WIPWed #27: Stupid Hubris

There I was, knitting along all smug-like, thinking to myself "I'm gonna whip out the rest of this baby sock tonight and it will be PERFECT and finished JUST IN TIME because my new nephew is coming along any second"... and then I finished. And it was not perfect.

Sock 1 on the left, Sock 2 on the right.

What the friggity-frack happened here? I'm honestly perplexed. I wrote down everything I did... as in 11 rows ribbing, 4 rows blue, 2 rows green, 8 rows blue, heel on 15 sts, 16 rows of heel, pick up 9, etc etc etc. Everything, in exact numbers, none of this "knit to # inches" business on an item so tiny. I even forced my friend to measure her baby's feet so I could make these fit perfectly! I like my socks to exactly match and these, clearly, do not. I was working on Sock 1 on the plane on the way to Tennessee and I know I frogged back a bit and made changes to the heel, perhaps I wrote something down incorrectly? But it's especially confusing because I knit Sock 2 to the instructions I wrote for Sock 1, and they are clearly not the same. Which do I frog then, Sock 1 or Sock 2?? This incident plus the 2 feet of scarf I had to rip out last week has me convinced that I should maybe give up on airplane knitting for anything that needs measuring... Only dishcloths and blankets on vacation from now on!


I left my other two active WIPs in the office so that's all the photos I have but I'm just a a few rows from the end of my Beautiful Briny Sea shawl and am making steady progress on my Budding Lintilla shawlette, too. Now to figure out those socks...

Check out other WIPs by clicking below!

WIPWed #25: Knitting All The Things

I hope your weeks are going well! I had an unpleasant dentist visit yesterday and consoled myself by knitting whatever I wanted for the rest of the evening. Turns out, what I wanted to knit was everything, as I made quite a bit of progress on a variety of projects. Here's what I've been working on lately.

Tiny Turn-A-Square:

SG Bugga, colorways Box Jellyfish and Common Emerald Moth

Technically, my baby-sized adaptation of Jared Flood's Turn A Square hat is finished (and adorable!), however, I'm not counting the project as done until I complete the matching socks:

Because why not?

Itty bitty socks are just too cute.

Budding Lintilla:

BMFA Socks That Rock Mediumweight, colorway Budding Twig

My socks-that-rock-tastic Lintilla shawl is growing slowly longer and wider. I wish I could show you how it looks dangling from the needles, it twists and curls in a long ringlet of colorful wool quite charmingly. Very pretty.

Spring-y Socks:

Play At Life gradient dyed sock yarn

I made a tiny bit of progress on my spring crocus socks. The pattern defies memorization so this is a sit-and-concentrate kind of knit that I only get a chance to work on sparingly.

Beautiful Briny Sea:

SG and CY Bugga, colorways Box Jellyfish and Blue Ringed Octopus

I'm happy to have finally resurrected one of my ancient WIPs, Stephen West's Flamboyan shawl, although I must admit it is an exceedingly tedious knit. It's a simple, attractive, striking design but there's no getting around how much I dislike actually knitting it. For half the shawl you're juggling three balls of yarn and switching back and forth between garter and stockinette, so you never develop a good rhythym. Then you finally get through all that and are like "yes, one color, simple ribbing!" exscept it turns out it's not so simple as all that. The first row is ribbing with increases every few stitches with lots of stitches on the needle already. That is a recipe for a miscount and I had gotten off by one stitch... and then the shawl sat for months and months, waiting for me to find the patience to tink back stitch by stitch and pick them all up again. Apparently, a side effect of novocaine is lots of patience? Not sure if that's true, but either way I fixed the mistake and even progressed through 2 more rows of ribbing. I feel like I'm in the homestretch but looking at the size of the ball of yarn left over, I think this ribbing is going to be endless. Just 3 more inches to go!

Purple Squishy:

Lots and lots of scraps.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in with opinions on my big idea, I decided to go ahead and cast on this big squishy blanket, craziness be damned! I was highly amused by the number of comments that went along the lines of "I think it's great but don't listen to me, I'm crazy, too". :) I went through my stash and pulled out all the little bits and bobs I plan to use up throughout the course of this monster. Don't worry, there are no deadlines for this and I won't let myself stress out too much about planning where every single colors goes. The goals of this project are to have 1) fun with colors, 2) soothing knitting, and 3) a big cozy blanket at the end. The one thing I did decide, though, was to use up some extra-soft, fuzzy skeins of an angora mix (the blue and white balls in plastic) by knitting them with the purple mystery wool (on the left) that will serve as the alternate to the purple malabrigo (to the right). The mystery wool is a bit scratchy so pairing it with the angora blend should soften it right up as well as ensure some larger areas of consistent color, so it's not too stripey crazy.

Phew, that's enough out of me, I think! Check out some other WIPs by clicking the image below.

WIPWed #24: Knitting Spring

When looking at my works-in-progress together, it is clear that I am trying to knit all of the colors of spring at once. And you know what? That makes me extraordinarily happy. Here's what I've been working on lately:

Tiny Turn-A-Square:

The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga, colorways Box Jellyfish and Common Emerald Moth

For this WIP, I'm taking Jared Flood's free Turn A Square pattern and babysizing it for my future nephew. I'm knitting it with sport weight yarn on size 4 needles (instead of worsted on 7's) and cast on 80 sts. I'm doing just one bold stripe near the brim, then will do a series of thin stripes through the decreases. I've stashed a bunch of Bugga but I usually conserve it for the super special projects that I sometimes forget how wonderful it is. It's knitting up delightfully at this gauge (about 6 sts/inch). This little beanie should be done in no time and I'll probably make some matching booties as well.

 Budding Lintilla:

BMFA Socks That Rock Mediumweight, colorway Budding Twig

To say I am utterly charmed and delighted by this WIP is an understatement. I really love this thing. I think of myself as Not A Pink Person but there's something about the interplay between it and the bright springy greens and shots of coral in this yarn that I am totally into, and I love the way the short rows in the Lintilla shawlette pattern affect the stripes. It's an addicting little knit, for sure.

Spring-y Socks:

Play At Life Revelous Sockie Maki

This WIP is probably the springiest one yet. I adore the gradient yarn so very much and I just had to pick a delicate, lacy sock pattern to go with it. I chose Hunter Hammersen's Crocus Vernus socks, from her first Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet book. I already pre-ordered the second one, because really admire her design sense.

Copyright Hunter Hammersen

Knit up in my yarn, the socks will start green at the cuff and work their way through pale lilac to a deep purple at the toe. I can see it in my mind already and it's going to be awesome, don't you think?

Starry Petals:

The Sanguine Gryphon Zaftig Bugga, colorway Starry Night Cracker

Finally, this WIP is making me super duper sad that Zaftig Bugga (a hefty, worsted weight version of Bugga) has been discontinued because it is fabulous. Look at how plump, even, and gorgeous those stitches are! It's making such a wonderful fabric. This is going to be a Zuzu's Petals cowl by Carina Spencer. This is one of those rare patterns that I love so much I'm willing to knit it multiple times and I think it makes really great gifts. I actually finished another so quickly last week that it went from WIP to FO without ever seeing the blog. It's blocking now and I will show it off on Friday, but just as a little teaser, I knit it out of this lovely earth-toned handspun:

3-ply worsted weight superwash Merino/Tencel blend

... which did fantastic things in the pattern. Can't wait to show you! I think that's all I've been actively knitting in the last couple of weeks. Lots of new projects, not doing so well with finishing up ancient WIPs, but I'm sure I'll get to them.. someday. :)

WIPWed #23: Easy Now

I've been all "what do I knit next?" and "which pattern do I match with these yarns?" for a couple of weeks now and my crazy schedule lately has provided an easy answer: ANYTHING. Knit anything simple that I can manage in the very few minutes I have in which to do so. Between (still) trying to finish a publication based on my master's thesis, the Fiasco's car spectacularly failing inspection leading to a bout of reluctant car-shopping, dealing with a cell phone that quit on me out of the blue, worrying over my mom's neck surgery she had today, and preparing for big meetings at work -- things have been a tad hectic. Here's what I've been able to knit this week:

Tiny Turn-A-Square:

Sanguine Gryphon Bugga, colorway Box Jellyfish (now sold by Cephalopod Yarns)

I have seriously been casting on what will be a baby-sized Turn A Square hat for my future nephew since Saturday. Crazy, right? Right. What is nice, though, is that I was able to get out of work early enough to enjoy some sunshine today, so I headed straight to a local wildlife refuge and took a 2-hr walk through some coastal areas:

My cell phone takes lame photos so this is all you'll get.

After essentially hibernating January through March, it felt so good to be outside again. The only problem is my feet and legs didn't quite agree. I wore new sneakers that have only seen the treadmill for a half hour at a time, so traipsing for 3+ miles over gravel, sand, and grass trails was a bit rough. My feet blistered up pretty bad and I'm sure I'll be feeling the walk in my legs and hips tomorrow... but it was worth it. :)

No other knitting has occurred this week, I swear -- which is just wrong. I have been winding some yarn, though (yes, I'm still in the process of that, too):

BMFA Socks That Rock Mediumweight, colorway Budding Twig

This lovely springtime-colored-skein will become a Lintilla shawlette, designed by Martina Behm. It is a sweet, ruffly, garter stitch shawlette that will be perfect for office knitting. I'm starting this project instead of all of the ones I debated before, in order to 1) use my home-knitting-time to finish up some old WIPs and 2) give me more time to make up my mind on the other shawls. Solid plan, I think. Plus, who could resist knitting such a happy springtime colorway mid-April? Nobody.

Hope you're all having a good week! Check out more WIPs by clicking the image below.

2013 First Quarter Recap

Every once in a while it's good to pause and take stock and that's what this post is about. I made a list of fiber-related goals for 2013 to keep me on track and I figured once a quarter I'll assess what I've accomplished.

Design Goals:
If we're being honest, my designing took a bit of a back seat as I started my new job, moved to RI, and was generally just settling into new routines. Not much on my list has been accomplished yet, but I'm ready to start getting into it again. I've held back a bit lately because I entered into The Fiber Factor competition and was waiting to see if I'd be chosen or not, since that would've taken up the next 6 months of my design time! I didn't get into the competition but I am in the 'meet the applicants' video for a few seconds in case you're curious to hear what I sound like when I'm feeling awkward and rushed before leaving for a road trip (at 4:43 min). Onto the goals:

• publish a Malabrigo Quickie--DONE!
• publish a design with Cephalopod Yarns (in progress)
• publish a design with KnitPicks
• publish in an online or print magazine
• finish and publish 4 more socks for my How I Met Your Mother series (2 in progress)
• design a shawl 
• finish mitten design

I have the yarn for KnitPicks already and have my eye on a couple of submissions so I think I can make some more progress soon. I'm also planning on jumping back into my Lilypad Socks design, especially now that it's spring. They're actually nearly done I've just sort of, um, misplaced them during the move and need a bit of time to concentrate on the last fiddly bits (once I find them again).

Knitting Goals:

• finish 50 projects this year (17 complete so far)
• finish (or frog) all of my ancient WIPs
• finish 13 SG/VG/CY projects in 2013 (4 complete so far)
• finish my First Garment vest (in progress)
• work on my (long neglected) sock yarn opus
• knit a pair of toe-up socks
• knit a pair of colorwork socks 
• knit a pair of socks from handspun yarn

I've made excellent progress towards finishing 50 projects this year, with 17 already done since January, beginning with the Official Zig-A-Zig project. Most of them were small but they still count! I've also gotten a decent start on finishing 13 SG/VG/CY project in 2013 (3 of which can be old WIPs) of which I've completed 4 new projects so far. I have, however, made dismal progress on finishing or frogging my ancient WIPs, seeing as I've been knitting only new stuff. I'm remedying that right now by resurrecting my Beautiful Briny Sea shawl:

SG and CY Bugga, colorways Box Jellyfish and Blue-Ringed Octopus

I stalled out on the ribbing at the bottom of the shawl because I got off by a stitch with all of the M1 increases that were going on, but I've tinked back and am ready to tackle the last few inches. Plus, I should really finish this shawl while the sneakers that match it are still wearable!

Spinning Goals:

• spin a truly worsted-style skein using combed prep and short forward draw
  
• spin a truly woolen-style skein using carded prep and long draw--DONE!
• spin a skein of 3-ply sock yarn
• spin a skein of laceweight 2-ply on my spindle (in progress)

After I spin the lovely gradient kit that I recently purchased, I will start on the worsted-style skein using this gorgeous Gotland fiber:

from Two Sisters Stringworks

So that's the plan! Overall, I'm happy with the progress I've made but do very much need to address the hibernating WIPs situation. Twenty-eight is far too many. Did you make a list of goals for 2013? How are you faring?

WIPWed #22: In A Quandary

Guys-- I don't know what to knit. Yeah. I said it. This is such a rare state for me, I hardly even know myself! All through the end of Malabrigo March I was dreaming of everything I wanted to make that was non-Malabrigo-related and now I don't know where to start. Here are my two (ONLY TWO, who am I?!) active WIPs... both still using Malabrigo.

Scarf of Spring:

Malabrigo Yarn Dos, colorway Lettuce

I love this scarf but it is a bittersweet love because I will not have enough yardage to continue/finish it at any decent length. As pictured, that's about 10 grams of yarn knit up into a 5.5" piece... and I only have 35 grams left. That means my little scarf will be only about 24" long before blocking, which no matter how you slice it is not much of a scarf. I've put out a desperate "in search of" on the Malabrigo board but I'm not holding my breath. If I don't hear anything soon I'll have to frog this and start anew. I like the stitch pattern a lot, though, so I'm hoping to incorporate it elsewhere.

For Belinda:

Malabrigo Rios, colorway Archangel

I have been seeing a physical therapist for the last couple of months for some hip/pelvic pain I've been having and she is amazing and fantastic and definitely deserving of some knitwear. She is so good at her job and her hands work so incredibly hard that I thought a bright and cheery pair of fingerless mitts would do the trick. I'm improvising as I go and that fun swirly stitch is a smaller version of the Estonian shell stitch that is featured in my Syrinx Shells cowl pattern.

So now, what to knit for myself? I'm debating so many different things, there are at least 2 different socks, 3 different shawls, a couple of scarves, a few designs, and TWENTY-EIGHT hibernating WIPs (oy!) all vying for attention, wanting to be knit next.

The knitter's quandary. It's a rough one. What do you do in these situations?

Phase 2: Cast On All The Things

Phase 1 of Malabrigo March was when we Junkies planned and dreamt and hoped our little hearts out. Phase 2 is when we give in to all our worst startitis impulses and simply cast on everything at once.

Malabrigo Rios, colorway Aguas

Malabrigo Dos, colorway Zinc

Malabrigo Rios, colorway Lettuce

Malabrigo Rasta, colorway Plomo

Aren't they glorious, all in a row like that? Man, I love casting on new projects. (If only I finished them as quickly!) I'll talk about them more later on, but you can find more details about the patterns here on my project pages, if you're impatient.

One thought: Malabrigo Dos is amazing. AMAZING. It is a 50 gram/150 yard 2-ply sport weight yarn of the softest Merino wool I've ever felt. It was a test yarn so I'm not sure if you can find it for sale anywhere, but the off chance of possibly winning some of it in one of the Malabrigo March contests is enough to keep me motivated to finish my KAL projects, for sure.

An unrelated thought: if you have any Dos lying around that you don't want, TELL ME I WILL TAKE IT. * ahem.*

A final thought: I did a bit of spring cleaning of the stash and have a mix of different yarns that I'm destashing on Ravelry. Please take a look and let me know if anything interests you! There's a little bit of  Blue Moon STR, Bugga, Codex, KnitPicks, Madelintosh, and Malabrigo. If you'd like something, be sure to let me know that you read my blog and I'll take $3 off the price just because you're awesome. :)