that a color change happened at the heel flap - I couldn't have planned it, but I'm glad it worked out that way. I may do this again with yarn scraps, but the next ones will probably have more color changes, as most of the leftovers I have now are shorter lengths. But what would I name them, now that I've used Frankenanklet? I'll have to think on that one.

I've also made a little more progress on my Columbines needlepoint. There's just a little more of the background left to finish and then I can move on to the border! I actually had to run out to the needlepoint shop to pick up one more skein of the background color - I was so close to finishing! I'm just grateful that the new skein is in the same dye lot. Whew!

Well, that's it for today, I think. Next time, I can tell you about my current knitting WIPs and maybe I'll have more progress on the needlepoint. Until then, Friends!

Unstuck!

Louie loves cashmere. He has good taste.

Well, I laid a big, fat egg for Knit & Crochet Blog Week, what with my one sad post and no follow-up. I'm still thinking that I'll get around to writing posts for all the other prompts, but for tonight, I'll just give you an update on the Portico Shawl.

I managed to finish it the day after I posted on it, I think. My kind friend, Cindy, happened to have another skein of the wasabi cashmere, and it turned out that I only needed about 15 yards of it to finish the shawl. The blocking went pretty quickly, and once I had it pinned up, it dried quickly as well. I haven't had an opportunity to wear it yet - I might not get to wear it until Fall, as it's been pretty hot the last few days and will likely stay hot until October.

It has turned out just as light and airy as you could imagine. It practically floats! I won't dare call it "ethereal," because that adjective is so over-used, but it is pretty effing nice. It has just a hint of a halo from the cashmere, and it's so soft against the skin. I will definitely love wearing this around my neck.

Anyway, that's about all I've got for tonight. Next time I'll have photos of the Amaya sweater, and maybe even of the Frankenanklets I made from some leftover sock yarn. Until then, Friends.

Zipping right along

My Amaya sweater is really moving fast, mostly because it's stockinette stitch on size 8 needles, with minimal shaping. It's been a fast knit, so much so that I've already finished the front and the back. Why, as recently as Tuesday, I was halfway through the front and even though I left it at the office overnight Wednesday, I was able to complete the neck and shoulders last night. I'm saving the seams for Sunday, since that will be my next day off, and once that job's finished, I'll be able to finish the collar. After it gets a wash and a dry, I'll have a nice, new, Spring sweater - just in time for the comfortable weather we're finally starting to see.

Since I didn't have anything else on the needles Wednesday evening, in my desolation I decided (with a little prodding from a friend on the Facebook) to cast on Kirsten Kapur's Portico shawl. Mostly I chose it because it called for a mere 400 yards of laceweight that I could knit on size 6 needles from a skein of Jade Sapphire cashmere that's been in my stash since the Knit Nook closed. Decision made, I whipped through the first set of instructions before I went to bed.

The yarn I'm using is 100% cashmere, completely soft and very fuzzy, but different from the 55/45 silk/cashmere that the pattern calls for. I expect that my shawl will end up with a lovely halo, but without the nice smoothness and drape that the silk blend yarn will give. If I can finish it fairly quickly, I think it will be a light, airy layer to wear on the chilly mornings and evenings we'll have for a few more weeks. Otherwise, I'll likely have to wait until fall to wear it.

Well, that's all I have for tonight. Until next time, Friends.

It's about time I knit something for myself.

Looking over my Ravelry projects page tonight, I saw that it's been more than 6 months since I've really knit anything for myself. I know that I recently made myself that Walnut Snood (6 days) and the Elis Cowl (2 days), but the last project that I made for myself that took a significant amount of time was my Zori Cardigan, which I finished in the middle of last September. Since then, I've knit 6 pairs of socks, 3 hats, and 15 stuffed owls, all for other people. Mind you, I'm not complaining (too much), because I love all the people I've knit for. It's the knitting on a deadline that has finally worn me out, especially since I did it to myself, and I'm the dummy who imposed those deadlines on myself.

Anyway, I finished the Tea Time socks yesterday! I promptly took photos during the beautiful sunny interlude we had between all the grey skies we've had here in Louisville lately. I'm really pleased with how these socks came out, and I'm especially pleased with how quickly they knit up. Sixteen days! I'm sure it's because the pattern was easy to memorize and there wasn't any lace or any right/left chart business to deal with on these guys. The yarn is lovely, and I can't say enough about gorgeous the color is. As I was finishing these up, I was wishing I could keep them for myself. Ah, well! Maybe the next pair, which probably won't be too soon, as I'm feeling like I'd like a project on big needles for a little while.

Which brings me to Amaya, a sweater from Rowan's Bamboo Tape Collection that came out in 2007. I'm using the yarn I reclaimed from a cardigan I made years ago that no longer fits. I'm pretty excited about it because it's going to be miles and miles of stockinette stitch on size 8 needles. These needles are roughly two and a half times bigger around than the size 0 needles I used on the Tea Time socks. They feel huge in my hands! The stitches practically knit themselves! I'm even looking forward to having seams to sew. It might sound crazy, but I'm kind of excited about having to look up how to do mattress stitch. I might not be singing this same song after I've done it, but for now: yay!

That's all I have for tonight, Friends. Until next time.