January: a Tale in Pictures

Click a pic to embiggen

Jan 2 2013 -- 20%

Jan 19 2013 -- 35%

Jan 26 2013 --70%

Jan 31 2013 --87%

Small FOs and other bits and bobs

Finished up some stuff, started other stuff, continuing to work on stuff.  Stuff!  It's happening!

FINISHED STUFF I'VE NEVER MENTIONED UNTIL NOW!

Legwarmies [Rav] by Alana Dakos; knit with half a skein of Knit One Crochet Too Handpainted Ambrosia in colorway 1934 Turkish Rug and a quarter-skein of Knit Picks Gloss Fingering in colorway Woodland Sage

Toddler Flashdance!  These have felted now, but that's okay, because c'mon.  Wear and tear.

TO GO [Rav] by Laura Archibald; knit with less than 100 yds of Crystal Palace Mochi Plus in colorway 557 Autumn Rainbow

Christian's Scarf [Rav] by Ágnes Kutas-Keresztes; knit with four full skeins of Knit Picks Capra in colorway Hunter

This took forever...  I don't like knitting scarves.  BUT the yarn's a cashmere blend, so all is forgiven.

Little Coffee Bean Cardigan [Rav] by Elizabeth Smith; knit with "a skein" (207 yds) of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in colorways 122 Taupe, 149 Stone, and 113 Cherry

My first foray into duplicate stitch: success!

Seamless Baby Kimono [Rav] by Jacki Kelly; knit with most of a skein of Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in colorway 9860 Jelly Bean and half a skein of Cascade 220 Superwash in colorway 815 Coal

 My fifth SBK -- so simple, so easy to adjust the sizing, fits for a really long time.

2013: JANUARY SHAWL is finished!
But I haven't taken proper photos yet!  So all you get is this:

OTHER STUFF I'VE STARTED
Still working on the alpaca laceweight firework-looking shawl...

more Toddler Flashdance is on the way, one bound-off leg warmer...

and I'm making a cabley hat out of superwash because I can.

Exeunt!

2012: The Year in Shawls

TWELVE SHAWLS IN 2012?  No.

It was a valiant attempt that fell short... as in, there were three full months out of the year I didn't do any shawling.  Oops.

Shawl	Project	Pattern [Ravelry links]
1	Sensational Carnation	EZ 100th Anniversary Hearts Half-Circle [Rav]
2	Diamonds for a Queen	Girl's Best Friend [Rav]
3	Seanmháthair	Ashton Shawlette [Rav]
4	Shawlette of Destiny	Holden Shawlette [Rav]
5	FanFare	Panda Silk DK Fan Shawl [Rav]
6	Mariquita	Annis [Rav]
7	My Prerogative	Eiku [Rav]
8	Gryphon in Repose	Ethereal [Rav]
9	Lannis Port	Bananaboat [Rav]
10	Leaf Shawls are Cool	The Lonely Tree Shawl [Rav]
11	Autumn Fireworks Shawl	Echo Flower Shawl [Rav]
12	Classy Engorgio Crescent	Crescent [Rav]

HOWEVER
I will not be beaten!  I will not be cast down!
I WILL be attempting twelve shawls in 2013!
With a plan this time!  And zero months off!

First on the docket is a bright blue aran-weight crescent shawlette; I'm trying to decide if I like knitting crescent shawls or not, as they may be easier to wear.  Hey, we'll find out!

See, I've already picked out the yarn and everything.  This is totally going to happen.

FO x2: Shawls I Have Loved

In writing my Shawls of 2012 post (awesomeness to follow, ladies and germs!), there came to light a glaring error: two of the shawls had never made an appearance on this blog!  THIS SHALL NOT STAND!

From June: 

Holden Shawlette [Rav] by Mindy Wilkes; knit with a skein of Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Paints in colorway 9996 Deep Water

No mods, just a straight-up awesome free! pattern, knit in what might be my go-to favorite shawlette yarn.  I love this stuff: it's so soft, it drapes well, I'm not allergic to it, the colorways are beautiful.  YAY.

This was about the time for figuring out photography stuff -- color balance, contrast, lighting conditions -- and I took lots of (awful) progress shots for this one, so here they all are yyaayyyyy......

*muppet flail*

From December:

The Lonely Tree Shawl [Rav] by Sylvia Bo Bilvia; knit with two and a half skeins of Knit Picks Swish Worsted in colorway Indigo Heather

A triangle shawl in worsted weight probably smacks of desperation to some people, and I'll admit, I did knit this mostly to quickly add to my Yearly Shawl Total (YST).  But I love the yarn and the shawl looks great, so I'm not going to feel guilty about the fact that I finished it in about three days.

 

 

This was Shawl #10 in my quest for TWELVE SHAWLS IN 2012!  So was I successful?  Or did I go down in a blaze of glory?  You'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out!  Spoiler alert: wah-wah fail.

FO: Lannis Port

THE HOLIDAYS MADE ME SO TIRED, YOU GUYS.  Also, I'm writing this before coffee; this may get interesting.

Christmas knitting got away from me, as always, so I still haven't been able to send some things.  But the recipients aren't expecting them and they don't knit know about this blog, so HA, gonna write about stuff anyway.

It's a shawl!  It took a month!  Ooooh, aaaaah:

Bananaboat [Rav] by Sue Berg; knit with 2-ish skeins of Knit Picks Gloss Lace in colorway Port

This pattern is free! on Ravelry, vaguely translated from German.  I went up a needle size (no long-length circs in size US5 at my house), so I only did 3.5 of the 4 total repeats of the lace chart (for yarn usage reasons, rather than size).

 

I named the project "Lannis Port" for Game of Thrones reasons; it seemed clever in my brain at the time...  using yarn in the Port colorway + fancy like royalty + I had just finished A Feast for Crows (AKA Book 4).  Cersei wishes she had this shawl!

Mot-less Monday: Pile of Lace!

FO: Gryphon in Repose

To prove I was Not Doing Nothing with the past couple of weeks, I present you with a wedding shawl!

 Ethereal [Rav] by Lakshmi Juneja; knit with a full skein of Spirit Trail Fiberworks "Nona" ~ Merino/Cashmere/Bombyx Silk in colorway Bacchus

 It's a free! pattern, as most of the ones I knit are, and I didn't want it to end!!... but I ran out of yarn.

 

I miscalculated the amount of Chart 2 repeats I could do, and ended up using 75% yarn with only 70% shawl knit.  The first math I did said that I could do 8 repeats... but that only worked using US3 needles.  Since my brand new ordered-for-this 40” needles were mislabeled and are actually size US4 (thanks, unnamed online knitting store!), the math got all messed up. And I wasn't about to buy new new needles, curse my miserliness frugality.  SO I redid math, and didn't rip anything out.  The new math had bindoff occurring 10 rows early (row 73)...

until new new math had to happen!  Yep.  Thank goodness for spreadsheets.  The new new math had bindoff occurring at row 67 of the final chart, so instead of super pointy border fun times, the edging looked more like cathedral arches or something.  Still pretty.

There's only one yard of this awesome awesome yarn remaining for just-in-case emergency snag repairs, and my friend looked beautiful at her wedding!  Such an awesome day!!

Mot-less Monday: Sweater at 72%

p.s. to those who have served in the military, to those on active duty, and to those who will be home soon -- thank you for your sacrifice.

Oh, It's All Going On, Honey

I've been watching a lot of drag queen TV lately, so excuse my sass.  Sometimes you just need to write a to-do list with stuff you've already done, just to get the satisfaction of crossing it off...

1. The Month of Cowls ✓

blocked, shipped, received -- love you, Mama!

2. Yoga Sock #1  ✓

plus a mini yoga sock to make a pair-- what, it's totally legal!

3. HPKCHC Hat Challenge -- almost done, with a vengeance...

seventh hat on the needles and I'm living for my Homespun stash

...but I have so many flippin SHAWLS planned, people
and I'm getting antsy!!

Two Cowls and a Pumpkin

And yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.

Eleanor Cowl [Rav] by Audrey Knight; knit with more than a skein of Knit Picks Shine Sport in colorway 2554 Leapfrog

MODS: knit on US6s and ended early, after full chart B (row 50, no switch to smallest needles, etc.) since it was definitely long enough

Abstract Leaves Cowl [Rav] by Deb Mulder; knit with less than a skein of Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4 Ply in colorway 430 Loganberry

Jack Be Little Pumpkin [Rav] by Elizabeth Murphy; knit with 15 yards of Knit Picks Comfy Worsted in colorway 6406 October and a yard of Knit Picks Shine Sport in colorway 2554 Leapfrog

And now it's November where I am... goodbye, craziest October ever!

p.s. I'm Knitting a Sweater

Hi guys.  No sense in burying the lead: there's a sweater happening.

I've swatched and washed it and everything.  AND apparently, even though swatches lie, I've got exact gauge.  This may be a sign of the impending apocalypse.

I have no clue why I decided to knit a large fancy shawl and an adult-size fitted pullover in an overlapping timeframe... that's not quite true.  I know exactly why.  I want a pretty badge from the yarncraft equivalent of a fictional wizarding school.  !!!

COVET COVET

This fiber is totally messing with my allergies, though; it's reeeeeaaaally rough.  Sometimes there's eye-itching, but this time there's congestion and throat gunk and eye burning.  And now I'm whining about ailments I've brought on myself.

Whatev, it's going to be beautiful.

Always Know Where Your Cowl Is

Just popping in to show off some cowl craziness that's been going on so far this month...  it's so much more satisfying than Socktober!  #Ihateknittingsocks #hashtag

Dayflower Cowl [Rav] by Doggrell Designs; knit with 3/4 skein of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply in colorway 04 Grey

MODS:  9 inches square after blocking

• 102 st CO
• 6 garter rows before pattern
• 3 pattern repeats
• 6 garter rows after pattern

it's not this bright in real life!

A Noble Cowl [Rav] by Emily Kausalik; knit with most of a skein of Knit Picks Stroll Sport in colorway Winter Night

MODS:  7 inches tall x 9 inches wide after blocking

• cast on 96
• mostly symmetrical decreases a la zarestky [Rav]
• adjusted all shields with two center columns a la me [Rav]
• shortened to 1 repeat + 18 rows
• my 5th Noble Cowl!

Mama, these will be coming your way at the end of the month!
Unless you don't care for them.
Then I'm keepin' them cowls!  :)

HPKCHC September Roundup

This marks my second term at Hogwarts for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup and I'm on staff this time around, so YAY for that!  I've been doing a little bit of writing over at the Ravenclaw Aerie blog (unofficial motto: we have graphs!), so I've felt super engaged with the process all month.  There was so much going on...

Detention
This is where works in progress get finished and submitted, so I got the chance to earn points for that bobbly baby sweater I started in August.  AND I got a really cool limited edition badge!  Rav bling!

Ancient Runes
Last term, they offered Care of Magical Creatures as a class, but that's been scrapped for the return of Ancient Runes this term, soooo yeah, that's cool. I made some fingerless gloves with the rune gebō all over them... it's all in the Xs.  The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but I modified it to work with DK weight:

Quilted Lattice Mitts [Rav] by Jennifer Elaine; knit with less than half a skein of South West Trading Company Bamboo in colorway 138 Purplexed

Charms
The charm of the month was Meteolojinx Recanto, cancelling the effects of extreme weather.  I made a mild-mannered cardigan pattern into a giant kimono to ward off tsunamis:

Abalone [Rav] by Beata Jezek; knit with almost 800 yards of Lion Brand Wool-Ease in colorways Fisherman, Natural Heather, Blush Heather, Rose Heather, Dk Rose Heather, Burgundy, and Oxford Grey

Defense Against the Dark Ages
Tracking was on the docket for DADA -- alert readers will recall the Sweater of Many Ends from earlier.  And there's a hat, too:

Fan Lace Hat from Two Lace Baby Hats [Rav] by Heather Tucker; knit with 61 yds of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorway 174 Spring Leaf // Puerperium Cardigan [Rav] by Kelly Brooker; knit with yds total of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorways 107 Sky, 141 Wild Berry, 170 Dijon, and 174 Spring Leaf

Flying
This is where I turned in the bobbly earflap hat that went with the bobbly sweater, since the prompt was all about flying in circles (hat in the round, with all those round bobbles).

Herbology
Herbology = plants = trees = wood = wandlore.  My date of birth in the Celtic calendar corresponds to Vine as potential wand material, so I -ahem- decided to make a wine-colored shawl with a picot edge (symbolizing grapes) and a mesh border (which represents the latticework to which the grapevines cling):

Eiku [Rav] by Reeta Korhonen; knit with most of a skein of Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Paints in colorway 9958 Vino

Potions
The prompt was about being silly, so I linked to the B52s "Rock Lobster" video and made a blue rock lobster to go with it:

Knit Lobster [Rav] by Molly Lincoln; knit with over half a skein of Karabella Yarns Aurora 8 in colorway 8167 Blue

Since one can only get base points for 6 of 8 classes each month, I didn't do History of Magic or Muggle Studies.

Quidditch
I wasn't at all interested in Quidditch last term -- mostly because I knew nothing about it -- but the first challenge for this month was about organization, so of course I went crazy with taking stash pictures and weighing everything for accurate yardage counts.  Stop judging me, I'm awesome.

The first actual Quidditch match involved craft something related to one or more specific letters -- G, H, N, R, and/or S (for the four Houses + the Not-Quite-First-Year designation).  I made a 6"x6" Han blue Square with a Garter stitch border and my own octopode design done in Relief.

knit with less than half a skein of Karabella Yarns Aurora 8 in colorway 8167 Blue

p.s. all these patterns are free! on Ravelry
All right, that's enough dorkiness for right now... until next month!