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South Carolina was awesome. Just so you know…
Thought I’d give a quick WIP update on this Thanksgiving Eve. Here’s my newest project: a cowl.
I’m using some novelty yarn that I had hanging out in my stash for this one. It’s going to be a rather large cowl (think head, neck, and shoulders) and I’m thinking about playing with large buttons or maybe a flower… something. I’m kind of improvising this as I go along. I’m trying to find the redeeming qualities in novelty yarn, as it is something that has a tendency to make me cringe as it’s often used in a way that borders on tacky. But I think that it can be used as the “main attraction” and can still be quite stunning. At least, that’s what I’m hoping. I’ll let you know how this one turns out. The only drawback to the project thusfar is the use of size 13 straights. Larger needles aren’t my favorite thing to knit with. I love my smaller sizes (like 2 – 4) and I seriously ABHOR straights. Like, with a passion. But my size 13 circs are on a sleeping project and it rather pains me to remove them. So, I’m going old school with this. They’re killing my wrists actually. I can’t believe that I learned how to knit on straights. Wow.
Next on the needles is a pair of Noro stripe socks. I started these while waiting at the airport for my flight to SC.
The color contrast on the stripes is quite stunning. I’m doing a 4 row stripe this go around and I’m loving the larger stripes more than the thinner ones that I used on my first pair. But, as nothing in my life can ever go smoothly, something HAD to go wrong with these socks.
Oh, that’s right folks. The green ended up on both strands at the same exact time. I thought that it would only be an issue for a stripe or two at the most. But no. It went on and on and on. And me being the complete ding-a-ling that I am kept knitting through it thinking that it would end soon. Needless to say, there will be some serious frogging taking place as soon as I get the stripe mojo back. Most likely, these are going to sit on the needles through at least the holidays. I’ll probably pick them back up in January. I hate when the knitting fates are against me.
Oh, and there’s been some hardcore knitting on the forsaken lace ribbon scarf (which I forgot to take a new pic of). There’s probably an hour or so left of knitting and then it will be ready for the dreaded blocking (which can’t take place until I get my blocking wires back from my friend who is borrowing them). It’s amazing what a couple of flights with a layover can enable you to knit.
I’m still riding the Twilight high, for those of you who are also fans. I’ve seen the movie 2 times now and I’m ready to see it yet again. It was just a fun movie.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! There’s much to be thankful for. :)
Guess who got her Twilight End Swap package today? ME!
And can I just say, that the ever-awesome, Troismommy, put together the best package ever! I love everything!!!!
WARNING: PIC SPAM AHEAD
Here’s what I saw when I opened the box:
Everything was all wrapped up. It was like christmas! So, I pulled everything out and there were little notes!
And all opened up, it revealed SO MANY WONDERFUL THINGS!!!!
Is that not some serious swappy goodness? Everything was so perfect!!! She found such wonderful goodies for me!
Mmm Twilight Delight chocolate. Must resist urge to eat the whole bar tonight… Mmm the world’s best coffee: Senseo Hazelnut Waltz. This coffee is my vice. If I don’t have a cup of it every morning, I am unpleasant. Ask my co-workers. It’s sooo good. Yummy yummy!
Gorgeous Twilight stitch markers from the fabulous Velvet Hippo. I had spied these same markers or some that were very similar a few weeks ago in her etsy shop and had contemplated buying them, but was trying to save for my vacation so I didn’t! How lucky! :) And check out the ever-so-awesome key ring! It’s a mini Twilight book! I love it!
And the sock yarn! Holy crap, this is some gorgeous sock yarn! It’s MacKintosh Yarns Celtic Sock Yarn in the colorway Half Blood Prince. Oh, yes. Harry Potter goodness!!! This will most definitely become some fabulous socks to wear to the Half Blood Prince movie on opening night next July! (I’m still bitter about the date change, by the way.) And it feels wonderful!
But oh, here’s the best part:
About 2 months ago, I did a test knit for the WONDERFUL Troismommy and made this scarf. THESE GLOVES MATCH MY SCARF!!!! How awesome is that? The fit perfectly. They match perfectly. (Although, it’s hard to tell in this picture with the crappy indoor fake light. I hate that it’s dark at like, 5:00 pm now!) I’m so wearing them to the movie on Friday. I love them. I really, really, wicked love them!
This was such an awesome surprise to come home to! She had mentioned in the swap thread on ravelry that she had sent her package to a “midwestern blue state” and I wondered… because I’m in a midwestern blue state (for the first time in decades). And when I saw the package on my porch as I pulled into my driveway, I got excited. When I saw who it was from, I squeed with joy! (I would like to apologize to my neighbors for said squee, as it was a little on the loud side.) Thank you, thank you, thank you Genevieve for such an AWESOME package! :)
Now, I’m off to pack (and eat my chocolate) as I’m heading to South Carolina tomorrow!
What a great day!
So yeah. We all knew that I couldn’t keep my vow to not start a new project until I completed 4 of my current WIPs. BUT my new project is for a good cause. I’m test knitting. It’s a most groovy scarf for the lovely troismommy over at ravelry. It’s called Tourniquet.
It’s knitting along quite quickly, actually. And I rather love it. The charcoal grey and red together are stunning. I wish that I had not been so impatient and had ordered some better yarn for it. But I really wanted to get going on it, so I just used some wool/acrylic that I had in my stash. (luckily I had the right colors!) It’s all good though. I have an excuse to knit another one! I had hoped to have it finished today, but I got a little distracted by an afternoon nap (I haven’t taken a nap in sooo long. It was blissful!). But it should be done in the next day or two. It’s going to be wonderful for this winter.
In other news, I’ve ordered another Butterfly Girl Designs spindle. SOMEONE STOP ME PLEASE AS I AM OUT OF CONTROL! I keep buying spindles (plus I’m in the middle of making two… I’m making the whorls out of fimo clay. I just need to run to the hardware store for some grommets.) And don’t even get me started on the knit picks order that I’m about to place. Must. Buy. More. Yarn. (that will sit in my stash for a few months before I even give it a thought, only to then go out and buy more yarn) I needs it… my precious!
Back to the Tourniquet.
This past week has flown by. Tonight I am mentally preparing myself for the return to work tomorrow. The thought of waking before 8:30 am is probably the biggest thing that I am dreading. Although, I suppose I really am dreading the actual work itself, but there’s not a whole lot that I can do about it. I’m just trying to figure out how I’m going to make it through ravelry withdrawl since I will not be able check the forums every hour as I have been for the last week. Stupid work firewall.
Lots of photos ahead…
For the record, I didn’t complete 7 projects. I only eeked out 4 completed items this week. But I’m okay with it. Because I did still accomplish quite a bit. Plus, I’m relaxed and content and that’s really what my ultimate goal for the week was. In addition to the first two pairs of fingerless gloves I have also completed a second pair of Maine Morning Mitts in Noro Silk Garden:
and most exciting of all, I finished the Eclipse socks!
I love these socks. Like, really really really love these socks. They look awesome. I was surprised at how long it took me to add the ribbon to the socks. (This is probably why I only finished 4 projects this week!) I can safely say that I will not be doing another swiss darning project for at least a couple of months, as I am all swiss darned out for right now. But, it does look really good and well, these socks would not rock as much as they do without the swiss darning.
And I’ve started a new sock project. I finally broke down and cast on the embossed leaves socks that I’ve been saving my knitting notions sock yarn for.
These are knitting up more quickly than I expected, which is always a good thing.
And lastly, I broke down this week and purchased my first Bosworth spindle. Oh, I am in love.
It’s a purpleheart mini. .77 oz of spinning beauty. I can’t decide what to spin on it first. Hmmm… what wants to become laceweight? Look at it… it almost glows!
I’m off to find some dinner and enjoy my last few hours of vacation. So sad that it’s ending…
I have finally finished spinning my very first shipment of Spunky Club fiber! I give you Eclipse:
It’s hand painted Romney and it’s fuzzy and wonderful in a way that only Romney can be. (I’m more than pleased with my first month in the club and now I cannot wait for the August fiber to get here!) I spun it as singles on a spindle and it’s approximately 11 wpi. So, a good worsted to bulky weight. It was a relief to be able to spin something a little more substantial than lace. I worked so hard at spinning thin that it was almost as if I had forgotten how to spin a heavier weight.
On the knitting front, I’ve gone back to the striped Noro sock. I wasn’t happy with it. The heel flap was screwing up the stripes and the colors and it just wasn’t working for me. So after some thought, it came to me: afterthought heel! Now there will be no break in the color progression of the stripes and I will be able to feel much better about them. So, I ripped out the gusset and heel flap and have knitted in my pseudo row and I’m ready to finish these babies up!
I’m still not pleased with the not-seam that I’m praying will block away…
And for the record, Dawn has Broken. I read Breaking Dawn and while it was not what I expected, I’m learning that I loved it more than I thought I would. And I’m happy. I’m really truly happy with what happened. And that’s all that I shall say here in the realm of possible spoiler-land (for those who haven’t finished yet). Now, if she’d just release Midnight Sun…
How do you decide between your spinning WIPs and your knitting WIPs? I’ve been making some good progress on Icarus. But I’m distracted by the spinning.
The Bunny Merlot seduced me…
Actually, I like the name “drunk bunny” more than “bunny merlot”. It’s not turning out the way that I had expected it to when I originally bought it. However, it was one of my very first fiber purchases after learning how to spin, so I honestly didn’t have any idea about what I was purchasing. It’s angora, silk and merino on black polwarth. The black polwarth is pretty greasy and the fiber isn’t spinning up nearly as soft as I had expected it would. BUT, it still is lovely fiber and it’s spinning up into some lovely tweedy fingering weight singles.
But the drunk bunny has been put aside for today’s new arrival. My brand-spankin’ new spindle and roving from Butterfly Girl Designs arrived today. The spindle is a picasso jasper high whorl spindle and it is ridiculous the difference between it and my first spindle (see the drunk bunny spindle). It’s elegant and effortless. The difference is like Alice and Emmett, really. But, oh… the roving. I saw the roving and had to have it immediately. Can you say love (1000)…
Because I am that obsessed, it is so Twilight that I don’t even know where to begin. The batt is actually called “macabre”. It’s a superwash merino/superwash wool/bamboo blend. Red, white and black with sparkles. Seriously, how can you not think about Twilight when you see this? And best of all, it spins like a dream… especially on the gorgeous new spindle. I must get more of her spindles. I think that I might become addicted.
And on a sidenote: A week and a day until Breaking Dawn. (See? Obsessed.) Back to the macabre…
I headed down to the city to meet some friends for dinner last night. I got there a little early so that I could make a couple of stops at the LYS and bead shop. Ahhh…little luxuries. My plan at the LYS was one skein of Noro kureyon sock yarn. One and only one skein. After finally choosing a color, I took my skein to the checkout and received the most wonderful news: I had a $36 yarn credit from my 2nd quarter shopping. Score. So, I picked up a second kureyon skein and a skein of Araucania Ranco multi (another favorite fingering weight yarn) and left the store with 3 skeins and only really paying for one. I cast on one of the skeins of kureyon this morning for a pair of striped socks.
I liked the new Noro sock pattern on knitty, but being a fan of the mindless sock knitting, I wanted something with a bit less attention. So, I decided to do basic stripes instead. I’m working the stripes alternating between the center pull yarn and the outside yarn on the skein. The stripes are a little wonky where the round starts and ends, but I’ve never been able to get that right on anything I’ve knit in the round. But it’s not too terrible that I want to frog it. I’m just using my simple socks pattern that I’ve figured out after many pairs of socks that fit perfectly now.
After the LYS, I headed across the street to the bead shop. I’ve been envious of all of the gorgeous handmade Twilight stitch markers that I’ve been seeing on the Twilight forum in ravelry lately. Being the crafty bitch that I am, I decided that I should make some of my own. I’ve spent this afternoon assembling them and have decided that I’m not too terrible at beading. (I have only made 2 other attempts at beading before today) I’m not saying that I want to get into the jewelry business, but I’d definitely like to keep on with the stitch markers so I can have something a little more interesting than the generic clover markers that I normally use.
These are my sparkling Edward inspired markers. I actually made 2 of the topaz “Thirst” markers (check out the second in action on my sock above).
And these are my Forks markers and the Twilight apple marker. I need more beads now. I have oodles of ideas in my head.
And for the record, No. I haven’t touched the cormo on the wheel yet today. I know. I suck.
This week has been a little hiatus from knitting. Logan got me hooked on the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and it has quite literally consumed me for the week. I read all three books in quickly, but then went back and reread portions that I wanted to revisit or I may have read too quickly through when I was anxious to find out what would happen next. Needless to say, I have become obsessed with the books and am finding it difficult to tame the squealing fangirl inside. But I shall exercise restraint. At least while I’m writing this post, that is. Seriously, all of my thoughts this week have centered around these books. I’m creating playlists on my ipod for the characters. I should post them. They are really quite good.
Friday I picked up the clapper again after a week of no knitting. I made some progress at knitting nite and then today. I’m finally on the straight rows and I’m realizing that this is going to be a little bigger than I anticipated. But I’m happy about that. And the malabrigo is so wonderful…it doesn’t matter to me in the slightest that it’s 90 degrees outside and I’m knitting a merino wool scarf/stole/wrap.
I’m loving the color variation of the yarn.
My herb garden is also progressing nicely. Check out the italian parsley and thyme…
I can’t get over how well the parsley is doing. It makes me happy that I haven’t killed anything yet. And here are the basil plants that I started from seeds. They are coming along well also.
Oh, the pesto that we will make together…
