this ‘n that

You would think that finishing up a major work project and being done with overtime (for the time being) would lead to a  major spurt of knitting….but then you’d be wrong.

Unfortunately, hanging over my head was still the dreaded spring cleaning. Dreaded, mostly because it takes so darn long. I don’t feel like I have a lot of “stuff”…but there’s still more than enough to go through. And of course, I’m one of those people who feels the need to alphabetize their CD collection. (I’m also one of only two people at work who can find a contact’s business card in less than 30 minutes. No, I don’t think it’s a coincidence.) I seem to have two extremes – either I’m chronically organized with everything in its place or I’m nose-deep in piles that I haven’t taken time to work through and put away. Which makes cleaning oh-so-fun. High standards and a year’s worth of failing to meet them….

So, anyway, knitting has been sparse. But the spring cleaning is finished (yea!) and I’m on vacation all of next week (double yea!), so I’m hoping to get back in the swing of things. I do have some knitting I haven’t shared yet.

This is a very scrunched up and almost finished Artichaut, in Briar Rose Angel Face. Earlier this year Anne asked me to knit a sample for her booth with Chris at Sock Summit later this summer. Since the pattern wasn’t released until June 1 (in the Summer Twist Collective), I couldn’t share it until then…by which point I was inundated with the rest of my life, of course! It’s another lovely Knitspot pattern, although trickier than most, as there is patterning on both sides. (My simplification solution has been stich markers between repeats. Lots of stitch markers.)  The yarn is also very lovely, an alpaca laceweight. It’s actually much nicer on the hands to work with than the yarn I used for my Alhambra. But then again, I’ve yet to have any complaints about any of Chris’ yarns.

Moving from challenging to even more challenging, I’ve finally started the Lerwick Lace Shawl from Heirloom knitting.

I’m using a cobweb weight cashmere-silk blend (from Colourmart) which is absolutely lovely to work with. Even though I’m using 1.5mm (US 000) needles. (Eek!) I have so far about 8 points finished on the edging, out of 152. I think I’ll be working on this one a while… It will make good summer knitting though – it’s very lightweight and I don’t think the fine yarn will stick to my hands quite as much as heavier, woolier yarns do in the heat of summer. I may have to find a somewhat easier project to work on for breaks from this, however. At least I have plenty of yarn to choose from!

Finally, I’ll leave you with the strawberries…

I had to go around to the side of the house over the weekend to check if the phones not working was a result of in-the-house or out-of-the-house issues (Answer: out-of-the-house. A very naughty squirrel chewed through the lines.) I don’t usually venture to this side as it’s just a narrow strip between our house and the neighbors, so I usually miss these. However, this year the timing was just right to stumble upon these bright little beauties. I believe they are alpine strawberries, and they’re not very edible (at least, not compared to the local farm berries my mom picks every year – I’m not sure anything beats those), but they are really a cheery little spot of color.

finally finished!

It has been a long hard slog, full of stress and nightmares and lunacy and way too many hours crammed together at the very end, but at last I can say, “It is finished.”

The never-ending project of continually moving target deadline is done. Or at least, mostly done on our end. The drawings went to the printer this morning, the construction manager will have them tomorrow, and we can breathe again. Briefly. I’m sure in a day or two we’ll start getting swampped with calls – the “can I substitute x for y” or “I can’t find x in the drawings” or “what on earth do you mean by y?” variety. However…just having the drawings finished, and out to bid is a major accomplishment and relief on this project. On the other hand, I’ve been so tied to this project for the past year-and-a-half (less breaks while the client tried to decide what they were doing…), that I’m feeling a little adrift.

But not too adrift. There was a little too much overtime there at the end! I actually didn’t knit from Tuesday until Saturday, thanks to this little project…and with all those lovely new yarns sitting around, too!

However, finally finished can also apply to another project that got finished (i.e., finally blocked!) just before work went into deadline mode.  Girasole è finito!

(more pictures on Ravelry)

Pattern: Girasole by Jarod Flood

Yarn: Cashmere 3/28NM Heavy Lace Weight from Colourmart. (Roughly a light fingering weight.)

Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) (DPNs and circular)

I still love this pattern. The “plain” rows got a little tedious towards the end, simply due to the number of stitches, but it was still a very enjoyable knit overall. And I absolutely love the cashmere. It washes up to be very soft. Interestingly, my tension on the DPNs at the beginning was tighter than with the circular needle. In fact, it appears that my tension gradually loosened towards the end of the shawl, leaving the edging so loose it almost resembles filet crochet.

yarn!

Well, the holiday weekend (US Memorial Day) is winding down. It’s been a glorious, gorgeous weekend. And I really don’t want to go into work this week – deadline central. Overtime is guaranteed, which means knitting time will be almost nil this week. However…OK, I have to confess. After this weekend, I really can’t begrudge the overtime.

It was the annual Great Lakes Fiber Show. And I may have gone a little overboard with the purchases!

From Knitting Notions:

(3) skeins of Classic Merino Lace, colorway Pacific (these were on sale as she’s discontinuing the colorway)

(1) skein Classic Merino Lace,  colorway Lilac. I believe this is destined for Crocus Pocus.

From Briar Rose Fibers:

(1) skein, 2500 yards, of Angel Face, an alpaca laceweight. I’m pretty sure this will be fall knitting, probably as the Aeolian Shawl.

(1) double skein (1000 yards) Sea Pearl, a wonderful merino-tencel blend. I’m currently thinking this might become a Trevi shawl, although I’m not 100% certain.

I have to just say, Chris’s (Briar Rose) yarns are absolutely lovely. I don’t think there was a single skein in her booth that wasn’t gorgeous. And she’s really nice, too. I can see why Anne has colaberated with Chris so often!

The final yarn purchase was my real splurge. I’ve been thinking for a while that it would be nice to have a natural-brown sweater or cardigan. So, when surrounded by all those yarns and all those temptations, I came across this handspun, I gave in.

According to the tag, it’s a 70% Border Leisceter, 15% silk, 15% alpaca blend. The seller was from Michigan, and doesn’t appear to have a web site. I don’t know enough about handspuns to know what the quality of the spinning is, but it’s pretty to look at. I got three skeins, which should be enough for a nice sweater. I’m not sure what yet. I do know that I’m not going anywhere near it until the cooler fall weather!

When I was photographing the new yarns, I realized that I’d never gotten around to catalouging any of the yarns I’ve bought pretty much since February. Again, from Briar Rose:

(1) skein Angel Face. It’s actually a deeper lavender/eggplant than the picture shows. I’m not sure what this will become.

From The Woolen Rabbit:

(1) 800 yard skein of Merino Laceweight, colorway Mama Mia. A very gorgeous blend of oranges. I’m still undecided what to do with this. (Yes, I am very guilty of buying yarns without a plan. Although, in this case, I had a plan, but changed my mind after the yarn arrived.)

And finally, (1) skein of Merino Laceweight, colorway Chocolate Chambard. This will become Iris.

In sum, I think that I have more than enough yarns to keep me busy for probably a couple years! I also had reached the point where yarns seemed to be spilling out everywhere, so I took some time this morning and sorted and shelved my yarns (and needles). I think everything’s now neatly in a home so I can knit without the dreaded cloud of a yarn mess hanging over me. Now if only I could decide which project to knit!

too many choices…

The knitting has been pretty unexciting around here lately. At least, to me that is. I think I’ve managed to find one of those black holes of knitting wherein no matter how many rows–or pattern repeats–one knits, the project doesn’t get any bigger. I’m not even working on a circular shawl, or a garter-stitch scarf!  Yet I keep pressing on, primarily, I think, because I know I need to finish it and so I tell myself “just two more rows and then you can work on something else,” by which point it’s too late to move to something else. Note: although the length of said knitting is not (apparently) growing, the length of each row is.

Of course, the other reason I keep working on this little miscreant is that I’m not sure what I’m doing next. That is, I’ve picked a pattern. I’ve picked the yarn. I just haven’t been able to decide on the needle size. You see my quandary. Ahem. This doesn’t even relate to my typical “gauge issues.” It’s lace. Rectangular lace. Gauge is almost an afterthought consideration here. I just couldn’t decide which swatch I liked the best.

It took me three weeks to decide that I really did like the middle one the best (and only after swatching a bit of the center pattern). I’m choosing to blame stress at work.

At any rate, I expect this to be my summer project. And possibly fall as well… The specs:

• Lerwick Lace Shawl (Sharon Miller, HeirloomKnitting.com)
• Cashmere/Silk blend, 2/48NM Cobweb Weight from Colourmart
• Size 000 US needle. (Really, it’s not as bad as it sounds. I’m used to teeny needles.)

I’m planning on (mostly) following the traditional option of  knit the edging first, then the borders, then the center. However, instead of all the sewing called for by the pattern, I intend to knit the center to the borders as I go. Another knitter on Ravelry used this plan, with lovely results. Now that I’ve finally decided on a needle size, I can’t wait to get started!

Which means, it’s probably about time for another project to pop up. After all, I haven’t had a good rash of startitis in quite a while. There are also many lovely yarns looking longingly at me, just waiting to be knit–some have even been assigned patterns, so danger is eminent. To compound matters, the Great Lakes Fiber Show is this weekend. I expect to do some damage…after all, Briar Rose Fibers and Knitting Notions will be there, and I bought more than enough from them both last year! (In fact, most of it is still sitting around. Although some has been used.) I’m hoping, however, to find some yarns for some of Susan Pandorf’s Gardern Variety Patterns, which are the latest addition to my growing pattern stash. I think I’m going to have quite more than enough to choose from to knit this summer!

another month, another post…

I do seem to be on the one-post-a-month scheme, don’t I? Although this time my knitting itself is partially to blame – I somehow managed to find relative project monogamy and, well, Girasole pretty much looks like a big blob for the majority of its lifespan as a WIP. A big red blob in my case. Not extremely bloggable, that. However….

….it’s almost finished. When I took this picture (which turned out fortunate timing – the weather since has been bleak and dreary) I still had a bit of the edging left. It was one of those never-ending edgings – an all-knit based, simple 6-row repeat that, while right for the shawl was just a little to monotonous. It seemed like I would never get to the end, and then, all of a sudden, it was done. All that remains are a little bit of grafting on the edge, the weaving in of ends and a good blocking.

I’ve decided that, given the arrival of spring I really don’t feel like working on sweaters at the moment. So they’re in time-out – not for bad behavior on their part, I suppose more because I’m behaving badly! I’m expecting it to be all-lace-all-the-time for a while around here…maybe around September I’ll be hankering for a bit of sweater knitting again.

In other news, we’ve certainly had our share of April showers lately…more gloom than sunshine, I do believe.

But I think these more than make up for it. (And it’s supposed to be a lovely weekend!)

Happy Spring!

I can’t believe how quickly winter’s come and gone. Although, given the quantities of ice and snow I had to drive over this year (leading to a vow to never again park at the bottom of the drive/bottom of the hill when the forecast is for snow…), I’m quite sure that at some point I thought winter would never end. But it’s been mostly sunny and warmer for the last week or so (amazing how cheerful that can make you) and the crocus have been blooming. Maybe it’s all the nice weather, maybe they’re just multiplying, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in such abundance.

Of course, all this sunniness means I no longer have any excuses for not getting any pictures taken. This has been finished for several weeks, but it took awhile to get around to blocking and photographing.

(More pictures on Ravelry.)
Pattern: Alhambra, by Anne Hanson
Yarn: The Alpaca Yarn Co. Suri Elegance (Colorway, Blue Blood Red)

I’m glad I stuck it out on this one, the blocking really worked wonders with the Alpaca. I just love the geometry of the piece too (which is what drew the pattern to me in the first place). Guess I’ll have to find another project to avoid now…

checking in….

Hmm…it’s been so long since I posted, that I’m not quite sure where I left off! I do know what I’ve been working on since – almost exclusively Girasole.  The end of February/beginning of March was a little hectic, so knitting time was at a premium.  Therefore, I stuck to what I was enjoying.  And how can one not enjoy cashmere? The pattern is enjoyable, too.

It’s even further along than this picture shows. In addition to not blogging, I haven’t been photographing! I’d say I’d try to improve – but I know myself too well. I do have a finished project to show off…but again, no pictures. On the other hand, daylight savings time means we’re back to having evening light in which to take pics, so I don’t have to wait for the weekend to have daylight. Here’s hoping I get some and return soon!

something new!

I must confess to being a lazy blogger. Or perhaps, more accurately, a lazy photographer.  I had knitting to talk about and no motivation to capture it on camera. It doesn’t help, of course, that we’re still in the midst of the winter blahs and the only chance I have to get decent pictures is on the weekends.

For those of you despairing at my recent spate of finishitupitis, the end is near!  I started something new! I’m also running out of WIPs and UFOs that I am definitely not going to send to the frog pond.  I’ve been evaluating my project list on Ravelry and have realized that I would really rather reclaim the yarn from some of the “sleeping” projects for patterns that have since grabbed my interest.  Well, that and the socks were destined for frogging anyway, as they were victims of a severe gauge issue. After the evaluation,  the only for-sure projects I have left are Alhambra and the Braided Pullover I started this fall.  And um.. Alhambra is almost done.

I’ve actually finished the knitting since the picture’s been taking, so all that remains are ends to be woven in and blocking.  Severe blocking – this thing really pulls in on itself. Finished project coming soon.

Braided Pullover is coming more slowly. I’m still in the midst of the 4-1/4″ of ribbing, so I only pull it out when I need something pretty mindless to knit.

I will admit, I was becoming a bit worried by my finishitupitis – that I wouldn’t be able to start anything new.  Then came the arrival of a fortuitous combination: new yarns by way of Colourmart and a really really rough week at work (that particular Monday was a true “Monday” and things went downhill from there…). I needed comfort knitting, I had cashmere, I had an internet connection…

Welcome “Girasole,” my newest obsession.

Of course, I’ve made a good bit of progress since this was taken.  I fell in love with the pattern the moment I first saw it on BrooklynTweed, but hadn’t really thought about it again until after this yarn arrived.  It’s a cone of 100% cashmere laceweight (oh so lovely – although more so after the spinning oils are washed off), in just the right amount for the pattern.  I like the warmth of the color for this pattern too.

This is my first shawl knit “in the round,” which necessitated learning new technique – a circular cast on.  At the pattern’s suggestion, I went to TECHknitting™’s instructions.  And promptly encountered an issue I had not run into before:  I’m left-handed.  My right-handed grandma taught me to knit “English” without any difficulties.  I later taught myself “Continental” without any real problems.  But I just could not catch on to that cast on – until I gave up, held the yarn in my right hand, needle in left and just tried something.  It worked – I had a perfect mirror of TECHknitter’s images, so I just had to flip the knitting over.  Since I never had a left-handed knitting issue before, I was a mite surprised, but now that I have it figured out, I rather like the method.  Although the first few rows were a bit fiddly, casting on circularly seems to work much easier than casting just a few stiches and trying to join them in a round.  I’m really enjoying Girasole, too.  There’s just one little problem…everytime I see the name, I get the song stuck in my head…!

Finished…and finished…

There’s been a lot of finishing around these parts lately.  I don’t know if I should admit it, but I believe I have a serious case of that rare disease, finishitupitis.  In the days following the completion of Bee, I managed to finish off not one, but two projects.

This first has been mentioned before, most lately as a trouble maker that didn’t want seamed.  I’d had it on the needles for well over a year, an absolutely ridiculous amount of time for a sweater knit on US 15’s!  (To be fair, after sitting around for months, I completely ripped and restarted.)

Pattern: Leavened Raglan (Interweave Knits, Fall 2007)
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Aura + Cascase 220 Superwash
Needles: US 15 (10.0 mm) and US 17 (12.75 mm)
Verdict: I mostly like it. The seams really fought me, and I’m not completely happy with them, but I’m not ready to re-do. It fits, however, and is nice and cozy.

The second finish of the week has not yet been blogged.  I started it a while back, but it hadn’t really reached the photogenic stage.  And by the time it got there I was, um, finished.

Pattern: Delicato (Anne Hanson)
Yarn: Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn (colorway “Smoke”) – leftover from my Rococo Socks.
Needle: US 0 (2.0 mm) with a 00 (1.75 mm) for the final ribbing.
Verdict: I like these. A quick, enjoyable knit.

Now, on to the next thing.  Or maybe I mean the previous thing – despite yards and yards (OK, miles. Literally.)   of yarn (mostly laceweight) sitting around, trying its best to lure me, I’m still on this finishing kick.  At this rate, I’ll be out of WIPs/UFOs by April.  Like I said, a really bad case…

Spring Bee

Knitting has  been a little sparse around here lately.  Primarily, I blame a second cold, hard on the heels of the first, which wiped me out unacceptably – it took away my will to knit.  Secondarily, I can also blame it on a certain lack of excitement in my WIP pile.  There was the unseamable sweater, the bland mitts (not yet blogged), and the pile-o’-gauge-issues.  None of which were exactly appealing in a less than whole state of mind.  Of course, there was also Bee Fields…which was (mostly) finished in the first days of the cold.  Meaning, of course that I no longer had that more entertaining option.  I finally blocked the shawl over the weekend, and after much delay, have something to report.

Winter continues to whip its foul winds and smother us in blankets of snow, but the greens of Bee speak of spring, new life, new growth.

Pattern: Bee Fields by Anne Hanson

Yarn: Wooly Wonka Fibers Merino laceweight (colorway Tupelo Gold)

Needle: US 3 (3.25 mm)