ketchup!

I really need to be better about blogging. I mean it this time. Really. Aw, hell, who am I kidding?

I've been in something of a knitting slump lately, which, quite logically, means that I've also been lacking in motivation to post in my blog about (*gasp!*) knitting! Since my triumph over the evil Quadrat, I've finished a grand total of.... one project.

Not to fear, however, I have also started a whopping six others. Yep, still me, still living down to expectations.

Project the first: Sweater! I picked up a few balls of James C. Bretty Marble Chunky in the rather lovely and subdued colorway Lichen. I got the fantastic idea into my head that I would knit a sweater without a pattern. Honestly, what could go wrong? I had this pretty mental image of a loose, comfy sweater I could throw on when I got chilly, and it would be soft and pretty and comfy and I would love it forever. I used my measurements to calculate my increases and decreases, and because I'm an idiot who didn't allow for any ease, the thing fits me like a second skin. But it's okay, really, because it's cute and has shaping, and my mental image of the finished sweater adjusted. Then I came to the sleeves. And because I'm also a lazy idiot, I decided I'd just knit them straight because I didn't feel like doing math. Did the first, and it looked like crap and fit like crap, so I ripped it out, and there my poor sleeveless sweater sits to this day, begging for sleeves. But by now, of course, it's the height of summer and I just don't feel like working on something I can't wear for months yet.

Project the second: Fingerless gloves for a friend. I started the first, and had to keep pausing to have him try them on. First one is now finished, second is cast on, I'm just lacking the motivation to keep going on it because, ya know, the whole summer thing makes me not want to work on winter stuff.

Project the third: Saroyan wrap. Bandwagon knitting for the win! This project actually started out with no small amount of promise. Knit in Malabrigo Twist in the colorway Taureg, it was fantastic. I loved the pattern, I loved the yarn, I loved knitting it. Then I left it out one night and Yarneater and Kleptocat got ahold of it. Let me just say this: you don't fully comprehend just how much yardage is contained in two skeins of yarn until you see said skeins of yarn spread out all over your floor. Both upstairs and downstairs floors. Yow. Saroyan, after an epic detangling session, is now sitting in timeout because, despite carefully calculating how many repeats I could get per skein, and the assurance that Other People on Ravelry made it with far less yarn than I started out with, I have three leaf repeats left, and quite definitely not enough yarn to finish it with. I'm not sure why I'm procrastinating on this. It's not as if waiting will make more yarn magically appear.

Project the fourth: Triangle shawl. Years ago I was given a skein of Artyarns Silk Rhapsody in an attempt to win back my friendship and support. (It was a rather good attempt, too. Any of you out there who would also like to buy my love, please take note.) Because it's much more expensive than any other yarn I've ever bought for myself, it spent quite a bit of time languishing on my shelf while I waffled on what exactly I would do with it. I eventually decided on a simply triangle shawl with yarn-over increases. This yarn is so fantastic, why hide it with a pattern? This one I'm actually savoring rather than procrastinating on. I'm only working on this when I'm in a good mood,because I want to have only positive memories attached to the finished project. (Unlike pretty much everything else I've ever made.)

Project the fifth: Socks! I started them, I lost interest halfway through the second pattern repeat. Same old story.

Project the sixth: Because I apparently am a glutton for punishment, and as if I didn't already have enough on my proverbial plate, I joined a KAL for the very lovely Tilting Tardis Cowl. We all know my track record with KALs, but I'm enjoying this one so far. I don't want to jinx myself, but this may be the one I actually finish! Fingers crossed!

Aaaaand if you made it through all that rambling, I feel that I should reward you with some pretty pictures. This is my one and only finished object. I modified the crap out of another Dane Shawl, and I'm really happy with the results. Yarn is Malabrigo Sock in colorway Persia. I ran out of yarn two and a half rows from the end, and ended up having to buy a second skein. I know, I know, having to buy more Malabrigo, how did I ever cope with such a tragedy?? But fear not, the remains of the second skein are slowly but steadily becoming my Tardis Cowl, and it looks lovely so far. I need more pics of my WIPs.

Anyhow, this shawl will soon find a new home with my very lovely mother-in-law, just as soon as I can get my lazy butt to a post office. Or the next time I'm in Tampa, whichever comes first.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Now to finish more things, and hopefully blog about my adventures knitting them!

I've been bad

I know I have. I am a bad, bad blogger. I suck. I know.

But! I offer you pretty pretty pictures in return for your forgiveness! Dane shawl is bound off, blocked, and already happy in its new home with Rina. I'm in love with it. I really want to knit another one. For myself. Which I would keep for me and wear all the time. Mmmm, love.



I also finally took pictures of other FOs I'd been meaning to photograph for a while now. My Silk Garden Kerchief, for instance. I'm really happy with how it came out. It's very warm, and I've been wearing it pretty often. I was slightly less than thrilled with how the colors came out, but it's since grown on me...


Then there's my Envy. This was half-finished for a while, but I finally got off my lazy ass and sewed the buttons on it so it's actually, ya know, wearable. I'm pretty happy with this as well. It's a pretty color that looks nice against my grey coat.


And this is my latest FO, which I am so so so happy with. It's for my friend Jon. It's a little big on me, but fits him well, and was very well-received. He put it on right away and went around showing everyone. He's been wearing it all week, which makes me feel all warm-and-fuzzy inside. Nothing like knitting something for someone and having them really appreciate it. Makes me want to knit tons of things for everyone! But I'm too lazy for that, really...


In other news, I'm still knitting Onerva. And still putting off finishing J-L's hat. (hence the blogging! nothing like a good lengthy picture-filled post to put off knitting something I don't want to knit!)

I'm also planning more projects. Yep. I know. Heard it already.

I'm in love with Quadrat from the latest issue of Knitty. Mmmm, boxy cabled sweater. AND I found the perfect yarn for it. I was planning on using Cascade 220 for it, but I stumbled across Cascade Dolce on sale for mega-cheap. Wool/alpaca/silk blend at half off? Don't mind if I do! I ordered it in Silver. Smallest size is for a 33" chest, so I'll be knitting it at a smaller gauge to take off an extra inch or so. I went ahead and ordered more yarn than I'd need for knitting the pattern as-is though, since the reason the Silver is on sale is that it's discontinued. That does make me a bit nervous, but hopefully it'll only serve to motivate me to knit this sucker straight off. That way if something goes horribly, terribly wrong (as it is wont to do) I'll still be able to get my paws on more yarn in that color. Hopefully.

Also in the works are plans for cabled socks, and a hat for Jason. He really liked the one I made for Jon, so he'll be getting one as well. In alpaca. Mostly because I want an excuse to play with alpaca. Also because I love him.

Mmmm, alpaca...

NaKniSweMo: Day 1

So, today I didn't start. Big surprise there, yeah, I know. Today I wrote a page and a half. A rather good page and a half. Maybe I should have gone with NaNoWriMo anyhow...

But no, I've committed. I need to commit. I will knit a sweater.

I don't have a pattern for my sweater yet. I do, however, have yarn for it. A while ago I bought enough yarn to make a Thermal. Then I actually bothered to look at the pattern. The waffle pattern on it involves a lot of k2, p2-ing. I hate ribbing. Hate it with a passion. Knit an entire sweater with ribbing, in fingering weight yarn no less! I would go crazy. Absolutely certifiably crazy. So I need a new pattern.

Rather than do the logical thing and hop on over to Ravelry and search for sweaters that would work well with that yarn, I decided to make up my own sweater. I've only knit two sweaters, one of which I probably have to frog because it completely doesn't fit right, and I've never written a pattern for anything before. Really, what can go wrong?

Anyhow, I spent the evening working on my Dane Shawl. I'd really like to get this done well before Christmas because last minute gift knitting sucks. It's gotten a lot bigger, yay!


It's coming out smaller than the pattern suggests it should, so I'm putting in an extra pattern repeat. I'm nearly done with that, then just have to do the edging. It still seems rather small, and I have a surprisingly large amount of yarn left over, so I'm pretty much just crossing my fingers and hoping that it grows a lot when I block the everloving fuck out of it. We'll see.

I also really need to knit up J-L's hat. I've had the yarn for it for quite some time now, and he's coming up to visit the second weekend of November. It's bulky yarn, so it should go fast. Fingers crossed on that.

Then, yes THEN, I will start my sweater. Um. Yes. I suck. I know.

knitting blues

Literally. The two projects I'm mainly working on now are blue. I'm really digging it right now, heck if I know why.

So. Anyhow. Last post found me whinging about how I have nothing to knit. Next time I start that crap again, I want someone to point me at this photo:



(please note the copious amount of blue yarn scattered throughout it)

And the next time I start up my Oh woe is me I've got nothing to knit! the appropriate response to that is "Horseshit! You have enough yarn to cover a queen sized bed. Put on your big girl panties and go knit some of it!"

Which is pretty much exactly what I've done. I've pulled out that one lonely skein of Smooshy I've been meaning to knit up, sat down at Ravelry and dug up an appropriate pattern for it. And then I picked up my needles and started knitting it

(swatch? what swatch? swatches are for the weak, baby, I live life on the edge!)

I'd love to say how much I love it and how happy I am putting this yarn with this pattern etc etc etc. I'm really loving the pattern; it's not too difficult, but looks pretty and complex and, well, lacy. I'm ecstatic over the yarn; it's gorgeous and soft and every bit as smooshy as its name implies it should be. But what's coming off my needles . . . well . . .

Frankly, it looks like ass.


Pretty colored ass, but ass nonetheless. To be fair, this is simply the nature of lace, and it's just a blocking away from becoming gorgeous lace, but right now I look at it and all I see is a garbled messy blob of pretty colored ass. And this right here is why I hate knitting lace. I don't mind following a chart. I don't mind counting stitches and desperately searching for where I missed that one damned yarn-over because my last row came up a stitch short. I don't mind actually having to concentrate at my knitting.

But I do dislike looking at what I'm knitting and going "this looks like ass."

I read somewhere that there are two types of knitters: those who do it for the process of knitting, and those who are motivated by the end product. I'm definitely the latter. The best part of knitting for me is the feeling of pride when I look down at my emerging project, and think to myself "hot damn, I made that!!" or "hey, look! I've knit another two inches!" With lace it's all about delayed gratification because it doesn't get pretty until all the way at the end when it's pinned to the blocking board.

But for now it's rekindled my knitting mojo, so I am grateful for that. Also, it's a gift for someone. Hopefully that will motivate me to keep going on it. Time will tell, I suppose.

I'm off to Virginia this weekend to visit Husband's grandfather. This will be the only project I take along. I'm curious to see how much I'll end up getting done on it. Stay tuned!

happy-go-lucky hat

It's that time again! That's right! I finished another project! No, it's not a project on my Plan of Attack. Yeah, that Plan has pretty much fallen to the wayside. But it's cute! And so what if it's late June, I'm gonna wear it anyhow!




Unfortunately I now have no take-along project. And I'm pretty much back to seaming my soul-sucking sweater of suffering. Do. Not. Want.

Is it bad that I want to start anther project?

still here and still knitting!

So, believe it or not, I'm still here, and still knitting. I'm moved into my new house (!!!) and more or less settled. The endless round of visiting family has abated (for now...) and my evenings are once again my own. So what have I been doing with them? Why, knitting, of course!

I finally finished up my Tequila Sunrise socks. Yep, at long last. I know. Just as it's too hot to wear handknit socks. But I loves them, and the temperature is supposed to drop a bit later this week, so I'll get some use out of them, at least.




Still seaming up my sweater. I've more or less lost interest in it at this point; I dislike seaming and weaving them ends, and hoo boy are there ever a lot of ends to weave in. Stupid stripes. Stupid me for thinking stupid stripes are cute. And the fact that now that it's summer I won't be able to even wear the thing for another few months has sapped the last of my motivation. I'm trying to force myself to do a little work on it every few days. At this rate, maybe I'll have it done by autumn... I'm not holding my breath, though.

I did end up buying more yarn recently. (Yes, I KNOW) But since it's for a gift, I'm pretending it doesn't count. J-L picked out some colors he liked, and I'm going to be knitting a bulky hat for him. I'd wanted to get it done before he left, but sadly I don't have needles big enough to make gauge with. So it'll have to wait until I can pick some up.

In the meantime, I've started a Felicity Hat with some Dark Horse Fantasy in Jade Green that I picked up for 40% off while getting yarn for J-L's hat-to-be. I figured some a short project of mindless stockinette that ends in a cute hat might do me good.

Plan of Attack? What Plan of Attack?

Also, most excitingly, I have picked up a couple of knitting helpers. They've been very diligent about performing such useful services as eating my needles and trying to make off with my yarn.



This is Ozymandias and her devious little sister, Pyewacket. I'm sure adventures will follow. In the meantime, though, aren't they cuuuuute?? :)

plan of attack

So. I'm procrastinating again. Still haven't finished knitting the last sleeve of my sweater. Still haven't knit the second of my clownbarf socks. Started ANOTHER frigging project. Yep, I could no longer resist the siren call of the Ruca. Drastic measures are clearly called for. Thus, Plan of Attack.

Firstly, I will finish knitting my Lacy Spring Scarf. Because I've cast on for it, ya know. And all. Perhaps actually forcing myself to finish a project I've started will somewhat curb my startitis.

Secondly, I will finish that damned sweater. I hate it, and it hates me, and it just needs to get out of my WIP basket and into my closet.

Thirdly, I will finish my Valentine's Hat. Remember, the one I started on Valentines Day? Yeah, that one.

Fourthly, I will finish my second Clownbarf sock.

Fifthly, I will crochet up my lace vest that I've had planned for-effing-ever. Because I haven't crocheted anything in far too long.

Sixthly, I will use the remainder of that yarn, and the skein of Silk Garden I just bought (yes, I know) to make my Silk Garden Kerchief. Because after all that I'm going to need something mindless to recover with.

Seventhly, I'm going to knit something for Jason. Because it's been a while since I've made anything for him. Maybe the socks. Probably the socks.

And somewhere in all that I'm going to finally finish my Crocheted Tank. I've finally thought up a way to salvage it without ripping the entire bodice. I just have to undo a little of what I've done, and thus far I've been too lazy. Yarr.

So. This is my Plan of Attack. I'm now accepting bets for how long I'll actually stick to this. Personally, I give it a couple of weeks. I might make it to the "Secondly."

socks, hats and mittens

So, my knitting is coming along. My pink lace socks are farther along, and I'm sure they'd be even farther along still if I'd worked on them at all since last Friday... I'm just past picking up the gusset stitches. The instructions at that point of the pattern didn't make much sense to me (possibly because I barely skimmed the pattern, went "that's not usually how I do gussets!" and then went along on my merry way doing the gussets as I've always done them.) I re-read the instructions after doing them my own way, and still don't quite get it. Something about k2tog in a place I don't recall ever knitting 2 together before...

Anyhow, socks!



Not a terribly good picture of the yarn, I'm afraid. It comes out looking far too orange-y. It's a really pretty pink in real life, and one day I swear I'm going to take a picture of this thing in natural sunlight. Although that might take a while because, oh yeah, I live in Pittsburgh, where the sun apparently abandons us every winter.

Anyhow. I'm probably not going to finish these socks by the end of January like a good little KAL participant would. And that's because I'm a horrible procrastinating project tramp. But oh, I have justifications. And don't I always?

The reason I haven't touched the socks is because I was being responsible. Yes, I know. Me. Responsible. Ha. But I really was! See, Sunday was the Steelers game that determined whether or not they'd be playing in the Superbowl. (and they are hurrah go Steelers!! ahem...) For this game, the FH and I decided to go enjoy it at a local sports bar. Unable to be parted from my knitting for even a few hours, I had to take a project. Now, since I'd planned on having a few beers and have learned from my past drinking-and-knitting experiences, I wanted something simple to work on. And honestly, who wants to be caught knitting pink lace socks at a sports bar?? Nope, knitting a goofy bright-orange hat is faaaaar better. *eye-roll*



(yeah, I was real productive knitting-wise during that game, wasn't I...)

Yep, that's my skein of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Orange Creamsicle that I bought several months ago because I liked the color but had no idea what to do with it but that's okay because now I do and I really like the pretty things the colors are doing! Except, dirty dirty knitting tramp that I am, I now have no interest in my pink lace socks, and instead am itching to knit this hat. I'm on such a hat-making binge right now. It's kind of silly, but there we are. My addictive personality strikes again.

For whatever reason, in addition to hats, I also want to knit mittens. Why? I have no idea. I've never knit mittens before. Hell, I don't even ever wear mittens, and have previously had no desire to wear mittens. Yet I want to make mittens now. I went so far as to poke around Ravelry and queue half a dozen mitten patterns, most of which I'll never get around to making. Mittens mittens mittens. It's fun to say, but that still doesn't explain my obsession with the darned things. I'm probably going to make a pair out of one of the many skeins of yarn I've got lying about. Possibly the skeins of Bernat Berella 4 Ombrees in Terra Cotta Mist I've got. And then hopefully I'll lose interest in them entirely.

And speaking of yarn, I picked up another couple skeins when I was at Michael's the other day. Guess what I'm gonna make with it!



Go on, guess!! I'll give ya'll a hint: it's gonna be cunning!

i can't stop starting things!!

Yep, that's right. I started yet ANOTHER project. This weekend my friend came to visit, and she wanted to start the Twisted Maiden Fingerless Gloves. She requested that I help her with it, which I agreed to. Then she pointed out that it'd go smoother if I simply worked along with her. I resisted, I really did. But I am weak, and gave in. So I picked up a lovely skein of Cascade 220 in Marine Heather I had slated for the 12" blocks for my CAL, and began knitting it up.

I only have a pair of size 6 dpns instead of the recommended size 8s, so I cast on 32 stitches and went from there. It's coming out rather nicely, and I really like how the cabling looks done at a smaller gauge.

The socks I were so gung-ho on finishing are now sitting in a heap with all my other UFOs, glaring forlornly at me. Well, it's their own darned fault they're there. Teach them to be stubborn....

I am weak

I am. I swatched. There, I admit it. I grabbed a skein of that Swish DK and cast on. Then I went and hid in the computer room to knit it up where all of my other yarn and UFOs couldn't stare at me in their accusing way. I could just hear them in my head. "Why aren't you finishing us, Leandra, don't you love us anymore??" Shut up shut up shut up it was just one little tiny swatch I didn't mean to it just sort of happened it didn't mean anything I swear!

I feel like such a knitting tramp.

And in any case, it came out too small, and I don't have a pair of size 7s. Usually I'd say eh, close enough, but I figure for a sweater I should probably make more of an effort to make guage, what with my liking to actually be able to wear it and all...

After the swatching incident, I very meekly slunk back to the sofa and picked up my half of a neglected sock and kept working on it. And wouldn't you know, the damned thing got its revenge on me. I knit up the heel flap, and when I went to turn the heel I mysteriously didn't have the right number of stitches. It turns out that I'm making the sock in the second smallest size, but I knit the heel flap for the smallest one. Aaargh. Stupid sock. It did this to me on purpose to force me to pay more attention to it. Either that or I fail at reading comprehension.