Le Slouch

Here's le slouch that I did this weekend (when I should have been working on about a thousand other things instead!)



Pattern: Le Slouch
Yarn: Noro Cash Laine (80% wool, 20% cashmere)
Needles: I think I used my interchangeable set instead of the prescribed DPNS (until the very end that is)

I love seed stitch, it may actually be my favourite looking stitch. I definitely plan to do this hat again, I think it didn't come out quite as "slouchy" as it should have. Due in large part to the stiffness of the yarn I chose. I have some black alpaca I may try it in. I liked the Noro, but it came out way striped as opposed to "varigated" so I'm concerned that it's somehow become my "Rasta" hat:



It doesn't seem to look as slouchy in these photos as it actually is. I dunno. Like most things, now that it's done I feel completely ambivalent about it.

I'm definitely into the cranberry's and raspberry's these days. My cashmere cowl is somewhat stalled out though.

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I'm thinking about starting over...I can't decide if the weave is too loose for me. I may go down to smaller needles and cast on a lot more stitches...it's hard to tell at this point if it will even fit over my head. bah.

A fuzzy victory

The angora scarf is done!



Pattern: Gossamer Shell Scarf from One Skein Wonders
Yarn: Fleece Artist hand-dyed Peter Rabbit (70% angora, 20% nylon, 10% wool)

and I've also got a skein in a green mix that I'm debating on doing another one in:

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One skein was the perfect amount for this project, I used up the entire thing and the scarf was just shy of the magic 60 inches number, somewhere around 58 inches I think. It was a bit niggley at first, but once I had all the yarn overs memorized it went up pretty quickly. The varigations in the yarn showed up really well in the waviness of this scarf. My one suggestion though would be to try and bind off on a pattern row---my finished end isn't as scallopped as my cast on end, but maybe that's just cuz I bound off too tight--I was hell bent on having NO yarn to spare. Here it is draped over a window for a better look at the pattern itself:



This pattern actually took a little longer than anticipated, mostly because frequent stops were a necessity with all that angora. I'd knit a few rows and then be sneezing for an hour, so the jury's still out on whether I'm actually allergic to angora or not. Odds are good since I'm pretty much allergic to all animals, I just force myself to suffer through. But hard to say, could be just that so much fuzz always seemed to be up my nose. Wearing it garners kind of the same results, when you take it off you wonder which cat made a nest of your coat when you weren't looking.

I had a wow, duh moment yesterday when I was shown a new tip: after you've cast something on and are about to knit your first row, knit with both the yarn and the tail from the cast on for a few stitches. That way when your project's done it's one less strand to weave in, and you can just snip it. Genius! I'll have to try that for everything now, and see how it goes.

I tore out those fleece artist socks last night and started fresh with a new sock pattern. My original idea to knit "one bad" and then "one good" seems pretty silly in retrospect, so I'm going to try actually sizing those babies to my feet. I like having at least one "little" project on the go (otherwise I feel like I'm never accomplishing anything!) so until I find something I like better, I guess for now it is grudgingly, those socks. I hesitate to start the angora mittens, given that there might be an exzema attack in my future if I do. Gah this sudden yarn-allergy development is a bit of a bummer.

Though it doesn't seem to bother Archie at all.

the Purl beret

wow, what a difference...I think an accurate colour actually lies somewhere in between.

Pattern: the purl bee
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM 100% merino --sorry not sure of the colourway --will find out.

I am all about the berets these days. I actually took out a few rows in an effort to make this beret smaller for my 'lil pea head, but now I kind of regret doing it. I'm sorta tempted to tear it out and start over. Yet apathy takes hold, because really it's fine the way it is. What I'm more likely to do is knit it again in another colour. That aubergine apple pie yarn I just bought, perhaps? I have a feeling I'll be knitting this pattern over and over again.

I still have trouble with those last few stitches when I'm using DPNS. My I-cord wound up looking more like a nipple, but I'm okay with that...I think I need to join a good class or SNB so I can actually get some help on these things....Trips to my mothers are too few and far between.

And speaking of my mother, look what she just knit for my sister's childcare auction:



tee hee. The beardos are my favourites...maybe grumpy, natch.

Eyemasks

The Zsa Zsa in me loves to sleep with an eyemask on. I admit it, I'm not a pretty sight at night. Especially since I tend to break the cardinal rule of always taking your make-up off before bed. I know it's a no-no, but at that point all I wanna do is sleep, I don't want to have to take the time to "prepare to sleep".

To wit, this was so fun and fast to knit:



and thank-you to my handsome model, who threw his masculinity aside so that I could take this shot.

I've tested it, and next time smaller needles so the weave won't let as much light in, but it's comfortable, and lays flat, which is far more important to me. It doesn't slide around which is great. Next year everyone is getting one of these in their stockings!

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yarn: Rowan all seasons cotton # 201 (kind of a dark grey)
pattern: Knit it magazine, spring/summer 2007

where's my baguette?

as promised, zee beret est complet (insert accent circonflex where blogger won't let me...):



yarn: Rowan Yorkshire tweed 100% pure new wool, colour: 355 "rowdy"
pattern: One skein wonders "tweed DK beret"

Ok, well I'll save myself from complaining further about this pattern, only to say that after re-readng the line: "if you can knit and purl, you can knit this beret", I had a good chuckle. For starters I was supposed to do a provisonal cast-on which I completely glossed over and didn't do, so that by the time the beret itself was done, and I had to cast back on to that part "continental style" to do the brim, it just wasn't working for me. There were a couple of additional confusing instructions to that as well, and after waiting two weeks for extra yarn, I wasn't about to start over. SO i decided to just fudge it myself, cast back on and do a 2x2 rib for the brim. Really, I should have just started off with that and saved myself all the anguish in the first place. So that's my recommended alteration to that pattern.

Now that it's done, I love it and am wearing it a lot. I've got a big unattractive puffy coat for winter this year, so I'd like to think it classes up my bonhomme de neige appearance somewhat. yeah.

a new beret is already in the works!

A Sock Yarn

like my "sock yarn" play on words there? And I should warn you that this sock story will be pretty photo heavy...

I am finally undertaking the knitting of my first ever pair of socks. I'm alternately excited and scared, but mostly kind of questionning what the big deal is. There are a lot of knitters out there whose primary obsession is knitting socks as well as collecting sock yarn. And I know I'm a relatively new knitter, so perhaps this primal urge just hasn't fully gotten it's grip on me yet, but the truth of the matter is that I'm more interested in petting soft fuzzy solid coloured yarns than I could ever be interested in superwash crazy colourway wool. Is it me? Do I just not get it?

So I'm diving in with a sock kit from fleece artist, in a really nice teal green and gold mix. My shoe size is a women's 7, so I figured, hmmm, must be a medium, maybe? As I knit this thing it's becoming clear that they will be too big, though I don't dare turn back now. My plan of action is to finish this one sock (possibly for the BF?) and then knit sock number two using a completely different pattern, and then at that point decide which one I'm gonna tear back. The kit recommends using the world's tiniest pair of circular needles, but again it's becoming apparent that that simply won't work, which is sad for me because I feel grossly unskilled at DPNS. I need to get over that though, it's time.

Ok, so before I ramble needlessly any further about socks, I decided to let the cats enact the sock frustration on my behalf:

Here's the start of my beautiful sock:

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who's sneakin' up on you there mister sock?

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I think Poncho might be up to something...(note shifty eyes):

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Though usually he just gets his younger brother to do all the dirty work for him:

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Now don't taunt Archie, mister sock:

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Look out!

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Oh nooooooooooo

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The End.

As always, thank you for indulging my ever-present lameness.

what?! a finished object?

It's true, the cowl is done! (don't look too close, you'll see all my mistakes...)



So that's it inside out, though I linda like it that way. I'm wearing it with pretty much everything --It's like a giant necklace! I'm not super crazy about the colour, so I definitely plan to make another, it was a very, VERY easy knit. Kinda tedious, really. Here's the pattern and I even used the prescribed fable handknits yarn. The colour here is mist and it's 100% baby alpaca...oooo so soft.

And here's me as Nanouk of the North (and at minus 38 or whatever it is today, I need it!):



I also finally got the tweed beret done, after a long delayed trip out to the one and only store in town that sells Rowan, so I'll try and take some photos of that one tonight. Considering I only needed the one ball of yarn to finish said beret (and as it turns out I likely could have squeezed it out of one!) I uh, went a little crazy with the Rowan:

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Though that cashmere/wool Noro and the coral Rowan were on sale, sale sale!!!

next on the sticks?

I wish! Man how sweaty would it be to work out in this stuff? (thanks Alex!)