Shooo!

I've been such a zombie this week. I'm not really staying up a lot later than normal or anything, but I have zero energy.

Which is why I've done very, very little knitting. Or photographing. I did have a busy weekend, and I did a lot of stuff, but I really don't think that it should have wiped me out for the week.

I still don't have the FO/Partially FO'ed pictures taken, but I think I'm going to do that tonight. I had intentions of doing that last night, but on the train on the way home, I, on a whim, decided to see if I could knit continental. Which is something I've randomly been trying to do for about the last year now. And every time is a complete disaster which usually ends with me thinking "Never, ever again."

I don't know what was different about yesterday, but low and behold, I could just do it. Like I'd been doing it for years. I don't know why, but I'm totally not complaining.

My reason for wanting to learn continental this time is that I'm doing that Lopi sweater, and I really want to do the two handed color hold method that requires one to be able to knit european and continental. So now I can! Hooray. What is most surprising is that my tension seems to be pretty much the same! Hooray!

I spent most of last night... well, actually playing Dynomite on the computer. Because I'm utterly addicted to it. The time trial game mocks me mercilessly. Will I ever reach the golden 7 minute marking? I've gotten 7:08, but I can't seem to get below it. Anyway, when I wasn't rotting my brain with colored dinosaur eggs, I started knitting a tube. I have no idea whatsoever what it will become, if anything, but I just picked up a circ, cast on enough stitches to go around, and started knitting. I want to get the muscle memory good and embedded.

So, tomorrow, hopefully there will be pictures. Peace out.

All right then.

New camera?

Check.

New pictures, erm... not so much. I didn't get a chance to rephotograph all of the projects that I'd done the other night, however, I did get pics of my spoils from the yarn shop trip Rachael and I took on Sunday. (It wasn't much of a trip. That seems to make it sound like we went a long way. We didn't go that far.)

New stuff!



I've never done a yoked sweater, but I figure now's as good a time as any. My husband has this really nice wool aran that I've been wearing and I adore it, and I want to knit an aran, but I'm holding off on that until I can get an english transalation of the Phildar Irlandais book I've got. There's a couple of sweaters in that that I'd looooove to knit up. But I'm not allowed to start my new sweater until i finish one of the two I've got going now.



They've had these mittens at Mosaic for ages now, and every time I've gone in there, I've almost bought them, and then didn't in the end. But lo and behold, they were on the sale rack, and they looked so lonely that I couldn't help but bring them home. Hooray! Baby alpaca mittens!

This is a closeup of the fabric of the Rowan tank mentioned below.



More soon!

Ah-HA!

I figured out why my camera's pictures are less than optimal.

0.3 MP. Yeah. .3 ... I did buy it three years ago though, so...

But, I'm going to get a new camera today! Hooray!

Ok.

So I took some pictures, and frankly, they look like ass.

I'm not sure why, they looked gorgeous on the camera display window, but on the computer they look bad. Blurry and dark. Competely opposite of they camera image. Which was focussed and bright. Grrr. Maybe I should get a new camera! Or just learn how to use mine! I don't know! I like exclamation points!

!!!

-ahem- I'm still chugging along on that sock I've mentioned. I'm in the decreasing the gusset stage. Picking up the stitches was easy, but arranging the stitches on the two needles was a little tricky. Fortunately, I managed to find a site that had good pictures and recommendations. The little hole in my finger is about healed, so that is less and less of an issue as the day goes bye.

It's been so incredibly chilly here for the last few days. I think I'm going to try and finish my Elegant Gauntlets tonight to have for tomorrow. My fingers are turning blue as I type this. Not tomorrow! They'll be all snug in Koigu-y merino-y goodness! Hooray!

This weekend I think I'm going yarn shopping with with Rachael. I don't know which shop yet, but one's going to be a lot richer after I leave, because I get paid this week! Woohoo! ;)

Later!

Drat.

The archives seem to be down. This will be rectified. I think it's a "Setting" problem. I don't have the brain power to figure it out right now. If you want to go backwards in time, click on any of the "Previous Purls" and you can get back to the beginning.

In other dratty news, I managed to work a small hole into my index finger with the Addi turbos. Joy.

Monday!

I didn't get a lot of knitting done this weekend. Friday, I went to Arcadia, and drooled all over their nice yarn. I considered buying up a bunch of violet linen yarn and making some sort of tank top, but decided against it. I did, however, pick up two pairs of Addi Turbos in size #1, and have switched my current sock over to them, and the sock is absolutely flying. I may never go back to double points.

I blocked my lilac top and it fits much, much better now than it used to. I wore it on Saturday. It's really nice, if I do say so myself.

I'm going to frog the Cha Cha shawl. I've only got a couple of rows done, so I'm not terribly upset about it. I'm trying to keep myself down to three WIPs at once. That way, I may actually have some finished projects!

Tonight, I'm setting out to the arduous task of photographing everything I've mentioned so far. I'll probably do all of the actual uploading tomorrow on my lunch break, because it'll take ages on my dial up at home.

I Just Can't Stop

I started yet another project. Because I've got a problem. It's a shawl made out of Patons Cha Cha. I have a short yarn attention span lately. I worked a bit on my Brazil sock, and did a couple of rows of the shawl. Nothing impressive. I did fight the urge to go to Arcadia yesterday, though, so be proud. ;)

Eventually I'll have pictures of stuff... but not just yet.

Socks!

So as predicted, I finished hat number two last night. I cast on for the Fiber Nooks and Crannys's Sock of the Month August sock. It's in the coveted Opal Brazil 5001 colorway. It's so summery and pretty and it's a Feather and Fan type pattern. The pattern goes quickly, so I should have a fairly difficult looking sock relatively quickly. I've got to get Addi Turbos in size one. I'm (ooh, forgotten WIP alert) in the process of working on the "Elegant Gauntlets" from the Purl Stitch book, made from KPPPM, and I'm doing them in the round on two circs and it goes ever so much faster than on bamboo double points. Don't get me wrong, I love double points, but sometimes (and especially with socks) I get in a real product over process groove, and I'd really love to finish a pair of socks in a couple of days instead of a couple of weeks... I figure if I could finish a single sock in less than a week, I'd be more motivated to do the second sock right away. Some on at S'n'B mentioned hearing a technique in which you knit one sock inside of the other, and that sounds crazy. I've read about knitting two socks on two circs, and that looks manageable... I may have to look into that. But I need the needles first!

And We're Back...

Yes, it's been awhile. And I have no real excuse. I've been busy, true, but I've been knitting, and it wouldn't kill me to update.

I'm just going to jump right in with the now, and sort of backpost as I remember things.

Current WIPs: I've stopped counting. What I know of right now. I've frogged the Shrimpy sweater, and I'm making a sweater from the Hip to Knit book instead. I don't remember the name of the sweater, but it's a semi-cowlnecked slightly fitted sweater with bracelet length sleeves. It's made up with some magenta ribbon yarn. I'm making it from Crystal Palace Merino Frappe. It's turning out very nicely. I've got the back done for that.

Holly Daze Sweater. This is the two toned sweater from The Purl Stitch book. Instead of using two shades of grey, I'm using a darker than sage green for the top and a burgundy color for the bottom. The yarn is mostly acrylic, if not 100%. It's by Amore, and it's kind of fuzzy. I'm not sure.. oh, scratch that. It's Amore by TLC. I like it, and it's not at all icky, even if it is acrylic. I've got the back finished, and half of each of the sleeves. I like to do both sleeves at the same time, that way they're exactly the same. I'm kind of neurotic that way.

UIUC hats. Every fall, my husband and his friends go to a U of I football game. This is my first. I'm going bearing gifts. I'm more or less using the Hot Head hat pattern from the Stitch'n'Bitch book... I'm using a different gauge and slightly different decreases. I'm making these out of Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick and some version of Caron, the no dye lot one. I can't remember and I'm too lazy to go and look. The T&Q is navy, and the Caron is eye-poppin' orange. They're turning out nicely, and I can kick one out in about two hours. I was planning on using some pretty nice Australian wool I found over at Yarnaholics.com but I didn't know if anyone had wool allergies/sensitivities, so I thought it'd be better to go with something synthetic. I'm done with one and four fifths out of nine. (I've got to seam up the second one and it's done. It shouldn't take more than five minutes. Viva la mattress stitch.)

Rowan 'Mambo' Top in Cotton Braid. The Cotton Braid is nice to work with. The front and back are finished, and one shoulder seam is done. I didn't like the way the armband turned out though, so I'm undoing it and just doing a crocheted border... if i have enough yarn for it. This is basically a bathing suit cover up for me, as all of my bathing suits have green as their main color. Also, I'm omitting the fringe on the chest. That's just fugly.

There are a few other things as well, but these are the ones taunting me the loudest.

Recently Finished Objects

Sleeveless Funnel Neck Top from Hip to Knit. I made one out of Bernat Denim Style. It's a cotton acrylic blend, and incidentally the same yarn that I made my dad's hat and scarf out of. I really love that yarn, it's really soft and fairly lightweight. I love this yarn. I reeeealy love this yarn. I can't explain why, I just do.

I also made this top almost a year ago with Cotton Classic, but it was before I knew how to finish semi-competently. I had only seamed the shoulders, but was so disappointed with the shoddy look that it's been living in a basket ever since. I drug it out last week and it's finished with pretty new seams. I've not worn it yet, but it's finished...

...as is the Lilac Patons Katrina top I made. Also sleeveless, and knit up in reverse stockingette and ribbing. It's a bit snug, as I didn't think to block it before I seamed it. The pattern is a Berroco pattern, that I got for free off their website. I think it's "Gina," but don't quote me on that. It's one of the patterns for Echo. I'll look it up and link it later. I need to block that before I wear it out of the house.

Groovy Shawl. This is made out of Patons Cha Cha, and the pattern is from the Cha Cha booklet. It's an eyelash yarn, but the lashes are very... not quite curly, but... how to put it. Lion Brand Fun Fur? The lash parts are very very straight. Cha Cha is not. Anyway, I made this with the Hippi colorway. It's very nice. I love it and I'm making another one sometime soon.

That's it for now!