22 and 33

I finished putting my stash into Ravelry today.  The last two categories of yarn were lace weight and sock yarn.  I have 22 unknit shawls and 33 pair of unknit socks in my stash.  Now, all of the unknit socks aren't for me.  All of the shawls are, plus I just joined the Goddess Knits Decadently Divine Shawl Club so will have 25 unknit shawls by the end of the year, not counting the three shawls currently on the needles.

At the rate at which my current supply of knitted socks is wearing thing, I need to get cracking on getting some every day socks knit up.  First, I think I'll finish up the socks I've already got started.  Tonight I worked on my Paraphernalia socks. There are two other sock projects needing 1/2 to 1 sock to finish. Should be easy enough to finish up if I stay focused and stop getting side tracked by other abandoned WsIP.

Speaking of WsIP, I did have a go at finishing up a long ago knitted up sweater.  I started the thing in the late 1990s but didn't like seaming and wasn't very good at it, so the sweater has languished.  Now I need to put the sleeves in it, the collar on it and figure out how to sew a zipper into a sweater.  Hopefully that won't take me 12 years.

I decided to knit the WendyKnits Summer Solstice shawl in my handspun. I picked a needle size that is two or three sizes larger than the pattern called for.  I also modified the pattern into more of a scarf, skipping the last clue and casting off early.  The end result is a nice crescent shaped scarf that I will wear this winter.  I got a new coat last winter but hadn't gotten around to getting or making a new scarf.  It turned out quite well.

Summer Startitis

I tried to resist. I really did.

I have fallen for the WendyKnits Summer Solstice KAL.  I am now trying to decide whether to knit it in Araucania sock yarn or in some sport weight handspun merino.  The handspun is a bit heavy for this pattern.  I'd have to go up two needle sizes to get a nice fabric, which would make a much larger shawl that would possibly require downsizing.  I'm just not sure if I want to use the Araucania for this particular project.  The green color does, however, match my winter coat quite nicely and I could use a nice winter scarf....

While I sort out which yarn to use, I am instead chugging away at the EZ 100th Anniversary Pi Shawl, also from WendyKnits.  I'm about to finish Clue 3.  At the start of Clue 4, I will have 576 stitches.

Q2 Knitting Update

I still haven't finished the baby sweater for the co-worker. At this point I think I'll knit the sweater and either donate it or leave it in standby mode for the next time I need a baby gift. 

I didn't bother taking the Paraphernalia socks with me to Georgia on my last trip. Instead, I finished the Spring Forward socks that I worked on while I was there in December. 

I also knit the first sock of my first pair of Monkeys.  I now know that the round trip drive between Tbilisi and Batumi is almost exactly one sock long!

Most of my knitting efforts at home have been directed at my EZ 100 Anniversary Pi shawl.  I'm 2/3 of the way through the third clue.


I had good intentions regarding Knit Night at the local yarn store on Friday. Unfortunately I was still dealing with jetlag a bit.  I fell asleep at 4:30pm and woke up at 8pm. Knit Night was 6-8pm.  Ugh.  Maybe next month....

Quarterly Knitting Update

My sister's birthday socks were, as usual, a bit late, but they're done.  I finished them about three days after her birthday and mailed them about a week late. I hadn't told her to expect anything so she was quite surprised.

I next moved on to my Tri-Cities Socks.  I purchased the yarn three or four years ago when visiting the area.  The pattern is SpillyJane's Pittsworth.  I liked the cables as they remind me of the three rivers in the area.  The yarn colors remind me of the landscape in the area--blue sky and various colors of brown for the vegetation and dirt, with a hint of green.  I was worried that they'd be too snug to wear, but they're not.  They're quite comfortable. I hope they wear well.  This is the first time I've used an alpaca-wool blend yarn for socks.

During an early April trip to Tbilisi, Georgia, I worked on a new pair of socks. The pattern is Paraphernalia. I think the yarn is Mountain Colors Weavers Wool Quarters. Size two needles.  I have the first sock done.  The cable repeat is a bit uneven, but it's not uneven enough for me to rip back.

After that, I studiously avoided the orange cardi with the badly sewn on lace edging.  I toyed with going back to my Spring Forward socks but instead decided to start an EZ Anniversary Pi shawl (Wendy Johnson's KAL from a couple years back).  I think I'm on the third clue now.  I'm using Cascade Alpaca Lace and size 4 needles.  

A colleague at work is having her first baby in July and her baby shower is in a week, so I started another Baby Sophisticate.  I started using Paton's Shetland Chunky, just like the last time I made one, but then thought that a thicker yarn would make a larger sweater which might be better.  So I picked up several skeins of Lion Brand Hometown USA.  I am nearly to the point of dividing for the arms.  I think it's going to be huge and may just revert back to finishing the Shetland Chunky version instead.  The shower is on the 2nd or 3rd of May so I have a little time yet.

Yarn Bombing for London Olympics

 This is one of the coolest yarn bombings EVER!  It must have been an absolute hoot to do too. I wonder if it will become a tradition in Olympic cities now. :-)

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/9128385/London-2012-mystery-knitter-leaves-Olympics-themed-knitted-figures-on-pier.html#?frame=2161009

January Knitting Progress

The orange cardi is all knit up and I attached the lace border to the body of the sweater, only to find that the cast off edge of the border was a bit too firm.  I'll need to remove the border, then re-do the cast on edge to be more stretchy before sewing it back on.

I spent the past week in Washington DC at a conference. My current sock project was too close to being finished to take with me and the other Socks In Progress too complicated, so I started a new pair of socks.  These are another pair of socks for Sis.  Pattern: Serpentine by Wendy Johnson.  Yarn: Koigu Premium Merino.  I'm halfway up the foot of the first sock.

Happy New Year!! 2011 Accomplishments and 2012 Plans

I've discovered that one of the benefits of Ravelry is that it tracks what I've accomplished in a year, if I actually remember to enter all the projects into it.  I don't know that I've really ever tracked what I've done before.  Perhaps next year I'll keep even better track.  So here's the rundown on 2011's knitting: I completed at least four pair of socks, a baby sweater and two shawls, plus a half dozen dish cloths.  There might have been a scarf in there somewhere too.

I spun and plied a couple hundred yards of a sport weight three-ply merino yarn too. There's another pound or two of that fiber left.  Currently on the wheel is some tencel-superwash wool fiber that I'd like to turn into socks or perhaps a shawlette.

For 2012, I'm still poking away at the orange mohair-linen cardi and the green cotton cardi, plus half a dozen half-knit socks.  I'd like to finish all of those projects.  I'm also going to keep +Tricia Smith company knitting MMario's Queen Anne's Lace shawl.  On New Year's Eve, I purchased eight skeins of Shibui Knits Merino Kid in a dark emerald green and have tagged it to become the Blackberry Cabled Cardigan.  I don't think I'll get it finished in 2012, but I'll give it a decent shot.  I'd also like to finally finish my Freedom Sweater (started in 1995) and the February Lady Sweater (started only in 2010). This may be the Year of the Sweater instead of knitting mostly socks.

Regarding yarn and fiber purchases this year, the yarn or fiber will have to be something absolutely to die for or I think I'll give it a pass.  I've got more than enough yarn and prepped spinning fiber to keep me busy for a good long time.

Oh, and I'm hoping I'll be more consistent about blogging fibery progress and photos along the way!

Socktoberfest 2011 Final Report

I managed to not actually finish a single sock during the entire month.  I did, however, start three new pair of socks including the socks reported in my last post.

There are the black socks for Sis.  Too dark to knit in lower light conditions.  Too complicated to knit wtihout the chart. Yarn is some sock yarn by Plymouth. Pattern: Devon by Cookie A.

There are the teal/peacock colored socks. Also too complicated to knit without the chart or while trying to multitask. Yarn from an indie dyer (Purchased at Fine Line Creative Arts Center).  Pattern is Rosebud by Wendy Johnson.

There are the new cotton blend socks. Simple enough for pre-occupied knitting.Yarn is Sockotta. Pattern is Spring Forward from Knitty, Summer 2008.

Other non-sock ongoing projects:
 Blocks for a log cabin-style blanket that I'm knitting for Project Linus.  I don't knit on it very often, which I suspect is because I'm not quite comfortable just making up the pattern as I go. I want the blocks to all be different but then I also worry that it won't look good.  Today I had a possible idea--adapt the Tokyo Subway Quilt by Oh, Fransson! to my knitted blanket.  My version will just be two colors (red and blue), but it should still turn out pretty cool.
 
Current knitting focus
I've been working on the orange mohair/linen cardi.  I've only got the lace edging to finish for the fronts and the sleeves.  It's not particularly complicated and just needs to be done.  Once the edging is finished, all that will need to be done is the sewing up.  I need to quit procrastinating and just do it.  I really want to wear this sweater this fall and winter.

Next focus
Finishing some of those socks during some upcoming travel events, especially Sis' socks.  I'd like to get the green cotton cardi off the WIP list too.  I'll have to rip out the sleeves and pay a heck of a lot more attention to the gauge and fit so I end up with sleeves that aren't so darned tight.  This may involve modifying the pattern to get the fit I want.

There are a few pattern ideas percolating in the back of my head too.  I have a lace stole sketched out.  It may be that I actually knit a swatch or three and finally develop the full pattern.

Socktoberfest 2011

I discovered a nasty hole along the side of one of the socks I wore yesterday.  I suspect I snagged one on the buckle of my clogs yesterday.  I have a vague recollection of that but hadn't thought it pulled hard enough to break the yarn.  While examining the hole, I also discovered the heels are getting dangerously thin. :-(

On close examination, the socks probably should have been knit at a tighter gauge. I may rip both socks back to the ankles, then knit back down in a tighter gauge.  I suspect that darning the heels of these socks will be futile at the current gauge.

So now I'm celebrating Socktoberfest.  I'm using the same brand of yarn in a deep turquoise/jewel tone colorway.  I initially intended to knit the very same pattern that sprung the hole (The Through the Loops 2009 Mystery Sock), but have achieved 8 sts per inch on size zero needles and will instead knit a pair of toe up socks from Wendy Johnson's Toe-Up Socks for Everybody.  I haven't yet decided between Rosebud and Victory.  At the moment, I'm leaning toward Rosebud.  I'll make the final decision in another six rounds or so, when the toe is done and I'm ready to start the foot.

Through the Loops Shawl KAL finished

The KAL ended at midnight last Friday.  I finished my shawl around noon on Saturday, so I wasn't eligible for any of the lovely prizes.  But I'm happy with  my shawl and that's really what counts.

I estimate I've got about 300 yards left in the second skein of yarn.

Next Knitting Project
I am sorely tempted to join the Aidez KAL on Google+ that is starting up on October 15th or 17th.  However, I do have a few projects that I'd like to finish first.

First and foremost is the orange mohair/linen cardigan I started last fall.  It just needs the lace borders knit for the fronts and cuffs and to have the sleeves set into the body.  After that, I'd like to finish the green cotton cardi also from last year.  It will need the sleeves re-knit since they are far too tight.   I'd also like to get two pair of socks knit up for my sister for Christmas gifts, but I might be able to sneak Aidez in there as well.

More important than whether the queue has room is to decide if I want to spend my entertainment money for the month on yarn for Aidez or on a road trip to Portland on the 28th to see the Yarn Harlot at a reading. I'm leaning toward the road trip. :-)

Through the Loops Summer Shawl KAL

Ok, I've done it.  I've let insanity get the best of me. (That seems to be happening quite a bit these days.  I blame the recent full moon.)  In any event, I cast on Jeanne this evening.  Rather than using the blue Schaefer Anne that I was considering last night, I'd elected to use the two skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock (color Sequoia) that I picked up at Serial Knitters last month.

Not sure I can get this project finished by the 23rd to meet the KAL deadline, but I'll give it a shot.  We'll see what happens.

Frogging and Finishing and Starting

First, the frogging--I ripped out the Errold's Grove Wedding Shawl that was probably 80% complete.  It's been hibernating for the past couple years and I decided today that the yarn really needs to be something else.

Now for the finishing...the Pea Vines shawl is finished and blocked and ready to wear!  I didn't do as nice a blocking job on the top edge as I'd have liked, but it'll be ok for now.  To do it well, a set of blocking wires is really needed.  Perhaps I'll buy some for myself this winter.

All in all, I really liked knitting this.  I thought the pattern was extremely well written. When Anne Hanson said the pattern was a great traveler, she was definitely right.  This was a great travel knit. I may end up making another of these some time.

The starting part is a bit trickier.  I was resisting starting a new project until I started going through my stash and pulling out yarn to donate.  Now I'm sort of hankering to start several pairs of French Press Slippers to use up some gorgeous Harrisville Designs wool in different jewel tones.  These would be great slippers for a charity project.  I mostly talked myself out of that idea, but then I stumbled across the Through the Loops Shawl KAL.  There are only 13 days left to knit a shawl from one of Kristen Kapur's patterns.  Jeanne happens to be #7 in m Ravelry queue.  I just happen to have the exact yarn (Schaeffer Anne) in my stash and it's already wound into a ball....

Stash Saturation Point

I don't know if such a thing exists but I think I may have reached it. I went to a lovely yarn store last week with my Sis (Wool and Company in St. Charles, IL) and I could find nothing that wanted to come home with me. Plenty of beautiful yarn to buy but nothing that I was even remotely interested in purchasing. No alpaca lace, no colorful sock yarn, no indie dyers, no cashmere. Nothing. I'm not even upset that I wasn't excited about the yarn. Very odd. :-)

Pea Vines Update
I'm a little over halfway through the first chart. I've managed to catch and correct knitting errors fairly easily so far. Markers for each repeat help a whole lot in that regard. It doesn't look like the mobile version of blogger will post photos from my phone or I'd share. I still love the yarn and the color.

An "Interesting" Start to the Day....

The middle lane on the road to work was closed this morning. Drivers were not, however, really noticing the big flashing sign with the arrows pointing to the open left and right lanes.  So traffic was backing up as the middle lane vehicles tried to merge at the last minute into the other lanes.  And some drivers didn't notice the slowing traffic until the last minute.

Like the big F-250 pickup truck behind me.

Fortunately the driver had the sense to swerve smoothly onto the shoulder rather than slamming into the back of my little car.

Here's the fun part....

When the truck actually stopped, the front bumper was about even with the front of the passenger compartment of my car.

I suspect had the truck actually hit me, the bumper would have stopped about halfway through the passenger compartment, after pushing the rear of the car into me and me into the engine compartment.

That would have most definitely put a crimp in my plans for the day, not to mention the next few months or years.

I debated buying a lottery ticket today since I got tremendously lucky in avoiding a nasty bad accident today.  Perhaps I'll do that tomorrow. :o)

Domestic Travel Knitting

I decided against starting Sis' socks. I've been plugging away at the Tri-Cities socks (SpillyJane's Pittsworth pattern). However, as this pattern requires rather a lot of attention due to a goodly amount of cabling, it seemed to me that it's not really good travel or "visiting with relatives" knitting. So the socks will stay home while I trek off to Chicago and then the state of Georgia (as opposed to the country of Georgia I usually visit).

I made use of a KnitSpot gift certificate tonight and purchased Pea Vines, among several other shawl/stole patterns. I think the blue-green Hazel Knits yarn I just purchased will look stunning in this pattern. The shawl is knit from the point to the neck. Once I get past the border, it shouldn't be too bad to knit in the presence of company. If nothing else, it will give me an excuse to pet my beautiful yarn.

Initially, I thought I would make the Tall size, but am on the verge of deciding to knit the petite size instead. It occurs to me that a 80 inch wide triangular shawl is probably a wee bit too large for 65" me. The 60 inch version ought to be plenty big enough without being overwhelming. I'll end up with some yarn left over, but I'm ok with that. I can make some wristers or a cowl or use it as an accent color on something else.

Finishitis!

I have, in the past few weeks, managed to finish three pair of socks!!  The first were my green/brown Nutkins.
 
Then I finished Boy's Zombie socks. (no picture, I'm afraid). Both of these were travel knitting projects on my last journey to Tbilisi.  Today I finished off a pair of parrot-colored Fawkes socks for me.

There is one more pair of socks awaiting a second sock--my Tri-Cities socks (pattern: Pittsworth by SpillyJane).  I haven't decided if I want to start the second sock or if I want to start a new pair for my sister.  I've already got Sis' sock yarn and pattern bundled up, awaiting my decision.

Serial Knitters

I visited a new-to-me yarn store while in the Seattle area over the weekend.  Boy and I drove over so Boy could buy a new car.  We stayed in Bellevue and popped up to Kirkland to visit Serial Knitters after breakfast on Saturday.  Quite by coincidence, it happened to be Anniversary Weekend for the shop, so nearly everything in the store was 20% off.  I only wish I lived closer to the shop. The shop staff are very friendly and the crew of knitters hanging out in the back were just fun.  Too bad it's such a long drive over to sit and knit!!

I brought home five skeins in three colors. One Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Tart (not fart as I initially read it), two Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Aquarius and two Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Sequoia. The red yarn is destined to become a new pair of socks for me as I'm wearing out my one pair of red socks.  The other two yarns might become a  pair of medium-sized shawls rather than just socks (or maybe a small shawlette/scarf with matching socks). The blue-green Hazel Knits yarn is far too pretty to mostly hide under pants and in shoes. 

Fall Projects

Without even considering the projects I already have in progress, I got to thinking today about what knitted items would be nice to have in my wardrobe this fall.  I thought it would be nice to have a couple of medium-weight cardigans and maybe a pullover or two.

Wouldn't you know, I just happen to have these very items already in progress!!  Looks like I'll have to get off my duff and finish the orange and green cardigans as well as the February Lady Pullover and the Freedom Sweater that were started years ago (close to ten years ago on the Freedom Sweater).  The green sweater needs to have its sleeves re-knitted since they are waaaaaaaay too snug.  I don't remember where I was at on the orange mohair cardigan.  The February Lady Pullover got set aside in favor of the February Lady Cardigan that I knit for my sister's birthday a couple years ago. (She couldn't decide which version she wanted and I happened to buy enough yarn for one of each so I decided that I'd get the version she didn't pick.)

There will, of course, have to be sock knitting as well.  Sis picked out and purchased yarn for at least two, if not three, pair of socks.  I've got the yarn matched up with patterns already and just need to do the knitting.  My current stash of handknit socks is wearing thin, so I have to keep up with the replenishment knitting (which frankly isn't as much fun as just knitting for the heck of it).  I'll have to come up with some crazy scheme to make that more fun.

Nutkins Complete!

I finished my Nutkin socks about 1.5 hours into a ten hour flight from San Francisco to Munich.  Of course all of my other knitting projects were packed in my checked baggage.  This was probably a good thing in the long run as I really did need to sleep on the flight.  Having no knitting to do during a 5 hour layover in Munich was less ideal, but I did get some work done (reviewing presentations and answering e-mail) so objectively that was ok too, if not nearly as personally satisfying as knitting.

My current knitting project is the second of Boy's Zombie Socks.  I got about three hours of knitting in yesterday while waiting and riding in a car.  I could have done more if I hadn't kept taking pictures of the countryside. (We drove along the edge of a broad valley where wheat and oats were being harvested.  The golds and greens of the fields and trees were stunning against a backdrop of blue sky and thunderheads.  Too bad Van Gogh and Monet never used the Georgian landscape as subject matter.)

More Fibery Goodness
We visited the Kutaisi State Museum briefly yesterday.  They had the usual museum display of what the inside of a typical home looked like 100+ years ago.  It included a legless spinning wheel and wool combs!! The textile room included a 2 harness loom with a 24-30 inch weaving width.  It was threaded with very fine yarns.  I couldn't quite tell if it was new weaving or old weaving on the loom due to the faded colors.  The boat shuttle has clearly been used often.  Display cases held spindles, a crochet hook, patterned knitted socks (with a pointed toe that I associate with Turkish-style socks), embroidered clothing, a crocheted shawl, a knitted shawl and some religious textiles with heavy, detailed embroidery using gold threads.  If there hadn't been a couple of disapproving-looking museum ladies, I'd have taken a whole bunch of non-flash photos.  I should have asked if anybody actually uses the loom for demonstrations.   In the commercial products/industry room, there was a cotton gin and a dissertation from someone which was apparently about thread production and included small skeins of silk threads from various places.  The dissertation was handwritten (marvelous script) in French, so I was able to figure out what "soie et Canton China" meant.  I snuck a picture of that too, but will have to wait until I get home to upload from my camera.

On that note, I'm going to load my knitting, bottled water and camera into my backpack and go find a nice park area in which to sit and knit for a few more hours.

More Progress and More Travel Knitting

I've turned the heel on my second Nutkin sock.  I'd hoped to finish it before the end of the week but that isn't going to happen.

Friday I head back to Tbilisi again so I need to come up with another travel knitting project.  I'll clearly finish Nutkit before I even get to Tbilisi. (will need to take along a yarn needle to weave in the ends so I can wear the socks while traveling).  I may take Boy's second sock or another of my second socks.  Oddly enough, I don't feel like figuring out a totally new sock project.  I don't even want to go randomly pick one of my self-bundled sock patterns/yarn out of the bin.  I must have enough new stuff in my life at the moment to not want more of it right now. :-)

Nutkin Progress!

My Nutkin socks are progressing rather rapidly.  I have discovered that I can complete a single pattern repeat during a one hour TV episode (with commercials cut out).  In the past week, I've been able to catch a couple hours of NCIS on DVD, which has facilitated some knitting time.  I now have a finished first sock and have cast on the second sock. With any luck, the second sock will progress as quickly as the first!

The leg of the sock biases a bit, which has been reported for this pattern and some yarns.  I don't think it'll be an issue in the wearing of the sock and I don't mind the appearance of the pattern spiraling up my leg.

Knitting Time
I have realized in the past few weeks where all my knitting time has gone lately.  It seems that on the nights when I don't go over to Boy's house to watch DVDs on his very nice, large HD screen, I tend to spend the evening watching NetFlix or DVDs at home.  This wouldn't necessarily impede my knitting time except that I tend to be surfing the internet rather than knitting.  Perhaps I'll have to impose a moratorium on TV internet surfing just to make sure I get in my knitting time!


LYS news
I discovered this past week that one of my local knitting shops closed a couple months ago.  Oops.  That should tell you how often I buy yarn and how often I have been checking my groups on Ravelry.

The other local knitting shop, which is located a whole mile away from where I live, will be hosting Debbie Macomber on Friday.  I haven't read many of Ms. Macomber's books, but have enjoyed the ones I did read.  I know my grandmother really likes her books too.  I'll have to head over there to sit and knit for a while.  Friday is also the day I close on the sale of my house, so I'll consider the knitting session my reward for getting through the stress of getting it sold.