March 29, 2009
Finally!
The body of my Autumn Rose is complete! At this point, I need to weave in ends, graft the arm pits, steek the neck, and knit the neckline. I can't wait until it's done and blocked! It's really going to be beautiful!
I've also started on my Tina Shawl. The center seems like it will be a very fast knit. I'm nearly a third of the way through it now. The outer border and lace edging will be far more time consuming. This is being knit in Knitpicks Lace Shine, in the color Aegean. It's so pretty.
This weekend, I've pretty much hit the jackpot. Through various means, I've obtained copies of some of Alice Starmore's most sought after books. I was in love with In the Hebrides until I got Tudor Roses. I'm smitten. Now I have to decide what patterns I'll knit first.
We were talking Friday night at late night knitting about swaps and such. At that time, I mentioned that I'm a terrible swap partner. I'm so bad about time frames and such, but I feel like I'm missing out. Now, there's an LSG Random Acts of Kindness board. Only active LSGers can participate. Each month, we post a wish list, and people send you stuff as they can. It's totally optional, so I don't have the added pressure of deadlines. I'm doing a bit of stashbusting and I'm going to ship a few things off to better homes this week. My plan going forward will be to pick a person once a month and send stuff out. This should be lots of fun!
Posted by Holly at 11:06 PM | Comments (2)
March 16, 2009
More progress!
I know it's been two weeks since my last update, but hey, it's better than four months isn't it? That's what I thought. The last time I updated, I had started my first sleeve. At this point, both sleeves are done, and I've joined them to to body. I'm so close to being done, but now I'm reaching the burn out point. I want to take a little break and start my lace shawl, but don't know if I should or not.
Here is what we have at the moment.
This is the back.
This is a close up of the steek stitches. The round now begins in the center of the steek so I don't have to weave those ends in! Woohoo!
I finally finished up the Blue Streak batt I got from the Art Club Batt Club. I decided on a one ply laceweight to get maximum yardage from the 2.5 oz batt. I ended up with about 800 yards so I'm content.
Note: it's hard to see the sparkle in the picture.
I also overdyed my yarn spun from Abby's batts. The color in reality is not quite as similar to the Blue Streak.
Stacey's knitting is coming along well. She's finished her second scarf. Stacey, how do you like your scarf and knitting in general.
Look at that! She's so happy, she has jazz hands! (And I am going to get my butt kicked for posting this picture.)
She also took a picture of her boyfriend Mike modeling the scarf.
I'll post more soon. I'm on jury duty for two weeks so here's hoping I get called in and dismissed early so I can knit more!
Posted by Holly at 02:16 PM | Comments (2)
March 02, 2009
This is why we can't have nice things.
People wonder why I'm a selfish knitter. People wonder why I would rather knit some insane project for the fair and not knit something easy as a gift. Easy. People don't take care of what you give them. I've knit my mom two lace shawls, both of which are blue ribbon winners and a set of lace doilies. She's misplaced them. I was going to bring the shawl to knitting tomorrow, but I can't until she finds where she put it. Great.
Enough griping though. I've got some pretties to show off! The Autumn Rose is coming along quite well. Yesterday, I reached the stopping point on the body. Here's what I have so far.
I've also started the steek panel at the neckline.
That's where I'll be cutting it open when all is said and done. I intend to have Ashley use my camera to make videos of me crocheting the steek and cutting it open since she wants to learn how to do it. Soon. Very soon.
I've started on the sleeve which is flying along, not that I'm past the color work ribbing. I hate that part.
I also received my Knitpicks order today. In it was this yarn that I'm going to use to knit the Tina shawl with. It took all my strength not to wind the first hank into a ball and cast on.
I also got 3 balls of Palette in Sky to make this baby sweater. I plan on using the left over grays and white for the color work in the yoke.
Stacey's knitting is coming along. She's purling now, and has even added her first project to Ravelry. I'm starting to win her over on knitting. Clearly, I'm an evangelical knitter. I will sing the praises and the glory of knitting to anyone who will listen. Knitting can save your soul (but maybe not your paycheck.)
Posted by Holly at 11:26 PM | Comments (4)
February 22, 2009
How Holly Got Her Groove Back.
Actually I don't know how I did. I think it mostly has to do with a looming deadline (even if it is months away). Since my last update, I've picked up the Autumn Rose again and have gotten quite a bit of knitting done. I took a picture of it around 4:30 today in natural sunlight.
After that, I laid down for about an hour. Then it was time to knit some more. I've spent most of my day knitting while watching Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel. Knitting and Tony... not a bad way to spend the day. Especially when I get to hear phrases like "I feel like a meat pinata at a pit bull party" and "as nutritious and delicious as Ryan Seacrest's love juice." Good stuff. Now I'm knitting while watching the Oscar's, though I'm typing this up during the boring stuff.
Here's my sweater now:
Stacey is making progress on her knitting. I finally figured out how she was getting increases with no obvious yarn overs. It's nothing major and something we've all done. I've also lent her my copy of Stitch and Bitch for as long as she wants it. I think now that she's overcome her main issue, she may start to really enjoy knitting.
Posted by Holly at 10:24 PM | Comments (1)
February 16, 2009
Another post* *includes actual knitting content!!
As I said last time, I've been in a knitting slump. But I have knit some, and I'm starting to get back in the swing of it all. What I need to do is to get hooked on another TV series. I got a lot of knitting done last year while watching Doctor Who and Torchwood (not to mention becoming an even bigger geek). This time, I think it's going to be Battlestar Galactica. After all, my friends all love it and I have awesome friends, so this might be promising.
In November, I finished the Cable Net socks. They are my first entry fro the 2009 Kentucky State Fair. I even knit them with the 'extra spicy' heels. I love them!
I've started on Eunny Jang's Autumn Rose in Mineral. HOTT!
I've also been knitting on my Pomatomus that I'm knitting from my handspun BFL.
And of course, I've finished another yarn since I posted a few days ago. This is my hand dyed superwash merino. Each skein is one sock. I haven't measured the yardage yet, but it should be plenty. The one thing I did differently is I navajo-plied each skein. Now, the socks will be self striping. I can't wait to see how they knit up.
I plan on getting the socks done very soon, and getting to work on the sweater. When I do, I swear I'll update. I've started using the Google reader to read my knitting blogs and I've set it as one of my home tabs. I'm hoping that will encourage me to post more!
Posted by Holly at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)