Black and White

I finished the white linen lace sweater I started in January, just in time for summer. I coudn't work on it during the blizzards. The yarn was totally unforgving - no stretch - and I'm not totally happy with it. The judges at the county fair gave it a second place - calling it equisite but "a shame there are mistakes". There was some short row shaping in the shoulders I'm not sure I got right, but also a few places whre I picked up dropped stiches tha they may have been referring too - with the stiff yarn you couldn't really even out the stitches after picking up stitches up the ladder.

I'm happier with the black short sleeved cardigan, though it's a little too small in the sleeves. I used the 60/40 cashmere/merino yarn I bought the Atlantic Expo I attended in Baltimore two years ago with a vintage pattern from Interweave magazine.

My current project is a wool pullover of Jasper by Berroco - body finished and working on the sleeves. I'm also looking for some Malabrigo yarn and pattern I saw in Interweave. I ordeed the pattern on-line but it was backordered. I bought some Noro silk/wool Garden Party yarn for it, but I don't think it's quite right. I may return it if I can get the Malabrigo on line after the pattern comes.

Ishbel and an Injection of Color

Ishbel in Plucky SMF, Nora Charles (rav link)

A little neck warmer/shawlette for my Mom's birthday. (Shh, don't tell.) 

Also, spy that bit of orange in the upper left?  Yep, I sewed myself some new curtains!  I remember why I quit sewing back in college (oh my god, the inexplicable behavior of thread!  STOP GETTING TANGLED, THANKS.), but I love these curtains so much!!    They have brightened up my living room amazingly.

Another Quicky Baby Sweater

This was for a baby shower for a young colleague. I posted it earlier, but she sent me the picture recently of baby Will wearing the sweater, which should still fit next winter. It was knit with two skeins of knitpick sock yarn. I like the way the zigzags (or lightening bolts) appeared.
My main project now is to finish the white linen summer sweater while it's still summer -I'm on the sleeves and will post soon, I hope.

Stranded knitting, how I love thee

Progress on my transition gloves!   Rav link.  

I keep being amazed at how quickly these knit up, but I guess knitting on 3s instead of 1s really does make a difference.  (The stranding definitely helps too.)  I've loosened my gauge up a bit for this second glove, which is good.  They'll both still benefit from a blocking, but the first seemed a little overly stretched in places and I think this one is just more even over all. 

I'm a little worried about running out of the brown, since the directions called to finish the hand 1 inch BELOW where your knuckles start.  This is clearly crazy, and I knit up several inches past my knuckles.  It may just mean I have to do the thumbs in teal, and that might be pretty awesome, so I'm not too worried. 

Genmaicha Rav link.

I realized I never showed off these quick mitts.   They're one of the very first patterns heb and I got as a companion to our yarn membership, and I've been wanting to make a pair for a couple of years.  When heb wanted to get rid of this lovely shade of pink (I know, I'm horrified too you guys), I knew just who would appreciate it.  These were fun, a quick waffle rib on the wrist and pretty easy cables along the hands.  I had to decrease the total number of stitches to account for my loose knitting, which worked out totally fine.  However, I forgot to do the same for the thumb, so they ended up being all huge.  I did some k2togs to take them in a bit, but that turned out a little weird as well.  They're recipient claims she likes 'em though, so I think it worked out ok.

The Never Ending Knitting

Honeybee Stole

I thought I'd share the project that's been taking up most of my knitting time these days.  Eventually it's going to be a lovely, amazing scarf/stole thing, but in the meantime, it's tons and tons of fiddly lace knitting.  Not that I mind, but I'm halfway through the central pattern and then there are two more large pattern pieces for both sides of the shawl that I'll have to do.  Hence, the never ending. 

 Transition Gloves

I did finally come to terms with this and cast on for a pair of fingerless gloves I've been craving for ages.  I'm using Plucky "Mallard" and ShibuKnits brown.  The Shibu yarn is a bit thinner than the Plucky MCN, but I think it'll be ok.  I also decided to actually use the needles suggested, given my discovery that I knit less loosely when doing colorwork than when working with one color alone.  It seems to be working (and also seems to be knitting up so quickly!) so I'm feeling good about it at the moment.

I am anticipating a lot of baby knits in the near future, so if anyone has a blanket or other item that's been a particular hit, I'd love to hear about it.  (or be reminded, if it's already on the blog.)  The umbilical cord hat is definitely on the list, as soon as I can find my SNB.

Best Mittens Ever? Yes.

I found this pattern more than a year ago and showed them to my sister one day to see if she'd like me to knit her a pair.  While I waited until she was back in a climate where she could appreciate them, I did finally manage to knit them up for her for Christmas.

 

Rav link

I used knit picks glossy fingering, a combination of merino wool and silk, for extra warmth and a little extra shine.  The yarn was quite lovely to knit with, and I really like how these turned out.

The big surprise for me was learning that my normally extra-loose gauge totally tightens up when knitting with two colors.  It makes sense, given that I am not as adept at holding the yarn in my left hand and everything ends up getting tightened up a bit, but it made me a bit nervous.

My sister has small hands, but I'd already gone down a couple of needle sizes (as I have started to do as a matter of routine, these days) and they ended up a little bit small, especially in how the thumb fit to the rest of the hand.

Thankfully, some post-Christmas blocking seemed to help (so she claims) and now my sister is wearing her new mittens around the house.  She has so far avoided wearing them outside because she "loves them too much."  Well, I tried to argue that mittens should be used, but really, who I am to say she can't decide these are precious objects.


*This post is brought to you by borrowed internet.  Eight percent, whoo!

Blizzard 2010

I was working on a lightweight white lace linen cardigan for spring when the great Northeast Blizzard of 2010 struck Washington, DC, and somehow in all that white it just didn't feel right.
I had lots of time on my hands but needed to be working on something cozy. So I continued with the hats. I found some leftover yarn from the sweater I happened to be wearing and tried the sideways grande hat again with much better results (I deleted 9 stitches from the cast on strip).

Then I decided I had enough leftover yarn from the first sideways grande attempt to make a tam from the same pattern book.

Finally, I decided to try the two at a time method for knitting socks on two cable needles. So far, so good. If you try this, I recommend finding needles that are a different color. It makes it much easier to keep it straight which row you are on. Mine are green aluminum (from an ancient stache) and bamboo. A trick to remember if you use self striping yarn - not all balls are wound in the same direction. If you want your socks to match, you may need to rewind one skein. I didn't bother so my stripes will be upside down o one sock.

Happy winter. I'm not sure I'll ever want to go back to work after this unexpected knitting break.