First Project of 07

I have finished the Noro vest and wore it yesterday. i am still not sure how I feel about it. The yarn has a great deal of drape and there is no shape to the garment. The photo with thee pattern looked thicker, like something I could wear as a fleece vest outside. It will be too light for that but the colors are fun, the weight is good for our non-winter. Decided to have some fun with the modeled garment. It really doesn't show much, does it.

First socks of the new year are finished. They are Fleece Artist yarn in a simple stockinette. The edge is a picot. I used a needle two sizes larger than I used to knit the sock, a size 3. After the cast on, I switched to a size 1 and knitted five rows before the eyelet and five rows after the eyelet. On the next row, I knitted together the working stitches to the selvedge edge. Using the larger needle for the cast on row made it easy to catch that loop. Some people pick these stitches up on a needle or pieces of waste yarn, I found I did not needed to pick them up in preparation. I have never finished a sock using Fleece Artist before and I was concerned that I would not have enough yarn. The directions on the skein band call for a 5 " leg. I prefer a 7" leg, less leg peeks out from under my pants when I sit down or cross my legs. I split the difference and knit a 6" leg. There was plenty left over so I will return to the 7" on the next sock. The yarn does not have much sproing but the colors are lovely. There was absolutely no pooling!

Soooooo, what is next? After sewing up these socks, I pulled out a shrug I was knitting for DD. It is just a chenille yarn from Michaels in a looooong rectangle. Brain deadening knitting. I finally had length and started to sew up the sleeves. Well, they fit but DD wanted a closer fit. Rather than mess with it, I took it to the serger and probably sliced off about 4" from the width of the sleeves. It is difficult to serge a knitted fabric, especially one a thick a chenille. It does not feed as evenly and you end up with a ruffled fabric. I found that by running it through once more and cutting very close to the edge the ruffle decreased. Well, it was relatively successful and DD wore it to school today. No pictures. a 40" rectangle make for rather boring pictures!

With those two projects done, I still had time so I pulled out the Metropolis sock in Fleece artist Mineral that I blogged about earlier. I ordered another skein of the Mineral colorway to ensure that I have enough for two socks and pulled it out of the WOOP pile to work on.

I finished the patterning on the foot and started the decreases for the toe and decided that maybe I had better try it on for length. It is confirmed, I just do not like the way the yarn interacts with the pattern. I have thrown it in to the frog pond in disgust! I now have two skeins of this colorway!! I do like the color, it just not work in a textured pattern After a time in the frog pond, I may try a 2X2, 7" leg.

So what will be next? Probably the Violet's Pink Ribbon from Liza Souza.
I am thinking about the Pomatomus sock from Knitty. Can't say it, hope I can knit it!

Progress

It was a productive weekend. I have begun the New Year with a renewed sense of purpose and resolve.

I pulled out my oldest WOOP. (This is the acronym Sheri at the Loopy Ewe uses to talk about 'Works out of Progress'.) As I mentioned in a previous post, I started the Forest Path stole when it was in first came out and soon quit in frustration. I dug it out this weekend. YES!!!! I found the yarn, needles, magazine and the pattern I also bought! Was I ever off in the year I began. The magazine is from 2002! It is time to get going with this thing!

This is what it looked like. Not much progress. It was my first attempt at kknitting lace. I knew nothing of blocking and was worried that it just wasn't right. Well, I am a little more experienced now but far from knowledgeable. What I have noticed recently is that I am still learning with each project. Sometimes little lessons and sometimes not so little!

Well, after a trip to the frog pond, I decided I am going to need a new needle. I am not sure if I can get to the yarn shop this week. I may just have to order one online.

I finished the vest I blogged about in the last post. The weather was terrible so there are no photos, yet. We have had almost 30 continuous days of above record temperatures but also more than average rainfall. Please understand this is an observation, not a complaint. After reading Stephanie's weather report today, how could I even imagine complaining!

I considered joining Lime and Violet's Sock Marathon 2007. They wanted a picture of your sock yarn stash. Well folks, I live in the land of Denial. I really don't want to know how many miles of sock yarn I have and I certainly don't want my family to see me pile it together and take a picture. That would be the first of the 12 Steps and I just am not ready to make my addiction public!! Well, that is been nipping at the back of my subconscious for several days and I decided that maybe, just maybe, I really should have an idea of how much yarn I have in the stash since one of my resolutions (needs) is to cut back this year. I began in my craft room with the pretense of organizing things. I moved my boxes of quilt fabric off the shelves and into the closet and moved my knitting books off the floor and onto the shelves. And then began on the yarn. I found enough yarn for 37 pairs of socks in that room. This is not counting the solid sock yarn that is in a separate box. I held my count to sock yarn and ignore the sweater and lace yarn. I also dug out yarn from my Lantern Moon basket in the family room and found enough for 7 more pairs. Suffice it to say, I could knit a pair a year for 2007 and maybe use up all the sock yarn I have.

So what to do but start a new sock! It is some more Fleece Artist that I found in the stash. I love the colors and decided not to used any fancy stitches, just a stockinette to show off the yarn. For a little interest, I added a picot edge I will try to take pictures of the steps when I start the next sock.

What's New

In my last post I promised that I would talk about new projects today. I didn't expect that it would rain!!! Terrible lighting and poor photography skills equal yucky photos.

My stash grew by leaps and bounds during the final months of 06. I hit several sales and stocked up on some yummy yarn. I really need to economize now and knit from my stash. I have not formally committed but this is my plan. I have read the comments that this will hurt the lys and the online vendors. I am sorry but I did not part the last couple of years to keep them solvent and now I need to catch up some!

The first project was a Noro Silk Garden vest. I have the pieces finished and blocked. I purchased buttons. Just need to sew the seams and knit the collar. This is yarn I bought in Dallas this fall and had to tuck into all the little nooks and crannys in my suitcase to get home. I don't like sewing seams so I usually knit the fronts and back in one piece. I started this piece like that but did not like the way the yarn striped instead of blocking so I frogged and knitted in pieces. The yarn is flimsier than I expected. I got gauge so I don't think it was to be doubled but I just am not sure I like the finished fabric. I used only half the yarn it recommended. That is very disappointing as it was expensive stuff!!!! I guess I have put off finishing for two reasons:
1. I have had a respiratory virus and just don't feel like doing anything tedious and
2. I am so worried that I am going to be disappointed and wasted this money!!!

The second project is a sock out of Fleece Artist sock yarn from my stash. I am not sure of the colorway and this is critical information! Why does it matter, well let me tell my story. I am knitting the Metropolis Sock pattern from Wildhorse Farm Designs. The label on the yarn did not mention colorway or yardage, only that it is 100 grams. That seemed like enough yarn so I began knitting and didn't think anything else about it. Well, I turned the heel and started to wonder that I might not have enough yarn. I weighed an unused skein of Fleece Artist and it seems like I still have a little over 1/2 left but now that I am done the foot some I think I am going to run out. I found the yarn online today and it says there are 370 yards in the 100 gram skein. The pattern calls for 430. This photograph is rather misleading when it comes to color. There is less contrast in real life, the areas that appear white are really a dove gray.

So I have two possible choices,
1. Frog back to the heel and knit the top of the sock plain to use less yarn - or
2. Try to find more yarn. This is rather difficult since I do not remember the name of the colorway and it is not on the wrapper.

I checked eBay, as this is where I think I bought the original. A vendor that I have purchased from before had a skein of mining that may be it. However, when I checked the Fleece Artist website, they do not have that colorway, they have one called Ebony. Well, I still ordered the one from eBay. I guess I will be on hold until it arrives. Since these are hand dyed, I am sure it is not going to match well but I may only need to do the toe on one sock with the new yarn and that shouldn't matter too terribly much.

I have joined another KAL. - The Forest Path Stole A-Long. Now you have to realize that my track record with KALs is not very impressive. I am currently 0 for 2. But I am more confident with this one. DD selected this pattern two years ago when it was in Interweave Knits. I ordered the Suri Alpaca that way recommended in the magazine. This was one of my first very extravagant yarn purchases. I swatched and swatched and emailed IK but never could get gauge. I started and did a little but just got frustrated and put it away. Awhile later, I noticed it was available in pattern form and purchased the pattern thinking that maybe there were errata that might have contributed to my frustration. Nope, I was still stumped. I put it away (I even know where it is) and offered to knit something else for DD. She refused my offer, it was either the Forest Path or nothing at all.

Well the third time is the charm, right? I am a little more experienced in knitting lace. I will have the support of others in the KAL. I know I can do it this time!

Finally Back and Yes, I Can and Yes I Did!

Did what? you ask. Well, I know it has been forever since I blogged. I did finish the four planned Christmas projects including the shawl for my mom. The shawl pin I ordered from Patternworks even came in time.

This was blocking on Christmas Eve. I finished earlier in the week but blocking space is hard to come by with the hoard of teenagers that descended on us.

The yarn is Ruby Zyphr wool-silk.
The needle: size 5 Knit Picks Options.
The pattern: Knit Picks Rectangular Cover Shawl.

I was never able to memorize the pattern but I was able to notice when I made a mistake and knew what the fix should be. it became very monotonous. I didn't think that I would tackle a rectangular shawl any time soon and then came along a new KAL. More about that later.

I also finished another Shedir. This one in a dove gray. The photos came out very blurred. You know what that infamous pattern looks like and I have already shown pictures of the pink that I finished earlier so I feel safe in not showing pictures.

I finished the alpaca sweater for my nephew. This is pre-blocking. It is very soft but very heavy. It should keep him verrrrry warm. The yarn was Peruvian sierra Aran from Elann.com, in Mallard. I miscalculated how much yarn I would need and I have enough to make another sweater this size!!!!!! I am thinking that eventually I will make a scarf, or two. Meanwhile, it has be regulated back to the stash.

This is another terrible picture. It rained most of our vacation and I could not catch any natural light. There has been much blogging during this New Year about working on photography. I know I should but would rather spend my limited free time on knitting!!!!

More tomorrow on new projects and new KAL.