all together now

So, as mentioned yesterday, I did get some knitting done.  I'm going to post a bunch of pictures of progress, as well as what they're for. 

The first thing that made knitting difficult was this:

This is him making sure that his turkey dinner doesn't notice he's eating it.  I kid you not.

Cute, isn't he?  Pain in the royal rump, but cute.  Cute enough for me to knit this for him:

Yep, it is a bit big.

That little hat is not done, but he hasn't given it back for the inner liner to be added.  I sure would like to finish it... yep, I sure would.

So I finished the knitting on giant pink blob.  It hasn't been blocked yet, so it looks like this:

test knit of Joie pattern

This is me testing my Joie pattern in the largest size.  I intend to have 3 different sizes, and this is the large size.  My test knit for this one took 600 yards, and I think it's coming in at the size I estimated.  This will be blocked this week.  That yarn?  It's Fleece Artist 2/8 Blue Faced Leicester in petal.  Love!  It smells a bit closer to the sheep than some, but it's just so nice to work with.

Added to that, I worked on this big green blob:

doesn't look like much yet

This is a test knit of my vines and leaves pattern.  I have misplaced skein number 5 on this, so it will wait to be finished until I determine what safe place I tucked it into to protect it from Ninja Boy.

Here's a close up of how the yarn behaves:

Manos Del Uruguay silk blend

This is a 50-50 wool & silk single, DK weight.  It's very similar to one put out by Malabrigo, but I find a whole lot more vegetable matter twisted into the single itself.  So at the moment, it's nice to work with but given the choice between the two I'd chose Malabrigo as it's been more consistent for me.

I've also done this: 

blue leaf cashmere shawlette

It's a simple, small triangle in blue-ish leaf patterns.  Just knit for the joy of the yarn, to be honest.  Needs blocking, but it stretched out well with very little coaxing.

This is another thing I'm working on.  The color in this picture is off, it's a deep evergreen color in real life.

another test knit

This is a test-knit of the pattern for Autumn Glow.  I'm using a nice mink/cashmere yarn from Great Northern Yarns.  If you haven't checked them out, please do.  They are a sustainable mink-fur farm.  What this means, is they raise mink and shave them once a year.  They believe that happy minks make better fibre, and it shows in their product.  Their yarn has been consistent quality, and the mink/cashmere is not something you'll find anywhere else.

The final thing that has been keeping me from writing new patterns is this:

crappy shot

Yep, it's a shell/tank top.  It's my own mix o patterns, and I have a sweater I want to knit for it as well.  But I want to get this finished so I can wear it.  I know it's strange and selfish to want something to wear that I knit.  Don't hold it against me? 

ha, take that intarweb

I got my first 4 shawls put up!  It only took huge amounts of swearing under my breath, a little help from my teen in getting photos, some cooperation from the weather, and time with an internet connection. 

On my side bar I have put up the links to 4 of the finished shawls.  Under finished objects even. 

So, here's the shop for anyone who is interested
My Baby Shop, take a peek?

In the meantime, here's a shawl I didn't write the pattern for, but I did knit. 

isn't it pretty?  I wish I wrote it!

crap photographer, nice knitting for my mum!

Let's see what else I can get done this week!

In which Progress has happened

I thought this post would be about the picot edging I put along the tops of the shawls. Instead, the picot edge that never ends met with the concall that never ends and this is the result

I wish they showed better before blocking, but this will be light and lacy.

And number 2:

A more substantial yarn, this will be more solid than lacy, but is still lace knitting.

It was well after work when I took these, my flash wasn't behaving and I wasn't awake enough to make it better. Please bear with me.
In addition, you might remember this little beauty. She's been reworked and is much happier:

Oh I'm so happy this time.  This is my husband's favorite so far.

I have enough yarn left that I'm considering putting a tiny edging across the top as well. But look, she LIVES!
And finally, before I take my shortest of sons out to pick apples this morning, I have a little yarn porn to share:

So soft!  Colorway Rose Quartz

Yarny money shot!

This sexy little number is a linen/silk blend dyed by a local NH artist named Kim Kaslow. She runs an online shop called The Woolen Rabbit. Her color sense and depth are amazing. I've used her yarns previously, and loved every bit of them. I will do a more extensive about the yarn post on this yarn. I got 2 more skeins in this shipment, and each of them is exquisite.
So, look for an about the yarn on Malabrigo and Woolen Rabbit in the near future, as well as a completed shawls post with blocked items featuring Joie, Vines and Leaves, and the free pattern shawls. Lots to do!

I don't know what happened: blindsided by yarn again

2 days of knitting on the beebo of doom has produced this:

So if the previous was a belly button of doom, is this the knitting equivalent of a yarny beer gut?

I'm not sure where the progress came from.  It certainly doesn't seem like I've knit that much, and yet here we are.  I'm sure that the knitting gods will smite me later, no worries.

But I have to confess.  My green yarn that I've not been posting about showed up.  There may have been dancing on the porch when I picked up the box, but that's unconfirmed.

does this look like laceweight to you?

My needles are quivering in anticipation.  They suspect I've fallen victim to the Urban Aran Cardigan.  They might not be wrong.

Dear lace needles,
Don't cry 2mm needles, look what the bulky brought with it.

bulky comes bearing laceweights

See, that bulky is just a weekend project.  Over quickly, and the big gals will go back in their container.  It's only fair that they get a little time now and then.  I promise it's just a fling, and then my fickle projecting heart will be yours again.

Love,
fickle knitter

sneaky shawl plus a peek

Ok, bad blogger.  I kind of knit a whole shawl with almost no blogging about it.  This was my relaxation knit.  I picked a lucious cranberry alpaca-silk blend and went to town.  All of the unhappiness that I had packed into the (now frogged) previous shawl was washed away from the joy of this one.

And so I christen this cranberry colored ball o' soft Joie.

again, just picture my flash behaving.  really this is cranberry 

As with all previous posts, you can click on the pictures to make them larger.  But as with previous un-blocked items, this will continue to look like a loopy, droopy, pile of fibre until the magic happens. 

And don't tell anyone, but I might be thinking of where I'm going next.  Shhhh.... just between you & me, it might be something like this:

beebo (bellybutton) of doom!

Hey, someone moved from straights to circulars already.  Hmmm, it might have ideas.

remember me?

So, um, remember this?

blast from the past

I know I was expecting to be finished with it by now.

But the more I looked at it, the more I could see where I was unhappy when knitting it.  The more tense I got, the more tension changes there were in my knitting (funny how that works).  The project just kind of felt sad, and the knitting wasn't up to the standard I work to.

So, it's gone off to the frog pond.  I still like the pattern, I still like the yarn, and I still like the combination together.  So I'm going to start over with same and same, and make this something that I can be proud of.  But if this poor thing were a cake, it would be inedible in it's current incarnation.

So shawl 2(3?) is now shawl 3(4?).  Yep, I'm a little confused too.

Being a bad blogger, I've of course started something new and not shared.  Hahaha!  Ahem.

Another little gem from the Woolery, this is alpaca and silk.  Yummy!  Unlike the other shawls, I haven't so much been planning as knitting to feel the joy of knitting.  I, of course, went with triangle.  I'll have to shake things up with a rectangle soon.

Anyway, here's the current baby in its infancy:

pretend the camera captured cranberry color.... I am 

And finally, guess what I found in smallest son's toybox?

Yep, 6 boxes of t-pins.

what else?

In theory, movers are showing up at my house sometime between now and 5 pm.  We're not sure what's going on, since the ladies are not fully packed and they have disappeared.

My husband is convinced that they're rescheduling the moving truck.  He further posits that they are using some kind of advanced math to figure out the worst possible day and time and reschedule it for then.  I suspect he may have entered the realm of the bitter.

Last night, I went down and helped Mollye pack.  I figured that I shouldn't behave badly just because I was emotionally exhausted and feeling badly used.

Afterward, my husband and I sat together on the edge of our bed and wondered where we go from here.  This is the second time Ann has asked for help and the second time we've moved her in.  We cannot go this again.  Each time, it's gotten progressively  more expensive for us physically, emotionally, and financially.  In the interests of full disclosure, the last time only her things came over before she changed her mind.  This time she made it 10 days.

Sleep was hard in coming.  Perhaps unsurprisingly.  Instead this came along.  Click to make bigger.

No, you're not seeing wrong.  That IS a border.  I modified the beech leaf boarder slightly to make it less.. erm flappy is the best term I can come up with to describe it.  I am just exhausted, so I think this is all that will be worked on for today/the weekend.  I need time to recharge and figure out what happened and how I feel about it.