Double happiness.

My Denmark sock has halted as I lost a US 3 dpn... somewhere. Not wanting to start another, I finished up some UFO's that really deserved it...


Hypotenuse, scarf size from KnitSpot.com
Blue Sky Alpacas-- Alpaca Silk, "ruby." 3 skeins.
US 7 (4.5mm), 24" Addi
Started: November 13, 2006 (?)
Finished: February 28, 2007

Manlace, not just for men anymore.

My camera's not doing justice to the red (as usual). I knit this on larger needles than I'd normally choose for this yarn, aiming for that airy lace look anne showed in this pic. Throughout I was worried it was going to be too open, but it really wasn't-- surprisingly warm on a blustery day outside chasing the kid, and not overwhelmingly warm still on, sitting here inside.



I knit the "scarf" size in almost exactly 3 skeins of Alpaca Silk. This stuff is great... but to be perfectly honest, I felt a few itchy pricks on the back of my neck when I first put it on. I don't consider myself sensitive, but then again I rarely wear scarves so I'm überaware. Right now I can't tell, and don't consider it itchy at all as a whole.


(trademark uncombed hair. if you can trademark being a lazy slug.)

With the larger needles, the scarf has some wonderful drape. I don't really see the sheen of silk (as much as I do in other yarns with upwards of a 50% silk content), but think this was a good choice for the pattern-- in elegance, color and drape. It's as tall as me (I say I'm 5'7", but others have claimed this is a lie), and about 9.5" wide. It grew after gentle blocking (to tell the truth, I soaked it in kookaburra and just laid it as flat as I could-- didn't pin it; I'm an awful blocker)-- and the water was just a tiny bit pink (most red yarns I use make the water look like an Amity shoreline).



All in all, love it :) Really. It looks more complicated than it is (I "memorized" the chart after a few rows; its quite intuitive), and I think it looks good. Makes me feel good, too :)

(Cue spray on hair voice)... but wait, there's more...


Diagonal Lace Scarf from Midnight Purls
"Waratah" handspun silk & merino from SantaCruzHandspun
US 7 24" Addi
Started: August 19, 2006
Finished: February 28, 2007

Is it just me or is impossible to take pictures of scarves?

I loved this pattern when I first saw it-- I knew I had the perfect yarn for it, and now that its finished, I know I did. Again, a simple lace that's easily memorizable/readable, but looks great and is interesting enough for me to want to keep knitting.



It took just 2 skeins/4 oz for a thin (5") scarf that is taller than me plus more-- the pattern's a good use of smaller quantities of yarn and one that lets the yarn shine without being obstructed or overwhelmed. The yarn, of course, is wonderful-- makes me want to learn to spin ;)



I'm thrilled with both of them-- between them, I think I have a scarf for all occasions. These two are now the only scarves I own! I feel naked when I see other women wearing wonderful scarves around me (me wearing a wool coat, and likely a tshirt underneath), always thinking "I could make that!" They both feel like a treat, and I'm excited :)

A teaser for (hopefully) next time...



Have a good weekend yall! :)


ps! i see i'm in the "stephanie's travelling socks" division/bracket for sock madness... anyone else playing? :)

cleaning up...

I woke up this morning at 3am... my heart's on London time. I went diving in my trashtastic ziploc bag for a set of needles and I couldn't find them... so I went a bit nuts (common the last 48 hours... I'm a mess, but in a good way) and decided I'd break down and house them in a perfect present.


When I lived in southern California, I loved the sanrio store in our backwoods mall. With a passion... an embarrassing passion. Monkichi is still my favorite though. HK, least.



But wait, there's more...


This organization pleases me way too much. I'm channeling all that pentup Sunday energy, apparently.

And because someone wonders...


It *does* say "enjoy?" inside :)

Anyhow, riding high on all that I decided to clean up my wip basket. I've been working on finishing up nearing-completion projects (walkaround socks, red herring socks) and figured its time to say goodbye to a few things and frog them.


Patons Kroy in hip hop jacquard

I frogged my Devan attempt-- anyone need 4 balls of faux fair isle yarn? :) This might turn up on destash for cheap soon, need the space!


Socks That Rock, mediumweight-- Velvet Moon colorway

...and one of a beaded fingerless mitt I gave up on. I love this colorway, so it'll show up in socks soon.

I found space on my knitting bookshelves for a new arrival...


Marvelous Mittens by Charlene Schurch

I've been drooling over the mittens from this book on Rebekkah's blog... but the book's oop and going for like $100 on amazon. Miraculously, I bought the last copy from Morehouse Farms Merino for (don't hate me) retail-- 12.95. Serendipity's on my side this week! :)

[edit, 1/21: aimeedewar says... "Thanks for the tip on the book. We've had one copy of it where I work for a long time, and it was always one I meant to get sometime. I didn't realize it is OOP. So, now it's safely mine. By the way, for anyone still looking, the edition/copy of it we had was titled "Mostly Mittens". Same book, same cover. Strange eh?"]

Even with picking all of that out of my basket, it still looks like this...



Eek.

Aside from that, I've been restocking stitch markers for my etsy store...


Turquoise and freshwater pearls. I have some new turquoise and pearl markers to add in the morning...

...and working on a wonderful, wonderful scarf...


Hypotenuse from knitspot
Alpaca/Silk from Blue Sky Alpacas

Love it. It is just so soft, so much I'd even wear it in vegas heat. This is just shy of 2 balls-- I have another and I'd guess it'll be about 55-60" long when done. I'm debating on buying another ball for a long-long scarf, we'll see when we get there.

You just wanted to know who won the Gloss though, eh? Congratulations Kenyetta (and happy birthday!) Double luck! :)

Have a great weekend yall!

all over the place

happy thanksgiving? sure... too much food, too little family. mom got teary saying her twice yearly blessing over dinner, i ate all of the cranberries and the inside of my mouth was in a state of perpetual pucker, and my son just slapped his spoon in the potatoes and had about half a roll for dinner. good times :)

spent the day spinning outside with the too-alone-for-their-ages neighbor kids watching (started out well... "my grandma must have done that. cos she didn't have tv before we were born" but slowly degenerated into bickering and death threats amongst each other... they're only 6 and 3! oy...)


final skein of h2g2 roving, top right (appox 200yd)

the hitchhiker's guide yarn ended up shorter than the previous and without any yellow (one of my singles was much longer than the other), but... no knots! i think i'm learning, which is the point :) these will make their way to laurie in maine as soon as i can wedge myself out the door.


baby alpaca & silk roving in fawn
from mataharispinnery.com

my soft loose love is now a big squishy pile of yarn. if only everything were this simple. i started spinning this very fine as it seems i'm now accustomed to doing, but i didn't like the result... a little too wiry and definitely not the soft poof of the roving. so i tried to spin it thick in order to 2-ply it into an even thicker result-- it worked, even though it varied from dk to heavy worsted. not sure what i'll do with it, but its soft :) since i started spinning the roving very thin, i had a large bit of that single left over i navajo plied into a similarly weighted yarn. i've changed my mind, i like 2-plying better :) i think i may pick up a lazy kate and more bobbins to attempt 3+ plying... fun fun.

after thanksgiving, i had a sudden surprise... i decided that i will go to see my family this coming weekend (!!!) which of course sent me into a panic-- i am only about 1/4 of the way thru my uncle's scarf...


cable and rib scarf from knitspot
finished celtic cap from girl from auntie (november 21)
both in patons classic merino wool, grey mix

and still had many other gifts to finish for family i'll see then... of course i went into immediate panic mode and decided i'd just knit 18 hours day and finish everything by this weekend. after sleeping on that, i decided to relax and work on something else instead...


sherwood sweater from fall knitty 2006
brown sheep cotton fleece, wild orange
size 2, us 5 (3.75mm), addi 24" circular

sherwood, that i had set down when i started my holiday knitting. laying in bed, agonizing over the yet-to-be-knit gifts and what my son and i would be wearing to the holiday blowout, i realized it would be really silly to go buy him a new sweater when sherwood was aching to be finished. it just needs arms and a collar after marathoning it thru this weekend.

i realized that i had been knitting it incorrectly-- i had been knitting each cable cross, instead of following the pattern (either knit or purl). this probably resulted in the "sloppy" looking cables i had complained about-- now that i have fixed my mistake, they look more defined and flat. its not so bad i felt i had to frog though... :)

i'm hoping to finish the sweater and a pair of unfelted fuzzy feet for my dad this week (i'll be able to custom felt them for him when i see him this weekend, better than trying to mold them to my feet and hoping they fit his.) anything else done this week will just be gravy.

other definitions of gravy...


hypotenuse from knitspot
started: november 13, 2006 (?)
blue sky alpaca, alpaca silk dk in #123 (ruby) ... color's not correct
us 7 (4.5mm), addi

so.nice. i put in a few rows on this every once in a while, when i'm feeling selfish and need some "me" time :) the yarn is amazing and soft, way light and i love the color (its not correct in my photos.) i quickly memorized the pattern so its just a delight for me to zen out with late at nite, alone, dreaming in red. this is about a full skein of the alpaca silk (i bought 3)... i'm debating on adding a 4th when i get there for a really long scarf. how long are scarves supposed to be, anyway?


my new double pointed needle protectors holder from three owls knitting
front: ryc cashcotton, us 1.5 (2.5mm) in sugar (pink)
back: interlacements tiny toes, us 1 (2.25mm) in chairman of the board

i totally fell in love with sherry's dpn protector holders when she put her tek up, but i never got around to making any of my own (even though i kept finding needles poking out of my sock bags!) so i squealed with delight to find she had opened up an etsy shop and was selling them, and had added some beautiful beads to them as well. she cut down a set for me so i have a 6" set that fits my knit picks options dpns (which i like btw, if they made "regular" us sizing they'd probably be my needle of choice) and a 7" set that fit all of the other dpns i own. i'm holding myself back from ordering another set, i think there was enough gluttony over the turkey day weekend :)

wish me luck with sherwood, my family, life the universe and everything...