I like FOs

This week I made the Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet that I found on Ravelry. It took me only 2 days to knit and I can tell this is going to be a wardrobe staple. I used up every inch of my Knit Picks Panache which, sadly, is now discontinued. I really am peeved that they discontinued this stuff: lusciously soft alpaca, cashmere, and silk for $4??? Why, Knit Picks, why? But at least I get to wear this little shrug close to my skin whenever I want. This pattern was GREAT. I will definitely be making more of these. So clear and had great instructions for making it fit perfectly.



Pattern: Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet by Julia Allen
Yarn: Knit Picks Panache, color Cloud, 3 balls
Needles: 9 (5.5mm) for body, 8 (5mm) DPNs for sleeve ribbing
Mods: Changed stitch number to fit my gauge, knit sleeves in the round, added ribbon tie

Also wear it without the ribbon...



And ANOTHER FO in record time. Literally took me half an hour from start to finish.



Pattern: Flying Gloves from Twinkle's Big City Knits
Yarns: Lion Brand Landscapes, color Spring Desert, fraction of 1 ball
Knit Picks Palette, color Red, fraction of 1 ball
Knit Picks Palette, color Blush, fraction of 1 ball
Needles: Susan Bates circ #19

Wore them today, one of our first truly chilly days. A splash of color in the midst of all the gray.

Facing Facts

A few weeks ago I read an inspiring post by Jared (b r o o k l y n t w e e d) on his blog. In it he talked about being realistic about your knitting, taking stock of your current UFOs, and frogging where necessary. I don't really have any UFOs that I don't want to finish someday but there are some things I finished that, I've decided, I could use the lovely yarn for something else since I hardly ever wear them.

1. My Tea Rose Halter Top: 4 skeins of my favorite color of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk.


I loved this pattern the moment I saw it, and I loved this yarn the moment I touched it, but, alas, the two were not meant for each other. What, oh pray tell what, was I thinking making a HALTER TOP out of ALPACA? Plus, I never got around to fixing the abysmal fit in the upper portion so it's currently cinched by safety pins. This yarn could be put to much better use! (My Ravelry queue already contains some ideas).

2. My "Fun in the Sun Hat": 2 balls of my favorite color of Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton.


I put quotes around the name of the pattern because it turned out nothing like it and I don't like the way it did turn out. I do want this hat, however, so I might be frogging it and re-crocheting it. But there are 5 more balls of this yarn on the shelf, so there might just be enough for something truly fun.

3. My Chelsea Sweater (A UFO).


The sleeves are just NOT GOING TO WORK and it's time to devote my energies to other things. So this lovely garment is going to become a VEST! I've pondered these set in sleeves a million times and it just isn't working. And when Pat, the GURU at A Tangled Skein, confirmed my frustrations, I knew the sleeves were going bye-bye.

I also frogged a hat that I never even finished and I knew I would never wear made out of the lovely-but-now-discontinued Knit Picks Panache. Now I have enough to make a little bolero.


Happy Frogging!

Chunkalicious

I bought the yarn and cast on for my Twinkle Groovy Sweater Dress! I'm finished with the first sleeve and it only took me about 30 minutes. I'm very excited although it's going to be a very warm sweater and it doesn't get that cold around here. I'll keep y'all updated, hopefully with some pictures once we get a new camera!

Oh and I decided to rip out my Memories of Ukraine Sweater...I had made a mistake somewhere and couldn't figure out where so I'll just start over soon.

An FO and Other Goings On

Let me begin by saying that Ravelry is incredibly addictive. I've already wasted an obscene amount of time on it and I haven't even figured out all the features yet.

Second order of business, someone *coughAdamcough* broke the camera so until we get a new one, my blogging will either be sans-pictures or with shitty webcam pictures.

With many of my projects either (1) boring me at the moment or (2) annoying me at the moment, I needed an FO to boost my self esteem. So I knit up Cyn's Bamboozled headband last weekend and, as promised, it was quick and fun. I had first started this weeks ago with a different yarn trying to, you know, work from the stash, but it just wasn't cutting in. So I got the Royal Bamboo (drool) that Cyn had used. I wore it today and got many compliments on it (Yay, Cyn!) Oh and I loved the twisted cord ties. What a great new technique!




Pattern: Bamboozled by Cyn
Yarn: Royal Bamboo, color 60 Olive , 1 ball
Needles: Size 7 (4.5 mm)
Recipient: moi
Time to knit: about a day

Let's see...I'm well into my Memories of Ukraine sweater (oh yeah, by the way, I started it even though I "promised not to cast on for anything new").


It took me a few tries to establish the pattern...it's more difficult working with this yarn than I anticipated. And now, almost finished with my yoke increases, I'm afraid I screwed up somewhere but it's (1) really hard to tell if I screwed up with this yarn which is both a good and bad thing and (2) really hard to correct my mistake if I indeed made one. I break into a cold sweat when I think about having to rip out a few rows and then figure out what the hell to do next. So, needless to say, I've put that project down for a few days.

Instead, I cast on for my brother's Entrelac Scarf.


I'm using Noro Silk Garden which looks and feels nice except for the occasional weird abnormality that I encounter in the skein. For the pattern I just cast on 18 stitches and made 3 triangles and went from there. This is my first entrelac project and I'm totally addicted. I'm about 1/3 of the way done with this scarf then I want one for myself and for Adam and for my mailman and for...........

And finally, much to his glee, I've reacquainted myself with Adam's socks. I had been frustrated with it, not quite sure how to proceed with this whole Magic Loop thing but then Cici saved me at last week's Sit 'n' Knit and by George, I think I've got it.

Yay!

I finally got into Ravelry! I'm still figuring stuff out but I can tell it's going to be eating up a lot of my should-be-studying time. My name on Ravelry is Rivka. Fun!

Making plans

Okay I swear I won't actually cast on for anything new until I've finished at least a couple of things I'm working on but there's no harm in planning out my next projects, right?

In Asheville a couple weeks ago I went to the wonderful Earth Guild where I bought some roving to try needle felting and some pretty nubbly cotton yarn that was $4.80 for 328 yards (!!!). I was wondering about the perfect pattern for this stuff and *drum roll* I HAVE FOUND IT.



It's Memories of Ukraine from the beautiful book The Natural Knitter which I bought a few days ago mainly for this pattern although there are other definite possibilities in it. The original sweater is made in linen so I thought cotton would work out well. Due to my intensely pathetic photography skills, you can't see that the sweater has a very appealing texture that I hope will be perfect with this yarn. And quite possibly the BEST PART ABOUT THIS SWEATER is that it's top down with no, that's right NO, sewing at the end. You just block it and wear it. Shazam!

Also....

I'm very into berets right now. A while back I bought some lovely Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk sport weight with the express purpose of turning it into a beret. I love Grumperina and her patterns, but the picture of her Art Deco Beret in the Fall 07 Knitscene did not excite me. Something about the variegated purple with purple beads and it looked so large. Then I saw this. Now I have decided I want this beret. I think the pale pink with purple beads will look nice, what do you think?

(sorry for crappy picture! I don't know how to improve!!)

This next one is also a beret but I'm VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT. I don't know if I should even talk about it before I make it since there's a very good chance it will turn out horribly. But I think it's fate...First I bought a plain wool beret at a thrift shop and decided I wanted some kind of embellishment for it. Then I bought some wool roving at Earth Guild in these colors to experiment with needle felting:



Then I saw this AWESOME IDEA in Interweave Felt (a special issue) that I had to had to make and it just happens to use the exact colors I bought.


I'll let you know how it goes. Any tips for needle felting?

Bored

I'm bored with all my projects. It's all I can do to keep from casting on for something new but then that would be, oh, 6 active projects at once and I can't handle that. Here's a glimpse of what's boring me these days...

I've finished the back and just about finished the right front of my Hideout Coat from the Fall 07 Knitscene.


It's a quick knit but it's been put on the back burner until the weather cools down more due to its largeness. Also, I have been bit in the butt by my cheapness. Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick. How can something that's 75% acrylic felt so easily as I'm knitting with it? Knitting this is soooo mindless but after working on it for an hour it's too big to be very portable so I pick it up during especially mind-boggling episodes of the X-Files.

Moving on.


The Chelsea Sweater from the loverly Twinkle Big City Knits. I really do like it. It fits nicely, the yarn is soft. I just hate setting in sleeves! I've done the one as you can see and the other is just sitting there patiently for me but there's just this mental block. Another issue: why, oh why, did I think that sage green and deep violet would look good as the edging on my coral cardigan? I'm thinking I'm going to have to rip out the purple and just have the green. Yes?

I've made good progress on my dad's Sinead Scarf from the Berroco website. I do like the pattern and when I actually sit down with it I can pump a good deal out. I guess subconsciously I've decided that since I'm more than halfway done and it's only SEPTEMBER I can take a break, right? I mean, see how it stretches all the way across my ugly yellow chair?



This is me thinking can I get away with it only being 50"? (It's a little over 30" now).