Category Archives: Colourwork

WIPs Update

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20121231-155450.jpg
So, I haven’t been making much progress on my knitting. Three out of four are nearly done. The pink yoke cardie just needs buttons and finishing. I can’t bring myself to finish them, I don’t think that they’ll turn out how I wanted. This is new for me, usually I’m super excited about a project until the first time I try it on after all the finishing is done and I start to see a million imperfections. Hopefully, I’ll have a bunch of FOs in the next few months. I like the purple mittens I recently cast-on, but the cable is a 24 row repeat so it is definitely not toddler friendly. They’ll be ready for next winter, at any rate. I’m using a cable chart from my Elsebeth Lavold viking knitting book and I’ll use the Glitten pattern for the thumb construction, without the cable chart. I just want one cable panel per mitten. The yarn is Dream in Colour Everlasting Sock, it’s really beautiful, and thankfully not nearly as splitty as I thought it would be when I first saw it up close. Happy new year and may all our knitting resolutions come to pass. 😇

I’ve been busy outdoors a lot lately. 

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Mt-Royal Nov 2012

Mt-Royal Nov 2012

Mt-Royal Nov 2012

Mt-Royal Nov 2012

As usual, I haven’t had the time to knit as much as I’d like, though Sanagi’s neverending stockinette is a pretty good fit with my schedule right now. I ran out of Sea Silk in the rainforest colourway (that I purchased in 2006 or 7), ordered a new skein, expecting dyelot issues. Handmaiden seems to have completely revamped rainforest, there is a lot more brown and beige in it now. I had some pink Sea Silk left over from my Haruni, and since I’m making Sanagi with 2 strands held together, I simply used one strand of pink with one strand of old rainforest for a couple of inches, let it become entirely pink for a bit then worked pink and new rainforest together until the pink ran out. I’m on the shoulder straps now, I might even finish before the new year.

Miles of stockinette

Miles of stockinette

I’ve finished my Cetaceans cardigan, (formerly unicorns, I couldn’t get it to fit nicely with the decreases, etc) I just have to sew on the buttons, weave in the ends and take pictures. I began some mitts for myself, with a thumb gusset.  I’m kinda making them up as I go, since the only tricky part is the gusset, and it’s not terribly complicated. Or so I think. I haven’t even searched for gusset on YouTube so I could be terribly wrong.

 

 

Autumn Has Arrived!

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At the bus stop

So I’ve been working on winter accessories. (Okay, when I’m not working on Sanagi, which is a lovely pile of straight stitch at the moment, but I should it finish soon.) I made this hat for my son according to his specifications. Since I couldn’t do a detailed picture of The Hulk, he settled for words instead. It turned out quite well, I improvised the pattern but kept it simple for once. It’s a little too big which means I might get two winters out of it. I knitted his name into the inside of the brim, so hopefully it won’t get lost at school.

The Hulk

I have another hat to finish, plus I’ll need some mittens for myself. Something super warm so I can grip the steering wheel of my car first thing in the morning without my hands falling off.

Summer Round-Up

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Simmer Dim knit with STR Lightweight in Thraven

Simmer Dim knit with STR Lightweight in Thraven

 

My plans to be a productive knitter during the summer months exploded in my face (yet again). The summers here are as hot as the winters are cold.  I love the cold and hate the heat. Once it hits 30 C, I am done; I just lie on the floor waiting for the heat to end.  I got off to a good start in June, with Nerd Wars to motivate me, but that is where the good times end.  I finished Simmer Dim in 2 weeks for a Nerd Wars challenge. I just love it. It’s going to get a lot of use this fall and winter. Then I made a Milo tunic for my daughter. I got it finished on time and thankfully it is knit top down because I ran out of yarn, so it is a short-sleeved sweater in the end.

I got more done in July than August, but I missed my deadlines and didn’t submit anything for Nerd Wars. I started the Pod of Cetaceans Cardigan, which is a great pattern, but I since I was working with a cotton blend yarn I didn’t entertain the idea of a steek for a second. I had no trouble modifying it for straight knitting and it was going really well, I’d reached the yoke when my deadline ran out, and the WIP has been sulking in a corner ever since. Same thing happened with my August WIP, I didn’t make the deadline and I’m too mad at myself to pick it up right now.

I should really be a responsible knitter and sit down and finish what I start. I went to do just that and then I stumbled upon the Sanagi dress pattern. I’ll just make a swatch to get it out of my system…

Checking In

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I haven’t been posting here as much as I’d like, but I’ve been knitting despite being a lot more busy than I had envisioned. I’m participating in Nerd Wars this summer, on Team Hellmouth. I’ve posted my completed projects to my FO’s 2012 page, but I haven’t had the time to properly blog them. Simmer Dim & Milo are wonderful patterns that I’ll likely knit again. I’m working on a simple raglan sweater for my son and a cardie for my daughter at the moment, plus I’ll probably squeeze in a cowl before the end of the month.

WIPs

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I’m almost finished my Tomten, and making slow progress on my Sutton Hoo Hat, Unicorn Sleeper, and St. Enda. I have to get cracking on the St. Enda — it must be completed before Jan 10 2012 because it’s for my father-in-law.

The Tomten is a wonderful pattern to knit, I barely had to look at it since it was so easy to memorise.

I feel kinda unsettled today because yesterday I had my first ever car accident. It was a fender bender and it was my fault. I don’t have a lot of experience, I’ve only been driving for a year. I hit the other car from behind, and since I was trying to merge out of my lane when someone in front (not the car I hit) short stopped, only the left front of my car and the back right of the other driver has any damage. The other driver doesn’t have much damage, but I managed it so that the headlight’s glass broke, the bumper cracked, and the hood dented. So all three will have to replaced. I feel so stupid, though no one is angry at me, not even the driver I hit (seriously, I could not have hit a nicer person), I kinda feel like they should be. I guess that means I’m angry at myself, which is true. My inability to pay attention or focus very well is probably what I hate most about myself and at least partially responsible for me having the accident in the first place.

A Post of Many Sweaters

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I finished the Ryuu-ko sweater for 海丰 last week. I briefly looked over the pattern before starting. Too briefly. It’s missing some details like sleeve length. This should serve as a lesson to carefully read a pattern before starting it. Had I done so,  I would have made it top-down, with short-row shaping. He wore it and is happy with it, but I’m not so I cast-on for Fife, from Alice Starmore’s Fishermen’s Sweaters.  My craving for perfectly designed sweaters was not over – I also started St. Enda, from Aran Knitting for my father-in-law. I’m knitting St. Enda in a black yarn, which photographs very badly (at least by me) so no pics for now.

As you can see, he finds photoshoots very interesting.

Ryuu-ko. Less like fashion photography, more like wilderness photography.

Progress despite avoidance

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I was making great progress on 海丰’s Ryuu-ko Sweater, started the sleeves aaannnddd put it down. Picked up the Unicorn Sleeper again, which is good, because I should be further along already. Figuring out the details of an original pattern is hard enough, but writing them down so that they make sense to others is really something else. True to form, I was avoiding it. Come to think of it, I haven’t been working on the Sutton Hoo Hat either. I also realised that 海纳’s Aviatrix Hat from last year was too small, so I made her a Conch Hat by Elizabeth Zimmermann.

海纳's Conch Hat

I really love that pattern, I made another one last August from the same yarn for my friend’s baby. Now to choose between my two adversaries of the moment: sleeves or pattern writing.

At long last, I’ll be talking about other projects soon

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It’s done! The steek cutting went well, but Felted Tweed doesn’t steek as well as Lopi does. It’s too light and cobweb-y.

Middle-Earthscape 01

I’m really happy about the way it turned out, and the pattern for the sweater is incredible. It’s an amazing pattern for a generic cardigan, I could make this sweater over and over again, just changing the yoke patt to make it different from the last.

Middle-Earthscape 02

I’ve been knitting up a storm (for me, anyway), but I put the Sutton Hoo hat on the backburner because I found my husband’s missing hat from last year and my son doesn’t have a single knitted sweater that fits. I’m already nearly half-way through the Ryuu-ko sweater.

Middle-Earthscape 03

Oh, and happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!