Slow & Steady as she goes.

Holy smokes! It's been two weeks since I posted last. I can't really say that I've had that much going on, so I'm a little surprised so much time has passed. Anyway, I've made good progress on my Rafters cardigan: I've completed the waist shaping and only have the bottom border to do before I can start on the sleeves and the collar/buttonband. The cardigan doesn't really have any ease right now, but I think that once the button band is on and I can get the whole thing washed and blocked, the cables will loosen up some and I'll end up with about 1.5" of positive ease. I'm still in love with the color and I can't say enough about how soft this yarn is. I just want to pet it all day long. The cat is still in love with it too. Today he was rubbing his face on it and licking the bag I store it in. He's a strange little beastie.

I've also made progress on Dan's Scylla socks. I finally turned the heel this week, and now only have the leg to finish. The great part of that is that the stitch pattern knits up quickly, without a whole lot of thought. Since Dan's so tall, I'm just going to knit until I run out of yarn. We'll see in a hurry whether I divided the hank evenly.

So it's a short post tonight, Friends. Thanksgiving is coming up soon, and there's a chance I'll get to see the Yarn Harlot when I'm home in Fort Wayne for the holiday. I'll probably limit myself to the Saturday night lecture and skip the classes. I'll post pics if it happens. Until next time.

WIP it good.

All my WIPs continue apace. I seem to be a little all over the place lately with my projects, but somehow, bit by bit, they're progressing.

This week I managed to get to the halfway point in the Hanami stole. I'm really happy with how it's coming along. I like that the beads have given it some heft (as hefty as seed beads can be on an alpaca/silk lace stole) and I think it's going to drape beautifully once it's finished. I hope I have some occasion to wear it. Maybe I'll get invited to a wedding. Or maybe we'll go to the ballet. Or something. Of course, I'm not sure I have anything to wear with it, so I'll have to get on that.

Knitting. Tasty, tasty, knitting.

I've also made progress on my Rafters cardigan. Just this morning I completed the front shaping and now I'm ready to get everything all joined up for some progress on the body. It looks a little small right now, but I think that's because so many of the sweaters I've made for myself have turned out too big. Even if it's a bit small now, I'm pretty sure that blocking will relax some of the tightness in the cables. So long as I get gauge on the sweater as a whole, I'll have about an inch of ease.

Since my last couple posts I've frogged the blue socks for my friend, Dan, and started a new pair for him. I'm doing the Scylla pattern again, this time with a skein of Mountain Colors Crazyfoot I've had in my stash for awhile. In the skein, the yarn looked a lot more brown than it's knitting up. In the socks, I'm seeing more jewel tones, but I think it's still masculine. I hope he'll be cool with it. This is my commuting-and-waiting-in-line knitting and it's moving right along. I've probably got another two weeks with it before it's finished.

Of course, with three projects on the needles (four, if you count my unfinished Halloween costume), it looks like I'm not going to be doing any Christmas knitting. There just won't be any time. I have a feeling I'm still going to be baking up a storm, but it's already too late to be in time for Christmas. I will, however, be scouring my house for just the right contribution to our family's Dirty Santa exchange.

On that note, I'll sign off for now. Until next time, Friends.

Knitting keeps me humble.

Seriously. Every time I get even a little bit cocky about my ability to do something knitting-related, knitting puts me right back in my place. Case in point: effing cables.

I've made plenty of things with cables: socks, gloves, hats, sweaters. Lots. Of. Stuff. Then I started on the back of the Rafters cardigan.

It's kind of hard to tell, but the braids on the left have a mistake.

See this picture? Take a good look at the cables on the left side. Notice they're a little different than the ones on the right side? Yeah. I messed them up. I seem to have repeated a row without noticing for like three rows.

Here's a closer look at my lesson in humility.

I didn't want to unknit the cables I'd gotten right, so I decided that I'd just undo the 6 stitches down 'til I got to the mistake and fix each cable individually. It worked pretty well, I think. It only took me 30 minutes or so to fix, which wasn't so bad. I just had to apply myself.

Left braid fixed, center & right braids up next.

Once I got the cables uncrossed I was able to fly right along on the back of the sweater. I'm about to start the increases for the underarms and then I think I'll get to start the fronts of the sweater pretty soon thereafter. It's really starting to cool off here, so another lovely, soft wool sweater will be great to put into rotation.

That's all the yarn, & the heels aren't even turned.

Another lesson in humility was this pair of simple vanilla socks that I'm making for a friend. Who happens to wear size 15 shoes. When I looked at the yarn in the ball, I thought I had plenty. If I'd looked at the project page for my husband's aran-weight socks, I'd have seen that I used two balls of this yarn to make his, and he only wears a size 11.5. So I've contacted my friend to see if he'd rather have the thick socks, for which I'll need to order more yarn; or thinner socks, the yarn for which I already have in a quantity to make a pair. I guess I can start winding the yarn for the thinner socks. I have a long work-related meeting tomorrow, so I'll need something to work on that won't require too much attention for a little while.

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

Another trip to the mill.

On Thursday my husband I went to East Jordan, Michigan, so I could get a sweater's worth of yarn at Stonehedge Fiber Mill. Ever since I worked with their worsted weight for the CookieA sample knitting, and their DK on my Zori sweater, I've been wanting to knit another sweater from their yarn. The perfect pattern presented itself in Rafters, by Stephanie Tallent, and once I added up how much I'd need, we headed out to the farm.

We had a lovely drive there, once we got through the traffic jam in Traverse City. It seems like everyone is trying to get in their last bits of summer fun before Labor Day, just like we are. As we got a little farther up the road, the traffic cleared out and we drove past lovely fruit orchards and smaller lakes. As we pulled into the driveway at the mill, their little black farm cat came over to greet us. This is the same little guy we met last year, still just as deaf, but still as fond of ear skritches as last time. Anyway, the shop door was closed, so I pet our little friend until the owner came by and showed me in. She said the door was closed because the goats couldn't be trusted not to eat the yarn. She told me that one of them had eaten a check from a customer - actually snatched it out of her hand and ran away!

Once I got inside, I was able to choose a color pretty quickly - I'd been thinking I wanted a heathered purple, and there were two skeins of pansy front and center. After a quick look at it in the sunshine, I asked for 10 skeins, which she had to get from the mill shed. She hadn't twisted the hanks, but no matter. She added an extra tie to them so they'd make the trip home safely. I can't wait to start on this sweater! Of course the search for buttons will be kind of a pain, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I'm looking forward to all those pretty cables and the shawl collar, too.

Once we bought my yarn, we decided to go to Bellaire to the Short's Brewing Company pub. They make a variety of really tasty beers and my husband knew that they had a restaurant, so we took it in our way home. I had a delicious (and big!) avocado BLT and their Kolsch 45. It was so good! My husband had the Reuben sandwich and one of the IPAs. I took a picture of him with his sandwich, but he didn't want a picture of himself while he was eating posted to the internet, so you get to see my sandwich instead. I also took a picture of the beer board, just so you can see all the options. These guys aren't fooling around. If you're in the area, check them out.

Well, that's all I've got for tonight. We're headed home in the morning, so there's lots to do tonight before we leave. Until next time, Friends.

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!

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.

This week on the needles:

It can't be any surprise that I'm working on a pair of socks now that the Christmas knitting is finished. When my mother was here for Thanksgiving, she asked if I would make another pair of socks for her. She couldn't have had any idea how under-the-gun I was feeling about finishing the gifts on time, but how in the world could I say no to my mother? I couldn't, so the two of us went through my sock yarn stash looking for superwash yarns that suited her taste. We eventually narrowed the choices down to two, but that was where she got stuck. She couldn't decide between a skein of Miss Babs Windsor (sadly, discontinued) in Light Clematis and the two skeins of A Verb for Keeping Warm superwash sock in color No. 9. Her solution? Would I make two pairs of socks? One for her and one for her sister?

So I've gotten started on CookieA's Elm sock, from The Knitter's Book of Socks by Clara Parkes. The nice thing about the pattern is that it's a relatively quick knit, with simple increases and decreases creating the interest on the leg and instep. I've been knitting these socks two-at-a-time, and after just two short weeks I've turned the heels and am nearly finished with the gusset decreases. Depending on how much time I have to work on them, I hope to have them finished by this time next week.

Another thing I have on my needles is the Sea Cucumber draftstopper from a blog called Jurisdiction of Nifty. It's a simple cable pattern knit a very tight gauge that I'm making out of some leftover Cascade 220 I've had in my stash for a long while. I expect to be able to finish it fairly quickly, but the tight gauge is a little rough on my hands, so I work on it intermittently and massage my hands right after.

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