Belated Postings, they're just my style

You know you can get a lot of knitting done when you knit class. I managed a project a week during November thanks to this technique and a wanning interest in federal income tax.  But thanks to my camera batteries never being charged and my own forgetfulness I have only two pictures to share and they are both of the same pattern.  The blue one was for my sister and the striped one was for the boy's brother's girlfriend.  But I haven't seen her in ages and thus have been able to give it to her and it now languishes in my bedroom waiting for a better home or use.

I have to have any FOs for the new year, but I'm working on it.  I have a pair of socks in Dream in Color Smooshy Midnight Derby that will probably be the winner of that honor.  Unless I get my act together and finish the Central Park Hoodie (which I have been working on!) but that seems doubtful.

Happy Late Birthday to Me!

Finals seriously messed with my birthday this year. Rather than actually celebrating on my birthday I took a final and celebrated the day before and after and the day after that. It was a birthday week rather than just a day. But because of the craziness I've neglected the poor little blog. Here are some pics of my bday loot, I really cleaned up this year.

Realizations

I'm coming to a realization. This is something that I suspected before. Lace scarfs are not the most exciting thing in the world to knit. They do have that vaguely addictive quality of there being a slight difference every now and then, but when you're trying to go through 440 yards of lace weight yarn even that get tedious.

Another important realization is that I will not have my mother's day gift done in time. To the right is the flame lace scarf from knit and tonic, which I intend to give my mom someday, like in June when I'm not spending as much quality time in the library. Or maybe I'll have it done by her birthday in August. The surprise has already been spoiled since I worked on it last time I was home, but at least I know she'll like whenever its done. Of course, moms seem to like anything that you make them, I guess that's just part of the job.

FO! Springy Scraf

At long last I have another FO to post. This pretty little thing is the Gift of Friendship scarf by Christine McKnight. I used knitpicks shimmer in Happy Dance, which I believe has been discontinued, on size 4 needles. The lace pattern was very simple and easy to memorize as there are only two different rows. The yarn though was very slick and that made the knitting a little annoying at times. I would recommend this yarn though because its so wonderfully soft and it blocked very nicely.

Given the simplicity of the project this took a really long time for me to make, almost 2 months, but my goal was to use up all 440 yards of the shimmer which I did.

Next on my to do list? Well, yesterday I swatched for Green Gables so I think that's what next. I've had this yarn sitting around for about a year so its probably about time that used it.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece
Needles: size 7 in the round
Guage: 5sts/1in

I've only used Cotton Fleece once before for a Loop d Loop ballet tshirt. In that pattern I found the yarn to be very drapey, perhaps too drapey. I'm hoping that the tighter gauge of the tee will make it fit better. I also find Cotton Fleece to be a bit splitty at times, but nothing too annoying. But I do like how soft it is and the price doesn't hurt.

gettin springy with it

I love living in New England and having the four seasons. But towards the end of each I always have a hankering for the next. I love spring and all I want is for it to be May and for everything to be sunshine and flowers.

Perhaps this is reflected in my desire for new knitting projects. I'm tired of my Central Park Hoodie. I want it finished so I can making something light and fun for spring. So the other night I decided it was time to swatch.















Yarn: Classic Elite, Classic Silk
Color: light purple
Needle: 5
Guage: 5 sts/ 1in

Maybe this is because I don't work with much cotton, but I was rather surprised that the stitches grew a bit when I blocked my swatch. Working with this stuff was pretty nice, not too hard like some cottons and the swatch is pretty soft. My plan is to make Sahara with it.

Yet despite all that talk above about how much I long for spring I did just order 4 skeins of ultra alpaca to make the Minimalist Cardigan. I love that stuff so I just couldn't resist that Webs sale.

taste the rainbow

So last night I sat down to write a post and simply could not think of anything to write. I was so hopped up on diet cherry Pepsi and chocolate that mind was going 3,000 miles a minutes but it all went out too fast to make the connection down to my key broad. I don't have much sugar or caffeine in my daily diet so I can get a little wired when I do have some. Today I'm having a bit better luck with focusing thanks to the lack addictive substances in my system

Sadly, not much knitting has been going on the past few weeks. I did manage to finish these socks out of SWTC's tofutsies on size 2s. They're pretty basic, but I did make an eye partridge heel for the first time which is so pretty in the multi-color yarn. The SWTC It's really lovely stuff. Very soft and nice to work with. It's not nearly as tough on the hands as knitting with 100% cotton. It's even machine washable and didn't pool very much. I'm wearing them right now and even though they came out a touch big I really like them. Plus I might have enough of the skein left to make another short pair. Next time though I think I'll go down a needle size.

My other projects, however, feel never ending. All I want is to be done with them and move on to other things. More on them some other time, like when I don't need to finish my civ pro reading for tonight.

what the snowman learned

You probably can't tell from this picture but its snowing a bit here. Honestly, I love the snow and can never understand why everyone moans and groans when a snow storm comes this way. I think they're beautiful and could sit around watching the snow fall for hours if I didn't have a mountain of homework to do. Maybe its because I spent a good part of my childhood down south where I think it snowed about twice before we moved northward that I love it so much. Having grown up without snow makes it seem so much more special and magical to me when it happens. Or maybe I just love the opportunity to cuddle up in warm woolen knitwear that snow provides. If its the later then the snow has perfect timing because I now have some new FOs to keep warm in.

This shot shows both my new foliage and wicked. As so many have already discovered Wicked is a super cute and easy pattern. I made the second smallest size, though I probably could have made it the smallest since the sweater came out a little roomy. Yet its exactly what I wanted: cute, warm, and cozy. This is partially thanks to the Nashua Creative Focus I used which is 25% aplaca. The yarn is a touch itchy but with a cami underneath its fine.

I would recommend that for this this size you do one less increase round before separating the sleeves. The number of stitches I had for the sleeves and body were what they were suppose to be. However, these numbers didn't work as nicely they should have for the crossover rib at the end. Its a minor problem so I didn't go back and rib everything out just to fix this. But if I make another one I'll keep in mind that the math might not work out exactly as I like and will have to double check it.

Foliage though came out great. I do have one word of caution and have adopted a new rule: do not drink and knit. Especially if working on lace. Thursday night I went out, had a couple beers and somehow convinced myself that a shot of tequila was a good idea, possibly because a cute boy was buying. Another good rule would be to not let cute boys influence my alcohol intake but I doubt I'd actually pay attention to that one. Rather than crawling into bed and hoping for the best in the morning I decided to stay up, knit, and drink water. I'm too embarrassed to show what I did, but when I picked up my knitting the next day I was rather confused. I had to rip out a couple of rows to avoid some wonky looking lace.

And now I'm going to steal an idea from Green Apples, a blog that I just love and read all the time. Recently, Jess was explaining that one of the advantages of always posting about her swatches is that she can easily look up the information later on, which is truly an excellent point. So here goes...Yarn: Queensland Kathmandu Aran
Colorway: 146
Needle: 7
Gauge: 4.5 sts/ 1in

I feel in love with this yarn when I made a hat with it for my mom. Its very soft and squishy, not the least bit itchy or scratchy. My mom reports that her hat is super warm and wearing well. So really this stuff is pretty much awesome, which is why I had to snatch some up when WEBs was having a sale on it recently. The swatch did grow a bit when I washed it. I believe it had originally knit up to 5sts/1in so it expanded just a bit. I purchased enough to make a sweater so I think I'm going to make the Central Park Hoodie. I've always loved the pattern but was just waiting for the perfect yarn to come my way and now here it is!