On a roll

Happy 4th, everyone! I'm on a roll with this midweek vacation, thanks in large part to Mr. Tinks and Frogs for letting me carve out some big chunks of "me" time today. I'm actually caught up on blog comments (for all of the comments for which I had or could find an email address for the response). It feels so good to be moving forward with a clean slate and no backlog.

So now I'm going to try to catch up on FO posts, too.  I know there are a few pieces that I finished over the last several months and have yet to talk about on the blog (Catkin springs to mind). But I have absolutely no desire to model wool wraps outside in 100 degree weather so those will just have to wait. For now, I'm going to stick with FOs for which I have pictures hiding on my hard drive.

Today you get my belated birthday present to our favorite five-year-old, which went in the mail a couple of months ago.

Little n is an enthusiastic lover of seals and requested that I knit her one for her birthday this year. Finding a seal pattern is actually quite tough. There are a few in ravelry but nothing was quite what I was looking for. 

My first thought was to modify the loch ness monster pattern that I had knit back in January. I think I started that version twice before giving up on that idea - the body shape just wasn't what I had in mind. I had spent quite a bit of time googling pictures of seals (now that's an interesting set of results in google images) to get a sense of seal anatomy. Ok, maybe I was going a bit overboard on this one but I really like n and her mother, N, and wanted to get it right.

Then I searched some more and found a vintage toy pattern on Etsy that looked closer to what I had in mind. Still not quite what I wanted, I tried to reverse engineer a smaller version of that design. I think I spent two attempts on that tack before giving up.

I finally settled on a ravelry pattern that I had seen in my initial searches: the Showoff Seal (sans ball). I used a heavier yarn - Tosh Chunky (details on my project page) - to make a bigger toy than the pattern called for. I'd really wanted to make something bigger (the seal is only about 7 or 8 inches long) but instead of resizing and trying again, I made a second one.

The last component of the gift was a "seal blanket" made with Miss Babs Sojurn, a cashmere silk yarn (one skein, held double, and worked in a subtle cable pattern with garter edges) that n had picked out at the Michigan Sheep and Wool Festival last year.

French knots for the eyes and whiskers from the Tosh Merino Light that I had slated for my Color Affection completed the piece. I'm pretty pleased with the final result and I hope n is enjoying it, too.

What did I think of the pattern? It was quick and easy (very welcome after I had had so many false starts on this project). I much prefer the flippers from the loch ness monster pattern - they came out looking more polished than the garter stitch version here. But this pattern is certainly a lot less fiddly. The body is knit in the round with a bit of short row shaping and that's it for anything tricky. It would be a great first toy pattern if you're thinking about jumping into this sort of project but are worried about the finishing and other finicky aspects of amigurumi knits.

On a roll (FO: Peaks Island Hood)

Last weekend, my knitting goal was to finish my mom's Peaks Island. Check! (I'm close to meeting my knitting goal for this weekend, too, but that will have to wait for another post.)

Now I just have to wrap it up and stick it in the mail. Mr. Tinks and Frogs and I hopped outside for a quick photo shoot yesterday. Very quick, indeed, since it was a balmy 12 degrees outside.

Still, that was definitely long enough to capture just how gorgeous this yarn is.

Happily, I even have an entire skein left over that I get to turn into a hat for me. I'm thinking Habitat. But before I get carried away with thoughts of new knits, here are the specs on this latest FO:

Pattern: Peaks Island Hood by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: 2 skeins Malabrigo Rios, colorway purpuras
Needle: size 8 addi lace circular
Mods: other than adding a few more rows in the shorter leg of the scarf to account for my smaller row gauge, none at all. (Ok, I didn't put buttons on - see below.)

Other notes: I noticed this the first time I knit this pattern, but it really hit me on this iteration - as written (or at least as I knit it) the pattern produces a short leg that is way too short to look like the pattern picture. In the pattern photo, the legs cross nicely and there is plenty of room to button the legs together comfortably. Not so here. The long leg hangs down twice as far as the short one and it would look really odd to button them together like that. But it does look lovely flung back around your neck/shoulder again.

So no buttons for the moment. I think it looks great as is. Merry Xmas, Mom!

On the home stretch

The end of my holiday knitting is in sight! I've got one last project to finish up and then I'm done. So what snuck into my knitting queue at the end of last month? Another Peak's Island, this time in the to-die-for (or rather, tweak-the-rules-on-the-stash-diet) Malabrigo Rios.

I knit the seed stitch portion above the shell pattern while we watched the new Denzel Washington movie over Thanksgiving weekend - this is a good pattern for dark movie theaters.

But what about the stash diet? Yes, yes, I know, the stash diet is a bit of a sore subject around here and this project fell into one of the few exceptions I had left in the rules: gifts for which I had no appropriate stash yarn.

My mom and sister came out to visit for Thanksgiving weekend and we got to show them just how cold and windy it can get here in Chicago. Of course, this also meant that I got to show off what a great winter accessory Peaks Island is (paired with a hat, of course). So it was only natural that my mom and I decided that a Peaks Island Hood would be the perfect gift for her. I knew I didn't have anything appropriate in the stash (shocking, really, given the shear size of the stash at this point), my mom fell in love with Rios when we went to my LYS (who wouldn't?), and the shop had a 20% off sale. What else was I supposed to do? Besides, it's a quick project and I'll be back to stash busting soon enough.

Seriously, how can you resist this yarn?

Alright, time for me to get back to work. I hope to have this project finished in the next day or two. Don't worry, I'm much farther along than the first picture would suggest. It's completely doable . . . I think.

FO: Venezia Pillows

I've actually got progress to show on the gift-knitting front. My Venezia Pillows are done!

For the moment, I'm going to ignore the fact that these were supposed to be a birthday present for N, whose birthday is in mid-November, and just enjoy the fact that I have another FO. N, I hope you like your birthday/xmas present.

Here's the back:

This shot makes it much more clear that I flipped the colors for pillow #2. The venezia pattern is so well-balanced that you have to look closely to see which color is dominant. Not so with the lozenge pattern on the back. And that's a big part of how I avoided "second pillow syndrome." It's much easier to knit #2 when it's not exactly the same as #1.

The yarn, Cascade 220 Heathers, performs very nicely in stranded colorwork. Far better than I had expected, actually.

This was definitely a pattern mod, albeit a heavy modification of Eunny Jang's gorgeous Venezia Pullover (ravelry link). I'm not going to put out a pattern on this one (even a free pattern) since that comes far too close to a copyright violation for my liking (also, any "pattern" should really include a copy of the chart that I put together and that would definitely violate copyright).

All that said, I will happily share my notes/design process for anyone who wants to make some of these. Here goes . . . 

How to Make Venezia Pillows

Yarn: 1 skein each of a Main Color and a Contrast Color in Cascade 220 for one pillow. To be on the safe side, shoot for 2 pillows (2 skeins of each color). The venezia pattern is balanced, i.e., it uses up the same amount of each color. The lozenge pattern on the back is not balanced - it uses up far more of the main color than the contrast color. I was able to finish the first pillow with only one skein of each color but had to steal a bit of those leftovers in the main color to finish pillow #2. If you like living on the wild side, go ahead and try one pillow (just don't say I didn't warn you).

Needles: I used size 6 circular needles for the striped top and bottom (more on that in a minute) and size 8 circular needles for the colorwork sections. That was what I needed to maintain consistent gauge. Of course, use whatever combination works for you.

Gauge: I got 5.5 stitches per inch in the venezia chart pattern on size 8 needles. Stitch gauge is what matters here. Row gauge is pretty much irrelevant since you just knit until the piece covers your pillow form. 

Here's a quick cheat on figuring out gauge (yes, do a swatch, but this will help you figure out which needles to start with so that you only need to swatch once): I like the way Cascade 220 knits up on size 7 needles - I get 5 spi with that combination. Since I know that stranded colorwork compresses stitch gauge, I went up one needle size to get something close to 5spi (I ended up with 5.5 spi). And because I know that I get 5spi with size 7 needles, I needed to go down to size 6 needles to hit 5.5 spi to match my colorwork gauge.

Figuring out how big to make your pillow (aka, how many stitches you need to cast on): 

1. Measure your pillow form. I bought 14" pillow forms, which measured 14.125 inches on a side (28.25" total).

2. Chart out the venezia pattern (yes you will need the actual sweater pattern for this - it's in an old issue of Interweave Knits (check out one of the links above for details)). I made a 73-stitch chart (one right side, one left side, and one center stitch). Happily, the lozenge pattern also worked out to 73 stitches (it's a multiple of 6 plus 1).

3. Multiply the number of stitches in your venezia chart by your stitch gauge. Subtract this number from half the circumference of your pillow. Now add about half an inch worth of stitches to this number (ease). This tells you how many extra stitches you need to add. Finally, figure out a stripe pattern to act as a filler for those extra stitches. 

I used this border/side pattern: 2 MC, 1 CC, 1 MC, 1 CC, 1MC, 1 CC, 2 MC (9 stitches). 

When visualizing the pattern, it goes something like this: 9 border stitches, 73 venezia chart stitches, 9 border stitches, 73 lozenge pattern stitches.

Actually Knitting the Thing:

1. Cast on 164 stitches with the center color from your border pattern using the smaller needle size (that's my number - you should use whatever you need for your gauge and your pillow form). In my 9 stitch border pattern, the center color is CC. Join, being careful not to twist, for working in the round.

If you leave a very long tail here, you can use it to close up the bottom of the pillow cover later.

2. Work half of the border pattern, starting with the center color. In my case the rows looked like this: 1 CC, 1 MC, 1 CC, 2 MC

3. Switch to larger needles and work colorwork pattern (9 border stitches, 73 venezia chart stitches, 9 border stitches, 73 lozenge pattern stitches).

4. Keep knitting until the piece is long enough to cover your pillow form. Actually, when you're an inch or two away from that point, measure the length of your striped section at the bottom of the tube. Now subtract that number from the amount you need to knit to cover the pillow - this will tell you where to stop the colorwork pattern and work border stripes like you did on the bottom (just reverse what you did below). 

5. When you've knit enough to cover the pillow, turn the work inside out and close with a 3-needle bind off.

6. Lightly steam block to even out the stitches.

7. Put the pillow form in the knitted cover and sew the cast on edge shut. I did something that vaguely resembled kitchener stitch and that worked out pretty well. 

8. I hate to say this, but tie a knot (or three) in the end of your yarn and hide the knot under the edge of the pillow cover like you would when sewing or quilting.

9. Flip the colors (if desired) and knit a second one.

All things holey

My sock drawer is having a bit of a crisis: my favorite socks are all developing holes in the heels. It started out with the first pair of Kai-Mei socks that I had knit. Technically, these weren't in the sock drawer; I found them hidden in the closet with a couple of hand-wash only pairs of socks that I decided to wash last night. But they still had very nice almost holes in the heels. (Almost holes = sections that with only the slightest bit of wear will turn into nice big whopping holes, usually a stitch holding on for dear life by only one ply in a 3- or 4-ply yarn.) This morning when I went to grab a pair of socks to wear I noticed that one of my favorites was about to go. They look like these, but in the dusky aurora colorway (these were a gift for my dad a couple of years ago).

It's Gentleman's Shooting Stockings with Fluted Pattern from Nancy Bush's fantastic book Knitting Vintage Socks. I wear these socks all the time and you can definitely tell: the almost hole sits right next to the spot I've already darned on the heel.

Then when I got home this evening and pulled my boots off, I noticed that my shibui Pomatomus socks were looking pretty weak in the heels. I'll bet that they have only a few more wears left in them. Unfortunately, my malabrigo Pomatomus socks have seen better days, too.

This got me thinking, why are all of my favorite socks starting to go now? Then it hit me: I knit these all about two years ago when I was a teaching assistant and had plenty of in-class knitting time (not that I didn't have knitting time in the classes I was taking but that's another story). It seems like all the socks that I knit that semester are on their final stretch. I'd been putting off knitting more socks for me because my sock drawer seemed so full but it seems like it's time to get cracking.

Of course, I have several projects that I want to finish up first and I was able to make some good progress on them this weekend.

The alpaca cardigan is progressing nicely. I've joined the body and arms together and have made it through the first few rounds of raglan decreases.

It still needs a fair amount of work. After I finish the raglan seams, I'm planning a wide (3") ribbed edging up the sides and around the neck. Then it will just need some aggressive blocking on the ribbed sections since I want them to fall in line with the stockinette rather than pulling in like, well, ribbing.

I was most productive on the second of the Venezia pillows. At this point I have about half a chart repeat left before the edging rows. Hopefully I can finish that project up this week. Here's a quick shot of how it looks with the colors reversed:

I may have started a couple of other projects, too, but those will have to wait for another post. I've got a pillow to finish!

Random Monday

I've been meaning to post for several days now but somehow things just kept coming up (little things like work and the fact that the apartment needed cleaning - that sort of stuff). So, to make up for lost time and because I don't have any better ideas for organization tonight, we're going to have Random Monday.

Here goes . . .

1. My yarn diet has been a spectacular failure so far. This happened:

(only the two WIPs on that table are not new yarn)

I had such good intentions last month of going on a yarn diet and working through the stash. And then we went out to Portland where I knew I was going to be able to pet Shelter (and want to buy some, to be perfectly honest) so I made an exception. But no new yarn purchases after that. I was pretty good. There was a rough week at work that resulted in a skein of Dream in Color smooshy in a lovely deep purple (it's a new color - I don't see it on their website). And then I heard about the Dream in Color factory sale this past Saturday. I hemmed and hawed. I love that company, but I should be on a yarn diet, but it's on sale, oh fine. Yes, the internal monologue sounded something quite like that. So DH and I drove out to one of the western suburbs Saturday morning and picked up some new additions for the stash. A delightful time was had by all. And believe it or not, my stash bins are actually rather full at the moment so I'm going to make it official:

2. I'm on a stash diet and I really mean it this time. New rule: no one residing in chez tinks and frogs is allowed to buy new yarn until 2011. That should take care of the little snaffoo I had a few months ago with the casbah for my pea vines shawl. I'm married to a yarn enabler, what can I say (other than thank you, of course)?

3. (more like 1(a)) If you're a yarn company with a website, it would be really nice if you'd update your color page. Posting on ravelry (with a link to facebook) that you've put out new colors is all well and good but if I want to see those colors again a couple of months later, I don't want to have to search forum threads. I should be able to just look on your website. Moving on.

4. I feel the stirrings of a strong case of startitis coming on. 

That's 5 skeins of Groovy in a lovely (but hard to photograph) deep blueish green. It's slated to become a snug for tadpole,  a thorpe for me, and something else depending on how much is left.

Here we have 3 skeins of smooshy, one of my absolute favorite sock yarns (if not my favorite). From right to left, these will become a pair of rick socks for me (it's all I can do not to cast on for those this very instant - does pregnancy cause yarn cravings, too?), husband socks, and something for tadpole.

This delightful skein is Dream in Color's new yarn base. Like smooshy, it's a superwash merino. But unlike smooshy, it is composed of 8 plies (compared with smooshy's 3). This should make for less pilling and more durability in the finished piece. I'm thinking that this little lovely wants to be something from Cookie A.'s sock book.

5. Have you seen Cookie A.'s latest offering? There are some old favorites like monkey socks that have been reworked in various sizes (a welcome addition for those of us with larger feet). Plus there are plenty of new and interesting designs, too. Even better, you can purchase this book as a pdf and then print out whatever pattern you're currently working on and mark it up to your heart's content without having to worry about losing it or defacing a beautifully photographed book. Or you could just read it on the new toy that your spouse is eyeing and that you want to "borrow."

How does a sock book fit in with the yarn diet? Well, it's not yarn but it goes against the spirit of the diet (especially when I have one lovely Cookie A. sock book already that I haven't worked all the way through). I guess the jury's still out on that one.

6. Speaking of socks, I finished a pair of husband socks last week.

The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine, a nice sock yarn that wears well and has a great price point, not to mention lovely heathered colors. Of course, the 20% nylon fiber content that makes it wear so well also makes this yarn not quite as fun to knit (at least for me - I prefer a softer, smooshier yarn in my hands). But I absolutely despise darning socks so this one might be worth it since it wears so well. DH, who wouldn't take off the socks for the rest of the night after the photo shoot, assures me that they are indeed quite comfy.

What's the pattern? These look a lot like Anne Hanson's Bricker pattern and that's certainly what I was shooting for. But when I looked at the pattern, I realized that DH's feet were way too big for any of her sizing options. I didn't want to rework someone else's pattern so I pulled out my Barbara Walker treasuries and found a similar stitch pattern. Then I just plugged that pattern and my gauge into the basic sock size that fits DH (gigantic, in case you were wondering). It took two skeins of yarn (I do have plenty of leftovers) but now he's got a nice new pair of socks.

7. Which is a really good thing since I frogged everything that I had done on his latest pair of socks because they were too big. DH has absolutely enormous feet and I still haven't internalized their actual size. I started a basic sock in Cat Bordhi's upstream master pattern out of Lorna's Laces shepherd sock for DH a week or two ago and knit happily from the toe until the start of the heel shaping. I kept looking at the sock and thinking "this is really big," so I gave in and had him try it on and it was really big. Note to self: when Cat Bordhi gives you a table, pick a number from the table. Don't do your own math.

8. Second note to self: when you start sock #2, cast on 12 stitches on each needle with Judy's Magic Cast-on.

9. Tadpole hasn't been neglected either. I finally finished something for her instead of just frogging it. I had the day off work on Thursday so after taking care of various other things I started flipping through Barbara Walker volume 3, looking for a fun motif to put on a baby vest that I could knit out of a leftover most-of-a-skein of Dream in Color classy. Seven hours later I had this:

I'm pretty thrilled. Of course, I also have a few changes that I want to make to the design: mostly, I want to switch the bottom edging and seed stitch border out for garter stitch, which should add some more cohesion to the piece. Also, it would be nice to knit the whole thing out of one color. Happily, I have a full skein of classy in the stash so I'll whip up another one of these shortly. I even hope to have a pattern out soon.

10. Last, but certainly not least, two of my good friends have birthdays today. So happy birthday M and N! N, your present is half done. What do you think?

Pillow # 2 is on the needles so they'll be coming to you soon. And M, your present isn't knitted but I hope you like it, too!

Ok, I think that's quite enough for Random Monday. I'd better be going - I've got a stash to work through!

A day late, but certainly not short

I had such good intentions of posting last night. I had taken progress pics of my three active projects when I got home on Friday evening and I was all excited to show you how far I had gotten on Hallett's Ledge.

Pretty impressive, no? But then I sat down on Sunday, we put a football game on, and I knit. And knit. And knit. And ended up with this:

(the color is far more accurate in the first shot above)

That's a finished left front, a partially finished back, and an unfinished right front. Not bad. This is a very quick pattern knit up in Cascade 220 on size 8 needles. I had forgotten how quickly knitting flies at that gauge.

Rachel had asked me how well I think this pattern works in Cascade 220 since she - like many of us - has a sweater's worth of that yarn sitting in the stash. The short answer is: pretty well (and for way less expense - not to mention fewer ends to weave in - than the pattern yarn). I was a bit hesitant when working the ribbing since the fabric is a bit more open and less dense than I usually like my ribbing. However, washing this in warmer water (i.e., fulling the yarn ever so slightly) may help. In any event, I think the Cascade holds up beautifully in the cable pattern.

Speaking of the yarn, you may recognize this as the green yarn that I rescued from my failed attempt at Forecast. As you would expect, I have long ago lost the yarn labels that had important information about things like dye lots. Naturally, I am paranoid about running out of yarn on this one. I scrounged around the apartment and found three small extra balls of the Cascade and now am keeping my fingers crossed that I have enough yarn to finish the project (or that my LYS happens to only carry this particular color in the dye lot that DH picked up for me as a Christmas present last year). Wish me luck!

Since I had mentioned other projects, it seems only fair to give you a sneak peek at what else has been growing around here.

First up, I really am going to finish that pair of Marlene socks.

That's sock #2, cast on during the drive to the apple orchard a week or so ago. I started this one just in time, too. One of my favorite socks wore a hole in the heel today and two other pairs have heels that are dangerously close to wearing out. 

Finally, I've made some real progress on N's birthday pillows.

These are really fun and I'm almost at the end of the first pillow. Very exciting! Can you stand to see another shot?

I thought so. Now I've got a date with Hallett's Ledge and some apple pie (although probably not in that order).

It fits!

This weekend we got out to see N and family (little n, Z, and a menagerie of adorable animals). Visiting was great and I finally had a chance to give my very belated birthday gifts.

Happily, little n seemed delighted with her birthday present (I was delighted that it fit! Sizing was almost pure guesswork).

I think this one's a winner.

The pattern is my modification of EZ's February Baby Sweater. I reworked the numbers in the yoke a bit, substituted vine lace for gull lace, and worked the whole thing in a light worsted weight handspun yarn (5 sts/inch in garter stitch). When I find the piece of paper with all of my pattern scribblings on it, I'll write up a little guide to my mods.

Z was delighted with his birthday socks, too. He just didn't want to pose for a picture.

Don't worry, N wasn't left out of the gift-giving spree. I finally got her birthday present on the needles (even if it doesn't need to be finished until November).

Several years ago I made her these as a wedding present:

Then, when they started looking a bit more well loved than she would like, N asked for a new set. It took me a little while to figure out what I wanted to do, but on Friday I finally cast on for a new pair. Here's a sneak peek:

Now imagine them twice as tall - it was a productive evening.

Finishing Frenzy

I've been cleaning out my knitting basket this weekend (or my to-do list, which is how I see the WIP list on Ravelry). Most of these knits have been "finished" for a while and were just waiting for final touches. Really, I suppose it all depends on how you define "finished." For me, a project isn't complete until I've taken FO shots and posted them to the blog. This should explain why things sit with 100% progress bars for weeks, if not months. I may be waiting for buttons, or weaving in the ends, or blocking, or remembering to grab the DH and ask him to take pictures (or finding something interesting to say in a post). All that said, even if I didn't knit all four of these projects this weekend, I'm still really happy to finally cross them off my to-finish list.

First up: the gifts.

Pattern: Lilac Leaf Scarf from Nancy Bush's fantastic book Knitted Lace of Estonia

Yarn: 1 skein malabrigo lace, colorway olive (I absolutely adore this yarn!)

Needles: size 4 addi lace circular

Mods: I don't know that I'd call it a mod, but I knit until I thought I was going to run out of yarn. And then I stopped. What relation that bears to how long this scarf is supposed to be, I have absolutely no idea. But the length is perfect (just shy of 5 feet, if I remember correctly).

I love the contrast of the modern-looking semi-solid yarn with the very traditional lace patterns. I don't know that a multi-colored malabrigo would look as good in this pattern but any of their semi-solids would be fabulous. Believe it or not, this is actually a Christmas present, so I'm feeling pretty good on the gift-giving front.

This next one is a "just because" gift for a good friend (his wife is getting Aestlight).

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood

Yarn: about half a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in colorway Grey Tabby

Needles: size 6 and 8 16" circulars, size 8 DPNs for the crown

Mods: none. This was a great pattern - easy and fun to knit. So fun that it was the only thing I knit while we were on vacation. Normally I don't like paying for a hat pattern but I was happy to do so for this one.

Last up: some belated birthday socks.

Pattern: Gentleman's Half Hose in Ringwood Pattern from Nancy Bush's Kitting Vintage Socks (Yes, you're right, I have knit these before).

Yarn: 1 skein Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in colorway Salt & Peper

Needles: size 1 addi lace circulars for magic loop

Mods: I might have tweaked the stitch count for the foot but that's about it. This is a great men's pattern - interesting enough to knit (especially as a reading project) but simple enough to appeal to the recipient. 

These socks are for our good friend Z, the father of little n (whose birthday present is finally done - with buttons! - but will wait on FO shots until she receives it).

And finally, the one you've been waiting for, Audrey in Unst is done, too!

Pattern: Audrey in Unst (Fall 2009 Twist Collective) by Gudrun Johnston

Yarn: 5 skeins Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in colorway Spruce

Neeldes: size 3 and 4 circulars

Mods: I made two mods to this piece - one intentional and one not. The intentional one involved lengthening the body since the original pattern is a cropped sweater (not flattering to my long torso). Because the original is cropped, I just added extra rows to the body below the waist (in the decrease sections), since everything is proportional above the waist. 

As for the unintended mod, I also managed to make one of the front sides a single stitch narrower than the other. I discovered this when I went to pick up the armscye stitches for the second sleeve and saw that I had two too few stitches on the underarm. I thought very briefly about ripping back and fixing things (very briefly) but quickly discarded that idea since it would have involved ripping everything back to the underarm divide. Anyway, I don't think you can really tell.

At least not from the back. Or the front.

This is an easy, straightforward pattern with some clever touches. The lace bib is interesting to knit and not too "lacey" to wear. But the sleeve cap shaping is the truly great part of the pattern: it's all worked in short rows and entirely seamless. The fit is great and the finishing minimal. What more could you ask?

Flirting with monogamy

Knitting monogamy, that is. For the last three days, this is all I've been knitting on:

I'll give you a hint: it's knit on size 8 needles with Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton. Still no idea? Maybe this will help:

It's Que Sera from the latest issue of Knitty.  I've used up almost two skeins (out of a projected 6) and the pattern is moving along pretty quickly. All of various write-ups in Ravelry say that this is a speedy project and I was a bit disappointed at first because I didn't think I was knitting it all that quickly. Admittedly, the pattern is a bit fiddly in places and I have to be a touch more careful about tension since this is a cotton yarn, but this is a pretty impressive amount of knitting given that I cast on Monday afternoon.

So what was I doing over the weekend, other than modeling Haruni? For starters, I finished knitting this:

It still needs blocking and buttons but at least the knitting is done. Actually, I can say the same thing about Audrey in Unst - it, too, is just waiting for blocking and buttons.

Buttons are always tricky for me. I live in a big, metropolitan city but I've yet to find a good button source. We used to have a fantastic little shop right off the Magnificent Mile that had button boxes stacked floor to ceiling. Unfortunately it closed down a couple of years ago and I've yet to find a replacement. I know there are great online options but I don't want to order the same style in three or four different sizes just to figure out what fits in my buttonhole. (If I'm really smart, I'll order the buttons first and then knit the buttonhole.) I'll venture into my LYS this weekend to see if it has something appropriate in stock.

I've got even more to show from that flurry of finishing (two sweaters "finished" in two days isn't bad in my book). I started and finished Koolhaas while we were away in Maine last week, but pics will have to wait until next time.

So what happened to Juneberry? Monogamy struck. I brought Haruni and yarns for Juneberry and Koolhaas with me on the trip. I cast on for Koolhaas in the car as we were leaving the airport on Saturday and never looked back - that was all I knit. To be fair, most of my knitting that weekend took place in the car and I really needed something that I could work without paying very much attention, which ruled out both lace projects. I still need semi-mindless knitting this week so I'm hoping to find some time this weekend to sit down and dig into Juneberry. It's about time - I'm sick of monogamy.

The ants go marching one by one

That's really all I can think about whenever I knit Cookie A.'s Kai-Mei sock pattern (this is my second go at it). I just love watching the little lace pattern march across the top of the foot. Something about that progress makes these socks seem quicker to knit than any other pattern. Actually, this is a speedy knit all around - the leg is only moderately high and 3x3 ribbing knits up very quickly. And of course, once you get to the foot, you're done before you know it - the lace is just that fun.

Pattern: Kai-Mei, from Cookie A.'s fantastic book Sock Innovation
Yarn: Shalimar Yarns Zoe Sock in colorway Sprout (I used about 2/3 of the skein on this pair)
Mods: Absolutely none. Just make sure that you have the errata for the pattern (available here).

There is only one part of the pattern that calls for discretion on the part of the knitter and I think it's work a quick note. Cookie doesn't tell you how many rows to knit on the heel flap; she just says to knit for 2 1/4 or 2 1/2 inches. That's great since you can customize for fit, but remember that the lace pattern panel is 15 stitches wide. In other words, a heel flap with at least 17 slipped stitches along the sides will work best. That gives you one stitch for the edge of the heel/bottom of the foot and one stitch to put with the decreases that travel across the foot.

This really is one of my absolute favorite sock patterns and I'd knit it again (and again, and again) in a heartbeat. Actually, I just might have to do that since I've worn holes in the heels of the pair I made for myself last year. As you can see, I exercised an impressive (at least to me) degree of self restraint last week when I put these in the mail and sent them off as a present for my grandmother's birthday.

I wasn't the only one taken by these socks. Nayyir came out to investigate the photo shoot.

The little guy, while quite shy in many respects, really likes hamming it up for the camera. I think he'd make a great model, don't you?

Catching up

In between getting the apartment settled and jumping into a huge new work project, I managed to finish my mother's day present. Better late than never, right?

Pattern: Brandywine Shawl

Yarn: Handmaiden Camelspin (50/50 camel/silk) - one skein

Needles: size 6 for the body and size 8 for the applied i-cord bind-off

Size: I worked 23 edging points before the final chart. I didn't measure, but the long end of the triangle is around 5' long. 

Once you get past the first chart, this is a very straightforward knit (the shawl is worked bottom up from that bottom point). When I was in between work projects and had plenty of time on my hands, I found the main part of the shawl a bit boring. That said, as soon as work picked up again, this project became a relaxing break. 

I can't say enough good things about this yarn. The drape is fantastic and the color just glows. 

That's all for now. I've got a couple more knits that are almost done - I just need to take care of the ends and snap some pictures. Hopefully I'll have more to share later this week.