roll call!

i've been so busy with the shameless self-promotion (sprinkled with a healthy dose of pos-mens) that several FO's and WIP updates have gone unposted.  this is gonna be a long one, so you might want to grab a sandwich and a comfortable seat.  first off, here's a photo of the completed rebecca danger monster i was working on a while ago with my tour de fleece handspun - i think it turned out pretty cute! 

big green monster

pattern:  iris the gourmet monster

fiber: mixed-breed wool fiber, hand-dyed and -spun by me

needle size: US #4

also on the FO front is a cabled beret i was test-knitting for rotten cupcakes, and it turned out beautifully.  julie is a former chicagoan who has recently relocated to california; we met through ravelry and our original plan was to have a hat-knitting partnership so she could keep up with supply and demand in her ravelry shop.  the move, of course, created a shift in priorities and circumstance, but now we have the opportunity to team up once more - this time, we will be trading various knitting-related services, be it test knitting, graphic design, or charting a pattern.  this is our first such trade - she is knitting my honeycomb fingerless gloves, and i am knitting the daisy cutter slouchy beret.

ay, 'tis blocking

if you're wondering where a name like 'daisy cutter' comes from, allow me to direct you over to the half acre beer company, a local brewery that makes some most delicious beer.  i myself am not into pale ales and the like - i'm more of a porter and stout girl - but the daisy cutter is now the exception to that rule for me - like all of their beers, it is super delicious!  

other particulars regarding this project - the yarn i used is, of course, malabrigo.  is there anything better to knit a warm hat with?


i believe i am also remiss in posting FO photos of the long-since-completed samurai socks. i'm quite pleased with how they turned out - i knit them for my dad's birthday earlier this month, and he likes them, too - i have a feeling they will be gracing his feet on christmas morning. 

yarn:  2 skeins lorna's laces shepherd sock (note:  they recently have changed the way their sock yarn is sold; i used the old 220-yard skeins)


pattern:  samurai socks from Knitted Socks East and West: 30 Designs Inspired by Japanese Stitch Patterns


the only other FO i have to report on can't be posted yet - not till the design is published (sometime in the next 18 or so months!).  it feels good to be done with all of my contractual obligations, however, and i'm very pleased with how everything has turned out. 

progress shot - end of august

progress shot - today!

i keep meaning to post progress photos of my tea leaves cardi - i took off for the sleeves about a week and a half ago, and have been slowly chipping away at 13 inches of stockinette - it's proven to be the perfect project when i come home from work, exhausted from being 100% booked with no break.  when your brain can't think and you can't get off the couch, but still want to do something, a boring stockinette project is the perfect remedy.  

sneaky socks!

i am using the fabulous new superwash malabrigo yarn rios in cumparsita - i know that this particular pattern calls for dk-weight yarn (well, that's another discussion entirely, but i won't go there today!), but this yarn is just begging to be a sweater, and i thought the subtle variegation would be perfect for this pattern.  it's also proving to be a fairly good yarn to sub in - i'm quite close to the gauge.  this is why i love top-down sweaters - you can sub in yarns fairly easily and make adjustments as you go. 

heliotropes

there was a lot of heel turning going on in the last week - first, on my skinny bugga! heliotropes, and then on my toe-up sneaky argyle socks.  i'm hoping to finish the argyle socks in the next week - it's time to get some projects off the needles.  there's so many things i'd like to start, but with as many WIPs as i currently have going, i can't allow myself to give in to startitis! 

in that spirit, i have resurrected a few neglected projects - first off, the yoked vest i started waaaay back at the beginning of july.  july!  i think i went a good month and a half without touching this thing, except to move it into a corner...which, in my book, really doesn't count.  it's a really easy, fast-knitting pattern and should have been done by the end of august, at the latest, but instead it was forsaken and left to languish.  i never officially put it into hibernation (official status would, of course, mean that it was marked as such in my ravelry notebook), but for all intents and purposes, this project was sleeping quite soundly.  

another project i began in july and then ignored for two months would be my final tour de fleece spinning project - some hand-dyed australian wool (i assume of mixed breeds, since it doesn't specify on the label) that was gifted to me by my landlord and fiber guru.  it was spinning up beautifully, and i really have no idea why i lost my mojo, halfway through the first single.  since abandoning this project, and spinning in general, i have glanced in the direction of my wheel many times, thinking 'i really need to finish that,' then putting it off for another day.  the lessons i supposedly learned during the tour de fleece - namely, how much you can accomplish if you just spin a little bit every day - apparently didn't actually sink in.  every time i glanced longingly at my wheel, i told myself i didn't have enough time to sit down and spin. 

of course, i finished the first single in a matter of a few days, probably spending a paltry 2-3 hours to do so.  go figure. 

finally, before this novella comes to a close, i'll post this progress shot of the peak's island hood - i'm nearly halfway through (i may run out of the main color, but considering i just want to be warm as i tromp across the chicago river in the wind and snow, i really don't care if i have to switch back to the contrast color and have an asymmetrical thing going on).  this is some yarn that was gifted to me - not the softest of yarns, but i think it will be warm and wear well without pilling.  which is quite alright with me!