Medalist?

So...the closing ceremony happened last Sunday....

...but I've been seriously behind and haven't had the time to write up the full details of my Olympic Knitting....
I am happy to say that I did finish - and before the closing ceremonies too! Though I didn't get quite as much done as I wanted (meaning I was hoping to finish off some other WIPs if there was time once the cardigan was done) :) Full details and photos (though it looks like I'm going to have to retake a whole bunch of them due to poor lighting) over here.

Progress Check

Cast on during opening ceremony on Friday, February 12.

I'm sad to report there were several false starts - the first of which was casting on and completing the ribbing on the Wrong Sized Needles. *sigh*. So back it went, ripped right back out and started over with correct needles...even remembered to switch to appropriate needle size once ribbing was complete - the saving grace? Big yarn and a minimal amount of knitting at hem.

Next false start: Pattern error in row 1! That's right folks, pattern error and no published errata. I thought for sure I was going bonkers, but I counted the number of stitches accounted for in the pattern, and sure enough, not all stitches cast on were accounted for - was able to figure it all out based on subsequent rows....

3 days later and here we are:

The back is finished :) I sure hope the gauge swatch does not lie, because I need this to stretch and widen before I do all the assembly.

The Right Front has now been cast on...with a repeat of the comedy of errors that started the back *sigh*

17 days.

In case you weren't paying attention, the 2010 Olympics started last week....as did the Knitting Olympics :) Last winter olympics, I finished off a sweater, then tore it back and finished it again... I'm hoping for somewhat less drama this time around :) (if you're curious about the whole thing, check out February 2006 in the archives)

The plan of attack for this Olympics? A cabled cardigan for my husband from this book:

Men's Knits: 20 New Classics. Unfortunately, I haven't a photo of the sweater in question -but if all goes well, you'll see it soon enough as it comes off the needles :) I did some preparation for the event by winding the yarn and swatching. Including washing and drying the swatch in question - I've been surprised with several sweaters where they grew incredibly during the washing that I really should know better by now...

All the yarn was wound onto the same ball.....I sure hope it's enough! Stay tuned for updates :)

Down to the wire!

The Secret of Chrysopolis Shawl, which I apparently cast on for 2 years ago this month, has been finished, and the knitting needles officially harvested!

it's currently staked out and blocking, getting ready to pack it up and take it with me for a wedding. Finished, it's an impressive 27.5" wide, and probably about 6-feet long. Of course, once it's unstaked, there will be more photos :)

Houston...

...we have a problem.

See that wee bit of yarn? Not nearly enough for oh...150+ rows more of knitting, is it? Thank goodness I am dyer...but probably better, the second skein was still available! I'm making swift progress on harvesting the needles out of this project by way of actually finishing it. I'm now knitting down to the wire - I want it done for an event this weekend. If I am going to make it, I need to have this baby staked out and blocking by Saturday Night...think it'll happen?

Getting Organized

Apparently, my household has been struck with a bout of Autumnal Organization - between myself, my husband and our cats, we've managed to clutter up the place since our Spring Cleaning event and once again find ourselves going through everything and trying to decide what items to keep, what to donate away, what to try to resell and what to just throw (or freecycle) away. While traumatizing at the time, I always do find a good bout of organization to be incredibly invogorating once finished - how about you?

Just in time, my friends Illanna and Kiki have a great idea for the month of September!

It's the Great September Needle Harvest! The concept is deceptively simple - harvest/free up as many needles as you can from your UFOs by either actually finishing them, ripping them back, transferring the project to stitch holders, converting the project into something else (for example, felt it down and turn it into an ornament, a bag or perhaps even a creature!), give the project to someone else to finish (with their own needles ;) ) or...just pitch it (without the needles, of course).

There's a Ravelry group, and prizes for incentives - click on the banner or the link above to join us in our harvesting!

Progress...

Oops. Sorry this was so long in coming - I've had this post just needing to be written for a while, but I kept getting distracted. Drat that day job ;)

oooh pretty! Twisted cable stitches, how I do love knitting them....I did indeed finish these off earlier this month - cruise over here for more info and photos!

A little sparkle...

...to brighten your day?

Uh yeah, those would be gold flecks (actually a gold metallic filament plied) in the yarn - it's not one of mine, but a commercially available yarn that looks an awful lot like a handdyed one. Yes, I know - sparkle? And that colorway? Not really what you'd expect to find me playing with...but that's the whole idea :)

Several of us have decided to do a knitalong for these Uncertain Times...the idea is that in times of uncertainty, you sometimes have to do things a little differently. So here I find myself, knitting with sparkly yarn (to brighten the horizon) and in a colorway that is pushing my comfort zone.

And here's a preview of the socks in progress :)

Something New

Happy New Year!

While I have been diligently working on some of my older projects, I do feel compelled to cast on some new projects...this is for a knit-along I'm doing with Blogless Erika. :) We're both knitting up some Wollmeise into a lovely sock featuring plenty of twisted stitch cables...it seems I still require some practice with that magic cast on...here you see my yarn going everywhere while I work on getting both socks cast onto my single circular needle....


In other New News, I've named the new fingering base, it's called Naiad - it's a fantastic merino-nylon blend, and so soft you can't even tell the nylon is there! I've only just finished with the skeining, but you can be sure there will be a shop update shortly...

Sweaters in the making...

So...the Birthday Bog-along (named such because the Start and End Dates were participants' birthdates) is coming along fine - mine is actually in a state of completion, but I'm currently pondering the project....here it is pre seaming/kitchnering:

Doesn't look much like a sweater, does it? And yes, that is a vcr tape up there - I wish I could tell you it's for reference, but I'm old school and I do not have a DVR, so if I'm going to miss something on TV, I actually run the VCR!!

Anyhow - The sweater is actually in a "done" state - but due to the very very stretchy nature of garter stitch, I might be getting some steek practice in - I need to shorten the sleeves...by a lot. I'm not sure how much, I'm reblocking the sweater right now with the sleeves stretched out to make them a little thinner too - once it's dry, I'll put it on and figure it out.

I have to say, the Bog Jacket has a rather unique construction that does have its own quirks, but now that I've made one, it has my mind going on sweater construction....though I have to admit, my brain has already moved to the next sweater...I'm thinking this - out of some Alpaca-Merino-Silk...Course I could just chicken out and see if I can't find some marled natural colored yarn to knit it in....white is gorgeous, but it's also a magnet for stains!

If you're in the mood for a faster knit, there's a new Twinklebook out...

As always, the projects are all knit with fast knitting bulky weight yarn. Photos, as usual, are stunning - and are found all up front in the book with project descriptions and page references to the pattern material further back in the body of the book. The pattern pages feature a smaller image of the projects sans models inside - it's a real eye opener on the use of negative ease, comparing those photos to the ones in the front of the book with people modeling the garments! Also included with many of the patterns are clear schematics of the garment and tables outlining the shaping for the various sizes, row by row.

While I can't picture myself in many of the garments, there are several keepers in the book. I love the fair-isle inspired (Holyoke) sweater on the cover - along with several of the scarves and other cardigans (I really like the nantucket, sirocco and vineyard potter's cardigans) - and I've plenty of bulky weight yarn to knit them up in! I just need to find some other folks to knit for, since bulky weight wool garments would rarely see the light of day here in the desert...then again, that hasn't stopped me from knitting something before ;)

Now that's a Cake!

Thank goodness I have a jumbo ball winder ;) I've cast on and started my endless garter stitch - I forget how slowly garter stitch grows, but at least it's going smoothly :)

I'm not sure that that whole cake will be used, after all, I'm still thinking of adding a couple accent colors for the trim - we'll see as the knitting goes along...and I do have more yarn just in case the cake *isn't* enough!

I'm 4!

Today is my 4 yr bloggiversary :) I can't believe it. My blog is a preschooler.

And to make things even sweeter, the fall Knitty is up...and there's a nice review about Spritely Goods Handblended Batts inside! (scroll to the bottom - we were the 3rd fiber featured)


Speaking of Birthdays, I'm embarking on a Birthday Bog-along - along with Kiki and Illanna, and maybe a few others too. We had too much fun with the mitten along, so we're going nonstop garterstitch for an EZ Bog Jacket (check it on Ravelry!) The yarn is wound and we just cast on. I've gotten all of 4 rows in ;) I foresee some long nights knitting....and look! I even swatched :D

Baring my Guts

Or my Mitten's Guts anyhow. I love how floats look, don't you? Nice neat floats on fair isle projects always make me happy.

Interested in finding out more? The mittens are done, and all the details are over yonder on the Finished Objects blog.

And here is why Row Gauge Matters...

Well, I'm not yet done with my mittens...but I could have been!

Aren't they looking lovely? The fern motif shaped up nicely - the little color additions on the stem are little bits of yarn from other mittens in the mitten-along. I think it makes them even more special :)

So the question is...are you noticing anything slightly odd by any chance? All I have to say to explain myself is that I was just having a lovely time knitting along, following the chart, while listening to/watching TV (anyone else get sucked into Wipeout?) Next thing I knew it, the mittens were getting kinda tangled each time I flipped em over to knit the other side. Hmm... that's odd - that usually happens when I work on knitting sleeves...or long socks...

uh, yeah. it is fair to say we have a problem. No amount of blocking or felting is going to shorten these babys up. I noticed that my Vs are rather upright and long...rather than being short and squat. I think this is what is to blame for my ridiculous mitten length...or that's as far as my brain can figure it out.


If we look at the interesting side of the mittens, you can see approximately where my index finger ends. I'm trying now to figure out what the best path forward is - seeing as it's not quite at the beginning of that part of the motif, I wasn't sure if I should rip that entire "frond" back or how best to proceed. As it is, if I rip it completely out, I think I'm going to have to drop back some stitches (and pick them back up again) to adjust the colorwork on the 2 lower fronds...either that or I'm going to be doomed to rip clear all the way back to just above the snails. If that happens, I think I might cry. Then again, I've been really enjoying the knitting, so knitting it twice may not be that bad ;) This would be one of the downfalls of knitting your mittens (or socks or sleeves both at the same time ;) ) The good thing with the shetland wool is I don' t think it's going to be too traumatic to rip back - the wool is rather grippy, so I would expect that it will leave the happy little active stitches sticking straight up waiting to slide back onto the needles!

We have Snails.

I've cruised on past the snails on the mittens and am working my way up the fern motif. Things are going relatively speedily and I'm still working on making my gauge behave when it comes to carrying the yarn across long stretches and then having to knit with it on the first or second stitch on the other side of the mitten (we'll see how successful I am when I'm finished). When looking at the palm of the mitten it appears I have fairly even gauge/tension between hands (I make this statement because both colors appear to show up fairly evenly on the 1x1 stripes). Tonight, I curl up with the mittens while watching the Hell's Kitchen finale...or whatever else I can find on TV...or maybe I'll watch something on the computer. Either way, I'm going to get a little knitting done :)

In other news, the Shop has several new additions - not so much of my own personal dyework and fiberwork (I'm woefully behind and the 110+ degree days aren't really conducive to thinking about blending fibers). Orders I placed during or after TNNA have started to make their appearances at my door - there's yarn and woolwash and LOTS of patterns :)

4th of July Mitten Launch (we must be crazy)

For those readers in the US, I hope you all had a fantastic 4th of July weekend. I sure did - even though it was probably hot enough to braise a roast in my car, several of us decided to get together and play with wool.

It was all Steve's Idea...

here's all the lovely yarn (except for Illanna's - since she was joining us virtually from far far away) about 5 minutes before the designated start time of High Noon on the 4th of July....

I suspect a great number of folks who saw us at various establishments this weekend all thought we were crazy....ah well, I'm enjoying the knitting....and I'm discovering that my right hand is slightly dominant with Fair Isle knitting - but it's probably a lot more pronounced in large stretches of colorwork (vs plain on striping). I'll explain more about that some other time. Steve & Kiki have semi-time-lapse photos on their blog of the mitten progress over the weekend....

Unfortunately, with today being Monday, I suspect the mitten progress may be greatly slowed...but you never know :)

Flashy

Front side shot can be seen, along with way more information about this sweater over here on the finished objects blog.

In a nutshell: knit from the bottom up, seamless - unless you count a wee bit of grafting at the underarms and on the back. I think I really like this fine gauge knitting business :)

Now Blocking...

little tiny snippets of my koigu sweater...which, I am happy to say, enjoyed a nice bath in some Aquae SOAK before being spun dry and laid out flat to block. Clockwise from the top: the v-neck with applied i-cord trim, notch on the back of one of the cuffs (I have 1/2 length sleeves on this sweater and the notch accomodates my elbow quite nicely) and finally, a closeup of the applied i-cord over the epaulet.

Now I need to pick back up my Venezia and hope I haven't changed gauge drastically or I might be facing some serious issues with the knitting!

Patience is a Virtue

Seriously. Because it might save you from having to do what I did...

...which would be picking out the hem of a sweater by snipping one stitch and unraveling it, stitch by stitch in order to get access to live stitches (as in a provisional cast on) to add length to the body. Above in the photo you can see that I have just finished liberating the hem :)

I measured and measured, and still it seems it wasn't quite long enough (I really should have kept on knitting instead of splitting for the v-neck and going after the yoke) - I don't know if it was because when I measured it, I was stretching the fabric a little bit or perhaps I failed to accomodate my not so bountiful bustline - all I know is where it was, it was hitting me at about belly-button level.

I'm glad to say the picking out of stitches and adding length has gone quite well - I'm half way through binding off all the hem stitches so I can whip stitch it up in place (I opted to do this instead of binding off to the purl bumps in an attempt to prevent the hem from kinda flipping outwards). Once I have the hem in place, I'll have one skein of koigu left to finish the edging on the neckline (I'll be opting for applied i-cord) and the finishing of the sleeves. It's looking like this will be a short sleeved sweater :) Unless I order in another skein or so of this colorway and dyelot.

Don't forget, there are a few more days left before I fire up yon Random Number Generator to pick a winner in the contest!

Size Matters!

Look at the difference in the way the yarn behaves with 2 different needle sizes! I think it's pretty neat myself - and it's a great illustration that you can indeed "control" or manipulate a yarn if you are afraid of pooling or flashing.

That there is a swatch for a Seamless Saddle Shoulder Sweater (I'm way behind - rumor has it that Erika "won" the KAL and finished her sweater this weekend - Illanna was not far behind with only the underarms to sew up as of yesterday...and Kiki has recently frogged the yoke of her sweater to redo it due to an excess of fabric at the underarms. Rumor is the best version of the "pattern" to follow is out of Elizabeth Zimmermann's The Opinionated Knitter (and not Knitting Workshop - which is what I am currently knitting out of....). Ah well, I've got miles of knitting to go before I get there - and tempted as I am to just knit one ball of koigu after the next, I will be juggling and mixing the balls of yarn, just in case the colors don't quite match.

By the way, I opted to go with US2s if you were wondering. But only because the math was easier ;)