‘Knitting’ Category

  1. waves of color.

    September 7, 2009 by sassenach

    Today is rainy and kind of gloomy, but my Lace Ribbon Scarf WIP is bright and happy.

    Category: Knitting | Tags: | 2 Comments

  2. frog-a-thon 2009.

    August 8, 2009 by sassenach

    I’d been planning on this for a while, and this morning/afternoon, I finally did it! I dug around in my WIP bins (Rubbermaid containers–yes, I had that many works in progress) and sorted them. I set aside a few for later–I think I might actually finish those. But I pulled these out–11 projects total that I knew I wouldn’t finish. Or, I want to restart them sometime in the future. You can see all the projects I frogged here, but here’s why I chose to frog the following:

    Cashmere Arm Cosy. It’s really not fair to call it that, since it’s Lion Brand Cashmere, which is like 10% cashmere or whatever. (ok, I just checked, it’s 13%, close enough…but I digress.) This was a really pretty knit, but A) the pattern was written to knit it flat, which I did, so B) there was seaming at the end and I remember doing such a wacky seaming job, it always bothered me. But more importantly, C) the cosy went from my knuckles all the way up to my bicep, which is just impractical. Because, really, why would I need a glove that covers my entire arm? Would I find myself wearing a tank top in the winter, or something? So, I frogged it. I think I can find a nicer pattern for this yarn. I’ve got 4 balls of the stuff, so I think they are destined to be a pretty cabled hat or something. Also: this cosy was finished back in 2007. 2007! When I was living in New Mexico! It followed me here to Virginia, but alas, it was never meant to have a mate.

    Liesl. There’s hope for this one–I love Ysolda’s patterns and I love, love Malabrigo. But I think I might have had some gauge and/or sizing issues, so rather than let this sit on the needles indefinitely, I decided to go ahead and pull it off. In fact, I might restart her in a different yarn because as much as I love the mmmmalabrigo, I have a feeling it might turn into a pilly mess as a sweater.

    Peaks & Valleys Socks. I was going to ramble on about how the pattern (which I paid for) is fraught with errors, but I think that’s pointless since this yarn will probably become a scarf on the next go-round. It’s Claudia Handpainted Fingering, which I really like. But this colorway kind of annoyed me because, while both skeins were from the same dyelot, one is quite darker than the other and it was bugging me while working with the second skein. I think I might do something where the dyelot differences won’t be as noticeable–maybe a Chevron Scarf, so the skeins will alternate.

    Secret of the Stole. I really didn’t have any heartache frogging this, maybe because I only got to Clue 3 before stalling completely. Also, while the finished pattern (Guinevere) is lovely, I think I’ve decided that I don’t really like stoles in laceweight. I think this yarn (Jaggerspun Zephyr, which is so soft and beautiful) deserves to be a nice triangular shawl. And since I’m so smitten with shawls of late, I’m just not sad because I know the yarn will be used for something else eventually, something I will be more likely to wear.

    A very cool thing about frogging so many projects is all the needles, stitch markers, and row counters I’ve reclaimed as a result. The WIP bins: where all my DPNs and row counters go to hide.

    At the end of the day, I absorbed a bunch of yarn back into my stash. I feel so much better! All of those unfinished things were just sitting in my closet…lurking…and going to waste, really. I already have specific patterns in mind for some of these yarns. The whole frogging process was kind of therapeutic, even though it took basically all day to rip, wind by hand, and then rewind everything with the ball winder. Luckily, I didn’t have too many problems with knots or tangling, which is good because if I had, I think most of the balls would have been tossed across the room, rather than placed lovingly in a neat pile like this. And I hadn’t realized how many WIPs there were until just now, when I was moving these from “hibernating” to “frogged” status on Ravelry. I might have cut my WIPs down by half.

    I think there’s also something metaphorical about unfinished business, and just chucking something that’s not working, and starting over from scratch. Nothing wrong with that at all. :)

    Category: Knitting | Tags: | 4 Comments

  3. dragonfly in amber swap goodies!

    April 27, 2009 by sassenach

    Today I received my Dragonfly in Amber swap package, hooray! Inside were:
    - a skein of LoneSome Stone Mountain Feat in colorway Shimmering Desert, super squishy soft
    - drawstring project bag made with a thistle print, perfect for sock knitting–this is my first bag of this kind and I love it!
    - dragonfly stitch marker, also my first!
    - stitch markers that spell out all the titles in the Outlander series, so clever!
    - Scotch shortbread with recipe, yum
    - two bars of chocolate
    - two boxes of tea
    - handmade card with lovely mountains, Scottish highlands mayhap?

    Swaps are so much fun–I tend to receive things that I wouldn’t normally buy for myself, but things that are really lovely! Now off to Ravelry to find a pattern for my new yarn… :) Thank you so much, Leslie!

    Category: Knitting | Tags: | No Comments

  4. oh, hello. I have a blog?

    April 10, 2009 by sassenach

    I haven’t updated in weeks, eek! Bad blogger. Most of what I have to say lately gets posted to my Twitter, and work has been…um…different, so I can’t really post about that, either. I’m still working on 52 in 52, but my progress has slowed, as I am currently slogging through still reading Goblet of Fire, which has become interesting now that they’re back at Hogwarts. Also, my reading time has diminished somewhat because I’ve been crocheting and knitting like a machine! The crochet, I cannot show you yet ;) because, while the project is finished, it’s for someone who I want to be surprised when she receives it in the mail! But here’s the knitting (with bonus plant!):

    Wanida Socks

    @ Ravelry

    Look, I made socks! I just checked my Ravelry FOs, and it looks like I hadn’t finished a pair of socks since February 2008?! Is that right? It must be…anyway, leave it to Cookie A to get me out of my non-sock knitting rut. The pattern is Wanida from her book Sock Innovation, which is awesome and full of cabley goodness. I think my next socks will be one of her more complicated patterns–I’m up to the challenge! I think.

    I’ve also jumped on the Ishbel bandwagon. I haven’t taken a pic yet, but I’m doing mine in Malabrigo Sock in Stonechat. It’s sooo soft and the colors are knitting up really pretty. I love it so far! And of course the weather is really nice and warm today–around 74 F, I think–so when I’m going to wear my Ishbel once I finish it, I have no idea, but it will be really pretty either way.

    Category: Knitting | Tags: | 3 Comments

  5. what i’ve been knitting (and crocheting)!

    March 22, 2009 by sassenach

    I realized that the majority of my posts have been about reading, so here’s a knitting and crochet update. I recently finished Bella’s Mittens:

    Bella's Mittens (and the book)

    @ Ravelry

    Of course I didn’t plan my timing of this project very well, and spring quickly arrived not long after I finished these. But at least I got to wear them a couple times when it was still cold out. Yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Pewter, knit on size US 8 dpns.

    I only used about 1.5 skeins of yarn, so after I finished these, I made a Bella’s Hat to match:

    Bella's Hat

    @ Ravelry

    It fits pretty snugly–not too tight but tighter than I normally make my hats. The cables pull in quite a bit. Also I have a rather large head. These are pretty cool because I now have a matching hat/gloves set.

    I also started crocheting again after kc sent me a link to Attic24, which has some really fantastic crochet/granny square/hexagon tutorials. I started a granny square blanket using the Summer Garden Granny Square pattern:

    Summer Garden Granny Squares

    I’m using Plymouth Encore worsted in red, green, blue, and light purple. I also have a skein of black, which I might use at the end as a border around the whole thing.

    Category: Crochet, Knitting | Tags: | 4 Comments

  6. knit along, knit along.

    January 12, 2009 by sassenach

    Razor Shell Neckwarmer WIP

    Proving that sewing hasn’t completely trumped knitting for me: I’ve been working on a neckwarmer/cowl thingy, the Razor Shell Neckwarmer, to be specific. I started it last week, got quite a bit done at SnB on Thursday, and it’s close to being done.

    Then today, I decided that what I really want to work on is a sweater, so I finally bought the Lucy in the Sky pattern. I have some brownish-goldish Cascade 220 in my stash, so no yarn diets were harmed in the planning of this project. ;) Also, this is one of my Crafty 2009 goals, so I figured it’s a good time to get started!

    I guess it’s easier for me to knit during the week since I can do other things simultaneously–like have the TV on in the background, or music or whatever. When I sew, I have to focus intently since I’m still a beginner, and I can’t really concentrate on sewing during the week…so unfortunately, sewing for now is a weekend activity. But I guess that’s a good way to make time for knitting (during the week) anyway, as well as reading.

    In my search for my US 6 Knit Picks circs, I found some stashed fabric left over from when I made my fabric tiles–there’s quite a bit left, enough to make some pouches and other smallish things. I had forgotten about those scraps, so finding them was like Christmas all over again, lol.

    Category: Knitting | Tags: | 3 Comments

  7. oh, these lofty goals.

    December 31, 2008 by sassenach

    As if the 52 in 52 challenge wasn’t enough…now I’ve set out to be super crafty in 2009.

    Happy new year! :D

    Category: Crochet, Knitting, Sewing | Tags: | No Comments

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