FAIL

Argh, school reared its ugly head and kicked my butt over the last couple of weeks. I completely failed at NaBloPoMo.

I also completely failed at my goal of finishing my sweater before Rhinebeck.

That red string shows where I was when I brought the thing out of storage. Whoops.

But you know what? It’s ok.

Mother Nature is gearing up for a total weather FAIL this weekend. It would have been way too cold to wear that sweater anyway. No choice but to swaddle myself in copious amounts of other yarny goodness.

NaBloPoMo

Should I do NaBloPoMo?  On the one hand, pressure kills the fun of knitting and blogging.  On the other hand, my first trip to Rhinebeck is coming up.  And Stitches East is coming to my home town of Hartford, Connecticut (wooot!).  I’ll have plenty to write about, right?

If not, you guys appreciate cute kitty pictures, don’t you?

I thought so.

Bat Shawl Errata

It’s that time of year again!  Halloween is coming up, and when better to make a Bat Shawl?

Sadly, there are errors in the published pattern.  The triangular “body” of the shawl is correct, but there is a problem with the border.  Here are the corrections, in bold:

Row 7 should have 341 sts not 355.

Row 9: K1, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1, work row 9 of Chart C 10 times, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, pass marker, k1, pass marker, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1, work row 9 of Chart D 10 times, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k1.

Rows 11 and 13 stay the same

Row 15: K1, yo, k1, yo, k4, k2tog, yo, work row 15 of Chart C 10 times, k1, yo, ssk, k5, yo, k1, yo, pass marker, k1, pass marker, yo, k1, yo, k4, k2tog, yo, work row 15 of Chart D 10 times, k1, yo, ssk, k4, yo, k1, yo, k1.

Row 17: See revised chart.

Rows 19-25 stay the same

Row 27: K1, yo, k8, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k4, work row 27 of Chart C 10 times, k2, k2tog, k10, yo, pass marker, yo, k10, ssk, k1, work row 27 of Chart D 10 times, k5, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k8, yo, k1.

Row 29: K1, yo, k9, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k5, work row 29 of Chart C 10 times, k1, k2tog, k11, yo, pass marker, yo, k11, ssk, k2, work row 29 of Chart D 10 times, k4, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k9, yo, k1.

Here are the revised charts:

Chart C:

Chart D:

I’m sorry for the problems, and I hope it works out now!

Eeek, steek!

I have a bunch of finished objects to show you in the next week or so, but first I’ll show you yet another new thing I’ve started.

I’ve been meaning to make Eunny Jang’s Deep V Argyle Vest for awhile, and it seemed like a good opportunity to use my newfound comfort with stranded knitting.

So I did a swatch in the round…

crocheted the steek…

and cut it.

Despite my fears, it did not turn to dust as soon as I cut it. I think I proved to myself that it can work. I can do this!

Look Ma, both hands!

Huzzah!  I can knit with two colors!

Let me explain.

I finished the knitting on my Knucks, and the plan was to embroider them. But embroider them with what? So I decided to knit a matching hat, because I had plenty of extra yarn, and so the hat could inspire the theme for the embroidery.  I’m a sucker for botanical patterns, so I chose Flora. I was nervous about doing stranded knitting, because my last attempt was a year and a half ago with Blue Light Special. I’d done it before, very slowly, with some Icelandic sweaters in college. But I’ve really been meaning to get better at doing it with one color in each hand so it goes faster. Might as well give it another try!

It’s working! Huzzah! I’m finding it a LOT easier to hold the yarn in my left hand now that I know how to crochet. What stranded project should I try next?

Back in Town!

Whew! I’m back home from a very busy few weeks of travel.

First, I went to the The Greenbrier with my mom and my sister.

It was very relaxing and a lot of fun. Those of you who are crafters and fans of COLOR would find the interiors there amazing.

Next, I went to Colorado with my husband.

James’ brother moved to Denver a few months ago, so we spent some time with him and went out to the mountains for a few days. I don’t know if I was hallucinating because of the altitude, or if the sky really was INCREDIBLY blue, but it is a beautiful place.

Of course, I had such an action-packed time that I didn’t do much knitting. I’m only about a third of the way through Orangina.

It’s starting to get cooler here, so I might put Orangina into hibernation and get cracking on my fall knits. I’m ready for wool again!

Finish one shawl, start another

I finished knitting Ishbel last night.

I haven’t started blocking it yet, and I’m not sure I will today. It’s been so disgustingly humid here that it will take forever to dry, so I need to think carefully about where I’ll pin it out.

My Ishbel is extra large (details in the FO post to follow) so I used about 1.5 skeins of Tosh Sock. I have an additional skein of Tosh Sock in Logwood (a lovely mottled lavender) which I was planning on using for the ever-popular Monkey Socks. I’m not a big sock gal though (which is why I’m the only knitter left who’s never finished a Cookie A pattern) so I’d been having second thoughts.

The light purple Logwood looks so great with the deep purple Clematis that I have left over that I feel like I must combine them in some sort of colorwork project. Despite my French heritage and the Scottish family I married into, berets and tams don’t seem to work out for me. Nonetheless, I’m drawn to Selbu Modern.

I realized after posting my August Update the other day that I ought to start my red project if I am going to keep up with Project Spectrum.  The yarn overs before the feathers start on the Seraphim Shawl have always reminded me of sparks coming off a fire.  I’m really channeling the fire element by knitting my Seraphim in red.

This is Malabrigo Sock in Tiziano Red. Yum!

August Update

Can you believe it’s August already?  I spent most of June and July focused on my internship at a law firm, so I didn’t do much crafting.  July ended with an offer to come back to the firm full time once I’m done with law school, which makes me VERY happy.  I don’t go back to school until the 31st so I have a full month to relax and travel and knit.  Bliss.

So, where were we?

I’ve been chipping away on Babette

I didn’t feel like working on the purple Ishbel after the frenzy of making the yellow Ishbel, but I’ve picked it up again and now I’m on the lace portion.

I’m also knitting a Dotty Cat Bed for the kitty.

Speaking of the kitty, she is very cute and says hello.

I hope you’ve all been doing well!

Meet Fiona

A couple of weeks ago, this kitty took up residence under our porch.

She was very friendly with us and the other people in the building, coming onto the porch whenever we were out there. She clearly wanted a family, so we decided to let her live with us.

She’s very little, only 5.3 lbs. The vets think she’s between 6 and 12 months old, but there is a chance that she’s just a petite adult.

She’s basically healthy. We have to give her medicine for some kitty cold sores, but she’s doing well other than that. She also seems to trust us already, which is nice.

She has settled right in.

Ahhh…

After an intense semester, I am delighted to report that this is all I have on my plate right now:

(not exactly true – I really need to clean the house!)

I have a sense that I’ll do a lot of lace knitting this summer.  I’ve been drawn to lace weight lately, and specific projects in mind.  The orange one on top is for a design project I’m working on.  I think the teal will be either the Seraphim Shawl or the Peacock Feathers Shawl. The color is really perfect for Peacock Feathers, but I think it might be a bit much and that Seraphim is more my style. The yellow in the middle is actually already in use.

A very old friend is graduating from my alma mater on Sunday, so I’m knitting her an Ishbel in yellow. The yarn is Malabrigo Sock, which is divine.

I chose yellow because yellow is my alma mater’s main color.  Also, each class at my school is assigned a color on a four-year rotation, so 2005 (my year) and 2009 share the color yellow.  (Yes, I’m a nerd about school spirit.  No, I’m not embarrassed.  See here).  So really, yellow is the perfect color.  I’m not a huge yellow fan in general, but this is an especially pretty yellow and I’m really enjoying working with it.