seam stressed

Just a heads-up to everyone: I'm switching from Typepad to another blogging program, and my knitting blog URL will be changing to http://stinkerpie.net/ss . The blog is there now, but I haven't changed the default design or anything.

What a mess.

All the pieces of Spencer's shawl-collared sweater are done, I just need to block them and sew the darned thing together. I was thinking that he might not get to wear it very much before the weather got too warm for it, but it's freezing here again, so maybe he'll get more wear out of it than I thought.

And I started a quickie little project for Ginger, a felted cloche in hot pink, light pink and spring green. She tried a sample on in a yarn store and wanted to take it home, so how could I refuse? I'm using Peruvian Highland Wool from Elann.com, and it's going really quickly. I'm in the middle of stitching the stripes on now, and then I'll felt it.

Also still working on my second Koigu sock. Janette thinks that I should unravel my first top-down Koigu sock and redo it as toe-up so it matches the first one. It would kill me to rip out an entire sock, but I think she's probably right. Stay tuned to see what happens!

Seems like I'm always behind with my blog posting. I try to console myself by telling myself that it's because I'd rather be knitting than blogging. Which is true. The little ones keep me busy enough that usually I have time for just one or the other---right now I have both kids coloring at the table with me, so I'll be able to do a quick update, yay!

Yes, I am a gold medalist for the Knitting Olympics. I feel a bit like I cheated, though; out of the allotted 16 days, I worked on my KO project during maybe 8 days. It was a simple stitch, which I knew beforehand, but I thought that it would be big challenge time-wise. It wasn't, and so I feel like I didn't really challenge myself. I vow next year to choose something more difficult---maybe a pair of socks?  But I do love my finished project, a mesh shawl knit using Blue Heron beaded rayon in Marshgrass, a palette of sage, rose, soft plum and a bit of blue.

Excuse the horrid photo, it looks better on me than on the hanger.

I even had time to start another project during the Olympics: socks using the Koigu that the fabby Jannett gave me last summer.

I love it, but because I did it top-down I had some leftover, and I didn't like not using up every yummy bit of the skein. So for the next one, I'm doing it toe-up, and I'm going to knit it until I run out of yarn, even if it means that the cuff is longer than the cuff on this one. Call me Queen of the Mismatched Socks. And even though I started this in February, I'll be finishing in March, and it's pink, so I'm going to use it as my Project Spectrum project.

I'm all done with the knitting part of my olympic project!

And a close-up:

It needs some severe blocking, and then I have to sew the two ends together, and I'm done! Easier said than done, since I don't have anywhere that's both cat-proof and kid-proof to block it except the unheated, freezing sunroom; I'm hoping it warms up enough sometime during the next few days for me to go out there and block it.

My Blue Heron yarn did indeed arrive last Thursday, so I was able to cast on and start knitting my shawl during the Olympic opening ceremonies last Friday night. It's coming along fine, although I did have a few moments of panic when I realized that my shawl is wider than the one my friend made, but she assured me that some severe blocking will straighten things out in the end. No photo yet, the batteries in my digital camera are dead, but hope to have some soon!

I do have pictures of my completed Regia Tivoli socks:

For the first one I cast on 60; for the second I cast on 72. The 60 was too tight, the 72 is a tad too loose (I'm actually going to undo the ribbing and knit it more tightly so it doesn't sag); next time I'll try casting on maybe 66 or so stitches. Funny, I started my yarn in two totally different places in the color pattern, but because of the different circumferences of the socks, they wound up being almost identical.

Also: pictures of the cabled purse I made for my sister's birthday:

I used one skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick plus a little extra to sew the handles on. I lined it using a retro tropical girl print:

I wanted the lining to come up to the top, so I tucked the ends of the ribbon under the lining and sewed everything down. Knitting was the easy part, making the lining and sewing it in was more of a pain. She likes it and hopefully I'll get to make one for myself one of these days.

I am so excited about the Knitting Olympics! I'm going to be knitting a shawl-type thing, and I have the pattern, which is good. My yarn still hasn't arrived, which is bad. I'm going to be using Blue Heron's beaded rayon; I really wanted the Sand or Canyon colorway, but I had the hardest time finding either one, either locally or online. [Sidebar: if you're a yarn store owner and are interested in making money, it would be nice if you would actually respond to e-mails inquiring about your products.] I finally found Sand and ordered it, only to have someone from the store call to say that they didn't really have it in stock [Another sidebar: if you don't have the color in stock, please SAY SO on your website to avoid wasting my time. Thank you!] and that they'd send another colorway, Clay, which they think is similar. It arrived, and having seen Sand in person, I can say that Clay is nothing like Sand. So I hopped on eBay and wound up purchasing the colorway Marshgrass. The seller shipped it last Saturday, and I thought it was coming via Priority Mail, but it's coming First Class instead. I have no idea how long it takes for something to get from Florida to Ohio via First Class; I'm crossing my fingers that it arrives either tomorrow or Friday, or else I won't be able to cast on during the opening ceremonies! And I don't have a backup project, so I'll be sitting there knitting some other work in progress and pouting about my delayed Olympic shawl. Keep your fingers crossed that the yarn gets here soon!

First! An updated photo of the Fair Isle:

It's not that bad. Actually, it's kind of fun. Like a little knit-by-number painting. It stays interesting because the pattern changes every row, and not having to purl rocks my boring little world. I'm not sure I'd want to do an adult garment in Fair Isle, but this isn't the knitting hell I thought it might be. It's slow going, tho, even working with two hands; I think it took me an hour to do eight rows. The color in the photo is washed out; I have the worst time taking decent photos of my projects, mostly because I know nothing about photography, also because our house has almost no natural light. Even next to the window in the middle of the day, the light is dim because of the huge trees (even leafless they get in the way). Plus it's winter, so it's cloudy a lot. Here's the same photo, minus the flash:

I did the same thing for my Tivoli sock. Here's a photo taken in the sad natural light next to the breakfast nook window:

And this one was taken just a few feet away on the table with no flash . . .

. . .  and with flash:

I dunno which one is the best. Anyway, this is the second sock of the pair, but I'm doing some things differently. I've realized that I'm knitting at a gauge almost two stitches tighter than the pattern I was using, so I cast on more stitches to fit around my ample calf. I'm hoping to perfect my technique and pattern on this sock; I have another skein of Regia Jubilee in a neutral colorway waiting in the wings to make myself a third pair of socks.

I'm all about the socks these days. I have some Palette in Bark and Blush that I'm going to use to make some brown socks with pink heels and toes, and some Koigu, and some Dancing, and  . . . well, a lot of sock yarn-in-waiting.

The Wizard sweater is done!

The good news is that Spencer loves it. He's asked to wear it several times since I finished it, and when he put it on the first time, he ran to get his 'magician's hat' (a glittery Uncle Sam hat from July 4th) and his 'magic wand' (a length of dowel) and tried to make Ginger disappear ; )

My big challenge for 2006 is going to be a Fair Isle sweater for Ginger. So I got up the nerve to start it last night. I thought I’d start with a sleeve because it’s smaller, so I dove in. And it’s done in the round! And then I kept reading the pattern and realized that the body is also done in the round, which means I have to do steeks! I have to CUT MY SWEATER. After I read that I had to make a margarita and go lie down for awhile.

I think it’s going ok, except maybe at the beginning/end of the round where I have to introduce a new color and increase stitches (the directions read something like “increase 16 sts evenly across first round, then continue in st st following Pattern A, centering center st at center of sleeve while AT THE SAME TIME increasing one stitch at the beginning and end of each round every fifth round 11 times, being sure to leave 2 sts between increases, then increasing in the same way every fourth round 10 times”. It’s a nightmare.). It looks messy at the beg/end of each round, I don’t know if it’s something that will get straightened out when I tie up the loose ends or not. I’m trying very hard not to pull on my stitches but I’m not sure it’s looking exactly right and I wanted to run it by someone who’s familiar with it before I go any further in case I need to pull it out and start again.

Just put two lots of yarn up on ebay: Phildar Aviso and some authentic traditional Irish Bainin.

I've been working on my So-Called Scarf lately, and am almost finished. A photo of the work in progress:

I love the stitch; the colors aren't really me, tho. My LYS ordered the Manos for me and I think they wound up getting the wrong color, but it took so long (several months) to come in that I didn't bother exchanging it. Maybe I'll save it to give as a gift.

I've been doing lots of sock knitting and finally finished Gary's birthday socks. It was the second pair I knit using Regia Jubilee. The first ones, for myself, are really cute but need some changes, namely the ribbing at the cuff. I need to unravel it and knit it with a smaller needle since it's kind of loose. And while I'm at it, I'm going to add some length to it since I have a ton leftover.  I always noticed that my socks were a tad tight around my calf; I just thought I had fat legs. Then, while knitting Gary's, I re-checked my gauge. The pattern I was using called for 7 sts/inch, and I'm knitting at 9-9.5. No wonder the socks felt tight! I'm almost finished with the first of another pair for me. I don't have the heart to rip out an almost completely finished sock, so for the second one I'm going to increase the number of stitches I cast on and see how it feels compared to the other one. Theones I'm making now are the Tivoli colorway.

I'm in the middle of seaming Spencer's Wizard sweater, but I already started another sweater for him, too---a simple shawl-collared Debbie Bliss pattern using Wool-Ease Thick & Quick. Looks boring, but it's an easy knit.