On The Horizon

So I thought I had my 2012 knitting projects all lined up, until I went to a local yarn shop to spend the rest of an expiring gift certificate and saw a completed version of this:

pic found here

I also happened to lay my hands on this:

Once I touched it, I knew I had to have it, and thought the above mentioned pattern would be a good project for it.  Anyways, it is a big skein to wind (especially considering I already wound my mom's for her), but I hope to get to it this weekend.

Anyways, happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

Knitting Lately, With Some Perspective

There have been some great knitting developments happening lately.  The first being that I attended my second knitting group meet up, and it is actually only the third one that the group has ever had and attendance is growing rapidly.  The first meet up had one person there (not me), and at the second there were three of us.  Well on Sunday there were eight of us (I think).  I snapped the photo below before everyone else arrived because the space is beautiful, and the view is amazing, and the weather had been fantastic all day. 

 The second great thing happening is that once a few of the girls (or ladies, not sure which one fits) at work realised that I knit, the idea of knitting at lunch somehow transpired.  So now every day at lunch a few of us knit, which is great because it is a nice way to break up the working day.  It has been a bit of an eye-opener for me, because it makes me realise how far I have come with knitting as I answer some questions that other people have.  And I can answer them, because i know what things like garter stitch, or W&T mean, and can explain how they should check their gauge before starting a project.  Plus it stops me from sitting at my desk surfing the Internet all lunch hour.
So the third knitting-related this is that I finally used the blocking squares that I bought from Knit Picks ages ago, and they are great!  It was so nice to have something to actually pin to, as opposed to a towel on my ironing board.  Which would not have worked for the blanket show below.  I have no idea what I would have done.  Probably just not blocked it.  But wow, what a different it make, the shape was all wonky and not square at all before I did that.  I also blocked the Dovetail Cowl I mentioned a few days ago, and it made an even more noticeable difference for that project.  So that was $40 well spent (or however much it was I spent on those boards).

OK I will stop rambling...for now.  BTW, I do believe that these may be my worst quality pictures yet.  Yikes.

First Co Becomes First FO!

So I am done the Dovetail Cowl that I was working on, so my first FO only took a week!  This is perhaps my worst picture yet, so I apologize.  I was pricing out real cameras today, so hopefully picture quality improves about 100% in the next few months.
Also no picture could ever describe how soft this thing is.  I love it!  Too bad its not for me to keep.  This was a really fun knit, because every row is different so it keeps things interesting, but its not too complicated that you can't do other things at the same time.

First CO of 2012

So staying true to this post, the first thing I cast on for in 2012 was the first item in my queue on Ravelry.  I guess maybe I should actually go and update Ravelry now.  I cast on for the Dovetail Cowl because the wool was a Christmas gift, attached to a promise to knit a cowl as soon as the recepient chose a pattern that she liked, to match gloves that I made her last Christmas.  Words can not at all describe how soft this wool is, and how soft the WIP is turning out to be, but I can't stop touching it!

Also I had an expiring gift certificate to a nearby wool store that I had to use up, so went with my mom on Saturday to use it up.  It turns out that it wouldn't have actually expired, but after I had invested so much time browsing the store and choosing wool, it was too late!  Also, my purchases may (or my not) have altered the list of 2012 knits I was contemplating, and planning on working on.  But more on that, and my purchases, later.

Knits For 2012

I was taking a look at my Ravelry queue yesterday, and couldn't believe how many things I had forgotten that I had added over the past little while.  I know that while this list isn't that big compared to some other's queues on Ravelry, its still bigger than I am likely to ever complete in the next year.
So I thought maybe I should actually use that handy feature that Ravelry provides where you can sort projects in order of priority in order to figure out what projects to work on next.
I also used that opportunity to do a bit of housecleaning, and get rid of some items I had added just to bookmark because there had been times I wanted to find a particular type of pattern, and queued everything that I thought might be applicable.
Let me tell you, that feature on Ravelry that allows you to order your queue is actually pretty great!  I just used it to rank the top ten items, everything below that is still a jumbled mess with no particular order.

Without further ado, here is a quick rundown of the top ten:

1.  Dovetail Cowl
As I mentioned here, I bought a skein of Royal Alpaca wool in black for an xmas gift, and this is the cowl pattern that she chose.  So that is why the project is ranked #1, because I need to get to it first. 

Photo Found Here
  

2.  Jeweled Cowl
Yes, I know.  I have already made this twice, and the first one was unravelled, and the second one still needs to be.  But I am brave, so I am going to try it again - twice.  I have two skeins of wool ready to go for this project.  The first one will be for my mom, who was supposed to get the one I screwed up, mentioned here.


Photo Found Here

 3.   Pine Forest Baby Blanket
I have already made this once, and loved it.  Another friend of mine is expecting, and I think this pattern is the perfect gift. 

Photo Found Here

4.  Christopher
I can't remember where I first saw a post about this project, but as soon as I looked at it, and at how good all the finished projects looked, I knew I had to try it.  I love how professional it looks, and am intruiged by the fact that it is reversible, and has no seams!  I love no seams!

Photo Found Here

5.  Business Casual
I am always up for knitting socks, even if they take forever and get put on the back-burner a lot.  When I saw this pattern posted recently I fell in sock love.


Photo Found Here

6.  Guernsey Wrap
There isn't really anything to say, except that I love the look of this pattern.  That is all.

Photo Found Here

7.  Textured Shawl
I found this pattern because I wanted to find a use for some yarn I purchased and stumbled across this.  I guess now that I think about it, this is very similar to number 6.  Oh well.

Photo Found Here

8.  Smockies
I have been promising to make my best friend some fingerless mitts for quite some time now.  I love the look of this pattern, and plus once when she came to a wool store with me, there were some in the store that were made up that looked a bit like these, and she liked them.

Photo Found Here

9 & 10.  Tied.  Sweater.  Maybe...
So I think I want to attempt to knit myself a sweater...maybe.  If I do it needs to be something kind of timeless, and something I will actually wear.  Over the past little while I have come across two items I may actually oneday knit.  Aidez and Thermal. 

photo found here

Photo Found Here

Whew!  That is it.  We will see how long it takes before my priorities change though.

On Learning New Things

I think I am a bit of a fearless knitter, because I choose what to knit based on seeing a pattern that I like, and never on what my current skill level is.  Never have I come across a knitting project and thought "ooh, i love that, I want to make it" and then looked and the pattern and thought "oh, never mind.  I don't know how to cast on that way" or "I don't know what that means".  I think "I am going to make this".  Okay I will be honest, usually I am thinking "omg, i need to drop everything else and make this right now".

The great thing about knitting is that if you make a mistake you can just unravel what you have done, and try again.  Over and over again.  (which is what happened to me when I was trying to teach myself how to knit in the round on DPNs).
And if you come across a term you don't know, or a technique that you haven't yet learned, almost everything you can think of can be found on either Google or YouTube.

So that is how I ended up knitting this baby sweater.  I wanted to expand my knitting knowledge, but wasn't sure I wanted to invest the time (and most importantly) the funds learning to make an adult sweater.  I still don't even know if I ever really want to knit myself a sweater, because honestly would I really wear it a lot, and do I want to go spend probably five times the money on wool that I would likely spend grabbing a sweater at the mall.  Althought when I come across posts like this one, that makes me reconsider.

To be honest I think I probably could have chosen a more challenging project, because this sweater is knit in one piece - well the body is anyways.  And I finished that fairly quickly...and it has been sitting armless, and bandless in the front since then.  I stopped at that point because I realised I didn't own the correct size DPNs to finish the rest.  I have since bought some, but haven't finished. 
So I plan on getting to that soon, but for now this is what I have got:

Getting Cozy

So I am working away on the Tea Cozy that is found in Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and it is hopefully going to be done in time for Christmas, because it is a gift for someone.

Also I had the pleasure of working on it while attending my first ever knitting group meetup.  It is a new group, and this was only the second meeting, and only three of us were there, but the company was great, and the space peaceful, and the view pretty nice too.

pic found here

Major Knitting Fail

Last night I felt how Maurice looked...sad.

I finished the Jewel cowl that I had been working on...but as I came near the end I started to have that feeling that something wasn't quite right.  So I looked at the cowl, and then I looked at the pattern, and at some of the other completed projects on Ravelry.  Something wasn't right, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.  Checked the pattern again - yup, I was following the directions properly, everything seemed in order.  So I figured I would just finish and bind off, and then evaluate.  And maybe that gut feeling I had was just wrong.  So I did...and it quickly became evident that my gut feeling had not been wrong.  Let me tell you, it was (and still is) SMALL.
So as I was taking Maurice for a quick walk last night I was mulling things over in my head and came to an awful realization.  As I mention in this post, this is actually my second go round at this project.  I had to undo the first one. 
When I started the second one I stupidly just grabbed the needles that I had been using from the first project, which happened to be a few sized smaller than the ones I should have used this time!  So I used size 5US circulars instead of size 8US...resulting in a very small cowl...which needs undoing AGAIN.  AHHH!!!

So much for making this a Christmas gift.  I was too disheartened to even take any pictures of the finished project last night.  Maybe I will take some pictures of the undoing this time.
On to tea cozy knitting I go...

Just One Bag Full

from Three Bags Full when I visited last Saturday.  One very small bag, I might add.  My wallet couldn't really afford three.

But at least everything I bought has a purpose and a plan (which may or may not be the case for all of the yarn purchases I make.  So I finally remembered to take some pics, and thought I would give a little rundown of my plans.

First Up - I just can't get enough of the Malabrigo Lace.  And since I have pretty much decided to give away my Jewel (that is 99% done - yah!) for a Christmas gift, I still want to make another for me.  And when I saw this color, I was sold.  My crappy photography skills don't do it any justice at all, trust me.

Secondly - Well on second thought, this should actually be my first thought because I want it to be a Christmas gift.  I want to make this tea cozy for my friend's sweet mom, who always welcomes me in, and feeds me, and loves tea.  Of course I am not using cashmere, but was inspide by this post, on this fantasic blog that I stumbled upon one recently and was instantly hooked.  After the fact I thought that maybe I should have bought superwash because then it would be machine washable...too late.  Plus the intended recipient is a sometimes-knitter, so I think she may not mind hand washing a handknit.  I know if I received any sort of handknit from anyone I would always hand-wash with care!

Lastly - Last year I made these finderless gloves for a christmas gift, and they are very well loved by the recipient, she wears them all the time.  And I don't know if you have ever felt this wool, but oh!  It is so amazingly soft.  And so I picked up another skein in black to make her a matching cowl.  And no, I am not crazy, so I am not going to try and finish before Christmas.  Its already crazytown in my life because I am working on three 4th yr university courses with due dates looming, plus already working on some Christmas knits.  So, I plan on wrapping up the skein, and recommending a few patterns so that she can pick which one she likes best.  So far I am thinking this or this. 

And that pretty much documents the purchases I made (and in record time too) because poor puggy was waiting for me in the car.



Jewel

I am working on a knit right now that I LOVE.  I first stumbled across the pattern while trying to find something to make with this wool.  Someone else had made it, and I knew I had to do it to.  So I went and bought some beads, and merrily started on my way.  And I almost finished too, but a little nagging voice in the back of my mind kept saying 'start over, start over, start over'.  I had twisted my stitches when joining in the round (a first for me, i had never done that before, even when learning to knit in the round).  And I had thought it might not matter in the end because it is a cowl, and will always be twisted around my neck anyways.  But also it was my first time knitting with such a lace weight (is that a proper knitting term?) yarn, and my tension was a bit off in parts, and it just looked sloppy.
And so I unravelled The.Whole.Thing.  I should have actually taken some pics because it was a pretty serious undertaking, especially with 51 rows of beads, each with 14 beads.  Some quick math tells me that is 728 beads!  I tried to be careful every time I got to a beaded row, but a few times (ok maybe more than a few) I was going too fast, and sent little seed beads flying all over the living room.  And into the couch crevices.  And when I stood up there were beads stuck to my legs.  Oops.  Little seed beads bouncing across the wood floors may or may not have annoyed another member of my household :)  Also Maurice may have likely ingested a few little purple beads :)

Anyways, while in Portland in September I purchased this and had been saving it for something special:

Which is actually the yarn called for in the pattern, and it is much better.  This yarn is amazing, I love it.  My only regret so far is that the beads I chose are ending up looking a little silver, when I had wanted them to be clear.  Oh well...

Special Delivery

Well, not special like wool from the Netherlands.  And not a surprise, and not really on time either.  But I had been waiting for it nevertheless.  I finally broke down and ordered myself some real blocking mats.  I ordered these from KnitPicks as opposed to some of the boards that are available because I don't really have somewhere to store a big board in my 750 sq ft apartment.  Come to think of it, I don't know where to store a box full of blocking squares yet either...I wish that I had also ordered their blocking wires since I was paying for shipping anyways.  Oh well, next time I guess.
I do have a few things that are waiting to be blocked, and am looking forward to it because I have never anywhere to property block something before.  I have done some small items like gloves, etc on an old towel, pinned to my ironing board. 
First up will be my Baby Elliott blanket, because said baby has now arrived!  This blanket has been finished and waiting for blocking for months now.

Very Special Wool Delivery

So I received a very special delivery of wool on Monday - from a very unlikely source...my boss!  A few months ago everyone had been admiring a scarf she was wearing, and she said her mom had knit it.  I was intriuged, and examined it closely and asked lots of questions because I couldn't figure out for the life of me how it had been knit.
So I guess she told her mom (who happens to live in the Netherlands) that I was a knitter, and was very intruigedby her scarf.  And then she happened to be visiting her parents last week, and her mom had so kindly picked out some wool for me and set up the scarf on some needles.  And they recorded some instructional videos for me...in dutch I might add.  Its hard to tell in these pictures, but the wool she picked out is so pretty, with pale pinks, purples and whites and a bit of shimmer.  I love it!

I think that the scarf is very similar to this one that I found on Ravelry, or maybe this one.  At any rate, it looks extremely complicated, but is so incredibly simple.  You just cast on 7 stitches (I think, I didn't actually do the casting on) and knit them. 

I will post more pics when finished, which shouldn't take long at the rate I am going.  Its a fast knit.

Toe-ups that Took WAY Too Long

So according to Ravelry, I started these socks on March 21st 2011 and finished them on May 15th.  Not too bad, for my first pair of toe-up socks, right?  Well, here is what Ravelry doesn't tell you.  They sat in my work in progress basket until this past Sunday night!  Six whole months!  I had thought that all I needed to do to finish these puppies off was to weave the ends in.  Well...not so much.  When I pulled them out to finally finish them I realised that I hadn't even grafted the toe on the second sock...how lazy of me to put them away like that.  Especially considering it only took about 2 minutes, there was only about 14 stitches remaining.  So now they are all sewn up, and washed and ready to wear. 

Last Year's Favorites Come Out To Play

It has been cold outside lately!  So yesterday when I went to take Maurice out, I knew that my hands would need some protection, and I dug out my favorite (well okay, they are my only) hand-knit gloves.  They are made with this Cascade wool, and it is SO soft. 

 

Done, But Soon to be Undone

So, sock one is finished, but not for long because I am about to rip it out down to the foot and re-build it. It was really fast and easy, but I am not really happy with the finished product.  The length of the foot is a bit long, at least I think that is what is wrong with the fit.  Something is not quite right.

Also I need to investigate a better cast-off method because the one I used (just a regular bind-off) is way too tight around my calf.  Also even though the length of the leg of the sock is exactly what the pattern says it should be (and its a men's pattern) it is way shorter than I imagined this sock to be, so that will get length added as well.

We will see if this help and makes me love this sock more.  I am afraid that knitting with the yarn held double will result in a bulky sock that never quite fits right.

Dreaming of Purl

You know how sometimes you see something, and you can't get it out of your mind, and you just need to make it or have it.  Okay well maybe its just me, but this is how I felt the first time I read something about this book.  I had to have it.  And then once I had it, I fell in love with this pattern.

And so, I acquired this beauty, and now it is just waiting for me to knit... or should I say purl.

Officially Obsessed!

With knitting giant socks. They knit up so fast!
Finally settled on this pattern and I am in love!

note sick sleeping pug in the background :(