Finishing and Starting

The Idella scarf was washed and blocked last Sunday. I was shocked when I washed it as it grew several feet in length. It's pretty and over 7 feet in length. I was quite thankful for the blocking wires Hubs gave me for Christmas. I can't even begin to imagine how long it would have taken if I had to use individual pins. I used one skein of Malabrigo lace yarn (barely had a yard or two left in the end!) and did 17 pattern repeats per side.

Finished Idella

I started a new project Wednesday night, a Pinwheel blanket using Cotton Ease in "Lake". Round projects bring up an interesting question, how in the hell do you get a decent picture of a flat round project when it's in the hairnet looking bagging off the circular needles stage?

Laid flat and focused on middle - not too shabby!

Zoomed out a bit to see size, but it looks lumpy

Well, it DID look like a ginormous beret...

Still Alive

Crap, now I'm going to have the Portal song stuck in my head all day...

Hubs and I are back on the mend though still under the weather a bit. It's been a few phlegmy weeks around these parts.

New Lace Project

My hands haven't been idle. A new lace project was started over a week ago - the Idella scarf from "Stahman's Shawls and Scarves". Little bit over halfway finished with it now, only 14 repeats of the lace pattern left. My hands deserved a bit of a break after hefting the Saffron Cables blanket around for a few weeks. Loving the pattern and the Malabrigo lace yarn. Goal is to finish this by this Friday evening.

Fesssing Up

Ok, been wondering why I haven't been posting much this fall? Truth be told, I'm a fall TV season addict. Every night of the week, I have at least one hour long show scheduled to record on the dvr. Then there's Tuesday nights when I record 5-6 hours of TV. It's a sickness, but I'm getting a hell of a lot of knitting done! TV people, seriously, deal with the screen writers guild that's on strike, they're worth it! Don't take away my House, or Bones, or multi-variant CSIs, or Heroes, or Journeyman, or Chuck, or.... *ahem*

Helllo to my shadow! I can't take decent pictures in the winter.

Current big Christmas project in progress is Juno Regina from Knitty Fall 2007 surprise. Working it in a cashmere and silk blend from Colourmart with US3 Knitpicks classic circular. The pointy end part was really fun, but I'm slowly slogging through the 2 row pattern repeat for the vast majority of the stole. Wishing for some pointy get grippy needles about now to keep a better hold of the end stitches. Overall, a pretty enjoyable project thus far.

Knittin' Fool

Faroese shawl got a good blocking over the weekend, and the final ends were woven in. Second Christmas present is done! *dance*


Project Details
Pattern: Faroese Shawl from "A Gathering of Lace"
Yarn: 2 skeins of Malabrigo lace weight yarn in "Orchid"
Needles: Knitpicks Options US 4
Project Thoughts: LOVED this project. The yarn was wonderful to work with - not splitty yet very soft. The final piece is beautiful and is a very manageable size. Rarely do I say this, but I would reknit this project in a heartbeat. The Faroese shawl style stays on your shoulders easily, too.

Guess it's a very serious shawl based off my facial expression

I've started another Christmas present and am over halfway complete all ready. It's the His/Hers Reversible Scarf from "Cables Untangled". Simple quick knit using Malabrigo worsted weight in "natural", but my hands are itching for more lace knitting.

Cheap knitwear model for hire - will work for cookies...

or belly rubs while watching "Chuck"

Block Party

It's a block(ing) party!

Busy bee me has finished the Faroese Shawl, Monkey Socks, and have gifted Grandpop's Father's Day socks in the past few weeks. Better pics will be forthcoming - best I could do tonight in the dark :)

These Ol' Hands of Mine

Sometimes when knitting lace, I have a hard time believing that something so fine and delicate is being made by my hands. My hands are more utilitarian in nature. Hands that were made for working not for hand modeling. Callouses can still be felt on 6 of my fingertips from years of playing electric bass. Damaged nails and frequent scars show my true klutzy nature. Polish never worn on nails that feel like they're suffocating under a layer of lacquer.

Somehow, they fit the bill nicely for lace knitting though.

Pics Taken by Hubs

Catch Up

Guess what's back? My knitting mojo! Coinciding with the return of fall TV shows, my drive to knit came back full force, and I couldn't be happier. Of course, I didn't pick up the multitude of wips shoved in a basket in the spare bedroom. It called for a new, big project!

Faroese Shawl from "A Gathering of Lace"

I've been working on this for just over a week and am on the 36th row. Doesn't look like too much progress, but that's around 14,000 stitches. I'm using Malabrigo lace weight in "Orchid" and Knitpicks Options US4s. All around enjoyable project thus far, and the Malabrigo is sooooo soft.

Saturday, I received my Knitty Sock Swap package from Ms Pixie Riot. She knitted the Clementine socks from Socktopia using her very own Yarn Oddity sock yarn in "We Want the Airwaves". They fit wonderfully and are beautiful - thanks Pixie!!

Clementine Socks from Ms Pixie Riot

Hubs got a new toy over the weekend - a Canon EOS 40D digital camera. It's big and it takes wonderful pictures. Oh, and it has a wicked fast burst mode...see?

CHOMP!

Busy, Busy

Whew, this past weekend went by all too quickly!

Last Thursday was our 4th wedding anniversary. I surprised Hubs with an overnight stay at Cabins and Candlelight on the Boone/Montgomery County line in Indiana. I'm proud to report that the steaks I grilled for our anniversary dinner turned out yummy and not briquette-like as per my usual grilling standards. :) We had a wonderful, relaxing time. Just the ticket after a pretty stressful week!

Once we were back at home on Friday afternoon, knitting began again. Feather and Fan Shawl is now on the second chart. I wish I could pin out and flatten the shawl with it on the needles to show how it's progressing. It's now back to knitted shower cap stage on the 24 inch circular.

Progress as of July 2nd

After a several month long stretch of being in book "blahs" trying to slog through a crummy book, I chucked it aside and have regained my reading mojo. I've finished reading two books in the past week, including Darkly Dreaming Dexter which completely gave away last night's episode of Dexter. :) Worth it though to be enjoying reading again!

Redecorated

In case you read my blog via an RSS reader, pop on over and see my redecorated site. Thought I may as well get into the spirit of the season - Harry Potter season that is! With the Order of the Phoenix movie and Deathly Hallows book premiere in a few short weeks, I had to reflect my excitement on my blog. Oh, and if you wonder why I didn't use Gryffindor house colors of gold and burgundy, I'm more of a Ravenclaw house member. :)

Yes, it has grown!

I finished 1/4 of my Knitty Sock Swap knitting yesterday evening (one sock done out of four!), so I picked my Feather and Fan shawl out of the works in progress basket. It's ready for row 54 of the first chart. With 240 stitches per row, it's taking me awhile to get through 2-3 rows per hour. Of course, that was also hindered by watching last night's Dexter rerun. :)

I would be amiss if I didn't apologize for my lack of posting last week. Feeling horrid for 2-3 days really set me behind, and my poor blog was left gathering dust. I'm back with now and hope to resume more frequent posting this week. :)

Progress

I've been catching moments to work on the Feather and Fan Shawl for a few days. After a few evenings worth of knitting on the dpns, it looked like a lunch lady's hairnet. :-/

No, it's not a hairnet!

Much better on circs!

There are still 15 rows or so left in the first chart, but it's all ready on a 24 inch circular needle and over 200 stitches around.

More Socks!

Blogger ate my Movie Musings (not so) Monday post last night on Casino Royale. Instead, I give you another finished pair of socks!

Horcrux Socks

Project Specs
Pattern: Horcrux Socks from ImKnittingAsFastAsICan.com
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns "Hedwig"
Needles: Trusty Crystal Palace US1 DPNs
Modifications: To keep the fiddly factor down, these were knit over 4 needles, not 5 as specified. Also I made the cuff a bit longer. Kinda sad that the fab lace pattern in light yarn is lost against my pasty, pale legs.

Started at Last!

After swatching, winding yarn, and drooling for months, I cast on the Feather and Fan Shawl last night at long last. My summer-time opus knitting has begun!

Preparations

Knitting this week has taken on a big theme - preparations for starting the Feather and Fan Shawl from "Gathering of Lace". I've been eyeballing this pattern for a few months after seeing it on the Knitpicks site. Never before have I hashed through an example project before just casting on and starting a new project. But, I didn't want to waste an inch of the beautiful Briar Rose yarn earmarked for this shawl. Tuesday night, I sat down and figured out Emily Ocker's circular cast on. I had a hell of a time with it since I couldn't find an online example video and used pictures instead. Wednesday, I wound the project yarn and was shocked all 2,500 feet (almost half a mile!!) fit on my ball winder.

Briar Rose Fibers "Angel Face" Lace Weight Alpaca

Last night, I sat down with some superwash Cascade 220 to try the start of the shawl. It's a circular shawl, so it starts with a belly-button like cast on in the middle and is knitted outwards. I decided the sample I knit last night was too pretty to just banish to my knitting drawers, so Mom's going to use it as a small doily.

Sample Start of the Feather and Fan Shawl

Knitting Knitting, Who's Got the Knitting?

Yeah, I've actually been knitting! Main work has been on the Opal Tiger socks. I decided that these will be a Mother's Day present, so I better get cracking!

Love these stripes!

Much more lace inspiration lies within!

Since the most recent Knitpicks catalog has been sent, I've been enamored with the Feather and Fan Shawl. I scoured over all the local bookstore and vendor at the fiber fest trying to get my hands on a copy of "A Gathering of Lace". Being the impatient yet cheapskate person that I am, I ordered a copy from Overstock. And waited...and waited...and waited. Finally, it arrived on my doorstep last night, and I've been drooling over the lace projects since. Can't wait to cast on!

Finished!

Thursday night, I finished knitting the North Star Scarf. I ended with 7 full pattern repeats , 2 repeats shy of the pattern specifications. I didn't want to tempt the knitting fates by trying more repeats with the wee bit of leftover yarn. In a fit of energetic productivity, blocking commenced this afternoon.

Cause of this evening's back crick
But wait..

ARGH! A MISTAKE!! Why couldn't I see this big honkin' mistake before blocking?

Artistic pose over the snowy April afternoon

Really, the bathroom and I aren't orange. Guess it's new camera time!

Project Specs
Pattern: North Star Scarf from "Arctic Lace"
Modifications: Only completed 7 out of 9 repeats due to short yardage
Yarn: Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in "Horizon Heather". The Knitpicks website has this listed as needing one skein of Alpaca Cloud, but to have a full-sized version, buy two skeins.
Needles: US 3 Knitpicks classic circs
Project Thoughts: Once I got the hang of the slippery Alpaca Cloud, the KP classic circulars were very nice for the lace work. Loved the pointy ends. Pattern was very well done with easy to read charts; I especially liked the inclusion of plain knit stitch counts between pattern elements on the chart. The evenness of the k2tog and k2togtbl kept the stars crisp looking. Overall, I loved this project, and it's a major downer that it's finished.

No Movies, More Lace

Once again, I find it to be Monday without any weekend movie watching for a "Movie Musings Monday" post. Keeping busy with trips to my hometown on Friday and Sunday, and a general lack of energy on Saturday left little time that I felt cognizant enough to follow a movie plot.

But, there was knitting. Oh, and how there was knitting.

Now on 7th repeat of the North Star Scarf

A rather large chunk of time Saturday afternoon and night was spent curled up on the couch with CSI Season 5 and The L Word Season 3 DVDs. (Can I just say, sad Alice just breaks my heart!) An 8 hour chunk of Saturday to be exact. I do love lazy weekend days.

On a separate note, there is no way in hell that I'll be able to do a full-sized 9 repeat North Star Scarf with one skein of Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud. If you want a long flowing North Star Scarf, get an extra skein of yarn. I'm hoping beyond hope I can eek by with the wee ball remaining and finish the 7th repeat.

The Ol' Switcheroo

With the untimely demise of Rome and general lack of any other programming that caught my attention, I canceled HBO last weekend. I picked up Showtime just in time to catch the series premiere of The Tudors - loosely based historical drama, count me in! However, we did watch Dexter and enjoyed that more than The Tudors which I purchased Showtime to watch. What can I say, I love those CSI-like shows. My Sunday evenings will be TV filled once again with Dexter, The Tudors, and Dresden Files. :)

As you can guess, I was able to work in some knitting time with all that TV watching.

Lookie, four repeats done!

Ah Yes, Knitting Progress

Last Friday as I was packing up stuff for D&D night, I found that I had no projects that were at a state to be portable. I grabbed a skein of my long-hoarded Opal Tiger sock yarn and a set of US 1's. Here's my progress after a D&D session and going to the movies Saturday night. Yes, I knitted through the whole movie in the dark. Hubs thinks I have a "problem" now. *scoff*

On the road knitting project

Sunday afternoon while Hubs and his brother were engrossed in a game of Warhammer 40k, I broke out the CSI DVDs and knitted a bit on the North Star Scarf.

Almost 1/3 of the way finished!

I'll be bachelorette-ing it a bit this week while Hubs is in training in Chicago (Poor guy, he's sick, too!) I'm fully expecting at least one night will be spent with this scarf watching Battlestar Galactica DVDs in mourning of no new BSG until 2008.

Well, Shit.

Last night, I settled down with the North Star Scarf and movie reruns on HBO. Oh, how I loved Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead when I was a kid. Though, I was surprised that the ginormous shouldered clothes and even bigger 80s style hair could fit on a 65 inch TV.

I did finish the first of nine chart repeats. After admiring my handiwork, I googled around the blogosphere to see if any other knit bloggers were working on or had finished the same project. That's when I saw it - an errata for the North Star Scarf charts. There were errors in the first printing of the pattern on line 17 and 19 of the pattern, out of 56 total lines. :(

Can always count on me for an unflattering picture :)

Eh, it still looks like a star even with the erroneous pattern

My plans are to switch to the corrected chart starting with the second repeat. Surely, no one will scrutinize it that closely to see the screwy pattern when I'm wearing it.

Oh Yeah, I Do Knit

I started a few new projects this weekend. First onto the needles was the North Star Scarf from Arctic Lace.

Start of the North Star Scarf

I'm being such a diligent knitter with this project. The pattern came from a book I received as a Christmas present (Thanks Dad & Betty!), the yarn is from my Spooky Secret Pal, and the needles were even on hand. This is my first project where I chose the pattern after I had the yarn on hand. No waiting for a trip to the yarn store with this project. The pattern grabbed me; a lace pattern that wasn't too frou-frou for my tastes. The picture doesn't capture the true color of the yarn, it's a very pale blue Alpaca Cloud from Knitpicks. It's so soft and cuddly!

Big surprise, more socks!

Second project to my needles is a pair of socks for my mom. A few days after Christmas, I got a call from her which started with a cryptic "Christina, I have to tell you something about your knitting." Luckily, that was followed by a request for another pair of socks because the pair I gave her for Christmas took a few days to dry, and she wanted a back-up pair. How could I say no to that? For this pair, I'm trying to bring together elements of different sock patterns to establish my own "easy sock recipe". I want to find the nicest looking heel turn, gusset decreases, and toe decreases because most of the ones I've done exactly from a pattern look like ass. Not picky, am I? :)