Revising the Deadline

Well, instead of 4.5 days, I'm revising my deadline to 4.5 weeks. Let's hope I finish this sweater before 4.5 months (let's just hope it's not 4.5 years, but it's totally possible). Mom went on the Alaska trip without her new textured cotton sweater, but she has a trip in about 4 more weeks to Hawaii, so I'm thinking that's the perfect place to have a wispy cotton cardigan.

This is a cool pattern, but it's kicking my arse. It's seed stitch. SEED STITCH in cotton tapey thick & thin yarn which is rough on the wrists, back of hands and elbows. The texture is growing on me and if it wasn't such a strange construction, I could see myself wearing one of these (but not knitting another).

It's actually a creamy almost white, but my pics are showing it a bit off. I knit myself silly on this project and this project alone, and stayed up late knitting on this project, I had knit about 1 ball/day. The sweater is supposed to use 12 balls of this yarn and that rate was not maintainable, about 6 hours knitting/day.

I admit I was unfaithful to this project. I had to do it. I needed some soooooft and squooshy and easy to knit wool in my hands. I just happened to have a big ol' yarn cake of malabrigo which soothed this knitterly soul (and wrists, elbows & hands too). I'm going to pull the cotton yarn out again and try to devote at least an hour or two per day on this. Below is the sleeve/mid portion of the sweater. It has about a foot and a half to go. Seam the edges to that pointy bit, then knit a collar piece as well as two backs and those seam along top and bottom of this shape. I really love knitting from the top down in more normal fashion so you can try on the project as you go. This one is kind of a crap shoot, hoping that the designer's calculations are true. Crossing my fingers & pulling out the cotton again.

On your marks, get set, START KNITTING! There's nothing like a deadline to get you knitting steadily on one piece. My mother fell in love with this odd little 2way sweater called the Warren 2 Way Jacket. Warren Jacket Link

She bought the pattern at a little quilt and yarn shop in Hays, KS called the Quilt Cottage back in early June. JUNE! It calls for this 100% cotton (ugh, my wrists are hurting just thinking about that) and it's a thick and thin unusual type of yarn, Ripple by Tahki. It's also a bit, um, super expensive. I couldn't quite afford 12 balls on the usual rate so found it for sale at Webs and was able to get the yarn for under $100. Now, I don't knit many $100 sweaters in cotton yarn, but this is for my mom, who quite honestly ROCKS. She is amazing and totally worth knitting a $100 sweater AND one out of thick & thin cotton. OH and did I tell you it is SEED STITCH? and knit in pieces, but not normal sweater type pieces, but a long strip for the sleeves, a strange shape for the collar and two bottoms, all of which have to be SEAMED together and did I tell you it's cotton?

Yup, mom's pretty much the only one getting a sweater like this from me. :) NOW the only other issue is one of time......The yarn was backordered. It came in TODAY. Just this afternoon and as soon as I get home I'm going to quickly knit up a gauge swatch. BUT everyone's ravelry projects are coming out HUGE, so I'm guessing I'll have to soak & let the swatch dry to get an accurate gauge......

My plan is to quickly knit up 3 gauge swatches with 3 needles of my best guess, soak them and roll them in a towel and stomp the crap out of them to get the water out, then sit them on top of the dryer while I run a load of towels through....maybe it'll hurry things along. I'll probably then choose the gauge that is a little smaller than what's called for......

OH and the timing? Mom leaves for her Alaskan Cruise on Wednesday morning. This is Friday at 4:23 and I'm not even home yet. Totally no problem, right? Wish me luck.

PS I have ice packs in the freezer for resting those wrists. Dang full time job.....It sure would've been nice to have Mon & Tues to knit.... ah well. I'm sure it's no problem. There's the whole knit/time warp continuum thing. I'm sure it'll kick right in.

Gotta go, need to get swatching!

Viola! The Big Reveal

Welcome to the big reveal!! "After" pics! After a very technical blocking process, the magic is revealed. Actually, I just soak the scarf in a bowl of very warm water, run it through the spin cycle (NOT a full wash cycle) and lay it out on the carpet and smooth it into shape. After drying overnight, the lace just sings! Wowza! I love blocked lace!

Guess what else? FREE PATTERN ALERT! (Ravelry link) Textured Shale Sock Yarn Scarf. One skein of Treasured Toes sock yarn (tons of yardage-463 yds/423 meters) makes a gorgeous textured scarf. The best part is NO PURLING either!

The "BEFORE" shot...unblocked sock yarn lace scarf

Man, I love sock yarn scarves. LOVE sock yarn scarves. Don't get me wrong, I love my hand knit socks, but some sock yarns just NEED to be worn where everyone can see...where they're a focal part of your ensemble (plus it's awkward to hop about on one foot showing off fabulous sock yarn). One other thing I LOVE about sock yarn scarves is the big BEFORE and AFTER shots! I feel like I'm part of a reality TV show here.......here's the "Before" above. Quite lovely, good texture, color and you can see the potential, but just WAIT until I perform the magic of the makeover (Blocking).....coming tomorrow, the WOW AFTER shot! Also coming tomorrow, a FREE PATTERN to showcase your favorite skein of hand dyed sock yarn. What's that? AND the pattern has ABSOLUTELY NO PURLING! Can I get a WHAT? WHAT! WHAT! Don't have a favorite skein of yarn sitting about that wants to shine and shimmy and show off around your neck? No worries....visit the TreasureGoddess Etsy Shop for some ideas.....amazing yardage AND loverly color AND great pricing? Awesome Blossom! Now come back and see us tomorrow for the WOW Shot!!

Yarn Hopscotch, Noro Style

Sorry about the dirty looking foot there, but I was walking about in the backyard before the hopscotch urge took over. No time for putting on shoes or washing of feet when the wool crazies hit, you know. :) SO I can't stop knitting these squares! Pattern is Paintbox Log Cabin by Katherine Keyes (Free Pattern!). Yarn is 20 skeins of Noro Kureyon. Yes, I know. I do. I got a great deal on 2 bags at LittleKnits.com. Instead of the usual pattern using all different squares, I thought I'd try a coordinated blanket this go-round. My house is currently the home of many, many crazy yarn style afghans and I thought I'd like to see what people who's things MATCH live. It's an odd colorway, as are most of the noro kureyon yarns actually, but it's growing on me. I'm just knitting them up as they are in the skein. It's like yarn crack. Just one more square....Just one more square....Just one more square... I've just broke into the 2nd bag, so I have a feeling this warm, wooly blanket will be ready in the midst of a hot, humid August summer in Kansas. Awesome. At least the square knitting is knitting up quickly. I may wait until cooler weather to put it all together. I think I'll add a dark charcoal grey around each square, then join by 3 needle bind-off into rows and just keep going. Anyone got other obsession knitting going? I keep trying to start other projects, but the squares, man....they just keep calling my name.