Sleeve Archipelago

I've been trying to satisfy the product knitter side of myself by focusing on the sleeves on my 2 sweater WIP's,


but it's hard to stay motivated and not get some knitting malaise.

Hopefully this totally fun Woolgirl Sock Club kit will help.


And this STR haul definitely will! I was so excited I didn't even bother finding the best lighting out in the yard to take a pic (northern backyard lighting kinda sucks anyway). I even went so far as ordering the same colorway in a different fiber.


And not only did I break this self-imposed rule when buying Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn once, but I did it twice:


The Luscious Single Silk (LSS) on the left is intended for a Shetland Triangle made famous in knitter blogland by this gorgeous version. Shall I wind and cast on, away from the Sleeve Isles?

One of those unfocused posts

At least I'm cranking on my SotSii. Hint 5 is done in the new much more orange skein I got. I'm halfway through hint 6 in the 2nd original skein. It's darker than the first, so I'm going with "let Malabrigo be Malabrigo" in the spirit of "let Noro be Noro." I should focus on finishing this since the final hint #9 was released. It's going so quickly now, but I'm not sure.


Monkey1's Lindy Hop back is finally done. Modified the shoulders with short rows for a 3-needle bind off with the front later one. I should cast on for the front, but I am tempted to do one sleeve so I can feel like this WIP is moving much faster than it is. But I need something really simple while watching Lost (when I'm not bawling my eyes out about my favorite isle couple Jin & Sun).


My latest Wollmeise came in which is good since I don't know when I'll be able to catch another update. Claudia's moved them to Fridays at different times. We can't access her shop from work (cough *not that I should* cough), so if I'm there when she updates, I'm out of the running. So, left to right: Guinea Pig 1 in med (I think - I need to double check), Miss May in med (the tan makes this combo interesting), and Vincent in dark (woohoo!).


But first, I opened up my STR Braun's Woods that was being sold at Stitches West but ended up getting at Purlescence Yarns instead.


I cast on and worked on the Cedar Creeks pattern while Monkey1 was at the orthodontist. I know I should wait 'til after we get our Rockin' Sock kit for this month, but when Carrie & Nathania started talking about a Cedar Creeks KAL in the STR Ravelry group, I just couldn't resist.

When I'm not getting run over by kids on sleds

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. We went up to the Sierras for a week after x-mas day so I got lots of knitting in when my Monkeys weren't falling off the sled or getting run over by other kids on sleds. Monkey1 got a nice shiner right below her eye when she ended up doing a face plant after a particularly bad fall & Monkey2 & I got the wind knocked out of us when I failed to pull her out of the way before the kid got to us. The kid that plowed through us was flying and neither DH or I saw him in time. Thankfully the Monkeys are fine.

So I'm trucking along on my Twist cardie and am in need of posting to the KAL. I finished the left front just before x-mas day and the right front a couple days ago. I didn't bring my size 7 KP Options nor extra yarn so I had to wait 'til we got home to start the sleeves. I'm looking forward to finishing the sleeves so I can figure out if I'll have enough to do the hood option or if I'll end up w/just the collar (but it's a lovely one at that).

I also caught back up on my Grace sweater where I had to frog back. Now all I need to do is switch to the larger needles and start the leaf lace chart for the back. Since it looks the same as before, I'm not posting another picture.

I'm also working on Monkey1's Lindy Hop in Colinette Jitterbug Alizarine (aka Safety Pink) pullover here and there. It's a good project for the long drive to the cabin & when I can't do any focus knitting. I'm not sure when I'll finish this, but it satisfies the mindless knitting criteria for one of my WIP's.


'Cause what's not mindless knitting in my queue is the Secret of the Stole ii KAL swatch that I botched. (I'm not sure if it was a wise move on my part to join, but oh well.) I was being lazy and had been using the written instructions as a guide so I wouldn't have to count squares on the chart. Unfortunately, the written instructions had errors in them which I would've been aware of if I had kept up with all the postings on the KAL in either Ravelry or the yahoo group. In the end, I decided to plug on to see if the Malabrigo laceweight I had too much variation since it was a semi-solid colorway (eta - it's Marron Oscuro). If so, then I'll have to search for a solid laceweight yarn anyway and swatch again. If not, then I could at least get an idea of the fabric I was getting on size 3 needles.

The other lesson I learned from knitting the swatch (aside from getting used to knitting a laceweight yarn) was that the difference in my yo size before the ssk and after the k2tog magnified when knitting continental. I managed to even out the yo's when I switched to knitting English style in the upper half of the swatch. Unfortunately, that would mean if & when I knit the full size stole, it'll take me longer. Ugh.


So after finishing the botched swatch and running out of yarn momentarily while on vacation for my sweater projects ('cept Lindy Hop), I finally got around to knitting my first Woolgirl sock club kit. I love the Miss Babs sportweight yarn and the pretty Waterfalls colorway. Monkey1 wants a pair too, so I'll have to either buy a similar colorway or wait 'til Miss Babs releases it for the general public since I believe all the extra skeins had been bought out long ago on Woolgirl.


And DH will finally be getting a pair of socks from me. I just don't know how long it'll take me. I decided to do the Gentleman's Plain Winter socks in the Dream in Color Smooshy Cocoa Kiss. (It took a trip to somewhere with different lighting for me to pick up the cocoa part of the colorway.) I figure I would rather plow through all that St st after the ribbed cuff rather than get bored with a textured pattern getting to the end of his size 13 feet.

The other reason why I'm not sure when I'll finish his socks is that my last 2007 Rockin' Sock club kit came in before x-mas and I want to start those socks and my Cookie A Marilinda sock kit I got from Scout's Indie Swag a few months back. One of this month's Socknitters Anonymous themes is to knit a Cookie A sock and I'm itching to do one, especially now that Maaralinda is available for purchase outside Scout's club.

So for now, I think my knitting plate if full for the beginning of the new year. I've got some knitting resolutions I've been forming, so we'll see if they'll stick.

Otherwise, I hope everyone has a happy new year!

Still in sweater land

I got my birthday present from my very talented college friend in the mail yesterday. Such Royal Plantinum Alpaca goodness! Who said non-knitters don't get it? But then she's very talented and artistic (I'll have to post the ring she made for one of my previous birthdays one of these days.) and has always had elegant taste. I think these DK skeins will be slated for an Argosy scarf/little shawl.


I also got a call from Purlescence Yarns yesterday that Monkey1's "Safety Pink" Jitterbug yarn had finally come in from Colinette. The Alizarine skeins (even toned down w/the photo software it's seriously bright) are slated for Monkey1's pullover, so I don't feel I'm cheating on my sweater only month w/buying sock yarn.

And while I was at Purlescence I managed to knit a few rows of the start of my Twist cardigan. I had gauge issues with the different needle sizes swatching my Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. Either I had a terrible time correctly counting the stitches when I measured for gauge or I swear the swatch shrunk. (Not what I was expecting as I figured it would grow/bloom instead.) I finally decided to go with the slightly tighter gauge I got with size 8 needles with the hope that I'm not taking a big risk knitting the size I chose for the cardigan. When I'm a little further along I'll try to post to the KAL blog.

For some reason, all the issues I had with my Twist gauge swatch 'caused me to re-check my swatch for my Grace sweater. And I found that this swatch definitely shrunk. My only thought is that the swatch was not truly dry when I measured it after washing over a month ago. So now I've knitted another swatch another needle size up and am waiting for it to dry completely. In the meantime Grace is on time out. I expect to frog what I've done so far and start over. On the plus side, better to find out now than when I was much further along.

For the love of yarn

Since tapmouse outed me on the more yarn shopping at Purlescence (well, it's still sock yarn ;) ), I might as well show the goods:

left: Blue Moon Fiber Arts (BMFA) Seduction in Purple Rain
right: Colinette Jitterbug in Florentine

Can you tell what color mood I was in on Saturday? I have no idea what to make of these 2, but I have no doubt I'll be inspired.

And a lesson for me on the day-to-day change in my tension. I still like how my colors vertically pool at the beginning though.

And apparently, I like to have 3 WIP's. Two projects at one time is not enough it seems, even w/one being a "complex" pattern. Well, the Twisted Flower pattern isn't so much complex as requiring one's full attention.

Casted on my Yarn 4 Socks (Y4S) sock club pattern, Balance Socks by A Designedly, Kristi. The softener smell has diminished enough that I could handle it for long periods of time without fear of getting a headache.

Their 65% lambswool/35% camel down blend is rather inelastic so I'm knitting the medium size. I had initially cast on the large, but it was definitely too large. Lovely pattern though. It comes in 4 sizes (toddler, adult sm, adult med, adult large !), so I could see knitting this pattern again in a different yarn for other members of my family.

One fish,...

One Pomatomus sock done, one to go. The Colinette Jitterbug yarn in Jay is awesome in this pattern. My only concern now is that the label on this 100 g yarn says it's 267 m or 294 yards. Although the second half of the skein feels like it's enough, I didn't get to weigh it. (Well, I didn't get the darn USPS scale to work is more like it. :P) I've omitted last repeat of chart A, so I hope that helps along w/not matching the color progression for the start of the second sock, so I don't waste any yarn in case I really do need it.

SKB - I did one more repeat of increases before splitting off the sleeves and it fits now. But since my row gauge is short (7 rows/in vs 6 rows/in), I like many other knitters, need to lengthen the bodice portion before I get to the empire waist lace section. I think I will follow one of the knitter's on the Craftster kal and continue the bodice increasing for the front 'til I hit the right point, but I'm debating if I'll also need to do some short row shaping, which I'll probably need to do. And even though I did some Japanese short rows on my Lotus Blossom Tank, it was simply by following the directions line by line. This time I will actually have to learn it and apply it.