Lace Goodness

It only took 3 months this time! A new record for me with Lace. I did the Revontuli-huivi shawl but with a much thinner yarn than was called for and with an an extra 4 repeats of the chart. I love the colors of the JoJoland Harmony yarn and the most amazing thing? It only took 1 ball to make this.

Post Blocking


Preblocking

I'm Back! Knitting timeline included

I decided it was time to catch up on my knitting posts. The list of items that I wanted to write about kept growing and growing so I'm going to catch myself up by posting a bare bones version of what I've been up to since my last the last time I was here.

Mid to late February

- My beret ended up being too tight so I will eventually cast this on again with a larger needle and more stitches. I really like the way the color of the yarn compliments the stitch pattern. I'm looking forward to completing this one. Hat based of the moss stitch beret.


March

- With a double strand of worsted weight yarn I was able to crochet this hat in one day. Whoo-hoo! I seemed to have been in a purple phase at this time because suddenly I was making a slew of purple projects. I never seem to notice that I'm doing this until after the fact.

- As soon as I'm finished with my current lace project I intend to take this up again. The Juno Regina is such a lovely pattern and the color I bought for it (Crushed Velvet in silk lace) is amazing. I probably won't be very faithful to it but I think it deserves more attention that it has been receiving (none) in the last few months.

- My test swatches for the Eunny Jang Endpaper mitts have led me to the conclusion that I need to knit this in two solid colors. Solid with a varigated just wasn't working for me.

- Yet another purple hat. I crocheted this for a friend's birthday.


April

- This poor yarn has been frogged so often I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. A hand warmer, then a sock, then back to a hand warmer. In the picture it was going to be a spiral bed sock but then it was turning into a spiral arm warmer. I haven't decided what if anything I plan to do with this. The colors are gorgeous though.

- This hand warmer is still on the needles with only the thumb needing to be completed. As it gets colder I'm sure I'll find the motivation to complete it and its future sister.

- A crochet scarf from the Happy Hooker

- My completed Noro socks. The first sock had a sudden color change with a knot so it made matching the second sock more difficult to match up. I really love the Noro colors and have since stocked up on several colorways for future projects.


May

- Another crochet beret. This was a bit too tight so I plan on going back and adding more increases.

- The Eunny Jang Entrelac sock in progress with more Noro.

- A "They Call Them Pirates" hat for my Dad.


June

- I decided to skip the seaming that was going to make this into a stockinette tube scarf.


July

- A test baby bootie. I couldn't figure this pattern out from reading it so I tried it using scrap yarn. You may see the real version somewhere down the line.

- I've been working on this lace shawl since March but I've only included the latest picture. I bought 2 balls of Jojoland Harmony for this but it is looking like it will only take one to complete this project.

- Trellis baby sweater from Knitty for a coworker.

- Another project I'm calling time on. Instead of a long one I'm leaving this as a scarflette. If I want to add more it will be easy enough with crochet.

- A mindless TV knitting project made out of some dreamy soft alpaca.

The year so far....

December 31st I made several resolutions regarding my knitting. More than a month later this is my progress.

It took me less than a month to break knitting resolution #1. Sometimes I just can’t seem to help myself. I wondered if it would be a good idea to do a modular scarf in such a lightweight yarn but seeing the Modern Quilt Wrap showed me it could be done. The scarf doesn’t seem to use up much yarn and it is a great way to use up partial skeins of KSH.


















I did manage to fulfill one part of knitting resolution #2. I finished a project that I had started the previous year. It is a small project but baby steps aren’t a bad thing.

Pro: I finally frogged and re-knit the top portion of my pink Fake Isle hat. Yay!
Con: The new looser gauge I knit at left the hat so big that I have to fold up the brim. Boo!
I refuse to try to untangle all that stranded knitting so I’m choosing to leave the hat as is. It doesn’t look too bad this way.
















Knitting resolution #3 took a hit with my recent sock yarn sale purchases.









In other knitting news….

I finally took the crochet cast on off and completed the beaded picot bind off . What kept putting me off was the fear of having completed all that beaded lace work only to drop a stitch and mess up what I had accomplished. I finally went through with it and the results are fantastic.








As usual Noro has produced a delightfully colorful yarn. Unfortunately this stuff gets twisted and tangled pretty easily. It’s not the most touchable yarn either. However it did soften up a bit when I washed it., especially once I added a bit of fabric softener to the soak. I can’t wait to have a sister sock for this one. It may take a bit longer since I want to try and match up the color stripes. One ball of this stuff goes a long way and if I wasn’t so concerned with matching the stripes I would probably have enough yarn left over from this skein to finish the second sock.

First FO's of the New Year

Sort of.......

My Ice Queen from knitty is mostly done though I will admit to not having picked up the provisional cast on to finish. It is still on the crochet chain. Someday I'll get around to it but for now it is still perfectly wearable as is.















My scarflette took less than 1 skein of my Manos stash to complete. I will hopefully have a matching mitt set soon.


My plastic tote for knitting tools died finally, it was poked one time to many with the crochet hook. I found this stackable containers at Target. I can carry around anywhere from 1 to 4 at a time. Sweetness.



















For those of you who were at the last SnB and saw me messing with my camera you can now see the VIDEO version (35 seconds) anyway. My favorite part is the last line of the clip.


For just the regular photos you can go here.

Ringing in the New Year

Just when I got used to writing 2007 instead of 2006 on documents they go and switch it up on me again.

Since I’m not one for new years resolutions that I can actually stick to in my regular life I’ll just stick to knitting resolutions. Any notion of loosing weight or eating healthy went out the window with the discovery of the Sprinkles Cupcake Store. ( I blame my mother who is a cupcake enabler).








1. Stop repeating the same patterns twice or more (except socks).
I’m certainly guilty of falling into a knitting rut. When I find a pattern I like I tend to knit it up in several variations. No more! I will try not to repeat anything twice except in the case of socks. Another exception will be the scarf and 2 masks I’ve already been tasked to make for friends and family but those came in before the resolution was made.

2. Finish at least 4 projects that I started in 2007.
My favorite part of knitting is the beginning when you swatch and cast on. Actually getting to the end is where the difficulties start for me. The top contenders are ( Ruby Red Slipper sock, Mr. Rogers’s Cardi, Print O’ the Wave shawl, Hexagon Bag, Deep V Vest and Lacey Cardi).

3. Use up a substantial part of my stash.
I spent so much time stash busting last year only to loose all my progress with some recent purchases. I was thinking about suggesting a yarn swap for SnB so that everyone can unload skeins they’ve already lost interest in. That and I need to make room for all the stuff I bought at a Boxing Day Sale and other sales.

Hopefully I’ll fulfill at least one of these resolutions. We will just have to wait and see what the new year holds for me.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

And so it begins.....

My life on the lam as a wrestler.

Year of the UFO

I've decided to refer to this year as the Year of the UFO. So many projects started and so few of them with any real progress to them. Every time I thought I was getting back on track a new issue of Knitty would come out and everything would go to hell in a hand-basket.

Damn you Knitty! Your my cracksilk haze dealer.

I have at least a dozen projects started around this year and these are the ones I can remember starting. I'm to wary to to dig into my knitting basket to see what lurks there.


1st crochet hat - tried blocking for extra length but sadly I'll just have to buy a new skein to finish this one off.












Eunny Jang vest - This one broke my heart when I realized somewhere I'd twisted the stitches and a least an inch worth of work was going to be frogged.








VK lace cardigan - so close on this one to, I think I've got at least half of the pieces done.

Print O the Wave - Thank goodness for safety lines, I've had to rip sections so many times.

Ruby Red slipper sock - I finally tracked down enough beads to do the second one but I just never got there.

Fake Isle Hat - this just needs to have the top reknit. I'd just have to untangle the giant ball it has become since I've put it down.

Bzzzz Hat - Needs to be frogged and resized.

Green Varigated Odessa - I love this one but the beads are a little small for the yarn so I became a little discouraged with how many more I had to do. I will finish this one, hopefully before January.






Modular purse - I need to pick up more black wool for this one.












Clapotis - Love the colors but Christmas knitting was upon me.









Blue Cardigan - so soft but it's mostly stockinette. I will pick it up soon after the new year.















Wrestling mask - I need to do 2 of these, one for my bro and one as a gag gift for the dept holiday party.











Kidsilk stripes - Not 100% happy with this one but I've come to far to rip this yarn. It would be near impossible to do so even if I wanted to.












I've also have at least 5 projects I've promised friends and family but haven't really started. Boo!

Nothing Says Love Like "Serial Killer"

My sister was born the day after Halloween so it generally makes sense to get her a gift that she can use for the aforementioned holiday. Hence the "Jackyll & Hide" mask from Knitty.

I couldn't wear this mask for long to take pictures because wearing it made me claustrophobic. Little did I know that this shot I took (right before I ripped it off my head) would land me in the Flickr Explore Page. Sweet.
























I've also mostly completed my crochet flower scarf. Just need to weave away the ends. You can also see my Pirate flag temp tat courtesy of the Texas state fair. Where else can I get my fix of fried alligator, fried cookie dough, and funnel cake? I'm going to miss it.

Hooking on the Streets

You can now find me hooking on street corners. Or at least on benches during my lunch break from work. I recently learned the art of crochet and have completed my very first project. I’d like to thank Petra for taking the time to show me what’s what with crochet.




















I did the Stripes & Stripes scarf from Debbie Stoller’s “Happy Hooker” with Paton’s SWS yarn. I love how the color changes look with the pattern. Now I just need to find a saucy hat pattern to go with this.

I started this at the Knit Out but decided that it really would look better in multiple colors rather than just white. It made for excellent practice though.






















This was a hat that I started but I may frog the thing. I’m not really feeling the bobble stitch despite how cute it looks in the pictures. I’ll let it stew awhile and revisit this later.











Free stuff! I won this lovely door prize at the KO&C2. Very nice.













A tiny little pink pimp coat for a very special Barbie. Hopefully I can get a picture of her wearing it because it’s pretty swank on her.









Please excuse me a minute while I try to steal your soul.












The Bzzzz hat from Stitch n Bitch nation done in Noro Kujaku. I knit it too large so it will have to be resized later.

For my birthday a friend took me to the Ritz-Carlton for brunch and I was presented with a lovely bouquet of roses and a pregnant armadillo whom I named Armo. Watch as Armo’s baby pops out Alien-style.

Hat Madness .....Again

It's that time of the year again when I go a little Hat-Happy. I've finished 3 in a pretty short amount of time and I still have more in the works.

The first is a bucket hat that is basically the Topi from Knitty.com with a much bigger brim. I did it once with a garter stitch and hated how it looked so I did a knit brim with a turning ridge and knit the back part and folded it under. Just like the Topi cap brim.


















Next is another Fake Isle hat with a lovely pink alpaca and a crazy fuschia/purple/pink combo.
I made the top to tight so I'm going to have to redo that portion.














Next is a Moss stitch beret. I ADORE the brim of this hat. I must use it again and again. You do a provisional cast on and fold it over. You then knit the provisional stitches with the live stiches and get a smooth brim.














I finished the Brea Bag for my Mom's birthday but I failed to get a picture of it. This is an in progress shot but you can get the basic idea of how it looked.