Too many WIPs

I had a case of startitis recently and now I feel all scizofrenic (if that's a proper word) and like I make no progress at all. I knit knit knit but it is a few rows on one project and a few rows on another and nothing gets finished! Which makes me a bit apathetic. At the same time I want to start a million *new* projects. Must. Stop. Myself.

Whispering Pines has about one fifth of its edging done. This half of the edging is all purls and p2tog tbl. Can you say snail pace? I hope the other half is quicker! It looks nice though.


The yarn (Malabrigo Lace) wants to felt where I keep holding and turning the work. I can't work on this with sweaty hands.

I'm about halfway done with Adamas.


10 repeats are done but the rows are definitely getting longer! I love this shawl though. The Dream In Color Baby is lovely, soft and springy (I hope it blocks well and doesn't spring back though) and the pattern easy but not boring. I am aiming for 16 repeats right now. I want a big shawl, and I think that 2 more repeats plus a heavier yarn than the pattern suggests will do it.

I'm not working much on the Big Grey Shawl but I really like it too.


I got this kit at the annual Båstad Craft Fair this July. It is a lovely one-ply fingering weight from Solkustens Spinnverkstad that goes from medium grey to dark grey and back again. I am a sucker for natural grey wool.

They had many lovely sweaters knit up too. The shawl is very simple, cast on 400 stitches, garter stitch and decrease 4 stitches on every other row. They had a sample knit up, which I foolishly tried on, and I had to get the kit... So Cosy.

The Crazy Pi shawl is resting, I need more leftover sock yarn to continue.

So, socks... I finished the first Sea Sock yesterday. Me like! M says it's too small for him but I think it will block out perfectly. I had just enough of the blue yarn for the cuff I wanted to make but I have leftovers of the main yarn. DK weight, so not for the Pi.

Then there's the Houdini socks.

These are fun! A free Cat Bordhi pattern from the premier issue of the Twist Collective (if you haven't checked out Twist Collective: Go There Now!) First you knit feet, with toes at both ends and no leg opening. Idiot knitting, no though involved, almost. Then you decide where you want the leg, pick up stitches, snip a thread and knit an afterthought leg!

Daughter H wants socks too. She picked out a yarn, a solid green, and I think she'd like something lacy. I was thinking Scroll Lace from More Sensational Knitted Socks.

Pretty, but the pattern repeat is large and with my gauge it fits *me* and that's way too large for a four-year old. So they will be frogged. I have another pattern in mind but maybe I should finish some other socks first. Because I suddenly found that I had started a pair of Spring Forward socks too... The reasoning was (I think) that I had a skein of Socks That Rock, in green, and that's the yarn called for in the pattern, and I haven't tried STR before. I'm just one repeat into the sock but I can already see why poeple get so obsessed with STR... It feels So Nice and it is great to work with. The pooling however... not so great.

I'm trying to ignore it and just let it happen...

but I'm not sure that I can. I may have to adjust my tension a bit to make it spiral instead.

We won't mention the other two or three socks that lurk in my project basket.

I also feel bad for the February Lady Sweater that I started before the summer. I haven't worked on it in ages and soon enough it will be sweater weather here. And I want to knit a Cobblestone for M and one for A, and a Gathered Pullover for me, and then there is Bonnie and Wisteria from Twist Collective and the Feather and Fan Triangle shawl I just bought yarn for (Plötulopi/unspun Icelandic wool) and another couple of shawls, and hats and mittens and I ordered Silk Garden for a striped vest and a striped hat or two and... Not Enough Time. Did I mention that I go back to work in two weeks?

Oh, and here's a picture from our wedding.


And last but not least... BREADCRUMBS :-) ***waves to my Hemlis 4 pal***

Better go knit now don't you think?

Hot and Bothered

It is very hot here, and has been for a week or so. 30 degrees C, blazing sun, little or no wind. I am melting.

Lots of things have happened since my last post.
My sister and her family arrived from Australia bearing gifts and some stuff I ordered and had delivered to their house to save on shipping. 5 balls of this:


Bendigo Mills Rustic 8-ply in Damson. M picked this for a sweater. I want to make Cobblestone. It is a bit thinner than the original yarn so I'll have to rework the pattern a bit, or simply make a larger size. We'll see. There was also 5 balls of Bendigo Mills Colonial 8-ply in Oatmeal for me.


Not sure what kind of sweater I want yet. Maybe a cabled cardigan.
I am starting to run out of stash space. I used to have mainly sock and lace yarn, now I also have four sweater worths of yarn that takes up much more space. I have to reorganise my space a bit. Clear up the mess.

The day after sister arrived M and I got married. Just a small ceremony at the court house with four witnesses and the two older kids. No pics because they are still on dad's camera. We had a party a few days after at the Cottage. Lots of cooking and baking in advance, a hired tent on the lawn, and a great time was had by all. And nice presents :-)
After that we relaxed as hard as we could with six kids in the house and so-so weather. I managed to knit quite a lot though. Whispering Pines has grown quite a lot.


I am halfway through the last small chart before the knitted on edging begins. I'm eager to see it finished. And to see how big it turns out.

There has also been sock knitting. Two finished pairs, no less. Pillars of Fire in Wollmeise from The Loopy Ewe sock club.



Nice yarn (but a little splitty), great colourway and a great pattern that was easy to memorise. A good toe-up heel-flap-and-gusset pattern too.

I also finished a pair of plain socks in a fun selfstriping yarn from sKNITches, Syncopation in Dragontooth.


Maybe not really my colours but they are fun, and I love the base yarn and the dye job. More details on both pairs on Ravelry (apologies to those of you not on Ravelry yet, but I don't have time for great details on both places and Ravelry is a great place and you really should check it out anyway)

I have started two new pairs, but no pics of those yet. I have decided to try to always have a plain pair on the needles and keep it downstairs at the TV, and a more complicated pair upstairs. So now I have started a plain pair for M in Duet sock yarn and a lacy pair for H.

I got a package in the mail! From my Hemlis 4-pal, look!


Great smelling tea (that I will try when the weather cools off!), yummy chocolate, a fun card, and look at the yarn! Three balls of Sarek from Marks & Kattens. A bulky wool yarn I haven't seen before. Maybe mittens? And 500 meters wool/silk lace weight, Elegant from Teetee in a beautiful plum colour. I have to find a pretty lace pattern for this!
Thank you so much for the great package, Ulrica! It made my day.

I finally managed to block the Brambles scarf I made from my own handspun.


I am very happy with it. It is heavy and soft with a great drape. It is also rather short but I can fasten it with one of my new shawl pins.


I found these through the Knitspot fan group on Ravelry, they are from Knitcellaneous.

EZ

I am on some sort of Elizabeth Zimmermann binge. Reading her books (I got The Opinionated Knitter and Knitting Around in the post this week), watching her on DVD (I got the Knitting Workshop DVD too) and knitting her pattern (I'm almost done with an EPS sweater), feeling very inspired and wanting to knit many more of her patterns. To think that I never knew she existed until a few years ago... Amazing how her patterns don't look very dated either, after all these years.

As I was finishing up Twist I felt the urge for another DIC sweater, and I have been wanting to knit an EPS sweater for some time, soooo I got me some DIC Classy in Flamingo Pie, plus a lone skein of Gothic Rose to use as contrasting hems (from The Loopy Ewe of course) These colourways go together really well! I was a bit uncertain of the combination but the Loopy Elves very kindly checked it for me. Gothic Rose is a dark eggplanty colour, and Flamingo Pie is a mild orange with yellow and light eggplant accents. I would love me a sweater of Gothic Rose someday, lovely colour!


You may see that the 'non-pooling' Dream In Color has pooled into a yellow zigzag on the chest (of course not on the back...) I don't think that it is very visible IRL though.

The hems of my sweater have the dark yarn on the inside and picot edge


and the rest of the sweater is plain except for a small zigzag on the yoke, right after the first decrease round.

First I wasn't going to put in any yoke patterns, but the sweater asked for it! I haven't decided what to do about the neck yet, maybe a picot hem just like the other edges, maybe just a plain roll neck. We'll see.

I have read many discussions about how to hold the yarn when knitting with two colours, but I have never seen my way described. So here it is. I hold both yarns parallell in my left hand (I knit left-handed/Continental/picking)


If I am careful to keep them some distance apart it is easy to pick the one I want for my next stitch.


You have to be careful not to pull the yarns to tight though. The floats must not pull the fabric in.
My zigzag has two rounds with 5 stitches of one colour and then one of the other. On those rounds I tried to carry the single stitch yarn in my right hand and throw those stitches. That worked rather well, and the floats came out nice and loose without any fussing.

I also have a new sock! My sock mojo has been missing lately, but when I saw Yarn Harlot's Francie socks I had to get the pattern and cast on. The pattern has been in my Ravelry queue for some time but now I realised that this, at last, was the perfect pattern for the red All Things Heather sock yarn that I wound up ages ago and had started at least three patterns with already. Hedgerow socks, Brother Amos' Brimstone socks and a few others got frogged. Nice patterns, but not for this yarn. Francie on the other hand is perfect!


One sock is done and the other is started.

And this is how happy you are when you get to climb the stairs!

Hi again!

I am still here, believe it or not! So much has happened since I last blogged that I hardly know where to start... Brace yourself for a huge post!

I have almost knit a sweater. Sheri at The Loopy Ewe started a Dream In Color sweater KAL with a 20% discount on the yarn, DIC Classy. After much agonising over what colour to get (and they colours were selling out fast!) I ordered six lovely skeins of Some Summer Sky. I figured that six skeins would be enough for any sweater.

Then I had to decide on a pattern... Twist by Bonne Marie Burns won at last. I have knit all the pieces and blocked them this weekend.


Blocking was a bit scary. I decided to wet-block and the even though I tried to be really careful with the wet pieces they wanted to streeeeetch like mad! I had to leave them for a while and then tried to push them together again to the right size. I think I managed to get them about right. Button bands and collar (I'm not doing the hood) will be begun Real Soon. Spring has started for real this time (I sincerely hope!) and Twist will be perfect as outerwear for a while.

H's Party Sweater has grown a bit but Twist has been more fun so it's not done yet. Though when I work on it it grows really fast, 3 sts and 5 rows to the inch, say no more.


Thi is an old pic, I have almost finished the body and 1/3 of a sleeve. It is great to be able to try it on as I go! There has been some ripping and adjusting. First I made it too big before splitting for sleeves, then the sleeve got too narrow. I hope I don't have to rip back any more now, I want this thing finished!

I have blocked other things as well. The Zenzi scarf has been patiently waiting since October...


Pattern: Woodland shawl, scarf version
Size: 41 sts, about 150 cm long
Yarn: Wollmeise sockenwolle, colour Zenzi
Needles: 3,5 mm
Verdict: Nice pattern, easy to learn by heart. I prefer to knit from a chart and made my own. Now there is one linked from the pattern page. There were one or two small errors in the pattern but they have been corrected. The stitch pattern is of course somewhat lost in this busy yarn but I like it anyway. The brown black and white reminds me of birch bark.
The yarn is a bit odd, it feels almost like cotton even though it is 100% wool. It is also a bit splitty. It blocked just fine, and softened too. I have to make socks from this yarn (I have a few more skeins) and see how it behaves then.


Obstacles is also done.


Pattern: Obstacles by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Dream In Color Smooshy, 2 skeins Ruby River
Needles: 4,5 and 5 mm
Verdict: Mmmm. Lovely pattern, great texture to the stitch pattern, easy to learn by heart. I love Anne's designs!
The yarn is really nice too and it got a lovely drape after blocking. The second skein was more varegiated than the first one but I don't mind.


The shawl fits little girls too!



What else? Lets see... Oh yes, socks! I finished the Tall Tibetan socks over Easter (at the cottage. This fireplace is the main heat source. Very cosy)


Pattern: Tall Tibetan socks from New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi.
Size: 50 sts
Yarn: Schaefer Lola in Raspberry Mocha
Needles: 2.75 mm
Verdict: I like knitting this pattern but the fit isn't so good for feet with high insteps like mine. The sock is a bit inelastic just there.
The yarn is nice to work with (and sportweight yarn make quick socks :-) but I'm not really happy with the pooling. The light brown is my least favourite colour in the yarn and of course it wanted to show itself off in big streaks...

I started a new pair of socks too (even though I have two other OTN) I saw someones striped Noro socks and just *had* to...

I'm using colours S40 and S102 of the Kureyon sock yarn, two rounds of each, and Wendy's toe-up slip-stitch heel pattern. I am almost at the start of the gusset. The yarn isn't very nice to work with, tight and a bit rough and splitty with my 2 mm needles, slow going. But it softens as you work with it and it is fun to watch the colors change :-)

And when Spring Knitty came I just had to cast on this:


The Lace Ribbon scarf. I am making it a little narrower than the pattern suggests, 44 sts instead of 53. The yarn is from Gypsy Girl Creations, fingering weight in Blueberries and Cream.

Spinning: I spun some lovely top from Squoosh, merino called Kiss. Here is the fiber


the singles

and the yarn

185 meters of two-ply, about sport weight or DK I think.

Then there was the Spunky club fiber for February, Think Spring. Fiber


singles


yarn




4 oz/110 g South African Fine, Navajo plied (my first. That took some concentration!) 100 m/110 yds of worsted weight. I have 12 more ounces of this (I got 8 ounces from Spunky, then someone on my mailing list wanted to sell her 8 ounces and I jumped) I haven't decided if I want to treat the rest of the fiber the same or if I should experiment.

Last but certainly not least, some superwash merino handpainted by Aija of Zero. I won't show the fiber because I couldn't get a colour correct photo of it. Here are the singles:

and the yarn:



I really liked spinning this. The fiber was pretty, and the yarn is oh so much prettier. The colourway is called Glass Nyctimene and it really looks like glass. The colours are translucent somehow and they go together so well. I am happy! This is 115 m/125 yds of DK weight 2-ply.

And today my four year old H learned to ride a bike without training wheels! On the first go! She is amazing. She wanted to try her friend's bike without training wheels and I said sure, I'll hold on to you. But I didn't have to. She figured out how to start all by herself too. Turning corners is still a litte difficult, but I bet she'll have that down pat when we get to daycare tomorrow.
Here she comes with her big brother E (who was a year older when we coaxed him to shed the training wheels)

Wrooooom
She was smiling so wide I thought her head would burst :-)