Monday, September 28, 2009

A little something that arrived in the mail today...


I had no idea Cascade Eco Wool was so huge in person. It smells sheepy, which I actually don't mind, and I can't wait to cast on for a second Shalom Cardigan. I even have the perfect buttons waiting for it. Is it wrong to start another project before I've finished Henley Perfected? My Henley is more difficult than I thought it would be, so who knows when I'll be able to finish it whereas my first Shalom only took me 2 weeks to knit. Plus, the lace scarf is going pretty slowly, but I won't worry because I still have another 2.5 months to finish it. :-D

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Some of my latest WIPs...

I realized that I don't blog about my WIPs as I used to, so I thought I would whip up a couple pictures to show everybody.

Here's what I have at the moment for Henley Perfected, although I'm a bit stalled because I'm not sure how to proceed next. Instead of working flat in pieces, I did the stockinette portion in the round, and then worked back and forth for some of the lace portion. Now I'm wondering how I should shape the armholes along with the sleeves...



Since I don't like to waste time when I'm stuck on a project, I decided to cast on for the Falling Water Lace Scarf last night. Think of it as an early start on my Christmas gifts. This will go to my bf's mother. I figure I should give myself plenty of time to work on it since it's laceweight yarn. I'm feeling a bit dubious about the way it looks now, but hopefully it'll be much prettier once I block it.


Speaking of blocking, I accidentally stained my belowed Sew EZ blocking board the other night with my recently finished gloves. :-( Grrr...I really should have set the yarn with vinegar, but I forgot. Does anybody know how to remove stains from a blocking board? The spots are very faint, but still I love my board so much and I just want to keep it as clean as possible forever. :-(

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Destash!


So I finally got around to photographing most of my yarn stash this weekend. I'm thinking I really should start destashing. There's nothing wrong with any of the yarns I have, except for the fact that I have too much yarn and too little time.

Please check out http://www.ravelry.com/people/crochetgurl/stash/trade and let me know if you're interested in any of them.

Thanks!

Note: All yarns come from a pet-free, smoke-free environment. Yarns have always been stored in a ziplock bag. I can only ship within the USA.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

"There's a lock on top"


After owning my tabletop swift for a year now and still having problems on how to use it, it kinda figures that my non-knitting bf figured it out before me.

There's a lock on top, he said. And little locks on the bottom.

What he meant was that knobby thing that screws down in the middle of the swift. I had always thought it was a decorative knob and had no idea it served a function.

What used to take me at least 30 minutes to 4.5 hours (in extreme cases) to wind a ball has now been shaved down to 8 minutes. Patience...

Monday, September 7, 2009

FO: Ishbel

Remember this?


After a week of furious knitting, it has transformed into...Ishbel!



* Ishbel scarf

* Wingz...I haz them

* And we have lift off!


* Oooh, lace

* And for kicks, Babushka Ishbel!

* Finally, to amuse my photographer, Ninja Ishbel!

I never thought of myself as a shawl type of person, but Ishbel has really sold me on the idea. So much so that I will probably make many more in the future for both myself and as Christmas gifts. (Shh...I already ordered the yarn.) I am a huge fan of Ysolda's Gretel and this pattern was very clear, as always. She even goes so far as to create both written and chart directions. I went with the written directions in order to avoid misreading the charts. This is the second shawl I have ever knitted (first being the Textured Shawl for my mom), and the first shawl I have ever made for myself. I plan to make another one with some Misti Alpaca Lace that I picked up recently that was deeply discounted at WEBS. Only $6.02 (that's including the shipping) for another Ishbel!

The only problem I had with this FO had to do with the yarn. I have never worked with Malabrigo before although I keep hearing all these wonderful compliments about how heavenly it is. For me, it was a nightmare. I'm not sure if I simply got stuck with a bad skein or what, but it took me and bf 4.5 hours to wind it up. Actually, it was mostly bf doing the winding and untangling of knots. The yarn literally kept knotting upon itself and was really sticky. So much so that I still have about 100 yards left in knots that I'm going to have to throw away. But once I finished knitting up Ishbel and blocking it, the yarn was so soft and light that I might actually go through torture again for another one. I wound up one of my Misti Alpaca Lace skeins the other day and magically, it only took me 30 minutes! This time I was very careful to not use my swift, but to place it carefully around 2 chair backs and locate the ties before starting. :-) But the Alpaca Lace wasn't sticky at all, so I wonder if it really was Malabrigo's fault.


Pattern:
Ishbel by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Amoroso, Colorway #157
Amount: Less than a ball, probably around 330 yards
Needles: US 6
Mods: None

Size: Pre-blocked = 37" wide by 13.5" deep, Post-blocked = 43" wide by 18" deep

FO: Leaf Yoke Top II

* Angled FO


* Front

* Collar detail


* Hem close-up...they're supposed to be hearts, but don't they look like triangles?


What can I say? I loved my first Leaf Yoke Top so much that I decided to make a second one in a leafy-green color. You may recall that I knitted Green Gable last year, but I never truly liked it so I had only worn it once or twice. In order to not live with mediocrity, I decided to frog Green Gable, and voila, Leaf Yoke Top II was born! I know I'll definitely get more wear from this FO, and it's something I can wear easily to the office as well. :-)

Pattern:
Leaf Yoke Top from Spring/Summer 2009 Knit.1 Magazine

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Peridot
Amount: 2.5 balls
Needles: US 4 and 6
Mods: Cast on 8 sts instead of 10 sts for the armholes
Added an inch in length by doing increase rows every 6th round instead of every 5th round
Added an extra increase round for the waist
Worked to 18 inches before starting the heart lace pattern from the Vogue Knitting book
Only picked up 40 sts around the armhole (not including the 36 sts held on waste yarn)