Sunday, May 23, 2010

Planning phase...

Well, the Passiflora was a short-lived project.  I knit the first inch or two before realizing I just don't like the yarn.  I mean, it's a perfectly nice yarn for something and someone, but not for this for me.  The color was too grandma-ish, and the gauge was too loose-looking.  I don't know.  Just wasn't cutting the mustard. So I frogged it.  Still want to knit the pattern sometime, but not sure what yarn I'll use when that time comes, and that time is just not now, I'm afraid.


Enter the Traveling Sweater.  Look how cozy and useful! Look how not-summery! (I hate heat, and knitting this makes me think how cozy autumn will be when it gets here.) Look at the brand! It was over before it even began - there was no use resisting the attraction.  I ordered the yarn and the pattern, it arrived, and I cast on.  Love, love, love knitting this.  It's fairly simple, so far, at least, with just enough short rows to keep it interesting.  And the yarn is so luscious with such subtly shifting color (I ordered it in the Manly, Yes But I Like It Too colorway, which is what I believe was used for the sample shown on the pattern, that devoted to the goal of wearing that exact sweater am I) that I just can't put it down.  It's got an interesting construction, too, so I'm excited to put it together at the end.  You knit a big rainbow-shaped piece and two sleeve/back pieces.  Plus, the designer is on Ravelry and taking part in the knit-along on the Socks That Rawk board, and she answers everyone's questions (mine included) super-fast and super-encouragingly.  Not one bad thing to say about this experience.  Except that it isn't autumn yet.  But I can't really hold anyone accountable for that, so I'll try to move on.

The only snag is that I'm leaving for a week-long cruise to Bermuda in a week's time, and I'm not sure a lapful of wool is quite the right accessory for the trip.  So I'm contemplating some lighter-weight projects to take instead.  Sure, the voice of reason might remind me that I've got half a Hedera to knit and 1.8 Bellatrix to go, which would both be perfectly appropriate cruise knits.  But the voice of temptation thinks a Citron shawl might be the thing.  Or a Fernfrost.  Or maybe a Lavalette? There's some Wollmeise whispering to me from the stash bin, as well as a skein of beautiful Tess laceweight that I had completely forgotten about and just accidentally unearthed.  Which voice will be loudest? The suspense is terrible.  I hope it lasts!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

FO #11

Hello, beautiful!  These here are my beloved Slip Jig socks, from the Rockin' Sock Club's May shipment, and they just might be my favorite socks I've ever knit.  How do I love them? Let me count the ways. 

1) The Yarn.  Socks That Rock Mediumweight is so sproingy and delicious to knit with, and it makes such wonderfully squishy socks that are just heaven to wear.  They hug my feet warmly but not overwhelmingly so.

2) The Colorway.  This one was great in the skein - all that pink and green was like a preppy dream, with little shots of sky blue that surprised me everytime it popped up in the knitting.

3) The Designer. Irishgirlieknits, aka Carrie Sullivan, posts on the Ravelry "Socks That Rawk" board and although I don't think I've ever had any personal dealings with her (or did I buy from her destash once? I forget), she is always so positive and friendly, and somehow it felt like "one of us" made the bigtime when her pattern came in the package.  (I do realize I'm delusional if I think she and I run with the same crowd, but that is sort of the beauty of Ravelry - we *are* all a little community, regardless of location or ability or prestige!)

4) The Pattern Itself.  Not only do I love the way it looks, but it was so much fun to knit!  First off, the garter cuff, which was a welcome break to that inch of tedious ribbing that socks usually begin with.  Then those adorable cables!  Like little portholes, first a bunch of them with fun little garter stitch stripes, then down to four, all the way to the toe (almost - the pattern carries them all the way to the end, but I garbled that bit and ended up making a plain toe).  I knit and knit and knit because I loved crossing the cables so much!  I couldn't put them down until I'd crossed just one more.

Happily, we're having a chilly May so far here in Boston, so I should get the chance to wear these beauties a few times before it's too hot.  And I see myself knitting this pattern again before too long.  Irresistible!

The details:
Ravelry Link (this is a new thing, let's see if I can do it right) 
Pattern: Slip Jig, from the March shipment of the 2010 Rockin' Sock Club.  Pattern will be available for sale in March 2011 from the BMFA site.
Yarn: BMFA Socks That Rock Mediumweight
Colorway: My Wild Irish Girlie, also available in March 2011 from BMFA
Yardage: approx 350

2010 so far:
Finished Objects: 11
Yards knit: 3020

Thursday, May 6, 2010

wanna be starting something

I can't seem to stop starting new projects before finishing the last one.  Here is but a sampling:
1) that blasted Gooseberry Cardi is still a sleeve short of done, though I won't be able to wear it for another 5 months or so, so no hurry, I guess
2) a checkerboardy scarf in gorgeous BMFA woobu that I got a few inches into and abandoned for something or other
3) the second Hedera sock that I knit like 2 rows a week on and should really finish up because there might be a couple wool sock days still to come this spring
4) my beloved second Slip Jig sock that is so much fun to knit but that I put aside to start a sweater and just haven't picked up again even though I have knit through the heel flap and could totally finish up in a day or two of actually working on it. 
5) a Chickadee cowl I cast on just so I'd have something to knit at the movies last weekend when we went to see Greenberg. (And there's a skein of yarn already would that I already want to make another Chickadee out of...)

And now I'm onto the Passiflora from Twist Collective, which is so so so pretty and which I could get a ton of use out of if I finish it soon, especially if I could manage to finish it before I go on my cruise at the rapidly-approaching end of the month.  So I should 100% absolutely be sitting here knitting like crazy on any one of those projects, but instead I just hand washed pretty much every pair of socks I've ever knit for myself, and noticed that my awesome Bellatrixes (Bellatrices?) have a hole worn in the sole, and now I am having to sit on my hands to keep from stash-diving and casting on a new pair. They're so cool looking! And fun to knit! And would look so great in that skein of Tosh Sock I just rediscovered in the back of a drawer!

Pathetic, I know.  In my defense, though, I will say that I've been working nearly double my usual hours for the past three weeks and will be again next week, so my knitting time and brain capacity are minimal these days. 

Just to salvage a little self-esteem out of this mess, here's a pic of that Calorimetry I posted about a little bit ago.  (And yes, my bathroom is kind of depressing looking and the mirror could do with a good cleaning, thank you for noticing!)

Also, and in completely unrelated news, a project that I worked many, many hours on over the past year has come to fruition: my school received NAEYC accreditation with an awesome 98% score today!