Archive for the ‘Cowl’ Category

So, I know I haven’t really posted a lot lately, and my paltry excuses for posting I’ve done this month have been a little ‘phoned in’… but I have LOTS to share today… so bare with me.

First, FOs… Finished Objects.

The Mobius Cowl… Finished it outside Starbucks on Friday two weeks ago, washed and blocked it on Saturday – it was finally dry and ready to give to my mom on Monday… Still need a modeled shot, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out – and I’m still fascinated by the construction of it – from the inside out, with a twist… amazing.

From Warm Stuff

Second Swiffer Thingy… Even though my own mother mocked me heartily regarding my genius creation… the woolen, reusable duster… she decided that she must have one. Since she did get me a dishwasher and a stove last weekend, I made a duster for her.   Now she will be constantly reminded of her foolish mockery of my genius as she sweeps dust bunnies out of her home.

From Oddities

 

Now for WIPS… Works in Progress

Heirloom Blanket…  the story of this blanket deserves its own post, which I will get to soon.  Suffice to say, this blanket is very special.  So special that I have decided to take up crocheting again just to finish it.

From Misc Pics

Train Scarf...  I had to take a train to Springfield. It was a 2.5 hour train ride, followed by a 1.5 hour bus ride. I thought it would be funny to work on the train while riding a train. I finally finished the engine car, and I’m working on the coal car. I think the train may be the only place that this scarf can be worked on – so few distractions…. I may need to figure out how to take more trains for long rides in order to get this done…

From Train Scarf

 

From Train Scarf

Meret Scarf…  This one is inching by… I’m ready for it to be done, but it isn’t ready yet… It’s my purse project… so it will get done eventually…

From Warm Stuff

I’ve been struggling with what to knit for the last week or so, and it’s not getting any better.  I only have three projects on the needles.  The train scarf, the Mobius Cowl, and the Meret Scarflette.

 

The Train scarf is on time out until I can think 4th dimensionally.  My goal is to have it done before next Winter shows up… but since this winter refuses to leave, I feel like I have plenty of time.

 

So my choices are the Mobius Cowl or the Meret Scarflette.

 

The Meret Scarflette is Cascade 220 worked in the same pattern as the beret I made for my mother-in-law last year for Christmas.  I had a leftover skein and decided a matching set wouldn’t be a bad idea.  It’s a simple enough pattern, easy to memorize and difficult to lose your place on… but you have to look at it when you’re working on it, so watching TV is sort of out of the question.  So why is it on my couch?

From Warm Stuff

(I also want to point out that Tux is only laying ‘next’ to the knitting and not ‘on’ the knitting because it’s not purple)

The Mobius is Malabrigo Worsted worked in the round over 138 stitches… Depending on what row I’m on, I’m either purling or knitting all the way around.  I’m almost to the point where I don’t have to look at it while I’m working on it.  It’s the perfect TV project because I can watch what’s going on, and still make progress.  Unfortunately, it lives in my purse and only gets worked on when I’m on the train – which is only a few afternoons a week.

From Warm Stuff

 

We all know I love Malabrigo, and it makes me feel good to always have it with me in my purse.

From Warm Stuff

 

Cascade 220 is a wonderful yarn, but compared to Malabrigo, it’s very scratchy, so to go from one to the other is difficult.  My hands yearn for Malabrigo softness, but my brain wants more than mindless knitting….

 

I’m not sure what to do about this conundrum.  Any ideas?

okay, enough about Ashur… He’s adorable and all, but I have no new news about him… so back to our regularly scheduled Knitting program…

 

Socks.

From Socks

Are done.

From Socks

I was noticing that the pattern for the ankle was a bit tight, and I was afraid that it wouldn’t fit on my leg.  That, and the fact that I wanted to show off when I went out with some friends on Saturday night, made me bind them off a few (5) inches early, and call them ankle socks.

 

I like them, they are soft, and comfy (once you go through the exercise of getting them onto your foot, which is a challenge)  …but I’m not sure that I EVER want to make socks out of fingering weight yarn EVER again.  It.  Takes.  So.  Long.  and I’m not even sure they feel all that different from store-bought – at least on *my* feet.  <ducking to avoid the projectile dpns from sock knitters around the world…>

 

My dearest husband is excited that I’m done with my socks, because he thinks that it means that I’m going to start his second pair of (black) socks right away.  They are worsted weight, and the yarn is a nice tweedy-black yarn, but I’m not really all that up to socks right now… so he’ll have to wait a week or two before I get started.

 

Here’s what I’ve got on the needles right now…

From Warm Stuff

a scarf to match a hat that I made for Christmas.  This one is on it’s “third time’s a charm” iteration, as I figure out how to get it to look the way I’m envisioning.  I think we might have it…  And do you see how adorable those stitch markers are?  Ladybugs!!

 

Then…

From Warm Stuff

my first Mobius Cowl.  This is the most fascinating thing I’ve ever made… It’s one of those things that I have a ‘vision’ for, but won’t actually get to see if I succeeded until it’s off the needles.  Remember the ruffle scarf physics?  Kind of like that… but with softer malabrigo, and a much bigger project.  :-)

 

The blog was down.  It made me sad.  I found solace in actually knitting stuff…  and so I finally finished some languishing projects:

First, I finished Ed’s socks.  Had the blog been up, I would have written about how I had failed to finish the socks in time for Ed’s birthday, and fully blamed it on the fact that I said “I’m totally going to finish these before your birthday”.  Then there was family in town, then there was a bridal shower, then there was a wedding, then there was a birthday with NO socks! …except for socks that fit like this:

From Socks

See where the heel sits?  and where the beginning of the ankle starts?  Tragic.  But then, on Sunday, there were socks that fit like this:

From Socks

Ed is *still* going on and on and on about how wonderful the socks are. It makes me feel so good, I almost want to immediately cast on another pair… almost.

I was so excited that I finished the socks, I finished my cowl.  There will be a full FO shot later, but for now you just get a preview, because the towel that the cowl is blocking on is very distracting…

From Cowl for Winter Coats

…for the first time in a LONG time, I had nothing on the needles!

It took me a while to get over the shock… then some more time to figure out what I could make without having to go to the yarn store. (yay for stashbusting!)

I’ve started a veggie bag out of Shibui Knits sock yarn… I think it will be my easy ‘not at home’ project.

From Oddities

I’ve also decided to start a pair of socks for myself…

From Socks

The colorway is “evil stepmother’ and given the circumstances, I think it’s PERFECT!

From Misc Pics

So I have this plan to finish the last 24 rows on Ed’s socks…

But then I happened to be walking about 2 miles away from my office (in 2.5 inch heels) and it was so cold outside that I tripped and fell in front of some Malabrigo Rasta.

From Warm Stuff

I don’t think I’ve mentioned how much I love super bulky yarn.  I LOVE it.  I started a cowl last night, and I finished it this evening.  As if that weren’t enough… the Yarn Gods shone their light upon me and delivered my two Yarn Harlot books.

From Warm Stuff

See the bow on top of my head?  That’s how much yarn I had leftover…

I am oh-so-very excited!

So I have to admit that there has not been a lot of knitting going on around here. Plans for a Dinner Party AND a Bridal Shower have sort of taken up most of my time – not to mention this whole ‘gainful employment’ thing. That seems to always take away from my knitting time. But it keeps me fully funded for yarn, so I guess I can’t complain.

Knitting has almost completely taken a back seat to other things – like housecleaning. Not your normal housecleaning either… Pre-Bridal-Shower/Spring Cleaning.  A week from Sunday, people are coming to my house that have never seen my house before… people that are (apparently) going to bring gifts, as the Bridal Shower is for me. It seemed like it made good sense to make the house look presentable, and get rid of all of the crap we don’t need/use so that we can fit whatever comes through the door. We got rid of about 10 garbage bags of stuff to go to the Salvation Army (!!!)  Part of me wants to say that there is no need to bring gifts – just come over and hang out – I have enough ‘stuff’.  But I’ve been told that I shouldn’t say such things… So I’m writing it instead  ;-)

However, in between all of that organizing and cleaning and purging… I have managed to frog Eleanor (I gave up on her… she had obviously given up on me) and started the Accidental Cowl. (Three times… it is living up to its “Accidental” name…)

From Cowl for Winter Coats

It doesn’t look like much now, but it will look like something… someday!

From Cowl for Winter Coats

I still love the yarn – Malabrigo Silky Merino.. but it doesn’t frog well, so this is going to have to work out, or this wonderful sikly, woolly yarn will be wasted – and that is unacceptable.

Now it is time for gainful employment!