Abrazo

I have been thinking about lace and shawls lately. So when I saw the pattern on Twist Collective for Abrazo I knew it was going in the queue. I have been trying to use stash yarns as much as possible and found a pretty purple ball of Trekking. The pattern calls for about 400 yards (however Ravelry said about 420 yards, so I knew this was it.



I cast-on on a Friday night, and by the following Friday I was done (with the knitting anyway…I had to wet-block it). It was a quick knit…even with me tinking back a couple of times (apparently you have to do the YOs and not just the decreases when you are knitting lace).



Over all I am happy with it, but I do wish it was a little bigger. I do realize that my gauge is off and that accounts for the smaller than expected size. I was really planning on wearing it more like a scarf than a shawl anyway. But I do like the idea of the short row shaping. I will be making more shawls in the near future and will keep this concept in mind.

I also couldn’t help but thinking of the mastercard commercials when I was blocking this on my living room floor. You know the ones where they find unexpected faces in random things? Here take a look:

Photoless...

Right after I wrapped my gift for Mother's Day, I realized I never took a picture! Too late now. It is wrapped, packaged and stamped. Will be going in the mailbox on the way home today!

Did you see…

Army of Knitters (aka my friend Heather, not that I am bias or anything) has a great new website. It launched today. I love the new look. The colors are great. Not to mention the designs. I personally love Erquy. How could you go wrong with a little lacey tank for the summer? Or do you need a cute lacey cardi to go over all your summer dresses? Then Benodet is for you. I might have to make mine a little longer though, to cover the gut.

Not only is the spring/summer stuff great, but she has a teaser up for fall. Cables on the sleeves…you know I love it!

Gauge and the Olympics

Gauge really enjoyed watching the Olympics with me. He especially liked the figure skating.



He was a little upset when I told him they wouldn’t be back until 2014.

Close…

…only counts in slow dancing, shuffle board and atom bombs, apparently not in my RavelOlympics project. I was so close. But I ran out of steam towards the end.

I only have about 1 inch on the sleeves and the button and buttonhole bands left to do. And of course weave in the ends. And I guess also sew on the buttons - once I get some. OK, maybe a little more than I thought. But I am still pretty proud of the amount I did. I made a cardigan in sport weight in 16 days. Considering how busy I am, that’s really good.

Part of me wished I had done something a little more complicated. Looking at the Yarn Harlot's project is so inspiring. But then again...I would probably only have the solid part done. I am not really a fan of color work. All those colors equals twisting and turning, which equals tangling of yarn, which equals Claudine on the floor crying.

Of course it would have helped if I didn’t get distracted by my new Clapotis. I saw the yarn at the store the day before the Olympics began and I knew I was in trouble. (Funny how you can look at something a million times and then all of a sudden, you have to have it.) I am using Claudia Hand Painted in Cabin Fever. I was planning on 4 skeins, but I am towards the end of the second skein and I see that I will need at least 1 more than I had originally planned. So much for knitting from the stash.

But the real problem...I am having serious startitis. I am curving my itch for now, but I am not sure how long that will last. I have in the queue (in my mind, anyway…let’s not talk about how long my queue in Ravelry is) a Silk Kerchief out of handspun that I got from Malia in a swap, a baby blanket that was requested (have to have this one done by end of March so that is going on the needles next), a version of this gorgeous Valentino shawl I saw (the one I saw was in in blue/green and was GORGEOUS), this side to side garter stitch cardi, something in lace weight (not sure what, just can’t stop thinking about lace lately), and not to mention that I really need some new socks. If only there were more hours in the day!

I hope to have pictures of both of these projects soon.

Dilemma

I have been pluggin' away on my Tea Leaves Cardigan. In fact I finished binding off the hem the body last night. The problem you ask. Let me show you:



See those nice bands of color? The yarn is hand dyed and I obviously did not strand the project. I am regretting it now. As you can see, those "stripes" are hitting me in all the wrong places. Even Gauge sees how bad it is:



So here is my dilemma...do I rip the sweater now and forgo the Raveloympics? Or do I put the sweater on the back burner? The other thing that throws a wrench into the mix is that I am doing a baby blanket for hire in March. I told the person I would be able to start it at the beginning of March, which means I wouldn't be able to pick up the TLC until April (which would be too late in the year to wear it by the time I get done with it.

Another question is do I rip the whole thing and start stranding from the get go, or do you think I can save the yoke? Another option maybe if I rip the whole thing, I could do it in the round and steek it. It would go much faster if I do that. Would that qualify it as a "new" project and be able to use it as my Ravelolympic project?

Any opinions?

Hello

Once again too much time has passed since I have posted about knitting. I would give a list of excuses, but I know you don’t want to read that. So instead I will show you a picture of the baby blanket I am working on:



I feel like such a copy cat. Every time Jared designs a baby blanket, I end up mkaing it. I made the Tweed Baby Blanket and now I am working on a version of the Wool Leaves.(Ok, maybe not ever time, I didn’t make a Hemlock Ring, but I did help block one...does that count?)I have honestly always loved this lace pattern. It’s easy to memorize and still very pretty.

I am using some Malabrigo from my stash in an effort to knit it down to a reasonable amount. I had 9 skeins to start with. I think I will be using about 3 to 3 1/2, so there will still be enough left over for me to make a sweater or a shrug (thinking about this one, once the pattern is released)

I have also been working on a Tea Leaves Cardigan, but have no photo to show you. You will just have to trust me that it is pretty. I am using some Road to China Light that I had in my stash in a very pretty pinky/purple color (I know—shocking…Pink…?) I am almost to the “hem.” So really just the sleeves left.

I am hoping to have both of these finished before 6 PST on February 12th, so I can start my RavOlympic project(s) without much guilt. After much internal debate, I have decided on a pair of Esther socks. I have some soft pink (I know, I know) Kogui I bought a few years ago. I have been doing some reading online about using nylon sewing thread as a carry along to help prevent holes. I am going to run down to City Quilter later and see if they have some. Hope it works. Sewing thread comes in almost every color imaginable, so it will be less noticeable than using the reinforcement yarn. My second project will be a stockinette pair of socks in some hand dyed I bought at the Renegade Art fair a few years ago. And this time it’s not pink! I am going to stripe it with some blue sock yarn my mom bought me a couple of Christmases back. This is going to be more of a time challenge than anything. But I figure 2 pair of socks in 16 days…that should be good. Plus all my socks have holes in them, so at least I will have 2 more pair by March.

Does anyone else see how much stash knitting I am doing?