Saturday, August 18, 2007

I work with enablers!

Last night Jamie called me to let me know that Iris was having a super-duper clearance sale, so after getting rid of 28 pounds of yarn last month, a whole new supply of yarn has found its way into my life. Since I am the self-appointed queen of bargain shopping, I of course found plenty of must haves. (there will be pictures added later, but for now, well, the batteries are dead - again)

Now for the deals:

Classic Elite Yarns Easy Garter Stitch Baby Cardigan and Hat kit for Mom to make for Benjamin - Originally $25.95, marked down to $15 - with additional markdown, $11.25

3 hanks of Prairie Silks by Brown Sheep, 10% silk, 18% mohair, 72% wool in Peseta Purple, probably to become a scarf - Originally $7.10/hank, clearanced down to $3.62/hank

11 hanks of Classic Elite Maya 9 dark green, one light green and one cream, 50% llama, 50% wool, calls out to be made into a sleeveless sweater - Originally $5.25/hank, clearanced down to $3.57/hank

One lonely skein of Galway (what I really went in for) for the duplicate stitching on Kent's Avast and the only thing I paid full price for.

Most exciting of all though: 17 skeins of Schachenmayr Nomotta Extra, 100% superwash wool in black, plenty enough to make a sweater - Originally $4/skein, clearanced down to $1/skein. That's right, $17 for enough superwash wool to make a sweater!

Now off to work on gauge swatches.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

A Little Bit of Down Time is Nice

It felt really weird to go two days without knitting after the dash to the finish with the shawl. I'm back to working on Kent's sweater. I'm thinking that I should be able to finish it within a week or two - just a little left on the sleeves and then the yoke, collar and bands. However, knowing me, it will be another three months until I get around to doing the duplicate stitching and putting in the zipper.

Monday, August 13, 2007

At Last

Yarn: Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb in Color #002
Needles: Size 2
Pattern: Ingrid's Bridal Knot from A Gathering of Lace
Dimensions: Approximately 88" across
Started February 2007, Finished August 10, 2007
Modifications: Left out the last 14 rows of the second border because I didn't really care for the hearts (and the shawl was already heading on epic proportions)
Here's the finished shawl unblocked, I was so glad to finally be done with it! Nothing like finishing at the last moment - I finished weaving in the ends at midnight on Friday.










I was somewhat concerned about where I'd be able to block out that much shawl, but luckily my parent's are in the middle of converting an old church into a house, so the sanctuary is being used for storage right now, so I just had to rearrange and I had lots of floor space








I did run out of yarn on the last border and the new yarn I got appeared to be a color match...at least until it got wet. Since I don't anticipate it getting wet all that often, I'm not concerned.










For whatever reason, I felt the need to do the Artsy Blog Shot, and I really like how it turned out.











Blocked and hanging on a bench at Natureland.













Back view of the shawl (and Siobhan)
























This is my favorite picture of the shawl. Siobhan was such a good sport to get her picture taken wearing it since it was so hot outside!






















Ingrid's Bridal Knot wasn't a hard knit at all, it just got harder to work on as time went along. While the center panel's lace didn't repeat, it was laid out logically and after a while it was almost intuitive, which made it go pretty quickly. I also appreciated the book's suggestion to carry a smooth yarn along the edges so that it was easier to pick up stitches when I started the first border. I had a little trouble getting the first border going - I was so used to working garter flat that I kept wanting to knit stockinette once it was in the round. I really didn't like the look of the hearts in the original pattern, so I was going back and forth about if I wanted to just follow the pattern or if I wanted to omit them. I ended up deciding to omit them since I was worrying about the amount of yarn I had left. The last border was a nice, easy, fairly quick knit, but the sudden realization that there were 2,176 rows of grafted on border made it seem like it was going to never end! Add to that forgetting the book when I went down for the shower and running out of yarn, I didn't think I was going to finish on time - and I almost didn't. The ends were woven in by midnight on Friday and I blocked the shawl on Saturday morning. Luckily it was quite warm out, so the shawl dried quickly and Kent could unpin it while I got everything else ready. Final finish time - about 12:30 pm on Saturday...Siobhan's wedding - 3p on Saturday.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Done!!!!!!

Ingrid's Bridal Knot is currently soaking in the sink! I finished working in the ends at midnight, now I just need to block it out!

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The never ending shawl

Great, now I have The Never Ending Story song stuck in my head.

I am over halfway done with the last border and it looks like I didn't order quite enough yarn, so I had to order another ball. I figure it's just safer that way - on the off chance I don't need it, I can use it for something else.

It's somewhat sad that I'm looking forward to the nice, mindless stockinette of Kent's sweater.

Hopefully pictures soon, but I'm making myself wait until the shawl is off the needles before I take any pictures. I need to finish up soon so that I can block it at work next Tuesday.

Monday, June 11, 2007

I <3 socks

I have been on a sock frenzy lately. No pictures at this minute, but maybe I'll take some at work. I keep meaning to blog, but life keeps getting in the way. Although tons of overtime makes for nice paychecks, it really cuts into life.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

I'm on some sort of posting frenzy here!

So, I have this terrible obsession with memes. I've now found out there's a knitting one, so of course, I have to do it:

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting (No idea what this is)
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan (at least not for myself)
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths,tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars (I like DPNs)
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit (If there's a male I know who wants to learn I would try to teach them, but I don't get this whole OMG! A boy who knits!!!!!11!!eleventy-one!)
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
LongTail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerlessmitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (But there's plenty of cat hair that works its way into my knitting)
Hair accessories
Knitting in public