Monday, August 18, 2008

It Lives!

I don't know where my camera is or I'd have lots of pictures.

I finished my mom's scarf last week. It was 2x2 ribbing in Claudia's Handpaints Sport in Ocean Depths. It came out very pretty, if a tad short.

I am still, believe it or not, deliberating on how to finish Lady Eleanor. She's finally complete, but she needs fringe or something.

Tonight, I started Edgar for a co-worker. She's someone I have lots of conflicts with, but as I discovered knitting for my mom, it's a lot easier to think pleasant thoughts about someone when you're knitting lovely, yummy yarn up for them. I'm using Noro Silk Garden in color 47, a black/brown/grey colorway.

My next project for me is the Braided Pullover from the fall Interweave Knits. My LYS had enough Cascade Lana d'Oro in Regal purple for me to start right away. They are currently looking for another skein of Cascade Eco Wool in silver, so I can knit the Susie Hoodie this fall. I think it will look lovely in natural silver wool.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Lady Eleanor in the home stretch

I just started tier 29 today. Here's a pic from last weekend. Everyone loves the colors. You can see, down at the bottom, a single tier of brown. That's just how the yarn knit up. After all, there has to be a bit of order in perfect chaos.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Lady Eleanor the Second

Here she is:
Isn't she lovely? I'm about a third of the way through now. This yarn is a dream. It's very well-behaved. I love how the colors change across each square. Every once in a while, I'll get a square that is all the same color. In fact, I have one tier that is entirely brown.

I've been knitting a little over a skein a day, so I could be finished with it in March.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Stitches, or I have $1.02 left in my pocket

The Stitches market was fun. I made a beeline for La Lana Wools and bought the Forever Random Worsted I've been drooling over for the past year.






I finally got to see the Noro Kureyon Sock. It's much too thin for me to knit into socks, but I think it will make very pretty lace.







I bought some cashmere, Just Our Yarns Myne, as part of a beaded shawlette kit.







Here is the sample of Malabrigo laceweight that the Malabrigo booth was giving away on Thursday night.










There's more, but that's enough for now.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Beech Wood


I ran out of yarn just after the second full repeat. Not sure what happened, but it still looks pretty, if asymmetrical. I hope my friend likes it!

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Things I've learned about knitting lately

  1. Life is too short to knit an ugly pattern. If the pattern is ugly, changing the yarn and/or colors probably won't help.
  2. Life is too short to use ugly yarn, too.
  3. Do not take a class from someone who writes patterns but doesn't have the pattern edited or test knit, unless you're a masochist.
  4. I like cashmere.
  5. I like knitting lace.
  6. Cashmere lace is awesome.
  7. Merino's nice, too.
  8. Purling in the round takes all the fun out of knitting in the round. Never knit a pattern in the round that uses purls for half the pattern.
  9. Always read the pattern all the way through before starting. This may be something you have to learn the hard way, though.
  10. I really do have enough pink yarn. Possibly for a lifetime.
  11. On the other hand, I don't have any pink cashmere laceweight. Yet.
  12. I need a challenging pattern to keep me interested. 5000 rows of the same pattern over and over will drive me mad in white linen. Although linen is nice, too.
  13. I'd rather buy a sweater than knit one, but I do appreciate a well-knit sweater.
  14. I don't like knitting on a deadline. Anybody's deadline.
  15. Don't take multi-day classes, because again, I hate knitting on a deadline.
  16. It's ok to take a year or two to finish a project.
  17. It's also ok to frog a project that I can't remember what row I'm on, don't like the yarn, and can't remember why I thought the project was a good idea in the first place.
  18. I'm still allergic to mohair.
  19. I do not enjoy Fair Isle right now.
  20. Socks are fun (I really like turning the heel) but I don't have the patience to knit two of them. So from now on, I'm only buying sock yarn in complementary colors, so I can have socks that are, well, not fraternal twins, but at least vaguely related.
  21. I finally learned to use DPNs without stabbing myself, but I still prefer Magic Loop.
  22. Rather than trying to figure out what fibers make me itch, these are the animal fibers that don't: wool, silk, cashmere, and camel. Yes, I even find qiviut and baby alpaca itchy. More for you.
  23. I don't like to knit the same pattern twice.
I'm about a third of the way through my child's size Fair Isle sweater, halfway through Lady Eleanor (still), a quarter of the way through my Mistake Lace scarf, 2/3 through the Clapotis, and half way through Beech Wood.

Beech Wood needs to be done by Tuesday morning, since I'm giving it to the wonderful friend who took care of my cats while I was in the hospital last week. Luckily, it's a fast knit, and it's in the scrumptious Hand Maiden 4 Ply Silk Cashmere in the Paris colorway.

Friday, January 04, 2008

2008 is here at last

2007 was an odd year for me, so I'm grateful to be able to put it behind me. The best thing about 2007 was finding my new job in a completely unexpected place - the industry I swore I was leaving forever in January. Famous last words! My new employer is wonderful, and have treated me very well through my health issues, which was the downside to 2007. But my health issues are under control now, and I'm looking forward to a great year in 2008.

I have gotten some knitting done, although not as much as I'd like. I finished the moebius cowl and it is beautiful, even if it does have some extra "design elements." I'm very close to finishing my Lady Eleanor, although she's been languishing for the past month or so. I'm over halfway through my first (and probably last) full size Clapotis, in Patons SWS in Natural Violet. I'm about a third of the way through a simple lace scarf in Fleece Artist Italian Silk, quite possibly the most delicious yarn I've used in quite a while. It has a very strong silk smell, but it is decadently gorgeous. Pictures just don't do it justice.

I've signed up for a Fair Isle sweater class next week. I'm a little nervous about steeks, and not too sure about stranded knitting, so this will be a good exercise for me.

I've been purging my stash of the yarn I don't absolutely love. Novelty yarns, acrylics, murky colors, strange textures - it's all going. I still have too much yarn, but since I love what I have left, I don't feel too guilty. And I have empty bins available for Stitches next month! I've already started planning my method of attack on the marketplace.