Knitting update

Well, I'm making serious progress on my hat.  After finally finishing 8.5" of 3x2 ribbing on a size 1.5 needle (this took MUCH longer than expected) I have finally reached the decrease portion of the hat!  I'm so excited!  If all goes well, I'll finish that tonight and post a photo of the finished project.

Shawls have been put on hold at the moment.  The one I really need to be working on is on hold because the marked pattern is on the iPad I loan to my brother (oops) and I didn't realize it until he was gone.  Oh well.  I should get the iPad back this weekend so I can start again on the secret shawl. I've been sick with an upper respiratory infection and the meds have made it difficult to focus, so I'm thinking lace would not have been a good choice anyway.

I am also taking part in the Winter of Knits Contest - http://www.barnontheweb.com/winter-of-knits-contest.html.  I'm working on the Nuvem shawl as my entry. I decided to go for a "big" project rather than the monthly smaller projects.  Btw, there is still time to join, so please do!  There are great prizes, including a skein of my yarn!  I'm going to dye up a new stripy skein just for the occasion.

That's pretty much all that has been going on.  I finished reading the first of the Stainless Steel Rat books by Harry Harrison - it's great fun.  And now I'm listening to The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl.  It started out pretty slow, but it is picking up and I'm enjoying immersing myself in the world of Lowell, Longfellow, and  Holmes (even if it is fiction).

I'll try to post hat photos as soon as I'm done.

Bah. It just doesn't fit right.  If I knit it again. I will go up a needle size and knit probably 10 inches.

Scarf done!

The color is much better in person. This is from my Hello Yarn hand spun yarn. It is a long loop that can be doubled easily. Now I just need to buy some solid color shirts. I don't see this working well with stripes.

Posted with Blogsy

Elsie

I am attempting to answer a question for a friend. Hope this helps

Row 6

 

Row 7

 

Row 8

 

 

There is an increase on the end do each odd number row

 

Posted with Blogsy

Not much knitting going on

Well, not much knitting going on. I have been busy with other things. I am slowly trying to work through my yarn and fiber stash and decide on what to destash. I have found 4-4oz bags of Hello Yarn fiber to destash so far. That and I have condensed enough to empty one tote. This is a good thing. As I work through this I hope to frog projects I will never finish and maybe even get an accurate count of how many needles I have in each size. I am a bit afraid the number might be shocking. Well, enough for now.

Posted with Blogsy

Socks Finished

Well, I've finished two pair of socks recently. One I posted here, another was a pair from before. When I get home, I'll post photos. I still have the pink/black/white ones on the needles. I think I've done two repeats. LOL. Not much progress. I haven't worked on either shawl. I did start a bias scarf with some handspun and I'm LOVING it. I should finish it soon. I'll try to get photos posted of the finished socks and the scarf I've started. I have the photos of the socks on my ipad, but the battery is dead, so..... I'll try to remember tonight to post.

On another note, I'm listening to a new audio book. "The Night Watch" by Sergei Lukyaneko (I think I spelled that right). It is really good. It is a paranormal series. Also, I just finished "Night Film" by Marisha Pessl. It was quite interesting. There were parts that I as afraid to read right before bed. it was so intense and creepy in places! Overall though I really enjoyed it!

Enough for now. I'll try to get those photos posted tonight!

Well, I am home now, so here are the promised photos. The green stripy socks are not really any pattern.

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

WIP- Shawl #1

Here is shawl #1:

I am on row 144 of 173. I am over 500 stitches per row. This is going to take a while to finish!

 

Posted with Blogsy

WIPs -Socks

Today we will start with the two pair of socks I am currently working on.

The first pair is made from Turtlepurl yarn in a custom colorway. It is the Kiellinie pattern which is free on Ravelry. I made a few modifications including increasing every other row instead of every third row. I also went up a needle size (actually is is half a size, from 1.5 to 2) after turning the heel. I was afraid it would be too snug otherwise. I will finish these some time this week.

Here is pair number two:

This is Kirby Wirby yarn in the I Heart Jack Ryan colorway. It is the Socks on a Plane pattern by Laura Linneman, also free on Ravelry.

I seem to be going through a serious stripy mood. I think my last three pair have been stripy and I have tons more stripy yarn to knit with! Tomorrow I am going to try posting the two shawls I am currently working on.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Hoping to start updating more

My goal is to start updating this more.  Then again, any posting would be "more". I just attended the Diamond State Fiber Festival.  I am seriously thinking I will try and vend there next year.  I am currently testing stripy sock yarn.  I'm not sure if it will be cost effective for me to dye it or not - that's the big question.  But I'm in testing.  Also, I'm going to try to start dyeing at least 2 skeins of each colorway since some people just don't like that I only have one skein of a color.  I am also hoping to make colorways more repeatable.  No guarantees on that though.  Part of what I like about dyeing is the uniqueness of each skein.

Well, it's not much of an update, but it's a bit of one.

Off to Portland and Seattle

I will be arriving in Portland tomorrow evening. I can't wait!!  I get to see old friends, hang out downtown, and check out all the new yarn stores.  Two stores that are definitely on my list are Yarn Garden and Knit Purl.  I LOVE Yarn Garden from when I lived there, but I have ordered from Knit Purl online, so I can't wait to actually go visit the store in person.  I know there are more stores, but those are the MUST SEE.

I also need to hit my favorite Indian restaurants and my favorite Ethiopian restaurant also.  I have no idea what else is planned besides visiting with friends.  Maybe a trip to the Fluevog store.

Testing with app

Testing to see if this posts

 

Posted with Blogsy