NaKniSweMo progress

I feel like I have knit 6 miles of stockinette stitch. I have made gobs of progress on my NaKniSweMo sweater, thanks to the many hours I've spent knitting while watching TV. I've been catching up on episodes of Heroes and watching the third season of Veronica Mars on DVD, both of which are excellent.

I'm probably half through the hip shaping, and the pattern calls for one more inch of stockinette stitch and 18 rows of k1p1. I'm going to try to knit at least 3 more inches of stockinette as I prefer sweaters with long torsos. So far the sweater is fitting great and I have no complaints. I am a little worried about finding a way to pick up the stitches in the armpit to make the sleeve... but I will worry more about that later.

Completed project: Felted bowl

Pattern: Large bowl from One Skein Wonders
Yarn: it looks like bulky Lopi, but the yarn came without labels so I can't be sure

When I first saw the felted bowl pattern I thought "What would anyone do with a felted bowl?" After a few weeks the thought changed to "I need a felted bowl!" After I made this bowl I'm thinking I need a whole set of felted bowls. I'm using this one to hold assorted knitting notions and needles. I think a couple smaller ones would be great for holding sewing notions.

Socktober

I had every intention of finishing my toe-up jaywalkers during the month of Socktober. I finished one sock.



I also started this pair of toe-up socks, with every intention of finishing them. This is as far as I got.



I was really productive craft-wise during the month of Socktober... I just didn't manage to make much progress on the socks :/ I'm hoping next month I can finish up some of my WIPs. I'm going to attempt to finish my Wicked sweater for NaKniSweMo.

Completed project: center square hat

Pattern: Center Square hat
Yarn: Cascade 220

I knit this Center Square Hat in just three hours! Ok, to be truthful, I spent an entire evening knitting the hat on size US11 needles all the way through the fair isle pattern only to try it on and discover it was slightly too big. And sure enough when I checked gauge mine was a few stitches/inch off. Gah! This is the first time I have ever had my gauge be larger than what is called for in the pattern. The next night I knit a second hat (the one pictured) on size 10.5 needles, got the right gauge, the hat fits nicely and only took three hours to knit. I think it went faster the second time because I had memorized the pattern :)

The hat fills two purposes: it matches the fleece jacket that I'll be wearing nearly every day until the temp gets below zero (Fahrenheit) and it was good fair isle practice for the anemoi mittens I hope to make. Previous fair isle attempts include a yellow hat with a Charlie Brown stripe which was woefully small due to my not leaving enough slack in the carried strands. The second (and only other) fair isle piece I've made was the felted skull and crossbones mini tote. Let's just say it's a good thing that project was felted, because the backside was not pretty.

So, this is my third and most successful attempt at fair isle. I think it's a great beginner fair isle pattern because you only have to carry yarn for at most 5 stitches before switching colors. I think frequent color changes help maintain a consistent (and adequate!) ease with the carried strands on the backside. I'm extremely happy with how this hat turned out! The first pic shows the part of the hat where the stripes jog. I tried to correct the jog with an assortment of jogless stripe methods, but none of them worked very well. Some of them even left a hole between where the jog would've been and the next stitch, or left a bumpy, extra big stitch where the jog would've been. I'll just take the jog, please.

It's still pretty warm here (see the thermometer at 55 degrees!) so I won't be wearing this hat for a while.

Completed project: ribs and lace tank

It's done!



I finished my Ribs and Lace Tank about a month ago and finally got around to taking a picture of it. I used KnitPicks Shine Sport in Hydrangea. I had nearly one full ball left over, plus small remnants from two other balls. I added a few inches of ribbing to the top of the shirt in the back but otherwise followed the pattern. I did have to redo the increases and decreases for the bust numerous times, but I finally learned the difference between right-leaning and left-leaning increases. Good stuff to know for the next project! I steam-ironed the ribbed part of the tank top, which really helped it fit and look better. I haven't blocked the lace portion, and I don't think I will. The straps are at kind of a wonky angle, I had to sew the straps of my undershirt to the straps of the tank top to keep the two together. Aside from that, the shirt fits great and I'm looking forward to wearing it again in the spring!

Found!

A complete stranger returned my hat to me this morning on the bus. She said she'd been admiring my handiwork the other day, and wanted to make sure that I got the hat back. How sweet!

Lost!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
LOST
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Last seen at 4:30pm October 10th, 2007, on a seat near the front of the 558 express bus.

Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK
Beads: Matte metallic with blue undertones

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This week the weather went from being 85 degrees on Sunday to being 55 degrees on Monday. It's finally fall here. Fall has the potential to be one of the best seasons in Minnesota, when it's sunny and the leaves are turning and the sky is full of fluffy clouds and it's 60 degrees outside I think it's perfect. But I think we've skipped that lovely portion of fall and went directly to the cold, cloudy, windy, rainy portion of fall. Bleh.

At least the dreary portion of fall gives me a reason to wear all the hats and scarves and mittens I own. And I own a lot of them. Most of them are unmatching or mismatched at best, I never buy or knit a matchy-matchy hat-scarf-glove set. So I've been thinking this fall about what sorts of hats, mittens and scarves I could knit to combine (and match!) with stuff I already own. I've been contemplating the Center Square hat, the Chapeau Marnier hat and the Foliage hat from Knitty and some colorwork mittens like the Anemoi pattern from Eunny Jang.

Then yesterday I lost a hat. One of only two hand-knit hats that I made for myself. A hat that matched my fetching mitts. My Odessa hat! I left it on the bus on my way home from work last night. I called the lost and found and (not surprisingly) it has not been turned in. I hope it's found a good home.

Now my plans for new hat patterns (and mittens) have been put on hold. I really, really miss my Odessa hat. I put hours and hours of work into that hat. It's the only hat I own that matches my fetching mitts, and without it I will probably never wear them. So I need to knit another hat with the same yarn. I have two choices I guess: knit another Odessa hat or knit a new hat pattern in the same color yarn. I don't know which I'll opt for. I'll decide after I'm done mourning the loss of my hat.

Miscellaneous finished projects

I've been trying to use up (some) of my fabric and yarn stash lately. I've actually finished quite a few things, only a few of which I've managed to snap pictures of. Since we're down to less than 12 hours of daylight here, and it's been stormy lately, I've not had many opportunities to take pictures.

I did manage to snap a picture of this envelope clutch that I made with linen and scraps of Amy Butler fabric, lined with some orange cotton that was leftover from a quilt back.



And this Elisa's Nest Tote is a Christmas present for a family member, made from one ball of Rowan 4-ply cotton.



In addition to finishing things, I also cast on a pair of toe-up socks. I'm knitting both socks on one long circular needle. I was really looking forward to this, thinking it would make sock knitting so much easier. What a disappointment! It's just as difficult as knitting with DPNs; but it has a different set of problems. Rather than having DPNs poking out at weird angles, you have two balls of yarn getting tangled up in the giant circular needle, and the circular needle needs constant readjusting and repositioning. But, the good thing about this method is that you can try the socks on as you go and get a much more accurate fit than with DPNs. Also, both socks will be done at the same time. So, while it's no silver bullet for sock knitting, I think this will be my preferred method for sock knitting from now on.

Completed project: tote

I completed one Elisa's nest tote while on vacation. I love the finished product, but I was not so fond of crocheting the seams. I try to avoid patterns with seams, because I hate them so much, but this pattern is so cute that it's worth it. I was motivated to finish it by the Stash and Burn one skein contest.

Miscellaneous

Lately I've been slogging along on two of my works-in progress, the ribs and lace tank:



and the toe-up jaywalker socks:



Both items fit perfectly. They are coming along slowly due to a few mistakes (and thus rework) and the small gauge that they're knit in. I'm hoping to have the tank done by the end of September, and the socks done by the end of our trip to Italy.

We're leaving for Italy soon, so this will be my last post for a few weeks. I'm ridiculously excited for this trip, we've been preparing for it for nearly a year now. I'll post pictures when we return. Ta ta!

WIP: ribs and lace tank

It seems like I've been knitting forever on this tank. I swear, for the last three days I have been knitting but the tank is not getting any longer... every time I measure I still have 2 inches to go before I can switch to the rib pattern.

Completed project: wrap skirt

It's been unseasonably cool here lately, it almost felt like fall earlier this week. Yesterday I took advantage of the chance to wear my brand new corduroy skirt, made from the free wrap skirt pattern at Fitz Patterns.



This is the third wrap skirt I've made from the pattern. The first (my favorite) was denim, the second was polyester suiting. The pattern is super, super easy and takes less time to make than it would take me to drive to the store, find and buy a skirt.

WIP: Ribs and lace tank

I'm 1.5 balls of yarn into the ribs and lace tank from the spring 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. I love the color of the yarn, Knitpicks Shine Sport in Hydrangea.

WIP: toe-up jaywalker sock

I've just begun a pair of toe-up jaywalker socks. I'm really loving the yarn, Trekking XXL, which was birthday present from my little sister.

Completed project: Skull and crossbones mini tote

Done! It's a bit smaller than I'd hoped, but its large enough to hold the essentials - keys, planner and wallet. Putting it in the washer for a few more rounds did not de-fuzz it as I had hoped, but it did shrink it a whole lot more. I ended up using the beard trimmer on my husband's razor to make it look less fuzzy. I think my next project with this yarn will be a felted bowl, and then perhaps a larger tote.



Just to put it in scale, the tote is not as tall as a paperback book:

Chicago

This weekend we went to Chicago, one of my favorite cities, to visit family. We took the Metra into the city and had a really fabulous time. We had lunch at the Taste of Chicago and spent some time at the Adler Planetarium. We had wanted to go to the Shedd Aquarium but the line to get in had to be a quarter mile long. The Planetarium was an excellent second choice. We briefly stopped at Loopy Yarns where I picked up a bamboo and cotton blend sock yarn and a big ball of hemp yarn, which I already have projects in mind for. Then we walked around downtown for a bit and happened upon Millennium Park, home of the world's largest shiny metal bean:



We stopped at the Berghoff for dinner on our way back to the train station. It was one of Chicago's oldest restaurants and obtained the city's first liquor license after prohibition ended. It's now the home of 17/west, a restaurant run by a daughter of the previous owners. The Berghoff is mentioned in at least one of Max Allan Collin's (my favorite author) books about the fictional detective Nate Heller and I've wanted to visit it ever since reading about it. The interior is very cool; lots of great old woodwork, chandeliers and murals. It was not a disappointment.

Completed project: Anastasia socks

They're done!





The differences in striping and pooling bothered me at first, but it's starting to grow on me now. The socks fit, they're comfortable and I'm really pleased with the way they turned out. The only thing I'd do differently next time is choose a different bind off - the picot bind off is pretty but it flares out a bit too much at the top.

Swap

Sarah's received the swap package that I sent out this week, so it's safe to post pictures. First up is the Odessa hat. It's a light blue color with frosty white beads, but the color picture looks a bit funky (the yellow paint on the walls was making the hat look green) so I'm posting a B&W picture instead:



I used a cable cast-on for this hat, which I think worked beautifully. It's stretchy, yet more stable and and nicer-looking than other cast-ons I've used. I used a size US6 needle for the cast-on, then downsized to US4 for the ribbing.

Next up is the Bluebell version of the Perdita bracelet:





This pattern was super fun to make, and it was a great warm-weather knitting project - not wool and not big. I'm really happy with how this bracelet turned out and I'll definitely be making some more. I used blue Pearl Cotton that is very close in color to the Odessa hat. The pattern is different from every other lace pattern I've tried because it requires you to do lace-y stitches on both the right and wrong sides of the piece. If you compare the Bluebell chart to the other styles of Perdita bracelet you'll notice that the Bluebell chart has symbols on every line, while the other versions have symbols on every other line. What this means is that for the other versions you do all the fancy stitches (yarnovers and decreases) on the right (or knit) side of the piece and then simply purl every stitch on the wrong side. For the Bluebell bracelet you must do yarnovers and decreases on the both the knit and purl sides. This gives it a different look from other lace projects I've done and makes it a bit more of a challenge. I would recommend that beginning lace knitters (and people who aren't very fond of purling) start with one of the other styles of the Perdita pattern.

I blocked the bracelet before I attached the buttons and crocheted button holes. I soaked it in water for about 10 minutes, then pressed it between two terrycloth towels to remove excess water. Then I laid the bracelet out flat on a folded terrycloth towel. I used pins to secure the bracelet on the towel. I had to rearrange the pins a few time to make sure that the bracelet was evenly stretched. The bracelet took about 24 hours to dry completely.



I noticed after sewing the buttons on and crocheting the buttonholes that the edges of the bracelet had already started to curl. I think the bracelet may need to be re-blocked after a few wears to keep the edge flat, although I kinda like it a little bit curled. I don't think the other styles of the Perdita bracelet would curl quite so much.

One thing I learned on subsequent trips to the craft store is that DMC also makes a linen embroidery floss that looks to be roughly the same weight as the Pearl Cotton. The linen floss is stranded because it's meant to be separated, while the Pearl Cotton is not. I think the linen floss may be prone to splitting but it has potential to make a really great bracelet. It only comes in a limited number of what I would call antique-y colors, which is kind of a bummer. But I would like to give it a try anyway.

Busy busy busy

Quite a lot has happened since my last post. Most notably my husband and I bought plane tickets to Italy! We're leaving in late August and staying for two weeks. I can't wait! I'm very ready for a vacation, and I'm really excited to travel internationally for the first time. I'm attempting to learn (a little bit of) Italian, I found a really great podcast that I've been listening to while I'm on the bus. We've been roughing out our itinerary and soon we'll be making reservations at hostels and museums and buying train passes. I've already made a little countdown gadget for my Google homepage so that I can keep track of exactly how many more days until we leave.

Our house has improved greatly in the past couple of weeks. We now have insulation! We hired some pros to install blown-in cellulose insulation. Our house was previously insulated with a few sheets of newspaper stapled to the exterior walls. Newspaper! In Minnesota! We also started drywalling our basement. We started with the ceiling, which is the worst and hardest part. But the good news is that after only one Saturday afternoon we are half done with the ceiling. The walls will be much, MUCH easier to do since we will not have to hold the giant pieces of sheetrock above our heads as we attempt to secure them in place.

I've harvested some things from my garden. Mostly salad greens, garlic and rhubarb, but also some herbs, 3 currants and 8 strawberries. I'm hoping that soon we'll have tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, broccoli, cucumbers, green beans, grapes and assorted gourds. The chipmunks, birds and rabbits have also harvested a lot of things from the garden... about 47 strawberries, a gazillion currants and a brand new asparagus plant.

As for crafty things, I've been knitting a lot. I worked on a swap package for Sarah the past few weeks, which I'll post pictures of later. I'm working on a third wrap skirt from Fitz Patterns. I've worked quite a bit on the Wheel of Mystery quilt, I'm probably two hours away from finishing the piecing of the top. I've been slacking off on taking pictures of works-in-progress, the only picture I have is for my Anastasia socks.



It's a rather sad picture. You'll notice that they look... different. I'm really not sure what could've caused the difference in striping. My gauge is the same, they're the same number of stitches, they're from the same ball of yarn. The yarn is hand-dyed (by me) so that could have something to do with it. Maybe it's the fact that the eyelets spiral in different directions? I think I'll have to do some math next time I dye yarn and either make it purposefully self striping or do a better job of making an un-pooling variegated yarn.

Completed project: pullover sweater

It's done! This is my favorite sweater yet. I added a few inches to the neckline since the last post, and now it fits perfectly.

WIP: Mini skull and crossbones tote

The mini skull and crossbones tote has gone through the wash cycle about 5 times. It's about the right size, but it is way, WAY too fuzzy for me. I'm hoping that a few more times through the wash cycle will de-fuzz it. As a back-up plan it's been suggested that I use a sweater shaver.

WIP: Wicked sweater

This is the one positive thing that came out of the two days I had to stay home sick from work. Well, that and the fact that I was sick on a work day instead of a weekend.



In between NyQuil-naps I managed to knit the first bit of a Wicked sweater. So far it looks like my gauge is a little off. I should have 18 stitches per 4 inches, but instead I have around 19 or 20 stitches per 4 inches. The sweater is knit from the top-down so I should be able to adjust the pattern to fit by adding a few more rows of increases to compensate for the slightly smaller gauge.

WIP: Mini skull and crossbones tote

I cast on for this tote Thursday afternoon during the five hour drive home. The pattern is pretty simple, and knits up very quickly. I'd finished knitting it by Sunday afternoon. It's now in the process of felting. The half-felted purse is a bit fuzzier than I would like... I'm hoping it gets less fuzzy after a few more cycles in the washing machine.

Pullover sweater

I have kind of a love-hate relationship with knitting sweaters... I love picking out patterns, choosing yarn and starting to knit. But I hate trying on half-knit sweaters, getting jabbed with the knitting needles that are sticking out in every direction, trying to decide if it fits or not. And I hate trying to adjust patterns... I am just not good at it. And I hate that point where I try the sweater on, see that it's not fitting how I'd hoped, and have to decide whether to just live with it or do it all over again.

This sweater, however, was not too bad. I'm not a big fan of the yarn, I quickly discovered that it splits easily and snags on everything. But the sweater actually fits. It's knit from the bottom up. I started out doing a medium, then decreased to a small at the waist. I completely re-wrote the pattern for the sleeves... the pattern called for them to be knit from the cuff up, and then SEAMED to the shoulders. Um, no. I hate seaming. When I got to the point where I needed to cast on stitches to make the armhole I did a provisional cast on. Then, after I had finished knitting the body, I went back and picked up the live stitches from the provisional cast on and started knitting the sleeves from the shoulders down. Much better.

The only thing I need to (re)do is the neckline... it's much to wide for me. I plan to rip out the five rows of 1x1 rib and add a few more inches of the body pattern. Then this will be my best sweater yet :)

Tutorial: One-handle tote with loop closure

As promised, here's the tutorial to make a one-handle tote with a loop closure (pictured below).



Figure 1. Finished tote
MATERIALS:

• Fat quarter* of medium to heavy weight fabric - or - light weight fabric and fusible interfacing


• Fat quarter* of light weight fabric


• Coordinating thread

*This tote does not use a lot of fabric. I used scraps of fabric leftover from other projects to make the tote. If I were to purchase new fabric for this project, I would buy a fat quarter (or a quarter yard would work, too) of each fabric.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Wash and dry the fabrics (assuming you are not using dry-clean only fabric)

• Straight-stitch around the edge of your fat quarters (or quarter yard, or fabric scrap) so that the edges will not fray.


• Wash and dry the fabrics.

I know this seems like a lot of work for a tiny tote bag, but if there is any possibility that your tote bag may ever get wet, rained on, stained and/or need to be laundered you need to wash and dry the fabric before you cut the pieces for the tote. This will prevent any dye bleeding and weird shrinkage problems that could occur when your finished tote bag gets wet or laundered.

Iron all of the fabric. This is a crucial step if you want a nice end product. If you are using a light weight fabric (instead of a medium or heavy weight fabric) for the outside of the tote, now would be the time to iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the light weight fabric.

Cutting the pieces:

• Medium to heavy weight fabric - or - light weight fabric with interfacing fused to wrong side
  
  
  
  • Tote: 8 x 20 inches
  
  
  • Handle: 3 x 12 inches
  
  
  • Loop closure: 1 x 4 inches
  
  
  
  


• Light weight fabric
  
  
  
  • Tote lining: 8 x 20 inches
  
  
  
  

Construct the handle and loop closure:

• Both the handle and the loop closure are constructed just like a piece of double-fold bias tape**:
  
  
  
  • Fold the pieces in half the long way.
  
  
  • Iron.
  
  
  • Unfold the pieces.
  
  
  • Fold the long edges of the pieces in to the ironed crease you just made.
  
  
  • Iron.
  
  
  • Fold the pieces in half the long way, along the original ironed crease you made.
  
  
  • Iron.
  
  
  
  


• Straight stitch as close as you can along both long edges of the handle and loop closure.


• Clip threads.

**If you'd like to see pictures of this process please see my wristlet tutorial.

Construct the tote and lining:

Repeat these steps with both the lining and the outer fabric:

• Fold the piece in half the short way with right sides together. The crease will be the bottom of the bag.


• Straight stitch using 1/2 inch seam allowance from the top to the bottom (the raw edges to the crease) on both sides of the fabric.


• Iron.


• For each corner (see picture below):
  
  
  
  • Pinch one bottom corner of the bag so that the crease meets the side seam.
  
  
  • Adjust the seam allowance to one side. Put some thought into which side - you want the lining and outer fabric to have the seam allowance on different sides.
  
  
  
  




• Pin.


• Straight stitch about 1" in from the corner, perpendicular to the crease and seam.


• Clip threads.

Figure 2. Sewing corners of tote lining

Sew all of the pieces together:

• Tack the flappy corners of the tote and lining together.
  
  
  
  • Lay the tote and lining side by side. You want the seams for the lining and outer fabric to be going in different directions.
  
  
  • Pin the adjacent flappy corners together
  
  
  
  

Figure 3. Lining up the first flappy corner of the tote and lining

• Tack corners together


• Tack remaining two corners together in same manner. You'll have to twist the fabric a bit to get the corners to line up. When you're done you want the flappy corners to be between the bottoms of the lining and tote.

Figure 4. Lining up second flappy corner of the tote and lining.



Figure 5. Flappy corners tacked together, between bottoms of lining and tote

Attach handles and sew final seam:

• Turn tote right side out. Leave lining right side in.


• Fold in the raw edges of both the lining and tote:
  
  
  
  • Fold over the top of the lining by about 1/2 inch, wrong sides together, just as you would for a hem. Use a ruler!
  
  
  
  




• Iron.






• Fold over the tote fabric by about 1/2 inch, wrong sides together. Use a ruler!






• Iron.


• Make sure that the folded edges of the lining and tote line up - they should both be the same height.




• Pin the handle in place. It should go from the middle of one side of the tote to the middle of the other side of the tote. The ends of the handle should be between the lining and outer fabric. Use a ruler!
  
  
  
  • EDIT: You could also place both ends of the handle on one side of the bag, this will make the handle easier to pull through the loop closure. See Sarah P Dot's cute tote as an example.
  
  
  
  


• Pin the loop closure in place. The loop closure should be on top (outside) of the handle, not between the two halves of the handle (see picture of completed totes below and at beginning of post), with the ends of the loop closure about 1/2 inch on either side of the handle. Pull the handle through the loop closure to close the bag - do a couple test-closures to make sure that the loop is the right size/distance from the handle. This really varies depending on what weight fabric you're using.

Figure 6. Top of completed tote, note position of loop closure

• Baste the handle and loop closure in place.***


• Straight stitch around the entire top of the tote as close as you can to the edge.


• If you basted the handle and loop closure in place, rip out the basted stitches

***This step is optional, but highly advised if you're using slippery fabric or have any doubts about your ability to successfully straight stitch around the entire top of the tote in one go.

You're done! As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. I'd love to see pictures of finished products!

Completed project: Shetland triangle shawl

Well, it's finished. Sort of. It's quite a bit smaller than I had hoped it would be, even though I did one extra repeat of the body pattern. The finished dimensions, after blocking, are 49 inches wide by 17 inches long. It also used much less yarn than what the pattern called for. I ordered three balls of yarn and used about 1 and 2/5 balls.



I would really like the shawl to be a little bit larger, about 2-3 body pattern repeats wider. I'm undecided as to whether I should rip out the 14 row edging and add 2-3 more body pattern repeats -or- knit another shawl. But that decision will have to wait until school is finished... right now I have to go back to my craft hiatus (and homework).

WIP: Wheel of Mystery quilt

I've had to cut back a bit on my crafting time due to school projects and out-of-town-visitors, but I did have enough time this week to piece a few blocks of the Wheel of Mystery quilt.



The center of each block is kinda tricky to piece, there's a lot of bulk there and it's difficult to get the curved pieces to line up correctly. But it's worth the effort, I love how the blocks look!!

Completed project: Bell Sleeve Sweater

This weekend I finished my second sweater. The pattern is the "To Dye For" sweater from the Stitch and Bitch book. I used the knitpicks suri dream yarn. The pattern is super simple.



I'm pretty happy with the results. I wish the yarn weren't so fuzzy, but it's very soft and surprisingly warm (thanks to the alpaca fiber, I'm sure) for something that is so airy.

If I knit this pattern again (which I probably will) I'll choose a less fuzzy yarn, make the body a bit longer, the neck line a bit smaller and maybe even knit the body in a slightly smaller size.

WIP: Shetland Triangle

Progress: 65 rows of body pattern

Right now I'm thinking I bought way too much yarn for this project. The pattern called for about 550 yards of yarn. I bought 3 balls of Knitpicks gloss, each with 220 yards of yarn. I'm 65 rows into the body pattern and I'm still on my first ball-o-yarn. The pattern calls for 80 rows of the body pattern, and I'm almost certain I'll still be on my first ball then. Oh well, better too much yarn than too little, right?

Completed project: small tote bag

This is the small tote bag I made for the goodies pouch swap on swapbot. It arrived at its new home in Canada this week.





I'm really liking the loop closure totes lately. This is the second one I've made so far. I'll be posting a tutorial for them soon.

Knitting: Shetland Triangle WIP

Yarn: Knitpicks gloss - 70% merino 30% silk
Progress: Row 49 of body pattern

I've been working on my Shetland Triangle shawl almost exclusively lately. I love the lace pattern, it's making me never want to knit in plain stockinette stitch again... not a good thing, considering I just ordered enough yarn for 2 Wicked sweaters. I'm "half" done. I'm going on row 50 out of 100, so I've completed half the rows... but since each row gets a little bit longer than the last, I'm not half done stitch-wise. There is still a lot of work to go. I'll definitely have this completed before fall.

Completed project: Spring flowers stitch markers

I'm immensely proud of how cute these stitch markers are! The pastel colors and the dainty little flowers make them feel so spring-timey. They have sterling silver findings and fit needles up to size US 10.5.

WIP: Shetland Triangle

I just joined the Scarf Style/Wrap Style KAL. I'm making the Shetland Triangle shawl from the book Wrap Style.



Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss - 70% merino 30% silk
Progress: Row 13 of body pattern

I cast on for this shawl a few days ago, and I love how it is knitting up! I was a little nervous about this project at first, as it is my first lace project, but it's turning out to be much easier than I thought it would be. I had a little bit of trouble when casting on and knitting the first 10 or so rows, but now that the pattern is established things are going much smoother.

Completed project: Citrus stitch markers

Here's my latest set of stitch markers. The colors remind me of citrus trees, my all-time favorite being the meyer lemon tree. I'm insanely jealous of people who live in a climate where they can grow citrus trees outside, or who have enough of a green thumb to keep them alive indoors. I, unfortunately, can do neither.



In the background is a raglan sweater I started a year or so ago and never got very far on. The yarn is Knitpicks Vacation, which is a little awkward to work with because of its thick-and-thin texture. I'm going to buckle down and complete it this year, hopefully in time to wear this fall.

Completed project: Turquoise stitch markers

I just finished a set of turquoise stitch markers. There are 4 closed-ring stitch markers and 2 locking stitch markers, great for knitting socks and lace!