ARGH!!

So, last night I was cleaning the apartment in preparation for my parents coming over for dinner. Since my knitting corner was getting a little disorderly with all the bags of yarn, baskets with projects, etc. I figured this would be a good time to clean it out a bit better. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that the cats (maybe one of them, or even both of them) had been marking some of the baskets, especially the cloth ones. Luckily, most of my yarn was safe. I had to get rid of the baskets, which kinda hurt, and some yarn that wasn't all that great anyway, so that didn't hurt. BUT, there was one set of things that got soiled that REALLY pained me.

Do you remember that sweater I was working on a long, long time ago? The Kyoto one from Knitty? Well, I haven't finished it yet, but I did buy the yarn to do so, and was most of the way through the last sleeve. Well, the sleeve was ruined, and had to be thrown out. The extra balls of yarn that I have? I wasn't totally sure if they were ruined yet, but I think one ball of the two was soiled and will have to be thrown away. So, the sweater can't be finished now because I don't have enough yarn. That dye lot of Misson Falls is long gone.

I thought about maybe washing it, but all my past experience with cat pee is that the smell just doesn't go away, even after multiple washes. So, I think after some mourning, I will frog all the pieces that I have completed, rewind the yarn, and think about what I want to do with it. The nice thing is that I probably have enough yarn to make a cute short sleeve sweater, and since it's cotton, it'll probably be good for the summer. What do you think? I'm thinking I want something that I can knit in the round that's mostly brainless, maybe with some cute detailing here and there. Who knows. I'm still a bit in shock over what happened that I haven't really wrapped my brain around what to do next.

Suggestions welcome!

Be still my knitterly heart....

Behold the latest and most lovely addition to my knitty equipment, courtesy of Jason, possibly the most intelligent and discerning man on the planet. He noticed the looks of envy I was directing towards Lorelai's swift on Gilmore Girls one evening (Knit-a-thon in Star's Hollow!), asked a couple of careful fact-gathering questions about swift use, poked around on the internet, and voila, a very much appreciated birthday present! This is a photo of the inaugural winding, and boy is it ever glorious. No more fiddling with chairs and swinging my arms around to desperately prevent tangling!

Oh, and the yarn? Koigu, one of my very favourites, purchased from Lettuce Knit over the summer. Look at all the beautiful greens! I'm thinking a lacy scarf.

Done!

All my Christmas knitting? ALL DONE, as of tonight, except for the blocking. Ends woven in and everything. Wahoo! There are 4 scarves, 2 hats, and 1 pair of socks. Hm....I guess that doesn't really sound like such a triumphant achievement, does it? I may throw in another scarf-and-hat set, but that really depends on whether I feel like doing it or not.

No pictures right now because I'm too lazy, but I'll try to get some later if I feel like doing a little photoshoot.

Fugly?

OK, so I knit a hat this weekend. There was some yarn marinating in my stash that I wanted to knit up, so I picked a hat pattern that looked interesting, and started knitting away. Problem is, I didn't realize that maybe the yarn + pattern wasn't the best combination until I was halfway through the hat. And then I figured I might as well finish it anyway, to see how it turned out in the end. So here it is. What do you think, acceptable, or fugly as hell?





This is the Short Row Hat from the Winter 2005 issue of Interweave. If you click on the link to the pattern (a pdf), you'll notice that the knitter has chosen a softly striping yarn which gives the short row squares a lovely entrelac-y look. What did I choose? Crazy variegated goodness, you can't even see the stupid diamond-things. I should have saved myself the short row hassle (although now I'm pretty good at YO short rows!) and knit something in plain stockinette instead. But now I don't care enough to rip it all out. I will probably wear it anyway, even though I suspect that it should really stand out as an example of what not to knit. =)

But it hasn't been all disasters over here Chez Chen, here is a lovely Irish Hiking Scarf knit in Rowan's new Tapestry yarn, a Christmas prezzie-to-be. I love the way it stripes (should've used it for the Short Row Hat!). I wasn't such a huge fan of its splittiness while knitting it, but I definitely think the end effect was worth it.

A little bit of fall fun

So, I really should have done this a while ago, but I wanted to post up a picture of something my good friends Elaine and Carolyn gave me for my birthday. I took a picture really close up (remember the whole Eye Spy thing on the back of OWL Magazine? ^__^), so see if you can guess what it is. You ready?


Ta~da!! Needless to say, I am loving it and send huge thank you's to them.

Also, while Mita came to visit me at PMH, she happened to see me wearing some wrist-warmers. It's bloody cold in the office, so I can't get by without them. Well, this prompted her to ask me if I could make a pair for her, and who was I to say no to a request? So, we went off to Lettuce Knit to pick out some yarn. Silly me didn't take a picture of the yarn after I bought it, but here's a nice little pic of the FO (along with me being silly)


Lastly, I am getting closer and closer to finishing my Clapotis after having frogged the entire thing all the way back in...uh...I think it was July. I have one more 'official' straight row to go, but I might make it longer considering the fact that I decided to make this Clapotis a bit more narrow. I haven't decided yet. How much more do the decrease rows and finishing rows add?


I've also started the Icarus Shawl from the Summer 2006 Interweave. I'm not quite ready to show pictures of it yet. It hardly looks like anything yet. But I'm finding more and more that lace weight yarn makes me annoyed. Next time I make lace stuff, I might pick a slightly weightier yarn.

Some FOs

Right-o. Got off my lazy butt and took some pictures.


Here's a Branching Out scarf that I made for myself out of Cotton Patine. It's a nice fall scarf and I wear it a lot right now. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that you don't always seen the pattern clearly when you're wearing it.


And here's a cable hat that I made out of Blue Sky Alpaca (it's hard to see the cables because of the color choice. sorry). I used two strands knit together to make it nice and warm, and super soft. I originally made it for Jamie, but he doesn't want it because he can't fold up the bottom and have it still cover his ears. Never mind the fact that you're not supposed to fold up the bottom. Oh well. It was fun to knit up. But yeah...see what I mean about knitting things for people who won't wear them? Guess that means I should only knit for myself since I'll be sure to use whatever it is I make!

2006/09/13 Edit: Guess I was sufficiently ticked off last night that Jamie decided to reconsider not wanting the hat. He said that he'll give it a try, and maybe change is good.

Hello, blog....

So I've been sort of absent lately. But I've still been busy with knitterly things!

I've learned how to graft....

Before:


After:


I've been knitting on things....

Fleece Artist socks!


Lotus Blossom shawl (just needs to be bound off and blocked)!


I've also been stashing....

Noro, Koigu, Rowan:


I have been stashings like mad (I just remembered a couple of sock yarns that I forgot to photograph) because 1)looking at yarn and planning projects relaxes me and 2)I aim to start a new, budgety thinking-of-the-future type of existence wherein the goal is to put away at least 10%, if not more, of my stipend into savings each month. Not sure how successful that will be, especially during those plane ticket-buying or estimated tax-paying months, but it certainly means fewer yarn purchases on the whole. So I have to get it all out of my system now!

I am also starting to think about Christmas presents, and while I would love to knit those from stash, there are very few people that I knit for (read: my sister) who have even the remotest chance of sharing my tastes in yarn/colours. And my mom doesn't want any handknit socks. And I don't stash boring boy colours.