Monday, August 27, 2007


*stares* So close, so close..... *runs off to take pictures of stash*

Monday, August 13, 2007

I'm so fickle. I wasn't in the mood for any of my zillion WIPs the other night, so I cast on for a Dream Swatch.


I'm using a partial skein of sock yarn someone so graciously sent me, and even labeled all of the sock yarn scraps, but the tag is upstairs. Its really beautiful though. After the first pattern repeat I changed to 4 yarnovers so the pattern looks more like the pictures. I already have plans for about five more of these, so it had better look good on me!

I'm almost done the Llama socks. Just one more toe and I'm done. *cannot wait* I really hate knitting under pressure. That's not to say I mind knitting these, because I don't, and I'm getting free yarn from a really nice person in exchange, I just kind of like to knit where the yarn sends me, you know? I flit from project to project and never end up casting on the project I think I'm going to next.

Here's a close up of some of my SWS grannies. I had to crack into another colorway, but at least I had another in shades of pink, so I think it'll blend well. I love the way it looks. It promises to be a well-worn scarf this winter.


I'm almost done my Monkeys, which I just added to the sidebar because I had forgotten that I hadn't finished them.

And I'll leave you with a very pretty cake of yarn. My own hand dyed sock yarn, in a colorway I call "Bloody Mary". A bunch of the family is getting together on Saturday, many of whom I haven't seen in a long time, so I want to have a sock cast on to knit while I visit, out of my own dyed yarn. Yes, I like to show off. :) I'll post pics of that sock as soon as its on its way.


Grr! I don't know why my flickr thingy isn't working!

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Hey look, another post! I just couldn't bring myself to make the one with the pictures any longer. I only listed the WIPs I'm actually planning on finishing in the next couple weeks.

The Llama socks are a commission from someone I met who raises Llamas. (I have a ton of pictures of when I met them, but that will have to wait for another post) All the yarn is naturally colored, and she gave me a couple skeins of a dark color, which comes from a father and daughter, and then a single skein of a light color, which was the mother. I was going to do a cabled pattern I had seen but in the end I decided do something classic. 1x1 twisted rib, plain stockinette for the rest. Its coming out better than I thought, I was worried the yarn wouldn't be suited well for socks, but it looks good. Plus the llama fiber has this really neat texture, it almost feels damp to me if that makes sense.

Winding up the skeins was quite an adventure. I spent about an hour and a half Monday night doing just two of the skeins. I went to put them on my swift, and they were about a foot and a half too long. My mom was in bed (or so I thought) and I really needed to get started on them b/c they have to be finished in two weeks so I tried gently laying the skeins on the table and using the ball winder.

Next time, I'll wake my mom up.

I wound up with a horrible mess of knots, and it took me forever to do it. I should have taken pictures, it was horrible and there was Llama fur flying everywhere.

The Short Sleeved Ribbed Cardigan was the first project I started from Fitted Knits, and it has been sitting around for over a month because I ran out of yarn. I was trying to stashbust, so I used a strand of black and a strand of red Simply Soft because a couple skeins each lying around (plus I frogged my alien illusion scarf, I was never going to finish and I decided I HATE illusion knitting, if you look I wrote about it in one of my first blog posts, that's how old it was). Anyway, I refused to buy more yarn just for the sleeves, so I was waiting around to do some trades and wound up with a partial skein of each thanks to the people who responded to my plea. Anyway, it doesn't fit me anyway, the ribbing is too tight, so I haven't been worried about finishing it. Whenever I do get around to it it'll go to my sister until I lose enough weight for it to fit me. Note to self: NEVER do ribbing in a smaller needle. Your body is just too pear shaped for it to EVER work out properly.

I've literally only done one row of the Puff Sleeved Cardigan. Its my 'I Can't Stand Knitting the Llama Socks any Longer' project. It'll probably get a lot more work done on it if I don't get some more exciting television to watch while doing stockinette. Anyway, I'm using 'old' Cotton Ease in Cherry Red. I just used that yarn to complete yet another project from Fitted Knits, the Coquette Lace Tube Top. I just need to sew on the ribbing I bought for straps and there will be pictures.

The SWS Granny Square Scarf is my living room knitting (er, crocheting). I'm addicted to granny squares, and I really wanted some black SWS. Did you know they have black SWS? Dude, the new solid colors of SWS are so stunning. If I could have thought of a reason I needed a sweaters worth, I would have bought it. I decided to grab one ball of black and use the pink verigated I already have to make a granny square scarf. I love SWS.

Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough already. Maybe if I actually blog daily my two readers won't have to deal with super long rambly posts. :)
Finally, a decent FO post with pictures! For fun I'm going to add as many of the zillion WIPs I have to the sidebar, as many as I can remember anyway, lol.

First up, my latest (that I have pictures of) Coachella:





I knit this in about four days using SWTC Bamboo in Electric Blue, double stranded. It only used just over two balls! I really do love it, I just wish I'd skipped the short rows so it wasn't so indecent. At some point I'm going to knit a matching piece of lace or something so I don't have to wear a tank underneath. I would have ripped it out except I really wanted to wear it to the Hanson concert I was taking my nephew to that weekend. (He's nine and it was his first concert. We had a ball! He made his shirt too!)

Next up, my self designed cable raglan tank (I really need a better name) :







I cast on with an idea and winged it. I've had a little interest for the pattern, so I'm trying to write one up that makes sense. I used about 3 1/2 balls of Cotton Ease in Popsicle Blue (I believe).

Last, a simple striped raglan out of leftover yarn, some Bubblegum Pink Cotton Ease and some Classic Elite yarn with 80% 20% wool, (Cambridge I think) which gives it a kind of entertaining texture (super soft vs slightly stiff) but I love it anyway.



Let me know what you think! I'll have been knitting for two years in October... Smiley And for the record all but Coachella was knit a few months ago, it just took me two months to take pictures and two months to POST the pictures.