All Yarn, All the Time

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Summer of Stash

Something has come up to help me reduce my 'little' stash: the Summer of Stash Knit Along. A few months ago I made the mistake of completing a yarn inventory, and although at time I vowed not to buy any more, I've probably added 6 pairs of socks, 10,000 yards of lace weight zephyr for shawls, and yarn for a couple of tank tops. Oh, and maybe some stuff from KnitPicks for baby gifts. And some wool for felting. I think SoS is a good thing for me right now. :o)

Here is an in progress picture of my Pomatomus sock, being worked in Sockotta:




I made a little mistake by not paying attention, so I need to tink I few rows and get back on chart, but I'm still loving this pattern!

I hope everyone has a good holiday weekend, we are just taking it easy.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Cool as a Cucumber


Emily called this yarn "Cucumber" after her favorite veggie. I find it to be a very good name, so I'm calling the top I just finished for her "Cucumber Cool". It turned out very nicely, but I don't have pictures of it yet.

I've finished the heel and am working the gusset of the Pomatomus sock, will post pictures of that tomorrow. I'm still trying to get caught up with things...

Monday, May 22, 2006

Flower Basket Shawl


Pretty, yes?

pattern: Flower Basket Shawl, Evelyn A. Clark
yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool-Silk, magenta. 2 - 2 oz. balls double-stranded
time: about 9 days knitting off and on
modifications? just made it ~maybe~ 11 repeats instead of the 7 suggested.
I blocked this with blocking wires overnight.

I love this zephyr - it is, in my opinion, the nicest shawl yarn ever. The silk makes the fabric drape just wonderfully, and the yarn just glides through your hands. I cannot say enough good things about it. The pictures of the finished shawl show the truest color.

The pattern is super-easy to memorize, and knit up very quickly with the double-stranded yarn. I would probably like it with this yarn single-stranded for a different look. There really isn't anything very tricky about this pattern, and the instructions are well written and charted, so I would confidently recommend this one for a first-time-lace-knitter shawl.


The following pictures include blocked detail, unblocked detail, unblocked view with the 8 grams of yarn that I had left, out of the about 100 I started with
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In other news, during my recovery I've kind of had Knitting ADD. I have ripped Emily's green thing 3 or 4 times, trying different patterns with it. I may have a winner, and I will post a picture when I get it going. The gorgeous Pomatomus socks? I did 1.5 repeats and had to rip them all the way back due to an error. I haven't restarted them yet, but I will. I like this pattern very much. I also started this Heirloom Shawl(scroll down) in black Jaggerspun zephyr, but have stalled after the 1st chart was completed. Either I'm still messed up from surgery, or the pattern is very poorly written because I'm having a heck of a time following it. I'm sure it's the pattern's fault.

Back to the needles!

Sunday, May 21, 2006

belated Mother's Day post :o)

Just have to share the pictures of one of the highlights of my Mother's Day: Emily painted my nails with an "Underwater Theme".
Not that they need explanation, she did all of these free hand with a nail polish kit she got the day before for her birthday. How sweet is that?




Hope all the mommies had a great day, I'll be catching up with my yarn posts very soon!

Monday, May 15, 2006

Down to the Wire

Well, I've been super busy trying to get everything done before my surgery tomorrow, so I haven't had taken time to post. I borrowed a butter churn from my friend Lisa for Pioneer Day, thanks Lisa! I finished sewing the costumes for both me and Emily, including bonnets and pantaloons. Elise had her kindergarten screening today, so she's ready to go to school. Emily had a great birthday on Saturday, she is now nine and sassy as ever. Emily gave me a fabulous sea-themed manicure for Mother's Day, pictures to follow. I made the Flower Basket Shawl from IK out of some gorgeous zephyr wool-silk in magenta, pictures to follow. I started the Pomatomus socks today to have a good portable project for waiting, and I'm loving the pattern so far.

That's about it for now. I'm excited to get this over with, and looking forward to resuming my normal schedule soon. Thank you for your well-wishes and kind thoughts, and I expect to be back in touch, and posting some fun pictures of yarn again, very soon.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Simply Lovely


Couldn't wait to post the finished socks!


Pattern: Simply Lovely Lace Socks from IK
Yarn: Lorna's Laces shepherd sock
Needles: US 2
Modifications: On the first sock since I was working on it intermittently, I accidentally decreased less than I should have on the gusset, which I didn't realize until I shaped the toe - oops! However, I liked the way it fit with 6 more stitches underneath, so I made the other sock the same way. Also, the first sock had some mistakes from just generally not paying attention, but not enough to want to rework it. I'm the kind of knitter who lives with her errors quite easily. :o)

I haven't blocked them yet, and I think they could use it. I liked working with this yarn, but again, I was dissapointed to have a knot in the first hank. I'm anxious to see how well it wears for as soft as it is.

Bonus: the socks are partly green, to go along with the May color for Project Spectrum!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Green yarn and clean dog




Because I have a quickly approaching deadline for the Pioneer Day costumes, I clearly cannot work on them. Instead, I felt compelled to swatch and work on a design for a summer top for Emily. The yarn is that white worsted weight 1 pound coned cotton that you get to make dishcloths, dyed with I believe RIT dye, but maybe with some Procion. I thought I was keeping better records, but obviously I'm not. I worked with these pictures to try to get the truest color, but I'm not sure I really captured it in either picture, it's very fresh-looking. Neither picture is really representative, but the top one is closer - I'll try again after I get going on this project.


And since it is a new month, we get another picture of a freshly cleaned dog, this time (and for the first time!) with bows in her hair. She hates them, but man does it look cute!


Hopefully tomorrow I can post pictures of the completed simply lovely lace socks - I'm really cranking that 2nd one out!