The more things change… January 20, 2016

…the more they stay the same.  I have signed onto yet another Mystery Knit-a-long, this one by a designer new to me called Casapinka.  The shawl is called Welcome Back Garter and looks like it will be interesting based on her other designs.  I won’t be able to start this one for almost a month when funds become available, but I’m sure it’ll be fun.  I’m going to branch out again and use something other than my shawl go-to, Tosh Merino Light.  The colorways just aren’t doing it for me any more so any suggestions for fingering weight yarns would be greatly appreciated.

In other news, I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon my Facebook knitting group is on and make myself a pair of Rose City Rollers – only using ribbing instead of the rolled cuff which I know would drive me crazy.  I have 60+ grams of Tough Love Sock in Honey Fig leftover from The Doodler and I was going to do a pair of No Purl Monkey socks with the Pistachio for the cuffs, heels, and toes, but I can easily get a pair of anklets out of what’s left of the Honey Fig, and I like wearing ankle socks anyway.  One of my knitting New Year’s resolutions is to knit a pair of socks a month so even though I finished a pair already this month, I’m not really counting them because I started them back in November.

In the land of UFO’s (another resolution) – the Grass and Bubblegum shawl is two inches away from being finished.  Just in time to since I’m going to need it in the cold weather since my scarf has gone missing.  I still have The Desolation of Smaug (yeah, that’s how old it is) Mystery Knit-a-long to finish, two other shawls that need to be blocked, and to finish weaving in the ends (oh so many ends) on my Doodler so I need to get on the ball.  Lots to do until the funds are available for Welcome Back Garter.

I’m also treating myself to a set of Barbara Walker’s stitch dictionaries.  I just got the one with charted designs and it’s very nice.  Some beautiful cable designs – not as pretty as some in the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary but much more practical in my opinion.  I’m hoping for another when my birthday comes along next month, but I’ll have the set before the year is out.

I’ve been staying on top of it, so check the Knitty Keen Facebook page for Work in Progress Wednesday pics and the occasional Finished Object Friday.  Here’s the most recent finished object – my Crazy Zauberball garter rib socks.

 

TTFN!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot… December 30, 2015

It’s the end of the year and while I haven’t knit nearly as much as I would have liked, I did manage to get a few things done.  Here’s what’s been doing recently.

 

The Doodler

This was definitely been a challenge for me.  The cables nearly killed me, I think the biggest one had 34 stitches in it.  Then on clue three I kept messing up my count and having to frog and start all over again.  There was the running out of yarn in clue one and again in clue three I was afraid of it happening again, so I did the fourth wedge in Color A rather than Color C.  Here’s how it’s grown…

Here’s a pic of it blocking.  I’m still working on weaving in the ends.

I’m really pleased with the results.  It fits over my shoulders perfectly and I look forward to wearing it in the hopefully chilly days to come.  Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Honey Fig, Saffron, and Pistachio on US size 4 (3.5mm) needles.

 

Follow Your Arrow 2 Shawl

This one took me quite a long time to get done.  I started out well but then it just sat for a while without being touched.  I still have yet to block it, but here’s a pic of it off the needles.

Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Baroque Violet and Grasshopper with US Size 6 (4.0mm) needles.

 

Monkey Jacobus

This one was a year in the making.  Looking back on my project page on Ravelry, I started it on the 23rd of December planning on gifting it on the 25th.  Yeah, right.  Well this year saw me finishing it on Christmas Eve to gift this year.  It was a hit for my nephew who loves monkeys.  Here’s the finished object.

KnitPicks Stroll Handpainted in Carnival (discontinued color), Palette in Cream and Red, and Stroll Sock Yarn in Black on US size 2 (2.75mm) needles.

 

Grass and Bubblegum Shawl (Color Affection)

This has been languishing in UFO (unfinished object) territory for a while.  I’m going to starting to work on it in earnest again this weekend.  Here’s the most recent in progress pic where you can see how my gauge has changed.  I’m a little afraid to pick it back up again for fear of what my gauge will be this time.

 

Crazy Zauberball Socks

Compared to my other projects, these are practically flying off the needles.  Just finished the gusset on the second sock, so there’s not much left to do before the toe and finishing it off.  Here’s today’s Work in Progress Wednesday picture…

 

I’m not taking classes this semester so I really want to buckle down and get some knitting done.  I have two sweaters I want to make, two shawls to finish, and I’m aiming for one pair of socks a month this year (although I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep that up come fall with school).  Coming up I’ll be revisiting my review of Chiaogoo needles once I’ve finished my second sock on them and I’m finally going to put in the work and get some patterns published.  Check out the Knittykeen Facebook page to keep up with Work in Progress Wednesday pictures.  I think that’s enough to be working with for now, TTFN!

 

Doodling along December 9, 2015

The big project I’ve been working on the past few weeks is Stephen West’s The Doodler mystery knit along.  First snag I hit was running out of color A before I was finished clue 1, so I had to order another skein.

Then I went on to clue 2 and all of those cables which took me forever to do because the number of stitches in the cable kept increasing and I’ve never done this type of cable before.

After I finished with the cables I moved on to clue 3.  I had finished 3 wedges of clue 3 and was afraid that I was going to run out of yarn for the last one so I switched to color A for that one.

I’m about halfway through the last wedge in Clue 3 and then onto the last clue and I’m done.  I’m so looking forward to finishing this and getting it blocked.

While I was waiting for the yarn to arrive to finish clue 1, I found an unopened Jimmy Bean’s package and there was a ball of Crazy Zauberball inside it so I cast on for a sock.

I’m about 3/4 the way through the heel flap and I have to find my copy of Sock Innovation so I can get the numbers to turn the heel.  I tend to keep this one in my bag so I only work on it in fits and spurts.  Once I’m done The Doodler I’ll work on it in earnest since I really want some wool socks now that the cold weather is here.  I only have another two weeks of school left then I’ll have my days free and I can work on the socks and my hibernating Grass and Bubblegum Shawl.  The only Christmas knitting I’m doing this year is finishing up the second leg of Monkey Jacobus for my nephew which was supposed to be gifted last year.  Not knitting for Christmas this year is liberating in a way, I don’t have to worry about deadlines and whether or not the recipient is going to like it.  If I do Christmas knitting for next year, I’m going to try and be sensible and start in July so I’m not going crazy in the fall since I’ll be in school again.

That’s it for what’s going on at the moment.  TTFN!

I still aten’t dead November 4, 2015

Long time no see!  I haven’t been doing much knitting at all these past few months except for a spurt here or there.  A few weeks ago I picked up my Grass and Bubblegum shawl (Color Affection) and my Follow Your Arrow 2 shawl.

Follow Your Arrow 2, almost done

Well I’m two and a half rows from binding off Follow Your Arrow and if you check out my Facebook page you can see my progress on the Grass and Bubblegum shawl I posted a few weeks ago.  Don’t have much time for a long catch-up chat right now, but I’ll be back soon and will be posting Work In Progress Wednesday pics on the Facebook page and more regular posts here.  Alas (or not so alas), there is to be no Christmas knitting this year as I’ve gone back to school and I don’t have the time to do it this year. TTFN!

Back to the drawing board February 8, 2015

Well it’s not all bad news.  I’ve been working on the Flirty Shawl this past week and discovered that my numbers were off from the scant notes I took for the first one.  My gauge is off too, because even with sevens and adding 5 more short rows on each side it looks like I’m using less yarn than I did for the one I did on sixes with fewer short rows, my knitting is that tight.  Good news is that I found the perfect spacing for the short rows, so it wasn’t a completely wasted effort.  I’m frogging it this morning and will be using it for a bit of transit knitting while we meet up with some family.  I’m also going to switch up to eights and try a little bit not to knit so tightly (if I try too hard it looks awful).  I should definitely have an in progress pic up by mid week and maybe even have it blocked by the weekend.

In other news, the sock monkey that just wont die only needs another leg to be finished.  The finished object is really cute, don’t get me wrong, but I have not had luck with the pattern, it just not logical for me.  I have several holes I have to repair, there really should have been a wrap and turn when doing the mouth, and some parts are just plain messy.  I of course missed yet another deadline for finishing it (was supposed to be gifted yesterday), but I’ll carve out a day to finish it up and get it mailed out to my nephew.  I made a comment to my husband that the only toys I’ll be knitting from now on are ones that I have designed myself, which isn’t really true but it would be easier.  Some of the problems are in the design but I think a lot is the fact that it was written in German and I’m working off an English translation.  I think there are some things that may be common in German knitting (like the messiness of the pattern in places) that just don’t translate well into American knitting.  I want it done and out of my house so I can chalk up the whole thing to experience.

Never got around to taking pictures this week for WIP Wednesday on my Facebook page, but I’ve worked on Monkey Jacobus, Grass and Bubblegum Shawl (Color Affection) got a few rows done, almost finished the second repeat of my Earth and Sea socks (Pomatomus), and of course the Flirty Shawl.  I’ll take pictures this week, but that’s what’s been doing ’round here. TTFN!

WIP’s and an FO January 28, 2015

I’ve been flitting from project to project these past few weeks.  Some of them aren’t portable so I can only work on them at home, other’s only get worked on while I’m riding the bus on Thursdays and Fridays.  Here’s what’s doing.

 

Flirty v 1.0

Finally wove in the ends on this tonight and got some pictures to post.  This is the first version I did of Flirty way back in December of ’13.  The wing span is 62″ and the depth is 18″.  I’m hoping to get a bit more width out of it by going up a needle size and I also did a garter tab at the top so it looks neater.  Here’s where I am with version 1.1.

I’m using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Georgia O’Keefe.  When I first looked at the skein I thought it was a dark blue, but knit up it’s definitely more green.  I have one more eyelet repeat to finish before I start the short rows that will add to the wing span, then onto the ruffled edging.  I’m hoping to have the knitting on this done by the end of the weekend.

Monkey Jacobus

He has a face now and most of an arm.  I’ve been dragging my feet on this one since doing it it fingering is such a PITA, but it needs to get finished so I can gift it at long last to my nephew next weekend.

Earth and Sea Socks (aka Pomatomus)

 

These really only get worked on during my commute to appointments on Thursdays and Fridays.  We’ll see how much progress I can make this week.

Grass and Bubble Gum Shawl (aka Color Affection)

 

 

I’ve been able to add a couple of more stripes since I started it on the 14th considering I’ve had the yarn for almost a year.  The colors in Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light are Jade, Lepidoptra, and Clematis.   It’s getting time to switch to a longer cable so I can stretch it out.  It’s reached the point where it’s not really portable knitting any more so it will probably only get worked on on Wednesdays during Thing 1’s appointment where there is a nice couch in the waiting room where I can arrange the yarn balls around me.  I’d like to get this finished sooner than later but there are other things ahead of it in the queue.

That’s all for this week.  I still have gloves that I’d like to finish before the cold weather is gone, but that’s another at-home project so we’ll see what happens with those.  There’s also a sweater but again I don’t know if I’ll have the time to finish it before winter ends.  Maybe if I can manage my knitting time better I’ll be able to start cranking out some projects.  TTFN!

Action Shot and Flirting January 12, 2015

Color Affection in action.

Way back last Christmas, my husband got me a skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Coquette (he was supposed to get sock yarn but the clerk told him sock yarn wasn’t for socks and steered him to the TML, definitely someone who shouldn’t be working in a yarn store, he goes to the other LYS in town now).  A day or two after Christmas I had an idea of recreating a shawlette that I had knit ages ago and of course wrote down no notes on how I made it.  I knew I used US size 8 (5.0mm) on the original and Noro Silk Garden Sock, but I chose to cast on with US size 6 (4.0mm) instead because I wanted to see how it worked out.  It’s a simple garter stitch triangle shawl with an eyelet row spaced every so often, then I added in short rows to make the wings longer without adding to the depth, and after a couple of days of crunching numbers and frogging back a time or two I added a ruffled edge and Flirty was born.  Illness and other stuff happened so I never got a chance to write up the pattern properly and publish it.  I just now got around to blocking it.

I should have used my wires, but I will when I do the next one.  Firstly, I want to do a garter tab rather then casting on seven stitches because it looks neater that way.  Secondly, I’m on the fence about going up a needle size to get more width out of it — I’m going to have to wait and see how this one drapes before deciding if I’m going to try it on US size 7 (4.5mm) needles.  I had about 100 yards of yarn left from knitting this and I think going up to an eight will eat up too much of that but I may be able to squeak by with a seven.  You can wear Flirty like a kerchief with the point in front and the ends wrapped around your neck, you can knot it loosely in the front to give your neck a little bit of warmth, or you can pin it on your shoulder with a shawl pin.  The ruffled edge turns it from a staid triangle shawl to something much more feminine.  Look for the pattern some time in February.

It’s not like riding a bike October 21, 2014

If you don’t use a skill, you start to forget things.  I used to knit all the time, 2 hours a stretch and then some most days, and my work showed it: nice even stitches and nary a mistake to be seen.  Then I got sick at the beginning of the year.  The first project I knit, one of the prototypes for a soon to be released pattern, confounded me until I finally figured out what the problem was.  It’s still not perfect, I have to play around with gauge, but I got through it.  The second project I knit, the Follow Your Arrow Mystery Knit Along Shawl, went fairly well.  The charts weren’t complicated and I probably had to fix a few mistakes but all in all I was satisfied with the end result (it still has yet to be blocked).  The third project I worked on was the Desolation of Smaug Mystery Knit Along.  With this one all hell broke loose.  I had to use multiple life lines because I kept making mistakes on the charts.  I had to use a highlighter so I could keep track of where I was in the chart.  Right now it’s sleeping because I have to frog four rows to correct a mistake I made.  There was at least one aborted attempt at knitting a sock that I just couldn’t concentrate on.

I decided I liked the look of a shawl that someone in my knitting group made and offered to test it for her.  I read what I thought were the important parts of the instructions and got to the last section of knitting the shawl before I realized I had done it completely wrong.  I frogged it and started over but kept making simple mistakes so it’s just as well she didn’t use it in her pattern launch.  That brings us up to Christmas knitting and my first project on the needles, Color Affection.  After reading through all the mods people made to the shawl, I decided that I was going to use yarn overs in the borders and knit front and back rather than the make one left and right that the pattern called for.  I set to work, got a few rows in, screwed up and frogged it.  Started again thinking I had the pattern in my mind and things seemed to be going well except that my gauge was all over the place.  I’m a tight knitter usually and was trying to knit loosely so there were these patches of really loose stitches all over the place.  It’ll come out in blocking I told myself.  I was two rows away from finishing the first section when I thought it would be a good time to count my stitches.  My count came out to be 29 too many stitches and an even number to boot.  I reread the instructions and found out I was supposed to be doing double increases on one row and single increases on the next three rows.  I just finished frogging it.  I am using Tosh Merino Light and if you’ve ever had to frog it you know what a PITA it is.

Up until I stopped to count stitches I thought I was doing really well.  The gauge differences would work out a bit in blocking and it’s intended recipient probably wouldn’t notice them anyway.  I was happy.  I was finally knitting something and enjoying it.  Having to frog all that work has been a huge blow to me.  I’m going to have to dig out my row counter or keep a note pad near by so I can keep track of the increases.  My concentration is shot now and it will probably take me a few days to really get back into knitting it again.  This is not a complicated pattern.  I posses all the skills necessary to complete it and complete it well, it’s just that I keep making simple mistakes with big consequences.  I have a sock swatch that I have to measure and I’m almost afraid to do it wondering that even if I got gauge could I maintain it?

I know I should count myself lucky that I had that time when all things knitting went well for me.  I’ve had legitimate reasons for why I haven’t been able to knit much this past year but those reasons aren’t gone yet and I’m going to have to resort to using tools I thought I had completely outgrown.  It’ll get done and to the best of my ability, but it’s going to take a while for me to get back to where I was in my prime.  Thus endeth my, “Oh woe with me,” post and my hubris that I could just pick up where I left off.

Where has all my mojo gone? Long time passing. October 8, 2014

I’ve been sick for much of the summer and the beginning of fall so knitting just has not been happening.  I am now ready to start my holiday knitting and pray I have enough time to get what I want done.  Here’s what’s been doing.

 

Scrappy (or not so Scrappy) Shawl

Here’s a picture of the finished object from the pattern page on Ravelry.  There are several and definitely worth a look.

I was supposed to be a tester for this pattern and while I gave input, I misread the instructions and did it the wrong way, then I did it the wrong way again, and finally I got it right.  Here’s my meager shawl.

 

I’m still going to be plugging away at it but Christmas knitting is on the horizon so it may take a back seat for a while along with my sleeping Hitchhiker and Desolation of Smaug Mystery Knit-a-long.

 

Magic Yarn Ball Swap

I was treated very kindly as always and got some marvelous yarns.  Two skeins of Malabrigo Lace in Sealing Wax, A skein of Tosh Sock in Gossamer, mini skeins for my sock yarn blanket, and some other goodies as well.

 

Christmas Knitting

As usual I have probably bitten off more than I can chew and some of these will be new year’s presents, but who is keeping count?

Color Affection for someone.  Here’s the finished object.

Here are the colors I’m using in Tosh Merino Light – Nutmeg, Golden Hickory, and Oak.

 

And two mystery projects because I don’t know if their intended recipients read here or not.

 

 

I also have matching sweaters I want to make my kids and a sock yarn monkey I want to make for my nephew.  We’ll see how much I can get done.  I’ll be knitting a gauge swatch for one of the mystery gifts tomorrow.  If you haven’t already, like my page on Facebook and keep up with what’s on the needles. TTFN!

Long Time No See March 12, 2014

It has indeed been a while since I’ve posted anything.  I have actually been knitting, but not nearly as much as I’d like to be.  I have two shawls waiting to be blocked, another one on the needles, a sock that I’ve barely started and as soon as I get my replacement size 6 needle, I’m going to be casting on for Color Affection.

The first shawl that is waiting to be blocked is an original design called Flirty.  My husband got me a beautiful skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Coquette for Christmas.  I had made a little shawlette out of some Noro Silk Garden Sock (surprisingly in the colorway that comes up when you click the link) years ago.  I played yardage chicken with it and finished it with only six inches to spare.  I always intended to do something with it but I never actually wrote down a pattern.  When I opened my Christmas present I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it.

Flirty is a wide but short shawl with a ruffled edge, just long enough to tie at your throat to keep your neck warm.  I’m planning on getting some blocking done in the beginning of next week so I’ll post pics then.

The second shawl I’ve been working on is Follow Your Arrow Mystery Knit-a-long.  A Mystery knit-a-long is one where you get individual “clues” or pieces of the pattern and you have no idea how the pattern is actually going to turn out.  My knitting board was doing it as a knit-a-long so I decided to jump in.  I was worried about making gauge for some reason so I knit it on US Size 5 (4.25mm) needles instead of the recommended US Size 6 (4.5mm) needles.  I went to my LYS and found the most wonderful color of Tosh Merino Light, Whiskey Barrel.  Here’s an in progress shot.

I actually ordered blocking wires which just came this week to block this one since I really want it to come out looking right.

The third shawl which is currently on the needles is the Desolation of Smaug Mystery Knit-a-long.  Well, it was The Desolation of Smaug Mystery Knit-a-long.  I was getting ready to link the project page on Ravelry and the first thing I noticed is that the price was only $3.00 and I was a bit miffed because I paid $7.00 since the knit-a-long had already started when I jumped in.  There’s a lengthy explanation and I don’t know if my original pattern is any good any more.  I’m going to have to do some digging on the Ravelry forums to find out what is going on.  I bought the new pattern, but I don’t know if I want to do it any more.  This is incredibly annoying.  Here’s the in-progress shot (and this week’s WIP Wednesday) from the original pattern.  I’m going to have to do a lot of thinking about this*(see update below).

The yarn is Tosh Merino Light in the Envy colorway — my birthday present from my husband.  He’s done a great job picking out yarn colors for me this year.  Interesting story about the yarn.  I told him I wanted sock yarn for my birthday.  He went to one of the LYS’s in the area and asked the clerk to show him some sock yarn.  The clerk went on to tell him that sock yarn wasn’t really for socks and steered him towards the Tosh Merino Light.  Now, I love Tosh Merino Light, but sock yarn it isn’t.  Who ever this person was she has no business working in a yarn store.  I’ve told him to go to the other LYS from now on since their staff seems more knowledgeable.

There’s the sock, but that’s really waiting room and bus knitting so it’ll get done when it gets done.  The next big thing on the agenda is Color Affection.

In these colors…

This is my, “I quit smoking for a month.” (it’s now two!) present to myself.  I love the colors and as soon as I get my replacement needle for Knit Picks, I’m going to cast on.  It’s all done in garter stitch so it’s perfect for doing at night when the kids are in bed and I’m watching TV with my husband.

That’s about it for now.  I should have two finished objects the beginning of next week so keep an eye out for the next post.  TTFN!

UPDATE:  It turns out there are TWO Desolation of Smaug Mystery Knit-a-longs.  Here’s the link to the one I’m doing — The Desolation of Smaug.  So now I own both patterns and I don’t have to frog again.