Nothing to See Here

Well I can't say a whole lot of anything got done this week. Between my 2 daily projects the lace has taken over most of my knitting time. The darn thing is in my head so bad I cannot stop knitting on it...even reknitting parts. It has gotten a wee bit frustrating over the last couple of days. It seems like the more "comfortable" I get with the pattern, the more the pattern is out to smack me down. The "weauxf gods of knitting" have taken me out more than once on this project.

The funny thing is that it seems to occur about the time I count how many rows I have left on the current chart. I haven't paid much attention to how many rows are in a given chart. When I do count the rows about halfway though, I get pretty excited to be almost done with another chart, then the weuxf gods decide "ooooo gotta smack her silly and make her tink back a row or 4" just as soon as I have 2 rows left.

It has taken over 2 hours to fix my error of a dropped stitch...a simple drop would have been quick. Nooooo, I had a bigger problem of fixing 'sl 1, k2tog, psso' which ended up down 2 rows from were it should have been. Once that unwound itsef I could not get back in pattern without ripping past the error & starting again.

I tell you what I am stopping all counting of rows...from now until completion I will only move the marker up one more row. The weaxf gods are not going to get me again....on to chart 8 of 15!

Progress on the Knitting Front

Progress is being made on a test knit for Laura at Dragonwingarts. I'm up to chart 5 of 15 so I'm almost 1/3 finished with the shawl. I'm still enjoying the knitting even through some boneheaded mistakes on my part. You would think that counting would be easy at my age wouldn't you? Evidently 8 is too large a number for me to knit & count at the same time. Might have to count out loud as I knit the stitches...that'll drive DH crazy won't it?

The Edge sweater is also coming along. I'm up to the armpits & starting the decreasing for those. The front really should be done by midweek and I'll post pics when there's more to show. I'm thinking the sweater will not be worn this season unless March gets really cold. No need to be much in a rush to finish I don't reckon.

I really like the shape of the sweater. The diagonal 'shaping' looks to be very flattering...I hope so anyway.

A Do Nothing Day

Today is one of the rare "do nothing" kind of days. With the light coat of ice & dreary day predicted I decided to get all my work done early so I could knit ALL DAY. I have actually done a small bit of tidying & laundry...there's always laundry.

I am knitting on a lace test pattern for Laura at Dragonwingarts. So far I am enjoying the heck out of the project. Lace knitting projects have been few for me so as part of the Knitting Fearlessly I decided I really need to do more "difficult" or intense projects. I don't find this one difficult, but I do need to pay close attention to my "psso" areas of the chart. I have missed a couple of these and of course I don't realize this until I'm on the purl row. Which is a bit annoying , but it is knitting...even if it is backwards!

I'm using a yarn, Malabrigo Lace in Indigo, that I have not used before. It's a wonderful blue colorway that has some lights & dark playing off one another. I think it's going to show off Laura's pattern well. I'll post pictures once I'm done with the knitting & Laura says it's okay to do. I must get back to the lace...it's gotten into my brain some kind of bad. I reckon that's a good sign, right?

Excitement & Expectation...maybe

When I realized that I was down to only 2 projects (Her Ski socks and 1/2 a Monkey sock) I decided I needed to cast on at least 2 more projects. I've gotten used to having multiple projects to work on during the evening hours. TV just is not interesting now that football is done unless my needles are in hand.

There are times I feel like having an intense, pay attention to type of work and then there are those evenings that the brain is shot (or body) and I want the so called "mindless project". A couple of nights ago I cast on the Edge Shapped Sweater from Out of Town by Debbie Bliss. I first saw this sweater knit up at one of my all time favorite yarn shops, Mosaic, in Blacksburg back in December. The owner, Gina, was kind enough to track down whose pattern it was and order the book for me. I bought the yarn, Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran in a charcoal gray color, at Mosaic around Christmas and now that all the projects that had been hanging around are done it's time to get busy with the sweater.

If I am lucky maybe I can get this done in a couple of weeks. So far the knitting is fairly simple 4 row repeat so I cannot say that the mind is being taxed to the limit. I must say though that the excitement of casting on a new project makes me very happy. I'm keeping the expectations in check, but so far the yarn is behaving well and feels yummy in my hands.

Whitby's are Done!

Wooohooo...another finished object complete and ready to wear. I finally completed my Whitby Socks in Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush on Saturday.

For some reason the brain stopped working between the leg & heel gussets and I dropped a stitch somewhere along the way. The sad thing was I did not realize this until I had about 3 inches left before the toe decreases. Why oh why does this always seem to happen as soon as I say out loud no less to my DH that "I'll finish these tonight". Tempted the knitting gods with that comment because as I was saying this and putting the sock on to see how much longer it needed I noticed the loose stitch on the gussett. As I was trying to see if I could just tack thing 'tighter' rather than rip back it became quite obvious that I was indeed screwed beyond hope...there was a dangling stitch just sitting there and no way to get it back.

I decided to sleep on the "problem" overnight and tackle during the daylight hours. The solution was to frog back to the LEG for goodness sake and start again paying attention to every stitch. It took a few hours to get back to where I was the night before, but once back on track the sock had no other events happen to it. I love the yarn and the feel of these socks. At first I was worried the cables would be felt when a shoe was on the foot, but this is not the case at all.

Details:
Pattern: Whitby in Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush

Yarn:Pagewood Farm Hand Dyed Sock Yarn, fiber content: 70% merino, 20% bamboo, 10% nylon, color: reds

Needles: Latern Moon sox stix, size 2

Finished Size: Woman's size 9

Modifications: I cast on 8 extra sts to insure a nice fit around leg & foot since my foot is about an inch larger the suggested finished size of 7 1/2 inches. I adjusted the gussetts as well to maintain 17 stitches on needles 1 and 3 to get the size needed down the foot.

Decreased down to 4 sts per needle, continued knitting the last 4 stitches to the end of needle 4. Then I used the kitchener stitch to close the toe rather than the suggested method.

Here, There & Everywhere Cables

Wow was this scarf fun to knit up. The pattern is so simple, but looks way more complicated with the way the cables run on both sides. I love that the most...no matter how you put the scarf around your neck the cables are right there showing off with no "right side" or "wrong side".


The yarn is fantastic...super soft and feels so nice & warm as you knit it up. I wish we'd get some more cold weather around here so I can truly enjoy the scarf this season. I know it will be a much worn scarf during the next football season. I'm thinking a set of mittens to go with the scarf could make great use of the last skein in the stash...maybe I can score some Hokie Orange malabrigo to go with the red mahognay. My DH likes to claim it's purple which it is not...definitely maroon which is why I chose this colorway.


The details of this project:
Pattern: Here & There Cabled Scarf by Nora Gaughan as found in Scarf Style

Yarn: Malabrigo, colorway red mahogany, 2 3/4 skeins

Needles: 24 inch Knit Picks Options, size 7

Finished size: Length 75 inches with a width of 5 1/2 inches

Modifications to original: CO 54 stitches for a narrower scarf. The original stitch pattern was kept the same & continued until I felt the length was long enough. I did block the scarf using my current favorite wash, Soak, as suggestioned to open up the interplay of the cables. I'm happy with the results.

Retro Rib Socks

Finally done, I cannot believe it has taken over 6 months to finish the darn things. I started way back in the summer doing these socks. I don't really remember what I started to do rather than finish up a set of socks when the 2nd one was complete to the heel for goodness sake. I do remember that the ribbing on these drove me nuts...easily memorized, but went on and on.

I so love the yarn for this project... the Jitterbug yarn feels so nice on the feet. Project details are:

Pattern: Retro Rib Socks in Favorite Socks by Evelyn Clark

Yarn: Jitterbug by Colinette in the Castagna coloway

Needles: Clover Bamboo, size 1

Size: Woman's medium, size 9

Now on to the Whitby's.....

The Ella Shawl

The Ella has been blocked and is now dry. The shawl turned out beautiful in the Handmaiden Sea Silk...only one regret and that is in the overall size. I modified the pattern by dropping down a few needle sizes due to using the much finer sea silk rather than the called for Lady Godiva. I so wanted to use the Sea Silk, but the large needle size of 10 was much too large for the yarn. I chose to switch to a size 5's which did show the stitch pattern very nicely.

As I was in the process of knitting the pattern I did consider adding some rows to the overall pattern to make up for the needle size, but decided it would be large enough for the way I would use it. Now I'm thinking a tad bit wider/longer may have been a more wise decision.

Now on to the details:

Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk - 2 skeins

Pattern: Ella by Wendy Wonnacott

Needles: 47" Addi Lace Turbo, size 5

Finished size: 35 inches from the outer tip to the center bottom edge, panel widths are 13 inches

I have been draping this around me during the evening and it feels very nice against my skin. I was surprised at the warmth of such a light shawl...it will be a much used item in the cool evenings out and about.

Ella is Finally Done

I finally sat myself down and finished up Ella. The sad thing was the short amount of time it took to complete. It only involved 2 evenings of knitting time to finish the darn thing. I wish I'd known how close to being finished I had been... it would have been nice to have this completed in October of 2007 rather than Feburary of 2008. Oh well...what is done is DONE!

Today the shawl got a bath in Citrus Soak. It's now in the process of being blocked. I'll post pictures & details once it has totally dried.