Edie!

I finished this a couple of weeks ago but haven’t had a chance to post it yet. This is Kim Hargreave’s Edie from her Precious collection. I used Teva Durham’s Loop-d-loop Moss. I was intending this to be a big cozy sweater with lots of ease to throw on when I’m teaching and hanging around at the studio. I did check gauge but ended up with something a bit bigger than the sample. I will come clean to the fact that this was knit over the course of almost an entire year, so I’m sure at different times I had different tensions. I love the finished look of the yarn knit up but it was also a little bit of a pain to work with, although I would be open to using it again and making a second opinion.

 

Overall I’m so pleased to have this off the needles and no longer hanging over my head as an unfinished and neglected project, I’ve worn it several times and it serves its purpose very well

 

It’s Been Too Long

So I have decided to be more active on this blog again, if for no other reason than that I’d like to have somewhere to keep track of my knitting!

I just finished up a Parcel, from Carol Feller in Cascade Venizia Worsted. It’s a great pattern, seamless pullover with an interesting cable detail. The yarn is great and fun to knit with, overall this took me about two months of knitting while being distracted by plenty of other projects. I’m happy with how it turned out except it is a little too big in the sleeves, not enough for me to rip and rework but just enough to notice.

Pictures are of the mountain of snow in my front yard and the tiny patch of path I was able to stand in.

Summer Knits

Last summer I knit primarily socks.  By “primarily” I mean “exclusively.”  This was for a couple of reasons, socks are portable, fairly fast knits that provide instant gratification.  Socks are also fairly cheap to make.  I’m more than a little picky about my yarn.  If I knit, I want to knit with the good stuff.  This means that a sweater usually costs me a minimum of $70 while a pair of socks are almost always in the 20 dollar range.  Money was a bit tighter last year than this, and so I have decided that this summer I will be knitting some actual summer garments.

This includes drape-y tanks, possible tank dresses or slips, and cardigans made in summer friendly yarns.  And I would like to present my very first of these projects!

As I mentioned briefly at the end of my last post, here is Que Sera:

I instantly fell in love with this vintage style cardigan when I saw it in the new issue of Knitty.  It’s elegant without being very fussy, something I find rare in a lace pattern.  I have been diligently knitting away on my own version since Wednesday and here is what I have so far:

The body is worked in one piece to armholes which is my favorite style of construction.  I wish the sleeves were picked up from there but they are not, I may modify that construction but the chances are I will not want to complicate the lace pattern.

I’m about to work the third buttonhole (of 5 total) so I expect to reach the arm shaping soon!  I am using Takhi Cotton Classic and it’s a lovely easy to work with cotton, not stiff at all compared to other cotton yarns.  It has a nice sheen and drape almost like silk.  I’m quite tempted to cheat and block what I have just to see how it will look but it is not a matter of fit so I’ll have to be patient

Oh So Quiet

Not only on my blog.  I have completely lost my voice.  I am not sick, I don’t feel horrible, I just can’t speak at all!  I’m hoping for a fast recovery, not being able to speak is not a good thing for a yoga teacher.  :)

In the world of my knitting, I have a bunch of Cookie A. socks happening:

First, I am about half finished with my second Milo.  I’m knitting them with Zoe Sock and I love them.

Second:  I am using the fruits of my Valentine’s Yarn to knit a pair of Lindsay’s:

The Yarn is Elizabeth Bennet by Yarn Love in colorway Twinkling Pink.  It’s a little darker than that photo, more like this one:

And the last pair of Cookie A socks, my very first pair of the ever popular Monkeys:

I’m actually almost done with that sock, but apparently haven’t taken pictures of them in a while!

In addition to all of the Cookies, a pair of simple toe-up cabled rib socks in Schaefer Yarn’s Nichole (colorway is Dorothy Reade):

And I may or may not have cast on today for one of these (but can you really blame me!)

Well, there you have it, a peek at things to come, and a blatant admittance to knitting ADD.  I will say though, I seem to switch up projects pretty frequently but I am making steady little progress on everything.

See, Didn’t forget.

I started this pair of Nugatory on December 6th according to my rav page.  That’s embarrassing, almost three months on the needles!  At least I know I finished a bunch of projects in there, but I am more resolved than ever to finish the 3 second socks that are waiting to be started.

This pattern is great and easy, I made these for myself but decided they are perfect for a friend so I’m giving them away.  The yarn is Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 in colorway Mermaid.

Warning… Not Knitting Related!

I’m always talking about how I’m too busy to knit, well here’s proof of why!

That’s me on that billboard!  The studio where I mostly teach, and also work, and sometimes even sleep, put me in their ads.  Pretty fantastic.  I’m quite proud of myself for this one

VDay Yarn Follow Up!

My yarn from Colleen came a few days ago!

The yarn on the right is Misti Alpaca Hand Panted Sock, in colorway Birds of Paradise.  It’s a very soft blend of Alpaca and Merino, with a touch of silk and a touch of nylon, and this pretty variegated is mostly reds, purples, pinks, and some greens.    I love yarns that look like they have been picked from a garden, Colleen knows this.  I also love Misti Alpaca and have been meaning to get more ever since my wild infatuation with my Chevvy socks.

On the left are two skeins of Yarn Love’s Elizabeth Bennett in color Twinkling Pink.  This is a Merino/Bamboo/Silk blend.  I can’t wait to try it out.

I’ve also realized that my knitting progress has been significantly slower lately due to my extraordinarily crazy schedule.  I for the most part have weekends off to knit, but I also use the weekends to catch up on all of the school work I don’t have time for during the week.  Because of this I frogged a few things I wasn’t much working on, but I still have plenty of WiP’s.  I just start feeling guilty if I ignore something so I reclaim the yarn and promise myself it will become something fabulous.

Even when my knitting progress is painfully slow, I still find it a great comfort to knit a few rows at the end of a long work day, it becomes more like a meditation for me.  I’m not sure where I was going with that except to say, “Knitting, I still love you, I promise.”

A Very Yarny Vday

Well it is not much of a secret that I have a Long Distance Boyfriend, one who I might add is in the Caribbean right now with his family so I could not even call him for Valentine’s Day (I did receive a very lovely email though!)

Another not very secret fact about me is that my best friend in life lives in Baltimore.  Her name is Colleen and we have been friends since we were 18, longer ago than I might care to admit.  I met her in the hallway of my ex boyfriend’s college dorm, they were next door neighbors.  I asked her if she would like to come watch me get my nipple pierced and she said yes.  I’ve long since retired the piercing but would never dream of retiring Colleen.

Well one of my favorite parts of me and Colleen’s friendship is our joint obsession with all things yarny and crafty.  We go to a yarn shop everytime we are together no matter where we are and make excuses why we need “souvenir” yarn.  If one of us is broke the other will pay for both person’s stash additions.  That’s just what friends do for friends.
We have also recently adopted a tradition of surprise yarn.  This is when one will go online and pick out a skein of sock yarn and have it sent to the other.  We always tell each other after purchasing the surprise yarn because really we are ladies of the instant gratification generation and we don’t want to have to wait three whole business days for the other to find their surprise.  It’s pretty beneficial to have a friend like this who knows your yarn preferences inside and out.  Set me loose in a yarn shop overflowing with color and I bet I can find Colleen’s top five choices.  I bet she could find mine.

Today for Valentine’s day Colleen told me she sent me a skein of sock yarn.  I in turn hopped online and sent a skein to her.  I don’t really care if my boyfriend brings me back a single thing from the Caribbean.  I have Valentine’s sock yarn from my best friend for life.

More More More

(objects in photo are less impressive than they appear)

Meaning:  This is my first Milo sock from Cookie A.‘s book Sock Innovation, knit in Shalimar Yarns Zoe Sock (a very lovely yarn to work with! Can’t wait to buy more)  The pretty yarn and deceptively simple pattern really did all of the work for me!

(Okay maybe not all of the work, that is still a whole lot of traveling stitches!  I’m going to start the second sock right now, I really need to keep the FO train rolling)

Graupel!

Another Hunter Hammerson test knit and another Finished Object.  These are Graupel, fast and rewarding I finished my pair in two weeks.

Made with Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 yarn, I’m a big Fleece Artist fan, great colors and great staple sock yarn.  This is colorway “Golden.”

I’m really trying to plow through all of my lonely socks club, so expect some more finished socks soon!  Then it’s on to all of the sweater stash I’ve been accumulating…