while I haven't had that much time to knit for myself in the last few months, I did manage to get a few things done during any down time. my goal was to get everything out of my knitting basket by either finally finishing it or frogging it. thankfully, my basket wasn't too full.

the first to go was my lone jaywalker. for some reason I never bothered to knit the second sock, making the first one kinda of pointless. I knew I still wanted something more than just plain stockinette for the yarntini, so I repurposed the yarn into a zig zag scarf from scarf style. now I get to enjoy that merino goodness around my neck. I love the end result, but while knitting I remembered how much I hate knitting scarves!!! (how much? about three exclamations worth)

ah, that poor puffy sleeve blouse from fitted knits. I started it a year ago (I had to search the blog to figure that one out), ran out of yarn, then out of steam, and then I take a craptastic picture of it to commemorate its 'doneness'. sorry stef! I used a lambswool/cashmere/angora blend that I bought from a mill and I've seen some dyers start selling it now. it isn't that impressive in the skein, but once washed the fabric is soft with a slight halo from the angora and cashmere. the only mods I made, that I remember, were getting rid of the lace peplum and just increasing at the same rate as the pattern and lengthening the cardi at the peplum. does needing more yarn than the pattern state count as a mod?!

once I had cleared most of my basket, jess sent me the most wonderful gift! how could one resist some gorgeous hand-dyed pink! and grey silk/cashmere yarn? I debated between a sweater or a scarf/shawl. I knew I wanted something cozy, so the scarf won.

I knew going into it that this was going to get monotonous, but I had a few things on my side. the yarn is in the aran to chunky range, so I knit using 6mm needles and increased till there were about 70 stitches, I knit mindlessly while watching tv, and did I mention how gorgeous this yarn is?! it's unbelievably soft and has a gorgeous sheen, I wear it around the house just to feel the fabric. this is definitely a decadent knit. I finished it before the wedding, hoping to wear it that day but unfortunately it wasn't cool enough that weekend (in october. in the fall.) at least it's finally gotten cold the last couple of weeks so I can wear it all the time and not have people comment (why do people feel they can question my level of coldness at the supermarket? why yes, I am cold!)

Posted by bitter purl at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn:HPY lace pure wool >triple stranded in Oceanos
Needles: 5mm (US 8) vintage plastic Boyes
Date Started: 11.09.05
Date Finished: 11.17.05

So does me finally knitting this mean this pattern is dead? Am I officially the last knitter that will work on this until it becomes retro and hip to knit it again? While knitting this I thought I would never finish it, section three became a black hole where I kept going and going and never seeing the end. It felt a lot longer than it actually took, I guess eight days isn't too bad. Not talking about it made things go faster, though I'm glad it's over!

There isn't too much left to say about this pattern right? I wish someone had warned me how monotonous this was going to get though. I've noticed that most people changed the number of increases and decreases, but, for some reason, I did the whole thing. My gauge was 5spi resulting in a long, warm stole, if not a shawl. Pre-blocking the measurements were 18"x58", but after washing it I was able to stretch it out to 20"x60-something" (my ruler doesn't go that long!). It's still drying, but I'm hoping it plumps up a little again. I'm just letting it dry flat on a towel, no pinning this time, which I think will help.

Since there's not much to say about the pattern, let's talk yarn. I was worried that using a worsted weight yarn would be too heavy and I'm glad I went with my instinct. Triple stranding the yarn helped me keep things light while still getting the size, drape, and warmth I wanted. Tripling also helped keep any true color pooling at bay. I had heard of a lot of people buying HPY lace, but I really didn't find anyone knitting it up yet (hoarders!). I'm glad to say that my yarn didn't reek of vinegar, wasn't wet, and wasn't felted. My skeins had a soft halo and the colors had a pretty sheen to them. The colors even matched what I saw on my monitor! I didn't see any color bleeding when I dunked le clap into it's bath. Actually, nothing really happened in the bath, the yarn basically came out the same (which is always a good thing).

On a side note, I switched from Eucalan to Kookaburra and can I say how much better I like it? The smell alone was better, it has a cool little measuring reservoir, and it felt like it was actually softening up the wool. Eucalan never really did anything for me and it didn't suds up enough to feel like it was really cleaning anything. Kookaburra gets my suds quota approval.

One gift done! I'll be taking a break this weekend to knit stuff up for moi until holiday knitting starts up again for mi mama. I'm sure I'll complain about how long that ones takes as well. Till then I have some socks and a boring hat to entertain me.

Posted by bitter purl at 02:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)

I've been a procrastinator my whole life. I get everything done, at the last minute. The last time I got things done quickly was the day I was born, my mom almost had me in the car and the whole deal took less than half an hour (of course, maybe my parents were the procrastinators then). Now, there are different types of procrastinors. There are the lazy, half-assed ones; they were late with everything and still failed or just didn't care. The middle of the road procrastinators; they would procrastinate, would get scared and do everything before it was too late. Then there are the master procrastinators, this is where I am. We live on the edge, laugh at deadlines, yet somehow find the most efficient way of doing things and got A's for our little effort. Did I tell you that I turned in my Senior Paper a week after it was due (and a week before graduation)? Why work on my paper all semester and stress out when I can write it in one night and have the Proff love it? I heart efficiency.

I'll admit though, sometimes I was really under pressure and the stress would get to me. In graduate school I swore to change my ways and turned in my thesis paper a month or two before the semester was done. Last month I had this genius plan to start my holiday knitting, but somehow that didn't happen. Deciding what to knit took a while (and a couple of consultations with my mom) and the yarn took forever to get here. That old stress from college is sneaking up on me.

This mess is some of the yarn that will magically turn into gifts. Right about now I wish I knew that old water into wine trick. A knitting machine would be nice. Or I would love a knitting staff of my own to boss around. Actually looking at it laid out like this, it isn't going to be that bad. I'm sure I'll be done in time, though there may be a sacrifice or two (the boy's sweater). Want to see the world's most boring progress shot?

This is the first gift I got started on this week. It's a crap-o-tee for Ms. I-really-want-grandkids. This is at the boring end of the second section, so apparently I'm at the fun part where I get to drop stitches. I can't believe I got suckered to knit this (aren't I a year late to ride this wave?). The bf picked out the color (oceanos from handpaintedyarns) and I really hope the color breaks up a little more after there are some ladders in there.

You know what? I was wrong, this is the world's most boring progess shot. In a totally selfish move I cast on some thigh-highs for me. Actually, that's the start of a sleeve for the old Hourglass (yet another bandwagon I'm jumping on). What can I say, it's getting cold and I need a sweater. I figure I could knit the sleeves while watching TV and work on Clapotis all the other time. Also, since I'm messing with the gauge all I have to rip is one sleeve if I totally hate it.

Posted by bitter purl at 06:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)