Another Couple of Freebie Patterns

Ok, before I make a separate post about life and knitting, I wanted to post a couple of free patterns up here for you all. Both patterns are going to be available as a PDF on Ravelry as well, so clicky for that link.

Flowerbasket and Fishy Dishcloths

These two dishcloths came out of my design process while working on something completely different. While they were not chosen to be the patterns used for the other project, I thought that you all might enjoy having them anyways. So, here are some free patterns for you all and I hope that you will enjoy knitting them and using the scrubby cloths! If anyone has charting software and wanted to make a chart for the cable pattern on the Fishy Dishcloth, please go ahead and do so. I did not have access to any charting software at the time of this pattern’s publishing.

Materials:

Worsted weight dishcloth cotton. One ball of Sugar and Cream should make 2 dishcloths.

US Size 8 Needles, straight or circular

Gauge: not too important. Just make it so it’s a density you’re happy with.

Flowerbasket Dishcloth:

Cast on 34 stitches. Work in Seed Stitch for 9 rows. Row 10: Work 9 stitches in seed stitch, place marker, work 16 stitches from flower pattern, place marker, work 9 stitches in seed stitch. Continue working in established pattern until flower pattern is completed twice. Next row, work all stitches in seed stitch, removing markers as you come to them. Work 8 more rows in seed stitch, then bind off.

Flower pattern:

Row 1: K all stitches

Row 2: Purl all stitches

Row 3: K all stitches

Row 4: P3, K3, P4, K3, P3

Row 5: K3, P4, K2, P4, K3

Row 6: P3, K4, P2, K4, P3

Row 7: K4, P3, K2, P3, K4

Row 8: P7, K2, P7

Row 9: K7, P2, K7

Row 10: P4, K3, P2, K3, P4

Row 11: K3, P4, K2, P4, K3

Row 12: P3, K4, P2, K4, P3

Row 13: K3, P3, K4, P3, K3

Row 14: Purl all stitches

Row 15: Knit all stitches

Row 16: Purl all stitches

Repeat these 16 rows for pattern

Seed Stitch:

Row 1: K1, P1 to end

Row 2: P1, K1 to end

Repeat these 2 rows, making sure to knit the purl stitches and purl the knit stitches to form the bumpy texture

Fishy Dishcloth:

Cast on 35 stitches. Work 12 rows in seed stitch. Next row, work 4 stitches in seed stitch, place marker, work chart 1, place marker, work 4 stitches in seed stitch. Continue this way until chart 1 is complete. Work 12 rows of seed stitch, removing markers as you come to them. Bind off.

Chart 1:

Row 1: P2 (k1, p1) 5 times, RBC, P1, (k1, p1) 5 times, P1

Row 2: FC, (p1, k1) 3 times, P1, BC, k1, FC, (p1, k1) 3 times, P1, BC

Rows 3,5,7,11, 13, 15, 19, 21, and 23: K all the knit stitches and P all the purl stitches

Row 4: k1, FC, (p1, k1) twice, p1, BC, k1, p1, k1, FC (p1, k1) twice, p1, BC. K1

Row 6: p1, k1, FC, p1, k1, p1, BC, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, FC, p1, k1, p1, BC. K1, p1

Row 8: k1, p1, k1, FC, p1, BC, k1, p1, k1, (p1, k1) twice, FC, p1, BC, k1, p1, k1

Row 9: (p1, k1) twice, p1, RFC, (p1, k1) 5 times, p1, RFC, p1, (k1, p1) twice

Row 10: p1, k1, p1, BC, k1, FC, p1, k1, p1, (k1, p1) twice, BC, k1, FC, p1, k1, p1

Row 12: k1, p1, BC, k1, p1, k1, FC, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, BC, k1, p1, k1, FC, p1, k1

Row 14: p1, BC, (k1, p1) twice, k1, FC, p1, k1, p1, BC, (k1, p1) twice, k1, FC, p1

Row 16: BC, (k1, p1) 3 times, k1, FC, p1, BC, (k1, p1) 3 times, k1, FC

Row 17: Repeat row 1

Row 18: Repeat row 2

Row 20: Repeat row 4

Row 22: Repeat row 6

Row 24: Repeat row 8

Row 25: Repeat row 9

RBC: Slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in back. P1, then slip the knit stitch from cable needle back to left hand needle. Knit it, then p1 from cable needle

RFC: slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in front. P1, then slip the knit stitch from cable needle back to left hand needle. Knit it, then p1 from cable needle.

BC: Slip 1 stitch to cable needle and hold in back. K2, p1 from cable needle.

FC: Slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in front. P1, K2 from cable needle.

Hope that you all enjoy the patterns. Let me know if there are any corrections that need to be made!
Knit on...

An Anniversary and a Free Pattern to Celebrate

Today marks 7 years since DF and I went on our first date. It's hard to believe that we've been together for 7 years now. So in celebration of our anniversary, I'm going to tell a short story about a sweater and give you a free dishcloth pattern that came out of some of the design work I've been doing, but will not be used for the final project. Still, it's pretty and I thought some of you may want it.

The sweater I am referring to is this one:The reason I'm mentioning this is that the sweater actually worked its way into conversation last night and both DF and I ended up laughing. In fact, this sweater cracks us both up each time we think about it.

I made this sweater when I was still a fairly new knitter. I wanted to make something nice for DF, so I decided to make the unisex pullover pattern from Lion Brand. I made it out of wool ease.

First, the yarn was bad. Wool-ease has gotten better in recent years I feel, but a few years back, not so good. Second, I didn't really know what the hell I was doing when it came to the neck shaping. Heck, I had to make it twice since the first neck wouldn't go over my head when I tried it on to see how it fit on me.

But DF is a good man. He complimented me on it, even though I knew he didn't really like it much. He wore it to church the next Sunday, and I swear he told everyone around us that I had knit that. Now, I tell him not to tell people that I made the horrid, itchy, mal-shaped sweater. I even told him to get rid of the thing.

Nope, he's still got it. He says that it's special to him because I made it. Also, he'll use it as blackmail against me if I get out of line :oP

I found the picture of this sweater last week when I was putting together a small gift for DF for the anniversary. It was a book of pictures from the 7 years we've been together. I had the sweater picture printed, and today when he gets home from work, I'm going to give him a 4x6 picture of the horrid thing, just so we can both share a laugh.

DF, since I know you read this, I love you. Even if you do now laugh at the ugly sweaters I have made for you :oP I laugh too, which is what I love most about being with you.

And now, if you're still reading, here's a free pattern. I'm calling it the Fireflowers Dishcloth.Click on the pattern title to go to the Ravelry Download page for an easy-to-print PDF File
Fireflowers Dishcloth

Materials:
Worsted weight dishcloth cotton in two contrasting colors. One ball each color will make at least 2 dishcloths.
US Size 8 Needles, straight or circulars
Gauge: Not really too important, but if you are a super tight knitter, you'll want to go up to at least a 9 needle so your slipped stitches are not too tight.

Note: All stitches are slipped purl-wise unless otherwise noted.

Instructions:Cast on 33 stitches in color A (lighter of the two colors, in my case, cream). Work 5 repeats of fireflower pattern. On last row (row 8 of pattern), knit all stitches instead of patterned row. Bind of.

Fireflower pattern:
Row 1: Using A: k2, *(k1, yo, k1) in next stitch, k3* repeat from * to last 2 stitches. End k2

Row 2: Using B: P2, *Slip next 3 stitches with yarn held in front, P3* repeat from * to last two stitches. End P2

Row3: Using B: K1, *K2tog, slip 1 with yarn in back, ssk, K1* repeat from * to last stitch. End K1
Row 4: Using A: P4, *Slip 1 with yarn in front, P3* repeat from * to last stitch. End P1

Row 5: Using A: K4, *(k1, yo, k1) in next stitch, K3* repeat to last stitch. End K1

Row 6: Using B: P4, *Slip next 3 stitches with yarn held in front, P3* repeat from * to last stitch. End P1
Row 7: Using B: K3, *K2tog, Slip 1 with yarn in back, ssk, K1* repeat from * to last 2 stitches. End K2

Row 8: Using A: P2, *Slip 1 with yarn in front, P3* repeat from * to last 2 stitches. End P2.

Repeat these 8 rows for pattern.
k=Knit
P=Purl
k2tog= knit 2 stitches together
ssk= slip, slip, knit
yo= yarn over

I'm Back

Sorry that I've been gone for a while. I've been taking some tours of things over here while I'm still in the country, and I've been knitting like a mad woman. Most of what I've been knitting, I can't show you, but I can show you the main thing I finished over a week ago. Vivian is done, well, it still needs a zipper, but it's done other than that. Here I am doing my best model pose:And here's the back of the cardigan:All I can say is that I love this cardigan. I made the size 38 chest measurement and it is nicely fitted, but has enough room that I can have winter items underneath of it. And since I heard so many people saying that the Vivian cardigan looks good on any body type, DF and I decided that we would find out:Sexy, baby!

Knit on...

Cables, Cables, Everywhere!

Yep, I cast on Vivian once I finished the hat the other day. I've been wanting to knit this cardigan ever since I first saw it in Twist Collective, but at the time, I was in the process of still losing weight. Now that I'm in the process of maintaining my weight, I decided it was time to make the super cabled sweater.

I cast on the sweater on Monday. I'm now on the fifth ball and 69 rows into the back of the sweater. It's flying off my needles right now and it made me remember how much cables are like potato chips...you can't just make one. Every time I finish a twist row, I think, ah, I can do one more cable repeat, right? I'm about a third of the way done with the back now and I can't wait to work on it again. Here's what it looks like so far:I'm in love with the pattern, the cables, and the yarn. Yarn is Lana Gatto English Tweed in a denim blue colorway. The tweedy specks are all ranges of colors, which I also like. It adds some textural interest in there other than the massive amount of cabling and seed stitch.

That's it for today. I want to get back to knitting the sweater :oP

Knit on...

What To Do With Leftover Cashmere

Well, make a hat! When I had the full ball of cashmere leftover, I was surprised. I asked DF if he would be interested in the matching hat from the Windschief pattern, and he said that he doesn't wear hats much anyways, so I should probably find something for me if I wanted to make a hat out of the cashmere remaining.

Well, I liked the Windschief pattern for the hat and I knew I had enough yarn for that, so, I made it for myself. Only takes about a day and it's soft and warm on my head, which is why it's being packed away for winter right now since it's 95 degrees today...

Anyways, here's the hat on yours truly:I also cast on for Vivian yesterday, but there's so much going on with all the cables, that I can't work on it and talk at the same time. So this sweater is going to be my silence knitting until it's done. Hopefully I can make good progress on it while I'm still in Korea (even better if I can finish it here), so that I won't need much silent knitting at home.

Knit on...

Cashmere in July

Yep, it's hard to believe that July is here and upon us already. It doesn't seem like it's been over a month since I finished my job and have been able to focus on writing and knitting design. It does however seem like July, if for nothing else than the weather.

Which is why I'm knitting with cashmere yarn of course :oP
I've never worked with cashmere before, so when I went to Seoul a couple of weeks ago, I picked up two balls of Anny Blatt cashmere blend yarn to make a cowl for DF. I had picked up the pattern for Windschief by Stephen West about a month ago and I wanted to get a nice yarn for the neck warmer so that it would be nice and soft when DF is riding his motorcycle.

So, here he is, modeling his finished cowl:He says that he really likes it and will use it this fall and winter when it gets cold again. Meanwhile, we're melting with the heat and humidity.

Oh, and did I mention that the cowl only took one ball of yarn? So, tomorrow I'll show you what I did with the second ball of yarn!

Knit on...

Much Better

Yes, I am much better now. It took until Wednesday for me to really feel 100% well again after the terrible boat ride, but thankfully, all is well now and I'm back to work.

Unfortunately, the stuff I'm working the most on right now, I can't show you on the blog. It's another pattern for the club I'm concocting and all will be revealed in due time. I know you're probably getting sick of me saying that though, so look, there's a little progress on the Jaywalker sock:I'm to the heel flap portion now. It's a little bit bigger than I like my socks, but since I know the 76 stitch version is just way too tight, I'll settle for it being a bit bigger. I also swatched for a new project.

Ok, pick your jaws up off the floor and settle down. I know you think I never swatch, but on occasion, I do. This project needed to be swatched since I wasn't sure if the yarn would meet the requirements for the pattern. Turns out it did. I hit gauge on try number one with the suggested needles. That is such an awesome feeling!This swatch is for Vivian by Ysolda from Twist Collective. Vivian is my reward sweater for losing so much weight. I knew I would never really be happy with making this cabled sweater while I was in the process of losing weight, so now that I'm right about at weight goal, I figured I could cast on. Not sure when I'll cast on yet, but I'm hoping it will be sometime this weekend.

Once I finish the crap I can't show you all :oP

Knit on...

Vanilla Socks

I finished a pair of vanilla socks this weekend while on my way to Japan. The yarn is Bamboo and Ewe by Joanne's Sensations. Here are the socks:I also started a new pair of Jaywalker socks since one of my other pairs of Jaywalkers finally bit the dust this week. These are being made out of Enchanted Knoll in the colorway Wood Elves.That's it for today. I'm still recovering from the worst motion sickness I've ever had, so hopefully tomorrow will be a much more productive blog post.

Knit on...

When It Rains In Japan...

Knit.

Well, after you've been out and seen areas you haven't seen before despite the rain.

Hello from Fukuoka!

I had to pop over to Japan for a day, so I of course brought knitting with me. I finished a pair of socks on the boat ride over and am about to wind the other skein of yarn I brought with me into a ball. It's pouring rain, and it has been ever since I got here. I actually had to break down and buy an umbrella just to be able to get around.

Anyways, it's still been fun. I went on a bit of an excursion looking for a Hard Rock Cafe location. That was successful, even though I got on the wrong bus twice and spent quite a bit longer than I intended in that area. I also went running despite the rain and had my ass handed to me by an 80 year old man who wanted to practice his English while running. Man, I hope I'm like that when I'm 80! I had such a big lunch today that I am in no way hungry, so I decided that I would spend the rest of the evening in the hotel room, lounging, knitting, and looking at the rediculously cute bento stuff I picked up while out earlier :oP

Catch you all back in the ROK.

Knit on...

Palindrome

This weekend, I used the hand spun alpaca yarn that DF brought me from Peru to make a nice cabled scarf for myself. I've made several of the Irish Hiking Scarves, and I almost just jumped in and made another one, but then I thought that I should learn a new technique.

Enter the Palindrome pattern. It's super easy, baffles my mind with how simple it is, and looks lovely. Palindrome is a reversible cabled scarf pattern that is available for free on the internet. I didn't have very much yardage of the alpaca, so I thought that I would just see how long I could make it. The scarf is about 5 feet long and it's so soft, squishable, and just darned pretty. Here's the picture of the finished scarf:I highly recommend this pattern for anyone who wants an introduction to reversible cables. It's a great introduction and I see lots of playing with this technique by myself in the future..

Knit on...

Tan Monkeys

The monkey socks are now complete. I finished the first sock yesterday evening and then plowed through half the second sock last night too. Today I finished it up and am now eyeing my next bloggable project. Before I get into that, here's the finished monkey socks:Yarn is Joanne's Sensations Bamboo and Ewe. 50% superwash wool, 20% nylon, 30% rayon from bamboo. Overall, this yarn is a decent workhorse yarn, but nothing more. It was all right to knit with, but not nearly as nice as Opal or Trekking, which are also commercial yarns. I paid a total of $1.99 a ball for this yarn while hitting an after Christmas sale, and for that price, it's well worth it. I'll let you know how these wear since it's the first pair of socks I've made out of this yarn. If they hold up well, I'll purchase this yarn again for cheapo pairs of knitted socks.The bamboo does give the yarn a nice shiny look. I'm hoping that the sheen sticks around with repeated washings. Time will tell.

Also, DF took some pictures of me the other day wearing my Evenstar shawl. I wore it to WWKIP Day on Saturday and got lots of comments. Here I am:Gee, can you tell I've lost 75 pounds now? :oP Here's the shawl from the back:Have I mentioned how much I adore this shawl? Go buy the pattern. It's for sale now and is well worth anything Susan is charging for it!

Knit on...

When You Can't Knit...

Crochet! That's what I did yesterday anyways. I just made simple double crochet dishcloths for my grandmother. She's really fond of this particular style, so I just chain 28 stitches and double crochet for 11 rows. Fast, easy, and doable when my hand is messed up. Here are the 10 cloths I made:Today, my hand is doing much better, so I've been working on my monkey sock while sitting on the bus and the subway. I had some errands to run this morning, so the knitting was welcomed during the commute time. I'm even hoping to have one monkey sock completed by tonight.

Knit on...

World Wide Knit In Public Day 2010

So I pulled out my camera just now and realized that I forgot to talk about WWKIPD on Saturday. So here's the report:

On Saturday at noon, Alice, Julia, and I plopped down in the comfy chairs at the local Starbucks with yarn, needles, and hooks at the ready to offer knitting lessons, or crochet if that suited people more, in honor of the public knitting holiday. Now realize that since we are members of the SnB here, it's really not a big deal for us to be seen knitting in public. It's really just something that we do all the time.

It was mostly just the three of us until Julia's friend Kat showed up to learn to crochet. Since she already knew how to knit, I was pretty sure learning to crochet wouldn't be terribly hard for her. She learned the basics of single, double, and triple crochet stitches and then we all decided to head our separate ways around 3. But before we did, we took a group photo:Front: Alice and Julia
Back: Me and Kat

Knit on...

How Running Affects Knitting

Yes, while the two things seem rather unrelated, unless you're the woman in the upper right corner of page 26 here, they can affect one another. The reason I'm mentioning this is because I ran a race on Sunday. It was a 10k trail race up the side of a mountain and then back down. Well, at kilometer 4, I wiped out. I hit a rock going uphill and took skin off my right hand, both knees, and my left arm. I did finish the race and the full report can be found here if you're interested.

So yesterday, I picked up the knitting needles to work on the monkey sock only to find that my right hand hurt too much to knit. It also kinda hurt to type. So, I spent most of my day playing facebook games that let me just click. Today, I'm feeling much less sore, but my palm is still bruised and sore. I did however find I could crochet easier than I could knit, so today, I will be making dishcloths. Gee, I know how excited you all must be to get to see crocheted dishcloths on the blog tomorrow, but hey, at least it's something!

Knit on...

Monkey on my Back

I decided to revive a project that was put on hold once the school said I wasn't allowed to knit on my breaks anymore. I had been working on a pair of socks at that point, but they were more travel knitting than something I wanted to work on at home. Now, I need another knitting project so that I can have something to show you all since I can't show you the things I'm working on for the secret project I have going. So, I leave you today with the tan monkey socks:Oh, and I finished a hat. Not than I can show you the hat, but take my word on it. Now I'm working on the medium size of the same hat.

Also, as the patterns become more time consuming than the hat I am working on, I'm going to need some test knitters. If you're interested, leave a comment with some way I can contact you and I will be in touch in the next few months.

Knit on...

Stealth Knitting

Wendy from Wendy Knits always is talking about stealth knitting on her blog. She's a well-established pattern designer, and because of that, she can't always show what she's working on because it will eventually show up for sale or in a book, or something along those lines. For once, I understand what she's talking about.

I have been working on a hat pattern that will eventually be a part of the secret club that will be announced this fall. It's out of sport weight yarn, so it's slower knitting, and it's cabled, so it's even slower because of that. Since I need something to show you on this blog, behold the double crochet plain old dishcloths that my grandmother loves dearly:Yep, you may be seeing more of these in the near future :oP

Also, I found a cute dress that will go with the Little Squares Cardigan. Here it is with the cardigan on top:That's it for today. Maybe I'll have something other than dishcloths I can show you tomorrow!

Knit on...

Technicolor Baby Cardigan

I finished sewing up all the squares yesterday and finished the Little Squares Baby Cardigan. It's a fast crochet project, but I have to admit that the seaming is a little fiddly and annoying for my liking. But, it turns out that one of my cousins just had a baby 2 weeks ago, so I'm going to pop this in the mail for the new baby girl in the family, whose name is Audrey. Since her sister's name is Addison, I think they have a thing for names that start with A :oP

Anyways, here is the cardigan, all sewn up:I may go try to find a little dress to go with this today and mail them as a set. I think it will look even cuter with a teensy dress to go with it, especially if I can find something with some Konglish on it!

Here's a close up of the seamed squares:Knit on...

Instant Gratification

Since the past few projects have basically sucked the life out of me, I decided I wanted to make something very instantly gratifying. My friend Julia has been making tiny squares in double crochet for a baby cardigan. The pattern is called Little Squares funny enough and it is quite cute. Click on the name, check the pattern out, and then come back.

Ok, welcome back. Since I am even faster at crocheting than I am at knitting, I cranked out the 90 squares needed for the cardigan in under 2 hours. Here they are:The squares are very cute, but they are the fastest part of this cardigan. Then comes the sewing of the squares. Last night, I managed to sew up 28 of the 90 squares, which means the back of the cardigan is done:Sorry for the upside-down picture, but you get the idea anyways. It's really quite cute and very, very colorful.

I'll probably get the rest of the pieces sewn today sometime, so I'll have pictures for you tomorrow.

Knit on...

Evenstar

The shawl is finished. This was quite a knitting journey. I signed up for Evenstar after I had finished The Enchanted Wood KAL from the Unique Sheep. I was quite enamored with beaded knitting after the triangular shawl, and after seeing some of Susan Pandorf's designs, I figured signing up for a beaded circular shawl KAL would lead to a beautiful finished object.

I couldn't have been proven more right about that. Susan, thank you for designing such a beautiful shawl. I have great respect for you as a designer, and I think you have handled yourself gracefully under a tremendous amount of pressure both in the knitting world and your personal life. Again, I just want to thank you for such a lovely pattern.

I ran 5 miles this morning and all I could think about was getting back and blocking the shawl. I am still giddy after pinning out the shawl this morning. I have never knit, and thusly, never blocked a circular shawl. I tried a string and pin method and was able to get it blocked out fairly close to an actual circle. I figure it'll bounce back a little after blocking anyways, so I wasn't too worried about having the shawl be a perfect circle.

So without further blabbering by me, I give you, Evenstar, blocking on a bed:Lovely, isn't it? Yarn is Malabrigo Laceweight in a royal blue color that is slightly darker than the picture shows.The beads are size 8-O seed beads from EarthFaire.com. Out of the close to 3000 used on this shawl, I only came across 2 beads that were not usable from being too small for the crochet hook. Compared to other bead companies I have used in the past, this is so nice. I usually buy up to 1/3 more beads than I need for a project just so that I can make sure I have enough in case there are bad beads. Not so with EarthFaire.

So, now what do I knit? :oP

Knit on...

Half Way There

I'm half way done with the edging on the Evenstar. By the end of this evening, I should be up to 30 repeats, so that'll mean I only have 26 more to go until it's finished. I really can't wait for it to be done. The edging is very pretty and I can see how it's going to make for a lovely drape when it's all said and done. I'm really looking forward to wearing the finished shawl, especially when the weather gets cooler again. So, here's a blobby picture of the shawl so far:Knit on...

The End is Near

I'm on the border of Evenstar now! Yesterday I completed the last half of clue 6 and 2 repeats of the beaded edging. The edging is definitely slower because of the beads, but I am so happy with the color contrast. The yarn on this project is Malabrigo Lace in some blue color I can't think of right now. I'm on the third skein now and that should be plenty to finish it up. The beads are from EarthFaire and they are size 08 seed beads in the color Olive. And without further blabbering by me, here is a picture of the beginning of the edging:I might also add that it's a lot easier to get a picture of the edging than it is to photograph the blobby shawl. Hopefully as I do more edging repeats, the shawl itself will become much more photo-friendly. If not, I'll just keep posting sparkly bead pictures here instead.

Knit on...

Finito

No, not the Evenstar. I am going to be completed with clue 6 tonight and then will start clue 7, but rather, I finished my job and am now on vacation. I was originally going to work another 2 weeks beyond the end of my contract, but there was an issue with the amount I would be paid for the full time work, so in the end, I chose to be a bum.

But now, think of the knitting time! Sure, a lot of it won't be bloggable, but I'll make sure that I keep at least one thing going that I can keep you all updated on.

But talk about a feeling of relief. It's weird to be without a job now, but I feel as if a huge weight has come off my shoulders. I forget sometimes just how stressed I would get here. There's always a language barrier, even if the coteachers are pretty much fluent in English. Then there's the cultural differences, and lastly, the administration who had a tendency to be so blasted nit-picky that they would drive me insane. But now it's over. I get to work on some things that I am really passionate about and I'm really looking forward to the creative time that I'm going to have now.

But this week is all about finishing Evenstar. Back to work...

Knit on...

Around and Around and Around

That's basically how the knitting is going right now. I'm just knitting around and around on Evenstar. I'm 10 rows away from being done with clue 5 now, so I'm making pretty good progress. Unfortunately the shawl is a bitch to photograph because it's so smooshed together on the needles right now. I have it on the biggest cable that I own, which I think is a 46 inch or something like that, and it's still quite smooshed together and not easy to get a picture of.

But, it's a wonderful knit. It's super entertaining and each section is a little different, so aside from the clue 4 TBL ribbing doldrums, I have been very entertained and satisfied with how the pattern is progressing. It also helps to see so many people posting pictures of their finished shawls on Ravelry. A few of my favorites so far are: here, here, and here.

And on a personal note, I was supposed to be finished with my teaching contract on Monday, but it appears that I may stay at the school for another two weeks. I'm not upset about the extra money for sure, but I was looking forward to that nice, long vacation-ish time where I could work on knitting and website design (not me, but directing my friend who deigns) for the super secret project I've been working on.

Speaking of, super-secret project should be announced sometime at the end of the summer, so stay tuned and I'll give you a heads up of when to look for it!

Knit on...

Blue Blob

I have been continuing to knit on the Great Blue Blob TM this past week. I had a lovely SnB with Julia this weekend and was able to get through the clue 4 doldrums and am now working slowly but surely on clue number 5. I'm 4 rows into clue 5, and I'm really hoping to get quite a bit done tomorrow since my morning classes have been canceled because of midterm exams. Anyways, here is the blob:I would also like to apologize for the lack of decent photography on the blog as of late. I am in the process of moving out of my apartment now that my contract is up and my good camera is sitting in a different city right now.

But, that also means I'm almost done with teaching! Woot woot! For those of you who don't know, I am going to be returning Stateside in another couple of months. I'm changing careers and hoping to make myself more marketable to future employers by getting some new certification. It's a big change, but one that I'm looking forward to. DF will be coming back a few months after I do and we'll see where we want to actually wind up (or more likely where we can get jobs and afford to live).

That's it for today. The blob will hopefully continue to grow this week and then will hopefully fly off the needles in the next 1-2 weeks since I'll have lots more free time in which to knit!

Knit on...

A Gift Given and a Blob Returns

On Sunday, I gave the finished Aeolian shawl to my former coteacher as her wedding present. Here she is, getting the first look at her present:And here I am, holding the shawl out to her so she can inspect it. She says she loved it and she's taking it with her for the cool evenings on the beach where she and her husband are going for their honeymoon:And, now that Aeolian is done, I have started working on Evenstar again. I'm half way done with clue 4 now, so I'm hoping to be completely done with 4 by the weekend and working hard on clue 5. The pattern is lovely, but I'm not 100% sure I am in love with Malabrigo lace. It's super soft, but it looks like it will felt in a heartbeat if I rub it against anything. We'll see how it goes, since I am for sure finishing the shawl with it.

Here's a blobby picture:Knit on...

Aeolian

Aeolian is fully blocked now. I enlisted the help of my neighbor to get a decent picture of the shawl. It's raining outside at the moment, so I can't get a natural light shot, but this should give you a general idea of how the shawl turned out:This is one of the prettiest things I think I have ever knit. It's also kinda hard to part with it, but this former coteacher of mine was so nice and so helpful, and I consider her to be an actual friend, so I will lovingly part with the shawl and hope that it brings her lots of comfort and warmth in the years to come.

Knit on...

Twist Collective

Have you all seen the latest issue of Twist Collective? I'm normally not one to gawk and rave at an online knitting magazine, but damn...

I want it all...

I have no money...

But I want it all! If I have to choose one thing from this issue (which I don't want to do, because I WANT IT ALL!), I really want to make Tanis. I love everything about this pullover. It looks interesting enough to keep me entertained for hours, but simple enough to not make me stab the couch with my Options needles.

Wow. The shawls are gorgeous, the socks are great, but the sweaters in this issue are astounding. Really, if you haven't checked out the issue, go do so now. I'll just be here drooling over the patterns while you go.

Seriously, Clicky to go check it out!

Knit on...

The Blob is Done

Well, the blob is finished. I just spent the past day binding off the bazillion stitches at the end of the Aeolian shawl. Now all that's left is to block it, but seeing as I need a lot of pins to do so, it's not getting blocked until tomorrow when I'm back to my place. But in the meantime, here's the shawl:It is quite pretty. I may make another one of these eventually, but for now, I'm happy with the one that will be given away in a week. Now I can get back to Evenstar! At least I can start on clue 3 just in time for clue 7 to be released :oP

Knit on...

Bad Blogger, No Cookie

Well, yes, I realize I have been a bad blogger. Is it because of the stealth projects? Nope. Is it because of lack of knitting? Nope. Is it because I am a lazy arse when it comes to making a blog entry? Yes, yes it is.

So yes, I am admitting right now that I have been a bad blogger. I think I just needed a little time away from the blog while working on other stuff, but now I'm back, and I should be updating with some photos and other things in the near future.

So what am I working on?

I'm about to finish and block the Aeolian shawl. It's lovely, the edging is nice, and I'll be glad when it's finished.

Once Aeolian is off the needles, I'm going to begin clue 3 of Evenstar. I had to fall behind on that project since the Aeolian has a time deadline.

I'm also working on some designs that you all should maybe see in July or August. Something big is coming, albeit it's still very loosely in the works and I'm really hoping you all will like it. I'm also about to have some big life changes (like, returning to the USA for one and having a career change for two), so I'll be keeping you all updated on those as they develop.

One last thing I thought I would post here for those of you who don't read my running log, or hell, even know I have one (Getting There The Long Way), I started a weight loss journey in January 2009. 1 year and 5 months later, I have lost 71 pounds and am now 9 pounds away from being at my goal weight of 160 pounds. I'm now wearing medium sized clothing, sometimes smalls, and have donated all the XXL, XL, and L stuff to charity. I have gone from a size 18 jean to a 10, and by the time I hit 160 pounds, I'll be close to a size 8. It's been a tough road, but I have finally changed my whole outlook on food and discovered the reasons I ate the way I did. For those of you who have been supporting me along this journey, I thank you for your encouragement. 9 pounds left, and I'll be celebrating with a new wardrobe!

The Blob

Yes, the big, lace blob! The Aeolian shawl has grown more this weekend and I'm almost to the edging on it now. But let me tell ya, nupps may very well be the bane of my existence when it comes to this shawl. They take me so long to make, but they do look very good with the design, so I'm not leaving them out just because I find them to be a pain. Here's the shawl progress so far:Even with the number of lace things I have made now, I am still fascinated how such a blobby piece of wool can transform into this delicate wonder when it's all finished. It is the magic of lace, and there is real magic there for me.

I know that I was wondering where my knitting mojo had gone last week. Well, I found it. Once again, it's in the magic that is called lace.

Now if that magic can heal me of this stupid lung funk/cold. Come on lace!

Knit on...

The Lace Grows

I caught my yearly upper respiratory infection this past week and ended up calling in sick for a day. The only good thing about that was that I had more time than usual to knit. I managed to get all the Yucca chart repeats done on the Aeolian and the Agave transition chart finished. Now I just have three agave repeats and the edging to do and the shawl will be finished. Of course, this will take a while because of the N word...

Nupps. Yep, nupps. Nupps are not something I'm enjoying right now. The purl 9 together is hell and I ended up using a tiny crochet hook to help me get that done. I think in my own lace design work that I will avoid nupps at all costs.
But I do have a picture I can show you at least of the progress. I'm feeling a lot better today, so I'm going in to work where I sadly can't knit anymore. The principals are on a rampage at the moment and don't want the teachers to have any kind of break at all between classes, but that's a whole other long story that I won't get into right now. Here's the shawl:Yep, it's a big blob of unblocked lace. Wish I could block it out some, but I'm already on my biggest cord length for size 2 needles and can't stretch it out anymore really. I'm loving how this is looking so far though, but it does make me really miss something...

Evenstar! I wish I could knit on my Evenstar shawl. I'm only finished with clue 2 and there are 5 clues out now! I need to get this Aeolian done first and foremost right now though for Sally's wedding, so sadly I can't work on the Evenstar right now. But soon, soon I will finish this white shawl and can go back to the lovely navy blue beaded masterpiece!

Knit on...

Once a Week Blogging?

Yep, I think I have become a once a week blogger for knitting courtesy of stealth projects and lack of knitting mojo. There have been good days for knitting, or like last night, no knitting at all.

Now to be fair, I have a head cold, so right now the only thing I really feel like doing is watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on the internet and going to bed. Tonight though, I will be knitting some on the wedding shawl for Sally, so I'll hopefully have something to show you then.

Any of you other knit bloggers out there have a similar problem? Is it just knitting doldrums that hit every now and then for us all? I'm sure hoping they go away soon. I miss my hyper desire for playing with sticks and string!

Something I Can Show

Yep, I finally have something I can show you on the knitting front. I've still been working on some stealth projects, but I have switched over now to knitting on the Aeolian Shawl almost exclusively. I have 6 of the 12 Yucca Chart repeats done now and here they are:It's growing pretty fast right now, which I am thankful for. I'm hoping to be through all the repeats of the Yucca chart by this weekend and on to the Agave chart.

Also, I received a prize for Team Plurk in the Ravelympics. I was given some very bright roving and two hanks of sock yarn. Here they are:
I was so thrilled to get these in the mail. Thanks, Morandia!

That's it for now. Hopefully more Aeolian progress soon!

Knit on...

Not Much to Show

There's not much to show you today. I have been knitting on the stealth project mostly, so can't show pictures of that one yet. I did work a little bit on Aeolian, so here's the progress on that shawl:Like I said, not much there :oP

Maybe I'll make some progress on this sometime this weekend. We'll see!

Knit on...

3 out of 5

That's right. 3 of the 5 pairs of mittens are done now. The last 2 are going to be put on the backburner for now since I have too much on my plate at the moment. I have a shawl to get done before a wedding in May and I have a few secret projects that I unfortunately can't show you yet since they are part of a bigger scheme of things that will hopefully be launched sometime this fall. I'll at least try and keep you posted on the status of the wedding shawl, which happens to be Aeolian from Knitty.com. So here's the finished mittens which will be given to their recipient on Tuesday:And lastly, I leave you with what DF and I saw this past Friday while walking around:That is a stretch Mini Cooper limosine. Yes, it was quite awesome.

Knit on...

As The Mitten Turns...

Almost done with the third pair of mittens now. I'm going to really try to get them done by the end of the day today so that I can give them to the coteacher tomorrow when he comes to my school. Then, I'm taking a break from the mittens. Yarn arrived yesterday (jaggerspun Zephyr) for a wedding shawl for a former coteacher who I also consider a friend. She picked out Aeolian from Knitty.com as her shawl of choice, so I'm going to cast on for that and get it finished. I may also work on Evenstar some. I really just need someone to pay me to knit so I can stay home all day and design and work on things that need to be done so I can play Wii in the evenings! :oP

Pictures tomorrow!

Knit on...

Anyone See My Knitting Mojo?

It went far away last week. In all, I only knit about 3/4 of a mitten all last week. I have accomplished more today than I did all last week, but still feel like I didn't do that much. Maybe now that I'm over half way done with the mitten parade I can push through the knitting doldrums. Either that or I'm going to just have to put the mittens away and work on something much more entertaining such as Evenstar. We shall see.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for my knitting mojo. I'd rather like to have it back!

Knit on...

Mittens.......

I'm trying to stay positive right now, but I didn't knit any for the entire weekend, or Monday. Why? Because I'm making myself finish the last mittens before I can work on anything else. So, since that backfired and I just didn't knit any this weekend, I decided that knitting on other, more exciting things will be the reward for slogging through more of the dreaded mittens.

But look, there's a finished pair:Yarn is Bernat Sox in some green and brown shade. Size 1 needles, modifications for a smaller hand.

More mittens to come...

Knit on...

Begin the Mitten Parade

That's right. For the next 5 projects on the list, you'll be seeing pairs of Broad Street Mittens in various colors. I know it's not terribly exciting for blog material, but I'm making coteacher gifts and birthday gifts for a couple of friends, and you guessed it, they all wanted convertible mittens after seeing mine. I swear, I've gotten to the point that I can knit this pattern from memory.

But anyways, I finished the first pair and am on to the second. More progress tomorrow:Knit on...

A Week of Knitting in Two Pictures

Last week was all about Evenstar for the most part. I had missed working on clue 1 during the first 2 weeks of the KAL due to the Knitting Olympics. So, I began working on the clue on Saturday last week and finished it on Thursday last week, along with clue number 2. Here's the mushy lace so far. It's Malabrigo Lace on Size 4 needles:Not much of a picture, but it's hard to photograph lace on needles that don't allow it to stretch out. After clue 3, I'll see if I can get it on a longer circular and get a decent picture. It's really lovely though and I think it will be quite nice when it's all finished.

After I finished clue 3, I cast on for a Broad Street Mitten. Yep, I've lost track of how many of these I have made now. These are new coteacher presents since I have all new ones this semester and I gave them the choice of socks or mittens. They all chose mittens!This weekend I didn't do any knitting, so I'll be cranking out mittens all this week. Prepare for the mitten parade!

Knit on...

Happy Bloggiversary!

Yep, the beginning of March always marks my bloggiversary. Hard to believe how the years have have gone by now. Normally, I do a lengthy post to celebrate the blog's anniversary, but today I'm just not really up to it. Hopefully in the next day or two I'll get something thrown together. In the meantime, flip through the archives to see what all I had to say years ago as a fairly new knitter :oP

Knit on...