Did I just start another project?

Why, yes I did:

This is the Aestlight Shawl by Gudrun Johnston, which one of my Ravelry friends recently gifted me.  The yarn is a blend of merino and tencel, which I bought a few years ago at the Great Lakes Fiber Show.  No idea the brand; the only label was a handwritten tag identifying the fibers and yardage (about 500 yards).  Should be plenty enough for my shawl!

What else have I been up to?  I just now finished lengthening the hem of my Saucy Librarian sweater.  It was just a couple inches too short. Every time I wore it, I had to yank it down in back periodically.  That gets old quick, so I finally took apart the bind-off, picked up the live stitches and knitted a couple more inches.  I'm much happier with it now.

Now, while I listen to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I'm going to work on my Owls sweater. I'm just about finished with the owls along the yoke, and from there I think it'll be smooth sailing to the finish.  With any luck, I'll have a new sweater to wear next week.  And not a moment too soon, with the chilly temperatures we've had lately.

Until next time,
~mz

In no particular order

Whoa.  Time flies when you're busy knitting and plying on a drop spindle ...

... stash diving and finding some yarn you forgot you had ...

... then starting to knit it into a lovely lacy shawl ...

... moving to a new spot and getting organized ...

... frogging a sweater ...

... and knitting it into another sweater in hopes of wearing it THIS WEEKEND.

Whew.

Quick update

We're making progress on the move, and by the end of the weekend we should be completely in the new house.  All along, though, I've known that I'll need a storage solution for the yarn room.  So here's what I've come up with.  I want two of these:

... and two of these:

...which, when put all together, will create a cozy little window seat area. This will create a some storage for my books, knitting tools/supplies and maybe *some* of my yarn and fiber. It will also give me a place to sit when I'm spinning at my wheel. I can't wait to show it to you some day soon.

But first ... sleep so we can be rarin' to go in the morning for this last push to get completely moved in!

-mz

It was bound to happen

What is "it," you may be asking? Well.  I am, in general, a fan of knitting things 2 at a time on one long circular needle, whether it's socks or sweater sleeves. This is a good way to get both done at once AND have them be identical.  Problem with this method is that, inevitably, at some point or another, I am bound to knit the two together. And that's exactly what I did today.  Doh! Took a bit of unknitting to get back on track, but I've fixed the mistake and am back on track.

In other news, the Mr and I are in the process of moving to a much smaller house. To put it in perspective: the old house is about 2,300 square feet, and the new house is less than 800 square feet. Needless to say, quite a bit of decluttering is in progress at the mo'. While in some ways it has made me a little sad, I'm feeling much lighter and happier at the idea of not hauling a bunch of stuff I don't need/want/use to a house where there is no room for extraneous stuff anyway.  I sold quite a bit of my stash to one of my besties over the weekend (but only because she insisted on paying me!). She is now the happy owner of several alpaca fleeces, and a metric TON of yarn, a lot of which will be used for her guild's charity work.

This is what my stash (well most of it) looks like now.  All that's missing is a big bin of yarn about the size of the brown one in the right corner.

I will keep ya posted on how the "stash room" takes shape over the next few weeks. Right now it's time for bed!

-mz

Frogged and restarted

2 years ago, I was at a weekend retreat with my spinning & weaving guild, and while there, I made significant progress on my first Julissa sweater.  We recently had our 3rd retreat (which means it's now a tradition!).  In the intervening years, though, I shrank (on purpose) so my original Julissa no longer fit me quite right.  So I frogged it.  Over this recent retreat weekend, I finally re-skeined and washed the yarn.  Once it dried, I cast on for another Julissa ... this time I'm doing the boat-neck version. Unfortunately, though, I don't have photos to show yet.

I also made good progress on my Saucy Librarian sweater.  Finished the seed stitch neckline, picked up about 85 million stitches, did all the raglan increases and and am now cruising on down the body. Oh! I also worked on the body of the Owls sweater. The body is finished and now it's time to start the sleeves ... which I might go do right now!

-mz

Bad case of start-itis

If you've been paying attention to that sidebar over there, you might notice that a new sweater was started recently.  This yarn ...

... is going to become this sweater ...

Saucy Librarian pattern by Amanda Jensen

It has a vintage/retro vibe to it, and I can't wait to find the perfect button(s) to add to the neckline. In the meantime, I'm sittin' ... and I'm knittin'!

First sweater of 2015 ... done

Miranda with short sleeves, pocket, no hood. Finished yesterday, wore today. Blocking? No way, too excited to wear her!

Now I'm working on my Owls sweater while I watch a movie with the Mister.  Catch ya later!

-mz

Quick update: Miranda

The body is finished!  Time to work on the sleeves. While I'm doing that, I'll decide whether to knit a hood (which I think I will!).

What's one more?*

So what had happened was .... One of my knitting friends at work came to ask me a yarn question. She's about to start knitting Kate Davies' Owls sweater. I've wanted to knit that one for YEARS so I thought I'd join in the knitting fun.  For an extra fun twist, though, I decided to knit it in a worsted weight yarn, rather than bulky as the pattern calls for.  A quick stash dive reminded me of this:

Elann Peruvian Highland Wool
Gauge: 19sts / 24 rows = 4 inches on 4.0 - 4.5mm (US 6-7) needles
Color 727 Spiced Wine

My job is to figure out how to knit at a completely different gauge and still get the finished size I want (approx 38" at bust).  So I will wash my swatch,  determine my gauge, do some tricksy knitting calculations, and determine what size to knit.  I think that I should be able to knit the 48-50" size in order to get the 38" size. Not sure whether I will do the back waist shaping, or skip it. I'll decide once I get to that point.

I'll report back later ... stay tuned!

-mz

* Look over there in the sidebar ( -->).  I have 4 sweaters on needles already, so what's one more on the pile? :-) I'll be one busy knitter this year!

Cruisin' toward the finish line

So .... in 2013 my friend Lori and I started a sweater knitalong, and Miranda was one of the sweaters that we knitted.  I had gotten pretty far along (down past the armholes), and tried it on.  It didn't fit.  It was way too big, and there wasn't really much I could do except rip it out and start over.  I was so disgusted that I didn't even bother to take a photo to document the awfulness of the sweater.  That was all due to the fact that I didn't bother to knit a gauge swatch. I just bought my yarn, grabbed some needles, picked a size and got to knittin'. Last January (on the 3rd, to be precise), I managed to get my swatch knitted and blocked:

I knitted along on it for a while, then got bored or something and set it aside to work on other stuff.  I'm so easily distracted!  Anyway, I've been working on this again pretty steadily since the fall, and have gotten down to the pocket.  This morning, just for fun, I put it on waste yarn and tried it on. Look!  It fits!

What a difference the right gauge makes!

-mz

New Year, New WIP

Yesterday I told you about my tradition of buying myself Christmas gifts.  Well, I also have another tradition of starting a project on New Year's Day.  What's that you say?  That I already have unfinished projects on needles?  Yes, I do indeed.  But when has that ever stopped me from starting another one? :-)

2015's New Year project will be a(nother) pair of socks for my husband: Inside Out, from a discontinued Plymouth yarn called Zino (75% wool/ 25% nylon). This will be a good carry-around project, in my always-too-full kniting bag/purse.  I haven't had a chance to cast on yet, but will do so right after dinner!


~mz