finished feathers

work has been….busy. today was the second saturday in a row i went in for a half-day. i keep telling myself it’s yarn money…but it’s definitely taking away from my knitting time.

however…irtfa’a is at last complete! it’s been finished for over a week, and i’ve even had pictures…but…i’ve been a bit lazy lately.

a corner detail:

the edging:

pattern: irtfa’a by anne hanson
yarn: blue moon fiber arts laci, colorway ‘korppi’
needles: size us 2 (2.75mm) and us 1 & 00 (2.25 & 1.75 mm) for the edging (not only do i knit loosely, but i got a different gauge for the pearl-based and knit-based halves of the edging)

other than a few nuisance p2togtbl’s i rather enjoyed this shawl. even if a pair of gloves got in the way!

almost…

the knitting of the edging has much improved. after a few repeats, i think i loosened up a bit, so the p2togtbl’s aren’t quite so difficult. i’m speeding along now (relatively speaking) and am almost halfway through the edging. since the edging is knit on, i can begin to spread the shawl out without taking it off the needles, so it’s much easier to see than it has been.

i can definitely pass the halfway point today. hopefully i can then get through quite a bit of the second half this weekend. we’re getting quite busy at work, so i don’t know how much knitting time i’m going to have for a while. the threat of working saturdays looms…

miscellany

thank you for the kind comments on my socks! i’ve worn them, and determined that they’re nicely warm. of course, it’s now gone and warmed up…the roller-coaster that is north-east ohio weather.

i have decided that i’m just too lazy to stretch out irtfa’a before it’s off the needles. probably not before blocking for that matter. consequently, i’m just starting on the edging, so it’s come a long way since the last time i showed it off, but still would look like a big charcoal-colored blob. i’ve really been enjoying working on it, though – at least, i have up until last night when i started on the edging and ran up against a nasty p2togTbl in the fourth row. there’s other p2togTbl’s, but this particular one contains a yarn over that just doesn’t want to slide over the right-hand needle. it may be a bit of a fight from here-on-out.

i do have a distraction. well, a couple actually. after ignoring the leavened raglan sweater i wasn’t quite happy with, i’ve frogged and started over. again, no pictures – it’s black and we’re a bit short on sun at the moment, so it won’t show up as more than a black mass. a small one at the moment, but i think i’m finally getting there.

the second distraction is a bit more fun at the moment – just some swatches so far, but they were entertaining.

now, if i could just make my mind up about what i’m doing!

first of the year

i can’t believe it’s been over two weeks since i’ve posted! by implication, that means i haven’t gotten very much done on the knitting front. this is not exactly true. i did have to go back to work on the 2nd, and combined with a bit of laziness and my determination to finish something before posting, well…i guess it’s been a while. however, i can now present the first finished object of 2008:

pattern: twisted stitch gauntlets from interweave knits 2007 holiday issue
yarn: classic elite classic one fifty, #7255
needles: us 2 (2.75 mm)
mods: to compensate for not quite getting row gauge/shorter hands i moved the thumbs up 4 rows on the hand, adding the required increases on the hand/decreases on the thumb to stay in patter.

i’m rather pleased with these – i love the color, and they even fit! i’m even more pleased that i was pretty faithful to the project, only tiring of it after getting halfway through the fingers of the second glove. a substantial improvement on my part, although i’m sure it’s only temporary. i did find it much easier to to work through the hand and keep track of everything by creating a larger chart with the hand pattern/finger pattern/increases rather than relying on sticky notes or row counters.

i havn’t let irtfa’a go completely – it was my fill-in when i couldn’t take fingers – or weaving in ends – anymore. however, photos at this point wouldn’t really look any different than the last time i posted them, and i’m too lazy to take it off the needles to get a proper photo…just yet. i’m almost done with the small feather chart, though. i’ve also been working a bit on an almost-abandoned project from august. so i guess my laziness hasn’t been in the knitting – it’s been in the blogging! if the weather – and my intentions – cooperates, hopefully there will be some photos soon!