Request complete!

Hooray for me! I finished Jamie's slippers! I actually finished them about a week ago, but I was slow in putting pictures up.




They're made out of Mission Falls cotton, which has unfortunately been discontinued. I used two strand held together to make them because the yarn itself was a little too thin. I think they turned out pretty well, and Jamie has since told me that he's going to hold off on any more requests for a while. ^_^ Which is good for me because then I can concentrate on my own projects. My progress on the Clapotis has been horribly slow. I'm still stuck in that section where you have to do 12 sets of that 12 row pattern in the 'straight' section. I think it's section 3 or something like that.

As for me, I think I will have to be horrible and not knit any gifts for anyone this year. I simply don't have the time. Work is blowing up in my face and I am finding my knitting time just keeps getting eaten up by it. Unless anyone has requests...If you request a knitted present and tell me what you want and what colour, I'm happy to do it...my brain is just too tired to try and figure out what sorts of things people might want. So, Sailors, if you're reading this at all, you are welcome to make requests! (ha ha...though I have a feeling that Moon is the only one who actually reads this)

Everything’s either a Secret or Boring To Look At (or, why I’m too lazy to pull out the digital camera)

I feel like a bad blogger. I’ve got nothing. Oh, lots of knitting has been going on, but I can’t take pictures of any of it. I have things that I’m thinking about knitting, but I can’t post about any of it. I wish I knew exactly who actually reads the blog, versus who knows about it but never bothers to check it out. If I know you in person and you read the blog, leave a comment, would ya? And sign your name if you don’t have a Blogger account so you don’t end up as anonymous. Of course, now I’m going to be sad because it’ll turn out that nobody cares about me (er, I mean, the blog). And also relieved, because then I can ramble freely (I pee freely too, remember that stupid joke? I never understood just what made it so funny, like, tee hee, you said “pee”? Don’t get it).

Anyway, I’ve got 1.5 Christmas prezzies done, and I have at least 2.5 left to go. Possibly to be amended to 3.5, but we’ll see. There’s only 9 weeks left until Christmas, I’d better get cracking (especially on the socks, socks take an age and a half). Edda also now has a back piece and one front panel, but she’s all navy blue and my camera blows so all photos would show is a couple of dark sweater-piece-shaped blobs. I swear, I don’t know how anybody ever learned to knit a sweater without having a class. There have already been near decreasing and bind-off disasters, complete with an emergency visit to the yarn store.

Want to see what I’m fantasizing about? This Tramonto shawl. Oooh, the Koigu. I’m trolling the Internet and LYS-es for colours. Silly of me to be thinking about more lace shawls when I’ve got Lotus Blossom waiting in the wings, isn’t it? Ah well. Any excuse to ogle Koigu.

My first knitting class!

I went and signed up for my very first knitting class the other day! It's 'How to knit a top-down raglan baby sweater' over at Lettuce Knit. I know, I know....I have no use for a baby sweater (except to give away), but it'll teach me all the important stuff I need to know about how to make a big-person sweater. I'm actually really excited about it. It's only 2 classes and doesn't start until December 1, but whatever. Something fun to look forward to.

Jamie's been whining about the fact that I still haven't made slippers for him. I think I'm going to have to put my other stuff on hold and make them so he won't keep bugging me and I won't feel guilty anymore (ha ha!) I think I'll start on them today...

I knew I was loose, but....

I didn't know just how loose until I tried to knit a swatch for Edda. The pattern for the cardigan is a sort of modified brioche stitch (or so I'm told, I don't know precisely what brioche stitch is, but for the sweater there's knitting and purling on one side, and knitting and slipped stitches on the other side, and what you're left with is a sort of ribbing-like effect), and the recommended needle size was 7 mm. So I knit a swatch using 6.5 mm needles, knowing that I tend to knit loosely, but nope, my gauge was still too big. So I knit a second swatch using 6 mm needles, still no go. I had to drop down to 5.5 mm needles before getting the proper stitch gauge (good thing I've been collecting needles in all sizes, otherwise that would have made for many trips to the yarn store). Which seems like a big drop in needle size, no? Loose knitter indeed. I'm a little nervous now that the whole thing's going to turn out too small, even though my gauge appears to be ok. The row gauge is a little off now too, but that shouldn't be too hard to remedy.

'Tis the season....

….for starting on the Christmas knitting. I know it’s still only September (almost October!), but it’s amazing how time flies when there are deadlines involved. I think I started knitting my Christmas gifts around this time last year, and I was still knitting come December. This year I’ve started even earlier, and began purchasing gift yarn in August. I've also pared down my recipient list considerably. This season I think the knitting will only be for family and perhaps certain special others, if inspiration happens to strike.

Some of the projects will be top-secret of course, but since I’m pretty sure my dad never sees this blog, here’s a shot of the cabled scarf I made for him, pattern courtesy of Yarn-A-Go-Go (the pic is of the scarf-in-progress, but it’s actually done now, ends woven in and everything, it just needs to be blocked. I’m always behind with the photos). It’s a little hard to see the details, but there’s a sort of braided cable down the middle, and that’s moss stitch at the sides. It’s done in Karabella Aurora 8, one of the very nicest and softest yarns I’ve ever worked with. Seriously, you need to go get some, it’s so extraordinarily plush and buoyant and springy and smooth. And it’s got fantastic stitch definition, and is supremely easy to work with, it just slides effortlessly through the fingers. I’m tempted to go out right now and buy sweater quantities of this stuff in several shades.

Lopsided socks

Finally, after 3 months, the Regia Ringel socks are done! As soon as I finished grafting the second toe (note: I still suck at grafting, as well as anything else involving a sewing needle, it seems) I put the socks on to admire, and discovered much to my horror that one sock was way bigger than the other (the one on the right foot in the picture). More specifically, the heel of sock #2 was poorly executed because I kept making mistakes while knitting it, and as a result I knit it too loosely and now the whole sock sits all baggy-like. Well, shit. I'll just have to learn to live with it though, since there's no way I'm ripping it out. The colours in this yarn were fun, but honestly I just didn't love working with it. It's got a slightly rough texture that my hands didn't like. Perhaps this brands me as a horrid yarn snob, but give me Koigu or Lorna's Laces any day. Not that I wouldn't necessarily try other sock yarns, but I'll probably avoid more Regia for a while.

Speaking of yarn snob-worthy sock yarn, my next pair of socks will be knit from this, delicious Fleece Artist merino.



I'll probably knit it toe-up in just plain stockinette, I had contemplated finding a fun lacy or cabled sock pattern to try except that a)I'm sorta lazy and b)the intended recipient is a rather conservative dresser so flashy socks might not be the best idea. =)

One benefit of being single....

....is not having to be accountable to anybody else for one's spending habits (well, except maybe Visa). In an attempt to document the sometimes uncontrollable and often haphazard yarn acquisition, I made a little Excel spreadsheet to record just how much yarn I have. It doesn't look like all that much spread out over my yarn storage containers (and the floor =P), but right now I have over 80 skeins/balls. A lot of that is sock/fingering weight yarn. I know that isn't necessarily a ton compared to some people's stashes, but it's a lot for me considering the slow rate at which I knit. I don't even want to get into how much money that's all worth (though I did buy a lot of it on sale or off eBay, is that a good excuse? Oh wait, I'm single, I don't need to make excuses. So there).

It also doesn't help that I've been "forced" (haha) to buy more yarn for a sweater class I'm taking soon at Newbury Yarns. Voila, yummy Rowan Kid Classic in colour 846, a pretty navy colour, to make Edda from Rowan 36.



I hope this class goes well, I've got a total mental block when it comes to sweaters now thanks to the 4 Ply Soft sweater fiasco. Although if it does go well and I get all sweater-happy, watch for the stash to increase again considerably. =)