Category: knitting

  • it’s shoddy photo day

    I’m terribly sorry about the quality of these photos – perhaps my constant headache due to sickness is to blame. I am feeling much better today and managed to stay out of bed, although my throat was killing me. Felt like I’d swallowed a golf ball and it wasn’t going anywhere.

    Onwards.

    The blue cabled pullover is done, so I can check one pre-Olympic goal off! As I knit the sleeve (which has a diamond cable on it), it was rolling and folding very strangely. Observe:

    the sleeve, relaxed.

    Actually on my arm, which gives me the hope that it’ll look fine while worn:

    Evidence of blocking:

    Note that the front neck is, in fact, lower than the back. And yes, I did fix the sweater’s wonkiness after seeing this photo, but back to the neck – I’d originally just done the front and back the same, but after trying it on I decided that the neck was a bit too high in the front, too chokey. So I ripped out the ribbing and a few rows, and did short rows to shape the neck. Much better.

    I love getting things in the mail:

    Two pounds of blue faced leicester from Copper Moose on eBay. I’m still waiting on some soy silk, though – and I ordered it over two weeks ago!

    File under “Extremely Random”: I have a song from Brokeback Mountain, one that is in a commercial, stuck in my head. Makes me want to see the movie again. Guess that means that commercial is doing its job!

  • that olympics thing

    Whoops, been a few days, hm? Well rest assured I haven’t been slacking! I’ve been studying (I have two significant-weight quizzes this week as well as an assignment due), spinning (still haven’t taken photos of some other finished yarns) and knitting (titbits, and a new Charlotte’s Web – more on that later). I don’t even really ahve time to write this, but who needs sleep, right?

    Which brings me to my next point – since I don’t have much of anything new to show you, how about my Knitting Olympics project? I haven’t actually signed up officially – Kelly, send me an invite?

    Let me warn you – it’s, uh, ambitious. I really am off my rocker.


    (There’s a fabulous finished one here.)

    “Limerick” by Louisa Harding, from Rowan 28. A few things…

    1. No beads. (You can’t even see them in the photo, eh? It called for 2500 beads, prestrung!)
    2. The yarn it calls for is Rowan DK soft, long discontinued – with a gauge of 26 stitches/10 cm. The smallest size is 44″.
    3. Therefore, I’m going to use fingering weight yarn, Louet Gems Pearl (freshly ordered) and aim for a gauge of 7.5 stitches/inch. Should give me a 39″ or so sweater, which is workable.
    4. Knitting back and forth? NO THANKS. I’ll be modifying this to be a seamless raglan.
    5. I have a big test on the 14th, and an assignment due on the 15th. Takes knitting time away.
    6. However, I have reading week the following week (20-24th). Adds knitting time, but there might be other things I want to do during that week.

    Sooooooo. One more thing.

    6. I don’t really expect to finish this in 16 days. BUT (and don’t tell me that’s not the Olympic spirit!), I intend to try my damndest! I’ll definitely be swatching beforehand to get a feel for the pattern and will probably try doing one-handed stranding (Nordic memories was two-handed, but really haphazard since the CC stitches weren’t every often).

    Forward!

    (Yeah, I’m SO nuts.)

  • 100% fleece artist

    New handspun that I just couldn’t stop spinning – the Fleece Artist 65% wool/35% silk roving from this post. I used 2 50g bundles and came up with a whopping 395 or so yards of yarn! It’s not skinny-skinny, it’s maybe fingering-sportweight, around there. It’s just so soft, smooth and shiny! I looooove it. Wool and silk are my favourite combo of fibres.

    Also, here’s a picture of some socks I just finished – basic socks on 60 sts, 3×1 rib cuff and top of foot. Fleece Artist merino sock in ‘Renaissance’.

    They’re much darker in real life. Now to get crackin’ on those Jaywalkers!