Knittypants

Yarn On Monday

I was all set to do my yarn post on Friday, but then life got in the way! So we will do it on Monday instead, which gives me some more time to get a proper knitting post together :-) Although, who doesn't like looking at yarn, it's one of my favoritest things in all the world.

Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Gold.

Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Moss.

Fleece Artist Sea Wool snuggling.

I have been envying all the different people joined up to their different sock clubs, poor me, all alone, not in a sock club. Sniff, sniff.

Then I did something about it :-) The Sweet Sheep has a new self-striping sock club. I joined and now I am impatiently waiting for October so I can play with my first shipment. I'm going to get Yarntini and Snitches and more! Yay, yay, yay!

Also, Nestucca Bay Yarn is a great shop with great service. They have good prices and right now they have lots of Rowan on sale. Plus, free shipping if you spend $100+ or if you're in Canada $150+. And even better if you look in your Fall Interweave Knits on page 141 they have a discount code for 20% off your purchase. I am still trying to be good, but there is absolutedly no reason why you should be! Allright, done enabling.

I just thought about that for a minute and realized ummm, first this post starts off with yarn recently acquired, second I start babbling on about a sock club I just joined, and third I tell you I'm being all virtuous and not buying yarn right now. It's like telling you I'm on a diet while I'm stuffing myself with chocolate cake! Ack! I'm so bad. Sorry, in my mind I'm really not buying as much yarn. Reality, unfortunately, says otherwise.

Denmark

I finished up my Denmark Socks. I just love the texture in this pattern. So far my favorite pair of socks to knit.

These feel heavenly on my feet, comfy and squishy. I made one small mod to the pattern. I skipped about 3 sets of decreases on the toes. My toes are not narrow or pointy and the wider toe is much more comfortable for me and my duck feet.

I knit these in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, color Pond Blue. I knit from two different skeins, one for each sock, but ended up with loads of leftovers. Easily enough to knit another simple pair of socks.

Boo!

Most of you guessed a toy, and Zonda and Christy both figured out it was Sheldon. I don't really like knitting toys and when I first saw the pattern on Knitty I didn't think much of it. But then I saw Rachel's Sheldon and realized that when you knit him up his shell is actually a little sweater! So cute, I had to make him. And I love the construction of his shell, so much fun doing the slip stitch pattern.

And mom, look what Simon can do. He's pulling himself up onto the hearth and seeing what he can find up there. He's so proud of himself when he does it, too. Baby smartypants!

Wip Wednesday

Knit, knit, knit and we have a hood. I carried the cable up the hood, because it would drive me crazy just ending it at the neck. Knitting can really bring out the grouchy perfectionist inside. Or maybe I knit so I can let her hang free and not drive my family crazy with trying to keep all their ducks in a row.

Here's the top of the hood. I grafted the two sides together, but I'm not satisfied with how it looks. The cable on the hood where the two edges meet is very sloppy. I'm not sure if doing the three-needle bindoff as the pattern suggests would look better or if I just need to fiddle with things until I'm happy. Any ideas?

I want to figure this out, and get the edging started, I could have this finished for September if I keep plugging away, but I do have to take a small break

for this little distraction. I have a small friend who is having a birthday party on Saturday. The big number three, and I want to make her a gift. Can you guess what I'm making? A hint, I don't like making these things. Drives me batty!

EZ Tuesday

Well, it took me a while but I'm hooked.

I first bought Knitting Without Tears last summer. At the time,  I was still getting over morning sickness with Simon and just couldn't get my mind into knitting at all. Her fascinating unventions made my brain hurt and thinking made me queasy. Just bad timing for new knitting revelations.

Of course Zimmermania has been going strong all over the place and all through the last year I kept falling in love with all the different EZ projects I've been seeing.

I picked up my Knitting Without Tears and decided to try again. This time was so much better. Exciting ideas, so many I would like to try and such a dear writing style, not dry or condescending. My daughter has been smuggling the books to her room she enjoys the writing style so much!

So Knitpicks had there great book sale and I indulge myself. I am only half way through Knitter's Almanac but each page holds something new. I will be reading through this pile for a while but it will be fun the whole time. And my pattern queue just keeps getting longer and longer!

Maybe if I sleep less, I can find more knitting time. It seems none of you have any to spare :-)

Happy Yarn Friday!

All this yarn was ordered before I decided I had too much yarn. But, it's pretty and it makes a good post for Friday. So here ya go!

Elsebeth Lavold Cotton Patine, Sea Holly. I think I will be making Chicknits Nicole with this.

Mountain Colors Weaver's Wool, Rosehip for Friday Harbor Socks from Knitting On the Road.

Louet Gems Sport, Teal for Whitby Socks, also from Knitting On the Road.

It's getting cooler every day here. It's been a funny summer, too much rain, not enough sun, the weather is definitely making me think about autumn knits, and soup, I love making soup when it's chilly outside.

Of course all the great patterns coming out in the fall knitting mags just fan the flames. I want comfy warm cardigans, and next-to-the-skin soft sweaters, and lots more socks!

And time, does anyone have some spare knitting time to send me? I'm in desperate need of some of that, too.

WIP Wednesday

I thought I would give you guys an update on what's in my knitting basket, although truthfully, only two are in current rotation, the rest are languishing. 

The Central Park Hoodie is seeing lots of consistent knitting. I can't wait to finish. I finished the fronts up last week, and have started the sleeves. I am not actually going to knit both sleeves at once, but I wanted to get the ribbing out of the way. This wool is not very pleasant to rib on 4mm needles. Much more comfortable to work on the larger needles.

And I am blocking the fronts and back right now. The yarn softened and bloomed just wonderfully. I was a bit worried the hoodie was going to be to snug, but now I think it will be just fine.

I really want to finish both sleeves by Sunday, and then I'll just have the hood and edging to go. It might even be finished by the end of the month.

And the second Denmark, I am moving slower on this project, keeps getting set aside for the CPH. I should be able to finish this up soon with just a bit of focus. I'm planning on a finished pair by the end of the week.

And this somewhat blurry pic is Hudson blocking. I need to block so I can get an accurate measurement for the zipper and since I was blocking CPH, I did this one, too.

The next bunch are the neglected ones, poor things.

First, Anastasia. I haven't done too much, just half of the back. I like this top, so I need to get working on it, but for some reason my motivation is completely gone.

Second is the Blue Sky Alpaca Snap Cardi. All I need to do here is seam in the sleeves and attach the snap tape. I think this will be my next project to be finished after Hudson.

The third is also from Blue Sky Alpaca, the Zipperd Cardi. This one is all done except half a sleeve, but I'm pretty sure I am going to rip. I just don't like the yarn and pattern together and for some reason I had to almost finish the pattern before I made up my mind about it!

And last, but not least my Ribby Cardi. This is one and a half sleeves from being finished. And I do want this one, so I guess I will stick this one in line behind the Snap Cardi for getting done.

Flower Basket Shawl

 

Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark.  2.5 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, color 127 blue.

What a rewarding first shawl, very pretty, very simple. I knit it in about a week, so someone without 4 kids could make in about 2 hours :-)

Before I even started Erin told me about Get it Knitted's Flower Basket Shawl Cast On Tutorial, so it was smooth sailing from the very beginning.

I have it draped over my bedroom mirror right now, so I see it every time I walk in the room. It's nice to think I made that. Must knit more lace.

Rockin' Girl Blogger

This is Jarvis' bughouse. He was so excited that he had a bug under all that grass, that he made Peter take a picture. And there he is staring hard at his little bug in it's little grass house. I have no idea what kind of bug it was, he was smart and kept himself hidden.

Annie from Annie Knits nominated me for a Rockin' Girl Blogger. Made my day :-)

Of course, I would nominate Annie if she hadn't gotten to me first, so here are my other 5.

A Knit's Tale

Aquaknits

Frog in Knots

Opportunity Knits

Zigzag Stitch

And to further enable all you lovely people out there, a new Canadian online store is opening, Robyn's Nest. Right now, until Sept. 3 she has 20% off all her Cascade yarn and she has one penny shipping on all orders over $99.99. Cascade can be tricky to find in Canada, so it's great to find someone selling it online here.

Petticoat Socks

Ah, here we are. My Petticoat Socks. Finished a while a go, but it was the blogging of them that took a while.

The heel that made me cry, I have forgiven it now. Heels are getting easier now, although, the Denmark heel for the second sock gave me a spot of trouble last night, I just calmly put him down and started working on my CPH.

There is no point in losing my head about this heel thing, and a day in time out will, I'm sure, make Denmark behave himself.

These are the very lovely Petticoat Socks by Veronik Avery in Weekend Knitting. Knit with yarn that is fast becoming one of my favorites, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, in the most scrumptious color in all the world, Manzanita.

Seriously, I get weak in the knees for some of the plummy reds I see out there, they make me swoon. Hmmm...actually these pictures look more plummy than red, I would say they are more red in real life, it doesn't matter, the point is I love them.

Oh, and I wanted to mention Pick Up Sticks is having an excellent sale, 25% off everything in the store until midnight, Aug 9th. That's tonight, so hurry. 

And yes, this means I have bought yarn, but it's sock yarn. Doesn't count.

Mailbag and Temptation

I won a contest over at Elemental Stitches. Melissa sent me these 7 fat quarters of Anna Marie Horner's fabric Chocolate Lollipop. Isn't it pretty. I can't wait to sew it up, but lately my free time has been spent organizing my children's overabundance of toys rather than sewing. That will change soon enough and then I will get to play with my sewing machine again.

Speaking of sewing there was an excellent post over at Dogged Knits about what you need to get started, I thought it was very helpful.

Here is my progress on the second Denmark sock. I put it down this weekend to work like crazy on my Central Park Hoodie, but usually I try to work about an inch of it every day so that it gets done. Slowly but surely.

And here is the back of my Central Park Hoodie, I short rowed the shoulders instead of binding off thanks to Nonaknits great tutorial. It was my first time trying Japanese shortrows, and I really like them. I will be using them more and more often.

I am about halfway up the first front of the cardigan as well. Would like to get both fronts finished this week if I can.

This yarn Briggs and Little Heritage is very sturdy. I mean I can just pull the needle out of the cables and rearrange the stitches and slip them back on in the right order and the yarn doesn't slip at all. Definitely outerwear this yarn, but my swatch did soften up after washing so it's not going to be to stiff to wear comfortably.

I am trying very, very hard not to buy yarn. But the temptation is crazy! Elann is putting out RYC Cashsoft 4 Ply on Tuesday and then they are having Filatura di Crosa Zara at the end of the month. Plus, Flying Fingers has Karabella Zodiac and Soft Tweed on sale.

I want all these yarns so bad and have ideas for all of it. I don't need it, I don't need it, I don't need it. One of these days I will admit how many sweaters worth of yarn I have and then you will all agree with me that I really don't need it :-)

I am already planning to get either Koigu or else Louet Gems Fingering in order to make Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. I want to be a bit closer to finished my CPH before I order so that I can put the yarn on the needles right away and not stash it. I am really trying to not grow my stash for a little while. And, also trying not to bounce around so much in my knitting. I want to finish something not just keep starting things!