Week 4 of 2007

On Knitting...

Shawls and Scraves The Best of Knitter's Magazine has a circular shawl designed by Eugene Buelger which I have been eyeing for a while. My sister really liked the pattern as well so I decided to knit it up for her using Colour Mart's lace silk in Sky. The pattern is quite easy once you get past the rather uncomfortable teensy weensy circular CO. I got stomped along the way trying to figure out the "wrap stitch" but Jesh was able to help out with that and even provided an alternative of her own.

After a few hours and 1/2 dozen restarts this is what I have to show:

I began enjoying the pattern but will have to set all knitting aside for a few days since CTS pain is making it very uncomfortable to knit. Oh well, I guess I can use the time to get other work done.

On another disappointing note I was 2 inches shy of finishing DD 2nd sock when I ran out of yarn. That baby won't get done until I have to order more stuff from KnitPicks. In the meantime I'll fine something in my stash to knit her a complete pair in a week or two once my wrist is pain free.

On Stash Building....

This Saturday I paid a visit to the Yarn Barn. One never knows what stuff they have on clearance but mostly I was real curious to see what Lamb's Pride Single Worsted was all about. The Yarn Barn had bags and bags of yarn on clearance but 99.9% of it was novelty yarn. So I passed it up, since I have no need for the stuff just now. They did have a box full of Pony needles at 50% off. A lot of them were straight needles, which I don't like using anymore since I find circulars more convenient, but they did have short dpns in size 0 and 2 (US). The socks I've knit so far were with 7" dpns and I found the length quite annoying so I decided to give these shorter ones a try. DD also got herself a pair of straights so that she can learn to knit. Not bad for one trip.

Lamb's pride was fine IMO. I'd surely buy it at a good discount.

Until next time: Happy knitting and stash building to all.

Week 3 of 2007

On Knitting….

This third week of 2007 was quite eventful in South Texas. The local news stations had a field day providing overkill coverage on the “Artic Blast” of 2007. The city was virtually paralyzed for two days as freezing rain made traveling on the roads dangerous for us “not used to ice or snow on the roads” San Antonians. Oh well, at least it meant more knitting time for this cold and wet weather hater plus a rather cool looking short-lived iced winter wonderland.



In the course of three days I managed to knit three hats. Two were modified versions of Wendy Bernard’s Last Minute “Purled” Beret and another was of my own design. The purple beret has since been packaged and mailed off to my sister in New Haven. Hopefully it not only fits her, but is to her liking as well. Since Saturday was another gray and yucky day, and being cooped up in the house was not an option, I was able to wear my green hat during our daylong outing. Yay for warm wool hats!!





Two birds were killed with one stone this week as well. Not only did I manage to fulfill resolution #5 for this year, I also cast on for an additional theme in socktopia’s KAL.

Considering that I had never knitted a sock before and had no idea what the process consisted of, I decided that Blue Monday and Knit Dorm Socks would be a wonderful combination. The way I figured it, most people don’t look forward to Mondays, get kind of blue and would rather lounge around than go to work or school. These socks would fit perfectly is such situations.



A surprise of surprises did occur while I was knitting up my dorm socks. DD said she wanted a pair just like the ones I was knitting. “Well,” I asked myself, “what better way to shoo the blues away than to have another person with you and Celebrate Good Times instead? Bring out the bonbons and crank up the music, four happy feet are going to dance Blue Monday away.



I used size 6(US) dpns and knit together three strands of Knit Picks Palette in Sky, Pool, and Blue to represent the different degrees of blueness one might feel on Monday. I found the pattern easy enough and a quick knit. As a matter of fact, it is going into my collection of saved patterns for future use. I do have to admit though that I really didn’t find knitting socks very pleasurable. I found it to be more of a chore. Maybe it was the pattern, maybe the yarn, I don’t know. At least I know I can knit them if I need to. ;)

On Stash Building….

Just a little purchase from Colour Mart to take advantage of their special prices. I love their silk and cashmere and am glad I ordered when I did because the price for lace weight silk went up $4. I managed to get some lace weight in Dark Navy, Sky, Blush and Dark Red (which is the most beautiful color I’ve laid eyes on.) I decided to try their DK SWT silk in Grey and was very happy with the feel and color of the yarn when I knit up a swatch. Almost all yarns have a project reserved for them. Mostly lacey wraps for my sisters and myself since all three of us should be graduating this May with either a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. I think I’ll start with the SWT and see how the Lady’s Circular Cape from Victorian Lace Today turns out.

Happy knitting and stash building to all!!

Week 2 of 2007

On Knitting...

Let's label this the week of frogging hats. Yep, the Ella hat is no longer among us so a search for the perfect pattern began. Rip, rip, rip was the theme of the week since I CO and tried several different hat patterns without much success. The hats were either too small or the look was not what I wanted. I decided to "designed" my own using the same stitch pattern used for the Red Scarf. Finally some progress, after a little trial and error of course. Here is the finished product:

Yarn used was Single Ply Worsted Farmhouse Yarns on size 9(US) needles. Check back in a week +/- for the free pattern.

My plans for starting a lace shawl this week failed completely. Priorities are really in getting my sister's hats done and mailed off asap so I guess that fact stopped me from enjoying any other projects I had in mind. Oh well, hats it is for now and it doesn't help that the yarn she sent me is a joy to work with. ;)

On Stash Building...

Couldn't resist Victorian Lace Today any longer, especially after joining its KAL, so after much search and comparison shopping, I found Knit Picks to have the best price around. Add to that the need for sock yarn and viola, after a few link clicks and a couple of days later, I'm the happy owner of these:

Two hanks of Bare Superwash/Nylon Fingering Weight and three of Palette. Once the weather clears, the sun comes out and a purchase of Kool-Aid has been made, Bare will be painted brightly to suit Socktopia's monthly themes. This yarn is deliciously soft, I can't wait to knit with it. Palette was purchased in Sky, Pool and Blue for this month's Socktopia theme. The Sky color is just too pretty for words. Too bad I couldn't capture there true colors on my camera. I think I will try knitting Dorm Socks out of them.

Week 1 of 2007

Lets start with

Stash Building...

No purchases on my side but my dear sister did mail me the yarn she'd bought a while back so that I would knit her a hat. I guess it finally got cold up there in Connecticut that she pulled herself away from her studio to make a trip to USPS. Here are the lovelies she sent:



Two pretty skeins of Farmhouse Yarns Single Ply Worsted. The purple one is hers and the green is a gift for me. I love the colors and I love the yarn. Knitting with it has been a breeze and this leads us to...

On Knitting...

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On her last visit down, my sister went through the Hip Hats book and picked several possible candidates for a hat. Ella was one of them. I CO on Sat and was able to BO that same day. There are serious issues with the pattern instructions as was the case with Bobbi but I was able to work around the errors. The hat in the book looks a lot better in my opinion than my version. I do need to go back and frog the last couple of rows because the rim is too tight. I'm tempted to frog the whole thing but I'll let my sister see it first and let her decide the fate of this hat. In any case there is enough yarn left over to knit another simpler one, which is already CO, and I intend to send that her way as well.

The Red Scarf is finally BO. I attempted to block it but I think I was too gentle because it shrunk back a bit too much. The pattern looks lovely stretched out, even DH commented that he liked it, so I guess I'll attempt to block it again.

Challenges for 2007

A new year sets the stage for new beginnings and a time when many people set new goals and resolutions for themselves. In my case, after much thought and reflection I have set a few goals for myself. The following are five knitting goals I hope to fulfill by the end of this year.

1. The biggest goal on my list is to actually knit projects using the yarn I already have stashed. I am not claiming a yarn diet because if a good sale presents itself I will purchase the yarn if I like it. I do want to put the yarn that has been stored for over a year now into use and this leads me to the following two goals.
2. Start knitting birthday and Christmas gifts as of yesterday and continue doing so throughout the year from...
3. My knitting library. I have a decent collection of books I have purchased and would like to see them put to good use. Luckily my neither my library nor gift list is too long so I should be able to knit one project from every book I have.
4. One can only knit so much for family, friends and one's self so my goal is to knit at least 4 projects this year for a charitable cause.
5. In keeping with my one piece knitting and my desire to learn new things, this year I challenge myself to learn how to knit socks. It is for this reason that I signed up at socktopia a few weeks ago.

Let's see what the year has in store and what new challenges catch this knitter's fancy.

Week 52 in Review....

Yippie!!! I fulfilled my goal!!! Icarus is completed and ready to enjoy. View previous post for further details. Chart 4 and the last 4 rows of this pattern was really all I had time to knit this week. Blame the holidays. ;)

May everyone of you have had a safe and Happy New Year. May 2007 be full of exciting knitting projects, stash building and fun KAL's.

Presenting Icarus

Detail of Tail

Dec. 29th marks the day of Icarus' debut. On this day, Icarus was bound off and blocked after I finally sat down and decided to tackle the last 3 rows in the pattern. I began knitting Icarus in early Nov. using ColourMart's Emperor Jay double stranded lace cashmere with size 3(US) needles. I should have used a size 2 needle or knit one less repeat of Chart 1 because not only did the shawl end up longer than called for, I ran out of yarn, hence the green edging. Finished dimensions are 78"X44."

Chart 4 was completed a few days earlier without much ado but that first row of the last 4 was a challenge for me for the simple fact that I was not reading the instructions carefully. In all, I guess I had to frog that row a total of four times before I got it right. Once that was settled, the rest was a breeze.

Chart 2 did give me a bit of trouble initially since I had gotten very used to the rhythm of Chart 1. I was finally able to knit the first few rows of Chart 2 without major mistakes after a few tries and with a lot of concentration.

mistakes were made along the way but some I did not correct because I felt they could easily be overlooked or worked around with. If something was really off, then I'd frog and correct it.

Icarus before blocking

Close up before blocking. The colors in this shot are the most accurate to the real thing.

Icarus in the blocking stage

Icarus is the first "real" project that I block and not having enough pinable surface area was a real challenge. I made do with what I had and while the blocking could have been a lot better, I am rather happy with the end result.

Overall I liked knitting the pattern and the final result. If someone were to request Icarus, I would more than likely knit it again.