WIPorama

Several months ago, my friend Donna had a great idea for a WIP Cup to coincide with the World Cup. We started a Ravelry group and I actually got quite a few WIP's finished but I don't think I ever posted about them. Here they are...

The Chevron Scarf - started 3 years ago and never finished is now done. I adore the way Feather and Fan looks but I discovered I hate making it. It's not even hard, just boring.
I also discovered if you're going to take a pic of a blue-ish scarf, best not to take it on blue sheets.


This picture is much more true to color.

Way back in 2003 when I first started knitting, my LYS had two lone skeins of koigu on sale because they were different colors and not enough to make a pair of socks each. I bought both with no clue what I'd ever do with them. I didn't even knit socks back then! This scarf was perfect for them and I love it!

Next up, we have my Odessa hat. About 2 years ago, I received a luscious ball of this yarn in a swap, found the perfect beads, cast on for this, did the ribbing edge and tossed it in a bin. I have no idea why but maybe I was intimidated by the beads and the fact that I didn't understand how the swirlyness happened without moving stitch markers and such but it does! It just does and it's amazing!

I wore it all day when I finished it and am still waiting for it to actually be cold enough to wear it again.

Next up (and the thing I'm most proud of finishing) is the Bed Jacket of Doom. If you were here a couple of years ago, you know the saga behind this. Let's just keep it brief and say this pattern was kicking my ass. I finally finished the whole thing except the edging (even seamed the sleeves!) and threw it in the closet. With the WIP cup, I finished the edging. It took an entire skein of the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece plus a little extra to do it! I'm actually thinking of pulling half the edging out but for now, it's finished.

Here's a shot of the little edging I put on the sleeves. I tried the original edging called for in the book but learned that I am NOT a fan of sawtooth edging - too court jestery for my tastes. Also, you need to knit miles of edging and sew it on?!? No thank you. I crocheted this edging on and it only took about a day.

I made this specifically for wearing about the house when it's chilly and I've been wearing the hell out of it lately! I'm one of those mean moms who says, "Leave the heater off, go put on a sweatshirt!"

The WIP on my list that I didn't finish are these chunky mitts. I was following a basic chunky knit pattern but the thumb seems to be way too high up!

I was also in the Ravelry 10 in 2010 group. My list changed quite a lot during the year (perfectly allowed within the group - yay!) and I finished 8 things so far with an easy goal for the last two to be done before the year ends.

I have already joined the 11 in 2011 group and next year they are allowing WIP's so I've got these mitts on that list. My list is pretty... impressive (read: stupidly large) but I think I will still manage it! We'll see. I'll post that list here soon....

WIPing away in Margaritaville, Ruth!

Time Out

The Inaugural sweater is in time out. It's banished in it's lovely carrying bag to a corner of my knitting basket. It will probably resume it's normal knitting schedule this weekend but it's been in time out for about two weeks now.

It's completely my fault but I've mucked up the whole thing. Not really, it's just not what I want and not what the pattern called for. I still have only the collar and the sleeves left to finish and this is when I actually read the pattern. See, I've always been told that in America, seed stitch and moss stitch are interchangeable terms. They are not. This American pattern clearly writes out what moss stitch is in the glossary box. I didn't read that and knit the whole thing with seed stitch front panels instead of moss stitch.

Much as I love seed stitch (and I do! lots of people hate it, I really like it!), I picked this pattern to make because I loved the look of the front panels and collar. Which are moss stitch. Moss stitch that is different from seed stitch. The whole time I was knitting it, I kept thinking, "This doesn't quite look right." and then I'd keep going. I blamed the yarn. It's that really dark black/green yarn and I just thought it didn't look right because the yarn was so dark.

And that's the other reason it's in time out. I am becoming less and less enamored of that super black "green" yarn. So it's in time out. And I know when it is finished, I will never wear it.

I'm thinking once it's finished if anyone wants to buy me some Malabrigo Twist in enough yardage (and the color of my choice) so I can make the Inaugural like it's written, I will give them this one. The hem was sewn by my knitting-award-winning-at-the-fair (blue ribbon!) friend, Tina, so that part is perfect! The rest is perfect too, it's just slightly the wrong pattern stitch. It's the 40" bust size. I know Twist is more expensive (yard for yard) then the regular Malabrigo that I used but I figure that's fair as you're getting a ready made sweater! I'll even leave the buttons off so you can pick whatever buttons suits your fancy! (I'm generous like that) I'll post pic's when it's done.

Truthfully, if Tina hadn't already sewn the hem for me, I would've ripped it all out and started over. I'm that irritated with myself over it.

This Inaugural Time-Out put me squarely in the sights of my own cast-on-itis. The flood gates are wide open people! I've started a round Minion (body, one leg and most of the second leg finished), another pair of socks (Skew from knitty.com, yarn is rolled and I'm just waiting for my brain to remember how to do Judy's Magic Cast-on), and I made the mistake of starting Vivian.

Vivian is like crack cocaine to me! I was right about wanting something more challenging and her supple cables and seed stitch (for real this time) V-shaped areas are like knitting porn. I started on a sleeve and didn't put it down for two days! I'm about 2/3 done with that sleeve but the siren song of startitis called again and I also cast on for...

this Lion Brand blanket pattern called Lenox Square Throw. I bought 11 balls of beautiful cranberry colored worsted weight Encore yarn when I was a new knitter. My Tucson LYS was having one of it's 4 annual sales and I wanted to try my first sweater (Rachel from Melissa Leapman's Hot Knits - I couldn't find a picture to link to). I don't know why I thought I needed 2200 yards of worsted weight to make a sweater but either I didn't have the pattern with me and/or didn't trust my math and wanted to be sure I had enough. I never made that sweater and I'm happy about that as it would've been a mistake to make a sweater that's supposed to be form-fitting and close to the skin in that itchy acrylic! I've always loved the color of this yarn and when I saw that blanket pattern and you just use worsted held double and there's cabling? I knew I'd finally (7 years later) use that acrylic Encore!

Thinking of starting 3 more projects (and using more parentheses), Ruth!

Paint Me...

I bet y'all thought I stopped knitting. Not so! I knit everyday. I've made minions for Davis and robots for Trevor (my crochet skills are weak at best and my embroidery faces are terrible!) I've finished dishcloths and I'm plugging along on two pairs of socks. I knit all the time!

Lately, I've noticed that in the past few years I go through these color phases. About three years ago, it was all teal all the time. I was in search of the perfect teal yarn. I found several perfect teal yarns!

Two years ago, it was anything variegated - couldn't get enough of the stuff! But only in sock yarn. This year I'm in a dark charcoal grey phase. I'm loving gray! (And I love it so much that, apparently I can't decide which way to spell it.) I've got enough to make a couple of sweaters so I think I'm starting to fade on the gray/grey.

I'm also starting to fade on the sock yarn. I think I've told y'all but I've got enough that if I made a pair of socks every month, it would last me 17 years. I don't make a pair a month. I wish I knit that fast!

I'm definitely getting away from variegateds, transitioning into those gorgeous semi-solids that I'm seeing everywhere now. I'm in search of the perfect deep garnet red. I want enough to make a sweater. I have a couple of bites of that color in sock yarn and I'm swooning over it! I really want a sweater in that color.

I have enough worsted Malabrigo in Pagoda to make the ever-lovely Vivian (I also have the pattern - thank you Donna!) and I was in love with worsted Mal but now I'm over it and am slavering over Malabrigo Twist! I'm such a fickle girl!

I'm also getting a major case of startitis. I've been pretty good this year, maintaining a fair amount of monogamy to one project after another. The WIP Cup got me finishing 3 out of the 5 things I listed and even before the WIP Cup I was holding fast to my self-imposed WIP Sunday knitting. That's kind of fallen by the wayside and I've cast on a couple of extra sock projects. I've been sort of stops-and-starts with that Inaugural sweater I'm making. I think that sweater is what's giving me this startitis. I only have the collar and the sleeves left to finish it and I always get Cast-On-itis when I'm near the end of a big project. It's like I want an excuse to fling the almost-finished piece aside and start something new. I won't. I'm holding fast.

I've been putting off winding the next skein for Inaugural because that means I have to continue with it. Part of the problem is the color. I wanted a really dark green so I picked Cypress. In the photo it was a very dark forest green. When it showed up, it is black. You can only see the green in certain lights. I'm disappointed in the color. Not that pattern though! It's an excellent pattern and it's not even boring or anything! (It's a touch boring.) The body is stockinette with moss stitch panels so it's perfect for not having to think too much. Maybe that's the problem!

I want to sink my needles into Vivian's cables. I want to have to concentrate on something knitwise. Most things I've done this year are so easy that it's starting to stifle my knitting mojo. I need a challenge! Maybe I'll just cast on for a sleeve? I definitely want to do Viv's sleeves first. A sleeve's not really cheating, is it?

I'm also getting fairly obsessed with the idea of making knee-high socks. I want, like, three pair of knee-high socks. If sock yarn doesn't count as stash, do socks count as projects?

Aaaah!

OK, enough of that nonsense.

What colors are y'all into right now and where can I find some silky-soft-garnet-red-not-too-expensive yarn? I don't even think I care what weight, just so long as it's a sweater's worth!

Attempting monogamy, Ruth!

K is for Knitscene

Why yes, that is me on page 5 of the new issue of Knitscene!! (If, someday, someone is reading this in the archives, it's the Winter/Spring 2010 issue.)


OK, not me per se, but it is certainly a fine picture of my Stitch Saver and the web addy to my Etsy store! YAY!


I sent IWK some samples of my Stitch Savers well over a year ago and they said they would put it on the "cool stuff" pages of Knitscene. I didn't think to ask which issue - hah! Just kidding! Again, I'm so happy to be in the mag it's ridiculous!



And, since I haven't posted any real knitting in awhile, let's talk about some knittin', shall we? So far, 2010 has been the Year of the Frog. In January, it seems everything I tried to knit got frogged for one reason or another. February's been better so maybe I just had the Month of the Frog and Year of the Frog is just me exaggerating (one can always hope, right?).


As always, my nemesis The Hat got me again...


I tried to make the Fake Isle hat with a skein of Noro Iro and leftovers from a skein of Baby Alpaca Grande...

FAIL!

Do you see the hourglass shape goin' there? My fair isle skills are in need of some serious practice. Also, it was going to be far too long to be a proper hat.

Here's my foot for scale...

My shoe size is US 8.5 or 9 and my noggin is not that... tall? Ribbit.

Once again, my fail is completely my fault as I tend to see a pattern and say, YES! but then look at my yarn and pick, oh, say bulky when it calls for worsted and then I try math and... fail.

Truthfully, the math was working, I just didn't factor in row count and how that might be different from worsted to bulky. Also, I wasn't feelin' the fair isle between these two yarns. You can see it much better in those pic's then in real life but that's only because of the camera flash. In real life it was not very clear what was going on with the fair isle - the colors of the two yarns were too close to the same or something.

So, I pulled it apart and then used the Noro Iro for a hat that called for Bulky yarn. Wonder of wonders, it worked. Not only did it work, it worked the first time! No ripping, no re-working, nothing. Just a big huge win! Which caused a big huge grin...

I used the Baby Alpaca for the edging and I skipped the side braids.

It's been snowy and cold here so I've been wearing the hell out of this hat! I love it so, I think I will name it. Any suggestions?

I also had enough Iro leftover to think about making some matching mittens. Sadly, I think I may have to rethink those. I used the Iro for the cuffs - CO, Magic Loop, two at a time and that worked out splendidly. I was going to use the big ball of leftover Baby Alpaca Grande for the mittens part but as I worked the first mitten, I could already see that I won't have enough for the second one. sigh. And, it'd cost $13 (plus shipping) to get another skein of it and then I'd have leftovers from that skein and now my lovely hat-matching mitts are languishing. I'm going to go to Ravelry's ISO/DS group and see if anyone has some they'll give up for less then a new skein.

Happy with my new hat, Ruth!

A SEAL and His Needles

I recently told y'all about my friend Phil who is a Navy SEAL and among his many talents and skills, he's recently learned to knit.

We've been emailing each other nearly every day since we reconnected (Facebook does have a purpose beyond Scrabble!). The email he sent me yesterday started with this...

I have been in a bit of a dry spell for a few days. I totally ran out of yarn! How awful it is. I am sure you know the feeling.

BWAHHAHHAHA! I explained to him that I am in no danger of EVER running out of yarn. Like the Yarn Harlot, I collect and hoard yarn as though there will be some tragic sheep blighting disease that will eradicate new wool forever.

Someone sent him a box with some yarn in it and he dug right in. (It wasn't me, I am putting together a package for him but haven't finished/sent it yet.) He sent me a pic of the scarf he started...


I emailed back and about an hour later he responded and sent another pic of the scarf.....


It's a bit depressing that he knits faster then I do and I've been at it for about 6 and a half years now!

When he first told me about his new hobby, he sent a pic of these rockin' arm warmers he made...

I love those! It's also a wonderful pic that shows off some of the great tattoos he has. He's had ink from many parts of the world. The last time I saw him in person (1999), he had a beautiful angel on his arm - it had the most delicate face - that he got in Amsterdam.

I was thinking of having a contest... You know, you send me yarn to mail to him and then I pick a winner from the people that play. But then I remembered he's in Iraq and needs to travel light. I know how generous knitters can be and I think sending him a metric ton of yarn probably wouldn't be the best idea.

His birthday is this Friday and I'll be mailing his package on Monday (ish).

Oh! and here's a picture of him...


Even squinting into the sun, he's still beautiful! Behind him is the solar oven he made (this pic is from his house in the US).

He's sent me a some really cool pic's. One of him in his full combat gear with a really gorgeous weapon. One of his outstanding Harley with his equally outstanding sons in front of it (I was going to post that one but I didn't want to put his kids on the interwebs).

Since Dave and I both have a real thing for guns, I showed these pic's to Dave and when he saw the above one (with the solar oven), Dave commented that Phil looks just like "Castle". In that pic, he totally does! Especially the squint and the way his hair is.

Anyway, Phil ended yesterday's email with....

This knitting thing is biting me pretty hard, I wonder if it will ever let up!! Phil

Now that's something I can relate to!

Enabling him with yarn, Ruth!