Green takeover

Apparently all that frog pj sewing put me in a green mood.  I’m currently knitting one green cardigan and just bought wool for a green pullover.  Considering that I’m restricting my knitting time as to not exacerbate my tendonitis, I think I’m being a bit optimistic here.

Oh well it’s on!

First up is my green version of Something Silver.  You may have noticed I have a fondness for Veera’s patterns so it’s not shocking I’ve got one on needles.  I’m almost halfway to the point where I go back into garter stitch even though my knitting time has been curtailed.  Good project for tv watching, but interesting enough to keep me going.

My next green project is the Set-in Sleeve Seamless Sweater with V-Neck by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  I’ve had this copy of Spun Out #21 for ages and just didn’t get around to trying this steeked V-neck technique.  V-necks are my fave to wear so I’m intrigued by the steeking.  I found a bag of Peruvian Highland Wool at Elann for a great price thinking that this yarn will be “sticky” enough to steek.  Plus it’s a fresh new leaf green color that I adore.  I may add a hint of pink to the sweater if I’ve got a nice pink stashed.  So far I’m just in the mulling over stage.

My intention is to get a bit further along with the green cardigan before starting a pullover.  I must admit, the leafy green yarn is calling from it’s bag across the room.  I shall be strong.

Degrees of fail

Today I’m pondering various degree of project fail.  We all know about epic fail, the absolute disaster that even you can no longer squint at and say “it’ll come out with blocking”.  This fail is a mild “it’s just not working” kind of fail.

What’s wrong with said mitt?  Nothing other than it won’t work for intended recipient.  My friend wears dress shirts with french cuffs to work, so putting these mitts on with the long pretty cuffs won’t work without taking out cufflinks.  Considering I’m thinking these mitts are for cold mornings on the long commute, undressing to wear mitts is dumb.

What’s the plan?  I can rip these and make shorter cuffed mitts or use a completely different yarn that’s slightly softer with more elasticity. I’m opting to root around the stash for some softer yarn in a smaller gauge and making shorter  mitts.  Luckily these are NOT Christmas gifts, rather birthday gifts.  We do NOT shortchange the December birthdays around these parts!

What is not a fail in this picture is that I finally put the ornaments on the tree.  I’d set up the wee fake tree (it’s 4.5 feet, so not too wee) and plugged it in and happily left it twinkling sans decorations for a week.  The boxes of decorations were sitting right next to the tree, but it took a week to give it that half hour of attention.  Still, it’s cute and I’m happy.  Except about mitts.

Tropical storm ho

Everywhere I went last week, I seemed to be following around a tropical storm like a besotted rock groupie.  OMG!  Why do people live in tropical storm places?  Gray rain, flooded and hot.  How can that be?!  My hair is still mad at me.

Oh well, enough about me, here’s more about me.

Here we have my active WIPs. We will not discuss the semi-active projects hanging out with me.

Upper left is the rolled up pattern (sans seam allowances and planned design changes) waiting for next week when I’ve got a big ol’ chunk of time off to work on my Burda Raspberry coat.  I think of you constantly my love!

Upper right is the almost completed Red Scarf for this year’s scarf drive for Foster Care to Success (FCS).

Lower left is the much neglected, but much-loved Different Lines Scarf for MEEEE!  I actually carry this project around in my suitcase but never work on it because I’m always exhausted at work.  I’m trying to work on it on my off days because it’s gorgeous.  The first Stripe Study I made was given to its intended recipient and it’s much-loved and worn.  Because I get jealous since I don’t have one, I’m making the next one for me.  Hah!

Lower right is my dinner and it’s freaking delish.  When I travel (well, when anyone travels) the food choices are awful and usually fried.  When I get home I CRAVE vegetables!  This was my dinner, Weeknight Curry from Super Natural Every Day - it’s a Thai red curry with veg!  Yumm!  I used zucchini, summer squash, baby yukon gold potatoes, Japanese eggplant and Chinese broccoli in this one.  With chicken, of course.  I drank the broth.  Shexy…

Most random ever

In an inadvertant effort to produce the most random post ever, I give you the below collage:

The upper left is one of a pair of completed Summer of Socks 2011, Medallion Lace in the Crapshoot colorway from Periwinkle Sheep.  I thought I’d use the heel flap called for in the pattern and while it’s fine, I still like my short row heel and toes better.  Live and learn.

Upper right is the line drawing of Burda Style 11-2008-116 coat that I’ve begun tracing off for use for the Raspberry Coat.  I thought I’d shorten it about 18″ for a mid thigh length.  I am currently 1/3 of the way through tracing off the pattern from the most irritating Burda pattern sheet ever.  Hey Burda, I’d pay $20/year more if you put LESS stuff on each pattern sheet.  You are a bunch of crazy bitches over there in Germany.

And the giant picture of my big toe is my totally unprofessional pedicure (self administered) using the crackle nail polish I’d been hankering after.  I used Sally Hansen Brisk Blue with Ink Splatter Crackle over top.  Love it!

Twists and turns

September is red scarf time!

I noticed Norma had a post on the Red Scarf/Fund drive for The Orphan Foundation.  The group has recently been renamed Foster Care to Success, and they provide assistance and support to kids who’ve aged out of the foster care system at the as they continue their education. Now that’s a freaking great thing. You simply knit a red scarf for a kid as part of their Valentine’s Day surprise.   Some years I make a scarf and sometimes I don’t have time and just make a donation.  Either way, the cause is good.

You can make a red unisex scarf for submission between 1 September through 15 December and all the information is here.

My scarf above is made from some hand spun purloined from my sister’s fiber hoard the other day.  She had three skeins of this heavy aran-ish weight and she certainly won’t use it, having no knitting drive at the moment.  She has no recollection what/where/how about this fiber but it’s a soft wool and is a pretty red.

I chose the Autobahn Scarf pattern from the newest edition of Twist Collective.  Unfortunately I started and ripped this scarf about four times before I realized it’s not me, it’s you.  Yup, tiny pattern error (which is now fixed) caused me to almost give up on this pattern.  But luckily it was all figured out and things are going well.  This scarf has a cable moving back and forth across it and is totally reversible.  Love that.  I’m using a size 8 needle and 46 stitches to make a 7″ wide scarf.  It’s going quickly and I can get back to a neglected sock in my travel bag.

Heatwave = wool

There’s a saying that sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good – well yesterday I made my flight home by literally ONE minute (the last flight out of Dodge btw).  I’ll take lucky…and those workouts at the gym do have a practical application when you’re sprinting down the airport corridor pulling your luggage wearing your uniform.

Apparently all this noctural drama made we want to knit this morning over my coffee, so I pulled out Folded who was waiting patiently in the knitting basket.  I realized how CLOSE I am to finishing this sweater.  I want to make the yoke big enough to cover the bra straps or most of the tank straps – which is how I’ll wear this sweater so you can see from the photos it’s close.  Not quite, but close.

The Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine is nice to knit with and I hope it will bloom with a good wet blocking.  I’d like to block some drape into this with a pretty firm blocking (read yanking and pulling) since the gauge is loose enough to make that look flowy and pretty rather than misshapen.  Overall, so far so good.  The main problem with finishing this is the temperature outside, slated for 89 degrees today here in the land of no air conditioning.

Just in time for spring

Doesn’t that golden color just make you think of spring and new leaves and sunshine?  Am I right in thinking that lots of you live in places with none of these items in abundance – yet?  I visited quite a few still defrosting cities last week, bleak bleak bleak.

So what could be better than bringing a bit of my California sunshine with me in the form of this adorable hat?  The hat pattern is the wonderfully addictive Miyake (by Jenn Jarvis and a free download!) and the yarn is MadelineTosh Tosh Merino Light in the Candle Wick colorway.  Very golden and happy.

This hat pattern is super easy, but keeps you interested with the occasional cable.  Perfect for knitting on the road, this hat has already been coast to coast during the knitting up.  I followed the pattern as written although I inadvertently mixed up the left and right cables.  Also, I used double points instead of short circs since short circs give me horrible tendonitis.  I also went down a needle size since I’m the queen of loose knitters.  Because I’m such a loosey my ribbing isn’t as tight as I wanted after blocking so I ran one row of elastic thread where the ribbing turns to pattern stitch and that worked perfectly.  That gives my hat the slight slouch I wanted and will keep it on my head during those freezing San Francisco windy summer days.

I’m already thinking about making another one of these for a gift and going down one more needle size, but will have to see if the fabric produced is as nice as this hat’s.  I can heartily recommend this hat pattern with the proviso that it’s addictive.  The Cheetos of hats?!

No, not done

Stripe Study Shawl is almost done.  Not quite.   So close.  Another couple of inches…

Elektra is ready to start the lace charts which makes that not a travel project.  Too much attention required.

So what’s a girl to do on the eve of her vacation being over and a bunch of work ahead?  New projects, of course!

I’ve longed to make Folded since I saw Too Much Wool Cassie’s at Rhinebeck 2010 - all the way back in OCTOBER (how did that happen?).  Such a cute pattern and it’s knit in the round with sock weight yarn in stockinette.  Pretty much travel knitting for the body and sleeves!  Perfect.  I got some Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine and swatched up a bit.  So far so good, except my color way is called Prune Mix which is not so sexy sounding.  Me, I like prunes (and all dried fruit for that matter), but Folded Prune is not such a fun name for a sweater.

I’ll work on a better name.  Until then, Folded Prune it is…

Like a mallet to the head…

I didn’t know whether to go with the mallet title or a blue and gray/civil war type thingie.  I opted for the mallet because I’ve still got a giant tupperware full of yarn in the garage that is much scarier than civil war re-enactors.  Use some stash, me thinks not.

So what am I doing instead of packing to go to work for a week tomorrow morning.  Winding skeins of Isager 2 into cakes thank you very much.  I saw the Stripe Study Shawl pattern and immediately bought it.  Please note I waited twenty-four hours before buying some appropriate yarn, so clearly I don’t have a problem.

What’s that?  No, nothing’s been finished projectwise, but thanks for playing.  Lovely parting gifts and all.

Excuse me while I go swatch and refuse to pack.  It’ll serve me right if I don’t pack enough undies and have to wash my “smalls” out in random hotel rooms and dry them with a hair dryer.  NOT that I have a problem…

Experimental knitting

What the hell is experimental about knitting?  It’s a pullover for heavens sake.  Ooh wacky.

Ah, but look a bit deeper.  It’s a top down, set in sleeve knit simultaneously sweater.  Wha?  Splain it to me Lucy.

Well I was faced with a bit more time off than I expected due to a VERY unfortunate sickness I picked up in my travels.  It was so unfortunate that I went to the doctor for some massive drugs to set myself right.  Modern medicine worked, so knitting happened.

When I felt well enough, I picked up my Knitting From the Top and while leafing through saw the top down set in sleeve chapters and thought I’d go for it.  I’d done top town raglan cardies, pullovers, hats and socks but never a set in sleeve from the top town.  Interesting.

KFTT is a must have in my opinion if you’re a sweater knitting person.  My problem with the book is that you’re constantly flipping to other chapters  because the directions are more anecdotal than logically linear.  These are not blind follower instructions.  So I read the chapters through, used many bookmarks and made notes (that’s a first) and began.  I unravelled a UFO in garage storage in a nice chunky weight for instant bang for my knitting buck.  Luckily it’s a nice soft cormo that I think my sister and dyed up ages ago and am now putting to a proper use.  You know I love cormo.  I knit up a big swatch and made my calculations.

My progress has been swift (thanks to 3.5 st/inch) and there really is no better way to understand this top down process than to just do it.  You start at the shoulder with an invisible cast on and do short rows.  The sleeves are picked up after 1/3 of the armhole has been knit and then you continue on from there in the usual top down fashion.

My aesthetic plan for this sweater is pretty modest.  I want it to end up as a big comfy sweater that can be worn in place of a sweatshirt.  No fancy patterns or geegaws, just stockinette with ribbing at the end.  A good rustic sweater that will get used.  That’s the plan at this point.