Skip to main content

Finally...FO's!

Roman Candle Socks
After a month of traveling (Kansas City, Orlando & Phoenix), I am ready to stash my suitcase in the back of the closet and stay close to home.  Leaving town three times in the span of a month is just too much for me!  Each trip was fun in its own way, but I'm looking forward to getting back to a more 'normal' routine - which involves lots of cat snuggles (of course!) and - lucky for your - more frequent blog updates!

The name of the game this month has been SIMPLE....with SELFISH following closely behind.  Exhibit A: I finally finished the malabrigo socks I started last October!  I'm not sure when the pattern is coming out - it was a test knit for an upcoming design from Two Sticks and a Sheep - but whenever it does, you'll be able to purchase it with the rest of the Fireworks and Folly eBook patterns.  Fun fact: Botticelli is the first skein of Malabrigo sock I ever purchased - I think I bought it at the first Stitches Midwest I attended!

Robin loves it, despite its flaws.
Speaking of projects I started in October of last year, this Travel Shawl from Knitting 24/7 has finally been put to rest.  There were many trials during the knitting of this project - for some reason, I just couldn't stop screwing it up.  More than a few times, I discovered dropped stitches several rounds after the fact - never a fun thing to try to repair!  Yet, I pressed on.  I have to say, the end results are surprising - I thought I'd be able to spot my mistakes much more readily, but on the whole they are masked by the pattern itself as well as the yarn.  I did discover one final dropped stitch after blocking which has been somewhat clumsily repaired.  It truly did earn the title "Shawl of Doom" - besides all of these technical issues, I also ran out of yarn (which I expected to happen) and had to pinch-hit with a contrast-color for the border.  I'm not sure the silvery color I used would have been my first choice, but I was shopping from my stash and it was one of the better options I had on hand.  All in all,  I'm glad I finished it, though I don't think I'll be attempting another shawl on this scale anytime in the forseeable future.

I'll try to post a better photo soon, but this one I took right after finishing the bind off that I swear isn't posed is too adorable and must be shared with the world.  Both Robin and Tilly enjoy a good hand-knit....sometimes, a little too much!
The Age of Brass & Steam...

Finally, the handspun that has been calling to me for several months now has transformed into a triangle shawl - namely, The Age Of Brass & Steam, which has been in my queue for several months now.  I cast on for this fast-knitting shawl the night we got home from Orlando; five days later, I bound off just as the plane touched down in Phoenix.  It's been keeping me warm for these last bitter days of January ever since.  I have lots of yarn left over, too - I think a nice, warm hat is in the works.

...see also: cat blanket. This scarf is Tilly-approved.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Australian Superfine Merino Yarn Review & Giveaway

After more than ten years of knitting, I can still have new experiences - even with well-covered territory such as merino yarn! This recent merino experience actually took me by surprise: I've spun with it, I've dyed it, I've knit with it, and I've even crocheted with it...I was pretty sure I knew all there was to know about merino! Turns out, there are four different classifications of merino fiber, sorted by micron count range . At the bottom of the spectrum is Strong Merino , which ranges from 26-22.9 microns; above that is Fine Merino , which ranges from 20.1-23 microns; next up is Extra Fine Merino, which ranges from 20-15.6 microns; and at the very top of the heap is Superfine Merino Wool , with a micron range of 18.5-15.6. If you're into numbers and wondering how these four classes stack up against other fibers you may be familiar with, here are a few for comparison's sake: BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) has a micron range of 24-28, Cashmere goat down ...
68 comments
Read more

App Review & Giveaway: Stash 2 Go

The developers for a paid Ravelry app for iPad and iPhone called Stash 2 Go contacted me earlier this year to see if I was interested in writing a review or their app on their blog. While I don't own an iPad or iPhone, I was able to gift a download to a knitting friend who had an iPad and was willing to let me play around with it for the purposes of this review! This is the first time I've ever accessed Ravelry via an app (on my Android phone, I typically use the m.ravelry.com site), and I found most of it to be easy to use. Some of the features weren’t intuitive to me at first, but once I got the hang of the idiosyncracies, it was smooth sailing. Stash 2 Go makes the most of API functions Ravelry has opened up to developers (there are still several areas which have yet to be completed in the Ravelry programming interface, so developers can only implement what is available through www.ravelry.com/api ). Most of the app's functionality allows the user to view the ...
1 comment
Read more

A Finished Sweater, With Cat Hair

After losing Tilly and Robin within a year of each other, I sure didn't think I'd be finding cat hair in my knitting any time soon. But the universe had other ideas. Over the winter, a white feral cat adopted us. I'd noticed her when we moved into our apartment last summer - I would see her hiding in the bushes or sunning herself in the grass when she thought no one was looking. I assumed she was someone's cat until I realized how skittish she was around humans, plus she had a tipped ear, which is a universal sign that a feral/stray cat has been spayed. Neighbors confirmed that she was a feral kitty (descended from several generations of feral cats, in fact), and that she has survived on her wits and whatever food various residents put out for her.  We had some bitterly cold days over the winter, and I just felt so sorry for this poor kitty! I started offering her treats and slowly gained her trust. She didn't even want to come inside our apartment at first, much le...
Post a Comment
Read more