In case you haven't seen this already, Google finally announced updates to Blogger (there's a Slashdot posting too). The good news is that they've added lots more features including topic labels (categories) and a simplified template editing interface. The bad news is that these updates are only being beta-tested by a select few Blogger users.
I've actually got the body done! Finally! House shopping and moving really cuts into knitting time.
I wasn't thrilled with the cast-on edge, so I'm in the process of picking it out and doing a tubular edge. I'll post pictures soon.
I can't think of a better way of getting rid of my leftover Mission Falls 1824 Cotton. Odds and ends leftover from Childhood and the Strawberry Hat. In the fact the pattern calls for MF yarn. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the library book I photocopied this from. The pattern in the book is the one with the i-cord tie. I made a gender neutral one for another friend because, well, mom and dad to be don't want to know the gender.
I don't usually model my FOs, but I'm just so happy with it, and you can see the colors in the red yarn better with the natural light. This Lotus Blossom shawl (pattern from Fiddlesticks) is a great size, the bottom point more than covers the bum (if you guys care about such things).
My favourite way of wearing it is the so-called dramtic throw (M. Waterman, Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls) shown below.
Now all I need is some nice Druscilla dresses, to go with it. Anyone know where I can get one?
Ivanova
Well here it is! What a fun and easy knit, it was done in 2 weeks plus a day! And it's gorgeous, imho. The pattern is the Lotus Blossom shawl from Fiddlesticks, and the black yarn is Alpaca Cloud from knitpicks held doubled, color Midnight, and I used a bit over I hank. I had some leftovers from the shawl I knit last year, and the Branching Out made just in time for Christmas. The red yarn is some Basic Merino Sock from Fleece artist, I have no idea which colorway, it wasn't written on the label. That stuff is way to pretty to wear on my feet, in my opinion. It turned out quite large, 70" along the top, and a bit over 36" down the center. I'm so happy with it, I can't wait to wear it! Can you tell I just blocked it?
Ivanova
Whew! I finally did it - I finished baby blanket #2, the Kiri shawl in KnitPicks sock garden, colorway pansy. I guess that the bright colors detract from the stitch pattern, and maybe I should have stuck to the Flower Basket Shawl, but I just don't care anymore. I hardly ever worked on it at home because I was bored with it. NO MORE KNITTED GIFTS, hear that family and friends! You can expect yarn and needles and patterns but I refuse to knit for anyone else but me (and my non-knitting husband) for about a year. I will knit for him cause he helps me block things. Well, here's the pics:
The classic draped on the couch shot, no natural light at this hour. But the colours are pretty accurate, no flash.
The center point detail shot with flash. Yes, the couch cover is blue, not green as is shown here.
Oh well....
Now for a few of the WIP's... I went to a LYS sale, and some Fleece Artist basic merino sock called out to me. I bought 2 and decided to make the Lotus Blossum shawl from Fiddlesticks, but I didn't have enough for the whole thing. So I decided to use some of my stash to make the shawl, where the stems part is black Alpaca Cloud from KnitPicks held doubled, and the bolossomy parts are the sock yarn in a gorgeous red-brown-coffee colourway. See below:
I tried to stretch it out as much as I could considering that the knitting is longer than the circular needles. I'm quite happy with it, and the colors in this picture are accurate. I also really like the pattern, the stems part is a no-brainer, and the blossoms are more challenging, but repetetive enough that I haven't put it on hold. In my opinion, the new Icarus shawl in Interweave knits that Delenn is going to be starting soon is probably a similar level of difficulty. This one is so easy, this is where I'm at after one week. I'm almost done! 28 rows to go! I can see this being completed in 7 days... I love fast and easy lace. This is easier than Kiri was...
And now for non-lace WIPs... I started the sweater I posted about earlier, the medieval inspired cabled number that I sketched. Well here's the back so far:
The colours here are not accurate, but this shot shows off the cabling nicely. The yarn is Kilcarra of Donegal Tweed in a purple colourway - they seem to have two different purples, and all I can say is that I selected randomly between them. There is a color code on the yarn, but the E-Bay store I bought it from do not use the color codes. The store is Irish Yarns and Crafts. I am very happy with this purchase, it seems to be the best-priced tweed aran weight yarn that I could find - $52.99 for 1660 yards. I compared with LYS prices, and this is a VERY good deal in my opinion. And 100 % wool. Not the softest, but considering that I will wear a shirt underneath, it's not a big deal. And it may soften up with a wash or two, using Eucalan or something.
But sadly, I have made a mistake somewhere, and have to rip back to the start of the armholes. And it's too hot now to make bulky sweaters, so I guess it'll wait a couple of months.
Ivanova
What we have here is my backup project in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK from a LYS sale bin. I started this Memorial Day weekend when Salt Lake got buried under a cold stormy weather front. Trying not to impale myself on these bamboo needles kept me entertained while waiting for the deluge to end. Blue is also the Project Spectrum colour for June.
So far, I'm underwhelmed by the yarn in spite of the soft shininess and pretty colour: it's fragile (loosely plied, fairly splitty, tends to pill) and slippery as hell. For the sake of my sanity as well as my wallet, I would hesitate to use it or the aran weight (assuming it has the same problems) to knit a sweater. We'll see how the hat progresses. 
As promised, an unblocked back and the right front piece with the bottom half of the lace pattern chart done. The yarn is Rowan Cashsoft 4 ply in Loganberry.
Finishing projects is a good thing. This poor neglected scarf was started well over a year ago.
The baby sweaters for the cousin's babies are finally done. They languished while waiting for a high-performance computing course to end (painful!), zippers to be inserted and ends to be woven in. They're only about 7 months late.
From a distance:
And closeup:
Well, now that Menja is nearly done, all I have to do is make the collar, block and sew, I have
started to plan the next sweaters that I will try to cram in before it gets too hot to do anything but lace. Next up is Ragna, for my DH, who loves cable knitting (but not knitting it himself ;) ).
Then, I was contemplating modifying Lavold's Fjalar, but I will put that on the back burner for a later date, even though I have already ordered the yarn, Moss green Merino Style from KnitPicks. I think a nice earth-toned yarn deserves to go into a truly medieval style sweater... something like Trud from Lavold's designer's choice book one, the Viking Knits Collection...
It's cute and medieval all right, but it's just too skirty for those of us who do not wear skirts all that often. Can you picture that number over a pair of jeans with a belt? No way! Too bulky.
My potential solution: get rid of the damn 'skirt' a.k.a. peplum, and make the damn thing a cardigan. And to be more medieval-ish, make the cables go all the way up. Kind of like armour, I guess. And a narrower cable panel so I can still incorporate waist shaping. And LOTS of buttons, but no buttonholes, instead little loops to hook over the buttons. Go ahead and blame that adorable movie no one watched, Tristan and Isolde, I watched it twice in the last two weeks and I feel all inspired. So here is a badly drawn schematic of my vision...
I like the flaps on Ragna, but Ragna is waaay to big and busy for me. And I love lots of buttons.
The cable panel is 'narrow panel with little lattice' shown as a sketch beside the sweater, but I may go for the wider version, 'wide panel with little lattice', I still have to do the math and swatching for this one.
Susan
I finished this thing a long time ago... (January-ish) but I haven't gotten around to posting a picture of it. Here are the pics:
I love this sweater, as soon as I saw it in the magazine, I HAD TO HAVE IT. I used Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool 4 skiens, for the medium size, which I think is a bit too big on me. I only needed the 4th skien to finish the lace edging. One thing to note though, is that the instructions say to knit the edging separately and sew it on as you go. WTF? Who would do that? Instead I knitted on the border picking up stitches as I went, as can be done for attaching borders to lace shawls as outlined in Miller's Heirloom knitting.
Now for the catch... as some of you know I've been kinda under the weather for the last 6 months or so, and I've lost a few sizes of girth. So none of my dresses fit. NONE. Waah! So now I have nothing to throw this adorable sweater over! It clearly does NOT go with blue jeans and a tee shirt, as you can see in the lower picture. So I propose giving it to Thrace, wo will treat it lovingly and with care, NOT felt it, keep it far away from her cats, so one day, when I have nice clothes again, I can maybe borrow it? The terms of this adorable sweater adoption are negotiable... And Thrace, if you can think of any of my dresses you'd want (like the black mandarin collared number) let me know too. Blah. I hate replacing all my clothes. :(
Ivanova
It's finally done! That's it, about to be packed up for delivery to the doting parents. Between work, a high performance computing course and all the other life stuff, I had to finish the applied i-cord edging during the trip. A couple of notes about the applied i-cord: I found that knitting the picked up stitches through the back loop looked neater, especially when working with strands of different colours.
I also got the idea from Grumperina to pick up yarn loops through the slip stitch selvage at the sides of the blanket, knit the loops, then finally use those slipped stitches to make the applied i-cord. The stitch patterns looked really nice on the wrong side, so no backing was necessary. I wish the picture I took of the wrong side hadn't turned out so blurry, but I was in a hurry. You'll just have to take my word for it.
I've already covered the pattern details. In hindsight, there are a couple of things I'd do differently with the border: I'd use a provisional cast-on for the i-cord instead of knitting a few extra rows (picking out the cast-on and getting those loops is a bitch), and I'd knit the i-cord starting with the wrong side facing forward (that way less of the underlying colour shows on the right side).
There was a little time for shopping in Vancouver, so I dragged the SO to Urban Yarns. They have a nice little sitting area, so he didn't suffer much. Since I'm trying very hard to be disciplined with money, I only bought a couple of balls of Cathay to try out with Glampyre's One Skein Wonder and something new from Elsebeth Lavold:
I haven't found her products locally yet, so I decided to get a ball of her Hempathy to see how it knits up and what it might be good for.
I mentioned in my last post that I was torn between a few project ideas for a reasonable quantity of Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs and Butterflies in color black purl. Here is a picture I pulled off the web of that colorway.
Nice and somber... sedate yet refined. Now for the potential projects..
#1 A very nice worsted weight lace shawl from Vogue Knitting Fall 2005.
Pros: If I do it, I'll have a non-laceweight shawl. Perfect for those cold seasons. I also think that
pictures of this shawl are as refined and sophisticated as the yarn.
Cons: It's hard to keep a shawl under a coat, so if it becomes a shawl, it won't get worn as much
as a sweater would. Not nearly as versatile.
#2. A cute sweater from Holiday 2005 Vogue Knitting.
Pros: It's shapely and feminine, nice bell sleeves and wide collar, reminiscent of the Victorian era.
Cons: I'm not that sure the amount of varigation in the yarn will go with this style. I guess I'll have to swatch a fair bit of it to be sure.
#3. The Fjalar sweater from the Viking book by Elsebeth Lavold. I adore this book, and in my opinion this sewater is the most feminine one of the lot that would fit a petite frame well.
Unfortunately I have a few issues with the design which I illlustrated in this photo.
I hate the drop sleeve, and the ribbing at the wrist. It makes the girl's arms look funny. And I hate the way the neckline puckers, I have seen the same think on the small number of finished
Fjalars posted on people's blogs. The solution: turn it into a set-in sleeve V-necked wrap-front
cardigan, illustrated below.
Bear in mind that this is hand-drawn by me, and I can't draw worth a damn! I would keep the cable panels on the sleeves, but do away with the ribbing. I would try to make the sleeves as straight as possible, which is not illustrated very well. Issues: how would I close it? Buttons don't seem like the best option. Snaps? Sassy little ties? A belt? Suggestions please!
Pros: It would be a shapely feminine sassy little number, slightly medieval looking to boot (never a bad thing).
Cons: It will be a fair amount of work to swatch, figure out measurements, etc..
Votes Please!
Ivanova
I snapped a shot of my friend's baby, wearing the "Childhood" cardigan from Knitty that I made last November. Isn't he cuuuute?
There, I released my barbaric yargh. Fans of Dead Poets Society anyone? Anyways,
I am swamped. Here is my progress so far...
1. Thesis: 2.5 Chapters to go
2. Job for when I'm done: Check
3. Preparing defense: No
4. Submitted Publication (that's been hangin' around for nearly a year (!)): No
5. Taxes: No
Finished objects since last post: 2. The cute mini-sweater from VK International (August 05)
and some cabled Armwarmers made from Lamb's Pride Worsted. I did them so it was a small project to try out LPW, and my conclusions are: a) it is a joy to knit with, b) it's itchy!
Now for my knitting progress, on the needles:
1. Flirty (Rowan Summer 2005 (number 37 I think)). My conclusions: The gauge they give is
in RIBBING! It inconveniently coincides with the gauge on the label for stocking sitch. How do they figure that eh? So I knit a fair bit, thought it was way too small, checked the gauge on the
pattern, and discovered that I will never achieve it. So now it's just hanging around, occupying
my number 3 needles. Yargh. I am seriously tempted to donate it to you, Thrace, so you can take this litle burden off my shoulders. Or maybe I'll change my mind when warmer weather approaches and I get tired of handling wool.
2. The stupid freakin' baby blanket mentioned below, ripped out and restarted as a Kiri.
I hate it. Why do SOME people have TWINS when I'm so freakin' busy? Yargh. I'm about 2/3 of the way there, and my main incentive to finish is to free up my US6 needles for a future project (See below).
3. A diamond trellis lace shawl, my own design, in a yarn I love (handpaintedyarn.com's lace pure wool, color little lovely). This one is pretty fun to knit, and I want to submit the pattern when it's all done to the Anti-Craft. I hope they'll dig it, but I haven't heard anything about my previous submission yet, so who knows.
Future Knitting:
1. A portion of another baby blanket. Yargh. If anyone else gets pregnant, I will scream. Or go to Baby Gap instead of knitting. Or scream at Baby Gap. You get the picture. (Note: this does not apply to you, Thrace. Feel free to have children, to get our mother off my back about having grandkids. But you won't get any knitted gifts :). )
2. Ragna. I recently aquired Lavold's Viking book, and I adore it. Most of all, I love Ragna, so I will make it for my dear sweet husband, who has been tolerating the accumulation of yarn admirably.
3. Menja from Lavold's designer collection book 1. I think it's the cutest sweater EVER and I HAVE to have it. The yarn is already waiting for me to free up those US6 needles! Yargh.
4. My congragulatory/depression yarn gift to myself is a bunch of Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs and Butterflies. I am torn between a lacy/cabled zippered cardigan with a wide collar in VK Holiday 2005 and a leafy lace shawl (made from cashmere! yargh) in VK fall 2005. Votes please....
I'll post pictures as soon as I get less swamped, I promise. Shame on me, I am a very bad blogger.
Ivanova
So, I liked this pattern enough to make a second one. I made this one for myself. I used Naturally Sensation (70% Merino, 30% Angora) in lavender and it's really soft. I really enjoyed knitting with it since it's very springy (helloooo cables). I did some math to figure out how many stitches I needed, changed the cable pattern to one I found on an aran toque (5-fold braid) and used the Kittyville hat decrease (with more stitches) instead of the one in the Coronet pattern. I actually think that I would have been better off using the Coronet decrease. The goal in using the Kittyville decrease was to make it less puckered at the top, but I think that it ended up looking worse... But tolerable. I couldn't be too picky since I also needed a warm hat because of the bone chilling temperatures outside.
I also should have mentioned that I didn't make the hat anywhere near as long before decreasing as described in the Coronet pattern. Working 9.5 inches from the bottom band for hat #1 would only have worked if my sister's boyfriend was one of the Coneheads.
Well, it was supposed to be one of my many handmade Christmas gifts, but this one didn't get finished in time. I completed it in January and gave it to my sister's boyfriend before taking a picture of it. In my haste, I forgot to... I was rushing since, well, baby it was cold outside and he had no hat. Anyway, I had them over to my place a few weeks ago to watch a few episodes of Smallville (one of my few guilty pleasures) which gave me an opportunity to finally snap a shot. I wanted a photo reminiscent of a hilarious shot I saw on "you knit what".
Except that he looks really happy instead of scared and dejected. Probably because the hat's just so amazing. Yeah... That's it....
Anyway, the pattern is Coronet from Knitty. I used the yarn specified in the pattern, which is Lamb's Pride Worsted. This was my first attempt at cabling and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
I have been knitting a lot, but have failed to post regularly to the blog (shame on me). But I do have a photo of a doily I made for my mother. Maybe I should think about doing the geologically sound thing next time and put a penny beside it for scale. It's actually fairly small. Truly I do make too many things for other people, but I'm now working on stuff for myself which I'll blog about later. The unfortunate thing about making stuff for people who don't do crafts (like my mother) is that they now expect that you can whip off 7 more without it being too much trouble (!)
While I don't mind making the odd thing for my mother, crochet with cotton thread and a 1.5 mm hook doesn't really yank my crank, if you know what I mean. I'd much rather be knitting!
As you can see, I've made it to the second colour set (the colours here are a little dark compared to real life). I think this pattern is working out pretty well.
This picture links to a closeup of the stitch pattern. The bamboo rib and berries stitch make for a nice thick yet airy and flexible fabric. Considering that the recipient lives in Vancouver, this should be about right for the damp, chilly but not really cold climate.
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