Return of the blog...

Sometime in early December Sage lost her hat (seen here) between her school and the day care - she thinks one of the other kids ended up with it, but inquiries and a wanted poster at the day care turned up nothing, nor is it at the school. So anyway, it vanished. Poof!

Not wanting her to freeze in this nasty weather we are having, I knew what needed to be done. So we went to the closest yarn shop that carries Malabrigo (in this case, it was Uncommon Threads in York, PA), and she picked out two skeins of Shocking Pink Malabrigo, because, you know, pink is the new blue.

The mittens were done several weeks ago, and the hat a few days ago, but I didn't have time to sew a string to the mittens to keep them together until Tuesday since I have been so busy with work (Oh yeah, I am working now, at Bass Pro Shops in Harrisburg. I love it there. Except fr the all country, all the time, but that isn't even all that bad.).



My first real attempt at crocheting, in the form of the half-double edge on the Thorpe. It came out pretty good considering I'd never done it before.

Sage loves her new hat and mittens, and she was nice and warm on yesterday's walk to school - that's good, considering it was something like 12°F outside when we walked over. Brrrrrr!



Ok, no more photos.

stats:

Mittens are mittens for children and adults
Hat is Thorpe - modified for a different yarn gauge, 96 stitches total on US7's. I didn't write down the changes for the earflaps, though.
Yarn is Malabrigo Worsted, in Shocking Pink.

Riah's Wrist Warmers...

I'd almost file this under an "OMG it's not just another swap related post!", but well, it is, really.

Round 4 of the Malabrigo Swap on Ravelry is nearing an end, and my package to my pal (Wakenda on Ravelry, Wakenda Knits in the blog-o-sphere) was sent out and received and these were part of my gift to her. She's had the Rose's Wrist Warmers pattern in her queue for a while, and with the upcoming (well, already here, in the north-eastern part of the country) cooler weather, I thought they would be the perfect accessory to knit for her.

She mentioned that she loved the London Sky color of the Malabrigo Silky Merino, so I just had to use it for her wrist warmers.

They were a fairly quick knit, which I of course complicated somewhat by reversing some of the cables (the right cable on both is reversed so it mirrors the left cable) and the large cable on the left glove is reversed. The cable columns are done every 6th row as well in mine (instead of every 3rd). I much prefer how it looks this way, and she did as well, which makes me very happy that I did the modifications.



I rather enjoyed working with the Silky Merino too... it was quite soft, though a little splitty (I blame my bamboo DPNs). Not completely happy that the cables flattened some when they were washed and blocked, but I will definitely be working with it again (especially since I have three skeins of it in my personal stash).

Next post... most likely it will be of my swap package, which I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of.

Vlad the Impaler hat pattern now available...

The Vlad the Impaler hat pattern is now available on the AntiCraft website.

But what is really awesome? It was mentioned on Lime & Violet!

The comment there is priceless too.

It's been a while...

I've not been doing very much knitting in the last two months. Between playing on the GameCube, getting my new iMac and thus spending way too much time sitting in front of it, and now the heat, I just haven't felt much like knitting. Hopefully that will change soon, though, because I just got my copy of the AntiCraft book in the mail today.



Signed by Renée and Zabet, this book and accompanied goodies is mine thanks to their Vlad the Impaler hat design contest they were having a few months back.



This hat, in all it's spiky bloody glory, will be available in pattern form come the Lunghsadh issue of The AntiCraft.

ZomBunnie

I am participating in a non-fiber-related swap currently and the person I have for it (who happens to be a friend) loves zombies. It's only natural then that I should knit a zombie friend for her.

I heavily modified Katie Aaberg's Small Bunny (caution, pdf) pattern, which is a cute little pattern and is quite easy to follow (even when you aren't really following it at all).

I think the hardest part, other than knowing that eventually I will be giving him away, was trying to figure out how to give the little guy a ripped open and bloody bone exposed leg. Well, that and the dangly eye. Worsted weight yarn does not a good eye make... thankfully I had appropriate colors of sock yarns in the stash for his eye.



Die, ZomBunnie, Die.

Sixth Socks

My 6th pair of knitted socks are complete. The interesting thing about these socks is that it is the first pair I've knitted for myself. I've done three pair of socks for the Hogwarts Sock Swaps (all three in Ravenclaw book colors), one pair for Sage (that sadly didn't survive their first washing, which I completely blame on the yarn), and one pair for Harley. And finally, I have my first pair of made by me for me socks.

It's not visible in the first photo, but there's some lower calf shaping going on in these, thanks to my well-developed legs.



The above photo is from just after I finished the first sock, in which the shaping is visible.

I started off with Cookie A's Baudelaire pattern, but quickly decided that I am not a fan of lace, especially for socks. So I changed it to a basic 3x2 ribbing. Still kept the stitch count and the toe-up gusset and heel, and they worked out quite nicely, though I am still going to experiment with other toe-up heels.

The yarn is what was left of the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Cedar... after I finished my gloves I still had more than one full skein of the yarn left. Since the skeins weren't an identical match, I split the remaining yarn equally in half and worked toe-up, starting first with the partial skein's yarn, then switching to the full skein's yarn. The switch is about an inch after the ribbing starts on both socks, and it's only really noticeable if you know it is there. Which now everyone does.

Next socks on the agenda for me... Firestarter (it's a pdf, just to warn you). Alas, they may have to wait a bit until I make another pair for Sage since she keeps trying to steal these.

MmmSushi and other Malabrigo goodness

I love sushi. Alas, it's been a while since we've been able to go out to a Japanese restaurant to enjoy it (buying take-out sushi from Whole Foods, while yummy, doesn't count).

When I was working on my Mr. Greenjeans (it's done, a photo is included at the bottom of this post) I was contemplating things to do with the leftover yarn, should there be any. It happened that there was around 1/2 of a skein left, so first, I made a hat for Chris (The Boy Hat, which is a simple ribbed hat with awesome decreases).



And then I had probably around 20 yards of yarn left, which isn't really enough to do much with, except possibly seaweed, which it was the perfect color for. So with that and other yarns from my stash (white Cascade 20, as white, two different pinks and green; Lion Wool, as red; and Elsebeth Lavold Cable Cotton in Straw for the chopsticks), the knitted sushi was born. I still have a bit of the Vaa left, so I may make a few more pieces, but I am out of pink Kool-Aid since I only dyed a little bit of the white yarn as needed, so if I do make more it will have to be once I restock my Kool-Aid for more fishy goodness.

And since I said I'd post the Mr. VaaJeans photo, here it is, with a photo that I am not entirely happy with but it suffices for now...



And it's button, a beautiful sea glass piece I got on Etsy...

Happy Easter!

We are not a family of traditionalists. We don't really celebrate Easter or Christmas, though both myself and my husband grew up in families that did. We've tried to raise our children to be accepting of all faiths, and we do our best to celebrate the more traditional Pagan holidays, though they do still get Christmas gifts from the grandparents and aunts and uncles, etc.

Anyway, they got baskets (knitted and felted by me in the last two days, using up 4 skeins of yarn from my stash that had otherwise been in there for eternity since I could not otherwise find a use for them - two were from the Spin to Knit swap last year, one was leftover from my first felted bag, the last, some Cascade 220 Heathers that I got in a swap ages ago). One basket didn't make the cut, there just wasn't enough yarn and I should have modified my "pattern" (in quotes because I was making it up as I went) but didn't, and it came out horridly floppy, though a second felting did help it some, but it is still way too small.

But I didn't start this post intending for it to be about the baskets, but rather, one lucky winner of a blanket. And the winner is... Knit-R-Done! Thanks to everyone who commented, I wish I had more blankets to give away!

And on a closing note, the pre-felting photo from the first two baskets...

Are you pondering what I am pondering...

It's been a while since I did any self-portraits - I have become horridly self-conscious about how I look in photos, and I find that 99% of the photos of me I dislike were not taken by me. Coincidence? I think not.

Of course, you can't see much of me in the above photo, but you can see the important part, and that is my gloves. I *finally* have fingerless gloves. When the weather is starting to turn more spring-like.

Pattern - Marnie MacLean's Hooray for Me Gloves
Yarn - Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, Cedar, less than one skein (as a rough estimate, approx. 175 yards of the skein were used)
Needles - KnitPicks nickle plated DPNs, US2.0 for the cast on, US1.5 for everything else
Modifications - my gauge is tighter than the pattern's listed, and my hands are most likely bigger than Marnie's, so I cast on a total of 66 stitches per glove and modified the number of stitches per finger to suit my needs. The pinky was done first and then I added extra rows to the other three fingers to fit my hand shape. I did a purl bind off to prevent rolling and to give them a nice finished look at the fingers.

I still have one full skein plus the remaining bit from this skein left of this yarn, I am going to be working on toe-up socks for me to use up the rest of it since this is part of my stash knit down (even though this yarn has only been in my stash a short time since I had swapped some other sock yarns for it and a bunch of Cascade 220).

Next post - progress on my Mr. VaaJeans continues nicely.

Malabrigo March...

There is a group on Ravelry called Malabrigo Junkies. They have declared it to be Malabrigo March (or at least, it will be in a few hours).

I am only planning one Malabrigo knit in honor of this month, and it will be Mr. Greenjeans from Knitty's Fall, 2007 issue. I've taken to calling mine Mr. VaaJeans, in honor of the lovely colorway I am using. It all started with the
Malabrigo Swap. I fell in love with this yarn and had to have more. Thankfully, the yarn shop that my pal got it from still had some of the same dye lot, and she picked it up for me and sent it, along with one amazing skein of the Vaa laceweight.



Isn't that gorgeous? I have tentative plans for it already too. I may just turn into a lace knitter one of these days.

Anyway. Back to the Mr. VaaJeans. I wound my 6 skeins the other night with my ball winder and make-shift TinkerToy swift (I either need a more complete set of TinkerToys or a real swift, but that is another story), and did my half-assed swatch yesterday.



OMG. Look at those colors. I am almost wishing today wasn't a Leap Day just so it'd be March 1st instead so I can cast on this amazing beauty.

As a side note, this is my 97th blog post. Post number 100 will be a contest for a gift of hand-knitted baby goodness. More details will come soon.

Harley's socks

I finished Harley's socks, but forgot to post about them here.

I am still in awe of how the yarn knitted up, with it's swirling striping and twisting turns. The second one (on her left foot) knitted up very differently in the last 2 inches, and though they are identical in length, and the yarn was divided exactly in half, I had less than a yard left from the first one and close to 10 yards left from the second. I suppose that isn't a bad thing, as I can use it if they ever need repairs (knowing her tendency to wear through store-bought socks, I suspect that there will be repairs in the future).



She loves her socks, and is already asking for more. Maybe after I make some for myself, which I have yet to do.

SKB - complete with a photo

As posted the other day, my Simple Knitted Bodice is finished. The Berroco Comfort, being a machine washable and dryable yarn, got put to the test immediately after weaving in the last end, and though it fuzzed a bit in the dryer, it came out beautifully... super soft and squishable with little to no shrinkage. I wore it to the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival, and got several compliments on it, mostly from shop owners, though a few from random people as well.

When another knitter or crocheter stops you to compliment your work, it is a wonderful feeling indeed.

I definitely will be making this pattern again, probably in a more delicate yarn. I love this pattern, from how simple it was to follow (and modify), to how elegant the finished result is.

Simple Knitted Bodice, take 2

I restarted my Simple Knitted Bodice on January 7th as part of a stash knit down on Ravelry. The Stash Knit Down 2008 group has monthly challenges, the current one runs from January 5th through February 19 (so a bit more than a month for this one), and the goal is to knit a mile. As in 1760 yards of lovely yarn.

As a rough estimate, I figure I am somewhere around 600 yards to date, and my sweater, when complete should total roughly 1300 yards since I am making the large size. I think it will be over that amount, though, as I am doing modifications to it in terms of length and whatnot. With other random projects (I still haven't finished Harley's sock, the second one is about 2/3 completed), I should be able to make this mile goal.

Anyway, as of earlier today, I am on the chevron lace inset again, and am hoping it doesn't take nearly as long to complete as the last time. So far, it is looking great and fitting much better than the original.

Let it snow...

We had heard that this was supposed to be a really harsh winter. One filled with cold, snowy days. Shoveling. School closures (for Chris, it doesn't much matter for kids when you homeschool them). So why is it then, that I was taking pictures of him in his gator mittens on Monday in 65°F weather?



I even made mittens for myself after twice frogging fingerless gloves in progress (I will make fingerless gloves, and they will be perfect, but right now I need to settle on the perfect yarn first). I am not normally a winter accessory person, but I fell in love with the Malabrigo after using it for hats and mittens for the girls (er... only one got mittens, Harley likes her bulky polarfleece gloves). And now I have mittens.



I love my mittens. I was almost tempted to wear them today, but it hit 71°F earlier, I had the back door open so the breeze could come in through the screen door, and well... I just couldn't bring myself to wear mittens when it feels like May outside.

Come on, Old Man Winter, I want to play in the snow.

*specs - Chris's mittens are the Later Gator's from Stitch and Bitch Nation, modified to have 4 more stitches per mitten since he's got man hands, done in Cascade 220 Heathers #2429 and kool-aid dyed Lion Wool for the mouth (teeth are Caron Simply Soft, since it's the only worsted weight white I have in the stash and I wasn't going to buy something else for only a few feet of yarn). Mine are the Classic Mittens pattern, with modified decreases and a larger needle size because I have wide hands and didn't feel like making the men's size. Oh, and Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Stonechat, which is currently my all-time favorite yarn colorway.

SKBlah

I love the Simple Knitted Bodice. I love the Berroco Comfort, even with it being an acrylic blend yarn. I love how the SKB was knitting up in this yarn. But... it's on it's way to the frog pond.



The neckline, with the proper number of stitches/inch picked up, creates a hideous flaring mess.



The sleeves, knit to gauge, create massive puffiness above the inset.



And the rest? Well, that last photo has notes and a very long description of the modifications I plan to do to SKB2. Which I will start as soon as I get over having to rip back more than 2/3 of a sweater.

*sob*

Harley's post

I was originally going to title this "Slacker", but then I realized the majority of this post pertains to knits for my older daughter, Harley, so now it is her post instead. But she's not posting it. Because she's asleep. And she'd probably spout off some random nonsensical stuff about climbing big rocks and eating sushi if she were posting it, instead of posting about things I am knitting for her.

I am a major blogging slacker these days. I've been knitting, but pretty much just the same things as always... Harley's socks of many colors, which I never posted a photo of.



That photo is quite outdated - that sock is done and the second one is a bit past the heel. They are toe-up, loosely based on the Knitty Universal Toe-up pattern with a short row heel and a 3x1 rib. The yarn is KnitPicks Bare, superwash version, that I dyed with many flavors of Kool-Aid. I find it interesting how it went from nice and random on the foot to spiraling (and then for a while not spiraling) on the ankle. The foot, to just before the heel, has 60 stitches, then I increased it to 64 at the heel. The increase completely changed the randomness of the colors. Harley loves them though and is waiting very patiently for me to get the second one done.

In other Harley knits, I finished her hat the same day I started it, which was sometime last week.



Same pattern as the one I used for Sage's hat, same yarn, different color. Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Bobby Blue, which she loves even though I think she'd look better in something deep red or olive green or chocolatey brown. She didn't want mittens since she already has superwarm winter gloves, so I need to figure out a use for the remainder of that lovely yarn, of which there's maybe 85 yards to play with. Ooh... I just got an idea based on what her one Christmas present from her aunt is. I will save that for a post-Christmas post though since it hasn't yet arrived.

Simple Knitted Bodice

I feel like I have been neglecting my blog lately. And have. I have been too busy knitting this amazing sweater (Stefanie Japel's Simple Knitted Bodice from Stitch Diva). The above photo, a detail of the chevron lace inset from the main body, hardly shows the progress I have done on this. The body is completely done and the left sleeve is on it's lace inset already.

I am using Berroco Comfort, a blend of superfine acrylic and superfine nylon, in the color Beet Root - it's a lot darker than my photo would lead you to believe, but not quite as dark as their shade card.

I am usually a bit of a fiber snob, tending to find acrylics unsuitable for my tastes, but this yarn is just amazing. I can only hope that it holds up to a lot of wear and washing, because I think this sweater will easily become one of my favorite garments.

Mmmmmmmmmmmalabrigo

Or maybe this should be titled "It was this big!"



I couldn't settle on just one photo from this afternoon's shoot with Sage in her new hat and mittens, so you get four. Trust me, it wasn't easy to narrow it down that much. Really.



I cannot for the life of me think of a good caption for the above photo.



So instead of a caption, Sage will show you how many years old she is... er, or maybe not.

Anyway, this hat and mitten set was my first (but certainly not last) experience working with Malabrigo. I. Love. This. Yarn. Seriously. If I was only allowed to use one brand of yarn again, it would be Malabrigo. This was their worsted weight merino, in Azul Bolita, which is such an amazing gradation of blues. I love those deep rich almost-but-not-quite-black blues, and this has them along with a smattering of lighter shades tossed in for a blend that keeps you entertained through every last stitch.

The patterns from both were found on Ravelry, which is such a positively wonderful resource for all things knitterly (or hoolerly, if you go that way). I forget which they are offhand, but they are linked on my projects page if you are really curious.

And now for the last photo... Sage, who has no inkling who Madonna is, doing her version of Vogue.

Tomorrow I will fly...

Gerald finally has joined Piggie. I got his yarn shortly after finishing Piggie, but hadn't felt like working on him until last week. As with Piggie, Gerald is a very heavily modified Kate. He had more increase rounds, additional rows between decreases to elongate his torso, his head is totally different, as are his ears, arms, legs and um... trunk (because Kate doesn't exactly have a trunk does she?). His glasses were found in the doll accessory isle at Michael's, and they are perfect for him.

I debated making him happy or sad, but since he seems to be sad more often than happy in the books, we went with sad.



I have been doing other knitting this last week as well - there's mostly finished Uh-Ohs and a long skinny scarf for Harley in my recent Flickr photos, as well as today's start of my Simple Knitted Bodice.

Meet Chauncey...

Chauncey - He doesn't require much picking up after, nor does he keep you up all night with his snores. He's a gentleman afterall.

Finished size - approx. 6 3/4" tall, 4" or so wide

Materials:
Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, approx. 60 yards of Oatmeal (MC)
Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, approx. 12 yards of Onyx (CC)
US 15 DPNS, set of 5
stuffing of your choice (my current stuffing is wool batting from Peace Fleece, polyfill or others will work just as well)

Gauge pre-felting:
3 stitches/inch
4 rows/inch

Notes:
As this is a toy and is felted, your gauge really doesn't matter all that much, and the finished size will also vary based on your felting experience and the yarn used. Use worsted weight and smaller needles (around a US 10 would be good since you want your pre-felted piece loose so the fibers have room to shrink) and your finished piece will be significantly smaller.

For the CC, I used a technique somewhere between intarsia and fair isle, twisting my yarns at the color changes (and every few stitches for the longer mouth rows), you may find it easier to work the entire skull in the MC and duplicate stitch the CC before felting, or embroider the details after felting. Unless noted in the pattern, stitches are all in MC.

Abbreviations:
CO - cast on
KFB - knit into the front and back of the stitch (forms two stitches)
K2TOG - knit two stitches together (forms one stitch)
SSK - slip one stitch knit-wise, slip a second stitch knit-wise, knit both slipped stitches together through the back loops (forms one stitch)
P2TOG - purl two stitches together (forms one stitch)
P2TOGTBL - purl two stitches together through the back loops (forms one stitch)
BO - bind off

Pattern:
With MC, CO 8 stitches (using a long-tail cast-on), divide stitches evenly on 4 DPNS (2 per needle), and join to knit in the round, making sure not to twist. Place a marker at the beginning of the round.
1 - *KFB* around
2 through 12, even rounds - knit all stitches
3 - *KFB, K1* around
5 - *KFB, K2* around
7 - *KFB, K3* around
9 - *KFB, K4* around
11 - *KFB, K5* around
13 - knit all
14 - K22, K3 w/CC, K6, K3 w/CC, K22
15 - K21, K5 w/CC, K4, K5 w/CC, K21
rows 16, 17, 18 - same as 15
19 - *K2, K2TOG* repeat 3 times, K6, K3 w/CC, K6, K3 w/CC, K6, *SSK, K2* repeat 3 times
20 - K23, K2 w/CC, K23
21 - K1, *K2TOG, K2* repeat 2 times, K10, K2 w/CC, K10, *K2, SSK* repeat 2 times, K1
22 - K19, K4 w/CC, K19
23 - *K2TOG, K1* repeat 3 times, K7, K4 w/CC, K7, *K1, SSK* repeat 3 times
rows 24, 25, 26, 27 - knit all stitches
28 - K11, *K1 w/CC, K2 w/MC* repeat 4 times, K8
29 - K9, K17 w/CC, K8
30 - K1, K2TOG, K3, SSK, K1, K17 w/CC, K2TOG, K3, SSK, K1
31 - K9, *K1 w/CC, K2 w/MC* repeat 4 times, K6
rows 32, 33 - knit all stitches
34 - K3, K2TOG, K1, SSK, K14, K2TOG, K1, SSK, K3
35 - K2, K2TOG, K2, SSK, K10, K2TOG, K2, SSK, K2
36 - K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, SSK, SSK, K4, K2TOG, K2TOG, SSK, K1, SSK
37 and 38 - K11, BO6, K8
39 - P2TOG, P4, P2TOGTBL
40 - knit all stitches
41 - BO remaining stitches

(Errata... row 13 was written as an increase round but is supposed to be a knit only round, and I removed the last purl row before the final bind-off to reduce the amount of flap.)

Close up the hole at the CO stitches with the tail, weave in all ends, and toss in the wash with hot water (use a zippered pillowcase to keep fuzzies from clogging your washer hoses), a splash of detergent and some jeans or a towel for extra agitation. Once felted to your desired amount (mine went through twice and got some additional hand-felting in spots that didn't felt enough for my tastes), firmly stuff, tuck the flap into the hole, and stitch the opening closed with thread to match.



As always, this pattern ©blackrayne.com. Use it for personal non-profit use only, do not redistribute without written permission, do not sell items made from this pattern, do not claim this pattern to be your own.

Sneak peek

It's a bit blurry and/or out of focus, so I may retake it tomorrow when I have more light to work with, New photo added, much better looking I do believe. The above is a wee little peek at the Ravenclaw socks I am working on for HSS2. Sock #2 is at the heel, I have the first part of the heel (short row) done, but I'm taking a break before I start decreasing the number of wraps again since I already had to frog it back two times. I seem to keep dropping one of the stitches when I am working the p2togtbl for the one side. I don't remember how I did the first one, but I know it didn't give me any problems like this second one is. Hopefully the third time will be the charm for this one. Once I get this heel done, I've only got a few inches of cuff to do and they will be finished.

Today I will fly...

If you have younger kids but aren't familiar with Mo Willems, you should be. His books are completely awesome, and Sage is in love with the Elephant and Piggie books.

The other day she saw a modified Kate that was a pig and she wanted something similar. I already had the yarn (Moda Dea's Metro) in the stash and shortly after casting on, Chris asked if it was going to be Piggie. It hadn't even occurred to me (I was thinking Olivia originally, even though Sage has a plush Olivia). but the inspiration for Piggie was then born.

I had to do some modifications - elongating the upper torso for one, decreasing more for a neck, then increasing again for the head (which should have been a bit bigger) were the major ones. The limbs (and ears and snout and tail) were picked up from the main body and knitted on instead of knitted separately and sewn on, and my embroidering skills leave a bit to be desired, but Sage loves Piggie and is wondering when Gerald will join her (I do not have Gerald-appropriate yarn in the stash, so he has to wait until I find the perfect blue-gray).

Before I even want to consider working on Gerald, the blister on my right ring finger from knitting Piggie must heal (it's already callousing a bit). I think the bulky yarn on US7 bamboo DPNs was a bit much, especially since it took less than 2 days total knitting time. Owie.

Rogue progress... the photographic version!

Taken this morning, just after completing the first of five hood increase sections. And because I know I mentioned the use of different yarn for the hem, but never posted a photo of it...



And before I forget, to expand on the mention of my gauge changing in actual knitting, the stitch gauge is still spot on, the row gauge grew a bit, from 6 rows/inch to 5.75 rows/inch (see, not much, but enough when you consider inches and inches of knitting). If I were to change needle sizes, my stitch gauge would change, which would be a bad, bad thing. So I will instead futz with the pattern a little, because I haven't already modified it any. ;)

More Rogue progress/new camera

It seems a post with a mention of a new camera in it's title would have photos from said new camera. Alas, it's been dreary and raining here for the last three days and so photographic evidence of said new camera shall wait.

With the dreary rain and much cooler weather (which is already changing and the next few days will be back to their summery normal temperatures), I've managed to get a lot of Rogue done. A lot. Finished chart A last week, finished the back and a good portion of the front yesterday, and finished the front a few minutes ago. Next on the agenda - the hood. Once the hood is done, I will be working both sleeves at the same time to keep them nice and even.

I do have a minor problem with my Rogue - my gauge swatch was dead on for both circular and flat knitting (size US8 for the circular part, and a US8 and US7 combo for the flat because I purl looser than I knit), but apparently that changed a bit in actual sweater knitting, so the flat part is a bit longer than it should be, but not much thanks to some minor adjustments and removal of a few rows on both the back and the front. I will figure out something for the sleeves, because while I like longer sleeves, I fear that if I don't adjust the pattern slightly, they will be far, far too long due to the gauge shift.

Hopefully I will have photos of the progress soon. I do love my new camera and want to use it every chance I get. It's a Nikon D40x, because I couldn't justify the additional $200+ for the D80 when they are almost identical. Well, that, and the D40x fits better in my hands.

Building a Log Cabin

Been working on the Log Cabin Baby Blanket almost daily - it's too hot to have a wool/alpaca sweater sitting on my lap, so Rogue progress has slowed for now, and instead, the blanket, in it's Lion Brand Cotton Ease, has become the main project. Knitting is still slow due to the carpal tunnel, though, but at least I don't feel totally useless since I've not even been able to draft a pattern or cut fabric in two months.

I am now stalking ebay for lots of the Cotton Ease in black (Licorice). I had 4 skeins of it a year or so ago when they discontinued it, and I sold it, but now, after actually knitting with it's newer release, I want more. I am thinking of making a Log Cabin Blanket for Chris and my bed in black, dark gray, light gray and white. So very spooky goth it will be.

I also finally finished up Bubby yesterday...



He was only half a bear before, but yesterday he got his legs and a little drop-stitch scarf with yarn leftover from Harley's Voodoo wristwarmers. She adopted him when he didn't even have arms, so his scarf had to match something I'd made for her. I still have a wee little bit of the blue yarn left, I think he needs either a matching hat or booties too.