Mot-less Monday: Yeah, Still Here, Doing Stuff

Blankety Stuffs

I have been busy and tired and full of allergy brain and blah blah blah, excuses.

But I have also been making blanket things!

This one is for a baby I know-- I've been planning to make it for about five years, and still I managed to mess up some of the patterning.  I don't think it's too obvious, though...

 

Baby Chalice Blanket [Rav] by Karen S. Lauger; knit with almost 3 skeins of Primrose Yarn Whirl in colorway Fluorite

The colorway is really pretty (though the greens in each skein are very different) and it's difficult to capture the variations; here's the closest photo I have:

Then I dyed the remainder yarn and made a blanket square, but not for any of the blankets I'm supposed to be working on, because of course:

 

Banyan Tree Practice Dishcloth Afghan Square Block [Rav] by Margaret MacInnis; knit with less than 100yds of Primrose Yarn Whirl, dyed with KoolAid

Getting better at cabling, but it's still no fun.

OK, time to work at the job where they pay me -- high fives to you, byeeeee!

Mot-less Monday: Soft as a Stone

Confection

So I've been working on this pankity pank pank shawl:

The yarn is a laceweight single and it's so very light, knitting it up feels a little like making cotton candy, adding layer by layer until there's quite a bit to see that doesn't weigh much.  Every stitch I make seems like it stands alone... until I hold up the work to see an obvious structure that's really striking in total.

Knitting's really cool, you guys.
And now I want cotton candy.  Or leftover jellybeans or something.

FO: A Tapestry from Harrods

SO!  This is what I made with Tart:

gentlemen prefer chevrons [Rav] by bunnymuff; 

knit with madelinetosh prairie in colorway Tart

I loved knitting this pattern, a whole lot.  In fact, I tried to find a way to make the shawl larger, but an embiggening plan was less than obvious, even for an experienced lace shawl knitter.  Plus I get tired at night and "math is hard" (lol).

Still, the final shawl is beyond lovely:

And I have extra yarn left over!  The mind boggles!

Dream Team

Sometimes a yarn is so fantastic, it can live only in the stash of my imagination.  It could be that the yarn is rare enough that next to no one has seen it in person (I'm looking at you, Pearl Yarn).  But more often, I'll see something extra specially pretty and I won't be able to narrow down the realm of project possibility; it gets overwhelming, so I admire from a distance.

So let's flashback, shall we?  New Year's Eve, 2015, I was just slightly tipsy enough to take advantage of a really good WEBS sale: a "colorway surprise!" two-pack of madelinetosh prairie yarn.  Since I'd used the yarn base before, I knew that I'd easily find laceweight shawl patterns that could work well with it; what I didn't know is what colors I would get.

One was a very light pink, Carnation, that I've very recently cast on...

pankity pank pank

...and the other?  Well.  The other was Tart:

its majesty cannot be captured with current photographic technology

I've been in love with Tart for years.  I've long felt that I could not do Tart justice.  But here is Tart, showing up at my door, unbidden.
Tis a sign!

I made A Thing with Tart and it's purty and I'll share it later this week.  :)

FO: The Islands Speak to Her

When I played Yarn Chicken with that ombre skein, it didn't work out precisely as planned...  but it still looks really darn good:

The sea speaks to me [Rav] by Athanasia Andritsou; knit with a full skein of Knitwhits Freia Ombré Lace in colorway Metropolis

I love this shawl.  Luff it.  Sew mush.
Pretty pretty pretty pretty
Seriously, I'm going to stop talking.  The pics say it all.

Happy Easter weekend, everyone!

It's Pi Day! 3.14

This message has been brought to you at 3/14 at 1:59am...

image credit: Wikipedia

Yeah, it's dorky to celebrate Pi Day, but there's a whole thing at the National Institutes of Health ("Celebrating the Intersection Between the Mathematical & Biomedical Sciences"), so we might as well join in the fun!

First I made a dishcloth based on the pi shawl formula for making a knit circle from the inside out...

 Pi Dishcloth [Rav] by Nettie DiLorenzo; knit with approx 50yds of Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton in colorways Spruce and Pale Green

Then I decorated a store-bought apple pi(e), because this weekend was busy and I didn't feel like baking a pie...

HAPPY Pi(E) DAY!!

Mot-less Monday: This Thing is So Weird-Looking

Ombrelieveable!

As you may have gleaned from a previous post, I've got a zazzy ombre handpainted shawl on the needles...

 

 and I forgot to weigh the yarn before I started, which in my world means there is no way for me to tell how much yarn is getting used.  My evolution as a knitter has led me in a very spreadsheet-and-scale-based direction; for someone who doesn't like math very much, I tend to depend on it in my crafting, even when faced with harsh non-theoretical realities (I'm looking at you, swatches, you lying liar liefaces).

Generally I have a spreadsheet, and in that spreadsheet I precisely estimate the total stitch count for the project and set it up to automatically calculate completion percentages; I can then weigh the remaining yarn as I go to evaluate and figure out oh, I have used 50% of my yarn to complete 75% of the estimated total, I can make the shawl bigger than originally planned.

But without that system?
Flying blind!  Who even knows?  Magic!  Unicorns are real!

The yarn arrived already caked up and pretty:

More art than science!

so in the face of my poor planning, I absolutely stabbed a guess that each color segment was roughly a third of the yarn...

Turns out: not true.  I ran out earlier than budgeted and skipped straight from 86% done to OOPS BINDING OFF NOW:

Thank goodness I found Jennifer Dassau's tricks for predicting how much yarn one will need for a bindoff row.  Two inches left at the end.

Anybody have a middle ground for estimating yardage, some reckoning midway between vanilla computation and a reckless shot in the dark?

Seams Like It Will Never End

I started a crocheted "granny pixel" blanket in March 2015, making tiny tiny proto-granny squares for  eventual assembly into an 8-bit rendering of an anime character...
I'm only 46% finished with the blanket right now.
Almost a year later.  Yeah.

My friend Honeyspoon and I had a discussion last year about the merits of seaming-as-you-go for a giant project like this one, and I still believe that biting off small chunks of the finishing work is preferable to trying to do it all at once at the end...  but sheesh, is it tedious.

This morning, I added lots more squares to the evergrowing mass of pixels, and what it amounts to is this:
his hair. is ALMOST. done.

AND his body looks like a coral reef:

It is a bit exciting to see the thumbnail of the photo and immediately see the resemblance to the original inspiration, a fuse bead creation by Etsy's ChaotikFalls.  So I dunno.  I really really want to give this to its recipient, so right now that's my only motivation.

Mot-less Monday: Shawl Valentines

 

2015: The Year in Shawls

As is my New Year semi-tradition by now, let's talk about scads of shawls, shall we?...

TWELVE SHAWLS IN 2015?  Did not quite happen. 
I almost did eleven.  That's a lot, right?  Why do I feel bummed?

Shawl	Project	Pattern [Ravelry links]
1	Purple Orchids (for Overthrowing Asgard)	Golden Orchids [Rav]
2	Faerie Queen's Floral Wing	Rosebud [Rav]
3	Cleverest Witch of Her Age	Neckerchief For A Young Warlock [Rav]
4	Golden Garden of Canary Creams	Moss Garden [Rav]
5	Fractaled Fairy Tale	Sierpinski's Triangle Shawl [Rav]
6	Valor Aid Society	test knit; incorporates Oceanspray [Rav]
7	Armor for Battle	Passe-partout [Rav]
8	Bloodstone Island	Rock Island [Rav]
9	Catalonian Fireball	test knit
10	Ryblink	Eyeblink [Rav]
11	Refuah Sh’lemah	Pollikeet Shawl [Rav]
12	NOPE NOTHING NADA	:(

Since I spent the entirety of 2015 not posting on this blog, I'll be going through these shawls and writing about my faves, because they're just so darn pretty.

Probably a Bad Idea

I just made an excellent decision to go to bed at a reasonable hour...
right before logging onto Blogger and writing this post off the top of my head instead.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm in the throes of a nebulous WIP;
the boundaries of which are as yet uncharted --
unexplored by me, that is, rather than improvised or unpatterned--

The pattern is very patterned and very much FREE!:

Eliza [Rav] by Avid Knitter

A garment for me that doesn't contain a whole lot of body conscious shaping: exciting!
Even more exciting?  The yarn I'm using:

LUFF.  LUFF IT SEW MUSH.

It's Malabrigo Sock in the coveted Archangel colorway and it's the perfect match for this pattern, in my highly biased opinion:

And NOW I'm going to bed.  I promise.  Because while I'd much rather be knitting on this glorious enigma, I left it at work.
Soooooo g'night.

[Enter, pursued by a bear]

Hello?  It's me.

I was wondering if, after all these years, you'd like to meet

I'm kidding, of course, though I do heart Adele,
and that was totally overdramatic and factually inaccurate...
but the truth is

~ ~ I'M BACK ~ ~

and thinking of ways to fill this space up with my words again!

2015 was quite a year of crafting and I won't be able to do it justice in one post, so please feel free to check back for the inevitable garble of memories and photos as they appear.

There were shawls (oh such shawls).
There was pretty pretty yarn.
There was even a personal design challenge.

Stay tuned.  :)

Experiments: in Crochet, in Blogging

I know I'm on record as having no desire to crochet.  I KNOW.

AND YET.  Learning new things is fun to do.

With that said...  these should surprise no one:

the last of my discontinued Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky

 

Traditional Granny Square [Rav] by Leonie Morgan; crocheted with 50yds of Caron Simply Soft Paints in colorway Harlequin

The headband is improvised to teach myself the double crochet stitch -- which until this week was a complete mystery to me!  I’ve attempted some shaping with two rounds of double on top, and a round of single crochet topped with slipped stitches along the back… which is my entire repertoire so far.  The granny square is a granny square, and as such it is relatively unimpressive, but it's my first crochet blanket square ever and it doesn't look so bad!

Oh, and Happy New Year!  I've been busy knitting like a crazy person
and there's a new blog that I've been working on.
You read that right.

NEW BLOG!  IN ADDITION!
NEW BLOG TO READ!
I'm not abandoning this space by any means, but if you feel like you want to read about knitting things that are fun and possibly unnecessarily complex...  my friend Honeyspoon and I are doing an  

awesome year-long knit-along!!

If this sounds at all appealing to you, please visit us over at
Two Girls, One Queue to hear about the patterns we like enough to knit at the same time, our progress on said patterns, and our intrepid travels to the various Houses in the Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup.  :) :) :)

FO: to L, from Mom

Now that the gigantimous secret project has been received by its owner, I can share with all of you!  Such is the nature of presents, Christmas or otherwise...

Last year I received a yarn mega-inheritance from the estate of Alice, a wonderful lady who is much missed.  This overwhelming gift had one natural conclusion: a very large one-of-a-kind blanket for Alice’s daughter, my amazing aunt.

based on Learn to Knit a Log Cabin Blanket [Rav] by Staci Perry; knit with so much Red Heart Super Saver and Lion Brand Vanna's Choice

Almost 3500 yards used!  The final dimensions are 55" x 73"-- each square is 17"x17" with a half inch border in green -- and all the color combinations are meaningful to my aunt for one reason or another.

Pic spam!!

 

 

A properly turned corner, finally!

There was so much yarn, you guys:

a veritable mountain

I wonder if there's enough left for more blankets...

New Stuff, Future Stuff

The OMG I'M DONE-ness of the major secret gigantimous project left a quiet hole in my autumn and that has been more than okay.

I've been bopping along with the blue round-type cape shawl and the eight pattern repeats of the body before edging are finished:

Poor thing can't look any more squooshed, can it.  Hopefully I can start doing the edging soon and slowly liberate it, stitch by stitch, from the circular cable.  That plan may have a hitch in it, though, becauuuuuse
I cast on a new thing!

It's a test knit!  It's wine-colored!  It has beads!
I wish I could will it into being immediately.

This new pretty thing is the very beginning of a year-long experiment -- an adventure, if you will -- that I'm attempting with my good friend Honeyspoon.  You'll hear more about it soon...
for now, suffice it to say, there will be knits.   :)

I can has Thanxgivin?

The country has been full of upheaval, so I'm extra relieved to try to take a day to be grateful for the good things we have.

I'm thankful for... festive bunting!

Increasing and Decreasing Bunting [Rav] by Michelle Moyle; knit and crocheted using 180 yards of miscellaneous stash yarn!

The sweet potato casserole is in the works, so I'm going to finish that up and go eat... 
blessings to you and yours today!

NOM NOM NOM in just a little bit

FO: Camping at the Courthouse

My friend got married!  I made her a shawl!

 Campside [Rav] by Alicia Plummer; knit with a skein and a half of Malabrigo Sock in colorway 856 Azules

They are very happy with their shared shawl.

Exeunt.



p.s. thank you, military and civilian veterans, for your service.
p.p.s. today is an anniversary for me, so I want to tell my parents that I love them.