Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

This will probably be my last post this year. Have a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah everyone! And I'll see ya in 2009!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Me and Splitty yarn!

I decided yesterday I wanted to finish the Part Cashmere Autumn socks I have been knitting since Sept (arghh!!). I did the gusset, the wrapped stitch part, and was almost at the end of the section where you pick up the stitches at the end of each row. Then I noticed that I had dropped a stitch. I really really tried to fix it. But darn - this yarn was so splitty and also very sticky.. that I couldn't sort out the stiches after awhile. I admire those of you that can work with this stuff. I guess if you never make any mistakes??

If the 1st sock had fit better I may have tried longer. In fact - I ripped it back all the way back into the gusset.. but once again, when I tried to get the stitches back on the needles - it split all over the place. That was it. Bye bye socks. And I've learned that - me and spitty yarn don't get along - at least with size 1 DPN's.

But now I'm happy. I started a new pair this AM with normal yarn, nice soft, non-splitty yarn. I think the color is Navaho.. but I wound it up last summer and can't remember the vendor. It may be Lime & Violet or Araucania Ranco Multi but I can't be sure. But I sure like it:



I also learned that I cannot start a new pair of socks and watch The Dark Knight. sigh.. And that I prefer the wood DPN's to the metal ones despite the fact that brown yarn is very hard to see with the Harmonies.

Need to go out and shovel soon.

One more week until vacation! Yay!

Later: I dug the Autumn sock out and managed to get it back on my needles about 14 rows into the gusset. so all's not lost. I am going to do the heel REALLY slow the next time so that i don't make any mistakes.. I'm a sucker..

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Monkey See! Monkey Do!

Unlike the Yarn Harlot I'm not even going to suggest that I don't knit things based on what everyone else is doing. In fact, since the Internet, my stash has grown in leaps and bounds so that I can follow the leader.

When everyone did Kauni, so did I. When everyone was doing Hanne Falkenberg's Mermaid, so did I. So I had to try the Noro 1x1 ribbed scarf. I found some Noro Silk Garden on sale and tried to pick out coordinating colors. Having finally gotten to the point on my blue wrap cardigan where I would have to block it before I could do anything more - I decided that I needed color in my life. Something relatively mindless with lots of color.

What I loved about the Kauni was the surprise of finding the combinations of color. This shawl has that same property - which is why I think everyone is so drawn to it.

So here I present the start of mine:



I love it.. love how the colors blend. Magic. But don't try to frog this yarn. I actually knit twice this much today, realized afte rabout 3 inches that I had dropped a stitch on the edge. Ripped it out and started over again. Noro Silk Garden has all these little threads wrapped around the yarn and when you frog it - they get unwrapped. I had to pull a lot of the threads out since they were all tangled up. Oh well - I think it still looks fine. Oh - Noro also has lots of knots in it. I unknotted them and reknotted them with longer ends so I can weave them in easier. What a pain. but worth it!

Two weeks until my Xmas break! YAY!