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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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