A few FO's

While my friends here and there were getting ready for Stitches West, I finished a few things.


Noro striped Scarf
Silk Garden in #244 & 268
size 8 KP nickel-plated circs
Tubular cast on and bind off w/kitchener stitch - these methods rock!


Maine Morning Mitts
Silk Garden in #244 & 268 left over from the striped scarf
KP size 8 nickel-plated circs

The second mitt came out a little shorter due to the thick/thin nature of the yarn, so if they don't even out after a wash & will re-knit an extra row onto the second mitt.


Fetchings
Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Wine leftover from my Twist cardigan
size 6 KP nickel-plated circs
mods:
Added 6 more rnds to hand before thumbhole
Added 4 more rnds after thumbhole
Added 3 more rnds to thumb
No picot bind off, just a normal one


February Lady Sweater - medium
Miss Babs Worsted in Pookie - 2 yowza-sized skeins
mods:
kfb instead of M1's for the raglan increases just for fun
slipped the edge stitches wyib for the garter bump
Nancie Wiseman's modified one row buttonhole from her The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques

Modelled pic later after I finish showing the sweater to Woolgirl Jen & Ms Babs at Stitches West later today.

Giving sock knitting a little rest

The sock knitting mojo is on a wee mental break. That and I simply cannot motivate myself to work on my Digitessa sock for more than 1 row at a time. Even after I color-coded all the travelling stitches on the chart.


I've joined the lemming masses and am now a proud owner of the infamously popular Noro Striped Scarf (colorways 244 & 268).

The FO photo will have to wait 'til the scarf finishes drying after its soak (w/Soak!) & hair-conditionered rinse (a little Noro trick I learned on the old yahoo Clapotis group).


My other lemming knit, the Lady February Sweater, is cruising along. I'm using Miss Babs superwash worsted (yowza skein size) in Pookie, but they way it's knitting up, I'm mentally referring it to my tropical camo cardie. It's much more variegated and green than I expected it to be when I ordered it. I'm sure the gull lace section will look better than its current scrambled state once blocked. However, if I do this easy pattern again (provided I just didn't jinx myself right there), I would go for a bit more semi-solid colorway.


And just to keep myself from buying/ordering more yarn 'til Stitches West (Eeek, next week already!) and Sock Camp, I went "shopping" in my stash and decided to use the UEU (Use Everything Up) concept from my makeup group. I pulled the remaining 1 + maybe 1/2 skein of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran leftover from my Twist cardigan and cast on for another pair of Fetchings for myself.

I had considered making fingerless mitts w/a cable pattern matching the Twist, but I wasn't sure I would have enough and decided to play it safe. Besides Fetchings are a fast knit.

Still with the gift knitting

Lucky 7 hat
Mission Falls 1824 Wool in Raven 1.4 skeins
size 8 KP circs

This is not going to b-day brother 'cause it's a tad too snug to be a small adult hat. I thought I compensated by going up a needle size, but I probably should've gone up 2 more. He opted for my first pair of Noro Maine Morning Mitts instead. Darn that instant gratification!

And since b-day brother gets the first pair of mitts, I cast on for a second pair hoping that I would keep them for me but they're at bit too 80's pink (& black) for me.


Maine Morning Mitts
Noro Silk Garden
size 8 dpns
no mods

The weather's been super nice this weekend (a Nov heat wave!), so I've got my finished gift knits washed and drying out in the shade.

At this point, I should've cast on for a cowl or more fingerless mitts, but I just wasn't feeling inspired at all, even with lots of Ravelry surfing. I only managed a row here & there with my MS4 stole and my Anemone sock since I just wasn't feeling those at all either. So I ended up casting on for Monkey2's mini-monkey. I forgot how quick the body takes. It's the endless i-cording of the tail, arms and legs that took up the bulk of our sock camp monkey knitting, iirc. The body's started with Typhoon Tina and the kit came with Harlotty as the "other" colorway.


I also decided to try my luck with the Ruffled Roses Scarf since tapmouse had been urging me to cast on for a scarf awhile back, before we started on our gift knitting, I think.

Since I'm using the narrower Universal Yarns Tango instead of the OnLine ribbon yarn, it's been a little tough going. Maybe once I start with the lace, then ribbed panels, it won't seem so bad.


There's something ironic about using a designer's free pattern distributed to help lys businesses and the majority of the yarn I'm using came from lys that have closed.

I don't think I'll get too much further on this scarf for awhile since I really should be knitting a cowl here and there. And a few fingerless mitts too.

Finally

It took a couple tries, but I now have a hat for Squid's brother:


A Hat Fit for a Boyfriend
Mission Falls 1824 Wool - Charcoal
size 8 KP circs
cast on 90 sts
extra inch before decreasing for crown section

After all that hat gift knitting, I took a break and did some comfort STR sock knitting. I love how the first sock is not striping at all, though the second sock is starting to look like it'll flash vertically.


Crows Feet by Linda Welch
STR lightweight in Rocktober
size 2.50 mm KP dpns
extra rows in Eye of Partridge heel flap

After recharging my knitting batteries with the sock knitting, I managed to crank out a pair of gift mitts.


Maine Morning Mitts
Noro Silk Garden
size 7 bamboo dpns
no mods

However, knitting the Silk Garden reminded me why I have such a love/hate relationship with Noro. Love the colors combos, hate when a knot signifies the arbitrary & capricious change in color sequence. Since I knit this from an orphan skein I bought from The Knitting Basket's closing sale, I didn't have the luxury of mauling another skein to make the mitts match. Am debating if it'll matter or not. Also tempted to keep it for myself 'cause it's...well, Noro.

Back in business

After posting a couple pleas on Ravelry for my Marron Oscuro Malabrigo lace, in the end I found another yarn store online that did have it in stock. For reals. And they were very quick in replying to my e-mail and mailing the skeins out. The skeins are a bit more orange than my original two, but it could've been worse. I saw a worsted weight skein in this colorway somewhere that was practically blush pink.

Because of the color difference, the plan of attack will be to knit hint #5 only with one of new skeins and then finish off hints 6-9 with the second original skein since I got all they way through hints 1-4 with the first skein. Hopefully balancing the colors this way will work.

But before I got those skeins in the mail, I grabbed a skein of Crystal Palace Merino 5 in pink (yes, pink!) from Article Pract for Monkey2's BFF. Unfortunately, the toddler BR hat pattern I chose didn't go quickly enough, so I missed the birthday deadline and BFF has moved on to pre-school. So by default it'll be Monkey2's hat.


Of course, there was no way I was going to leave Article Pract with just one skein of Merino 5. I finally got my hands on the Noro Kureyon sock yarn. And it's no surprise, especially to tapmouse, that the colorway I picked has my favorite Noro cobalt blue. I think I will knit a pair of socks out of this skein, but I am fully prepared to deal with all its quirks detailed in many a review. After all, I managed to survive making a Silk Garden Clapotis as my first big knitting project without giving up on knitting altogether.


I somehow missed this yarn at the Bobbin's Nest booth at Stitches West, but my excuse is that their booth was a little small and it was during the crowded lunch/class break period at the Market. In the end, I got these 2 Hazel Knits colorways simply by checking her online shop. At least this way I got the Chocolatier (left) and Weekend Warrior (right) colorways that I wanted.


And speaking of chocolate, tapmouse & I discovered the yummy tasting Cosmic Chocolate location just a few doors down from Article Pract on our more recent visit. (You gotta see tapmouse's pics!) Between that and Bakesale Betty's fried chicken sandwich, it's going to be really dangerous to the wallet & waistline going there. Oh, but what a confluence of shopping delights!

Project Spectrum Feb update

My 2 Noro Kochoran skeins have been all used up! Now to figure out who I'll give these to.

Feather & Fan Scarf from the Little Box of Scarves
Less than 2 skeins
size 10.5 needles
unblocked = 6"x83"


Because whoever I might give the scarf to may be okay w/a long scarf, but not a super long one, I knitted a Calorimetry from the other end. Since my first Calorimetry was too loose and the Kochoran being thicker than the Silk Garden, I cast on only 80 sts per discussions on the knitty board and repeated row 5 about 9 times more I think. I have basic black button to sew on still. The scarf is still plenty long as the Calorimetry took a lot less yarn than I had hoped it would, but I didn't feel like knitting a 3rd one.

Both Noro pieces will get washed & blocked when the weather dries & warms back up again. The wash is more to get any twiggy bits out I may have missed than it is to soften it up. The Kochoran is a lot softer than the Silk Garden I had used for my Clapotis, but it wouldn't hurt to give them a wash before they get gifted out.

My other PS knit has been rather neglected, so I hope to get to these BFF socks next, especially now that I've finished one sleeve on my SKB and started the other. I hope I can finish my SKB by the time I hit Stitches West on Friday. If I get the SKB done, I'll only have 1 project on the needles before my first Rockin' Sock Club package. After Stitches West, I can then figure out what my 3rd project will be, but it may most likely be that kiddie capelet thingie in Feb Magknits that I can't spell, much less pronounce.

Ready for Christmas 2007?

Not! But my Retro Rib socks in STR Christmas Balls are. Whee!


Pattern: Retro Ribs - Interweave Knits (IK) Winter 2004 (& now the IK Favorite Socks book)
Yarn: Socks that Rock Christmas Balls
Needle size: KP size 1 (2.50 mm) dpn's & circs

Notes/Comments:
The cuff/leg has been modified to be 6" vs the 8" in the pattern. The left foot is looser than the right because I screwed up and didn't reduce down the last 2 stitches for the gusset, so I reduced them in the toe area which is when I discovered my error. I'm going to try to wear them for a day w/the bigger one on the left foot since it's bigger and see if I can live w/it. Otherwise, it will be a PITA to frog back all the way to the gusset.

And now that I've got the size 1 circs free, I can continue on w/the sleeve of my SKB. Nothing more motivating than to free up my needles to knit up sweater sleeves. I so don't want to be stuck in sleeve purgatory from the lack of the right needle size & length.

And here's 1 skein of Noro Kochoran #21 in the Feather & Fan scarf (roughly 54" already), one of my Feb/Mar Project Spectrum projects. I was duly warned that 2 skeins would make for a really long scarf, but I really want to get rid of this yarn. I may try to knit up all of the second skein if the itching doesn't drive me mad so I can gift this away to someone who not only likes angora, but also likes really long scarves. I hope to finish this by the end of the week. Not only do I want to make room for stuff I'll get from Stitches West, but I would like to get things off the needle in preparation for my first STR Club package.

ETA: Doh! Calorimetry! Heh, it took 2 discussions w/my knitter friends at work to realize that I can stop the scarf when I think it's long enough (74"?). I can then knit up a Calorimetry w/maybe 94 or 90 sts w/the remaining Kochoran. My 108 st Silk Garden one's a little loose so hopefully a shorter one will work. Plus, I'll have 2 gifts to give away instead of one. Now I'm content w/the solution.

Four projects on the needles was one too many for me, so I'm glad the socks are done. Hopefully the scarf will be next and then the SKB.

I'm still having fun w/the Polar Sea socks because its my first cable project. I'm using Cookie A's BFF pattern. And gee, now I understand why knitters prefer cabling w/o a cabling needle. It's a PITA to handle 4-5 dpns plus a cabling needle. So much hardware I had no room for my fingers!