A Finished Object for Friday!

To be absolutely honest, I finished Carla Kisielnicki's Wisteria Arbor Shawl, from the absolutely fabulous Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders book, in May 2011. I am always loathe to get out the blocking paraphernalia, so I left it unblocked and wore it as a scarf.

Finally, 15 months after casting off ... I cleared off the table and got out the pins, wires, mats, and spray bottle. Now it's blocked.

Much better!

Now I have something warm for my shoulders and neck!

If I remember correctly, I bought the Merino roving from one of my favorite large suppliers, Pacific Wool and Fiber.     







Now I'm off to re-block the orange lacy thing that is featured at the top of my blog. I've blocked it once, but now I think I'll try to block it so it's long and narrow rather than square.


Then, before I pick up another knitting needle, I'm going to go finish beading the other side of the Judy Jacobs Crest of the Wave Scarf, which I abandoned after beading one side.

I either needed a break from the tedium of stringing beads onto a wire then onto a string, stabbing my fingers repeatedly ... or Molly Cat was getting on my last nerve with her interference. Probably the latter.

Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone! For my British and Norwegian friends, and visitors from all over, have a great weekend!

The Cardigan Post

Just to let everyone know I'm still alive ... still knitting .... I was sidetracked for a few days helping a friend move, so I wasn't knitting or blogging. Or reading other blogs. But I went on a knitting frenzy yesterday afternoon, and finished a lot of the cardigan. I also realized I was incorrectly measuring the length, and I had only one inch more to knit, rather than three (hello, math, my old nemesis ... got me again, didn't you?) Usually my math errors don't work in my favor, so this was a nice discovery.

The Cardigan with Cabled Yoke is close to being finished. I just have to knit above the yoke, then I guess button bands and all that. This will be my sixth adult-sized sweater! I've done cardigans, cables, steeks ... what I haven't yet done is an adult-sized colorwork sweater, which is next. More of a coat or jacket, actually, rather than a sweater, but it is --

Oh wait. I've done colorwork before. A Bohus ... never mind! The steeked sweater was a Bohus, so it has the colorworked shoulders. So silly of me to have forgotten that. I guess I was so involved with the steeking, I forgot there was colorwork.

Okay, well ... here's another shot of this one:

To be honest, I'm worried about the sleeves ... they look really funny. I don't think they'll look any better once the top is done, either. I hope it blocks out, or I'm going to look very funny holding my arms out to accommodate the sleeves.

Here's a cute picture to make up for a boring blog post ...

Hooray for 'sketti! 

Don't forget to stop by TamisAmis for WIP Wednesday!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday!

Lots to report!

Okay, well, just two items, really! The Paton's Cardigan with Cabled Yoke, which I might accidentally have called Berocco in an earlier post ... oops!


This is a fun knit. Once I got past the slight mess I made of things upon starting the pattern from the yoke, I started flying right along!

This is Paton's Classic Wool, which is a medium/4, and the pattern is knit on size 8 and 9 needles, so it goes pretty quickly. I have six more inches to knit on the bottom part, then pick up stitches for the shoulders and sleeves. It's short-sleeved. I'm anxious to finish it because I have already selected my next project, and I am eager to get started on that one. It's only mid-August now, but another cold East Coast winter is coming up! I'm gonna need all the socks, hats, mittens, and sweaters I can knit!



My other WIP is just a quickie pair of socks ... my first time knitting with Tofutsies yarn, with is 2.5% crustacean shell! The rest is wool and cotton. It feels nice, doesn't split, but if you have to recast on a length of yarn several times (I did, because the cast-on I chose kicked my butt), the plies tend to separate.

The colors are lovely.  This is the yarn that is featured (the only yarn featured) in "Socks a la Cart Toes Up" which is one of those great books that lets you mix-n-match your pattern. I'm sure you all know that. I have both of the books, but I really prefer toes-up .... I like the simple gusset with a top down sock (I *love* that simple heel/gusset combination!) but I like knowing how long I can make the leg before running out. So I normally wind up with top-down, even though I make a mess of the toe that way.

I am curious how everyone else does it, so please take a moment to respond to the poll I posted at the bottom of the blog ... Toes Up or Cuff Down?

Thanks! Have an awesome week, everyone!

Why, Yes I *Am* a Naughty Girl...

And I can teach you to be bad, too!

 Nicky Epstein's Bohus Swing Coat, from "Knitting on Top of the World."

I pledge to not cast on until my Cardigan with Cabled Yoke is cast off.

I *also* pledge not to have a vacuous expression on my face while wearing the lovely Bohus.

(And I promise these will be more meaningful pledges than my "no new yarn" pledge was)


I chose Cascade Yarn instead of what the recipe called for, because I love Cascade, and my LYS has a lot of it in many colors!

Oh, and new sock yarn, because when I'm bad, I'm really, really, bad. Tofutsies soysilk and crustacean shell yarn.

Really. Shrimp and crab shells. 20%.

Stay cool!

If I Teach the Cats to Knit

Will they leave my stuff alone?!

Honestly!!

The Smocked Fingerless Mitts are nearly done, and like everything else in the 60-Quick-Knits book, they were fast and fun to knit up.

I have to be honest ... I was careless and knit two left hands. So I pulled one back and then I was careless and forgot to stop knitting the buttonhole spacing! In the recipe, the buttonhole garter stitch goes all the way to the top, but I stopped on the first glove an inch from the top.



 Then I forgot to stop on the second glove and knit it to the top. Instead instead of ripping back, I just dropped those four stitches down about six inches and reknit them that way. I have gotten shockingly good at doing that ... even with cables. 

The thumb is added in later, and it was a pain to undo that thumb! I weave my ends in really far, and I can never find them again. 

The Drop Stitch Scarf (aka Angry Eyes) was finally blocked out, and is ready to gift. It's lovely ... long, soft, and full of alpaca-y goodness.



And cat hair, thanks to Petunia and Edgar Allen Poe.

Thanks for stopping by!

Petunia Hates it When I Say She's Fat...

...but seriously, look at the size of her! 

My foot is huge, and she totally dwarfs it!

Here, this helps ... holy cat! She's like 8 inches across!!! That ain't all fur, either!




She was the runt of the litter, too ... the one  I had to hand-feed, the one the vet almost took away from me because she was so undersized. At 6 weeks she only weighed two pounds!

 

Sorry, guess I'm being catty. The heat and humidity are getting to me. I have a bottle of Prosecco chilling in the fridge, and once it's nice and cold I'll have a glass. I've actually knit a lot this week, but not on the sweater. Mostly on this:

One of the smocked wrister thingies is done, and I started the second one last night.

I went to the fabulous All About Yarn in the fabulous Columbia yesterday. And despite the fact it was my birthday and I was completely entitled to break my no-new-yarn pledge ... I bought only buttons. My willpower was strong. I actually went to Jo-Ann's first, which is just about my favorite craft store, but all the buttons I liked only came in threes or fours, and I needed ten. 

Aren't they pretty?

Edgar Allen Poe likes the wristers.

He's a bit of a floozy, though.

I've also been spinning -- I haven't done much of that at all this year.












This is a S&W purchase ...

The braid at the top right. I spun the yellow on spindles, and then I put the yarn in a safe place which I now can't locate. Maybe it's with my missing Trindle and pink bra.


So that is my week ... heat, humidity, rain, a birthday, some spinning and knitting, and a fervent longing for cool Autumn temperatures. How is everyone else doing?



Don't forget to stop by Andrea's for Fiber Arts Friday Fun-ness!