SourCherries

Katrine

The sweater that felt as though it would never be-

Pattern: Katrine from Rowan Classic Weekend
Needles: Size 5 and 6  Addi Turbos
Yarn: Kathmandu Aran colour 126
Started: 12/28/07
Finished: 01/29/07
Mods: None, although if I were making this for myself I definitely would have lengthened the body of the sweater by at least 4 inches. I also might have knit a few edge stitches for the front zipper opening just to make it lie a little neater, and I might have knit it in the round- it's really just a raglan sweater with a giant collar.  I really enjoyed this yarn though- not excessively expensive and with %10 silk/%5 cashmere it knits up really soft and cushy. The pattern is simple and easy to follow and all that stockinette while boring makes for good tv/movie watching knitting. I am so tired of stockinette and ribbing though. My next couple of projects are definitely going to be lace.

Katrine- or 99 ways to not install a zipper

For a variety of reasons, I couldn't sleep last night and as long as I wasn't sleeping I figured it would be the perfect time to install the zipper on Katrine. While installing a zipper on a sewn item isn't a new skill for me, I've never put one into a knitted item so this was definitely a new experience. I consulted a few reference materials and then decided that just because I was putting the zipper into a handknit didn't mean I needed to do it any differently than I normally would. I even took pictures- albeit bad lowlight pictures:
1. Baste the opening shut                   2. Pin the zipper in

3. Baste the zip in

4. Sew the zip in                                  5. Cut out the basting stitches

6. No pictures of this step I'm afraid, but at this point I trimmed the too long ends of the zipper and then tacked them by machine for new zipper stops.

7. Enjoy your lovely new zip-

I chose to put in the zipper before sewing together the pieces and picking up the stitches for the collar so that I didn't have to deal with any extra bulkiness. Now to seam it up and add the collar.

Unfaithful

All the pieces of Katrine are finished, all it lacks are seams and a zipper and a giant collar. I'm really not looking forward to the seaming/zippering/collaring part and so I'm procrastinating it. Procrastination and I get along well, especially when it allows me to start doing things like this.

This is the start of Scarf with No. 20 edging from Victorian Lace Today. I'm using some cashmere without tags that I got off e-bay awhile ago and size 6 needles. It's not looking nearly as gossamer as the picture, but it's incredibly soft and I think ultimately will make a very wearable and luxurious scarf. I want to make nearly every pattern in this book but am starting with this because well, it was sitting on my table tempting me all week and I just couldn't stand it any longer.

Splurge

I treated myself this week:
Sundara's Silk Lace in Grey over Light Blue. This will definitely become something out of Victorian Lace Today... I just have to decide what.

A little something for baby

Some not so secret, secret knitting- details to follow on another day.

Knitting for Others

I like to think of myself as an unselfish knitter. I have no problem pouring hours of work into an intricate item only to turn around and gift it to someone. I usually enjoy picking the perfect yarn and the perfect pattern in order to craft something that can really be appreciated. However even in my unselfishness in gift knitting there is selfishness. I knit only things that I will enjoy, either through the yarn or the pattern. I spend my money on yarn and needles and books freely because it brings me happiness. I tend to knit people gifts whether or not they really want a knitted gift. I knit for me even in my knitting for others. And I'm okay with that. Knitting is one of the few things in my life that I do just for me. Even when I give it away, it's for me.

Ruffles Scarf:

Pattern: Ruffles Scarf from Scarf Style
Yarn: Grace Silk and Wool by Louisa Harding, color tan, 3 skeins
Needles: Size 6
Started: 01/13/07
Finished: 01/15/07
Mods: I made this much shorter in length than the original because it's for a petite person

In the end: I'm actually pretty satisfied with how this turned out. The Grace was amazing to work with and gives the finished scarf beautiful weight and drape. It feels like I put a lot of time and effort into it and it was actually quite easy.

Endpaper Mitt

One Endpaper Mitt just seemed to fly off the needles. Of course it helped that I stopped nearly all other knitting, including shop knitting.  I just love my mitt:

The yarn is All Things Heather that I got from The Loopy Ewe . This yarn is very silky, which also means it's slippery... it made stranding a little bit harder, but the finished product is worth it.  I made the pattern as directed but added a few stitches around the thumb to make it fit and prevent holes. Most likely, it will be a few weeks until the mate is finished because I have to get back on track with gift knitting/shop knitting. It's a good thing the mitt is reversible because now I can wear my Anemoi Mitten on my right hand and my Endpaper Mitt on my left hand until I finish their mates.

I also cast on for a  Ruffles Scarf from Scarf Style. This is a gift for my brother's fiancee and as such pattern and yarn were picked with hopefully her tastes in mind.  The only problem is that I'm kind of worried that it looks a little bit like a rat tail.

I'm using Grace Silk & Wool by Louisa Harding in a kind of weird goldy/pink color. It's incredibly soft and lovely and perfect for a scarf... I think I just might be making the wrong scarf. Also, I must remind myself that I am not making myself something, I'm making something for someone else who has different taste/preferences than me. This is one of those projects that has reached obsession point for me in that I want to make the perfect scarf, and really who can tell what that would be. My conversations with J have not helped either:
Me: (holding 10 inches of scarf up)Do you think this scarf is ugly?
J: Is it supposed to be ugly?
Me: No it's not supposed to be ugly, it's a gift.
J: It's kind of ugly- it's all twisted up.
Me: It's supposed to be twisted up (waves pattern picture in front of him).
J: In that case then, it's not ugly.
Not the most satisfying of conversations to say the least.

Startitis

I have several things that I've been itching to cast on- about five different shawls, endpaper mitts, another sweater, and a scarf. I think those were the other pressing ones. Usually, I'm very good about starting one project and continuing until it's finished, because if I put it down for even a little bit, it will be forgotten. I managed to refrain from giving into the urge to start a new project on all but one count.

The start of an Endpaper Mitt, cleverly posed on my washing machine for a nice white backdrop. Mostly, I started this because I wanted to try out the yarn. It's Merino/Tencel from All Things Heather, purchased from The Loopy Ewe. I really wanted to try some yarn with tencel in it and when I saw these in colours so similar to Eunny's originals I had to have it, and cast on for them. The tencel is somewhat like silk, shiny and with lots of drape, but definitely lighterweight. I love it already. Also, I'm really digging the slight colour variations.

I did manage to almost finish a project. Behold, one Anemoi Mitten:

I tried really hard to get accurate colours in these pictures, but it seems that no matter what kind of light I am using, the deep plum of the CC always ends up looking brown. The goldish colour seems to photograph true to colour though for some odd reason. I am really very happy with the fit and drape of the mitten. It's super cozy too. There are some things my inner perfectionist really wants to fix though. Like the top decreases. I think they could be ever so much neater, and after looking at Eunny's original pattern it looks like she did her decreases in one colour instead of following the chart. I decided that instead of frogging though, I would wait and try it on the second mitten first. I really, really love this pattern though. It turns out so gorgeous, and I finally did knit something that I am not going to give away.

Anemoi Mittens

Work on the Anemoi Mittens continues, but incredibly slowly. These are a personal project and lately personal projects haven't gotten a lot of time.

The  Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk is absolutely luscious to work with. I was worried that I would have a little trouble with gauge, but it actually turns out that I'm right on gauge for the small size on size 2 DPNs. I also had trouble doing the cuff on size 0's. It was the most minuscule cuff ever, and I actually ended up redoing it on the 2's as well. The most difficult part for me has been purling with the main colour in my right hand. Tenacity is the only thing that has gotten me through. Yarn dominance has garnered lots of attention around the web lately. The most helpful explanation I found here. I wanted the darker CC to be dominant, so I'm just making sure that it comes from underneath the gold when stranding. I do this by carrying the CC in my left hand. I can foresee these mittens taking quite a bit longer to finish, at this point they're my go to portable project and as such don't get as much attention as I would like.

I also started Katrine from Rowan Classic Weekend.  This is a sample for the shop as well and I'm using Kathmandu Aran. I was hoping to get a lot down while I was at work this weekend (working nights has given me bonus knitting time... it's crazy, even sick people sleep at night) however this weekend was completely crazy. Maybe there was a full moon and I just didn't know it.

Stockinette and ribbing. Not very exciting. I've finished the back now and am now just starting the arm decreases on the front. Not very much progress this week I'm afraid. Oh well. This week, J is going steelhead fishing without me. He's going to wear his Fake Isle hat to keep warm and hopefully there will be fresh fish for dinner when he gets back. 

six weird things?

After reading many weird things about many people I decided to join in the fun and disclose my own strangeness. Also, after being up all night working I don't even have the energy today to knit, let alone talk about knitting.
1. I can't stand the feel of cotton balls. Touching a cotton ball is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I seriously get goosebumps and cringe. This has caused people I work with to chase me around the hospital throwing cotton balls at me. Probably hilarious to watch, but not so fun for me.
2. I don't like my food to get mixed up or even touch on my plate. This is actually kind of a bad one for me, because at times I will actually eat one thing at a time and then get up from the dinner table to wash my plate between dishes. I also don't like food that is based on being mixed up... I'd much rather eat things by themselves (even pb & j sandwiches are better if you eat the pb then the jelly and then the bread). Let's not even get started on casseroles.
3. I didn't go to school until I started college at almost 20. It made for a very interesting first day of school.
4. My little toes curl under the rest of my toes so I'm always literally walking on them.
5.I'm obsessed with drinking carbonated beverages. I rarely ever drink regular water... I must always have a fridge well stocked with sparkling water and my favorite drink of all is grapefruit Izze.
6. I can't fall asleep listening to music. No matter how tired I am, or how quiet the music is, if there is music on I can't fall asleep.
There I think that is probably enough self disclosure for the day, although the weirdest thing of all is that I had a really hard time thinking of 6 weird things.