Landscape Scarf

Oh, Koigu. How I love you.



I must thank Lisa for enabling me to purchase these two extra mini-skeins of mill ends this month. They work perfectly with a skein from last year's mill end sale to make a small shawl.

Now that I am a reformed triangle shawl gal, I've started the Landscape Scarf. This is the smaller version of the shawl, which is still a bit large for my evolving taste.



The scarf has picot edging, which is something I'm a complete sucker for. They're like little pom-poms edging your knitted goods. And a close cousin to my friend, the bobble.



Cute, don't you think? In fact, why am I sitting here writing to you when I can be knitting with my pretty yarn?



Have a great weekend, everyone! Don't forget to visit the Art Star Craft Bazaar this weekend if you're in Philly. I'm headed over there to help out a friend, and supposedly there will be thunderstorms...

Completed: Full Spectrum Legwarmers

I'm such a process gal. Please indulge me as I showcase the process behind my newest and most treasured wool item.

In December, I received 2 skeins of Noro during the holiday yarn swap at Rosie's! For a few minutes, I sat there thinking, what could I possibly make with 2 skeins of mismatched Noro? Seconds later the little voice told me to purchase 4 more of the constrasting and obnoxious skeins to create the most insane legwarmers ever!"

Of course I had to sketch it out so that others could see my "vision". Ever the multi-tasker, I turned it into an Illustration Friday entry as well. (wink)

I knit in Florida, ripped it out, ruined a pair of Addi Turbos, and restarted in Philly after some revising. There was the infamous Superbowl knitting vessel, the Bowl O' Yarn.



And finally, my quest has ended. I present to you, the Full Spectrum Legwarmers. (That sounds way more classy than "The Legwarmers that the Rainbow Vomited Upon")



I didn't really use a pattern, I just used a little math and knit a 1 x 1 rib. I kept knitting until they were long enough to stretch up to my thighs if cold weather required.



It is so satisfying when the real thing is as good, or even better than what you had imagined. Believe me, this is not always the case (i.e. the embarassingly ugly watercolor of a mermaid I did for Trey one year. Don't think I'm being modest, it is butt ugly. God bless Trey though, that monstrosity was hung on her cubicle panel proudly).



A blurry shot of me being in love with my new legwarmes. Even my ankles are squeeing.



Here's what's left of my yarn. I'm sure I'll need some mitts soon.



Enjoy, my friends. I may even let you try them on if you're good!

Illustration Friday: Grow

I'm trying to participate in Illustration Friday regularly. There's nothing like blogging for accountability (wink).

This week's topic was "grow". What better than one of my favorite hobbies?



Click here to see other people's interpretation of "grow".

I actually prefer circulars to straight needles, but I think they're the archetypal knitting needles.



I love scribbling and loose pen strokes...I don't love the lighting after work though, when you're trying to take a picture!




Enjoy your Friday!

Curtains, Murals & Croissants

I'm generally not a novelty yarn type of gal.



However, when one of your best friend's birthdays is next week, you'll actually be in the same town, and they had given you 2 balls of rainbow novelty yarn to make them something months ago, this is what you get:

I had actually pulled it out, and restarted this on my lunch break yesterday. It's quick, fun, and quite suitable for South Florida. Mike's mom gave me these huge needles, and they're perfect for this project.



The picture above looks like a curtain to me. Perhaps one of these days, I'll knit some lacy, gauzy, linen curtains like I've seen around from Mason Dixon. In that 'fantasy', I'll also sit down and leisurely eat freshly baked croissants for breakfast at home every morning.

I forgot to show you a mural I helped paint for my friend's daughter's room. We used a projector to trace the graphic, and three of us finished it in an afternoon. It matches the graphic on her daughter's bedspread, and she approves! The daughter was the recipient of the dog purse I made, and was a quite gracious two year old.



I'm off to Montreal this weekend with Mike, David and Sara. I'm uber excited, and hope to get a book read and Brooke's scarf finished during the drive. My headlamp is ready...

...and no, I'm not joking.

Market Bags Galore!

Knitting hiatus my tookus! I'm enjoying the easy (and free!) pattern for The Lacey Grocery Bag from Italy, on the Purl Bee. It was the perfect pattern to finally use this fabulous yarn in my stash, from Olivia. She gave me about 5 skeins for a past birthday, so I think I can make 2 lovely bags!

Isn't she a great friend? I mean, seriously...what have you given me? Of course, I'm just teasing you!



I love knitting with cotton for the summer, especially with my matching flourescent green plastic Crystal Palace Daisy circulars. I tried these at a knitting store, and fell in love with them. They're quite weightless and so smooth. (Shout out to Yacht Rock which I am a latecomer, but enjoying nonetheless).

While I'm at it, I may as well finish this old Peaches N' Cream market bag (another free pattern) in turqoise cotton. It's crocheted, which I must admit comes in quite handy for open mesh patterns.



I'm about two steps away from granny squares or the ripple afghan...but don't tell my knitting friends!

k3tog

Although this sweetheart did such a great job measuring, I am off about 3/4 of an inch lengthwise. It probably didn't help that I accidentally knited it on size 7 Addi Turbo circular needles instead of size 6.



Disclaimer: Non-knitters, there is quite a bit of shop talk in this post. Sometimes I forget it started as a knitting blog...

I need to rip off the cast-on blue bit anyway because it was cast-on too tightly, and Grace suggested I try Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn casting-on castoff method instead.

Then I will steam block the heck out of it to stretch that 3/4 of an inch. If not, it will be fine. As long as everything is consistent...

I am knitting both fronts of the cardigan at the same time, which I would generally prefer, as I hate backtracking or repeating things. However, it is slightly more possible that I finish one panel of the front of the cardigan and the corresponding sleeve by next Wednesday.

It is our last class and I would like to have half of my sweater to seam together, especially since that is what I need the most help with. Have I stopped knitting the twin panel? No. I must separate them so that they can live their adolescent years apart. Perhaps tonight.

I bought a pair of Inox size 6 circulars, and they are not for me. Although the pointy tips are great, I tend to touch the tips often and prefer the blunt tip of the Addi's. They also make the wool feel squeaky when I knit and I'm not even a tight knitter. I liked Sherry's Knitpick's Options circulars, but prefer the Addis for for now.

I thought I needed the pointier tip for the bobbles. However, I tested out the Addis (how do you pluralize this?) and it is possible and much smoother to knit 3 together for my bobbles. So, I bought a pair of those and am enjoying my knitting again.



The pattern is four rows, and every other row has 2 or 4 bobbles in it. That is a lot of turning around and purling and k3tog and finger cramping and second guessing picking this pattern!

But it's not too bad and I'm getting the hang of the bobbles. If I knit the last three purled stitches of the back of the bobble loosely, it makes it easier to knit the three together. I'm also slipping the first of the 5 purled stitches and am finding it does create a more circular bobble.

Oh, but they are so cute! And I am going to love this sweater.



In non-related knitting news, I will be taking off work on Friday to spend the day in Brooklyn with Kathy Jean and Trey. Trey is flying in from Chicago for Kathy Jean's birthday. Good thing that I knitted KJ those Fetching gauntlets so that I get some points too! (wink)

I not only get a ride home from knitting class from my friend Olivia, but she treated Mike and I to two delicious slice of homemade keylime pie with fresh whipped cream and a raspberry coulis. Now do you know why I wanted to be neighbors with this lady?

I'm hoping to get some knitting done on the bus to NYC tomorrow. My next post will be my sweater finished...it's possible, right?

Brainy Beanie

This will be called the Brainy Beanie after it's new owner, Heather, who just happens to be an electrical engineer. I made it extra big to fit her large brain. Hope you like it, Heath!

Pretty yarn for Heather's hat. Diarufuran to be knit on size 7 Lantern Moon double point needles in rosewood (to replace these awful metal ones below).



Thanksgiving progress. Loving knitting with this yarn, it will probably pill...but the fabric is gorgeous and quick to knit up.

Detail for some eye candy.



Sad face when I finished Heather's hat and realized it was just a tad small. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right. So I took it to knitting circle and ripped it out there. I only lost the top portion of the hat, but actually enjoyed knitting with the fabric again. I told you this is a joy to work with.



Progress! Don't you love the striping? I actually took this picture to document at what length I need to start decreasing. Although I have a pretty big head, I have the tendency to make my hats too small. So now I know to knit until it feels uncomfortably long, and that's the right point.



Happy face that the hat is now the proper size. Although it doesn't look that much bigger, it made a huge difference. The hat is quite stretchy, but doesn't feel like it will fall off now.



Leftover yarn from the one skein! that was needed to knit this hat. I've already started a log cabin blanket with this lovely scrap.