Caturday and some beautiful new yarn

Many of my friends like to post pictures of their cats "helping" with their knitting. Well, here's a picture of our cats helping with mine:

Yep, we've got 2 cat celebrities here - Grumpy Cat on the left and Lil Bub on the right. They like to help me with my Elder Tree Shawl. Sweet, aren't they? They never mess up my knitting! They do love yarn, though.

I got some yarn today that I'd ordered from The Cyborg's Craft Room a few days ago. I was so excited to receive this yarn because her colorways are exquisite. (I could tell from the photos - I had never seen the yarn in person before.) The yarn I got is Digital base (superwash merino worsted) in the Wildflower colorway. Here's a picture I took of it today:

It's a terrible picture of really beautiful yarn. Granted, even the photo on Etsy didn't do it justice - it's mostly purple, and purple is notoriously hard to photograph. This yarn comes out bluer in photos than it actually is. But my point is, it is GORGEOUS! I'm so happy! There are so many different patterns I want to make with it. Decisions, decisions.

I definitely want to make a shawl or cowl with it. What do you think: Arroyo shawlette? Podcaster cowl? A Cowl for Every Season? Embrace the Cowl?

FOs on parade!

I've got a bunch of Finished Objects to share with you. First up: my husband's scarf, made with Malabrigo Rios in Pearl Ten and Azul Profundo. It's a Seeded Rib Easy Reversible Scarf. Here it is in a not-quite-finished state, being modeled by our friend Pudgy the moose:

And here's the finished version (with sunlight streaming through the blinds):

It was hard to get a decent pic of the finished version because it's really long! Hubby wanted a long scarf. He's been wearing it constantly. We're both very happy with it!

Next up: my crocheted Quick Top-Down Mitts in Jill Draper Makes Stuff Hudson superwash wool yarn. I had this yarn left over from my Honey Cowl, and I was hoping it would be enough to make these mitts. It was, and I have a tiny bit left over! I've been wearing these quite a bit.

I finally finished my Dew Drop Cowl in Queensland Sugar Rush yarn. I will wear it in the spring. Here it is:

It looks really good after blocking. I should've used a stretchier bind-off, though. The pattern recommended one but I was too chicken to try it. Oops. Anyway, I blocked the heck out of it! It's definitely wearable and looks pretty.

Next, some jewelry. Here is a pair of earrings I made for my friend for Chanukah:

Sterling silver with black onyx and green turquoise beads, and the big round beads are fair trade wooden ones from India. They match a necklace I gave to the same friend a while back. I don't think I ever posted a pic of the necklace in this blog. I am going to remedy that now!

Here's a close-up of the clasp. It's a hammered silver toggle clasp and I really like it.

My friend had told me what beads she wanted in the necklace - I just had to put them together in a cohesive design. I hope she wears the necklace and earrings in good health. Honestly, I hope she wears whatever she wears in good health! She's a great friend.

And last but not least, here is a necklace I made with beads from Olga Manina's Etsy store that were bought for me for my birthday in November 2014 by my grandmother, who recently passed away at the age of 99. I miss her terribly.

I didn't get a really great picture - I would prefer to take one on a white background at some point so the colors in the beads are clearer - but this will do for now. I picked out the beads (my grandma had dementia and probably had no idea she was buying them for me - my mom was in charge of her finances at that point), but I still think of her and remember her fondly every time I wear it or even look at it.

Love you, Grams.

At long last, a WIP Wednesday post

I have some WIPs to show off today. First, the one I started last night. I am so excited about it! It's an Elder Tree Shawl. I'm using Malabrigo Rios in the Jupiter colorway, generously given to me by my mom last year. I have 4 skeins, and I doubt I'll use them all for this project, but I want to make this pretty big so I can wrap myself up in it and be all warm and snuggly. (Yes, I know it's lace and has holes in it. I'm sure it'll still be nice and warm.)

 
I'm using size 9 circs and alternating skeins - I've got 2 different dye lots going on here. My mom isn't a yarnie and doesn't know from dye lots, so she got me 2 skeins from one lot and 2 from another. I could've just used one of the sets of 2 for this shawl, but like I said, I want this to be really big, so I'm alternating and I think it looks great. I don't know if I'll want to use more than 2 skeins for this shawl, but I like having that option.

Speaking of my mom and Malabrigo Rios, I'm crocheting a pair of Basic Fingerless Mittens for her out of Rios in Azules. I've made one and a half so far.

She tried the finished one on and it fits, well, like a glove! ;-) These are turning out great. I love this pattern. It's my 2nd time using it. I plan to make myself a pair eventually. I have a skein of Rios in Bobby Blue waiting for me. Anyway, my mom's apartment can get very cold, so I'm glad to be able to make these for her. May she wear them in good health.

I'm also still working on the Clapotis and on my kimono sweater (which had been in hibernation for a while), but they don't look different enough from the last pics I posted of them to bother putting more pics here!

I finally got some hollow glass beads from Alisha White's Etsy shop. I have sapphire blue and emerald green and I know exactly what I'm going to make with them. I just have to get myself to actually do it!

My New Year's resolution was to learn how to knit hats and socks. I've got some Craftsy classes and a bunch of books. I've ordered some DPNs so I can make the socks the way the class instructor makes them, and I think I have enough interchangeable circular needles to try using 2 or doing magic loop. I do not have the smaller sizes for socks yet, but I already know I get hand and wrist pain from using smaller needles, so I may have to stick to making heavier socks.

That's it from me for now, but I have a bunch of FOs to show off, so watch for a Friday post...

WIP Wednesday: Croeso progress, Dew Drop Cowl, and a non-knitting FO

Hi all! Happy WIP Wednesday! Here is my latest Croeso progress update picture:

Oh I love this shawlette so much. You might notice, though, that in the top left corner is a little ball of yarn...that's all I have left of this colorway. I'm trying desperately on Ravelry to get a small amount of coordinating yarn to finish with since I am pretty sure that little ball doesn't contain enough yardage.

I know it's a stretch, but does anyone reading this have a small amount of any sport weight wool that might go well with this, that I could buy from you? I can't get another full skein of JDMS Mohonk anytime soon - it's very pricey. It's well worth it, but I just can't do it right now.

Edited to add: Yarn problem solved! Hooray!!!

Also, while I'm asking questions, here's one for anyone who has knit a clapotis: any idea why those who have made it on Ravelry have used such drastically different yardage? I've checked out several projects using just 1 specific yarn, and people have used anywhere between 4 and 10 skeins. I'm having trouble figuring out how much yarn I actually need for the pattern, since the pattern itself says I'll need more than I have but the projects would have me believe otherwise.

On another note, I've realized that the smaller size needles I use, the more my hands hurt when I knit. Right now I am also working on a Dew Drop Cowl - here I am posing with it at the latest Stitch & Bitch:

I'm using size 10 needles for the cowl. My Croeso shawlette is knit on size 4 needles. The difference is crazy - I don't need my wrist braces while working on the cowl and I have almost no hand and wrist pain. When working on the shawlette, I need the braces and I need to pace myself much more and stretch a lot.

Anyway, I'm not in a hurry to finish the cowl because it's a great project to bring to Stitch & Bitch! It's just stockinette except for a few eyelet rows. Great mindless knitting. I still managed to mess up the first eyelet row while working on it at S&B, so I have to make sure to do the eyelets at home! LOL! Most knitting is not truly mindless enough for me to work on it while talking, but straight stockinette or garter I can do.

And here, as promised, is an FO:

I made the little mookaite heart earrings on the left to go with the "Angel Pig" on the right. These were gifts for my second-oldest niece's birthday, which just passed (ohmygosh she's 10 - where does the time go?!). I hope she likes them. We weren't able to give the gifts in person because my sister and her family are camping, so we had to mail them. My hubby picked out the piggy and helped me choose the heart beads. The earrings are sterling silver (posts, headpins and little round beads - all sterling). I like to use the good stuff. ;-)

Not sure if my niece ever wears dangly earrings. These are very short dangles, so maybe she will wear them. She is very athletic, so I didn't think big dangles would be such a great idea! I made sure to use post earring findings so they'd be less likely to fall out of her ears.

I am almost finished with a secret crochet gift project. More on that in 2 or 3 weeks when it's been finished and received...

WIP Wednesday - Woods and Water

How's that for alliteration? Heehee, couldn't resist. I am currently working on a Woods and Water Cowl (that's a Rav link) in Malabrigo Rios in the Indiecita colorway. I am in love with this superwash wool yarn - it is so soft and squishy and the colors are amazing. Unfortunately, it is a little splitty (as I've found out with the k2togs in this pattern - and there are a lot of them), but the end result will definitely be worth it!

I have also started a Dew Drop Cowl in Jill Draper Makes Stuff Mohonk yarn in the Winterfell colorway. The yarn is a beautiful mix of muted grays, greens and blues. No pic because I've only done about 3 rows and it doesn't look like much!

My Stitch & Bitch has been making squares for Knit-A-Square. I've only made 2 so far (and am in the middle of a third), but I feel good knowing they will be parts of warm baby blankets. I highly recommend this charity - all you have to do is make a square! How easy can you get?! One woman in the group crocheted 29 squares by the time it took me to make 2. LOL. Not that I'm comparing. I've been really busy both with other projects and with other life stuff, and they say knitting takes longer than crochet (though I'm convinced it doesn't in my case, I just don't get as bored with garter stitch as I do with simple crochet stitches that don't make pretty shells or the like).

I'm also working on a secret crochet project...can't give any further details now but I will post about it once it has been given to the recipient. 

As for the projects I posted about last time I posted in this blog, the Curvy Knits Flare Top is in time-out for now because I got really frustrated with it, and the Liwen Jacket is hibernating at the moment but I hope I will feel motivated to take it out again soon.

A local yarn store is closing (boooo!), but I did get there and though I still couldn't afford the yarn with 25% off, I was able to get a row counter and some jumbo stitch markers I really needed. I am so happy to finally have a row counter.

Oh, more big yarn-y news: I have a swift!

Here's my setup with the yarn ball winder and tabletop swift. The swift is unfinished wood and was the cheapest I could get, and I am very happy with it. My only problem is that the dowels are difficult for me to get into and out of the holes (you can adjust them for different size yarn hanks), but for the price I paid, that's not such a big deal. The lovely creation on the ball winder is the aforementioned Jill Draper Mohonk yarn.

In other news entirely, my husband just had back surgery and seems to be recovering well! Hooray!

Block Party!

OK, really it's a Blocking Party. I mean, come on, this is a craft blog. Today I finally blocked some knitting projects that I hadn't had a chance to before. I wet blocked most of them (using my Soak wash for the first time ever) and spray blocked one cowl (my Honey made with Lorna's Laces Honor - it's alpaca and silk and I don't have the label, so I wanted to be safe). Everything's still drying on the blocking board.

See? Party! That's my Gallatin Scarf (free pattern!) on the bottom, which I haven't posted about before. It was a quick knit and very enjoyable. Here's what it looked like before weaving in ends and blocking:

The colors are gorgeous. I mean, they look even better in person. I love it. And it was quick and easy! Well, it was easy after I had to rip it out the first time because I messed up the lace and hadn't made lifelines. You can bet I'll be using lifelines with all of my lace knitting from now on. The yarn is Yarntopia Treasures Cotton Boucle.

I think I managed to stretch the Ritalin cowl out sufficiently. It's 17" in diameter now (which gives it a 34" length all around), and that should do nicely. More about the Ritalin to come in another post.

I also washed my 2nd Honey cowl, which I hadn't blocked before but which I have worn a few times already! I laid it out flat to dry. Not sure if it's increased in length or width. It still looks great, though.

My current knitting project is a Curvy Knits Flare Top for myself in NaturallyCaron.com Spa yarn (acrylic and bamboo) in a pretty coral color. I am also still working on Design Three/Liwen, but I wanted to make something to wear in the warmer weather. I may be done knitting it by winter. ;-P

I have a few rows done, but nothing picture-worthy yet. I will say, I DO NOT like those k3tog or p3tog that are used to decrease the wedges at the bottom. They drive me crazy and they don't look neat when they're done. I hope the final effect will be worth it.

WIP Wednesday - Ritalin and sweater edition

WIP Wednesday again! I had to re-start my Ritalin cowl. I realized that I don't have enough of the teal yarn to make the cowl as long as the pattern calls for. I'm disappointed because I really wanted a long cowl. Maybe I'll do it again sometime with more yarn. Anyway, I'm making it half the size now - I cast on 126 stitches, on 24" circular needles. I think I'll like it as long as it's long enough for me - about 30" or so. (The yarn is cotton, viscose, and silk. This is a warm weather cowl. I don't want it to be snug at all.) If it comes out too short, I will give it away. Here it is so far:

The eyelet row surprised me. I wasn't expecting the holes to be so big! It looks cool, though. It's a quick knit at this length. After the raspberry color, I'll do the teal, and then mint green. These colors look so great together. The photo really doesn't do them justice.

I really love Debbie Bliss Cathay. It's one of my favorite yarns. It's also been discontinued. I wish I could stock up on it via Ravelry - lots of people "de-stashing" it - but financially, now is not the time. I also used this yarn for my Cranberry Cowl, pictured in this blog post (it's the #09 Cowl pattern). It's a little splitty, but the texture is delicious and the colors are amazing.

After last week's post, I finished the left front piece of my Liwen (or Design Three or whatever the heck it's called) jacket/sweater:

Yay! I finished a piece of a sweater! Ha. Now I just have the right front, back, sleeves, and neckline/border to go, and then I'll have to block it and sew it all together. What a daunting project. Fun, though! I haven't started on the right front yet since I've wanted to knit fairly mindless stuff for the past week, but I'll start it soon. I really hope the finished sweater will fit me. It's hard to tell, but the yarn is very stretchy. We'll see. It's definitely not going to be oversize, but I knew that when I started.

It's WIP Wednesday again!

Yes, it's that time again. Sorry for not posting last week, but I really didn't have much to post. This time, I've made a little more progress on my sweater:

Again, this is the left front panel. I've done some armhole shaping and neckline shaping, as well as more cabling (woohoo!). I haven't done more only because this pattern involves some serious work keeping track of which row you're supposed to do what. It's not the best pattern ever, but I'm pushing through it because I want the finished result. Others have done it successfully - so can I! (Right? I sure hope so.) Anyway, in order to work on this I have to really concentrate, and I've been on some painkillers lately for a medical condition and have been a little afraid to work on the sweater while dopey.

Here's a cable close-up:

I have also started a Ritalin Cowl which has been somewhat disastrous so far. I twisted the beginning row by accident and tried to fix it and wound up with some weird-looking stitches that I've decided not to go back and fix (it's such a long cowl that I doubt anyone will notice a few wonky stitches on the seam, though of course you might now - oops). The cowl starts with 6 rows of moss stitch. Easy, right? So I sat down to work on it last night (when I was also doped up on painkillers). Bad idea. I picked it up in the middle of a row, and wound up working in the wrong direction! D'oh!! Thankfully, I noticed what I was doing fairly quickly. I still have to undo the damage, but it shouldn't be so bad. It's just discouraging. And here I was looking for an easy knit.

I'm using these colors:

I think it's all Debbie Bliss Cathay yarn, but the gray and teal were both given to me without labels. Anyway, I've started with the gray and am going to use the colors in this order (left to right). Should be very pretty, if I can manage without totally screwing it up. Haha. I do find it funny that I'm working on 2 projects and of the 2 of them, I screw up the easy one and not the complicated one. I'd better stop laughing about it before I mess up the other one, too! ;-)

WIP Wednesday - sweater progress

I thought I'd give an update on my Liwen/Design Three project, seeing as how it's WIP Wednesday and all.

I've been working hard since last week! Again, this is the left front portion of the sweater. I got through the moss stitch with some mistakes, but mostly OK. (Decreases look better when you finally figure out which way they should slant.) Got through the ribbing portion and on to...

CABLES! I have been dying to do cables ever since I started knitting a few years ago. I just thought it would be so complicated. Guess what? It's not. It's fun. And the results? Woohoo, pretty twisty things! I am totally smitten.

FO from Summer 2013 - Purple Gossypium

Last summer, I discovered the Gossypium (that's a pattern link that will take you to a pdf). It's a gorgeous cowl that looks cabled but isn't, and has a beautiful "leaf" pattern. It was my first venture into lace knitting. Once I got the hang of it, it was so much fun to make! I decided to make several as gifts, but I only managed to finish one other one and I still haven't given it to its recipient. (This purple one is mine, all mine!) More about the gifty things later. Here's my Gossypium (or, as I called it on Ravelry, Gossipy-YUM) blocking:

I am totally in love with it. It's made from Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton, which is so soft and pretty. The pictures don't do this cowl justice.

There it is on me. The photo is a pretty bad selfie and I'm wearing a really casual t-shirt with the cowl, and the color is so much more vibrant in person. Someday I will have someone (probably my husband) take a good picture of me wearing it!

WIP Wednesday

I'm currently working on my very own Liwen Jacket (aka Design Three) by Jenny Watson. From the moment I first saw the pattern picture, I knew I had to have one.

I am a big fan of moss stitch - I love the texture it makes. This sweater involves a whole bunch of things I've never done before - ribbing, cables, picking up stitches. It's very exciting. I really, really hope it turns out OK! But I'm getting way ahead of myself. So far, I'm on Row 20 of the Left Front Panel. (The pic below was taken a few rows ago.)

I got gauge with my Knitters Pride Trendz acrylic interchangeable circs in size 11. Acrylic would not have been my first choice, but my other size 11s - Knit Picks interchangeables - are in use for a blanket I've been making for a while. Besides, the acrylics work fine with this yarn, and they're PURPLE! Love me some purple.

I'm using Araucania Tepa yarn in colorway 1781, which is mainly turquoise but also contains a rainbow of other colors. I'm completely in love with it. It's exquisite. A birthday present (WEBS gift card) from my best friend paid for about half the cost of the yarn, and I splurged on the rest. I could never, ever wear it against my skin, but it's a jacket - meant to be worn over a shirt anyway.

Here's the Tepa when I first got it, brand new in its bag. Now, before you go and say, "That's a lot of yarn!" you might want to think for a second. When you tell a knitter the amount of yarn for a sweater she's making for herself is a lot, you are, in effect, telling her she's fat (or maybe just that she's making a really oversize sweater - which I'm not). Am I thin? No. Am I plus size? Yes. Do I want to be reminded about that by people saying "Wow, that's a lot of yarn!"? NO. And that's the end of that rant.

(Yes, this is something that happened fairly recently. Facebook drama, woohoo.)

This sweater/jacket was started Monday night, then frogged and re-started twice! I'm sure there will be more frogging ahead, but I will be brave! I can do this!

I really hope it'll fit well. The finished bust size is the same size as most of my sweaters, but it decreases in places where my body doesn't really decrease (ahem, waist), so we'll see. If it doesn't fit well, maybe I can alter it somehow.

About that blanket I'm making:

It's also still a WIP, so there it is. Sorry about the messy not-woven-in ends there in the middle. They'll be fixed eventually. It's straight garter stitch in a bulky cotton chenille. I know I posted about it in this blog before (probably last year). I'll be working on it for a while yet.

FO alert!

Finally, a finished object to post about that was finished this year! For the past month or so, I've been working away on a Honey cowl using Jill Draper Makes Stuff's amazing Hudson Superwash Merino yarn. The colorway is called Coleopterist's Cabinet.

Believe it or not, this was my first time working with superwash merino. I don't know if it's usually this deliciously sproingy, or if that's Jill Draper's yarn in particular, but I love it so much - and it doesn't seem to bother my neck. This is the first animal fiber I've ever met that doesn't make my neck itch. (I hope. I still haven't worn this cowl for any particularly long length of time.)

The yarn was expensive. It was a splurge when I was away with girlfriends in New Paltz, NY, and we stopped in to the White Barn Farm Sheep and Wool yarn store. (And then we stopped in there again the next day! Heehee. Yes, it is that good a store. And cute, too - see pic below. Yes, that's me by the door.)

I highly recommend a visit if you're a fiber fan and happen to be in New Paltz at some point. Anyway, I adore that Hudson yarn. The colors are amazing and a camera can't really do them justice, but I took plenty of project pictures anyway, and then my husband took some pictures of the finished cowl on me. This Honey cowl is a size Large, but I didn't knit it to the full width of 12 inches, I only did 8 inches. (As you'll see, that was plenty!) I also haven't blocked it yet. Not sure what superwash merino will block out like (anyone have any answers for me?). I'm happy with it unblocked, though! And I would never, ever put this in the washing machine, even though I could, in theory.

That last one is of the cowl wrapped around twice. It is warm and squishy and comfortable. I give the yarn most of the credit, but I guess I have to give myself some, too. The cowl didn't make itself. ;) This is the second Honey I've made - the first was a size small with Lorna's Laces Honor yarn (pic below). It is an alpaca and silk blend, and it feels heavenly to the touch - until I put it against my neck. Sigh. Itchy. Heck, cashmere makes my neck itch. I'm keeping my first Honey for now with the thought that I might wear it sometime with a turtleneck underneath.

I messed up quite a bit with the stitching on that first one (it's actually sort of obvious if you know what to look for), so for the second one, I placed stitch markers every 20 stitches so that I'd know whether to purl or slip the next stitch. It worked great!

This is a very repetitive pattern, but it makes for a beautiful cowl if you can stick with it. (Ugh...honey...stick...see what I did there?)

Let's play catch-up...2012 FO's

Um, holy wow. It's been a very long time since I last posted here. I didn't mean to neglect my blog! Honest! I have a lot of projects I haven't posted here yet (all of these are from back in 2012, and of course I have stuff from 2013, too), so I'll have to pick and choose. Without further ado:


Here's a duck in an apple hat (the hat comes off), pattern from Ana Paula Rimoli's book Amigurumi Toy Box. She's the mommy duck from the Mom & Baby Duck pattern. First and only amigurumi I've made (so far). I gave her to my best friend for her birthday - in July 2012!

I have to say, I love amigurumi (so cute!) but I don't really like making them, or at least I didn't really enjoy making this one. They involve using small-ish hooks so there aren't holes for the stuffing to come through, which makes for some fiddly, fussy work. (I pretty much reserve the words "fiddly" and "fussy" for crochet. Heh.) My main issue with this ducky, though, was the sewing. You have to sew the limbs on, but there are no specific instructions in the book as to how to do that. I searched the Internet and found no further information on the best way to sew amigurumi limbs, so I just went ahead and did it however I thought I should. In my opinion, the beak didn't come out quite right because of it. Oh well. I'd like to try one of Stacey Trock's patterns sometime; maybe that'd be easier? Anyone know?

Oh great...I'd written a whole long blog entry with photos, and then Firefox crashed. Apparently I didn't save the rest of it, so here we go again. I don't have time to rewrite the whole thing, but I'll do what I can.

And I tried again, and it got "eaten" again, this time by Blogger. OK...third time's a charm, right? *sigh*

Here's the finished Seraphina I made for my mom. Unfortunately, she thought it was too short...so she decided to steal my grandmother's instead. I know that sounds awful, but it's not so awful considering that Grams wasn't using hers and has dementia and doesn't even really know what to do with a shawl now. (I mean, the dementia thing is awful, my mom's taking the shawl - not so much.)

 

This beautiful creation is the #09 Cowl by Kazekobo from the 2012 issue of Vogue Knitting Crochet magazine. Love it. Used my Debbie Bliss Cathay, and the yarn was perfect for the design.

And here is my finished Wingspan:

 Here's a bad mirror selfie of me wearing it:

I'm just going to end this blog post here because I'm afraid of losing it again. More to come soon, unless I procrastinate again, which I hope I won't!