2012 Resolutions

Aside from my normal new year's resolutions to get more exercise, lose 5 lbs, have more sex (ok maybe that isn't in your list but I'm betting it is)...here are my knitting resolutions.


1-Finish the Alpine Lace Stole. Absolutely! I started it in Sept 2009. It is time!

2-Design a sweater. I have it planned out in my mind. Just gotta do the swatching & figuring. Can't show you a picture because that would spoil the surprise. But here is the yarn I'm planning to use. If it behaves nicely in the swatch.




3-Do something in entrelac. I'd love to do a scarf like this from Lion Brand.




Or these socks...or both. Speaking of socks....I also want to do toe up socks.




4-Make a fair isle hat for my son in law.



5-Design a shawl. I really do want to design a shawl/stole. Really.


6-I want to make a small throw for my living room like this except in my earth tone colors. I may have to move this up to number 2. Or 3. Yeah it's number 3. But, I'm not re writing this.




7-Make this scarf  with my SS yarn from Carrie K.


8- Make this scarf  with the yarn I got from my SS (Jackie C) in 2009.

9-And the biggie....buy no more yarn except what is needed for the above four five six items. 

2011 In Pictures

Here are pictures of most of my knitting projects from 2011 in no particular order. If you want more information they are all on my Ravelry page.

Five Hour Baby Sweater
done in pink camo yarn-fun knit

Drops Bolero

Gilet Noeud Noeud
very cute little sweater

Hats for Susie

Lace Cardi
a royal pita!

Leaf Yoke Top
fun knit-love the yarn!

Luggage Blossoms

Openwork Shrug
love this!

Quickie Baby Sweater

Soften His World Baby Blanket
cutest baby blanket ever!

30 minute Baby Hat & Cape
darling little hat

Ruffled Scarf
very fun & quick knit

Another Ruffled Scarf

Another

Again

One More Time

Just One More

Paneled Cabled Afghan
almost 3 years in the making

Lion Neck Cardi
crap picture but another quick knit

Please...somebody stop me!

Absolutely the last ruffled scarf!

Progress Report

I've been working on this afghan off and on for a little over two years! Definitely my longest WIP ever!!  A few weeks ago I finished the next to last panel (the green honeycomb panel on the left) and decided that in order to get some motivation to finish the thing I needed to seam together all that I can at this point. Whew! That was a really long sentence! I really love it! I've started the last panel which is another honeycomb cable in the green yarn. I really think it will need a border in the green to tie it all together so I've been looking at edging patterns & have found a few that I like. One possibility is the Spindles border from the Sleeping Beauty Baby Blanket.  Here is a close-up pic of the panel details. Here's the link to my project page on Ravelry if you are really interested.

In A Funk

I've been in something of a funk lately with my knitting. I still enjoy it when I'm knitting something that holds my interest. BUT, and it's been a big but, I have countless shawls & sweaters that I've knitted for myself & only worn one time. Like this one. Because it's too hot in Texas!  

So, I have been a little depressed and wondering what is the point of all this knitting if I make stuff that just sits in a drawer unused? And honestly, most of the things that I've gifted, I've felt were not appreciated.  I still remember going to the Hospice center & donating the afghan that I made while Angie was in the hospital. The reception was less than thrilling! I should've just taken my afghan and walked out!

I am still working on the Paneled Afghan but I'm so tired of it. I only have 2 more small panels to go & it'll be finished. I swear that I will never knit another afghan! And the Alpine Lace Scarf/Shawl is over halfway finished but I still have lots of yarn left & the miserly way I was raised insists that I use up every last drop of that $42 yarn! It's a really slow knit because of the laceweight yarn & the beads. But it'll be gorgeous. Wonder where I'll ever wear it?


Well, after several days of pattern searching & soul searching I've decided it's ok if I knit just because I enjoy it. TAA DAA!! It's really hard for me to do something just for me. As it is for most women. I have a large queue on Ravelry & many things that I've bought the yarn for. So, I pulled out my #1 and cast on. And I'm loving it. Leaf Yoke Top from Knit. 1/Spring Summer 2009. I bought the yarn on an impulse last November in Fredericksburg because the LYS had one on display & it was so gorgeous. They didn't have the pattern but assured me it only took 1 hank. Oh yeah, this yarn was $40+ per hank. But the hank has 560 yards. I digress...Got home found the pattern, ordered it. Lo & behold I would need more than one hank for the medium size. Called the LYS. They didn't have any more. Found a gal on Ravelry who had a partial hank. Pm'd her & asked if she'd sell it. She GAVE IT TO ME!! However, the dyelots are not the same. It's really really different. So, I'm alternating the two and so far it looks great! I don't have a picture yet because it's not far enough along to look like anything. So, here's a picture from the magazine. And I'm going to look as snooty as she does when I wear it!
 And look at this little top from Caron. It resembles the Leaf Yoke Top. I think I'll make it too! I don't know who it's for and I don't care! Well, maybe a little bit....

Catching Up

I've been MIA for awhile but just been way too busy to update the blog! Grin...So many friends doing it lately, that I thought I'd update mine. We had a wonderful 2 months in South Texas dancing every day. We were really into Round Dancing (aka choreographed ballroom dancing) this year & learned so much. We had a wonderful time! The weather was cold there but nothing like it was everywhere else so we felt lucky. We had ice one day & were without power for about 4 hours.  

Orange tree with icicles all over!

Surprisingly to me, they said the ice on the orange trees actually protected the trees from damage from the freezing temps.

On the knitting front, I managed to whip up a few things in between dancing. Like the fingerless mitts using some yummy soft Royal Fiber Spinnery 100% Baby Alpaca that I got from my Secret Santa MB. So soft & they sure were useful this winter!

Yummy soft mitts!

Another pattern that I love is the Openwork Shrug. I've made several of these now & they are so great for wearing at dances where it is chilly when you first walk in. Then, once you warm up a bit you can toss it aside. This one was made from an aran weight yarns so it's especially warm & cozy. Then I made another one using awesome Brook Farms Acero fingering weight yarn that I adore! It's the perfect weight for spring! I have modified the pattern a little bit because I found that the double yo's weren't to my liking. Instead I did k2, kf&b for the increase rows. It is much nicer, imho.

Love this!

Last but not least is the Knot Knot Vest. The "real" name for this pattern is Gilet noeud noeud. But being the dork that I am I wondered what it translated to in English. So, from Google & Reverso I found that Gilet translates to Vest & noeud is either node or knot. Anyway, this is my interpretation of her pattern. I'm also making a hat to go with it called Knot Knot Chapeau. I plan to donate the set to my square dance club for a silent auction on the 9th of April.  

Adorable little sweater

Well, that's it for today. If you stuck it out....you have my sympathies!

On the Road Again….

Haven’t checked in with the blog in quite a long time. Not sure anybody reads it anyway….and that’s ok because it’s for me mostly.

We’re traveling at the moment but I am finding time to knit a little. Finished a pair of fingerless mitss using the yarn that Marsha gave me as Secret Santa. They are cute & I’ll post a pic on of these days! Thinking on my next project…

Josephine Top

Started June 1, 2010

Finished July 26, 2010

Project info

Name

Josephine Top

Pattern

Josephine Top by Deborah Newton

Craft

Knitting

Made for

me

Size

36 1/2"

Tags

Needle and yarn

Needle

US 3 - 3.25 mm

Yarn

Knit Picks CotLin

Stash

861.0 yards in stash

How much?

7 skeins = 861.0 yards (787.3m)

Colorway

Whisker

Color family

Gray

Purchased at

Knit Picks

Purchase date

May 2010

Notes

6/1/2010-Swatched with size 5 Harmony needles. 21 sts=4” in rib & lace pattern.

6/2/2010-Swatched with size 3 Inox needles. Long tail cast on. 24 sts=4” in rib & lace. Will try different cast on next. REally don’t want to go down to 2’s.

6/5/2010-I am attempting to modify the pattern to fit within my gauge using size 3 needles. I am keeping notes so we’ll see how it goes. Cast on 115 sts which should give me a little over 19” across the bottom.

6/15/2010-Swatched the texture pattern on size 3 needles. close enough for govt work. I hand washed and then threw it in the dryer with a load of underwear. It came out beautiful and did not stretch or shrink. Now, the problem is that I get gauge on the texture pattern but not on the rib & lace. So, can I modify the rib & lace portion to fit and get the texture to work also?? Right now, I’m thinking that I will need to start with about 115 sts and decrease down to 110 rather than what the pattern has you do….start with 128 and dec to 110. so, this won’t be as much of an A-line.

7/26/2010-Finished & I love it. I made notes on all my changes.

Apricots & Femme Fatale

I went over to some friends house last Friday and picked apricots from their tree. The tree was the biggest apricot tree I've ever seen & had dropped lots of apricots already. The yard was a gooey, sticky mess and their driveway was too. Bad idea to plant an apricot tree near a driveway! By the time I got home I had apricot goo all over my shoes & even on my shorts. But it was worth it! Yummy!! This picture is a very small sampling of all the apricots I got. I had 5 times this many!

And here's a pic of the Apricot Coconut Squares (except that I did not put coconut).

I finished the Femme Fatale Wrap yesterday at knitting group. I gave it to L because she admired it early on. I hope she uses it! Here are the specifics:

Pattern: Femme Fatale Wrap Creative Knitting Nov. 2007

yarn: Malabrigo Worsted - Black 4 hanks

Needles: Knitpicks Harmony size 7 US

Started: April 13, 2010

Finished: June 14, 2010

I did make some mods to the pattern & found a couple of errors. These are detailed on my Ravelry project page which I am sharing.

Also finished the socks within the last few weeks. They are ok. A little bit rough on the inside to my sensitive feet. I tried felting them a little bit with no luck. Wouldn't you know it? When you want something to felt it won't.

Happy Victoria Day!

According to my calendar it's Victoria Day in Canada. So, Happy Victoria Day y'all.

I finished Mom's Shawl & gave it to her for Mother's Day along with the Mother's Day Cloth. She loved them both. Here's the link to my project page on Rav which I am sharing with you. I'm sweet like that.

The Mother's Day cloth is from KrisKnits.
The Femme Fatale Wrap is about 80%. I have decided to give it to Letty when I finish it. I offered it to her at WHIBSIB because she was commenting how much she loves it. I told her that she could either have this one or buy herself some yarn & I would make her one. She chose the one that I'm making. I am going to make the back section about 1 extra repeat because she is a little larger than I am. I am making the small/medium size. The only worry that I have is how much will the Malabrigo stretch when I block it? I haven't taken a picture of it because black is so hard to photograph.

I started back on my 2nd sock last night and am up to the heel flap. My first problem is that i don't remember which pattern I used for the first sock. I THOUGHT it was the one on the wrapper for the yarn. I was almost positive so that's the one I've been using on the 2nd sock. Well, when I got to the heel flap I realized that it isn't because the pattern says to sl1, k1 on rs rows for the heel flap. And that's not what I did on the first one. Oh well. That's what I'm doing on the 2nd one. it's just a sock, right?

Anyway, here's the question: Do I slip as if to purl or as if to knit? Do I hold the yarn in front or in back? In other knitting when a pattern tells me to slip and I don't do anything else with that stitch on that row I always slip as if to purl w/yarn in front. That's how I learned from something I read somewhere over the past few years. But it's a pita to do that and then knit the next stitch across the whole row. Ya know? And it wraps the yarn in front of the slipped stitch.

What is the correct way to do this type of heel and does it have a name?

I started the Knitayear project on May 1st. Link to project page on Ravelry. I'm enjoying it although I don't know that I will continue with it. My plan is to bind off each month and start a new one. That will prevent it from getting so long. In the end I can seam them together and it will be a rug or wall hanging.

Here's a picture after the first week.

I really want to start the EZ 100th Anniversary Pi Shawl. I joined a Ravelry group called 10 Shawls in 2010 and they are enablers deluxe. The aforementioned shawl is designed to commemorate Elizabeth Zimmerman's 100th birthday. She was born August 9, 1910 (8/9/10). So, the shawl is designed using repeats of 8, 9 & 10. I think that's really cool. And my grandmother was also born on August 9, 1910. So it's especially meaningful to me. I bought KnitPicks Palette yarn in Aster. Purple was grandma's favorite color. She had a bedroom upstairs that was decorated in purple & white. It was all ruffly and girly and I loved that room. A few times I got to sleep in it and I always felt so proud when I did.

Truth Time

I don't usually have more than 3 projects otn at any one time. I've always been anal about that. But, last night I was searching for missing needles and discovered a terrible truth. I have 6 projects otn right now and am dying to start a 7th. Hence, the search for the missing size 6 needles.

So, it's time to fess up, face the music, tell the truth.

1-Paneled Lace Afghan which I started last summer and it probably won't be finished in 2010. I do work on it every Monday at the library for a couple of hours but it's slow going and I'm ok with that because it's my easy carry around project.

2-Alpine Lace Shawl - I started this last fall and while I love it, it takes a lot of focus and concentration because every row is patterned and I'm using beads, too. I do intend to complete it this year.

3- Serenity Socks - I started these in December 2009 and have one finished and the other is about 25%. I don't knit on them very often but I keep them in the car for knitting emergencies. I call them Serenity socks because that's the name of the yarn I'm using. I'm not real creative.

4- Grace's Blanket - started very recently using the Rambling Rows pattern and scraps of Cotton Tots yarn. I've almost run out of scraps so it's on hold until I can buy more which sort of defeats the purpose of the blanket.

5- Fischgratlein - This is an openwork shawl from a pattern called Fish Scales Shawl. I started it in a fit of "gotta find a new project". It will probably not get finished.

6- Femme Fatale Wrap - Started this yesterday and it's really fun so far. Pattern comes from Creative Knitting November 2007.

Oops....I just remembered there are two more. Ugh. One was my design for the LSSK design contest last summer that I never finished. Maybe I will. The other is a variation of the Fish Scales Shawl that I was working on. Need to frog it.

And I really, really want to start the Haruni Shawl by Emily Ross. I saw a picture of it on Ravelry and several people have used the Jojo Melody yarn and it looks spectacular. And I have 3 balls of that yarn that I bought to make the Spiral Scarf with and decided that I didn't like it.

Calais Shawl

I finished this so fast that it didn't even have a chance to get on my WIP list. I loved every minute of the knitting. The yarn was so awesome and the pattern was fun and easy with just enough challenge to keep me interested in it! I hated for it to be over!

Details:

Pattern-Calais Shawl

Yarn-Tweed Sport from Weaving Southwest Taos, NM

Needles-US 7 Knitpicks Harmony

Started-March 25, 2010

Finished-April 2, 2010

Not sure what my next project will be. There are a couple of sweaters/wraps that I like. In the meantime I'm doing mitered square dishcloths and starting a preemie size Rambling Rows Afghan.

Lion Neck Cardigan

I finally got a picture of the Lion Neck Cardigan that I started for DD back in December. I finished it on Feb 5 and mailed it to her. It was really an easy and quick knit, but I had too much dancing to do so I didn't get it finished very quickly.

It fits pretty well, except that the sleeves are too long and they are a little baggy at the underarms. The pattern is from Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. I made the largest size which had me worried because it was labeled as 3X which DD does NOT wear, she more of a L or maybe XL. But the chest measurement for the 3X was exactly what hers is so I went with that size. I never really did understand the sizing on this sweater...The large size listed a 36 3/4" chest measurement which I think should be a small or maybe a medium. Anyway, I am reasonably happy with the outcome except for the sleeve length and width. When I got to the underarms I only cast on an extra 4 sts which made my sleeves more the large size and still they are too big. I wanted to take the sweater back and fix the sleeves but DD assured me that she likes it the way it is. So, I'm happy!

Details:

Lion-Neck Cardigan by Wendy Bernard in Custom Knits

Needle size 11 Harmony circular

Yarn-Lion Brand Jiffy Camel Spray colorway

Happy Thanksgiving!

It has been quite a while since I updated the blog. I'm so far behind that I don't know where to start. The summer trip was wonderful but left us scrambling to get our house/yard/lives back on track. I think maybe we are caught up finally after a couple of months! Maybe.

On the knitting front....I finished my first ever pair of socks last week. Knitted them in Simply Soft Caron on size 4 needles. I would post a pic but they are in the laundry hamper. I never had any urge to knit socks but I did enjoy it and have bought yarn and needles for another pair. Actual sock yarn this time. Eeekkkk! And size 2 needles....Double Eeeekkkk!

I am still slogging away at the Alpine Lace Stole. I can only get 4 rows per day done at the most so it's gonna take awhile. But that's ok.

I have finished the second panel of the Paneled Afghan. It's looking good and I have the 3rd panel planned. It's going to be done using the Zurich Scarf pattern.

I just started the Heelhead Scarf in black Malabrigo worsted. I think it will be nice. I plan to make one for Mother and one for myself.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is just as stuffed as I am!