Transition Just In Time

Transition Gloves are finally finished. The weather is rather nice so I might be able to get some use out of them over the next while as well.

Pattern: Transition Gloves by Shibui Knits
Yarn: Shibui knits 1 skein Finch, 1 skein Chinese Red
Needles: 5 dpns US1, 5 dpns US3
Thoughts: The second Fair Isle glove went fast and I'm happy with the end product, but the hands look a bit awful as some stitches are wonky. I would probably move the thumb over by a stitch or two next time.

I bought myself some Christmas presents this year too. Other than the iPod Nano (which I love btw), I gave myself a Namaste buddy case, a skein of Poems sock yarn, a skein of Zauberball Crazy sock yarn and CEY's Saturday Afternoon booklet.

I ended up frogging Spey Valley and putting it away for now and after finishing Transition Gloves, I haven't really found THE project to cast on. I have tons of sock yarn and I should probably start using that, however I think I might want a sweater instead. I was going to cast on OWLS last night but I don't have the circs for it at the moment. Otherwise I don't have anything in the way of sweater quantity yarn for anything else. Maybe I just need a few days for the knitting itch to start, and I really should finish Mister's jacket soon.

Wow. I'm down to one WIP. This is not normal.

I hope everyone is having a safe and happy holiday!!

End of the Year Frogging

At the moment knitting is the furthest thing from my mind and everything is sort of on hold. This weekend I went over to my bookcase where I stash my WIPs so they are out of harm's way, and I pulled the needles from the angora February's Vanilla Bed Socks.

And then I shoved them into the trash.

I hate those fucking socks.

I'm considering frogging Spey Valley. I was knitting on them in line for Neil Gaiman and messed up the pattern, excluding the second vikkel braid and including an additional purl stitch down the leg when it should have been knit. Also I was thinking that US 2s were going to make for loose fabric and if I want to make these socks for Mister, he was going to need something sturdier.

I suppose the question now is, after frogging, should I cast on right away? I'll rip back tonight and think on it while I rewind the yarn cake.

Knitting is the Bridge

Knitting seems to be the bridge over troubled water for me right now. It's not always helpful to knit when I'm buzzing with frustration and anger but once I'm past that and move on to the contemplation stage, knitting smooths the process a bit. I finished about 70% of the fair isle earlier this month and as I layered the yarn strands, I unraveled my problems. I'm now adding the stitches for the thumb slowly and am only picking up the armwarmer periodically.

I went against my better judgment this weekend and cast on a new sock. I told myself I wouldn't cast anything on until the new year in hopes of finishing some on the needles projects but I really needed a project to work on while sitting and waiting for Neil Gaiman tomorrow.

This is Spey Valley by Nancy Bush knit with Estelle Cadenza on US 2s. The pattern called for 0s but the thought of tiny needles wasn't appealing so I decided to throw caution to the wind and use the bigger DPNs. In hindsight it was a smart choice. The patterning is thick and hard, using smaller needles would have made it a nightmare to wear and work with. Plus I'm about halfway done the leg already and I spent maybe a few hours on it over the weekend.

I might have a pair of socks for Christmas...or Mister might. The needles I chose with the cast on of 63 stitches make for a bigger sock, I think these cuffs could fit him. We'll see how I feel once I get to the foot.

Ishbel vs. Swallowtail

Minnie Mouse and I are taking the day off from work. I've been able to finish a lot of little errands all before noon. One of the more important of these errands was taking photos of Ishbel vs. Swallowtail Shawl!

Oh look! It's finished! It took me two nights to cast-off, can you believe it?

This mash up either worked very well, or I'm really good at fudging it. I know there are mistakes in the lace portions but even I can't find them.

Question: What is with cats and shawls? I couldn't keep Minnie from laying all over it last night. It seems to be a prevalent problem among knitters with these furry beasts. WTF?

Next weekend, some finished socks I suspect.

Neil Gaiman, Fun Ways to Hurt Myself, and a Cat in a Pillow

Many of you will simply not care about this part, but Neil Gaiman is coming to Winnipeg next month. I'm slightly surprised with how excited I am over this. So excited that I told my boss that I'll be leaving early that day no matter what, that I plan on returning home to gussy up, and that I plan on grabbing some knitting and wait in a book store with two other fellow knitters and my very bored boyfriend for a few hours before things begin.

I've never been to a book signing before so I googled it, and wouldn't you know, Neil actually has some Dos and Don'ts on his signings (Last question posed in his post). I'm relieved to know that I can bring along my copy of Coraline with me for signing and he won't think I'm an arse. As well if I get the courage, I would like a photo with him.

The other thing that I had on my mind just recently...in his post announcing that he would be coming to Winnipeg, he mentioned how cold it was. Granted we're having an exceptionally warm season so far (still no snow that's sticking), I was considering knitting him mittens or something. Of course if I did that I should might as well just make him a picture with macaroni and paint like a 2nd grader, right?

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At the moment I'm so very close to finishing the Ishbel vs. Swallowtail Shawl. I had a minor set back this week with fecking up my left wrist so bad it looked like my hand swallowed a golf ball and it got stuck in the wrist. Both the physio therapist and the doctor took a moment to stare at it in awe. Apparently I'm talented when it comes to hurting myself.

The wrist is feeling better albeit I still need to wrap it up once in a while because it starts to hurt, so for most of the week I didn't knit. I should be able to make some progress tonight however there will be no photos until it's finished and I have some sunlight here. Suffice to say, it looks like cat barf and I haven't been able to check how the lace pattern is turning out because my needle cord is too short to stretch it out and take a good look yet.

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So this is what she does when I'm not around.

Finally Fox Faces

Fox Faces are finally done. Only a month too late to enter to win prizes, but done none the less. One thing off the needles for the end of the year, four more to go.

Please enjoy my pyjama pants in the mean time.

Project Specs:
Pattern Fox Faces by Nancy Bush (to be released on her website later on)
Needles US 1 set of 5 DPNs
Yarn Hand dyed Knit Picks Bare Superwash
Adjustments The socks called for a cast on that would have made the pattern stretch out hideously over my feet (which is crazy since I have small feet) so I cast on 72 stitches instead and halfway down the leg I decreased evenly.
Regrets They're just a touch too short on the foot, I like having a good two inches of stockinette toe, these ones ended with about half an inch to an inch.

Hurray I have new socks!

Dash to the Finish

Fox Faces second sock is coming along slowly. I think it's a shame since it's all downhill from here on out. I managed to screw up one of the pattern repeats and I've decided not to bother going back to fix it. I'm ready to be done with these socks and move on to something new.

As I've said before, I don't think I would have normally chosen to knit this pattern had I seen the end result but I love Nancy Bush and I don't regret casting on two months ago, but I should have chosen better yarn. Knit Picks, while cheap (and I really do like their yarn), is very splitty and the yarn still hasn't softened up as I've worked with it. I'm hoping a good wash will do the trick. I expect I should be done the pair in the next few weeks.

My only hesitation on a finish-by date is that I'm finally taking a breath and moving on to the Swallowtail Shawl part of my mashup shawl, which requires me to learn a new technique (nupps), and do math. I'm on the 3rd row of the first Lily of the Valley chart (read: barely started) and I've survived one row of nupps and the reverse side. I've learned to hence forth, keep my nupps LOOSE, but found my cable needle to be handy to purl the five nupp stitches back into one. My fingers on the other hand, ache.

So far I'm 6 rows out of 40...wow, it doesn't seem that much on the paper. I'm hoping to finish the first half (rows 1-12) of the Lily of the Valley border today, the second half of the border this week, then the lace border and scalloped edging before the end of the month so I can block it and send out the package to my aunt before Christmas.

Is this all worth it? I won't know until it's ready to be packed up. I'll probably never know whether she actually likes it, but a finished object that looks great is still a finished object off my needles, and that will be worth it to me.

My plan is to finish as much as possible before the new year begins. I want to be able to cast on many new things in January - I also have 6 sock kits that I made left over from this year's attempt to challenge myself and knit through the sock stash. I'm starting to miss the yarn because I can't remember what I have hiding in those bags.

I've also decided that next year I'm going to try harder at knitting throughmy queue. I'm tired of looking at the same list wondering when I'll get around to knitting them. I use my queue on Ravelry to mark off what I'm definitely going to knit in the future, so far it hasn't budged. Time to change that. First thing New Year's day, I'm casting on Owls...that is if I'm not fighting off a hangover :)

Where's Waldo?

Last week I was here:

Or maybe it was here:

Or here:

Possible here?

But definitely not here yet:

And I had yet to see here:

Okay enough of that, clearly I was traveling overseas. I didn't get any knitting done, and now I have a cold. Seems a bit unfair but what can I do? All I know is I'm taking tomorrow morning off as sick time and perhaps I can get some more work done on the Swallowtail/Ishbel mashup shawl.

The plan at the moment is to increase my stitches to 195 (a perfect match to the lace of Swallowtail) and see if I'm satisfied with the size. If not, I'll continue to increase the stitches in intervals of 10 (the amount of stitches in the pattern repeat).

I realise today while in photobucket, that all my lace projects have been green. There was the unfinished Mystery Stole, and then Ishbel. I swear this hasn't been on purpose.

I also suspect that I will not be finishing the Sock Knitter's Anonymous mystery stock my Nancy Bush in time. I'm a little disappointed in myself but on the other hand - I went to London, who cares?! The bad news is, I didn't make it to a yarn shop in either London or Paris, the good news is I met a fellow Raveler on my trip - sadly I didn't get her Ravelry name, but I do know her real name....I just got side tracked looking, but I think I found her!

Anyway, we're going into the worse time of year (all eight months of it) for me to be a blogger, the time where no daylight can be found to take photos in. Arg.

Keep warm my peeps!

Luckiest Girl in the World

How flipping awesome is this package? I'll tell you, it's super times a million awesome.

My secretpal who still remains nameless (I think this is the first time I haven't accidentally or otherwise found out who my partner is!) showered me with fibrey goodness. In the package was Berroco Sox, a sparkly sock yarn in multiple colours per ball, some Sock Knitter's Anonymous Sockittome with Cherry Tree Hill base yarn in colourway Walking on the Sun, some fibre for spinning in a beautiful array of colour, and also some lace weight merino from Artisan NZ in this cool packaging that complete with a pattern.

The non fibre goodies include another Heidi Betts book, some much appreciated chocolate, a magnetic notepad for the fridge (I love these things!), and JARED FLOOD'S BOOK!!!!

Mie, once again, you've won my heart. Thank you!

Swallowtail Shawl vs. Ishbel

This is so unlike me, but I pulled my aunt in our annual secret Santa family swap and I decided to knit her part of her gift. In honour of her buying her much desired hobby farm this past summer, and since this is Canada, I thought I'd make her a heavy weight shawl. But of course I couldn't decide on a pattern and even after I thought I found the right pattern and ordered yarn, I quickly changed my mind and then the yarn arrived.

What's a girl to do but find a few patterns she can agree on and do a mashup.

I feel like a mad scientist trying to merge two patterns and come out with what I see in my head. I'm afraid the first half (quite clearly Ishbel) won't be big enough when the stitch count matches Swallowtail Shawl which means math.

Once upon a time I used to be great at math. And then the other day I was trying to do multiplication with decimals by hand and head...and I wasn't sure if I was doing it right.

So suffice to say, this should be interesting.

Fox Faces

Nancy Bush is an amazing knitter and designer. In a matter of days she whipped up a pattern for a Mystery Knit Along before zipping away on vacation. I don't know if I would ever have knit this sock had I seen the finished product before casting on but I have a high regard for Nancy and her patterns that I trusted her enough to cast on with hundreds of other knitters.

The last clue was released on Tuesday and in it she names this pattern as Fox Faces. My favourite part thus far is the horizontal braid. Only a few weeks ago I was wondering how it was done, and now I know and it's really very easy. Knitters are amazing.

I had to frog the sock early on and re-cast on a larger number of stitches. I just knew 60 would not be enough. I was getting socks that were over stretched on my legs which to me, looks just awful. So I cast on 72 stitches for the calf and then decreased to 64 as I worked the leg.

The heel is worked in a Honeycomb Heel Stitch and it's absolutely lovely.

I have yet to begin clue #4 which finishes the sock, and if I don't complete it by Tuesday I will be behind. I have to finish the second sock by the end of October and I have my trip coming up. I think I'll risk taking my sock on the plane since I have a layover in Chicago of a few hours and then of course the flight overseas itself and the excitement that will keep me from sleeping. I hope my fingers can keep up.

I like the way the clues were broken up so that knitting each section wasn't too demanding however realistically two months isn't an ideal amount of time to complete a pair of socks. I am hoping to finish the foot today however since it's fine knitting weather, overcast, chilly, autumn.

My only other concern right now is the Transition Gloves. I've finished the arm of the first one and have begun the hand, except the pattern doesn't seem right as I can't get my stitches to do what the pattern is saying. I'm underwhelmed with my ability to do fair isle and would prefer to cry and frog the whole thing. But then I remind myself that I'm not thirteen and crying doesn't solve anything. I really want these armwarmers so I'm going to try finishing them as best as I can despite the pattern not making sense to me, and then giving them a wash to see if the stitches straighten up some. I would hate to find it doesn't help though.

Surprise! I've Been Knitting!

Yes, it's true. Somehow I managed more than just socks lately. I cast off my second Gretel on Sunday. As I may have mentioned earlier on this blog, the first Gretel I knit was too large for me so I sent it off to my best friend T. in the States. She says it's a bit big for her too but she seems to like it that way. Phewf. I'm always afraid the knitting I gift to people is subpar, but I was pretty proud of that hat.

I need to stop giving Mister the camera. He was complaining about needing to get to work but still managed to waste time taking terrible photos of me.

Knit out of stashed Cascade 220, it was blocked out a little too big on the brim so I might have to wet it again sometime in the future if I'm not too lazy. I like the colour a lot. It will look great with my red peacoat.

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I don't particularly feel the need to cast on for anything right now. I have lots of projects I want to start however they can wait. I really want to finish my Transition Gloves and work on Mister's sweater - plus I have Nancy Bush's Mystery Socks on a deadline.

Just give it time and I'll have five new projects on the needles making me feel guilty.

The Forgotten Bloggiversary

I guess I let my bloggiversary pass without so much as a peep. Oops. Three years of blogging about what I'm doing with yarn and pointy sticks. I want to thank everyone who has read this blog along the way, who have left comments, and who have been an encouragement in the knitting community. In the upcoming year I hope to have more finished objects, more interesting content, and possibly a podcast.

I finished my pair of Evening Stockings for a Young Lady last night before going to bed. They're the softest socks I've ever made. I also managed not to screw them up at any point. Deb at Fearless Fibers - I love you and your yarn. Unfortunately all I can think of when seeing these photos is damn, I have fat ankles.

I had plenty of yarn left over that I could have knit them to be truly knee highs however hindsight is 20/20 and how was I to know I would have so much yarn left over? The socks will look great with my work skirt and a pair of dark brown mary janes (I think). The weather is still deceivingly hot here so I won't be wearing them out quite yet but I suspect things will change quite soon.

Minnie Mouse remains unimpressed.

New Love

I got a new spindle a week or so ago.

I didn't mean to keep it a secret for so long but I'm in the midst of knitting things that are so unphotogenic that I decided to save it for a posting slump.

This beautiful spindle is from Butterfly Girl Designs on etsy. There was a lot of hemming and hawing over this purchase. Was it the spindle for me? How big was it going to be? How small? Did I want red? What did it feel like? Was it well put together (the answer is yes, by the way)?

The spindle is small, I'll admit. It feels small compared to my first spindle, however in reality it really isn't much of a difference, other than the first one is chunky and this one is refine and polished.

I've been carrying it around with a gob of some higher standard roving than I've used in the past, afraid to start spinning. It JUST dawned on me that I've been over spinning some of my current wool and I want to practice before torturing prettier fibre.

Also, you may have noticed the new photo background - I have a new table that sits at the back of my futon/couch. It's an old teak table from the centre where I work. I need to scratch up the surface to remove some black markings and then wash it with teak oil or I could be lazy and leave it as is, but the wood is nice and sturdy and the black of the back of my couch is great for photos!

Yellow Surprise!

It seems that everything I'm knitting on right now happens to be yellow. Not a bad thing since it's my favourite colour.

I cast on for a second attempt at Gretel. This time I'm knitting the Fitted size with Cascade 220 Superwash in 9455.

To go with this happy yellow hat will be these red and yellow Transition Gloves that I'm hoping to complete before it gets chilly here. I'm just shy of finishing the first glove, even though I've been knitting on these since, what, February?

Lastly, I'm knitting on Ravelry's Sock Knitters Anonymous' September Sockdown which started today. The challenge that I'm working on is to knit a Mystery Sock designed by Nancy Bush in yellow.

The yellow is cheering me up this month. Plus the casting on and new projects are easily justified as I'll also be participating in Ravelry's Needle Harvest Group, which aims at freeing up needles from WIPs and UFOs one way or another. I'm getting very close to casting off the second Evening Stocking that I can taste it.

Happy Yellow September Everyone!