I figured this article is worth a share. After all, it's written by a member of my ballet's executive committee and she quotes our director. :)

Knitting on Campus and Kuvia Scarf Knitting Competition

No, I did not participate in the competition. I hate knitting scarves for myself, much less for other people. Ok that sounds bad since this was for charity, but I am an openly selfish knitter. Selfishselfishselfish.

Labels: kuvia, scarves

Somehow, somewhere (ok exactly eight rounds ago), I forgot to increase between cables. Tragic. This means I am down four stitches.

But...

but...

...I'm staring at the pattern, and I can't see that it will make any difference as I continue and eventually finish the sweater. Seriously. It looks like there's never "K345 sts between cables" or whatever. It only ever says "k until next p st" or "k until marker." Am I in the clear?

So do I just charge full steam ahead and pretend that those four stitches never should have existed, or do I try to squeeze them in inappropriately on some in-between round someplace?

My vote goes to charging full steam ahead. It's just got a better ring to it.

Oh, and here's how it's looking. It's a little hard to tell, but the two Horseshoe cables mark the front V where each side of the V goes from neckline to armpit (it's getting there) and the tiny little Braided Cable on the right side over there runs down the length of the sleeve. I'm almost done with the raglan increases for the yoke. As of typing this (not this photo) I've got 11 rounds left.

Labels: screw ups, Silky Merino Scabbard, WIP

New WIP! Sort of putting the hat aside, since it's a little boring, and I just want to be a little more ambitious.

Pattern
Ravelry Link to Pattern
Ravelry Link to My Project

Making size XS (yeah, I know...weird, I feel like I should be making a medium, but the XS is a 34" bust, so I just have to make it super long) and the short sleeve version.

Using Malabrigo Silky Merino (DK, Burgundy). It's so yummy.

Pictures?

Here's the yarn:

I've got the collar ribbing done and one repeat of the raglan yoke (of which there are seven repeats). I decided to do the ribbed collar alternative instead of the stand-uppy collar that the regular Silken Scabbard uses. 1) I like it better. 2) I don't want to figure out how to to "three needle knitting." I think it might just be seaming, but I can't take that risk. :-P


Here's a close up of the Horseshoe Cable. I like it:


So maybe it's just because I'm just starting out, but I'm really excited about this project. I just have a good feeling about it. Even though it's going to take me a while to finish (knit on 4s and 5s), I love the yarn, and the color is really wonderful, even though it doesn't come across quite right in the pictures.

I also got the good news from a fellow Raveler that five balls of Silky Merino is way more than enough to make the XS short sleeve, despite the first ball seeming to disappear faster than I can finish the yoke. So that's great news for me, since I trusted the pattern and didn't buy extra skeins like I usually do.

Additionally, and this is crucial, I believe my cat just farted.

Labels: Silky Merino Scabbard, WIP

I bought this beautiful skein of Malabrigo Lace at Loopy Yarns a little while ago. It is just so cool looking. It's the awesome mix of green and purple. I don't usually spring for variegated, but this just really looked interesting and gorgeous.

Too bad it's actually hideous.

As I was trying to find something to knit with it (the colorway is called Noviembre) today, I realized there is no hope for it. I wanted to make a shawl - Ishbel or something similar - but there was just no way. So Sara pointed towards this helpful Ravelry search.

There be all the projects on Rav that use this colorway. Go ahead and count up how many acceptable ones there are. Now count up how many acceptable lace ones there are.

I'm doomed.

Labels: frustration, lace, malabrigo, noviembre

So I'm designing (as I go) a hat to match my Fair-Isle Hooting mitts. I have lots of the yarn left (in both colors), and it's just so delicious I couldn't let it sit quietly in my stash. The thought occurred to me to make another set of mitts, but with the colors reversed, and I still think that would be a cute idea, but I'm going with the matching hat instead.Look! It's a mountain with tiny polar bears congregating at the bottom! Or it is a rough sketch of my hat-to-be. White ribbing, a few rows of brown, the owls, more brown until I run out, and then a white crown. If I don't run out of brown, screw the white crown I think. Opinions on that?

With size 6 DPNs and my Eco Alpaca, cast on 120 stitches. Do some 2x2 ribbing for an inch and a half or so. That's all easy enough.

Now comes a decision. The mitts are made with a 4x1 rib. Do I use that rib for the hat? For matching purposes, I'd love to. Unfortunately, simple hat decreases don't work with ribbing, at least not 4x1 ribbing. I was planning on doing decreases in the way of: k7, k2tg for one rnd, k for one rnd, k6 k2tg for one rnd, k for one rnd, and then eventually decrease every single round. This wouldn't work with ribbing.

Lauren offered me one possible solution. She said divide the hat into quarters and decrease symmetrically on either side of each quarter. I don't really like the idea of the shaping of the hat then. I imagine it would be quite boxy, and that's not what I'm going for.

SO, I think I'm just going to stockinette wherever there is solid brown (or white at the crown). It won't match the mitts perfectly, and so clearly won't be a good pattern to advertise as a matching hat pattern, but I think it will be good enough for me. It will actually be good practice for breaking my need for perfectionism. They will be ever so slightly different and I will just have to learn to deal with that.

Labels: hooting hat, WIP

Apparently I'm knitting again with a vengeance! This is technically my sixth FO in a month. Ok, ok, three were hats that only took like three to five hours to make each, but whatever! FOs!

I have finished my Owlings and I LOVE them. (Link to my Ravelry project here.) There are a definite giant smiley on the Ravelry scale. First of all, they are super cute. The beads are adorable if I do say so myself. But mainly, they are so soft! I cannot figure out a way to convey the softness of these (baby alpaca) mitts through blog medium, so you just have to take my word for it. Or track me down and pet them. Trust me, I'll be wearing them if you find me any time soon. These babies aren't leaving my side until it's 90 degrees out.

Pictures!



(Please ignore my shoddy thread-work. I sewed on the beads with no scissors handy and haven't yet trimmed all the ends off.)

Labels: fair-isle hooting, FO, owlings, pictures

I'm cross-posting this to both nattily and knittily because I'm so pleased with the finished product. What is the finished product? IT'S THE FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER!


I turned this mess of i-cords and suspicious looking balls:


into His Noodliness Himself!


If you have no idea what is going on in this post, please think back a few years to Kansas schools being forced to include intelligent design in their science curriculum, and then visit this page to see the most logical and appropriate response to that decision ever.


Major thanks to HistoryWeaver for this fantastic pattern, as time consuming as it is.

Labels: FO, fsm, presents