Slippin Out

More felted slippers... this time for Cathy's friend Renie (who will hopefully cut my hair into more layers whenever the mood strikes me - or her). Yes, they are quite similar to those that I made for Jennifer. Gurls like pink ya know.

I nearly had them finished 2 months ago and then not-so-surpringly ran out of the dark pink. The local yarn shop still had ONE (1) skein left. Of the same dyelot. Man am I lucky, I know. No lectures, please.

Chris Bylsma designs

Oh man, check this cuuuuute sweater out:
I wanna make it! Maybe in rust and grey... hmmm!

Chris Bylsma Designs
Same designer as for Jennifer's bag.


And I was reading Yarn Harlot and ran across the March 1, 2004 entry, her children are arguing over who should receive the new scarf that their mother just finished knitting, and the Über insult of "wool pig" was thrown about. Hee hee!

The Magic of Proper Blocking

I worked hard on the Oriel lace. The first blocking, I stretched and pinned the pieces down, then thoroughly sprayed them with water. They were too small and I was sad, so sad. After a bit of research I thought I'd try a full, wet block. I dunked the piece in water and soaked it for a couple minutes before pinning it down. Here is the newly blocked (still wet) front with the back on top (blocked using the previous method).
I don't think this will be too small anymore.

Jennifer's Bag

Here it is...felted and all. The strangest thing happened with the handles. I made 2, identical I-cord straps and mysteriously, one felted more than the other. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

I modified this pattern and used Cascade 220 Colonial Blue Heather.

Tams and toes

I was working on a fair isle tam from a Vogue knitting. I didn't like some of the colorwork, but I'm hoping to use a cute wavy pattern from Hx that she created for a boy hat. However, that's on hold until I make a decision.



So I should go back to one of my other WIP's, right? WRONG! It's time to start some socks.
I'm making the Pomatomus socks from knitty with some yummy Trekking Pro Natura. The color isn't right in this picture, it's more blue and heather-y. I'm having a great time with this lace pattern.

Dithering about

I am supposed to be working but instead I'm trying to decide which project I should start on next. The blue shrug is done, just awaiting a portrait so I can show you (maybe I can get Princess to take one tonight, hmmmm?) and I'm taking a break from the Brooks Farm Yarn henley. So what to do, what to do. The socks don't count, they're what I carry around "in case". You know, in case I'm stuck in a traffic jam, or a conference call, or I forget the needles for the project I'm really working on, or I've just frogged a huge section of the current project and I'm all pissy about it. It's amazing how quickly they are going, I must have a lot of "in case" stuff in my life.

Crochet is the new knit

The scarf. is done! It took surprisingly little time (I started it on Thursday), but then again it helps when Friday is a sick day. Yeah, my stomach wasn't feeling well. Can you guess why? Choose one: A. nasty tequilla margs, B. being annoyed with Rob, or C. starting a crochet project (my body revolted).




So Dad took me to the mountains (fresh air always helps). He fished while I crocheted along the Platte River near Conifer. And besides being bit by little black flies, it was just what the doctor ordered. That, and to finish this #&$* scarf! See? That's me and I *am* crocheting, just about out of yarn.




Does it match up well enough? The original scarf IS yellow, trust me. And I didn't really like the blue fringe (and I'd have to go buy more yarn to replicate it).

Oh, and for those that care (not SissyPrincess of course) - the scarf was made using the double crochet stitch throughout on Size G hook. Yarn is Baby Bee "Little Britches" babybelle (I think I'm feeling sick again) color #4103 in bulky acrylic/polyamide, readily available at Hobby L. I was very concerned yesterday when I ran out of this beautiful yarn and had to run back to HL after buying it nearly a month ago. Get this - they not only had the same yarn, but the same DYELOT. And the best part is that it was 40% off that day! Crochet IS good for you afterall! =)

And DONE

OK, since Sissy Princess is setting the bar so high for finished projects I decided I needed to get around to finishing a hat I started last spring. I just realized it's also from her stash!

Anyway, I didn't complete it in the first go around because I ran out of the blue and it wanted to slide off my head. I didn't want to change the ribbing and realized that if I ripped back to the two rows of variegated and added a little more in that color I would have enough blue to finish.

Here it is:
















Ta DAAHHH

I have also finished the blue shrug too, just need to weave in the ends. I would have done that last night but there was a distraction... date with the current boy. Knitting sometimes just takes a back seat! So I'll have a picture of it tomorrow.

Hattiness

I love hats, they're the closest thing knitting has to instant gratification. I enjoyed the colorwork so much that I want to knit another one. It's a bit silly when the temps are flirting with triple digits, but at least they're small.



Went to the LYS to pick up the last skein for Jennifer's bag and somehow this made it into my bag.


I should not be allowed to go there without supervision. At least I resisted the new sock yarns. Maybe that's only because I didn't see them until after I paid, but maybe not.

Anyone want to go to the yarn store this weekend?

alllllmost done

It takes me forever to finish something because I have to rip it out so many times. This is what I get for doing my own designs off the cuff instead of following a pattern, or really, just sitting down and doing some math. (If my gauge is 4 sts/in and my bust is 37", will 125 sts work?)

But really, the shrug is actually looking almost done! See:


I started out with the Shimmer pattern from Knitty but diverged so wildly from it in pattern, texture, size, color, gauge and technique that I figure it's mine now. The yarn's from Sissy Princess, she bought it and never figured out what to do with it and now we know. I think she said it was Colinette Wigwam.

She received several albatrosses from my stash in return, plus I just gave her a nice alpaca hat that made me look like a mushroom. Of course she looks FABulous in it.

Just a few more rows of ribbing and the dark blue edge and I will be DONE. Again. Because I wore it last week and decided that it flared unappealingly at the back of the neck and I ripped out the ribbing to do it a little smaller. Because that's how knitting goes in my house: *knit, try on, rip, revise*.

Hx suggested a link to Shimmer, here it is: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/PATTshimmer.html

What to knit next

Now that the Oriel Lace Blouse has broken my heart I need to find something new to work on.
Oh, wait. I already have projects to work on.


Jennifer's bag is a joy to work on after the slow moving lace. Now that it's the size of an Asian landmass I just have to knit the attached I-cord trim and the straps. Too bad I ran out of yarn again. It's just heartbreaking that I'll have to go to the LYS again.

Jennifer, I know you're allergic to cats. I promise I'll wash this before I give it to you. I'll wash it in hot. Several times.

But the LYS doesn't open until 10. There must be something else around here...

What is it? I'm not telling. But I'm not sure I have enough yarn for this either. This yarn is vacation yarn. The only place I've seen it is San Francisco. I don't want to face running out. At first my strategy was to knit slower. Now my strategy is to bury it beneath Jennifer's gigantic bag.






How about a nice little stranded hat?

The colors aren't quite right, so I'm off to knit another swatch.

Oriel Lace

I loved this pattern from the moment I saw it, but knew I couldn't afford over $200 for the yarn.

I eventually settled on Elann's Lara as a lower-cost replacement.

I had doubts about the high neck - that's usually not a flattering look for me - but decided to follow the pattern for once.

I've enjoyed working on this. It's so gorgeous that I wasn't interested in anything else.
I knit the back, then the front.

After finished the front I realized there was no neck shaping at all... that just seems weird. When I looked at the magazine pictures in more detail I noticed there seems to be some extra fabric where there should be neck shaping.



Why not shape the neck? Is there something about the lace that isn't conducive to shaping?
I thought I'd try blocking the 2 completed pieces and evaluate from there. Now the neck seems like a minor problem. The whole thing is too small.

I'm disgusted.

not ugly

Sissy princess was just looking over my shoulder and said they were cute. (OK, she said the hat was cute.) I'm not a fan of pastels so I'd have to say the scarf is Eh for me, but that seems like a perfectly acceptable hat.

They're much better than that hideous vest you were making for charity.

A confession

I thought I would begin this blog with a confession.

I've been working on 2 projects that you don't know about... for a customer. I'm supposed to replicate the following items:

And they're quite ugly.

Did I mention that they're supposed to match (according to their owner)? The scarf is even in crochet! UGH. The yarn next to the items is what I found at the store that would come closest to the yarn in the projects.

What I've learned is that I no longer knit for others sight unseen. I was too embarrassed to share this with you guys, but it's time to finally confess. Now... stop laughing.