Quick Update

I have woefully neglected this blog all summer. Shame on me.

On the other hand, I have finished a sweater I blogged about back in January. This is just a "teaser" post, though, because the sweater isn't making it's debut until the Yarn Harlot's visit today.

Black Ice

In my ongoing pursuit of ways to stay warm while walking across the windy parking lot at work, I finally made a pattern that I've had my eyes on for years.

May I present "Black Ice", my version of the Ice Queen pattern from Knitty.com



When Knitty Couture was having their closing sale, I bought a single skein of 100% cashmere laceweight, with this specific project in mind. I ended up also experimenting with beads, though I decided to add fewer than the pattern calls for. I did not want to be feeling beads against my cheek when I brought the it up to block the wind.



I hadn't counted on the fact that when it's worn up, it covers everything but my recently appearing "natural highlights." I swear my hair doesn't normally look quite that stark white!

When wearing it down, I end up with the lovely effect of an extra thick warm cowl.

2010 Review, Finished Objects Part 1

It hardly seems possible, but I only finished 14 projects in all of 2010, plus a bit of charity knitting. Only one of those projects was even all all big or complicated, so I can't even use difficulty of the knitting as an excuse for my poor volume of output.

I finished:

6 pairs of socks
3 cowls
3 small shawls
2 sets of cuffs/mitts



These were my favorite socks of the year, finished last Spring. I love the colors. They are made with Pagewood Farms Yukon sock yarn. My previous experience with this yarn is that it does relax & pill more than some other yarns, due probably to the bamboo content. So I have gone down a needle size on my more recent sets of bamboo blend socks, which seems to help.






In the Fall, I managed to finish 3 pairs of socks in one day. Sounds impressive until I confess to the real reason behind it. I find it much easier to kitchener in bright sunlight, so the knitting was actually finished at various earlier times.


October 23rd, 2010 was a gorgeous & warm Saturday, so Lucy sat out on the porch with me & kept me company throughout the kitchenering.

Another Finished Object for Friday

This is the Boogie Vest from an older issue of Knitty.




The yarn is Madil Yarns Iceland, purchased on sale at Knit & Caboodle in St. Charles. The vest used just under 4 skeins. For the most part, I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn, & I love the color. However, I found a knot in a couple of the skeins, which didn't make me happy.

It's my second completed NaKniSweMoDo 2009 sweater. By getting something quick out of the way, there won't be as much pressure to only work on simple knits. Some of the sweaters I have planned for this year are definitely multi-month projects.

Finished Object for Friday

My first finished NaKniSweMoDo 2009 sweater is my February Lady Sweater, which I started last September. I bound off on Monday night & wove all the ends in during the Inauguration Tuesday morning.

The yarn is discontinued Colorado Yarns Knitaly bought on clearance from Webs ages ago. I used a little under 5 balls (500gr) for a size large.

First Finished Object Friday 2009

Here is my first Finished Object of 2009:




It's a charity scarf to donate to the Special Olympics World Winter Games.

It's made with double-stranded Red Heart yarn, in the Special Olympics Winter Games colors. I used a 60 inch long size 10 circular, cast on enough stitches to fill the needle, & had plenty of mindless knitting for a couple day's worth of meetings.

However, there has been an overwhelming response to the call for hand-made scarves for the athletes. They have received over 14,000 which far surpasses their goal of 5000. Therefore, the scarves collected at the Knitting Guild meeting tomorrow are going to be shipped to the Heartland Regional Special Olympics Winter Games instead.

Last Finished Objects for 2008

This week I finished two final projects for 2008.
Yesterday morning I finished the crochet edges around my vest from the "Quiviut Twinset" by Linda Romens, from The Natural Knitter. I loved knitting this sweater. It was so much fun, in a knitterly kind of way. It took me a little while to figure out the short rows to create the scalloping effect at the bottom, but it was worth it.

The yarn is Louet KidLin Lace Weight, which used to be called Kidlin Pixie. (No Quiviut in it at all, despite the pattern name. That's a bit beyond my budget right now.) The color is called "Smokey Grape", though the purple in it is very subtle & doesn't show much. I used somewhat less than 3 skeins, which were purchased at Kirkwood Knittery in Kirkwood, Missouri. The leftovers might be enough to make a lace cowl at some point.

I also have 6 skeins of this yarn in another dyelot, purchased at a big discount when a different Kirkwood LYS decided to sell off their yarn inventory & focus exclusively on wool rug-hooking. I cast on the matching "Quiviut Twinset" cardigan from that batch of skeins this past week, after finishing the knitting part of the vest. I wanted to finish the scallop part on the cardigan while I was still on vacation, with plenty of time to focus on it.


Yesterday afternoon was glorious & unseasonably warm, so I got unexpected knitting time in while taking the kids to the park. Because of that, I also finished the January socks this morning. Those are the socks which hadn't quite gotten done for Socktoberfest. I'm wearing the socks already, & will be wearing the vest to a New Years Party later on this evening as well.

2008 Wrap Up

I haven't been as good about keeping up with my blog this year as I have in the past. I blame Ravelry, since putting my projects there gives me less incentive to be sure they are documented here.

As much as Ravelry takes away from my blogging, though, it also helps me come up with information far more rapidly. One (of many) handy feature in Ravelry is the ability to sort projects by date completed, which makes figuring out what was completed in 2008 a whole lot easier.

2008 was the Year of the Hat & the Year of the UFO for me. I have to say that working on UFO's & knitting small things on big yarn can have an amazing effect on the number of completed items in a year. (Though the last two items I finished this year were neither pre-2008 UFO's or on bulky yarn.)

My final totals for 2008 are:

20 pairs of socks -- 14 of which were UFO's from prior years.
8 sweaters -- 1 child, 4 vest/sleeveless, & 3 with sleeves.
14 hats -- 12 of which were on bulky yarn.
5 neckwarmers
1 set fingerless mitts
1 scarf
1 shawl
& 7 squares for Warm Up America.
(8 charity items, since 1 hat was for charity.)

The 3 sweaters involving the most knitting were also UFO's from prior years.

According to Ravelry, I also have a lot fewer UFO projects on the needles right now, which was one of my big goals for 2008. I also managed to make it to more Knitting In Public events this year, though I wasn't able to participate in any classes. All in all, I have to say it was a good year, knitting-wise.

My only knitting-related regret for the year is that I haven't been able to keep up with posting on other knitter's blogs very well this year. Doing better with blogging is one of my goals for 2009, both keeping up with my own blog, & also keeping up with reading/commenting in a timely fashion.

Disappearing December

Where did two-thirds of December disappear to? Or, for that matter, the year 2008?

I don't have much in the way of finished objects to show for the past two months. The small items I did finish are Christmas presents, & thus aren't going on the blog yet.

My KIP/carry-around project for the month has been these socks. They are the "Christmas is Coming" colorway from Dyeabolical Yarns. I cast them on Thanksgiving afternoon, while waiting for the turkey to settle enough to have pumpkin pie.


The one finished item I can show is a hat that I knit for the Caps for Kids charity & handed in at the St. Louis Knitter's Guild luncheon.


I have finished both sleeves on my February Lady Sweater, but it remains to be seen whether or not I'll finish the body before the remainder of 2008 disappears.


I've barely touched my Susie Hoodie at all this month, & still have a little bit left to go on my lace vest. I'm hoping to finish the vest next weekend, in time to wear it to a New Years Eve party. That might very well end up the last Finised Object of 2008.

Socktoberfest Wrap Up

My final total of UFO socks completed for Socktoberfest doesn't quite match my UFOlympics total, even with a full month to work with. Life's always more hectic after school starts -- that's my excuse. Well, that & I was not faithful to the sock projects all month; I did do other knitting too.

My last completed pair was my J.Knits "Denver" socks. This yarn came from Knitorious, though J.Knits yarn is available at several of our LYSes in the area. The first sock was knit for Summer of Socks 2007. The second sock for the pair was cast on in November of 2007, so it was about time it got finished. (May I just say that I am so glad to be nearly finished with my one-sock-at-a-time UFO's? It's much easier & faster for me to do them both at once.)

In addition to the Lime & Violet "Suede Elvis" socks, during Socktober 2008 I also finished a pair for me in Lorna's Laces "Somerset" & a gift pair for my Mother-in-law in Paton's Croy. The Lorna's Laces came from a closeout sale when an LYS went out of business last year, & the Paton's sock yarn came from Chris' Needlecraft, back when I was first experimenting with knitting socks. It feels good to knit up some of the older yarns from my stash.

I also finished the feet of my "January" socks, in Sheepaints yarn from The Loopy Ewe. Since they didn't get finished during Socktoberfest, I'm not sure when they'll be completed. I've got other projects on the front burner for November. Maybe I'll get the January socks finished by January 2009, maybe not.


I hadn't cast on any new socks yet this fall, mostly from being burned out on all the sock knitting I did during the UFOlympics. All the empty needles finally started calling me, though, so I ended up casting on two new pairs last weekend. One of those pairs has the legs mostly finished already, because that was the project I took with me walking around with my Trick-or-Treaters. This is Mountain Colors Bearfoote in "Sapphire Trail", purchased either at Kirkwood Knittery or at Knitorious, I don't remember which. Both stores carry a good supply of Mountain Colors yarn.

Finished Object for Friday

Earlier this week, I finished my second set of Socktoberfest Socks.

These are my standard plain vanilla sock pattern, with 80 stitches around on size 1 DPNs. The yarn is Lime N Violet's Mermaid Sock Yarn, in the colorway "Suede Elvis", purchased at the Loopy Ewe during the big STL Raveler's Yarn Crawl on Mother's Day Weekend.

Please note -- I am working on UFO socks for Socktoberfest this year. Yes, after the UFOlympics, I still have plenty more UFO sock pairs to deal with. I have managed to resist the urge to cast on new socks, at least, so my total number of socks on the needles is going down. The first socks I finished this month had been on the needles for a year & a half, & 3 out of the 5 of my UFOlympic socks were started in 2007, so it's progress to finish one of the pairs that I started this year, that have been on-the-needles less than 6 months.


These are also a good illustration of the knitting problems that I won't bother to go back & fix. After I was already knitting the foot, I realized that the decreases had wandered over by a stitch part way down the gusset of one sock. There was no way I was going to try to rip back to it. I compensated for the shift when I did the toe of that sock, so the structural integrity of the sock was not compromised.
I doubt anyone will ever notice. In fact, I have to look really closely to figure out which side of the gusset & which sock actually had the slight mis-alignment in the decreases.

Finished Objects for Friday

First off, thank-you to all the kind comments regarding my UFOlympic knitting! It feels good to not have quite so many UFO's lying around anymore.

However, I haven't felt like working on any other UFO's since then, nor have I felt like starting or working on any big projects.

These last couple weeks have been all about the quick, easy, & relatively mindless. I got a jump on "Single Skein September" & finished off two lovely hand-dyed DK-weight J.Knits skeins that I found on the clearance shelf at Chris' Needlecraft.

The first pattern I found on Jeanne Knits blog & decided it would be perfect for one of my single skeins. The yarn I used is J.Knits "Massachusetts" -- a single skein of the DK weight 100% superwash wool.

It's the Good Luck Cowl from Drop Stitch Knitter. I managed to use almost all of the entire skein, & was actually a little bit worried that I might run out of yarn on the bind off. This picture shows exactly how much yarn I had left when I finished.



This is the Easy Eyelet Gaiter pattern from the book Arctic Lace. I used about 30 grams of leftover Dyeabolical sock yarn, hand-dyed by Rachel in the "African Grey" colorway. I managed to use nearly every foot of yarn I had left of this skein also.

I had quite a bit of yarn left after finishing my African Grey socks during the UFOlympics. (I started them all the way back in August 2007.) It took me a year to finish the socks, but only about a week to finish the neckwarmer.

The last picture is a view of it turned inside-out. I like how the pattern looks on the wrong side nearly as well as the right side, which will be good if it gets folded over while wearing.

I finished a third neckwarmer using my second single skein of DK J.Knits. However, I'm in the process of writing up the pattern for it, so that Finished Object will have it's own post.

Sunday Sweater & Socks (Final UFOlympics Update)

I kept working on my UFOlympics projects right down to the wire. I ended up finishing two more Works In Progress by Sunday morning.

**Project Specs**
**Yarn:** 3 skeins of Cascade Sierra yarn as part of my efforts at Stashdown 2008
**Needles:** Addi Turbo sized 8 & 9 (US)
**Pattern:** Lutea Lace Shell from Interweave Knits

**Finished:** August 23 2008
Originally started June 29th, 2008. I set this sweater aside after easy-KIP-Stockinette-in-the-Round was completed, in favor of working on my Green Mirage sweater earlier this summer. I added this to my WIPs wrestling just in case I managed to finish my other UFOlympics sweaters, since I wanted to be able to wear this sweater at least once or twice before summer is over.


**Project Specs**
**Yarn:** 1 skein of Lime & Violet Shuanmi Squared yarnin colorway Agate
**Needles:** Metal DPN's sized 0 & 1 (US)
**Pattern:** My standard plain-vanilla, with eye-of-partridge heel & 80 stitches around.


**Finished:** August 24 2008 (Finished knitting toes while watching the men's basketball gold-medal match live in the wee hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning US Central time. Kitchenered Sunday morning.)

These socks were originally started back in December of 2007. The socks are my eighth and final Finished Object for this Olympics!

I'm thrilled with how many mostly-done projects I managed to clear off my needles in the past 16 days. I guess I just needed some motivation.

Sky, Socks, and Sweater

I haven't much time to write today; I'm still madly trying to see how many more Finished Objects I can get done before the Olympics are over.

In the mean time, here are some pictures for today:

Sunday Socks

It's not often that I have Sunday Socks to follow Saturday Socks, but sitting around watching the Olympics is giving me all sorts of knitting time. I'm sure I'll pay for that later, given the state of my house, but at least I still feel like I'm accomplishing something!

Project Specs
Yarn: 2 skeins of AppleLaine Apple Pie from the Loopy Ewe
Needles: Metal DPN's sized 0 & 2 (US)
Pattern: My standard plain-vanilla, with eye-of-partridge heel & 72 stitches around.

Finished: August 17 2008 Finished knitting toes while watching swimming Saturday night. (Which was Sunday morning in China.) Kitchenered Sunday morning after watching interview with Micheal Phelps & his family. I think I'll call these my "Water Cube" socks.

These socks were originally started back on May 11th 2008. This is my fourth Finished Object for this Olympics!

Saturday Socks

No Saturday Sky for this week, but I do have a pair of Saturday Socks.



Yarn: 1 skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Moondance colorway purchased at Knitorious
Needles: Metal DPN's sized 00 & 1 (US)
Pattern: My standard plain-vanilla, with eye-of-partridge heel & 80 stitches around.




Finished: August 16 2008 (Finished knitting toes while watching men’s tennis doubles gold medal match between Switzerland & Sweden. Kitchenered after match was over.)

These socks were originally started back in Feb 10th 2008. This is my third Finished Object for this Olympics. The "UFOlympics" has been very good for my neglected projects, & for my sock wardrobe come Autumn.

Finished Objects Friday; UFOlympics Post #2

The Olympics have been good for my knitting this time around. It's hard for me to imagine that I hadn't even picked knitting back up again at the time of the last Olympics, in Winter 2006.

These socks were originally started back in October of 2007. This is my first completed FO for this Olympics!

Project Specs
Yarn: 2.1 skeins of Panda Wool
Needles: DPNs in size 00 for cuff, size 0 for basketweave, & size 1 for plain remainder of sock.
Pattern: My standard Plain-Vanilla, with basketweave on the leg. 80 stitches around for Ladies size 9 foot.

Finished: August 13 2008 (Knitting was finished during the Women’s Gymnastics Team Competition August 12th, & Kitchenered early morning of August 13th.)


Project Specs
Yarn: 6-7 skeins of Zitron Prisma Mohair blend (started multiple skeins to match stripes -- have about 2 full & 2 partial balls left, plus some odds & ends.)
Needles: Bamboo sized 8 & 9 (US)
Pattern: Women’s Side to Side Cardigan #202 by Diane Soucy from Knitting Pure & Simple


Finished: August 14 2008 (Knitting was completed & bound off during the Women’s Gymnastics All Around Competition August 14th, shown live in the USA on Thursday evening.)

This sweater was originally started back in January of 2007. This is my second completed FO for this Olympics!

In Under the Wire

I signed up for the UFOlympics this year, because I have a couple sweaters which I started early last year that I haven't touched in months.


In order to have a relatively clean slate for resuming work on UFOs, I managed to finish the last row & bind off on my Green Mirage sweater early Friday morning.

I was glad that I decided on 3/4th sleeves, because I ran fairly short on yarn by the end.




I LOVE how it turned out. I definitely plan to knit this sweater again in a completely different yarn -- perhaps a silk/wool blend that I can wear in the wintertime.

It's kind of awkward trying to take my own sweater-modeling pictures, so this is the best I can do for now. The yarn hanging down the front is because I didn't want to cut the last piece until after I'd checked the fit of the neckline.

A Tale of Two Sweaters, Part 2

Although I've done a lot of knitting since taking up the needles again two and a half years ago, it wasn't until this year that I finally finished a complete sweater. As I mentioned earlier, this summer I finished my first complete adult-sized sweaters since 1985. (Though I'm not sure that sleeveless *quite* counts.) Both sweaters took about 2.5 skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.

The first one I finished was Soleil, from Knitty.com Spring 2005. It was a very enjoyable knit, but I'm not happy with how it fits. As you can see from this picture, there is quite a bit of extra fabric under the arms. The pattern suggests a second row of single crochet to tighten up the armholes, but it isn't enough to compensate for the amount of fabric. I do plan on making this pattern again, but I will probably add short row shaping to the front instead of quite as many increases on the side.


The other sweater I finished this summer is as much of a joy to wear as it was to knit. It's the Lutea Lace Shoulder Shell from Interweave Knits, Summer 2007.

I started this sweater as my Stitch N Pitch project for this year. The body of the sweater is perfect Knitting-In-Public mindless-type knitting. The top part is very cleverly designed & fun to knit. The only thing I have to complain about with knitting this sweater is finding a knot in two of the skeins of Cotton Fleece, which was really only a minor annoyance.




In fact, I love this sweater so much, I decided to start another one. This one is with Cascade Sierra, purchased the same time as I bought the Cotton Fleece at the same Going-Out-Of-Business sale.

A Tale of Two Sweaters, Part 1

I finished the black sweater & also the red one that I started for Stitch N Pitch. I'm much happier with the red one though. I only have time for a quick post right now, so there will be more about that later. For now, the pictures will have to do the talking.