How cute is this? It is vry vry cute. ^ This is an Alpacasso. My 17yr went to Otakuthon again this year (She cosplayed as Ricken-it was awesome) and brought me home the alpacasso. I lurve it. But it is not knitting...
FO! I finished my Autumn in Garrison 6 days ago. Then it sat in a bucket of eucalan wash for almost two days before I remembered it was there. Dried it, blocked it (a little, just to show off the leaves) and I'm quite happy with it. A pretty blue hat to go with my light blue cowl (Vite cowl from my last post ) I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bond Off-i'm very into it at the moment. It is, as advertised, surprisingly stretchy.
I took some crappy pictures of course!
So after finishing Autumn in Garrison, I immediately start hunting down another pattern to cast on RIGHT AWAY. Yunno, instead of working on Aiken, or Greenfield. Yup. Instead of knitting wips, I devoted precious knitting time to going through projects on Ravelry in search of my next "quickie". I found three projects that I could knit right from stash. The first was Ice queen by Rosemary Hill. I have some gorgeous lace weight Alpaca that P gifted me last Christmas. As I'm on the fence about beads , I didn't cast on right away,
The second pattern was Superhero mask by Lee Meredith. Using some stashed Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky in dark grey (I think it's called Storm)
I love how the pattern is written. Short rows are my new favourite.
The best part of the pattern is that there are little eyelets on the side, so that you can slip the mask over the arms of your glasses! No more being a blind superhero!
The third pattern is another Lee Meredith pattern: Skoodlet. I bought the pattern, immediately printed up a copy and...cried. There's math involved. So much math. Math that involves actually knitting a swatch so you can get the numbers you need.
That's a dirty trick if you ask me. So instead of doing math, I worked on Aiken. I figured that knitting the sleeves would be so boring that I'd be eager to do the Skoodlet math. Anyway, as I'm knitting the ribbing at the end of the sleeve, I realize I'm not going to have enough yarn to knit the second sleeve. I need two full balls of swish for a sleeve (I like 'em long) and I only have 1 full ball, and one ball that's about 7/8ths of a ball in my stash. I have no interest in playing yarn chicken, joining leftover bits from cast ons and such. So I ordered an extra ball from Knitpicks. *sigh* I'm going to have almost a whole ball of swish left over. Seems like a waste. I wish you could buy smaller put ups...like a choose your own size deal-buy your yarn in 200yrds, 100yrds or 50yrds skeins. That would be awesome.
Check it out! Almost completed sweater! One sleeve down, one to go! And yes, the sleeve knitting was so boring and tedious that I did turn to Skoodlet for something more interesting. I grumbled, and whinged. And then I did the math. Because I like how Lee Meredith writes patterns, and I like the funkiness of the skoodlet. I also like saying skoodlet. With a bad scottish accent. Try it.
I'm using (stashed!) Blue Face Leicester Aran by Fleece Artist. Irritatingly, there's no colourway named on the label, but thanks to Ravelry I think it might be called Smoke? Whatever it's called, it's lovely.
So I got all the stupid math out of the way, and went to cast on the Skoodlet, and lo & behold! New cast-on! It's the Figure 8 provisional cast on, and it's pretty nifty. Hella easy too.
I'm working on section 1, very easy to remember, follow the pattern for 15", perfect for take along knitting (because I'm getting sick of Greenfield). I brought it with me to the park yesterday, to work on while B played with some friends. One of the little girls, who has seen me knitting before (and always asks who I'm knitting for-hint: it's always me), asked what I was making, and who it was for. When I said it was for me, she looked at B with a concerned face and asked if I ever make anything for my kids. HAHAHAHA. Out of the mouths of babes. I then assured her that I do knit for my kids sometimes. (hardly ever)
I'm liking knitting with the BFL. It seems pretty soft, though obviously nowhere near as soft as Merino. Not as "scratchy" as Peruvian Highland (which I can wear just fine, but not on the back of my neck). I have no idea of how it will wash and wear, but it's going to be a hood, so as long as it doesn't shrink, it's all good.
As for the Greenfield cardigan, I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. 65 rows knit, out of 72...until what? I don't even remember anymore. I *think* it's separating the sleeves? I'm not even sure where I put my copy of the pattern, so I can't even check quickly.
I ordered another skein of Yowza! in Fieldmouse from Miss Babs (and a chico bag, because hello? super cute, and only 6$!), even with some contrasting on the sleeves, I'm worried I'm not going to have enough yarn, ok, I KNOW I'm not going to have enough. Of course I'm worried about the colour not being the same, especially given that Fieldmouse was a gift last Christmas, and Yowza is hand dyed, but I figure if I alternate skeins every couple of rows I should be ok.
I'm also planning on knitting the sleeves before I knit the body. Maybe if I use some of the new Fieldmouse in between the contrasting colour, I'll have more of the original to blend with the new for the body. Fortunately, I'll probably receive my Miss Babs order before I even get to the sleeves, so I don't really need to bust my head about it right now.
Current picture of Greenfield-does not look like a cardy yet. longest rows ever.
And in a final little burst of start-itis, I cast on a second sock! (arc-en-ciel)
I know, I'm shocked too. I have no intention of knitting it, it's there in case I need to go somewhere, and need to have something to knit with me and the other 3 projects are in a non-portable state.
In very exciting (to me) news: I'm going to Twist!
My first fibre festival! There will be lots of pictures! It will be the perfect way to end the summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment