FO #100

Finally!!



The boring stuff...
Fabulous Lace Inset Cardigan, knit in Bartlett Yarns Fisherman Bulky (Garnet, 5 skeins) on US10.5 and US11 needles.
Pattern modifications and comments:
Charts are my friend. First I charted the lace pattern so I wouldn't have to work from written row-by-row instructions. Then I created a chart that mirrored the lace pattern, because it didn't seem right to have two identical lace panels opposite each other. So I used the mirror chart for the left front, and used it side by side with the regular chart for the collar and sleeves where two panels of the lace pattern were worked simultaneously.

The finishing instructions were very vague -- good thing I knew to block all the pieces very, very carefully before sewing any of them together, because it would have been a freaking nightmare otherwise. I actually had to block a few pieces more than once. I took 6 rows out of the bell portion of the sleeve because I just knew they would be too long. I wish I'd trusted the same intuition and added 6 rows (or more) to the body...but all in all the length is okay. It hits at my waist which would be great except the mock waist seam thingy looks a little out of place a few inches above my waist.



All in all, I like it, but I'm not GAH over it. The yarn is a bit itchy. I have to be careful what I wear under it so it doesn't look strange peeking out at the bottom. But it's a pretty sweater. If it were three inches longer I'd love it.

I'm also knitting

Just a little.

New to the cardigans-without-sleeves pile:



Last weekend I knit the collar and sewed the side seams -- go me. And I actually did start a sleeve on Monday. You know, before the wheel got here. As soon as I get through the lace part I'm expecting that it'll go pretty quickly. And it will be more portable. It's super cozy -- if I'm lucky I can wear it when I take the kids trick-or-treating. Lucky meaning no rain. A girl can hope, right?

I'm learning

I knew it -- I knew before the wheel came that I'd have to take a few steps backward. It's only natural. My first wee skein came out pretty decent, but like a dork I was a bit overconfident going into the second. It's pretty and all:



But it's kind of dense. Well, more than kind of. I sought some advice on the Pixie boards and the input I received made total sense -- I need to slow down. In the beginning, slower is better. Even if that means that for a few weeks my spindle production is faster than my wheel production.

So I took a deep breath, slowed down, and spun another wee skein that was pretty decent. Sorry, no picture, because the colors are pretty meh. Dyeing accident. I do have a picture of this one though:



Mmmmm, tussah silk. I got brave and decided to see how fine I could spin it. And I just have to say, I can see myself spinning a bit of fingering weight, but I cannot fathom 2-ply laceweight. I finished this and thought, "wow, that's very very very fine! Maybe it's laceweight!!" Wrong...22 wpi. Sure, you can find a *few* charts that categorize it as laceweight, but it's pretty much fingering. And that's okay.



I'm trying to get up the courage to start spinning thank-you yarn on the wheel. But I want it to be as nice as the spindle stuff I've been sending out...so maybe this weekend. I think I need a bit more practice.

it's here!

Kindly ignore all the surrounding clutter.....



It's just lovely.

And here's my first wheelspun yarn...all 40 yards of it! ;)



It's nothing to write home about, but it's balanced and soooo sft. I chose cormo because I knew it would be easy to draft. Spinning? A bit of a challenge figuring out all of the adjustments, as I expected. Plying? A dream. Of course I have to work out the hand stress issues -- among other things -- but I think I'm really going to like it.

:)

Monday, Monday

So, if you've got some cash burning a hole in your PayPal account, and you'd just love a custom-made small knitting project bag, do visit fibersnob and donate to *her* wheel fund. 10% of proceeds got to breast cancer research! What's not to love?

So I'm sitting here like a dumb nutcase lunatic, peering out the window every time a car passes. My wheel is on the UPS truck, and I have the sneaking suspiscion that mine will be the very last package delivered before the UPS guy goes home tonight. After all, it was loaded on the truck at 4:56 this morning. (I know, I know, UPS tracking geek much?) Either that or he will come during the three minutes it takes for me to pick up my daughter at school.

tick, tock, tick, tock......

Basic Earflap Hat -- corrected!!!

While it's fab to be listed on KPC and all -- you would not believe the traffic I get from them alone -- the downside is that there's not way to let the hundreds of people who've visited that there has been a correction to my Basic Earflap Hat pattern. An astute knitter pointed out a GLARING OMISSION to me (doh!) several weeks ago, so I immediately corrected the pattern (changes are in red). But lots of people had already snagged the pattern. And they're coming back to report an unusual outcome of the nipple-y kind, lol. I apologize to all who have knit and wondered what the heck I was smoking!

So anyway, I'm putting up this post in the hopes that I at least catch a few more people before they knit it. Sigh.

And the wheel? As of 3 a.m., it's in Illinois. If only UPS delivered on Saturday......

I knit! I spin!

And yes, my hands do sort of feel like they are going to fall off.



In progress: mittens for kiddo #1...using WOTA that she helped me dye. I fear they'll be too big, so I haven't woven anything in yet. No thumbs yet because I need to try them on her, and I hate teeny diameter circ knitting with DPNS with the passion of then thousand white hot suns. I will finish them soon, though, because as previously mentioned, it snowed here last week. And the drama of trying to find matching mittens that fit and don't have irritating tags in them, as we are rushing out the door, is wearing me out.

In other news, I just completed some bona fide sock yarn!



That's 18wpi, for those of you without superheroish vision. Depending on what chart you look at, fingering weight. It has its *cough* charms, but it's sproingy and soft, and I would so knit with it, if it were mine.

That's been the big *a-ha* around here lately: more and more, I'm really digging the yarn that I'm spinning. Not that I disliked it before, but I'm increasingly feeling like, hey, I would totally pay money for this yarn. I really like it. Woo!

No wheel yet. Suppressed rant over there.

FO #99

Why yes, those are candy cane jammies. It snowed here last week, folks -- anything goes.

The boring stuff: ribbed socks, knit in Knit Picks Parade (which has sadly been discontinued) on US4 needles. CO 36 sts and went from there. I couldn't have come closer if I tried...there were about 2g of yarn left from the 50g ball.

I think she likes them...

No sooner was this sock off the needles, it was on her little foot. For several hours. I said, "I am going to need that back at some point..." Hee.

Me, I'm just enjoying it while it lasts -- God knows they won't be excited about handknit socks forever.

nothing to see here

Nothing about knitting, that is. I've been dyeing, spinning, dyeing, spinning -- though I did knit a swatch the other day. Does that count?

I'm working on an update post for the wheel blog. Hopefully it will be up this afternoon!